The menace was a Ruin Serpent, a creation from a nation which had disappeared more than five hundred years ago. Its ophidic body, from which it took its name, was big, gigantic: a little taller than Sucrose in width, and quite taller than the surrounding cliffs when it was fully stretched. On its long head it had a white horn which looked quite similar to a tree branch. In its 'mouth' it had huge horizontal circular excavator blades, which it used to move underground. Its body was composed of several icosahedral parts, from largest to smaller from head to tail, all assembled together by spherical joints in between them. The largest parts had an aperture on two sides, whereas the smaller had them on only one. Each aperture was located in a different position. The rest of the machine's body was protected with a solid steel cladding. Nahida, who knew about the original model of the Ruin Serpents, beheld in dread both the apertures and the cladding: those were something entirely new. Somebody had modified that model with the purpose of finding Vanarana of Dreams.
More black mud gushed out from those apertures until covering the serpent on its whole. Now it had the same dark look as the Withered Monsters, only that a dark aura emanating from it could be noticed as well.
"The black mud is fatal!" Nahida alerted. "Don't let it touch you!"
Now that she had finally seen it with her own two eyes, Nahida was able to confirm, full of fright, that that black mud was, indeed, the very same as the one from Liyue's Chasm. Like Nahida had told Sucrose during her dream last night, that mud was a source of corruption which contaminated everything. Although the erected barrier network could hold the menace for some time, it would not be able to do the same with the black mud if it began to overflow. Moreover, the corruption property of the black mud made that, when the serpent covered itself with it, it became undetectable by Nahida's means to know, just like she had guessed as well.
There was now, however, another, more serious and disastrous problem: the modification of that Ruin Serpent model proved that somebody in Teyvat had learnt to make use of the black mud. The mere thought about it made Nahida shiver. She could picture who could be behind all of this. Nevertheless, now was not the time to think about that; the current topmost priority was to defeat that modified Ruin Serpent and save Vanarana and the Aranara.
"Sucrose, Dori, you two have seen the Tree of dreams, have you not?" Nahida ensured. "If that mud ever touches it, then it will all be over for Vanarana."
"What's the plan, then!?" Dori asked. "We can't even get close to that thing with all that mud!"
"My power should be able to purify it. Thus, I shall give you a chance to attack."
"We will purify Marana!" Arake averred. "So Lord of Dendro attacks along with Nara friends!"
Nahida wavered to Arake's proposal for a few seconds; then, she nodded. "Okay, then. I believe in you!"
The six siblings raised their arms in unison, and divided into two groups: Araki, Arakom and Arakuan would focus on protecting Collei, Sucrose and Dori respectively from any mud that might spatter onto them; whereas Arake, Araon and Araperke would take care of purifying the mud covering the serpent.
Before the Aranara could even finish taking up their positions, the Ruin Serpent went on the offensive. Its excavator blades began to spin at high speed. It sprang at the party. The girls dodged it by leaping to the ground out of its way. Then, the serpent burrowed into the ground, burying itself while its apertures spat balls of mud in every direction, which formed puddles upon ground impact. One of those balls would have hit Collei, had she not been protected by Araki's orange barrier.
"T-thank you…"
"Happy to help, Nara Collei."
"Are you two okay!?" Sucrose worried.
"Yes! We're fine!"
"Worry about your own feet, too!" Dori warned. "Who knows where it will come out next!"
The ground quaked again; the serpent was moving. Everybody stayed alert in case it reemerged right beside, or beneath them. The Ruin Serpent, as a matter of fact, did so: it reemerged right beside Nahida, who dodged it just in time. The serpent spat black mud again, but Nahida, with a movement of her hand, created a green translucent cube around herself, which shielded her from the mud. Then, when the jets of black mud stopped, she made another hand movement, and tossed the cube at the serpent. The cube hit the serpent on one of its larger parts, stunning it, even despite the mud covering it. The serpent fell to the ground.
"Now!" Nahida shouted.
At that moment, the three Aranara in charge of the offensive channeled their Ararakalari, and fired a light beam, red, blue and violet in color each one, towards the serpent. The beams purified the mud covering the serpent like water jets washing dirt off, vanishing it until no trace was left. It was time for the girls to attack at last.
