"The Abyss. They would drown the world in blood, just to taint the heavens." Zhongli
The day The Electro Archon died by the Puppet's own hands.
It wasn't a surprise the day Ei came demanding for things to change.
The Almighty Electro Archon's heart had been fully shattered after learning of Yae Miko's sacrifice to stave off the reanimated corpse of Orobashi.
"The Eternity we seek is flawed. Keeping Inazuma frozen will only have it decay and rot, we must change to survive."
Those were the words Ei had managed to say before they clashed.
It was truly beautiful what someone can do with nothing left, but it seemed that they both knew how the battle would inevitably end.
Ei's will had been destroyed before the battle even started.
It was her fault that the Gnosis fell into the hands of The Fatui. It was her fault for not noticing The Priestess of Watatsumi Island had been possessed by the lingering resentments of Orobashi. It was her fault that Miko was the only one able to stop the reanimated skeleton before any casualties were to happen. It was her fault that The Sakura Tree became corrupted as she shut herself off from the entire world.
Tsurumi, Enkanomiya, Yashiori…
Everything was her fault, which was why despite it being Miko who sacrificed her life to create a barrier to ward off Orobashi's skeleton, it was her blood on her hands for her negligence and inability to do her role as a leader.
That's why it was only fitting that her downfall was not recognizing that her own vessel, her creation, was suffering from erosion despite being made to resist it.
Ei's kindest gift became the cruelest joke. Having the Raiden Shogun have sentience and awareness of who she was.
The vessel she had been inhabiting had rejected her so fully and completely that when she attempted to fight for the vessel, it was already too late.
With a broken will and no way to prepare, she met her death.
Soon after that, the Abyss' corruption had spread across Inazuma and panic arose.
Monsters were everywhere, the dead were unable to find rest, wandering the desolate lands as ghosts, the land withered until it became barren like a dessert, the barrier made for the Sakoku Decree with the intention to keep everyone out became the container to trap it's people within leading to mass deaths.
All under the Shoguns watch as she maintained her vision of eternity. Sand cannot erode any further. With no people, there will be no deaths, no changes. The barrier to block out the sky meant the only weather permitted was the torrential downpour she would make. It was truly a picturesque image of nothing ever changing…
Puppet
The Puppet's eyes flashed through the memories of the Raiden Shogun attacking them, gaining everything she had experienced, resulting in her suddenly crying despite having to defend for her life.
She didn't understand it, but it seemed that they had temporarily synced memories, which was evident in how their attacker had stopped after a series of traded attacks, staring at her with wide eyes.
From the moment the Puppet had clashed her blade with hers, a massive spark was created between the two before they suddenly synced.
"You… You're a different me…?" They asked at the same time in unison.
"Puppet…? What's going on…?" Ei asked warily, unsure of what was happening.
They both turned to face her in sync in a way that unnerved everyone present before they asked her with a wide eyed stare.
"Creator, this is Inazuma and not the one we knew of." Their puppet said, getting a look of surprise from all of them.
"I don't understand. Where are we exactly…?" Kazuha finally spoke up as he held Rosalyn closely, trying to console the shaking spirit who was having a mental breakdown from the bloodlust that came from the short clash of blades between the two puppets.
"Poor girl… She must not be accustomed to battle. It's no wonder she couldn't even handle killing intent like this…" Was Kazuha's thoughts about the bandaged blonde female in his arms.
The Raiden Shoguns eyes twitched at this sight, but she then sighed as she gave an explanation along with their attacker.
"It seems that we've entered an alternate dimension or timeline… One where one key figure is nowhere to be seen…"
"Who? How could one absence change things so drastically?" Kazuha asked.
"It… This is a world where the Traveler never appeared. At least not in Inazuma."
There was a heavy atmosphere once those words had settled in.
It was true that The Traveler's appearance had been a great boon for Inazuma and the realization of what could have been without their appearance was rather unnerving.
That still didn't explain as to why they were here though.
Kazuha was deep in thought as the three Raidens conversated, looking deeply entranced in their surrounding areas.
Could this be some round about way ordained by fate for Ei to realize the errors of her ways? No… Why would he and Rosalyn be here then…?
Kazuha couldn't make rhyme or reason about their current predicament, but at least so far things seemed to be going rather well with this version of Inazuma's Raiden Shogun being seemingly willing to cooperate.
