In a classy office that carried a breath of history, a man with long pale and asymmetrical shoulder length blue hair was seated before a study desk.
In front of him was his younger sister with the same pale blue hair, but tied up into a ponytail with her locks framing a delicate and beautiful face.
Ayato and Akaya of the Kamisato Clan. Both were the current faces of the prestigious family who managed to withstand the test of time despite many setbacks. They were incredibly close siblings, especially after their parents died, but the atmosphere of the room felt much different today for reasons Ayaka couldn't tell.
"Is something wrong, brother? You don't normally summon me like this." Ayaka commented, finding the situation strange as she had been dealing with some other issues involving their clan.
Ayato noticed her confusion and sighed softly. He had skirted around the issue once he became aware of the engagement contract and it was about time to get to the point.
"Sister, what do you think of the Kaedehara Clan?" He began and she seemed to have given it an honest thought.
"One of the fallen? Hasn't their heir returned and earned enough merit from the war to reestablish his house?" Ayaka answered, searching her memories for what she could remember of the many noble houses in Inazuma.
"Yes, I'm referring to them, I would like to hear your evaluation on them." Ayato nodded in confirmation, curious himself to see what his own little sister thought of them.
"Hmm… The household has fallen and I doubt a single soul in Inazuma holds much memory of them anymore. They had a decent amount of exploits in the past as well as being one of the blacksmith and samurai houses that originated in the nobility. However, it seems the last few heirs were unable to keep such a historical name relevant and not from lack of trying. I'd say despite how my heart feels for their misfortune, it was also a lack of management of one's own finances that they fell."
The almost offensive evaluation had Ayato give a rather wry smile and he was about to say something before Ayaka began backing up her view with her own statistics as well as the progress they had had in the past from progress of development being pitifully low, dilapidated roads, inaccessibility for commerce as well as many other things.
All in all, it almost seemed like the previous three generations had been purposely trying to sabotage their clan, resulting in their collapse.
The long analysis left Ayato with a small headache growing since it seemed that Ayaka had a rather low view in spite of her good nature.
He waved his hand, gesturing to Ayaka to stop, lest she say something she'd regret. He clearly asked her the wrong questions and it left him in an awkward position as he was completely unsure on how to approach the topic now.
The Kamisato house dealt with finances when it came to things like festivals and shrine events. It wasn't unsurprising that one of the first things to pop in her head with a meeting like this was mora.
"Alright, I get how you feel about the Kaedehara's now."
While he was proud of his sister's quick analysis and how much she was aware of the ongoings of Inazuma, it seemed she had not been paying too close attention to things as Ayato had a few points to refute her in regards to the Kaedehara clan.
"Ayaka, what do you think of Kazuha Kaedehara?" Ayato asked.
"Kazuha Kaedehara? I heard he became a wanted fugitive and eventually became a pirate before participating in the war against the Raiden Shogun. His actions have earned him the restoration of his clan and he seems to have gotten on good terms with not only the Head Priestess of both Watatsumi Island and The Narukami Shrine, but even the Raiden Shogun herself. "
"Cough cough, let's not… ahem, let's not focus on his current relations right now. You've probably been rather busy, so some of your information is a bit outdated, but here, take a look at this report."
Ayato picked up the documents he had on his desk and passed them over to Ayaka. The latter received the documents and began browsing through them. Gradually, her eyes began to widen.
Ayato watched the reactions of his sister as his lips curled into a smile, finding the change in attitude to be comedic if it weren't for the fact that he had to segway this into telling her why he called her here.
Indeed, the content of the investigation report regarding the land the Kaedehara Clan now managed was truly explosive. Every single figure they had estimated was ridiculous based on what he knew, such that he had to dispatch another team to verify the authenticity of the first team's report.
Ayaka's interest was clearly piqued as she flipped through the report. She carefully read through the various policies the new clan head had put in place over the last two months, and the more she read about it, the more she couldn't understand how he managed to make them work.
