Episode 20: Explosive Event
Within a few days, the Summer Solstice Festival is almost upon them as everyone is preparing for the main event. A shadow looks from the distance to look see all the decorations. "This dreadful holiday with these pigs hogging it up while the poor suffer under their weight. They will see a reckoning very soon," the shadow said as he disappears into the darkness with the festival is about to start.
The day has come, Keqing is getting ready in her room with Paimon, Aether, and Mei waiting for her in the living room. Keqing takes the glass hairpin Aether gifted her as she places it within her hair to be finished with her festive outfit.
Keqing comes into the room for everyone is impressed by her beauty. "Wow," Aether said as Keqing is wearing a silk white blouse, a blue pleated skirt going to her knees with white stockings underneath, and blue high heels. Her hair is tied in a bun with a low hanging ponytail coming out of it.
"Impressive Darling?" she asked as she got his undeserved attention.
"You went beyond that, Princess," Aether said as Keqing giggles at this.
"You look quite handsome in Liyue attire," Keqing said to eye him up as she likes what she is seeing. Aether got on a yellow and brown tunic, black pants, and brown shoes.
"Yeah, Mei picked it up for me," Aether said as Mei is wearing her pink yukata with her long hair tied into a bun.
"Yes, and it turns out pretty well. Paimon is rocking the red dress as well," Mei said as Paimon is sporting a pretty red dress.
"Paimon is looking classy today," Paimon said.
"Oh Paimon, you do look nice. Come on, let's head off and enjoy the festival," Keqing said as the four head off into the streets with music ablaze and the scent of food dancing into the air.
"It's pretty alive here," Aether said as Keqing nods her head.
"It does, it's filled with life-like summer is supposed to be," Keqing said as Mei looks over to tap Paimon's shoulder.
"Hey, Paimon. There is a food stand over there which has some tasty snacks. You care to join me?" Mei asked.
"Oh, you are talking Paimon's language. You two being nice while Paimon gets some grubs," Paimon said to float along with Mei to leave the couple alone.
"Paimon never changes huh," Keqing said.
"Yep, she is always like that," Aether said as Keqing takes his hand to lead him on.
"Come on darling, let's go have some fun," Keqing said as they go forward to see a bunch of booths where games are taking place.
"Hey, you two, how about you try out my game to win some prizes," the booth keeper said as the couple sees they need to use throwing daggers to nail the moving targets to get some prizes.
"Hey sweetie, give it a try. Maybe you can win me something," Keqing said as Aether goes up to the booth to grab some daggers with the booth keeper smiles at this.
"Alright, trying to impress the girlfriend. Go on, give it a spin. Hit the targets and the closer you are to the center, the more points you get. Get the highest score to grab this special Fox mask," the booth keeper said as Aether focuses on his task.
He begins to toss the daggers but they are either missing or barely hitting the edge of the moving targets. Aether got 100 out of 1000 points with him being disappointed. "Too bad man, your aim is not good," he said as Keqing pats Aether on the back tenderly.
'Don't worry, you did your best. Now it's my turn," Keqing said as she grabs some daggers.
"This is more your type of thing," Aether said as he remembers her tossing her hairpin with precise aiming to use her warp strikes in combat and moving in the environment.
"Watch and learn sweetie," Keqing said to get into a stance to begin picking all the targets with her usual efficient movement not wasting a single toss. She manages to get the perfect score as she wins the game.
"Good work Princess," Aether said as she sports a confident smile.
"It was expected, that was easy for me compare to our fieldwork," Keqing said.
"Good work little lady, here is your beautiful, crafted fox mask," the booth keeper said to hand it to Keqing for she bows her head.
"Thank you, sir, this looks well made," she said to fit it on her face to cover it up nicely.
"Fits quite well," Aether said as Keqing moves the mask to the side of her head. "This is cool, what other games do they have," he wondered.
