EN | An encounter she will never forget | ᴄʜɪʟᴜᴍɪ

11 - Ruin hunter and chopsticks' war

And so Lumine found herself near Qingxu Pool, far to the west of Liyue Harbor, in the company of the Eleventh Harbinger and her companion of the first day. She had agreed with Katheryne earlier to get rid of a Ruin Hunter. Since they had left the city, Paimon and Childe had each stood on one side of Lumine, not changing places once, certainly as a token of protection, but Lumine couldn't take it anymore. She understood that they were worried, but she wanted to breathe. Once the target was in sight at a safe distance, Lumine stopped.

"I'll take care of him. Childe, no interference, understand?"

Childe stopped to look at her, doubtful and sulky.

"Unless I'm in a near-death situation, of course," she added to reassure him.

"Okay, but I won't hesitate to intervene in that situation," he warned her.

Paimon popped out of sight as the duo approached the Ruin Hunter. It was a flying machine that seemed to come from another time and was driven by a demonic will of its own.

When the enemy spotted them, Lumine glanced at Childe who was moving slightly away so as not to be caught in the fight.

Perfect, I can finally let off steam!

Lumine drew her sword and ran in the direction of her opponent, who was ready to fight. With his drill-like right arm, he struck a blow from the right where Lumine was standing. She dodged with a step backward, followed by an attack as the enemy was recharging. However, his hull was too hard to be broken by a single blow, and her sword ricocheted.

It doesn't look like it's going to be that easy. It's going to take me longer to disable him.

She glanced back at Childe, who kept his eyes on her, tense, his bow in his hand.

Well, let's get serious.

Lumine took a deep breath as her enemy repositioned himself in front of her to attack. Without him being able to make a move, Lumine propelled herself against him, increasing her movement speed with her Anemo power. Her sword slammed violently into the enemy's hull, leaving a gash with a deafening sound of clashing metal. The backlash threw Lumine backward. She landed on her feet and looked up to see the Ruin Hunter only a few feet away, ready to launch another assault. This time, his position had changed. He was going to charge in her direction instead of throwing a horizontal punch. Lumine managed to get out of his way before he reached her. Jumping at the chance, she struck again at the enemy's back as he recovered from his charged attack.

However, the Ruin Hunter turned violently, hitting the Traveler in the right leg. The blow wasn't powerful enough to hurt her, but enough to make her lose her balance. She fell backward as the enemy prepared to strike like a spinning-top launched at full speed. When she realized that the opponent was coming in a second, Lumine gathered all her strength to jump to the side in a roll, out of the way of the Ruin Hunter.

Once stopped, the enemy had moved away from Lumine and automatically switched to long-range mode. He rose into the air high above her and began to load the missiles he would send at the Traveler.

Shit.

Lumine got up as quickly as she could, running for cover while she used her power to rise to his level. However, she didn't have time to implement this strategy when she saw the Ruin Hunter fall back, stunned and marked by a blue shape resembling three petals of a flower.

Once on the ground, Lumine took the opportunity to launch her final, fatal assault. She bent down to retrieve the materials he had left behind, then turned back to Childe.

"I told you not to intervene unless my life depended on it," she told him dryly.

"I really thought you weren't going to be able to dodge, so I just shot an arrow without thinking," he said with an unusually serious expression.