Inside the heart of Tenshukaku, the Raiden Shogun opened her eyes.
She felt it. A disturbance. Not a ripple in the elements—there was no vision, no gnosis, no elemental energy involved.
It was a raw, physical pressure that had momentarily parted the sea and shattered the silence of her islands.
It was a threat to Eternity.
In a flash of purple light, she vanished from her throne room.
Ren landed on a grassy plain just outside the city gates, his sneakers leaving small craters in the dirt.
He was busy dusting off his hoodie when the air began to hum again—this time, with malice.
He saw a woman floating in the air,.
"Hi there miss! Uhm, I think I'm lost.
You wouldn't happen to have a map or a phone I could borrow, would you?"
He stopped.
Standing before him was the woman from Rin's wall.
The long braided hair, the purple kimono, the cold, lifeless eyes that looked like they were carved from amethyst.
"Wait... you're that woman from my brother's wall! Raiden something, was it?" Ren grinned, his natural playfulness bubbling up despite the terrifying aura she radiated.
"That means I'm in my brother's game. This is wild. I'm actually in 'Genshin'."
The Shogun didn't speak.
She drew a blade from thin air—a standard katana, not the glowing one from her chest—and stepped forward.
"Wait, wait!" Ren held up his hands.
"I don't have one of those 'Vision' things, but I'm not blind, I swear! I can see you just fine. You're actually way prettier in person, though you look like you really need a snickers or a nap."
The Shogun's eyes narrowed.
"An anomaly. You possess no ambition, yet you wield the power to disrupt the stillness. You are an exception. And exceptions must be eliminated."
She moved faster than Ren's eyes could follow. One moment she was ten feet away; the next, her blade was whistling toward his neck.
"Woah! What did I do? Is it about that rock? Sorry, but it was an accident!"
Ren ducked, the blade passing over his head with a crackle of electricity.
He moved purely on instinct, his new body reacting before his brain could.
He danced back, dodging a flurry of strikes that left scorched marks on the ground.
"Stop moving!" she commanded, her voice like a clap of thunder. She lunged, her blade glowing with a fierce purple light.
Ren panicked. As she came at him, he put his hands out to push her away, just wanting some breathing room.
"Hey, watch it!"
He didn't mean to use strength. He just meant to nudge her.
But 'Ren's nudge' was now equivalent to being hit by a freight train.
His palms connected with her shoulders. The sound was like a cannon firing.
The Raiden Shogun, the unstoppable ruler of Inazuma, was launched backward.
She flew through the air, crashing through a thicket of trees and slamming into the base of a cliffside with enough force to cause a small rockslide.
Ren stood there, his hands still extended, his jaw hitting the floor.
"Oi... oi... I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to push that hard!"
He ran toward the dust cloud, coughing as he cleared away the debris.
He found her slumped against the broken rock.
Her kimono was torn, her hair was a mess, and most shockingly, she was out cold. Her breathing was shallow, but she was alive.
"Oh man, Rin is going to kill me. I just broke the Raiden of something."
He knelt down, looking at her face.
Up close, without the terrifying glow in her eyes, she looked... peaceful. And incredibly beautiful.
"Woah... she really is something else. But I can't just leave her here in the dirt. If her guards find her like this, they'll probably execute me. And if I leave her, she might get eaten by a slime or something."
Ren sighed, shaking his head.
"Better carry her and find somewhere safe till she regains consciousness. Maybe I can explain that I'm just a guy who likes pizza and accidentally became Saitama."
He gently lifted her up.
She was surprisingly light, or maybe he was just that strong. He slung her over his back, her head resting against his shoulder.
He started walking away from the city, heading toward the deeper forests where the trees might hide them.
"Okay, Ren. Step one: Find a cave. Step two: Don't get struck by lightning. Step three: Try not to fall in love with the woman who just tried to decapitate you. Easy."