Diluc: Shadows of the Blaze

Diluc was seen as a cold ruthless man in charge of Dawn Winery and with the vision of fire that had come from the culture known for war. He had dreams of doing his father proud and knew of delusions thanks to the Fatui. He was not a fan of them but he knew from the code of the Knights that he once followed that there would be positions that someone else would be needed to go where the knights could not.

His brother had been adopted but his version of handling it had been to hide the actions taken through secrecy, as the captain of the Cavalry, a title he figured would be retired some day. It really meant he was one of the top officers still in the city, and that gave him some lee way to disappear as many would not be able to find him signing it off his lazy disposition or was at the bar with Rosaria and himself. It was just as easy for him to walk away and not be found until he wished it in the ruins of some chaos order base or in the fields protecting the few knights they had left to get more experience in the battles.

Having knights only known for being at the front gate they were ill equipped to handle any major attack and that was something he would make sure they were ready for.

Bitter at what had to be done, Diluc had been someone who had to give up the knights despite being on good terms with most of them, and while the winery and the bar had given enough for his own excuses there were moments when through different paths would lead the pair to the same spots often with a knowing glare and a wry smile the pair would go off and become the team that could be hard to take for whole squads of mages.

It was those moments that they could be the most honest as they could communicate without words. His brother Kaeya would be graceful and swiftly set the enemies or stab them in the way for his massive sword to come down with nothing less then full damage. There was no defense when one was frozen and just seeing the fire bird coming on to end their attempts at fighting back. Harkening their end it was beautiful like instruments in a classical piece of music or like a lightning's flash and the thunder coming behind it.

There would not be words just the pair of brothers with their weapons of choice defending the land fro m threats both within the borders and abroad. The snap of him dropping the sword and hefting it had made him stronger then what some expected, but it was known to both brothers that in great need they could use the blade of the other.

Kaeya's sword was light with a fine edge great for stabbing and slicing and setting up the kil while seeing him take the broad sword and give it the chilling touch made for new plays that he didn't trust with anyone else and he was proud of that. Brothers could do a lot without words even work from the other's sword and still make it through the base.

Brothers would part when they were done and would continue in their positions sometimes coming together to exchange details with Rosaria at the bar so they could properly discern all going on without the need of the knights and more so the lesser experienced knights to get in a situation they could not get out of and lose their lives to it.

Fatui were coming and they had been poking around the edges of the land in no less then four provinces for a while now, and it made him wonder what sort of things would be needed to push people all over the land. Legends of the people had not been kind as it seemed the Fatui were trying to swell their ranks and that the young boys taken were often missing in less then a week. There had been a moment where a certain clown faced braggart had come to him and he had to sacrifice a rare vintage to get some information. While it was at a somewhat high cost the fact they had been spotted and busted made them go on the back foot from Dawn Winery.

Some people think the force in the city was good news but the disappearances had continued and that made some people wonder what had come down on their land. The owner of the winery had kept his eye on them though and between the three of them there was little that they could do when it came to trying to swell their ranks for some unknown reason.

It was something going on that the children could not be able to go back to their families and often times with such children it was either they did not want to go and that could be rectified by homesickness which normally was a few days by his experience, or that they couldn't go home. Which led to the question. What were the fatui doing to the children that made them unable to continue or go back to their homes where their families missed them.

No options were really good because there had not been ships leaving the area with the size to ferry them where they were needed and from the few facilities would have enough there to make him think that they were not surviving some process.

One night the three of them had come together to think on the data that had been found and compiled everything they could feeling some kind of emotion to those who could not be rescued had bothered all of them in some way but on the bar counter it was clear all three were being serious and could handle the emotionally difficult mission.

All three of them had to get out to hit three places with the same power, for if one went down then they would know what had been planned. Hitting all three would mean they could get more information and find out more places to investigate or at minimum try and figure out what was going on. It was something they had to get ready for so under the barest of tones after putting the paperwork away with some odd excuse about possible building permits for the bar. Something two felt that was not needed but he did not know who walked through the door frame and everyone's allegiances to what.