The girls ran towards the lying serpent, treading with care not to step in the mud on the ground while their Aranara companions purified it. Collei, being the one with the most range, attacked first by shooting arrows at the serpent. The first two arrows hit the cladding and did nothing; however, the third one hit one of the serpent's upper apertures. A powerful crashing sound was heard from such aperture, then a puff of black smoke and several sparks came out from it.
Next, Dori's genie smashed the head of the serpent using the claymore with all of its might, pressing it against the ground. In the meantime, Dori shot Electro orbs from her lamp, but instead of shooting them at the serpent, she shot them upwards. The orbs floated stationary in mid air, until a strong Anemo current, created by Sucrose's staff, flew them towards the serpent, making them collide violently against the machine while the two elements reacted one with each other, swirling electric arcs throughout the Ruin Serpent. Next, Nahida extended her arms in front of her, her index fingers pointing at each other. In the center of her view, between both index fingers, was the serpent. She then opened her arms, her fingers pointing outwards, and at the same time a Dendro explosion occurred, which spread through the electric arcs.
How do Nahida's powers work? Sucrose wondered curiously while she finished their offensive by throwing a Hydro Sphere at the serpent.
The girls regrouped while the Ruin Serpent still lay motionless. They could discern that they had caused some damage to the cladding, although it had been nothing more than just a few scratches and dents. The purpose of that sturdy cladding was to provide the Ruin Serpent armor against any attack, and it was fulfilling its purpose faultlessly: the Ruin Serpent regained its mobility right away and stood back up.
"We haven't done anything to it!" Collei complained.
The serpent covered itself in black mud once again, bent itself over, its blades pointing towards the ground, and buried itself vertically, leaving its tail sticking out. The tail of the Ruin Serpent was conical. On its tip, a ball of an intense white light formed. Then, the serpent aimed its tail towards the group, and shot the light in the form of a laser beam.
Araki, Arakom and Arakuan reacted fast. They stood in the beam's way, and each one used their Ararakalari in order to create a barrier of their respective colors: orange, yellow and green. The three small barriers merged into a larger, single barrier, its dry greenish color being the mixture of the color of each Ararakalari. The beam impacted against the barrier, which resisted its force while showing no weaknesses. However, it was not strong enough to fend the beam off, and Nahida could not intervene without disabling the barrier, even for an instant; thus, the party would be pinned behind the barrier for as long as the serpent's attack lasted.
Then, Arake, Araon and Araperke appeared jumping out of the ground and joined their siblings. The barrier increased its size to a large extent while turning white in color. It now was able to hold the beam off effortlessly. The six siblings then shot the barrier at the serpent, which pushed the beam backwards without any issue, and then crashed against the serpent's tail. The Ruin Serpent buried itself completely again.
"Well done," Nahida praised them. "Especially you, Araon. I'm happy to see that you aren't afraid."
"Araon is afraid," Araon admitted, "but Araon won't run away!"
Everybody smiled at Araon's bravery. Very few could face their fears with such courage. Both Sucrose and Collei thought that perhaps they could learn something from him.
The Ruin Serpent reemerged just where it had buried itself before. This time, however, it did nothing: it just remained still in the same place. It was as if it were waiting for something to occur, or most likely, ventilating its systems after such a powerful and intense attack. Regardless, now would be a good opportunity to launch another attack; then again…
"Damn it… With all that mud and armor, we can't do anything," Dori grumbled.
Without a plan, they would cause it nothing more than another few scratches and dents. Finding the most appropriate moment to launch an offensive against an enemy that could move out of range at will was a real problem in itself. Furthermore, they also had the issue of not being able to approach it until the black mud covering it had been purified. If they could not find the way to cause serious damage to it soon, they would be fighting a losing war of attrition.
Suddenly, Collei exclaimed. "Hey! Look over there!"
She had noticed something odd on the Ruin Serpent. When she pointed at it, everybody else saw it as well: there was no black mud around one of the apertures; in particular, the one Collei had hit with an arrow before. Only sparks came out of it now.
