"Barbatos, Morax... you two… why are you here?"
Ei hesitated, holding the dessert in her hands.
Should she just… throw it away?
The sweet aroma drifting through the air, the glossy surface that looked so delicious — it felt like a crime to waste it.
But eating it right in front of them? That would be embarrassing!
"Well, we're just traveling with our companions for a while," Venti said with an awkward grin, scratching the back of his head. "Thought we'd stop by and visit some old friends. You don't have to mind us."
In truth, he'd been tricked and dragged here as a glorified errand boy by a pair of troublemakers.
At first, he'd worried that Nagami and Seele — two beings whose powers resembled Celestia's.
Might pose a danger to the world, so he foolishly volunteered to "keep an eye" on them.
Easily one of the dumbest decisions he'd made in a thousand years.
He basically walked right into the fire pit on his own.
And Zhongli?
He was probably just caught up in the Traveler's schemes too.
Venti glanced at Ei — or Beelzebul, as she was properly called — her eyes darting between them and the cake, looking conflicted.
His own eyes narrowed mischievously.
Heh. No way were he and Zhongli going to be the only ones tricked by Nagami and Lumine.
Ei was a god too — she deserved to be pulled into this mess.
As the two Archons exchanged a silent look, a message passed between them.
Zhongli crossed his arms, rubbing his chin as if seriously contemplating Venti's unspoken suggestion.
"Beelzebul — or rather, I should call you Ei — the ones standing before you now are not gods," Zhongli said, opening his palm calmly.
"We're merely mortal identities, Zhongli and Venti. What we're doing now doesn't represent divine will, but the will of our… companions."
In other words — let's throw the blame on someone else.
"Companions…?"
Ei's gaze turned toward Nagami and Lumine standing side by side.
She tried to recall any ancient beings who might have earned such respect from both Morax and Barbatos — but nothing came to mind.
They must be recent acquaintances then.
Though, from the perspective of immortals, "recent" could still mean centuries ago.
"My dear old friend," came a soft, honeyed voice. "If you really don't want to throw the cake away, you might as well eat it. It's delicious, you know. And it looks tiring to just stand there holding it."
Yae Miko approached gracefully, her smile a perfect mix of three parts gentle, seven parts sincere, and ten parts devilish mischief.
'This woman…!'
Ei took a deep breath and clenched her fists.
She'd remember this later.
For a brief, irrational moment, she wanted to smash the cake right into Miko's smug, porcelain face.
But then… the warm scent of wheat and cream filled her senses, and her resolve crumbled.
Turning her back to Yae's amused gaze, Ei began nibbling at the cake in tiny, reluctant bites.
'As Archon should set an example,' she told herself sternly. 'Wasting food is absolutely unacceptable!'
"Mmph… it's so good…"
The soft, sweet flavor melted across her tongue — the kind of taste that no dessert from a thousand years ago could ever compare to.
It might just be the most delicious thing she'd ever eaten in her divine life.
As the rich, creamy sweetness spread through her mouth, her irritation faded, her guard slightly lowered… though her curiosity grew even deeper.
"Lady Ei," Nagami finally spoke, "you must be aware of the Vision Hunt Decree, right? Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Nagami, and this is Lumine."
His tone carried none of the reverence mortals usually showed to gods.
It was calm, casual — as if he were speaking to any other person.
No wonder Morax regarded him as a trusted companion.
"Of course I know," Ei replied coolly. "Everything concerning Eternity is known to me. The decree was issued by the Shogun for the sake of preserving Eternity — with my approval."
Having finished her cake, Ei returned to her usual icy composure.
She gazed at Nagami, who was walking toward her with unwavering confidence, and activated her divine perception to examine him more closely.
The aura around him was strange — powerful.
The kind that could unsettle even Archon.
Sensing her sharp gaze focused on his hand, Nagami gave her a gentle, apologetic smile.
"I only invoked Musou Isshin to awaken you from your meditation," he said sincerely. "I meant no disrespect, Lady Ei."
'Then would you kindly put that damn sword down already?!'
Ei's eye twitched as she stared at the boy's calm smile, watching his hand glide casually along the blade.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly as Musou Isshin pulsed with her growing frustration — arcs of lightning crackling through the air.
But then, as Nagami called upon the power of the Herrscher within him, the thunder along the blade slowly faded away.
"This energy… it's— Celestia?"
Feeling the familiar yet distorted resonance of divine order, Ei's pupils shrank sharply.
Venti, watching from the side, nodded in satisfaction.
Looks like Nagami followed his plan perfectly.
"Alright, I get it now," Nagami said, exhaling. "So aside from the Vision Hunt Decree itself, you actually don't know what's really going on, do you?"
Ignoring her question, he continued, his tone turning a bit more serious.
"Do you have any idea how much your people have lost because of that decree — and your so-called path to Eternity?"
"Of course I know."
The person before her grew more and more mysterious, but when it came to her belief in Eternity, Ei would not waver — even if Nagami truly was connected to Celestia.
"People's wishes are inherently obstacles to Eternity," Ei said firmly. "Chasing those wishes only makes them lose even more. And besides, taking away a Vision doesn't kill its owner."
"Haah…"
Nagami gave a long, complicated sigh, staring at the Raiden Shogun's serious, arms-crossed posture.