Rosaria looked from a thick bang of wine red hair wondering how he could be so uptight, when it was clear he had a flame for Jean causing the mans face to glow for a moment before getting under control again. His brother had laughed at her, for it was public knowledge that the two fancied each other. She had been trying to get him to do something to explain his feelings, but so far he had not taken to any of it. Hopefully after this there was enough progress done that he would relax, but her best wishes at people finding their loved ones were often hidden by the frailties of life and a bad case of timing.

There was stuff to be done though and her friend and his brother played mediator with his hands up in mock surrender to the playful compatriots, humor aside the mission was going to be dangerous and there were preparations to be made.

Someone to cover the bar was already easy enough, as it was already on the schedule, and to sharpen the sword, make sure there was something where Kaeya could get away from his work, and Rosaria often did not need any help getting away from the church, but sending something to tie up Barbara often meant an easy way out at night with enough sleep to be in top form.

The night was cool and breaths could be seen if he had to breathe heavily. Kaeya had been to the location on the border between Liyue and Mondstadt and Rosaria was near the norther border. Stepping in at the highest point of the moon they had one shot to do this right and he stepped in the cave structure hoping his sword would be enough. After the gate closed behind him with a large pound there was little way but forward.

Normally in the cave structure there had been some air flow and often if a door was put up he would need to force his way in to the air flow, but the gate had been something of a calm breeze with the smell of metal and something that he had known from experience to have the unfortunate stink of decomposition.

From the first section the people had not seen him coming as he would strike their back just as much as their front but in this case the less people had known the better. From the first path of the cave transforming to a clear stone built path there was more problems as the people in it were trying to toss papers down the chasm between buildings. Good news was from his position he could take care fo the sentries easy darting forward and just kicking them over the edge before anyone knew, and pulling the papers in a small box that could be retrieved later.

Hopping down a small drop another room had people who seemed to be more guarding things then actually disposing of paperwork or anything. He had come prepared and decided to unleash the fire bird that was synonymous with him. Before anyone could give a warning what was to come he had followed right after it making sure the sword collected any heads still breathing after the fire attack. Climbing up a set of stairs after the doors unlocked had been the problem. A set of paths that had come to a big room that had been filled with equipment that had tipped him off to something going off. Papers had been taken quickly it seemed but there was enough left that from the equipment and the bloody cages pieces could be put together. Only it was clear from the movement outside the door that he was not alone either and before he could lock down the area he had to clear it.

Running through the doors he could feel the eyes of many from the darkness of the even larger room that was connected with a small hallway patterned with security lasers that he found were not fun to cross. A roll in the room had been used to be able to strike quickly except there were no bodies that he could see and even in the low light of the room there was almost nothing to fight.

No comfort came as a wall had shimmered in place slightly distorting the last view where a familiar clown mask had come in view.

"Dottore."

"Diluc, I must say it is a surprise to see you here, I take it the welcome was warm enough for you?"

The silence from the young man had turned the Harbinger against him as if it had been an insult for him to not even deem him worthy of the answer.

"Still think you are so unbeatable, well this is not the winery, and here, I can even use you, to test the new improved versions of your land's citizens."

A familiar rumble had been starting behind him and a ruin grade had come making the room very small. The kicker had been the addition of laser beams coming through the floor and wall on a timing schedule and each hit of the lasers against him made him fall in the opposite direction as if he had been swung by the grader. Defending himself against one massive mechanical fist. He had to make it as quick as he could and had a few items to help out but the size of the humanoid had definitely been a shock.

Striking it down he had not registered the comments from earlier instead of walking toward him catching his breath.

"Shocking, how can you live with yourself." He said with an evil smile

"Didn't you remember after all, you asked about him last time we met." He continued.

The foot was frozen on the step halfway up the flight before he mentally registered, and slowly almost frozen turned back to see the broken humanoid and under all the grinding of gears he could hear a whimper, a whimper that he knew to be that of a child. Eyes grew wide before he tried dashing up to bring some kind of justice only to hear the laugh and see the form disappeared.

He had gotten the place under control, there were no other enemies, but explaining the information he had got to the pair it was clear that he had been shaken when from his seat at the table he had hopped over the bar to grab a few full bottles of wine behind the bartender and hopped back over without so much as a word.

Three of them drank to the info and notes they collected and the dark depths the Fatui had been seen to drop to for the sake of their own goals, and how the three of them without morals or rules could come in and do what needed to be done, hopefully.