The cracks in the Anemo-Geo Barrier finally crept across its last inch.
"Crack!"
A crisp sound pierced the battlefield's roar, and the golden Geo wall shattered like broken glass, while the emerald Anemo pillar dissipated into a sky full of light specks.
Osial's giant tentacles, dripping with black-purple venom, and Beisht's serpent claws, glinting with the cold light of air-tearing strikes, descended like storm clouds, sweeping directly toward Liyue Harbor.
There, countless innocent citizens still slept, in the homeland the Dual Gods were fighting to the death to protect.
At the critical moment, Venti's eyes suddenly turned pure gold, the Anemo element around him raging to the point of near loss of control, his wings fully unfurled, and even his hair strands tinged with golden light.
The divine attire on Zhongli's body blazed with a blinding brilliance, ancient runes moving like living creatures across his robes, as the Geo element condensed in his palm into a power sufficient to suppress mountains.
Just as the two were about to unleash their true trump cards...
Suddenly, two figures abruptly appeared behind the barrier's wreckage.
Yunqin stood on a small flying saucer, its surface glowing with a gentle golden light that perfectly supported her weight.
The Geo element around her was soft yet resolute, and the Vision at her waist shone brightly, adding a touch of color to her pale cheeks.
Hydro Qin floated in mid-air, her long hair drifting gently with the currents, while the Hydro element condensed into tiny particles of light around her, as if the entire starry sky had been woven into her aura.
The two stood side by side, their figures though slender, forming an impassable barrier between Liyue Harbor and the gods.
"Yunqin?!"
Osial's giant tentacle halted abruptly in mid-air, and Beisht's serpent claws froze in place, her crimson snake pupils filled with disbelief. Her massive snake head swayed slightly, her tongue flicking rapidly, clearly bewildered by this bizarre situation.
They stared intently at the two identical girls before them, then whipped their heads around to look at Xiao Qin, who floated on the other side of the battlefield, enveloped in Abyssal Black Miasma.
Their massive heads turned back and forth, filled with utter confusion and shock.
"How can there be two..." Beisht's voice was as raspy as if it had been ground by sandpaper, carrying a faint, imperceptible tremble.
Her gaze shifted back and forth between the Dual Qins and Xiao Qin, her snake pupils flashing with pain and confusion.
She could clearly sense that both girls before her bore her daughter's bloodline aura, yet the figure enveloped in the Abyss also made her feel an inexplicable sense of closeness.
Hydro Qin took the first step forward, the blue Hydro Element slowly condensing in her palm, eventually transforming into a crystal-clear violin.
The body of the violin shimmered with a moonlight-like luster, its strings formed from pure Hydro Element, emitting a crisp sound at the lightest touch.
"Father, Mother, you have been deceived by the Abyss." Her voice was cool yet possessed a piercing quality, cutting straight through the roar of the battlefield to reach the ears of Osial and Beisht. "The true enemy is not Liyue, nor is it Morax, but the Abyss that controls you, and that imposter!"
She raised her hand and pointed at Xiao Qin, her eyes filled with a sharp edge, like a blade that could pierce through lies.
Yunqin spoke next, her voice still gentle, yet tinged with an unquestionable firmness: "We are your true daughters. She,"
She looked at Xiao Qin, her tone betraying a hint of heartache: "is merely a puppet created from my obsession and pain by the Abyss, a tool meant to drive us apart and destroy Liyue!"
Osial and Beisht hesitated visibly, the Abyssal Black Miasma swirling around them beginning to waver, as if stirred by these words.
They recalled the fragmented consciousness of their daughter they had sensed earlier, then gazed at the familiar outlines within the eyes of the two young women.
It was the same pure, clear-eyed gaze their daughter had held in their memories from her childhood.
The hostility in their hearts was gradually replaced by confusion, and even their attack power weakened slightly.
"Don't listen to their lies!"
Xiao Qin's voice suddenly rang out, filled with a piercing rage, as jarring as fingernails scratching against glass.
The Abyssal Black Miasma around her body churned violently, unexpectedly radiating both the golden light of the Geo Element and the blue light of the Hydro Element at once, faintly resonating with the power of the Dual Qins, making it truly difficult to tell the real from the fake at a glance.
"They are the imposters!" She flew swiftly to Osial and Beisht's side, her dark eyes brimming with grievance and venom, as if she had suffered an immense wrong. "Have you forgotten? How the people of Liyue shunned me, how Morax completely abandoned me!"
With a wave of her hand, the Abyssal Black Miasma coalesced in the air into countless images: the girl cowering on the ground as commoners pelted her with stones; the bone-deep agony when a Stone Spear pierced her chest...
Each image was terrifyingly real, as if stripped directly from memory.
"After suffering such pain, how could she still fight for Liyue?" Xiao Qin's voice carried a seductive power. "Only I am the daughter who shares your bloodline!"
The intimacy brought by the Abyssal power, the mimicked dual Geo-Hydro elements, and these heart-piercing words caused Osial and Beisht's resolve to waver once more.
A ruthless glint flashed in Beisht's serpentine eyes, and her voice turned icy. "That's right! Morax is cold-hearted and ungrateful. How could our daughter still take his side! You must be fakes!"
Her serpent claws twitched toward Yunqin, but the moment they met Yunqin's gaze, they froze again.
"You have merely exploited them and replicated my experiences," Hydro Qin sneered, her fingertips gently plucking the strings.
A melodious tune instantly flowed out, like a clear spring in the mountains, like the bright moon in the night sky, directly cleansing the battlefield's malevolence.
In the sky behind her, a bright, clear moon slowly emerged, its gentle glow scattering down and dispelling some of the battlefield's darkness.
While behind Xiao Qin, the long-shattered Blood Moon also glowed crimson once more, facing the Bright Moon from afar, dividing the sky into light and dark halves.
One half was gentle protection, the other half was mad destruction.
"This is..." Osial suddenly let out a roar of agony.
The giant tentacles began to tremble violently, the Abyssal Black Miasma on his body churning wildly, solidifying, and flickering, forming a jarring contrast with his original gray-blue body, as if two forces were fighting fiercely within him.
Beisht also curled her body, her form twisting in pain, her serpent claws beginning to melt into venom that dripped uncontrollably, splashing onto the sea's surface and creating countless poisonous bubbles.
Her serpentine eyes were filled with struggle, clearly resisting the control.
"They're still conscious!" A flash of joy crossed Yunqin's eyes as she hurriedly turned to Zhongli and Venti, her voice urgent. "Mr. Zhongli, Venti, is there any way to save them?"
Zhongli and Venti exchanged a glance, both recalling the scene where Xiao Qin had been blasted out of Hydro Qin's body, a glimmer of understanding passing through their eyes.