"Good eye, Collei!" Sucrose rejoiced. "So we can damage it, after all!"
The apertures for ejecting the black mud were the best weapon of that modified Ruin Serpent, yet it seemed that they also were its weak points. There was now a possibility for them: although destroying its apertures might not be enough in order to defeat the Ruin Serpent, they would at least render its spewing of black mud unusable. Nahida quickly thought up a plan.
"Sucrose, do you happen to have any Electro Spheres on you?" she asked.
"Unfortunately, I don't even know how to make them yet," Sucrose apologized.
And just as quick the plan went up in smoke. Nahida had thought of tossing a Pyro Sphere and an Electro Sphere at the same time into the same aperture, causing inside it a powerful explosion, perhaps even powerful enough to destroy the serpent's body from within.
"Perhaps the powder from my lamp could do the job?" Dori thought. "It isn't as powerful as an Elemental Sphere, but it's Electro all the same."
"Yes! It might work, indeed!" Nahida agreed happily. "Now we just need to find a way to insert them into an aperture."
Although, in order to do so, they would need to stun the Ruin Serpent again first. The entire party readied themselves for another offensive. However, so did the Ruin Serpent: it had been waiting for them to make their move. The serpent began to spin its excavator blades at high speed, but instead of burrowing or moving forwards, it sank back into the hole until only its head stuck out of it.
"Wait!" Nahida exclaimed. "Prepare to jump to the sides!"
Nahida had guessed what would be the next move of the Ruin Serpent. And she had guessed right: the serpent suddenly propelled itself and charged violently at the party. Its charge, despite its body size, was so fast that it would have hit everybody squarely with its blades had it not been for Nahida's warning. However, everybody evaded it in time by leaping to the sides. The serpent passed by in between them, leaving a trail of black mud behind it.
Although everybody had managed to dodge the serpent, the trail of mud had gotten them separated. Sucrose and Dori, together with Arakom and Arakuan, were on one side of the wide, gapless trail, whereas the rest was on the other. Then, the serpent coiled itself and leapt straight upwards using its body like a spring. It flew back to the hole it had charged from while its functioning apertures spewed black mud in abundance. Once it hit the ground, the serpent burrowed into the hole and buried itself, still spewing black mud everywhere. Nahida and the Aranara did everything they could to prevent as much mud from hitting the ground as possible. Nahida's group did fine in keeping their side clear; however, since on Sucrose's side there were only Arakom and Arakuan, the two Aranara had to focus on just shielding Sucrose and Dori by themselves; the four of them needed to huddle together. Although the two Aranara managed to protect both themselves and the girls from the mud, the group was now surrounded by it.
"Is it trying to flood everything in mud!?" Collei shouted.
"Lord of Dendro!" Arake exclaimed. "If this goes on, we won't be able to keep up!"
Any opportunity of beginning an offensive was now long gone; and to aggravate everything, Sucrose's group was now trapped, and it was an easy target for any attack. The others needed to clear a path and rescue them faster than they could ever be. It was a race against the Ruin Serpent before it attacked again. Everybody began to purify the black mud; everybody but Collei, who could only watch Sucrose's group from a safe distance while regretting not being able to be of any assistance at that moment and feeling powerless.
Arakom and Arakuan purified the black mud from their side in a hurry as well. In the meantime, Sucrose and Dori could do nothing but watch how the Ruin Serpent resurfaced once again, and turned its head towards them. If that machine had planned everything that had happened beforehand, then the small group was in grave danger. The Ruin Serpent spun its blades at high speed and sank back until only the head stuck out once again. It was preparing itself to charge at them one more time. The others had already made some progress in clearing a path, yet they did not know whether they would finish on time: success or failure was but a matter of just seconds.
"Dori, give me some of that Electro powder," Sucrose said all of a sudden.
"What!? What madness are you planning to do now!?" Dori screamed in concern.
"None. I just think that it's better to have everything set now rather than to wait for a chance. That way, we'll need less time to act."
Dori did not think that now was a good time to do so, although they could do nothing else for the moment. She agreed, albeit reluctantly.