"Lots, let's go check them out," Keqing said as they go through the crowds to see another game booth but it has people using bows to take out targets. "Oh, this one, I am no good at all," Keqing said as they noticed Ganyu playing this game to be landing good shots with the practice bow using blunt arrows.
"Ganyu," Aether said as they see she managed to win the game quite easily.
"Okay, little miss Ganyu. You win, here is a nice hairpin," the booth keeper hands her a glass hairpin for Ganyu smiles at this.
"Thank you," she said to bow her head to see the duo beside her. "Oh, hello you two, enjoying the games here?" Ganyu asked.
"We haven't tried them all out yet," Keqing said.
"Hey Ganyu, sorry about the Qixing and your job," Aether said as Ganyu looks sad at this.
"It's just, I can't believe Ningguang is tossing caution to the wind for their gains. It's not something I want to be a part of anymore," Ganyu said.
"Good for you, you don't need to be part of the Qixing to serve Liyue and make it a better place," Keqing said as Ganyu nods her head in agreement,
"Yes, you are right. I can see why my lord has such faith in you," Ganyu said.
"Don't say it like that, I am doing this because of what I believe is right. You should do the same thing," Keqing said as Ganyu ponders on this.
"Follow my heart, I will keep that in mind. You going to play with the bow?" she asked as the two don't look that sure about it.
"I suck at bows," Aether said.
"Same here," Keqing said.
"Give it a try," Ganyu said as they begin to use the practice bows for them each to fail quite badly to not win anything. "Well, at least you tried," she said.
"You look cute Ganyu," Keqing said to see her wearing a simple yellow dress fitting her slender frame and her long blue hair tied into a high ponytail.
"Thanks, this is one of the times I can get to relax without doing anything paperwork. I am more focused on stopping those Shades and this Red Legion," Ganyu said.
"Oh right, those are the terrorists who are attacking military and civilian targets lately," Keqing said.
"Yes, their official name is called the Liyue Worker's and Peasant's Red Legion or Red Legion for short. They are very anti-market and have a deep hatred for the wealthy elites here within the capital. They believe we are evil and will poison the nation if we are not rooted out in a bloody revolution," Ganyu said.
"Sounds awful," Aether said.
"It's worse than that, they want to purge our history because they think it's the roots of all the evil in our nation. It's unacceptable, they claim they fight for the poor but kill anyone they don't agree with their cult-like mentality," Keqing said.
"Oh, I am sorry for bringing this up. Ningguang and Huang were pretty concerned about it before I quit my job," Ganyu said.
"It's okay, something to keep in mind with all this craziness happening. We need to just enjoy the festival," Aether said as the girls calm down.
"Yeah, you are right. Let's enjoy this," Ganyu said for they go to another booth to see its game involving them using a ball to put it into a hole. Each hole was in different places with them getting higher and fewer as it went along.
"Hey, you three want to do this game. Toss these balls, the higher the hole you toss in, the higher the points. Who wants to go first?" the booth keeper asked as all three of them try to get the highest score with Aether being first with 1500/3000, Keqing in second with 1400/3000, and Ganyu being third with 1350/3000 points.
"Well, that was a good effort, try again next time," he said as they depart for them to sit on the bench nearby to see the game booths are covered with people.
"Gee, it's getting crowded there," Keqing said.
"We can go there later. Let's check out the park to see the shows there," Aether said.
"Oh, I need to go somewhere. Have fun you two," Ganyu said as she moves away with the couple heading for the park where the music and performers are there putting on shows for the people.
"Oh yeah, Xinyan will be there to do a concert. You should listen to her, she is great," Keqing said sounding very excited about this.
"Oh yeah, she is a rock singer with that loud music. Sounds interesting," Aether said as Keqing grabs his arms to pull him towards the park.
"Trust me, you will love it," Keqing said as they approach the park they see a crowd around the stage to see a tan-skinned young woman holding a Liyue music instrument called a Ruan to use it in a more modern style.
