aevitium

[aevitium]

Her voice is angry. It is musical.

"Did you miss me?" 

It is a butterfly's wings, a beating heart in the palm of your hand. It is laughing, it is mocking, it is expecting. A girl in a field of wilting flowers, her dress torn and stained with silt. Peony petals shrivel up and wither all around her like friends she cannot say goodbye to. But there is no garden, there are no flowers or friends to mourn. 

There is just a girl who smiles up from the floor of her cell, one arm fettered to the wall. She remembers the hero, or maybe she greets everyone this way. Maybe she is waiting for someone else. Maybe she just has a sense of humor.

"You're here to kill me." 

It's not a question. She knows, and she says it like she accepts it. It is an accusation. It is an understanding. She has only two eyes, warm and endless blue, that her smile does not meet. 

"That's a shame." They do not look to the blade, only at that which holds it. Perhaps through. When she sighs it is wistful, almost amused. Impossibly sad. 

"I was thinking we might make good friends~"

@jxrmngxndr

this is a love story

slay the princess au

[aevitium]

The end of the word is a girl.

She wears pale white and is framed in petal pink. She and the stars are the only light in the otherwise empty room, and yet the walls of it seem to swallow her. Wide eyes-- kind eyes, cruel eyes-- find that which has finally found her.

She is a creature of only eyes, and each moves in turn after the hero's. One by one they fall on the sharp edge of a weapon. They consider the grip on it, the weight of it. As its wielder comes before her light, as those thousand eyes can see where his weapon hand flexes in anticipation, the princess turns her cheek.

"And there you are~"

The curl of smoke is her voice, its own poisoned edge. There is an accusation in it, there is a joy to it. She is happy to see him, she has never resented anyone more.

Her eyes, only two of them, forget the blade for the face of her savior. She smiles, laughs. It is birdsong in an empty cathedral.

"You look like you're here to kill me or something."

@jxrmngxndr

this is a love story

slay the princess au

[aevitium]

Her voice is everyone's and no one's all at once, a choir and a solo aria. It sings honey-sweet and it stings briar sharp. It is innocent, it is impossibly guilty. It warbles up the narrow stone passageway to the first sound of another soul it has heard in longer than its owner has known. 

It is timid, it stumbles over eager hope. It anticipates warmth.

It is sharp, accusatory. It expects the cold.

"Who's there?" 

It is all of those things and it is none. It is merely the voice of a girl, a single sound in otherwise silence. The creak of the stairs only a suggestion that it might not remain. It echoes in the absence of anything else, waiting.

Hoping.

@jxrmngxndr

this is a love story

slay the princess au

[aevitium]

He's... normal. Just anyone else with a life before this one, with a cause to have scrapped it in favor of a greater good. From a handful of moments, a few scraps of conversation, she thinks that this kid could not possibly be who she had come here to sniff out.

So she's not too sure why the collar of her dress feels too tight, why something about the way he speaks makes her skin feel like an ill-fitting article of clothing. Were he anyone else, she might say 'I'm sure you were wonderful!' or 'you could always try after this is all over!' but her throat is too dry for either.

Elysia catches the flicker in his eyes, the kind that she's used to seeing when someone's used to looking to someone else for what to say. An escape. There's an odd pain behind her ribs, the sting of a cut not deep enough to bleed. He's looking for someone else, and why that bothers her she cannot yet understand.

"Glasses, long hair..." She pauses like she's thinking, but she's not. That description could be a dozen people, but she's decidedly seen none of them. "No, I can't say I have..."

✧ ˖ — swallow my heart whole

[aevitium]

Elysia is not known for passing on opportunities to talk about herself, but she breezes past this one without so much as a thought spared in its direction. What was there to discuss when concerned with the inner-workings of the very universe? Were it that she could make any grand claims as to the greater purpose of her absence, or any hand she had played in her rebirth, perhaps she would. But she doesn't.

"Oh, and we can't have that." A sigh, wistful. "Hmm, let me think..."