"I'm sorry as your creator, I didn't realize how much torment I was putting you two through… I still do not quite understand the intricacies of your creation… if there's a way out of this, would you like to come with us so that I can free you from your burdens?" Ei asked in a solemn tone towards the third Raiden Shogun.
Before the puppet could answer, an annoyed voice rang out across the rain, dripping with malice and irritation.
"What's wrong now? I only left for a few days and you already have something wrong with your programming?"
Everyone turned to see a tall towering figure wreathed in flames as his voice boomed across the deadened land. The rain did not touch him as steam erupted from his body, the immediate evaporation of the water obscuring his features somewhat, but it seemed Ei recognized him immediately.
"The abyss!" Her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched with a murderous look in her eyes.
Noticing that there was about four more people than he was ever used to seeing in this place he had grown accustomed to only seeing one thing in, the Abyss Lector narrowed his eyes as they met Ei's.
"There's three of you now? Oh no… I don't get enough overtime for this… Are you two the cause of this? What gives?! I thought all living beings got killed here about three hundred years ago." His voice sounded like one of the overworked shrine maidens at the Narukami Shrine, before he focused on Ei.
"Wait… You're not a puppet… Huh? The Electro Archon? I thought you were killed!" He seemed genuinely surprised, before cackling wildly.
"Five hundred years too late! Tell me, how does it feel to see your homeland destroyed like this? To see your creation bent to the will of the Abyss?"
Ei's face darkened as she immediately prepared to attack, brandishing her weapon.
"Now you don't want to do that. I can feel it. Your once divine power is gone just like the other Archons. You have no elemental control, you might as well be human! This is just great! The other Abyss Lectors will be so mad knowing I get to do this. Do you know how irritating it was to debug your puppet? Why didn't you use binary? It makes things so much easier on the system!" The Lector was getting angrier as he faced down the creator of his recent misery.
They didn't have to reprogram her. They could've just killed the Raiden Shogun the moment she wasn't useful, but the Abyss were rather spiteful towards the archons, so having an exact replica of the Electro Archon corrupted and doing what they wish was something they weren't going to easily pass up.
There was only one problem though…
Ei's programming skills were completely abysmal and it was a miracle that she got the Puppet to work at all. When the remnants of Khaenriah went through the coding of The Raiden Shogun, they were fully convinced that this world truly did have magic as nothing short but black magic, a miracle and many prayers could have made the Raiden Shogun function as she did, so they weren't fully able to modify the puppet, only allowing her to stay within the wastelands of Inazuma until they could hopefully try and rewrite her.
Only issue was that the Abyss lost interest fast after their victory, leading to only one person still on the project and he had already grown tired of it three hundred years ago.
"Four hundred years! You stupid worthless bug zapper! Four hundred years of going through your mess of a spaghetti code and I still don't know what you did!"
The heat was rising as the being began to float, his voice becoming dangerous as flames wreathed around him. All while Ei could only look somewhat bashful over her shortcomings as a coder for a bit.
"Creator!" The two puppets shouted, preparing to go on the offense.
And just like that, the Three Raiden Shoguns, understanding who the enemy was, immediately began to clash with the Abyss Herald.
Kazuha could only watch with Rosalyn as the Abyss Lector fended off their attacks.
While they had the advantage in numbers, the Abyss Lector didn't seem phased by their onslaught, taking a moment to deflect their attacks before he waved his hands and an invisible force washed over everyone.
Immediately two of the Raiden Shoguns collapsed, seemingly unable to move as Ei looked back in shock at what happened.
"What?!" She asked incredulously as the Abyss Lector gloated.
"Come on, you're using technology against us? You really are just a stupid little girl. You don't think I don't know how to handle your toy after all this time in case she went haywire?"
If he had the time to explain, he'd have explained to her that what he had made was an EMP, Electromagnetic Pulse, which was extremely effective against all types of machinery.
Ei, being an incredibly experienced and powerful warrior, however, didn't let this dull her attacks as she continued the onslaught, now being the sole attacker.
Kazuha had wanted to jump in, but he saw a problem in the battle that Ei was capable of seeing since the first clash.
The Abyss Herald was going to win.
This wasn't to say that Ei was weaker or outmatched, but simply that this Abyss Herald had an overwhelming advantage with being able to wield his flames.
