Naturally, Sumeru was the region that reacted most violently to this intelligence.
To the ordinary citizens of Sumeru, the news was merely fodder for post-dinner gossip. They marveled at how a human could achieve such a feat and chatted about how gods didn't seem quite so terrifying after all.
However, the Sages of the Sumeru Akademiya felt quite differently.
Grand Sage Azar slammed his fist onto the desk before him. The force was so great that the documents and reports scattered across the surface were sent flying. One must remember that Azar was no warrior or martial artist; he was merely a decrepit, fragile scholar. Such power was a clear indication that his fury had reached its boiling point.
"Liyue... that a mere mortal could go to such lengths!"
"To slay a god... and the one who struck wasn't even the Geo Archon, but a mortal!"
"A mortal!"
"A mortal could do it! But what of our god? What can she do!?"
"If Sumeru were to suffer a crisis like Liyue's one day, what could she possibly contribute?"
"Are we supposed to send her up to fight a god?"
"This won't do... Sumeru cannot continue like this..."
A fierce glint flickered in Azar's eyes as he began to calculate a new plan in his heart.
While Sumeru's reaction bordered on the fanatical, the Palais Mermonia in Fontaine remained exceptionally calmat least on the surface. Neither the Hydro Archon, Furina, nor Chief Justice Neuvillette made any explicit statement regarding the matter. They acted as if they were entirely unaware of it. At least, that was how it appeared to the people of Fontaine.
Late at night, within the Palais Mermonia.
Furina carefully withdrew the intelligence report sent that morning by the secret agents she had planted in Liyue. For five hundred years, she had been searching the continent for a way to resolve or circumvent the prophecy of Fontaine's doom. But her search had yielded nothing.
To outsiders, she was the high-and-mighty Hydro Archon, flamboyant and fond of farce. But that was merely a performance Furina put on for the world. Only she knew that her identity as the Hydro Archon, which she had held since ascending five hundred years ago, was a sham.
She was exhausted from performing in an opera that seemed to have no end, dancing alone on the stage called Fontaine without rest. Only in the deep of night, in this room where she was truly alone, could she shed her disguise, strip away her flamboyance, and briefly return to being herself.
She sat on the floor, a piece of her favorite cake by her side along with a bottle of Fonta. Once she was ready, she finally opened the intelligence report to read it in earnest.
That morning, to maintain her persona, she had feigned total indifference toward the report. After giving a bored reply, she had crumpled the intelligence into a ball and tossed it into the wastepaper basket. As soon as the Melusine messenger had departed, she had scrambled to retrieve it, hiding it close to her body. Only now did she dare to study it carefully.
"What!"
"This report can't be fake, can it?"
"How could a human... how could they possibly do this?"
"Wait... he froze a tsunami? And the ice still hasn't melted!?"
"Freezing... freezing... that's it! If I freeze the surface of the sea, or freeze the water as the sea level rises!"
Furina's clever little mind began to race, and she came up with a "genius" little idea. If she just froze the entire ocean, wouldn't that solve everything?
She didn't stop to consider the difficulty of such a plan, nor whether freezing an ever-rising sea was even realistic.
"According to the report, freezing the tsunami wasn't even this guy's full power. It looks more like he held back because he was afraid of disrupting Liyue's shipping routes!"
"And since he's so strong, he must have other tricks, right? Maybe... maybe he has a way?"
"Whatever, I have to try to know if it'll work... But how can I pull this guy to Fontaine?"
"Wait for him to come on his own?"
"No, no, what if he never comes?"
Furina took a small bite of cake, nibbling on her fork as she muttered, "What if I invite him to Fontaine as a guest in the name of the Hydro Archon?"
"Yes, yes, yes! That's a great idea!"
"Tomorrow, I'll go to Neuvillette and have him handle the formalities to contact the Liyue Qixing."
Furina couldn't help but laugh happily at the thought.
A mortal slaying a god. This was an achievement unheard of even during the Archon War. It was, without a doubt, a massive variable. After Furina had spent five hundred years searching in vain, this felt like the most hopeful lead for a breakthrough yet.
Though she didn't know why, she held immense expectations for this man who existed only as a name on a pagea man for whom she didn't even have a profile photo. However, her smile soon faded back into a look of worry.
"I wonder how much longer these days will last... how much longer the performance must go on."
"The me in the mirror... can you tell me?"
On the other side of the palace, Neuvillette sat staring at a line in his intelligence report that hadn't been highlighted. His expression was solemn.
\[According to observations, the individual currently referred to as the Sword Immortal by the people of Liyue, Su Ming, utilizes a power that does not match any known force on the continent of Teyvat.\]
\[The freezing power he employs is not pure Cryo elemental energy. The ice he creates is ink-black in color and possesses extreme hardness. Liyue workers broke many tools trying to clear the shipping lanes without success.\]
\[Ultimately, they had to utilize the adeptal mechanism known as the Guizhong Ballista to break the ice before the clearing of the floes could proceed smoothly.\]
"A power from outside this world?"
"What do you represent to this world?" Neuvillette mused.
He walked to the window. Dark clouds were beginning to gather in the previously clear sky. Although no rain fell, many citizens who had been out enjoying the sunny day were discouraged by the gloom and began heading home early.
"Sigh... these are troubled times."
"The matter of the prophecy already has clues proving it is not groundless."
"It's just... the current me is still powerless to stop it."
"I hope Lady Furina has her own plans."
Neuvillette glanced toward the direction of Furina's room. Deep down, he knew Furina wasn't as simple as she appeared, but he couldn't see through what she was plotting in the shadows.
As he was lost in thought, a Melusine walked in and said, "Lord Neuvillette, the Fatui Harbinger, The Knave, wishes to see you."
"The Knave? Very well. Ask her to wait for five minutes in the parlor. I will be there shortly."
Inazuma, Tenshukaku.
Despite the Sakoku Decree, Inazuma had obtained this intelligence all the same. After all, isolation did not mean a total severance from the outside worldespecially since Inazuma had only been locked down for two years.
The ninjas of the Shuumatsuban had used unknown channels to obtain information regarding Su Ming, passing it up to their direct superiors in the Yashiro Commission and the Grand Narukami Shrine.
The Raiden Shogun quickly finished reading the report. A faint glimmer suddenly flashed in her usually indifferent eyes. Raiden Ei's consciousness took over the body.
"A human?"
"A human killed a God?"
"This is truly... an unprecedented variable."
"If you do not come to Inazuma, then so be it."
"But if you come..."
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The thunderstorms surrounding the seas of Inazuma became unprecedentedly violent in that instant. Countless bolts of Violet Lightning fell from the heavens, striking the ocean's surface and kicking up massive waves. The sea began to churn with wind and tide as a storm unlike any seen before unfolded across the water.
This was the wrath of the Electro Archon.
The authority of the Violet Lightning was vented without reservation upon her domain, rejecting the arrival of all outsiders.
It was so in this moment, and in the future... she likely wouldn't change a single bit.
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