"Are you saying... within the Genshin Impact module, there exists a monster bearing the name of Beelzebul?"
The moment the question cleared her lips, Yae Miko seemed to undergo a total revitalization. Her amethyst eyes sparkled with dazzling brilliance, and her entire frame brimmed with vibrant, radiant energy, looking for all the world like a spirit who had just bathed in a sacred spring.
The revelation was clearly the most delightful news she had heard in decades.
"Not a monster named Beelzebul, but the Raiden Shogun. And beyond her, Morax."
Ryen offered an easy, amused chuckle. The clarification only caused the shrine maiden's ears to perk up higher.
"A monster as well?"
"How should I frame it?"
Ryen gathered his thoughts, his lips curving into a wry, knowing smile.
"It would be more accurate to state that within the operational rules of this module, Morax functions as a supreme world boss."
"More crucially..."
Ryen paused, deliberately drawing out the suspense. Seeing Yae Miko gazing up at him with uncharacteristic, ravenous thirst for knowledge, he savored the moment before continuing.
"Slaying Morax, the Raiden Shogun, and their kin yields an ocean of exquisite spoils. Those very drops are mandatory reagents required to unlock the progression ceiling of the Genshin Impact module."
"To put it plainly: if our alliance wishes to master this system and push its combat arts to their apex, our warriors must hunt down Morax and those world bosses repeatedly, precisely like slaying the Ender Dragon."
"Furthermore, Morax and the Shogun are merely the vanguard."
"On the roster, we also have Azhdaha, Dvalin, Tartaglia, Scaramouche, Rosalyne, Venti, and the Tsaritsa..."
As Ryen counted off the illustrious names one by one, the shrine maiden grew visibly more breathless. The silken fur of her pink fox tail, resting in Ryen's grip, bristled until it was completely puffed up like a plume.
Ryen watched her with sparkling eyes, pitching his voice into a hushed, conspiratorial murmur.
"How do you suppose they will react when they discover that expanding their sovereign module requires repeatedly putting down their very own doubles to harvest materials?"
Yae Miko sprang straight up from the silk mattress, throwing her arms around Ryen's neck and rubbing her cheek against his chest in unbridled ecstasy.
She had naturally anticipated exceptional amusement; an eye for drama was her innate gift, and the subtle, mischievous flicker in Ryen's eyes earlier had told her everything she needed to know.
She had expected high comedy.
Yet her wildest calculations had fallen hopelessly short of this historic, earth-shattering circus.
Imagining the look upon Zhongli's dignified face when this truth struck his ears, or the pure, paralyzed horror that would seize the sovereigns.
The sheer entertainment value was beyond calculation.
The prospect of such a continent-wide spectacle of mortification made her chest ache with joy; she had to bite her lip tightly, terrified that letting her guard down for a single breath would see her burst into helpless, hysterical laughter the next time she looked at Ei.
"Darling!"
Having vented a fraction of her wild excitement, Yae Miko pressed her face against his neck, raining soft, breathless kisses along his jawline.
"You are a peerless genius! I adore you to death!"
Ryen lifted his chin with quiet, smug pride.
"Did I not tell you? You and I are an absolute, destined match."
"I hold one vital inquiry," Yae Miko purred, pulling back slightly to fix him with an intensely focused, burning stare.
"Within that module... does there exist a monster modeled after me?"
A subtle tremor of tension laced her tone. Watching such excruciating embarrassment unfold before others was a spectacle she could celebrate for a hundred years.
Yet if she were turned into a farmable world boss, the comedy would sour in an instant.
Fortunately, Ryen reached up, gently tapping the tip of her small nose with an amused smirk.
"Rest easy. Neither you nor sweet Ganyu appear on the bounty boards."
Yae Miko let out a long, quiet breath of relief, though a fleeting flicker of disappointment followed hard upon its heels.
Tartaglia and the high-and-mighty Archons had earned their own boss domains, while she had been passed over.
Could it be that the module considered her standing insufficient?
The stray thought lingered for barely a heartbeat before she crushed it without mercy.
She silently scolded herself for courting such foolish pride.
A public execution of dignity was hardly a competition worth winning.
Who in their right mind would scramble to enter a contest where the prize was total humiliation?
Patting her chest to steady her breath, Yae Miko let out a contented sigh.