To ask what happened would be too easy. Such a simple question, but they have never been the type to have simple answers, and Su more than most. Fingers thrum thoughtfully against her cheek, filling the space left by her silence. In some roundabout ways, she knows the answers already anyway. She knows in the faces she has seen since her return, in the new lines present in each.

But he does not wear any signs of the time that has passed, which is a sign of its own. She settles, then, to ask something only a little less simple.

"How is it that you're here?"

Watercolor eyes settle heavy upon him, expectant. Whether she means in the broader sense or in the narrower, more straightforward one, Elysia does not say.

"Surely that won't take long enough to cool my drink~"

✧ ˖ — buried in before

[aevitium]

It's Thursday, 09:00 system time, and Elysia is woefully absent from the MOTH cafeteria line. It's pudding Thursday, which everyone says tastes terrible since real pudding got too expensive and they started rationing the crummy powder mix that replaced it, but Elysia shows up every week regardless. It's not like she would know the taste from sand, and someone's gotta keep the energy up around here.

Because if there's no more pudding Thursday, then really what's the point of anything at all.

She'll have asked Mobius to get her some, which she knows means she won't be getting any, but it's worth the idea of one famously miserably Doctor Mobius requesting a serving of mediocre pudding to-go. The thought makes her laugh, softly and to herself, a sound that earns utterly no reaction from the occupants of the lab. All too busy with their heads down, too used to Elysia skipping through around this hour.

A door slides open automatically upon her arrival, then shut hardly a second after she's stepped through. Ego doesn't even bother looking for the target of her conversation before she speaks, because she knows there is nowhere else that one could find Dr. Mei.

"Not a single side effect in two weeks! Go ahead, relax, I know you've been plagued with worry since the surgery~" Petal pink hair falls over her cheek when she cants her head. No, the other woman surely hadn't worried once. "Oh, except these ears. Everyone says they're sooooo cute, so I guess it's not too terrible." She could stand to sound more convincingly upset.

"So there's really nothing to look into, and you can go back to your research and I can make it to the cafe with 10 minutes to spare! Isn't that lovely~"

@purerationality

✧ ˖ — medical malpractice is good because it creates more opportunities for yuri

[aevitium]

Of course it would not be so simple as to just end, as strife so seldom does. Crystal eyes flit about their surroundings, over the boy and his swords, over the figures of her allies as they become blurry in the waves of smoke.

"You don't consider this welcome warm?" Her tone is ever-merry, gaze lingering upon the other woman even as she draws her weapon once more. "I practically feel at home~"

ELYSIA (10/10HP) rolls 3 energy. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits Flying Sword 1 41/50HP with Shattered Transience. Roll:11+2 = 13 – [Cryo weakness revealed!] (Melt!) -37.5HP,  Flying Sword 1 3.5/50HP Flying Sword 1 3.5/50HP counters with Jadecarve Strike [Roll: 6 = Hit! -1.5HP] ELYSIA (8.5/10HP)

[1 energy]  ELYSIA (8.5/10HP) critically hits Flying Sword 1 3.5/50HP with Shattered Transience. Roll:19+2 = 21 – [Cryo weakness!]  -25HP,  Flying Sword 1 0/50HP Flying Sword 1 has been defeated.

And she would, regardless of the shape of their battlefield or its single standing opponent. Vines of vibrant pink wrap around the long end of a blade only just enough to catch its edge before it can dig through any more of Elysia's faux skin, crimson beading in the shallow line it leaves before it shatters.

At least these things are not too troublesome, but then there is still that soulless boy.

"Were there only fewer boys with swords, I might think to schedule a vacation here myself."

[1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits Flying Sword 3 42.5/50HP with Shattered Transience. Roll:11+2 = 13 – [Cryo weakness revealed!] (Melt!) -37.5HP,  Flying Sword 3 5/50HP Flying Sword 3 5/50HP counters with Jadecarve Strike [Roll: 5 = Hit! -1.5HP] ELYSIA (7/10HP)

Like clockwork, another blade. She has hardly taken any more than that last scratch, at least not for some while. With Mydei taking all of the attention, she truly hasn't any right to complain as the second sword strikes her just the same. Even still she eyes the newest offense to her otherwise perfect visage with a disappointed sigh.