The heat would get to Ei. Trying to take a breather would result in him using his flames to continue his onslaught. However, trying to take him on in close quarters would have the accumulated damage rack up with a very glaring issue for her.
She couldn't break through this opponent's barrier with the raw strength she currently had. This enemy had the overwhelming advantage of not having to worry about defending and with time, Ei would fall without being able to use the electro powers she had grown accustomed to.
The situation was dire. Kazuha had heard about the abyss and had a few run ins with them, but this was the first time he had to actually deal with someone from their order so powerful.
But what could he do without his own vision? Raw strength wasn't the key here and even if he did have his command over Anemo, he wouldn't be able to bridge the gap with how powerful this enemy was. Rationally, he should take this chance to run as he always had, but if he did so, he'd be leaving behind four people to die.
His ideals wouldn't let him do this. Being shackled by the fear of one's own death was something he could never abide to, so he prepared himself for another life threatening move.
This was what? The third time?
"Ehe… To think there was someone still left with my ideals… This is all I can give since i'm so tired…, but good luck…"
There was an unfamiliar voice in the back of Kazuha's mind, surprising him momentarily as it reminded him of the wind he was accustomed to, but wasn't at the same time.
Feeling the familiar power of Anemo welling up inside him, he immediately dashed to meet the Abyss Herald head on.
The enemy immediately reacted, looking somewhat surprised at him being able to use the elements as he deflected him.
"What? How? Celestia has fallen! You shouldn't be able to even awaken a vision, much less get one!" He asked incredulously.
Kazuha looked down to where his Vision normally was, only to find that there was a second vision glowing bright green.
That explained why he didn't feel any stronger than how he normally was, but that just left more questions as to how he could possibly acquire a second vision that was seemingly his now.
"Kazuha!" Rosalyn cried out as the Abyss Herald disappeared, alerting him to look towards her where the Abyss Herald had chosen to strike him from the back.
His reflexes were just good enough to react and the return of him being able to wield Anemo bridged the gap somewhat, but the enemy before him was simply much more powerful than him.
Blasting himself back, using the wind to propel him back further to gain some distance, he got himself steady beside Ei who had a questioning and surprised look.
"How were you able to have your power return?" She asked.
"I didn't. I gained another one instead." He answered, leading to her confusion.
"Ugh. The Electro Archon alive and you being able to use Anemo… I thought we did a thorough job of killing you all!" The Herald began to gather his powers, looking livid at Kazuha somehow being able to awaken a vision.
"There's nothing else we can do! He's still too powerful!" Ei warned, resulting in Kazuha's grim expression before he gave a few words and dashed to meet their enemy.
"Find an opening!"
Like that, it was Kazuha's turn to be on the assault, using his swift movements to take the flow of the combat along with his power over the wind.
It was a truly breathtaking sight to see him fully immersed in combat with his powers over the wind by his side, but it was quickly evident that this wouldn't last long.
"Isn't it kind of cheating for you to be taking turns like this?" The pyro wielder scoffed as he effortlessly took on the brunt of Kazuha's attacks.
Kazuha focused more on speed as opposed to offense, so even if he had gained the boon of clashing elements with the abyss herald, he was still at a disadvantage without the sheer force needed to overwhelm his opponent.
"You don't talk much, do you? I was surprised at seeing a vision after so many centuries, but in the end, it didn't matter much, huh?"
Kazuha didn't answer before deflecting an attack meant for his head, sending him skidding back a bit.
"Look, I'd love to sit here and use all the monologues i've been thinking of over the centuries, but I really need to fix up that puppet over there with the new one you just brought, so let's get this over with."
There was suddenly a huge fluctuation of energy coursing through the Abyss Heralds body as flames gathered around him, scorching the land as it reached unprecedented levels of temperature.
"Kazuha…" Ei warned.
"I know." He responded as he prepared for the attack, bracing himself.
Slowly, the immediate rain in the area evaporated as pillars of flames gathered around the herald making Kazuha immediately react, calling upon the wind, making a small cyclone to kick up the sand around them.
"Sand? Really? That's textbook "Hero thinks they're clever" 101."
They could tell the Herald was rolling his eyes at this, but that didn't stop him from launching his next attack, spreading out the flames in an omnidirectional wave to scorch all around him, regardless of what he could see.
Which was exactly what Kazuha had been hoping for.
3090 degrees. That is the minimum needed to turn sand into glass.