You really couldn't expect too much from an immortal shut-in who'd locked herself away for centuries.
Especially not one who spent most of her time swinging a sword.
In the few days he'd spent in Inazuma.
Nagami hadn't stayed cooped up inside the ring's inner space.
If this was supposed to be a "journey," then he was going to travel properly — visiting every corner of the islands.
Along the way, he'd met people who had lost their Visions — and with them, their dreams.
The proud, confident expressions they once had were gone, replaced by confusion and fear.
It only confirmed what Nagami had suspected all along:
Visions weren't just blessings — they were external organs, conduits that channeled elemental power and bound a person's will to their "dream."
Normally, that will — that longing for one's dream — was collected by Celestia as data for its own mysterious systems.
But when Archon forcibly taken a Vision, that link was severed.
And when the Vision left, so too did the will it carried — leaving the person hollow, broken, and lost.
Ei's actions completely contradicted Celestia's intentions.
In theory, she should've been rejected by the divine order.
But the moment she handed her Gnosis to Yae Miko for safekeeping, she'd severed her connection to Celestia entirely.
Come to think of it, Venti had probably surrendered his Gnosis for the same reason — to stop the gods above from disturbing his endless naps.
'Ahem. Anyway…'
That wasn't even the biggest problem with the Vision Hunt Decree.
After all, only a handful of people were ever deemed worthy of a Vision in the first place.
Up until now, the Raiden Shogun had only confiscated ninety-nine of them.
No — the real issue lay elsewhere.
The Vision Hunt Decree and the Sakoku Decree weren't just policies; they were rallying cries.
The Resistance had used them as convenient excuses to stir up rebellion against the Shogun.
From the intel Nagami had gathered, the Resistance wasn't nearly as noble as they pretended to be.
If one thing was clear, it was this: the bigger someone's banner of "justice," the more skeletons they were hiding underneath it.
Sangonomiya Kokomi, the supposed "Divine Priestess" of the Resistance — was probably just a harmless little goldfish swimming in dangerous waters.
They destroyed furnaces and sacred seals, unleashing corrupted energy across the islands.
Villages fell to chaos — people fled, died, or lost their minds.
The battles between the Resistance and the Shogunate, the political feuds between powerful factions — none of them ever stopped to think about the common folk caught in the middle.
The result?
Famine, refugees, and despair — all neatly covered up by the Tenryou and Kanjou Commissions.
Only the Yashiro Commission still tried to help the people.
And now even the Kamisato Clan was starting to lean toward the Resistance's side…
In short, Inazuma was a total mess — hardly the kind of place where Nagami could "enjoy his vacation."
So this… this chaotic disaster was what Ei called "I know everything."
"Yae," Nagami exhaled, "I'll start the persuasion process now, if that's fine with you."
Inside the Mind Realm, the plane of consciousness constructed entirely from Ei's will — defeating her here meant shaking her very beliefs.
Nagami and Lumine moved in perfect sync, reaching through a glowing rift to pull out… oversized sunglasses.
At the signal Nagami had given them earlier, Venti and Zhongli also reached into their robes, pulled out identical sunglasses, and slid them on.
Then, with solemn steps, the four stood side by side in formation — radiating an aura so powerful and dramatic that even the air trembled.
The sight was like watching a cosmic crusade march into battle — blindingly cool and absurdly heroic at the same time.
The sheer confidence oozing from the group made Ei instinctively take a step back.
"Yae… this was your idea, wasn't it?" she asked, gripping her sword tighter and glaring at the fox who simply waved her hand with a playful smile.
"And you two—Barbatos, Morax—are you going to join in as well?"
Her voice wavered slightly. The flickers of lightning in her eyes betrayed the turmoil she felt inside.
She knew full well how powerful these two were. Against one of them, she might stand a chance.
"Cough… well, my power's not even one-tenth of what it used to be," Venti said, waving lazily. "Just think of me as a background character."
That blatant declaration of slacking off earned him a splash of cold water — courtesy of Lumine.
The smile froze on Venti's face, melting into a pitiful pout.
Then, in a blink, he changed form — switching genders in front of everyone like it was nothing.
Ei blinked in disbelief.
Of course she knew Barbatos' true form was a genderless wind spirit, but… transforming that casually in public? Seriously?
"Ei~" Lumine said cheerfully, hands on her hips. "I've got something really nice to show you."
She flicked her sunglasses with one finger, and from the shimmering rift behind her, she pulled out a small, white-backed piece of paper — tossing it lightly toward Ei.
"What's that?"
Venti's smile stiffened. A bad feeling welled up in his chest.
Even Zhongli's brow twitched slightly in concern.
"Well," Lumine explained with a harmless smile, "you've been shut away for so long, you probably don't know. That's called a photo. It's something that captures images from the past. You can think of it as… a kind of alchemical creation~."
"...A photo. Something that records the past," Ei murmured, frowning slightly as she caught the paper spinning through the air.
Whatever this little stunt was, it wouldn't shake her conviction.
Nothing could.
Or so she thought.
But the moment Ei's eyes landed on the image — the instant she saw what was in that photo.
Her violet pupils shrank sharply, and even her braided hair seemed to stand on end.
The entire realm of her consciousness trembled — ripples of shock spreading through her once-still Mind Realm.
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