10,000 ꜱᴛʀɪᴋᴇꜱ, ꜰᴏʀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴍᴇᴀꜱᴜʀᴇ

team 4, floor 3.

[aevitium]

At center stage remains their fearless warrior, the remainder of them merely his accompaniment. None of them are pleased to fight this boy, but more than concerned with his image, Elysia wonders at the likes of his creation. What kind of place could conjure such an image, so tangible as to draw blood, without the data input or technology of something such as the Golden Courtyard. This is not an uploaded sim, this was not programmed by the likes of Mobius.

This is merely a ghost, and it haunts in the same way.

Forgoing the chance to press Lingsha for more information about the boy, about those who know the boy, about the means by which he might have ended up here-- Elysia resigns herself to the only option they truly have.

 ELYSIA (9/10HP) rolls 5 energy. [2 energy] ELYSIA (9/10HP) uses Radiant Destiny and enters Herrscher of Origin form until end of round [1 energy]  ELYSIA (9/10HP) hits YANQING 39/200HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 8+2 = 10, -0.5HP – YANQING 38.5/200HP Herrscher Charge: 1 YANQING 38.5/200HP is Imprisoned and cannot counter [1 energy]  ELYSIA (9/10HP) hits YANQING 38.5/200HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 5+2 = 7, -0.5HP – YANQING 38/200HP Herrscher Charge: 2 “YANQING 38/200HP is Imprisoned and cannot counter [1 energy]  ELYSIA (9/10HP) critically hits YANQING 38/200HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 16+2 = 18, -1.5HP – YANQING 36.5/200HP Herrscher Charge: 3 “YANQING 36.5/200HP is Imprisoned and cannot counter [0 energy]  ELYSIA (9/10HP) uses Waltz of Stars and hits all enemies. Roll: 4+2 = 6, -0.5 – YANQING 36/200HP

"Do you think he can feel it?" She muses aloud, watching as her stars soar across the open air and burst against the boy's figure. He does not seem too offended by her attacks, but then he has not seem offended by much at all. Maybe she is just making up that hers seem to hurt less, if nothing hurts at all.

And then, realizing that such a question is perhaps not the best for what is evidently a sensitive subject, she brings a sheepish finger to her lips.

"Surely not, to take so many hits and remain stoic and straight-faced would be impossible."

@thecharmonydove , @crimsondragcn

10,000 ꜱᴛʀɪᴋᴇꜱ, ꜰᴏʀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴍᴇᴀꜱᴜʀᴇ

team 4, floor 3.

[aevitium]

Per her request-- and though he may have done so regardless, Elysia had asked, so it counts-- the man sees the blade shattered. A hop from Lingsha's rabbit finishes the last one, and then the boy launches his assault on Mydei. She must admit, with how he soaks up the attention of battle, it's been impressive how few hits have found her skin.

"Thank you," Ego hums, "and I agree. He certainly doesn't have the spirit a boy his age should."

ELYSIA (10/10HP) rolls 3 energy. [2 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits YANQING 178/200HP with Infinite Helix. Roll: 18+2 = 20, -5HP – YANQING 173/200HP YANQING 173/200HP is affected by Pristine Seed and cannot counter. ELYSIA forfeits 1 energy

Though she does not delight in raising her weapon to him, her fingers are careful in weaving the flowering vine that flies forward from her bowstring. It wraps around their enemy, binds his blade hands, stills his movement. It will not hold for much more than a moment, but it will buy them at least that. It is, she intends, merciful.

"There we are, just don't walk into his sword."

10,000 ꜱᴛʀɪᴋᴇꜱ, ꜰᴏʀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴍᴇᴀꜱᴜʀᴇ

team 4, floor 3.

[aevitium]

It's too lovely a place to see decimated by a fight, and yet it seems to exist for nothing else. Ego blinks at the soulless form of their opponent, unflinching as ice shatters like glass against Mydei's strength.