Typically an average pyro vision wielder would never be able to reach such heights without extensive assistance or decades of honing their power.
In this case, it was convenient that his opponent was so powerful, allowing him to flash melt the sand into liquid glass which was then immediately cooled down by the combination of the cold downpour of rain and Kazuha's wind swirling everything to create a hail of glass to fall down upon the Abyss Herald.
"What?!"
The Herald cried out in shock as the glass rained down on him, having his own attack be used against him with Kazuha propelling the shards to reach a higher velocity when reaching him.
Sand picked up from the onslaught, but something of this magnitude would not be enough, otherwise Ei would have easily been able to defeat him, however.
Just when The Abyss Herald was about to recover (and likely gloat that the attack was futile) Ei immediately rushed in, taking advantage of the opening to cleave his head off.
Only for another outburst of power to come from him, sending him back.
"Gah! Cheap tricks! That was actually pretty clever, but that's not enough! If that was all it took to bring me down, The Abyss would have fallen long ago! Now that we're done playing around, it's time to-"
His words were cut short as a whip made of pyro wrapped around his neck, tugging back hard enough for everyone to hear a loud and terrifying snap as the Abyss Herald flew into the air and slammed back down by his neck.
"The filthy Abyss Order. Always acting so high and mighty when you've already fallen once before." An unfamiliar figure held the pure crimson rope of flames in her hands, bringing it back from the Herald before she turned to face Ei and Kazuha. "And you. I don't know how my return was possible, but in this state, even I can ki- Urk… No… How dare you…!"
Immediately, the tall imposing lady in flames dissipated, leaving the familiar sight of Rosalyn who collapsed to the ground, prompting Kazuha to rush and grab her.
"Rosalyn…! What… what happened…?" He asked despite her being unconscious now.
Too many things had happened from the appearance of the third Raiden Shogun to the Abyss Herald and now Rosalyn's transformation.
"She became a host through some ritual to house a spirit of flames, becoming one herself." Ei observed, still panting from the battle, before turning her head to the downed form of their attacker.
He wasn't moving. It seemed even someone from the Abyss wouldn't be able to survive such a gruesome attack like that, but she had to make sure. She had always been diligent in ensuring that her enemies would stay dead and this was no exception.
But before she could draw her blade once more to finish this, everything began to glow white.
?!
"Again?" Kazuha asked, alarmed as held Rosalyn, immediately moving to grab the Puppet just in case.
He couldn't tell which one was his, so he opted to grab onto two of the downed dolls, wondering if he'd be able to bring them both back as the world shined a bright white.
Tenshuukaku
Sara was returning from her daily duties as the general of the Shogunate, which involved mostly patrolling and managing the human resources they had within the army.
She nodded to the guards as they let her into The Tenshuukaku where the Raiden Shogun resided, not needing to knock due to her status within the army as the No.2 of The Raiden Shogun.
She was well aware of the possibility that she was in a meeting with someone, but it was usually more of a boon to have Sara enter unprompted since it was likely that The Shogun would ask her for her opinion on something that would provide another view on a matter to progress the conversation she would be having.
"Forgive me for intruding, Your Excellency. I have just returned from my duties and I am here to make a report as scheduled." She began with the same statement she had gotten used to saying for years while working with the Raiden Shogun.
She stepped through the many new lavish decorations that had been added for reasons she couldn't quite understand, before stumbling upon something she would have never expected in all of her life from the moment she had gotten her first Raiden Shogun figurine to the day she had watched the official execution done by her nations leader.
Kaedehara Kazuha was scheduled to meet with The Electro Archon today and she was somewhat aware of that, since the entire day had been seemingly dedicated to this one interaction, but what she didn't expect was to see their guest atop her leader atop a broken table.
The two looked rather battered with their clothes somewhat damaged along with being completely drenched.
She'd have said it looked like they had just come out of a lake, but upon further inspection, she could see that they were breathing heavily as if they were exhausted from exerting themselves, leading her to believe they had over exerted themselves in terms physical activities resulting in sweat.
So a broken table, a compromising position, torn clothing and some bruises here and there with evidence of heavy labor.
Sara fainted.
"Hah? Kujou Sara?!" Kazuha looked back in shock at the normally stoic girl suddenly falling.
There would be a lot for him to explain once she woke up, but that was the furthest thing from The Puppet's mind, having regained consciousness once they had returned to the Tenshuukaku.