To start with, he had immediately had the guards leave their posts to round up all the nearby ronin, even going so far as to recruit any that seemed to have merit. This had left the townspeople completely undefended, but no one would have guessed that the new clan head would simply forfeit the safety of his people simply to sweep over the nearby criminals. Following that, they carried out large-scale road construction in order to connect themselves with other towns and cities, thus improving the overall accessibility within the territory.
The lowered crime rates and improved road system significantly improved investors' perception of the territory, and this was further reinforced by the various policies put in place to promote business transactions.
But, what stood out the most to Ayaka was the integration of policies that she had only heard of in practice, but he seemed to have implemented with the assistance of a lawyer from Liyue.
The new head of the Kaedehara clan had decided to help some of the poorer businesses in his territory to improve their financial situation. How it worked was that the Kaedehara Manor would dispatch some hired merchants over to each business to aid them in the development of their businesses, including scouting for business opportunities and establishing processes.
On top of that, these businesses were also offered loans to quickly expand their operations, and these debts could be slowly repaid over the course of a decade.
This was only possible due to the connections the clan seemed to have made during his travels as normally the merchants would never agree to assisting potential competition, but Kazuha seemed to have been able to convince even the hardiest of silver tongued peddlers.
These actions were initially treated as a laughingstock by other noble lords. They thought that Kazuha Kaedehara was foolishly squandering his money away for the sake of earning a good reputation. Yet, in just a single month's time, the results produced by the policy made them swallow their words back down. By no exaggeration at all, the level of production in the Kaedehara increased manyfold.
And, this was only just the first month.
According to the internal documents compiled by the Kamisato's, it was estimated that this rapid growth would continue for years to come.
"How is it, sister? Do you still think that Kazuha Kaedehara could be an inept heir?"
"He seems to be living proof of the benefits of establishing contacts outside of Inazuma. Regardless of who he has to help him, it'd be foolish to dismiss that he was able to see and capitalize on the advantages given to him." complimented Ayaka
Ayato heaved a deep sigh of relief, and he finally threw out his final bait.
"The one currently managing the property has recently submitted a collaborative development proposal to us. They have many pulls from many different nations and in return for providing them with their own piece of the festival for them to market their own belongings, they wish to assist us with future festivals and events as a show of goodwill."
"To think that they'd immediately reach out to us. There's no harm with assistance like that and I believe that we should see this favorably."
"You think so too? Then… what do you think of negotiating this deal for us?"
"Me?"
"Yes. I believe it'd be good for you to become acquainted with him since you'll likely be working directly with him more than me, being around your age."
Ayato's reasoning made Ayaka fall silent. She pondered the matter for a moment before finally nodding in agreement with a smile.
"I understand. Leave this matter to me."
"Excellent. I'll be looking forward to hearing good news from you. Also, there's another matter that I should inform you of regarding Kazuha Kaedehara"
"What is it?"
"Well…"
Faced with the curious eyes of his sister, Ayato struggled internally for a long while before he tried his best to squeeze out a forced smile.
"… he's actually your fiancé."
The Crux
"A game? What kind of game are you trying to play?" Beidou narrowed her lone eye, staring directly into Kazuha's to see what he'd proposed.
He wasn't normally so assertive as to even think of preventing her from drinking, but it seemed he had intentions for her.
"Just a simple drinking game after having not seen each other in such a long time. You wouldn't back down from such a simple thing from me, would you?" Kazuha asked, purposely riling her up.
"Hah. I know what you're trying to do, but it doesn't mean it'll matter. What are you trying to play?" The renowned drinker asked with a feral grin as she accepted the challenge seemingly admittedly.
"Nothing too problematic, let's just find a place with a few tables, shall we?" Kazuha kept his warm smile, having no ill intentions for his captain with how much he respected and cared for her, but he needed to do this now while he had the chance.
It wasn't too long before he was in the captain's private quarters, sitting across a table from the legendary sea queen as many shots of alcohol laid to the tables from the side of them as well as the table between them having four coins placed. The bottle from which they poured the shots from was sitting by itself on another desk.
"You want to play slaps?" Beidou questioned, seeing that it was a bit too simple.