"Are you familiar with him?" She tosses a glance to Lingsha, then to the creature hiding in her shoulder, worry knitting her eyebrows. This odd arena of theirs has seemed as much a stranger to them as they are to it thus far, and revealing its hand with the face of one of their friends certainly makes it seem much less coincidental.

"Let's not waste any time, then~" Without missing a beat, her expression returns to cheerful, hands clapping together just beneath her chin.

 ELYSIA (10/10HP) rolls 3 energy. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits  FLYING SWORD 3 15/50 with Shattered Transience. Roll: 15+2 = 17, (Melt!) -4HP – FLYING SWORD 3 11/50 FLYING SWORD 3 is affected by Imprisonment and cannot counter. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits  FLYING SWORD 3 11/50 with Shattered Transience. Roll: 19+2 = 21, -5HP – FLYING SWORD 3 6/50 FLYING SWORD 3 is affected by Imprisonment and cannot counter. 1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits FLYING SWORD 3 6/50 with Shattered Transience. Roll: 4+2 = 6, -3.5HP – FLYING SWORD 3 2.5/50 FLYING SWORD 3 is affected by Imprisonment and cannot counter.

Bow in hand, Ego lets fly three arrows. They arc intentionally away from the boy himself, plinking off of one of his ice-forged blades and dissolving to pale pink dust with the contact. It isn't for naught, at least, as cracks draw veins through the ice and promise the weapons integrity to have weakened.

To their team dove, she turns with a smile. "Feel like taking care of that for me?"

@thecharmonydove

10,000 ꜱᴛʀɪᴋᴇꜱ, ꜰᴏʀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴍᴇᴀꜱᴜʀᴇ

team 4, floor 3.

[aevitium]

No sooner than she can raise her bow, than their fearless warrior can continue his barrage or Linghsa's darling rabbit can dance along the cloud of smoke once more, their foes seem to flicker and then vanish as though they had never been there at all.

"Time would deny us such an easy victory," Elysia clicks her tongue, as though she is displeased. "Such a shame, I'm sure Mr. Mydei here would have left them as mere smudges on the ground had we been given only a few more moments."

Then, to Sunday: "Thanks to you, of course~"

He is an interesting creature, she wonders if the guilt he carries is honest or an instinct. There has been no need for him to apologize to them, no actions to make up for that have jeopardized them even half as they have himself. Elysia brushes her shoulder against his as she floats past, smiling.

"Now then, only one way to go from here~!"

/fin.

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬.

GHAbyssApril2025 |⠀team four⠀|⠀floor two.

[aevitium]

Ego greets the other woman's teasing as though it is sincere, humming pleasantly at the suggestion. "So you agree! Sharing tea would be much more exciting than fighting, we might could get to know one another properly that way."

And though she says this, there truly is no better a place to learn about a person than here. A battlefield brings out the truest of selves, that raw, human fight for survival. It's beautiful, and oh, how she yearns for it to be her own.

To Sunday, then, as glittering gold bathes her in its light once more, Elysia smiles.

"Sounds like a plan, I would say~"

Their foes are still murmuring, the one bound in the Imaginary Tree's roots has a voice like the rushing of water. If it was a Honkai creation, Elysia wonders if her very being might know the language, if she might could understand. Reassuring, she supposes, that she does not.

"Now, see! He's upset to be left out."

ELYSIA (10/10HP) rolls 4 energy. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 43/90HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 10+2 = 12, (Melt!) (Benison of Paper and Rites!)  -4HP – ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 39/90HP ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS is imprisoned and cannot counter. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) critically hits ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 39/90HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 18+2 = 20,  -4HP – ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 35/90HP ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS is imprisoned and cannot counter. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 35/90HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 15+2 = 17,  -2.5HP – ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 32.5/90HP ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS is imprisoned and cannot counter. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 42.5/90HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 15+2 = 17,  -2.5HP – ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 30/90HP ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS is imprisoned and cannot counter.

It's not thrilling, attacking something that cannot try and swipe back. Ego ducks and weaves, arrows in her fingers and then the air as fast as she can blink. They stick into odd limbs, pretty pink jutting out of a shoulder, an arm, a throat. With a shake of her head, they shatter and vanish, leaving only wounds in their wake.