"Splendid. Had a creature bearing my likeness walked those plains, and had you dared strike it down with your own hands, I would have barred you from touching my bed for a century."
She paused, her eyes widening as another realization struck.
"Furthermore, those world bosses... Morax and the others... they are all shaped like blocky voxel figures, aren't they?"
Ryen's smile widened until his eyes narrowed into crescents, giving an emphatic nod.
Receiving his confirmation, Yae Miko bounded upward in sheer, unrestrained glee.
"Perfection!"
Her slender frame dove back down, burying herself against his chest like an unruly kitten.
Such childish, unreserved abandon offered a vivid display of her boundless delight.
It matched her temperament entirely.
This clever fox cared little for dry pursuits: supreme combat might, endless treasury reserves, boundless territorial frontiers.
To her soul, the true spice of immortal existence lay in the infinite, delightful absurdities the world had to offer.
The roster of bosses introduced by the Genshin Impact module promised to supply her personal laughter reserves for years to come.
She peppered Ryen's cheeks with a flurry of rapid, joyful kisses, stamping her affection across every inch of his skin.
"To think that Makoto and Ei will come face to face with a blocky Raiden Shogun, or that Zhongli will have to cross spears with a square Morax! The thought alone makes my chest thrum with joy!"
"Exquisite! Utterly exquisite!"
"I can scarcely endure the wait to see their expressions!"
Ryen chuckled, stroking the soft curve of her head to soothe her racing pulse.
"You truly are a wicked fox. Deriving your greatest earthly pleasure from the public embarrassment of your closest companions; how cruel can you be?"
Yae Miko lifted her chin with a proud, elegant huff.
"Only such wickedness makes me worthy of standing beside you. Besides, I am merely an innocent bystander enjoying the play; I was not the architect who compiled the module."
"The debt belongs to the creator. If they seek someone to hold accountable, their blades must point toward you!"
Settling comfortably against his shoulder, her eyes half-closed in bliss, Yae Miko guided Ryen's roaming hand toward her silken sash.
Moments later, feeling his fingers drifting down toward uncharted ground, signaling that the skirmish was rapidly approaching its climax, Yae Miko suddenly clamped her hand over his wrist, turning a remarkably serious gaze upon him.
"Darling, there is one more concession you must promise me..."
Catching the pure, unadulterated mischief twinkling behind her pupils, Ryen grasped her design in a single heartbeat.
Before she could frame the petition, Ryen cleared his throat with great ceremony, adopting an unyielding, righteous posture.
"Out of the question! How could we possibly permit Rex Lapis and his peers to personally execute their own digital counterparts?"
"It would be profoundly immoral, and thoroughly discourteous!"
Yae Miko's expression faltered, a wounded pout forming upon her lips. Yet catching the twitch of suppressed laughter pulling at his mouth, she realized instantly that he had not finished his speech.
Patience was rewarded; when it came to orchestrating mischief, Ryen never disappointed her.
"The Genshin Impact module harmonizes flawlessly with our armies, carrying monumental strategic necessity, meaning its full-scale harvesting is non-negotiable."
"Progress demands friction against hostiles, and these world bosses must not only be defeated, but cleared repeatedly on a massive scale."
Yae Miko nodded eagerly like an obedient feline, hanging on his every word.
Ryen straightened his collar, his cadence turning entirely solemn.
"I have determined our operational doctrine!"
"To spare Zhongli and the Archons the awkwardness of crossing blades with their own likenesses, and to prevent diplomatic friction born of foreign courts hunting another nation's sovereign..."
"I propose deploying Xiao and the illuminated adepti to routinely hunt down Morax and Azhdaha."
"Makoto and Kujou Sara shall lead the strike teams assigned to pacify the Raiden Shogun."
"Tartaglia shall farm Scaramouche, Scaramouche shall hunt Rosalyne, Rosalyne shall raid the Tsaritsa, and the Tsaritsa shall return to hunt down Tartaglia..."
"As for Venti and Dvalin... Master Diluc and the knights will surely volunteer for the honor with exceptional zeal!"
"Every detail serves logical, balanced military expansion. My strategic considerations are truly without flaw!"
"What is your assessment?"
Ryen looked down at her with a gentle, radiant beam. The final shred of doubt vanished from Yae Miko's heart.