"Why not? Complicated games grow dull, it's much easier and relaxing to enjoy games like this." Kazuha gestured towards the table for her to begin.
Slaps was a rather easy game that anyone can play. Players would place coins onto a desk or any other flat surface and decide whether they are heads or tails. Whoever's turn it was would slap the table as hard as they wanted to change how many coins were facing a certain way. The only rule was to slap hard enough that at least one of the coins would flip. Each face they called wrong would result in them taking a shot, which was why they were playing with only a few coins.
Not that either would feel particularly bothered by the amount of alcohol presented before them.
"Oh? What's the catch here, though? What are you trying to gain from this?" She asked. She trusted Kazuha fully and was always assured that whatever his intentions may be, they were usually good.
However, that didn't mean she'd have to like it.
"Whoever is the last to drink is the winner, this includes finishing off the rest of the bottle and I merely want to wager one thing. One free pass." Kazuha answered cryptically, which had Beidou giving a genuine look of confusion.
"Free pass for what?"
"Something I'll need to do in the future, but I won't do it at the risk of your ire."
"That sounds really suspicious, but I appreciate that my opinion matters… Hm… fine, but if I win, you'll have to do me a favor."
"That seems rather fair, but it seems like something I wouldn't want to do if you have to make a bet to achieve it." Kazuha remarked, to which Beidou laughed.
"You're right, but it seems like we both want something from the other, so what's the harm?"
"You make a fair point, for now, let's see who wins first, shall we?" Kazuha suggested with Beidou nodding in agreement by taking her turn.
"I'll be tails." She immediately declared, slapping the table hard enough for the coins to fly into the air and somehow land back onto the table with each coin being heads.
She looked rather smug as she took her four shots, before looking over towards Kazuha who didn't seem too bothered.
The point of the game wasn't to try and drink as little or too much. The shots themselves were just a fun way to keep track of the ever dwindling amount they had to reach before they found out who'd be declared the winner.
"Be honest with me, Beidou, even if you were to drink everything here by yourself, you'd still need another bottle or two to truly feel satisfied." Kazuha asked, taking his seventh shot.
"Fuaaaah~! Of course. I need to make a run to Monstadt to get the real strong ones if I even want to feel tipsy." She laughed loudly, slamming her hand on the table once again.
Three shots.
"How troubling. Does that mean this drinking session will not even be worth your time?" Kazuha mocked a hurt tone as he took his turn.
Three shots.
"Aw, Kazuha. You know you're the only one off the ship who i'll be drinking consistently with whenever I get the chance~" Beidou chirped, smiling broadly as she took her turn.
Four shots.
"I'm flattered, but I believe I'll be making this game much more memorable for you." Both of them seemed just the slightest bit affected by the alcohol by now, but nothing that would hamper them in the slightest.
Two shots.
"Oh ho ho, I'll see about that. You need a lot more than this to make a drinking night memorable." The pirate captain boasted as she slammed the table a bit harder this time.
Four shots.
They were quickly nearing the end after quite a bit of time had passed and it seemed Beidou had a way to consistently keep high numbers to deplete their supply fast.
"We're almost to the bottle. Are you ready to see how this ends, Captain?" Kazuha asked, checking the last few shot glasses lined up for them.
There were at most four turns here if they included the bottle, but it didn't seem to matter.
Three shots.
"Oh, that just swung things in my favor. Last to drink wins, right?" Beidou gave a cheeky grin, finding the ripe fruit of victory to be within sight as she took her turn.
Four shots.
There were four glasses left along with the bottle. The only way Kazuha would win is if he correctly called all four coins and avoid taking any shots while Beidou would call at least one wrong for him to claim victory, but it seemed things weren't the way it seemed to be.
Four shots.
"Haha! I don't even have to try! Looks like I won this one, kid!" Beidou gave her victory cheer as Kazuha took his four shots, leaving the last bottle to Beidou who triumphantly snatched it off the table to begin bottoming up.