Such displays of violence are not her art, after all.

"What a shame, I'm sure our friend here is a wonderful conversationalist, were it only that we got to know him..."

@mydcimos, @crimsondragcn

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬.

GHAbyssApril2025 |⠀team four⠀|⠀floor two.

[aevitium]

That which comes to replace the strange looking, metallic enemies is far different. There had been nothing to fear in the previous foes, and while Elysia would not consider herself particularly scared, she certainly could consider their new friends unsettling.

They consider Mydei like he is their only prey, and as before he continues to make himself seem like such. Watercolor eyes watch as he is sent flying, and she has the courtesy to wince when he hits the ground. There is nothing to envy about that, certainly.

"Are they speaking?" There are those sounds again, not the same primal ones typical of beasts or even just animals. Elysia dips carefully past one, brows furrowed with her fascination. "Hellooooo~? Can you understand me?"

The crimson one raises a flaming hand.

"Ah, is that a yes?"

 ELYSIA (10/10HP) rolls 3 energy. [2 energy] ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits ABYSS LECTOR: FATHOMLESS FLAMES 85.5/90HP  with Infinite Helix. Roll: 5+2 = 7, -2.5HP – ABYSS LECTOR: FATHOMLESS FLAMES 83/90HP  ABYSS LECTOR: FATHOMLESS FLAMES 83/90HP is affected by Pristine Seed! -1HP to surrounding enemies: ABYSS LECTOR: WICKED TORRENTS 80/90HP  ABYSS LECTOR: FATHOMLESS FLAMES  is affected by Pristine Seed and cannot counterattack.

Before flames can reach far enough to lap at her, she is armed. A crystal arrow whizzes past its target, loops around it once and then thrice, over and over again, a trail of vines in its wake. They tighten around the almost-human figure, bind arms and leave sparks to wilt harmlessly to the floor. Elysia hums.

"Blink twice if- Oh, can you blink?"

There's no telling if it is just without eyelids or intentionally refusing out of spite. Defeated, Ego looses a wistful sigh. "And here I had hoped we might could be friends, but I suppose you'd rather fight."

She does still pause, as though giving it a moment to reconsider, before raising her bow again.

    [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits ABYSS LECTOR: FATHOMLESS FLAMES 83/90HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 11+2 = 13, -2.5HP – ABYSS LECTOR: FATHOMLESS FLAMES 80.5/90HP  ABYSS LECTOR: FATHOMLESS FLAMES  is affected by Pristine Seed and cannot counterattack.

"Hmph, have it your way."

@thecharmonydove !!

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬.

GHAbyssApril2025 |⠀team four⠀|⠀floor two.

[aevitium]

To the two nearest to her, as Mydei takes it upon himself to do just that-- keep them busy-- Elysia cants her head, almost amused. "No nonsense with that one, I see."

He's impressive, though. His entertaining of their foes may as well be as a one man army. At least his is not the familiar attitude of a man who insists on working entirely alone, no get out of my way to be heard. Though she can certainly hear Kalpas's voice loud and clear enough in her mind that it may as well have been real.

Not that she, famously, has ever listened.

ELYSIA (10/10HP) rolls 5 energy. [2 energy] ELYSIA (10/10HP) uses Radiant Destiny and enters Herrscher of Origin form until end of round [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 7/50HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 5+2 = 7, -2.5HP – “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 4.5/50HP Herrscher Charge: 1 “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” counters with Precious Blood Shed For You. Counter roll: 1 – successful ELYSIA (10/10HP) is inflicted with Carousal of Revelry.

It's the same song, the same fifty thousand year old dance. The sea and stars welcome Ego in her truest form, Origin. She dives across the battlefield, flourishing the ivory spire of her staff. Bursts of light, shooting stars to arc towards the weakest of their foes.

[1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 4.5/50HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 13+2 = 15, -2.5HP – “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 2/50HP Herrscher Charge: 2 “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” counters with Precious Blood Shed For You. Counter roll: 2 – unsuccessful

And little for retalliation. Elysia hums, pleased with herself as she ducks away unscathed. The end of her weapon is planted firmly to the ground, and with a smile she awaits the splitting of the sky to punctuate it.