"Hello Liyue," Xinyan uses a small floating device that amps up her voice to the crowd. "Are you ready to rock with me?" she screamed with the crowd cheering her now. "Alright, let us light this park on fire," she shouted as the crowd roars with excitement.
"This is so cool," Keqing said wanting to jump to the beat of her music.
"Hey Keqing," Momo comes over to hug Keqing.
"Hey there kiddo, you came over to join me with the rock concert?" Keqing asked as Momo nods her head.
"Yes, daddy and mommy are nearby. I told you I would be hanging out with you. They don't like rock music," Momo said.
"Okay, we are going to have fun," Keqing said.
"Oh, hey Aether, how are you liking the music?" Momo asked with her jumping along with the music.
"It's interesting, I feel pumped for this," Aether said to go along with Xinyan's singing.
"Welcome to the club Aether," Momo said as the trio are dancing along with the crowd to rock star's singing with a shadow watched from the roof to be bothered by this.
"I hope my comrades will be here soon. Then we can give this party a real shade of red," the shadow said as he steps away with Xiao on top of a roof to be bothered by the rock music.
"So annoying," Xiao said to himself for he senses something to turn his head to the side to see nothing there. "Must be my imagination," Xiao said to watch the performance.
The rock star is bending her fire energy to swirl around her to let out torrents of flames to finish off her performance with the whole crowd including Keqing, Aether, and Momo cheering about the great performance.
"Thank you, everyone. You have been a great crowd. I hope you enjoy the rest of the festival," she said to get off the stage.
"That was so awesome," Momo said as both of the girls were jumping for joy at the crazy performance.
"I know right," Keqing said feeling like a little girl to share Momo in that childlike excitement. "Hey Momo," Kendo said to come up to see the duo. "Thanks for watching Momo for me, I can't stand that harsh music. Buzzes in my ear," Kendo said.
"No problem, we had fun," Keqing said.
"See you around," Momo said as she moves away.
"Well, let's go grab a bite to eat. They have a bunch of food stands we can grab some good selections," Keqing said as she hears his stomach roaring. "Seems like someone is hungry," she teased for her stomach is groaning as well making her blush in embarrassment.
"Seems like you are as well," Aether said as Keqing nods her head.
"Yeah, let's get some goodies at the stands," she said as they both head to the food stands. In a short while, they managed to have a basket filled with treats for them to sit on a bench within the park. "Oh, we got a spread, we got sweet buns, crispy sweet potato wedges, and crystal shrimps along with citrus tea," Keqing said to want to dig into their basket of goodies.
"Yep, let's dig in," Aether said as they are enjoying their snacks. "Damn good," Aether said.
"Yeah, festival food always tastes good," Keqing said as they noticed Xiao sitting under a tree eating some Almond Tofu. "Hey Xiao, you are enjoying the festival?" she asked.
"It's okay I guess but that music is too loud," Xiao said.
"It's rock and roll, it comes from Fontaine," Keqing said.
"Oh no wonder it's so annoying," Xiao said.
"What are you looking forward to the most?" Aether asked.
"Fireworks, they always did look nice against the dark backdrop of the sky," Xiao said with the soft glow of the lanterns dotting across the city. He noticed Ningguang talking and walking by.
"Hello Traveler and Keqing," Ningguang said to look at them with no emotion on her face.
"Hello Ningguang, are you enjoying the festival?" Keqing asked.
"Yes I am, I am going to do a speech later in the day to give thanks to all the things we have," Ningguang said.
"Which you ripped off from the poor," Keqing muttered as Ningguang looks at her to give her a nasty look.
"Watch your tongue young one. You are not part of the Qixing anymore, you are not an equal to me," Ningguang said as this is making Keqing get upset.
"Hey, how about you shut the hell up," Aether said to get in front of Ningguang sensing the corporate leader is trying to egg Keqing on.
"Aether," Keqing said to like his gesture but he would get into big trouble mouthing off the leader of Liyue in front of everyone.