There wasn't much left since it had been mostly poured out and it seemed the only reason why they didn't pour the rest out was due to a lack of shot cups.
As Beidou began to drink from her chalice of victory, so to speak, but when she had just about finished the entire bottle, having completely downed it easily, Kazuha had grabbed her wrist.
It happened rather quickly, but the first thing that came to her mind was that he was being a sore loser. Her sense of honor and the amount of alcohol they had drank resulted in her just about ready to give him a beating, but the next thing she knew she was caught off guard by something she had never expected to happen.
"Mngh…?" Beidou let out an unfamiliar sound as Kazuha had taken her lips to his, the swift movement didn't even allow her to process too fast as she felt her tongue suddenly feeling something she had never experienced.
It was a brief interaction that had she been completely sober and wasn't so caught up in her victory, she'd have been able to respond correctly, but in the moment, she had been completely blindsided as Kazuha took over, causing her to drop the bottle that thankfully didn't shatter upon impact with the floor.
It was a few seconds that felt like eternity, but the moment Kazuha broke away, she felt like her breath had been taken away, which was likely from her heart skipping about a thousand beats.
"Mm… I appreciate the taste, Captain…~ It appears that I was the last to drink though, so this is my victory…~" Kazuha gave her a sly smile. Despite having pulled away, their proximity was still rather close.
It took her a while to process what had happened before for the first time ever in her life, her face turned completely red.
"W-w-what was that?! Y-you can't just do something like that, you…!" She began to protest indignantly, realizing what he had just done and having her first kiss seemingly taken for the sake of winning a simple bet.
"Why not? Isn't it normal for a man to be assertive towards the one he likes?" Kazuha asked, before he leaned in closely to whisper. "If you hated what we shared, you can use my free pass for that…~"
Beidou was at a loss for words. She'd usually be the one with a superior position when it came to Kazuha, but for the first time he seemed to be the one in control.
"That's not… Hrmph. That was dirty… Was that the only thing you played this game for?" She did her best to try and regain her composure, but the lingering warmth from his tongue and lips slowed down that process.
"Yes. While I wish I could have been more tactful with it, I hope you aren't too against me." Kazuha admitted, to which she crossed her arms, trying to seem indignant.
"This isn't how most women's first kisses go, you know?" She tried to berate him, but he simply answered without missing a beat.
"Then we can try again and i'll try to better emulate how you'd like it, Captain~"
That seemed to be enough for Beidou's heart as that was when she decided to kick him out of her private quarters, not used to being the one who was being teased.
She stared at the door after she told Kazuha to leave, before she held a hand over her heart which was still beating.
She could have been more delicate in the moment, but it was true that that was not how she'd have imagined her first kiss.
She had never thought about it at all! She had lived her life solely for the adventure and had never thought about anything involving such levels of intimacy!
Kazuha Kaedehara.
Beidou could only cover her face at letting someone she had always teased suddenly have the advantage over her like that.
Kazuha
It was late out after Beidou had told him to go so she could calm down.
He felt somewhat bad about messing with his captain like that, but he didn't regret it.
They had a rather close relationship and he decided to see how it'd be to push it a step further, but it seemed that the Captain was much more pure than he had imagined with that being her first kiss and how her reaction to it was.
Kazuha sat atop a branch of a tree as he held out the second vision he had received.
It was glowing incredibly bright and it was hot to the touch. The way it glowed and heated up, it felt like it was angry and that was what Kazuha had intended.
Once he figured that Rosalyn could follow "Miss Hina" due to her being somewhat melded with his spirit, he quickly devised a plan to have them follow Keqing so that he could be alone with Beidou.
It could have been any girl he liked, but he felt more comfortable with Beidou as well as it being convenient.
He needed his privacy in moments like these anyways.
Everything he did was planned and while he'd have liked to go further, the feeling of his heart being threatened to explode stopped him from getting too intimate with Beidou, but that was the plan.
Now he seemed to have triggered the second vision he had acquired and just like that, it began to glow so brightly that Kazuha had to close his eyes.