"Put your hand out," she asked. "Careful, it stings."
Sucrose held out her left hand, and Dori sprinkled some Electro powder from her lamp into it. Indeed, the powder stung; it stung badly. That stinging feeling spread all over her body.
"Okay! The path is done!" Nahida yelled. "Get out of there now!"
At that very moment, the snake charged at them. Sucrose watched as how it closed in on them; how it closed in on them slowly. Very slowly, like if somebody were on a stroll. Why was it being so slow now? It mattered not; the point was that such slow speed was bringing her the opportunity they had been longing for.
Without hesitation, Sucrose ran down the newly formed path, then she skirted the black mud, going directly towards the Ruin Serpent. Once she reached it, she looked for the aperture closest to her. It was the damaged one. She hurled Dori's Electro powder into the aperture, and immediately thereafter, a Pyro Sphere. She then hurried as far away as she could.
A huge explosion occurred inside the aperture. Said explosion blew that part of the Ruin Serpent apart from within. The serpent's head was blown away. It flew over Dori, who had just begun to move from her position, and crashed violently into a rocky wall. The rest of the serpent's body lost its momentum due to the opposing force of the explosion and collapsed. It did not move again, and nor did the severed head.
Sucrose beheld the decapitated body of the Ruin Serpent. She was gasping for breath; she felt quite exhausted all of a sudden, and her whole body ached. Although she did not understand why she was in such a state, if she had only done a short sprint. Not that it mattered now to her; her whole attention was focused on something much more important:
"Is… is it over?"
Nothing moved, and no sound other than Sucrose's heavy breathing could be heard. She still panted; she still felt exhausted. She guessed that perhaps it was her pent-up stress, built up over several hours, relieving itself at last. Was everything really over? She still couldn't assimilate it: it had occurred so fast and so suddenly that it did not seem true. But it must have been, for six Aranara, Dori and Collei jumped on her, all full of joy. She could not bear the weight of everybody and fell on her back. They were all now on top of her.
"Nara Crows did it!" Araki congratulated her.
"You're incredible, Sucrose!" Collei praised her in surprise.
"For sure!" Dori agreed in astonishment. "I didn't know you could do something like that!"
"Arake always says so: Nara Crows is special!" Arake nodded.
"Nara Crows is special because is the best!" Arakom admired her.
Sucrose understood nothing. What had she done? She had just taken the chance that the Ruin Serpent was moving so slowly to act, nothing else. What was so special about that? She looked beyond the group on top of her and saw that Nahida was the only one who hadn't run to her. In fact, the Archon, far from brimming with delight because of their victory, stared at her with an evident expression of concern. But why?
Sucrose was not feeling happy either, although she ought to. She had defeated the menace; that alone was reason enough to be overjoyed. Despite this, Sucrose felt awkward, upset even. Everybody was behaving in an odd manner, and she needed to know why. She shook everybody off of her and stood up.
"Okay, that's enough!" she blurted. "I've just done what we had planned! What's so special about that!? Huh!?"
She was aware that she was being rude, yet it mattered little to her. She frowned at them; she was clearly annoyed. She demanded an answer for their strange amazement. Collei began to frighten; she had an ever more evident fearful expression. She pointed at Sucrose, who began to think that perhaps she had overdone it and to feel remorseful.
"There! Look!"
No, Collei was not pointing at Sucrose; she was pointing behind her, where not far from them lay the body of the Ruin Serpent. Everybody turned towards it, and dread began to fill them as well. Black mud was gushing out from every aperture. At first, it was only a trickle; however, the trickles rose until taking up the entire space of each aperture.
"What!? Why!?" Sucrose said in anguish.
It could be the doing of a special program for in case the Ruin Serpent were to be defeated, or simply because, now that it was without energy, the regulation system of black mud had been disabled and there was nothing controlling it anymore. Whichever guess anybody could fathom would be nothing more than pure speculation, which would not change the fact that black mud was now gushing out in abundance. Nahida and the Aranara siblings hurried to purify it. However, there were too many apertures; they were unable to contain all of them at the same time. At least, they were able to prevent it from reaching the others.