"No Keqing, something needs to be said. Look you think you can step on Keqing for doing the right thing. She deserves to be the leader, not you. She helps her people and battles against this threat directly but you sit on your rich ass watching from the sidelines like you own the fucking place. Piss off," Aether said not caring anymore as he was holding this in for a while now.
Everyone around them was staring at them to be shocked that the Hero of Liyue is talking to Ningguang like that. Some thought this was disrespectable while others like his ballsy move to stand up to the leader who stepping on Keqing who is a favorite among the people.
Ningguang looms over Aether who was 5'7 while Ningguang is over 5'10 tall. This height difference and her piercing gaze didn't bother Aether at all since he is too upset to care about that. Ningguang only can laugh at him to be amused by this display.
"How bold, no one besides Beidou could stand up to me like that. I am amused, I will let you off the hook for now. Enjoy your time, you enrich me a fair bit at the moment," Ningguang said as she walks away with the tension disappearing and everything returning to normal.
Keqing goes up to him to tap him on the shoulder. "That was foolish," she said to then kiss him on the lips for this gave Aether mixed messages. "But very sweet," she said with a grin.
"Well, I can't let anyone disrespect you like that, no matter who is it," Aether said as Keqing kisses him again.
"I appreciate that, thank you," Keqing said as Xiao look on with him not liking the woman Ningguang at all.
"She is so full of herself. Think her money gives her power but in the end, it will only give her loneliness and no real allies to call her own," Xiao said.
"I agree," Keqing said as Aether seconds that.
"Things are getting more crazy, I think Ningguang is way over her head," Xiao said to finish his snack.
"I fear that is her mindset. Thinking her power can solve this but only making things worse," Keqing said as Xiao tosses his plate into a trash can to move on.
"Keep watch, I sense something is amiss here," Xiao said as he goes into the crowd to disappear.
"Gee, he never turns off being in warrior mode," Keqing said.
"That's just how he is," Aether said as they finished up their snacks for their stomachs were filled up. "Delicious," he said as Keqing nods her head for
"Yes it is, come on. Let's head for the temple," Keqing said as they both head off with them seeing a large temple complex with people flocking to it to pay their respects.
They enter into the beautiful large main building to see statues of Rex Lapis along the golden walls. "Why go here for?" he asked as Keqing looks down onto her feet.
"I want to pay respect to my mother and father and it would be nice for you to pray with me. To let them know, I have a guy who will make me happy and they don't have to worry about me," Keqing said as they bow their heads and flatten their hands together to be in front of a Rex Lapis statue.
Aether finds it funny he is praying to his dragon statue because he can talk to the real one who he has befriended not too long ago.
"Okay, let's go meet with Mei and Paimon to see who they are doing," Keqing said as Aether nods for them both to head outside to see Mei and Paimon sitting on a bench eating street food.
"Hey, you two, these sweet potato wedges are so killer," Paimon said as she is chowing down on these crispy wedges with Mei drinking her tea.
"Paimon is a big eater despite her size," Mei said to eat her sweet bun.
"Well, Paimon wants to get some more food," Paimon said as Mei sighs.
"Paimon, you will get fat from all that food," Mei said.
"Oh, Paimon will be thin due to my strong stomach," she said as Aether groans at this.
"Paimon, that is not how that works?" Aether asked as a mysterious figure is on top of a roof to see someone else on top of a building.
"Time has come to show these fools the fires of revolution," he said as suddenly a firebomb goes off with flames overtaking a large building for all the music and activities stopped. More firebombs emit a blast of intense flames to tear into buildings and streets.
Aether and the others are surprised by the loud booms that echoed throughout the city for it was under attack. "We of the Red Legion has made our presence. While you stuff your faces, normal people are dying and starving within the outskirts of this nation. We are the people you have left behind and now we will burn this city to send a message to the Qixing. Death to the Qixing, let the fires of the revolution rage," the man said using a device to amp his voice as plain-clothed civilians reveal to be Red Legionnaires to be wielding Visions and automatic crossbows to be mowing down civilians to shed blood on the streets.