As expected: when confronted with top-tier comedy, her partner possessed zero conscience whatsoever.
Staring at him with dark, shimmering eyes, she let out a slow, breathless murmur.
"Darling... has anyone ever informed you that your soul is wicked to the core?"
Ryen shrugged with complete innocence.
"Do you dislike it?"
"I adore it to the depths of my soul!"
Yae Miko sat upright in a single, fluid motion, letting her layered shrine maiden robes slip gracefully to the floorboards.
"To reward your flawless resonance with my heart, and to express my gratitude for unveiling this magnificent secret in advance, I have resolved to dedicate my entire being to ensuring your absolute pleasure this afternoon!"
"Lie back! Leave the vanguard to me!"
"Whatever your heart desires today, it shall be granted without condition!"
"Accept your well-earned tribute!"
Ryen chuckled, declining to stand on ceremony as he leaned back against the headboard, watching her take command.
The shrine maiden commanded plenty of fiery enthusiasm for the opening moves, yet at her foundation, she possessed modest physical endurance.
Once her initial stamina bled away, the battlefield would naturally revert to his control.
He had originally entertained the notion of lacing his fingers behind his head, adopting the detached, relaxed posture of a grand master watching the storm unfold.
Yet watching her determined, swaying efforts, his hands refused to remain disciplined.
After a brief, token hesitation, his palms drifted smoothly toward the delicate curves where they rightfully belonged.
As an authentic connoisseur of entertainment, Ryen understood her ecstasy down to his bones.
A spectacle of cascading, inescapable embarrassment of this magnitude was a treasure that could sustain a trickster for a century.
Worse still, to ensure the uninterrupted flow of essential module reagents, Zhongli and the sovereigns would have zero choice but to hold their noses and march into the arenas to slay themselves week after week.
Picturing the grim, agonizing swallows of pride across their faces as they struck down their own blocky doubles, Yae Miko felt an overwhelming rush of warmth rising through her veins.
Ryen sensed the shift immediately.
Having expended her energy leaping about in wild excitement earlier, her pace had already begun to slacken.
Ryen looked down at her with a teasing smirk.
"You claimed you would conquer the field single-handedly, yet you are trembling after barely five minutes?"
Yae Miko shot him a breathless, defiant glare, choosing silence over excuses.
Ryen held no desire to push her frail frame to exhaustion, and more importantly, such a languid tempo offered modest satisfaction.
Taking firm hold of her slender waist, he smoothly flipped their positions, claiming absolute dominion over the room as Yae Miko let out a soft, contented sigh, her eyes narrowing into drowsy crescents.
"Intriguing spectacles... will forever remain the supreme pursuit of life."
"Across boundless cosmos, mortal wealth, martial supremacy, sovereign thrones... all are fleeting, finite trifles unworthy of absolute devotion."
"Only genuine amusement stands as the authentic, immortal treasure of existence."
"It is the singular magic that compels an immortal soul to fall deeper in love with the world across the endless passage of millennia."
Ryen nodded in profound, solemn concurrence.
"We truly are perfectly matched companions wandering the path toward the ultimate meaning of life."
"Would Daoist partners not serve as a more poetic title?"
Yae Miko tilted her face upward, her slender fingers reaching out to cup his cheek with an adoring smile.
Ryen let out a soft laugh, resting his forehead against hers without offering further debate.
Their souls plunged wholly into the warm tide of the afternoon, fueled by burning anticipation for the twin custom modules awaiting them at the conclusion of the cataclysm.
That delicious expectation served as potent kindling, stoking the fire between them to brilliant heights.
They had agreed to rest during the afternoon to ward off the descent of Phantoms.
Yet at their current velocity, catching a wink of sleep before dusk was an absolute impossibility.
Since rest was out of the question, Ryen let the flames burn without restraint.
On that exact afternoon, far across the district, Zhongli and the allied commanders had just concluded their post-siege evaluations, calculating the escalating ferocity of the next Blood Moon while laboring beneath the sun to erect defensive bulwarks.
Without warning, an inexplicable, bone-chilling shiver crawled from the depths of their marrow.
Every sovereign looked around the stone yard, gripped by a profound, nameless dread that seemed to emanate from the very fabric of the cosmos.