The moonlight filtered through the stained glass of the Mondstadt Cathedral, casting long, kaleidoscopic shadows across the marble floor.
Leo, Lumine, and a trembling Paimon crept past the rows of pews, their breaths held tight.
"Stay quiet, Leo!" Paimon hissed, her tiny hands over her mouth.
"If the Sisters catch us, we're going to be scrubbing the floors for a decade!"
But as they reached the inner sanctum, the Holy Lyre der Himmel wasn't on its pedestal.
Instead, a Fatui Cicin Mage was cradling the relic, her masked face tilted in a mocking grin.
"Such a pretty toy," she giggled, her lanterns buzzing with purple Electro flies.
"The Tsaritsa will find this quite amusing."
"Hey! Put that back!" Paimon shrieked, her panic override blowing their cover instantly.
"The Lyre!" Lumine lunged forward, but the Mage blinked out of existence in a burst of purple mist, reappearing near the side exit.
Leo's instinct took over.
He didn't think about stealth; he thought about speed.
He slammed the Zero-One Driver onto his waist. The mechanical shwing echoed like a gunshot in the silent hall.
"Henshin!"
[AUTHORIZE!]
A massive digital rift tore open right in the middle of the Cathedral.
From the void, a three-story-tall Mechanical Grasshopper of neon-yellow metal slammed onto the floor.
CRASH!
The giant hopper didn't just land; it panicked. It began jumping around the vaulted ceiling, smashing through ancient wooden rafters and sending stone debris raining down onto the pews.
The "stealthy" mission had officially become a demolition derby.
"LEO, YOU IDIOTT!" Paimon wailed as a piece of the ceiling nearly flattened her.
[PROGRISE! A JUMP TO THE SKY TURNS TO A RIDER KICK RISING HOPPER!]
The giant insect exploded into armor plates, locking onto Leo in a flash of blinding yellow light.
The shockwave blew the Cathedral doors wide open, alerting every guard within three miles.
The Cicin Mage didn't wait around for an explanation.
She bolted for the window, her Cicins forming a protective shield.
"Catch me if you can, metal boy!"
"I'm already there," Leo's voice was a digital growl.
Before she could even shatter the glass, Leo blurred.
Using the enhanced leg strength of the Rising Hopper, he ricocheted off a pillar, snatched the Holy Lyre right out of the Mage's startled hands, and mid-flip, tossed the relic toward Lumine.
"Lumine! Catch!"
Lumine caught the Lyre in a desperate dive.
"We have to go! Now!"
"Stop right there!" Lawrence and a dozen Knights charged into the hall, swords drawn.
"Intruders! And... is that a iron yellow man?!"
"Window! Go!" Leo shouted.
He grabbed Lumine and Paimon, tucked them under his armored arms, and smashed through the grand stained-glass window in a shower of colorful shards.
Wanted: The "Yellow Demon" and the "Foreigner" and a " Floating Fairy"
By the time they hit the grass outside, the city bells were screaming.
Guards were swarming the streets with torches.
"This is bad! This is so bad!" Paimon sobbed as they scrambled into a dark alleyway near the tavern.
"We're criminals! We're outlaws! We're... we're wanted!"
They found Venti leaning casually against a wall, plucking a grape from a bowl he'd somehow acquired.
"Oh, that was quite the entrance, Leo. I particularly liked the part where you destroyed the ceiling of the most sacred building in Mondstadt."
"It was the system's fault!" Leo hissed, de-transforming as his HUD flashed red with 'WANTED' status.
"That grasshopper has a mind of its own!"
"Well," Venti smirked, pointing at a poster already being tacked up by a frantic guard. "The Knights seem to think the 'Bard in Green' was the mastermind who summoned a 'Yellow Thunder Demon' to rob the church. I suppose I'll be taking the blame for this one."
"Sorry, Venti," Lumine said, clutching the Lyre. "But we have the Lyre. Now what?"
"Now," Venti said, his eyes turning toward the dark peaks of Stormterror's Lair.
"We go to the tavern. Even criminals need a drink before they face a dragon.