[1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) misses “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 2/50HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 2+2 = 4 “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” counters with Precious Blood Shed For You. Counter roll: 1 – successful ELYSIA (10/10HP) is inflicted with Carousal of Revelry.

It does not come, no cracks in the glass or burst of starlight. The slightest of frowns crosses her face, remains as she taps her staff to the stone floor once more. Nothing-- Elysia sighs.

"A shame~" Her head shakes once. "You two can finish it off, surely!"

@crimsondragcn, @thecharmonydove

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬.

GHAbyssApril2025 |⠀team four⠀|⠀floor two.

[aevitium]

"Doesn't seem so," Elysia chirps to Sunday's remark, eyeing the still-breathing Mydei with an appreciative hum. It takes impressive resolve to stand before death and not falter. It is a cruel punishment. She wonders if, for him, it is one or the other. If it is both.

The last of her allies to act, Ego hums as she raises her weapon. These new foes are strange, stranger yet than those that they had seen only moments ago.

ELYSIA (10/10HP) rolls 4 energy. [2 energy] ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 39.5/50HP with Infinite Helix. Roll: 4+2 = 6, -2.5HP – Melt! -3.5HP – Benison of Paper and Rites! -5.5HP  –   “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 34/50HP “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” is affected by Pristine Seed! -3.5HP to surrounding enemies: (Melt!)  “PAST CONFINED AND CAGED” 40/50HP, (Melt!) “TOMORROW IN HARMONIOUS CHORDS” 35.5/50 HP “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” is affected by Pristine Seed and cannot counterattack.

Flowers begin to bud along the odd, metallic limbs of the thing before her. Crystalline flora grows as though the steel is its soil, curls thorned roots in joints and pulls taut. Ego readies another, whistles as she lets it fly.

[2 energy] ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 34/50HP with Infinite Helix. Roll: 6+2 = 8, -2.5HP  –   “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” 31.5/50HP “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” is already affected by Pristine Seed! -1HP to surrounding enemies:  “PAST CONFINED AND CAGED” 39/50HP, “TOMORROW IN HARMONIOUS CHORDS” 34.5/50 HP “PRESENT INEBRIATED IN REVELRY” is affected by Pristine Seed and cannot counterattack.

And it blossoms all the same. Satisfied, she nods her head.

"Are you quite alright over there?" Fanning a cloud of sweet smoke from her face, pale eyes flit to their not-so-fallen comrade. Unlike herself (and Lingsha) he had hardly needed to wait at all to stand back up. "You weren't out but a heartbeat! Shouldn't you rest?"

@mydcimos, @crimsondragcn

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬.

GHAbyssApril2025 |⠀team four⠀|⠀floor two.

[aevitium]

"Hm? Oh, I must have fallen asleep~"

And with the way that she rises, such may as well be true. Elysia smooths her hair, humming to herself as she takes in the scene around them. Indeed, it has changed-- there are still the same allies, still the same stars, but the creatures before them are... most different. Her allies waste no time, it seems.

With a cant of her head towards Lingsha, Ego laughs. "I suppose I'll have to stick around, then."

ELYSIA (10/10HP) rolls 5 energy [2 energy] ELYSIA (10/10HP) uses Radiant Destiny and enters Herrscher of Origin form until end of round

With a flourish of her hand, Origin transforms the world once more. The sea welcomes her, carries her across its constellations as new stars take shape from her staff. They glitter as they arc towards their targets, brilliant light in a hundred pale colors.

[1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) critically hits WINDER GOON: 19/25HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 19, -2HP, Melt activates, 3HP, Benison of Paper and Rites activates, -4HP  –  WINDER GOON: 15/25HP Herrscher Charge: 1 WINDER GOON cannot counter attack because Charging. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits WINDER GOON: 15/25HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 5, -1HP – WINDER GOON: 14/25HP Herrscher Charge: 2 WINDER GOON cannot counter attack because Charging. [1 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits WINDER GOON: 15/25HP with Shattered Transience. Roll: 5, -1HP – WINDER GOON: 13/25HP Herrscher Charge: 3 WINDER GOON cannot counter attack because Charging.

