On a corner of Nazuchi Beach, a wooden boat was slowly drifting near the shore. It seemed to want to dock, but for some reason, it hesitated.
The wooden boat moved back and forth along the shore, looking somewhat like an anxious person pacing.
"Damn it, wasn't it fine recently? Why are they fighting again?"
On the deck, Gui Long looked out at Nazuchi Beach, where flames now soared into the sky and battle cries echoed.
Purple and red intertwined, incompatible with each other, yet together they dyed the shallows and the sea red.
The conflict between the Shogunate Army and the resistance was clear for all Inazuma citizens to see; clashes between them were commonplace.
But in recent days, the conflict between the two sides had intensified, reaching a point where it was almost an all-out offensive.
Initially, Gui Long had considered scaling back his supply lines to protect himself.
Things were still manageable with the resistance; aside from tighter patrols due to the war, nothing much had changed.
However, the Shogunate Army seemed to have a new commander, as even his request for an audience was firmly rejected.
"This is going to lead to big changes," Gui Long thought after observing from the deck for a while, feeling that he was losing control of the situation.
He was originally just a pirate who had grown in the cracks between the Shogunate Army and the resistance. Now that the cracks between the two sides had disappeared, Gui Long suddenly found it incredibly difficult to navigate.
But fortunately, he was all alone, and he had now found a powerful backer!
Walking back into the cabin, Gui Long pulled out a shriveled, thin old finger from his embrace. Upon seeing the severed finger in his hand, Gui Long's expression twisted slightly.
Although as a pirate he had killed people, those were always quick kills, with bodies thrown directly into the sea to feed the fish.
He had never dismembered a body, and he didn't know if this finger was really, as Ember said, something he had picked up.
If Gui Long had witnessed The Lands Between after the elden ring shattered, he probably wouldn't have had such doubts.
Because after the elden ring shattered, The Lands Between was littered with corpses; not to mention fingers, even a Jingguan (pyramid of heads) could be built by picking up bodies.
As for Lordran, sorry, Lordran was so desolate that not many corpses could be seen.
"Ember..." Gui Long's movements paused as he clutched the rough, severed finger.
"How did he write it back then?" Gui Long suddenly realized he had forgotten the runes Ember had written on the ground.
Actually, they weren't runes, but the script of The Lands Between, but for Gui Long, who was a primary school dropout, the script of another world was no different from meaningless scribbles.
Just as Gui Long was sweating profusely from anxiety, the severed finger in his palm suddenly unleashed an astonishing suction force.
This suction compelled his body, little by little, to use the severed finger in his hand to write characters Gui Long had never seen before.
"Buzz—"
Orange-yellow light particles gathered before the newly written characters, eventually forming an entirely orange-yellow phantom.
The phantom slowly rose from the radiance emitted by the runes. It took a step forward, and the orange light on it cracked inch by inch, revealing Ember's true form.
"This... this is it?" Gui Long rubbed his eyes in disbelief, looking at Ember before him.
He had previously received news that Ember and the two "alleged" Harbingers from the Fatui had gone to Tsurumi Island.
Yes, even now, Gui Long still felt that Childe and Balladeer didn't resemble the Harbingers he imagined.
One was simple-minded, the other was more stubborn than a duck's mouth – could these be Harbingers?
"Otherwise? Did you want me to descend from the sky?" Ember raised an eyebrow, arms crossed, and said.
Originally, he had intended to simply conjure a phantom to deal with it, but then he reconsidered. Giving Gui Long the Tarnished's old finger was a contingency plan to prevent Balladeer from misbehaving.
Now that Balladeer had gone to Tsurumi Island, the Tarnished's old finger should have been useless. Who knew Gui Long would actually use it?
Ember figured he must have encountered some major accident, so to be safe, he still came over.
"Never mind, don't worry about it. Let me tell you..."
"I heard it all." Ember waved his hand, pushed open the cabin door, and walked out.
Outside, thick smoke billowed, and the battle between the two sides was still in a stalemate; it seemed this slaughter was far from over.
"What's going on? Are the two sides fighting again?" Ember asked Gui Long upon seeing the situation.
"If I knew, I wouldn't have called you over." Gui Long shook his head; he was also completely bewildered.
"The conflict started intensifying a few days ago. I thought it was just a task from their superiors, something to deal with temporarily."
"Now it looks like it has the momentum of a decisive battle." Gui Long looked towards the distant, brutal battlefield, unable to see clearly. But for some reason, he kept hearing screams in his ears.
He didn't know if it was an illusion or if his hearing was truly astonishing.
"Decisive battle? It certainly looks like one." Ember nodded; this battle was far more brutal than the previous skirmishes.
It was likely the most intense conflict Ember had witnessed since arriving in Inazuma—no, that's not right! It should be the most intense conflict he had witnessed since arriving in this world.
Thinking of this, Ember couldn't help but feel a little emotional. He hadn't realized it before, but once he did, it was startling how peaceful this world truly was.
Wars between nations were almost non-existent; even the current war, at most, was just a civil war.
"Although I don't like to interfere in other people's internal affairs..." Ember said, pulling out the notebook he had been sketching and writing in since arriving in Inazuma.
"But the thought that one of these two groups of 'nobodies' might win makes my heart ache."
Scanning the long list of deductions in the small notebook, Ember felt a lump in his throat.
He had originally thought that at least one of the Shogunate Army or the resistance would have positive points, but in the end, forget positive points, he was too lazy to even write down their deductions.
"I'll be right back!" After saying this to Gui Long, Ember bent his legs, ready to rush to the battlefield.
"Boom!"
"My boat!"
The small wooden boat seemed to have mounted a giant cannon far beyond its tonnage. As it launched Ember like a cannonball, the immense recoil he generated caused it to sway violently from side to side.
Where Ember had stood, a large crater had been opened in the wooden deck. Next to the crater, Gui Long was crying, covering his face... The surrounding scenery became blurred due to Ember's rapid movement, but this did not affect his advance in the slightest.
Flames soared in the battlefield. Amidst the smoke and shouts of killing, everyone's eyes were bloodshot. They merely swung their weapons indiscriminately, hacking every living thing in front of them into pieces.
Only the armor identical to their own could awaken the soldiers' remaining sanity; when facing comrades dressed similarly, their sword-swinging movements would pause slightly.
In this situation, to bring back sanity to those who had lost it, something more inspiring than the war itself was needed, such as the charge bugle of victory... or something that could instantly awaken the deepest fear in people's hearts, like the drumbeat of a rout.
Of course, Ember had neither of these. So, he needed to make a bigger commotion, big enough to force everyone to notice him.
"Whoosh—"
The roar produced by compressed air echoed through the sky, and a bright flash tore through the rising dark smoke, rushing straight towards the center of the battlefield.
"Rumble!"
The flash fell, and a deafening explosion instantly suppressed the shouts of killing on the battlefield.
Every soldier present sobered up, but before they could react, the sweeping airwave completely knocked them all away.
"Cough, cough, cough! In here... it seems there are some familiar faces."
Ember waved his hand to disperse the smoke in front of him. He looked up and around, then saw some familiar figures.
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