"It's hopeless, Lord of Dendro!" Arakuan screamed. "Marana doesn't stop coming out!"
Except for the small area they were protecting with their powers, the black mud was spreading everywhere, withering everything around it in its path.
"Vanarana is in danger!" Araperke shrieked.
"What should we do, Lord of Dendro!?" Araon pled.
"If we had more power, we could make all of the mud vanish, along with the remains of the Ruin Serpent. However…"
'We cannot', was what Nahida could not get to say. Even so, Nahida knew that they must do something, or else the black mud would overflow everything. The Ararakalari network would be unable to contain such an immense quantity of corruption and would fall apart; thus, Vanarana would wither in its entirety, regardless of whether the mud reached the Tree of Dreams or not. Such a thing had already occurred once, a long time ago; Nahida would not allow that it came to pass again. She didn't care what price she needed to pay, she was determined not to quit. She made her choice. She nodded firmly.
"Step back," she ordered the Aranara. "Let me handle this."
Then, her body began to emit a greenish aura, which shone brightly. The Aranara understood at once what she was trying to do and became agitated.
"Lord of Dendro, stop!" Arake begged.
"Don't do it, Lord of Dendro!" Arakuan pled.
"What's going on!?" Sucrose asked. "What's she doing!?"
"Lord of Dendro intends to sacrifice herself to save Vanarana!" Arakom revealed, alarmed.
The three girls screamed at the same time once they heard Arakom's words.
"I'm not going to sacrifice myself; I will just use every last bit of my power," Nahida corrected. "Worry not: I will shrink into a sprout, but in a couple of centuries I will be back to my current state."
"Where's the difference!?" Collei squalled.
It was still a goodbye. A couple of centuries was too long for any human: by the time Nahida were herself again, they would be long gone before then. The three girls shuddered at the thought of never seeing Nahida again. Moreover, could Sumeru go on after the sudden loss of their Archon?
"There has to be another way!" Dori argued. "Let's all think of something together!"
"I'm sorry, but there is no time," Nahida rejected with a sad smile. "I just hope that, over time, you will forgive this selfish act of mine…"
She extended both her arms forwards, and concentrated her power on her hands. Her aura increased in size and brightness; her body began to glow. It was becoming difficult to see her amidst so much light.
"I leave Sumeru in your hands," she announced. "I know you will be fine, even without me."
That message, her last message in that form, was directed not only to everybody present, but also to every inhabitant of Sumeru. She was determined, and she felt at peace with herself. She intensified her power even further, and the glow of her body began to emit an intense white light. It was blinding: both Dori and Collei needed to close their eyes and turn their heads away. They could see nothing; they could hear just a *clonk, the sound of something metallic causing a thud. Then, the light faded. Slowly, they opened their eyes, fearful of not being able to accept what could lay before them.
What actually lay, however, had nothing to do with what they had pictured. Nahida lay face down on the ground, with a big bump on her head. At her feet stood Sucrose, holding her staff tightly and panting heavily.
"S-Sucrose?…"
"What have you done?"
Sucrose turned her head and looked them both in the eye in all conscience.
"I asked her 'please'".
Sucrose's recklessness had 'saved' Nahida, yet it had also returned them to square one, but now with less time to act, and moreover, they did not have the Archon's assistance any longer. Despite this, everybody felt relieved deep down.
"What's done is done," Dori settled. "We must focus on what to do now."
None of the girls had the slightest clue about how to cleanse the black mud. It could not be washed off with a Hydro Sphere, it could not be frozen with a Cryo Sphere, and it could not be eliminated by combining a Pyro Sphere and Electro powder in order to cause an explosion. The only method they had at hand was the power of Nahida and the Aranara to purify it, which had already proved that it was not enough, even when Nahida was still conscious.
Sucrose then asked the Aranara siblings whether they had thought of something. They had been very quiet all this time, just working on stopping the mud from advancing towards the party. All six of them turned their heads and looked at her.
"Nara Crows, thank you for stopping Lord of Dendro in time," Arake said.
"In time? Did you come up with something?" Sucrose asked excitedly.