"You know, I'm not to sure I like these new friends. The last ones were much cuter..."

A sigh as she falls back, legs crossed where she floats in the air. Fingers thrum idly against her staff, counting, anticipating--

[0 energy]  ELYSIA (10/10HP) uses Waltz of Stars and hits all enemies, -1HP (Melt!) BUBBLE HOUND A: 14.5/18HP, (Melt!) BUBBLE HOUND B: 15.5/18HP, (Melt!) FORTUNE SELLER: 10/13HP, (Melt!) MR. DOMESCREEN: 14/17HP, (Melt!) SPRING LOADER: 10.5/13HP, WINDER GOON: 12/25HP MR. DOMESCREEN is set to Surprise Channel.

From below rises Origin's Spirit, leaping towards their foes as though merely playing amongst the waves. It crashes against them, sends them scattering about, only to return once more beneath the tide. Elysia hums her goodbye once more.

"I hope you all didn't miss me too much~" A glance to each ally. "Shall we make quick work of these ones, too?"

@crimsondragcn @mydcimos @thecharmonydove

wishes further away

SPIRAL ABYSS , TEAM 4 : FLOOR 1 .

[aevitium]

The bird-chatter of bickering is but music to Ego's ears, it is as though she might close her eyes and will the Flame-chasers so near to touch. Pay no mind to how her body has begun to scream in protest, how angry burns shatter her porcelain skin, gnawing away at her veil faster than Honkai can mend it.

There is euphoria to this, to pain. A sensation belonging to something with a heart that beats to feel it.

"I'd say our guardian angel is doing quite well~" She chirps, not a note astray. "That creature of yours, does it have a name? It's adorable!"

Returned to Human, Ego's hands are once more occupied with a bow. She makes no small show of remembering its existence, evidently amused with her own joke as she draws it once more.

"I only hope you don't mind sharing the spotlight, Miss Lingsha!"

ELYSIA 2/10HP rolls 5 energy [2 energy] ELYSIA (10/10HP) hits CRYO HILICHURL GRENADIER (2.5/15HP) with Infinite Helix. Roll: 8, Benison of Paper and Rites activates, -2HP  –  CRYO HILICHURL GRENADIER: 0.5/15HP -1HP to surrounding enemies:BLAZING AXE MITACHURL: 5.5/25HP CRYO HILICHURL GRENADIER is affected by Pristine Seed. CRYO HILICHURL GRENADIER cannot counterattack. PRAYER FOR WINDS roll: 1 – -1HP, ELYSIA: 1/10HP

Her arrow erupts, a thousand shards like sakura petals as they shatter and drift to the ground beneath them, its target squabbling in pain. Elysia thinks to feel bad for it, sighing sympathetically as its weapon clatters to the stone beneath them, hands grasping frantically for too many wounds.

She finds her own ache, feels where her limbs are beginning to protest. Elysia has known death, has known fates worse. She does not fear Finality, even if she wishes that she might.

Fingers weave another rose, draw it on a spider's silk string. It will be quick, painless. It will be a kindness. It-

[2 energy] ELYSIA (1/10HP) misses CRYO HILICHURL GRENADIER (0.5/15HP) with Infinite Helix. Roll: 3 CRYO HILICHURL GRENADIER cannot counterattack.

Her arm jerks, the tension too much for her to control, the rose a harmless flower where is disappears into nothing. Elysia's eyes widen, surprised.

PRAYER FOR WINDS roll: 1 – -1HP, ELYSIA: 0/10HP

Origin knows its end before it arrives in the press of cool stone to her cheek, in the slow darkening of the sky around her. WIth a hum, she allows it, lets the ache seep from her hollow bones into the ground. In its absence, she begins to drift.

"Don't mind... me..." There is a smile on her lips, her voice as though she is in a dream.

ELYSIA is defeated!

@mydcimos

wishes further away

SPIRAL ABYSS , TEAM 4 : FLOOR 1 .