She hadn't exerted herself too much due to being knocked out by the EMP in wherever they had came from, but she was still breathing heavily nonetheless, due to one thing.
"Haaah… He was so close…" She blushed heavily, having awoken to what felt like a fantasy, however.
"We're back? What happened?" Ei asked within their mindscape and upon further inspection, she felt like her own mind had been further fortified with the memories of the other Raiden Shogun.
While she was completely herself still, whatever memories the other Raiden Shogun had, had completely ingrained into her own as if they were hers, making her feel like she had experienced an extra five hundred years.
Five hundred years of near insanity and loneliness which was now making her crave one person more.
She licked her lips as she stared down at the samurai who was desperately trying to awaken her general.
Snippets of the Past
Yoimiya panted heavily as she pressed her back against the wall of the shed, doing her best to catch her breath and calm her heart as she prepared herself for what she was about to do.
She couldn't feel any pain in the current moment, most likely due to the adrenaline taking over despite the large gashes all across her body causing her to lose blood at a fatal rate.
Orobashi had been revived in the east. Yae Miko had sacrificed herself to trap him. The Electro Archon had completely locked down Inazuma and shut the Shogunate within, leaving the people to their own devices.
However, The Abyss had appeared, corrupting the sakura tree which created monsters that had never been seen before.
Even the Fatui that were stuck within their borders had decided to assist them for their own self preservation.
The sun hadn't shone in weeks and everyone seemed to have scattered to whatever safe haven they could find.
Yoimiya was one of the few people who decided not to stay with the nobles or one of the factions to defend itself from the amalgamations created by the now corrupted Sakura Tree, opting to venture out to do her best to find survivors, especially children.
This lead her to where she was now, against a shack that she herself had decided to come to, knowing that it would have just the things she needed for what was an obvious final moment for her.
She thought long and hard about her life up to this point from her early days as a child to finding her love for the fast flickering majesty that her family provided in fireworks.
This too would be but a fleeting moment for everyone else, but it would do well to help in her last act of defiance towards the Abyss.
With this, she would create a large enough distraction for the survivors she had found to get away, hopefully.
"Lady Ayaka, Thoma, Dad…" She thought of those closest to her who would be expecting her to return, but will never be able to do so, with the last time she talked to them being the last words she'll have said ever.
She looked up towards the dark murky sky with the dome once made to protect them now being the jail keeping them in.
She was taking too long…
She was stalling.
She knew what she needed to do, but that didn't make things easier.
She wished she loved those close to her more. She wished she had found love to share her life with. She wished she could have made more things for others to enjoy. She wished she didn't have to do this, but with the last of her energy, she held up one of the sparklers she had kept on hand, opening the door of the shack to where she had stockpiled fireworks meant to be given to Beidou so she could give to Liyue to enjoy their festivals.
Normally, she would have never had so many fireworks in one place where they could easily set off as such as it was a huge hazard, but in this case, she was happy she had temporarily stored them here to be moved as it was closer to the beach for the Crux Fleet's crew to carry.
All these fireworks in one place and one sparkler in her hand.
People all around Inazuma, despite the despair they were feeling in such a hopeless situation, looked up at the sky to see the familiar fireworks they had all grown to love.
The monsters of the abyss all screeched, growled, roared and any other noises they could make at the sight of the bright flashing lights, gathering all at one point to locate the source.
By the time the beasts reached the origins of the fireworks, they were only able to find a large crater with a vision left behind, its sparks completely gone.
Well, that was a lot to take in all at once. I know, but I didn't really want to drag things out, since i've never been that great of writing a full adventure.
I hope you all enjoyed my view of what would happen if the Main Character of Genshin never appeared, along with a sneak peek at what lies ahead in regards to Orobashi, Signora and Raiden Shogun.
This may be where some of you will drop though and I understand. I had to rewrite this chapter so many times and i'm still somewhat unsatisfied.
Also, if you all liked the depressing showing of how a character died in the hypothetical alternative futureverse of Inazuma, tell me and i'll get into the other familiar faces of Inazuma and their end if you're truly interested in the fanfiction within a fanfiction.
Anyways, if you want to talk to me, join the discord at discord gg Txnqc3EKZn . I'd love to talk more Genshin with other people, but the fanfiction community for it is rather slim unfortunately.
Kudos.