"Oh shit," Keqing said as she sees military units going to defend the city.
"Damn it, terrorists hidden among the people in plain clothes. This is too bold to strike us," a sergeant said as they engage the Red Legion grunts but they get cut down by a barrage of sharp crossbow bolts to tear through their armor-like wet paper.
"Shit, their weapons are cutting us down like flies. How did they get those weapons, our armor is worthless," a soldier said as he gets shot in the head with a well-placed bolt instantly killing him.
Huang looks at the fires popping up all over the place to be deeply worried about the situation. "I can't fucking believe this; they manage to slip through our security. They have people doing inside jobs to allow them to do this," he said as he begins to make a counterattack against the terrorist group the Red Legion.
"Death to the Qixing, death to this accursed city and its greed can burn into the bottom of the ocean," a red Legionnaire said as he aims his crossbow at Keqing but she manages to slip under his aim and silt his throat to put him down.
"Damn it, how is this happening?" Keqing wondered to be saddened that this lovely day can turn into a bloodbath. Aether summons a rock barrier to block incoming explosive bolts to cover Keqing.
"Come on Princess, we need to clean this up," Aether said as Keqing has a realization.
"They are going after Ningguang. We need to find her, Mei go find a safe place to hide," Keqing said.
"Of course, good luck," Mei said as Keqing is wielding her new Jade Cutter blade to cut down several Red Legionnaires. She ducks under a barrage of fireballs and bolts with her dragging her blade on the ground to kick up dust to blind their view.
Aether swings his blade to unleash a big gust of wind to blow them into a building to clear the way. He is carving a path with him and Keqing cutting down terrorists. Aether conjures a boulder with Keqing leaping off of it and unleashing a crescent of lightning energy to slice several Red Legionnaires into pieces.
The duo rushes in to see someone is fighting Ningguang as the masked man is wielding a blade to try to kill Ningguang. She is deflecting his attacks with Geo barriers to precisely absorb the blows. She warps away to gain some space to fire a wave of geo crystals at the terrorist team leader.
The man smiles under his mask to pull out a gloved hand that has a weird device on it. Strange white energy catches all the gemstones which shocked Aether, Keqing, and even Ningguang. With a click on the device, the energy sends the gemstones back with twice the speed and force to unleash several Geo explosions to knock Ningguang into a wall.
"You are dead meat," the masked man lunges at her with his blade. Aether launches a tornado to head for him but the attack was too slow as the masked man managed to sever Ningguang's arm up to her elbow.
The masked man is about to kill her but Aether's twister slams into him to knock him into a wall. Keqing swiftly comes in and cuts his head off to end the team's leader. Keqing looks down to see the man using a weird device on his hand. "What is this?" she wondered as the military units go to Ningguang to take her to a healer to reattach her severed arm.
"Seems like old-world technology," Aether said to see the dead terrorist strike leader has a strange metal glove on his hand.
"Yeah, Ningguang's gemstones are very difficult to beat but he made it look like it was nothing," Keqing said as she sees Hydro Vision users putting out the fires and healing the wounded.
"What a mess," Paimon said.
"Yeah, so much for having fun huh," Keqing said looking pretty sad at this to see so many families suffering from the loss of their loved ones from this terrible attack.
"It was fun while it lasted," Aether said.
"Yeah, let's help the people and get things back together again," Keqing said as the duo go over to aid in helping the wounded get to the healers.
Within the distance on top of a lighthouse, Nazo can see the destruction that took place for he is laughing at this. "Well, they had the balls to do it but they failed. All wiped out," Nazo said.
"Yes but it serves our purpose to kick the hornet's nest and put the leaders into a bind. Further tightening their grip on the people will make the Red Legion stronger in the process. This act will have emboldened them and gain more members knowing now that the Qixing fell vulnerable within their own city," Void said within his mind.
"Things are going to get interesting," Nazo said for he disappears into the night.