"Yes. Idea of Lord of Dendro is good," Araperke revealed.
In just an instant, Sucrose's excitement turned into anguish. "H-hold on! Don't tell me…!" She didn't have the courage to finish her sentence.
"Aranara siblings decided to do it when Lord of Dendro suggested it," Araki confessed.
"But Aranara siblings had no time to say it," Arakuan added.
When all six siblings combined their Ararakalari together, their power could hold a candle to that of the very Dendro Archon. Thus, they intended to take her place; they wanted to sacrifice themselves in Nahida's stead because, according to them, they were not as essential to Sumeru as Nahida. The nation needed her Archon.
"No! No, no and a million times no!" Sucrose howled, her anxiety overflowing her. "I don't want to hear something like that again! Don't make me ask you 'please', too!"
However, the Aranara wavered not.
"If Aranara siblings don't act now, Marana will spread," Arakom said. "Then it will be too late for Vanarana."
"Nara Crows knows this," Araon asserted.
"You too, Araon!? Are you not afraid of what you're going to do!?"
"Very. Araon is very afraid of doing this," Araon admitted. "But Araon is more afraid that Aranara will lose their home again if Araon doesn't do this."
Without more arguments, Sucrose just bit her lower lip. She realized that the siblings had no intention of backing down. Furthermore, they were right: if nothing was done soon, the black mud would spread so much that they would no longer be able to purify all of it, not even with their sacrifice. If that came to pass, Vanara would wither inexorably. And Sucrose's heart froze at the mere thought that it would have been her fault.
On the other hand, what would become of them? Would they disappear? Or would they shrink into a sprout as well? Whichever might happen, she would lose them; and she didn't want to. They were her friends.
Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Collei, who gazed at her with sadness, with resignation. Her gaze told Sucrose to desist, yet Sucrose still refused to do so. There has to be another way, she told herself over and over again, desperate to find such alternative.
Dori came to her mind. She always had plenty of ideas, thinking of thousands of ways to make money. Perhaps she had already thought of something. Sucrose looked at her in a last breath of hope. Dori, however, had the same sad and resigned expression as Collei. It was over. She had to accept it: there was no alternative, no other way. She lowered her head. She squeezed her eyes shut, gritted her teeth, and clenched her fists. She began to whimper.
"Do it!" she bawled. "Do it before I change my mind!"
Sucrose hugged Collei, turning her back to them. She didn't want to watch; she thought that, if she did, she would try to stop them again. The six Aranara siblings, however, looked at her. All six of them smiled. Then, their six barriers merged into a single one, which began to envelop the black mud as it grew ever more larger. From each one of the siblings arose an aura of their respective color.
"Thank you for everything, Nara Crows," Arake stated.
"We had lots of fun together," Araki asserted.
"Arakom will miss Nara Crows," Arakom confessed.
"But Nara friends, don't be sad," Arakuan added.
"Because even if Aranara forget," Araon continued.
"Forest will always remember," Araperke finished.
The six aurae grew larger and merged, forming a single, white and immense aura. It was even larger than Nahida's. Then, everything was covered in a blinding, intense white light: it was happening. Sucrose squeezed herself closer to Collei. She tried to suppress her whimpers, yet she could not manage to. Collei hugged Sucrose back, and Dori joined them, hugging Sucrose's hip. They did not leave her alone the entire time that that light lasted.
A while after, once the light faded away at last, Dori and Collei took a quick glance at the area before telling Sucrose that everything was already over. With utmost difficulty, Sucrose turned around. She beheld the place. There was nothing there: no mud, no Ruin Serpent, no Aranara. Nothing. Nothing but a large seed just there, where the six Aranara siblings had used to be. She understood everything instantly. She let herself go of Collei and shuffled towards the seed. She was staggering; her entire body felt as if it weighed tons, instead of kilograms. Her strength left her when she reached the seed, falling onto her knees before it. She took the seed with both hands. The seed was green, shaped like a flower bud, and as big as the palm of her hand. Sucrose looked at the seed. She held it to her chest. She was exhausted; she no longer had the strength to do anything. Not even to hold back her tears and her weeps.