Naganohara Fireworks Store.
Yoimiya stared wide-eyed at the photo that had just appeared inside the diary.
"Su Xuan actually went to Tenshukaku… Look at that angle—he's definitely in the air!"
"So that's why he managed to go from Inazuma City to Ritou and back in a single night…"
But even if he could fly—
That didn't justify challenging the Shogun.
She rushed toward the door, ready to run outside and look toward Tenshukaku—
—when the diary suddenly flared with light.
A projection screen unfolded above it on its own.
Just like the diary was reacting to a major event.
Only… the projection had no sound.
Only the image.
A solitary figure appeared in the projection.
"That's… Su Xuan…"
Rumble—
As Su Xuan was preparing to descend toward Tenshukaku, thunder cracked overhead.
The clear skies of Inazuma darkened instantly, swallowed by a vast violet storm.
The thunder roared like the fury of a god, sending civilians scrambling into shelter.
Lightning surged upward.
A lithe silhouette appeared atop the roof of Tenshukaku.
"Outlander," the Raiden Shogun spoke, voice cold enough to freeze bone.
"Your journey ends here."
She looked at Su Xuan floating in the air.
"You—who arrived from beyond this world, bearing power from beyond this world—"
"Are the enemy of Eternity."
The tri-fold tomoe whirled to life behind her.
Lightning erupted from her body, lancing into the heavens.
Purple brilliance flared so bright it was impossible to look directly at her.
A sword rose—drawn from nothingness itself.
Su Xuan narrowed his eyes.
Outlander. Journey. Power beyond the world.
He understood.
He quietly formed a psychic barrier over his entire body.
He also noted that the Shogun did not have a diary copy on her.
So Ei must have shared it with her from within the Plane of Euthymia.
A puppet could share the journal because the mind behind it was Ei herself.
[The expressionless being before me is the puppet created by Raiden Ei to uphold Eternity.]
[The Raiden Shogun as the public knows her.]
[A being who does not consider consequences—only the preservation of Eternity.]
[The Vision Hunt Decree and Sakoku Decree harming Inazuma were never part of her calculations.]
[Right now is no different.]
[She will not consider the destruction our battle might cause.]
[She only knows that I am a threat.]
[Therefore, I must be erased.]
[Even Ei herself likely cannot stop her in this moment.]
[However, the Shogun's technique is no different from Ei's own.]
[So the test result will be the same.]
[Still—credit where it's due. The Shogun does have one major virtue.]
[For example…]
[milk-scented one-strike.jpg]
All the women reading:
"…Seriously!?"
So the whole reason he wanted to "test blades"—
was to take that picture?!
"Enemy of Eternity," the Shogun declared, lifting her blade high.
"In Inazuma—your journey ends."
In the blink of an eye—
Lightning flashed to Su Xuan's side.
His barrier rippled like water.
She did not hesitate.
She swung—
Musou no Hitotachi.
Purple brilliance split the sky.
Her figure and Su Xuan passed through each other.
Then—
A pillar of lightning swallowed Su Xuan completely.
BOOM— BOOM— BOOM—
Thunder raged. Lightning writhed like serpents across the heavens.
The earth trembled.
All Inazuma quailed.
Watching through their diary projections—
no one spoke.
Anyone else struck by that would have been vaporized instantly.
Liyue — Jade Chamber.
Ningguang, Keqing, and Ganyu exchanged looks.
Ningguang tapped her diary lightly.
"Our copy remains. Meaning—"
"Look!" Keqing gasped. "He's fine!"
Sure enough—
Su Xuan still stood there.
Unburned. Unfazed.
"He took a god's strike… head-on…"
"What is this ability…?"
As the thunder faded, the Shogun sensed something behind her.
She turned.
Su Xuan stood exactly where he had been.
Unscathed.
She paused—
and then her eyes closed.
Purple light flickered.
When they opened—
It was Ei who was looking at him now.
"I am curious," she said quietly.
"What is this power you wield?"
Su Xuan blinked.
The puppet would never speak.
Which meant—
Ei had switched consciousness.
"Yes," Ei answered his unspoken thought with a nod.
She had attempted earlier to pull him into the Plane of Euthymia—
and failed.
So she persuaded the puppet:
To face power from beyond the world is also a test of the heart of Eternity.
Only then did she emerge to speak.
Su Xuan exhaled lightly.
"I'm not sure how to explain this clearly," he said.
"You can think of it as a power born from will—a force that allows one to control everything around them with their mind."
"A superpower, essentially."
Ei fell silent.
"…A power born purely of spirit. I understand now."
"No wonder you withstood Musou no Hitotachi.
And no wonder I could not draw you into the Plane of Euthymia."
"Your will… is not weaker than mine. Nor hers."
Musou no Hitotachi's power was not simply strength—
It was the embodiment of the wielder's resolve.
"If your resolve matches ours," Ei murmured,
"then the blade cannot erase you."
Su Xuan smiled.
"Good. I've tried the puppet's strike."
"Since you're out—"
"Let me try yours."
"And I'll show you what psychokinesis can really do."
"Come on. Let's change locations."