When he next opened them, he found himself in an unfamiliar area full of broken machinery and rusted structures. The smell of oil and burning was potent, but along came with it was the blinding whiteness of snow.
Looking around wherever he seemingly was, he didn't seem too surprised when he came face to face with what looked like an older version of him.
"Hoh? You don't seem too surprised." The older version of him commented.
"I expected something like this to happen and I'm sure you know why." Kazuha responded, giving the him from another time a blank expression.
"The wind. Of course. I haven't heard its voice in so many years. It looks like it hasn't left you yet." The older Kazuha seemed to murmur to himself.
"So are you here to talk about what I'm doing?" Kazuha asked, to which the older him simply looked into his eyes.
He was nearly identical to Kazuha, but there were easy signs of age as well as stress. The crimson eyes Kazuha would see when looking into the mirror were being shown to him, but without the gentleness that usually came with them.
"Visions are strange gifts from the Archons. They grant us extraordinary power, but something that isn't focused on is how it binds itself to us."
Kazuha raised an eyebrow at the seemingly random explanation, but the older Kazuha didn't seem to mind as he continued.
"A vision is binded by a piece of ourselves being a part of it. That's why if you were to take someone's vision, they'd lose so much of what made them them until they die. That's why i'm here. A piece of my soul is in this vision and it seems to be conflicting with you."
"So what does that mean for us?" Kazuha asked, but he seemed to already know what he would say.
"Unfortunately, our visions are conflicting with each other due to us being two different psyches. I'm sorry to say, but there can only be one of us."
"So this dreary desolate snowy ruin is the setting for this battle?"
"No… This is simply where I died in the end. It seems this is the last place I could remember."
"Would you like to talk about it instead? You've lived a completely different life from me from this point forward. Is there no way for us to coexist?"
"I apologize, but I swore an oath of loyalty to my wife. Unless you plan to seek out your time's iteration of her, we'll have to do this."
"Have I not met her yet?" Kazuha asked, blinking in somewhat surprise.
"No, if you had, the vision would react strongly to her, but that doesn't matter. Right now, you should worry more about surviving. I hate that it has to be this way, but I won't simply give up my life. Everything that's happened so far can be prevented and while I'd much prefer to just tell you so you can prevent what's to come, it appears we must cross blades." The older samurai got into his stance, signaling that the conversation was over.
Kazuha could only rest his hand on his own blade as he stared down at the him from another time.
A world where there was no traveler to fix the many issues of the world. Where he'd have never returned to Inazuma and married someone likely wasn't even Inazuman.
The snow continued to fall slowly across the white landscape where the two warriors stood apart from each other.
Kazuha had planned for there to be some way to appease the new vision he had received so that it wouldn't prevent him from progressing his love life, but it seemed this was the only way things could be resolved.
A thick blanket of snow came over them, signaling the start of their battle.
Snippets of the Past
"Stupid worthless creator…!" Scaramouche cursed under his breath as he walked his way through the delusion factory.
So many things had gone wrong since he had arrived and the joke of it all was how he was forced to stay where he was due to his creator locking down the entirety of the island completely.
The gnosis he had been looking for was apparently with that stupid pet of his creator and she went to get herself killed.
This left the only way for him to retrieve the gnosis was to go directly against the reanimated corpse of Orobashi and with him being reminiscent of the Raiden Shogun, that'd be a battle even he'd rather avoid.
In the end, his entire time spent here was just a waste and he could only hope the Tsaritsa could find some way to break through the barrier for him to escape.
He could only imagine his worthless cohorts laughing right now at his predicament.
"L-lord sixth! W-we have a problem!" A fatui agent arrived, getting him to snap to him with an irritated look.
"What? What problem could there be that you'd need my help?" He demanded, not being in the best of moods currently.
The Abyss was swarming all over Inazuma right now, but they were nothing to him. Likewise, The Fatui agents he had with him shouldn't have too much of an issue no matter what they sent them.
"A-an Oni has appeared! It's tearing through the base right now!" He yelled out, getting Scaramouche to narrow his eyes.
"An Oni? So they still exist in this day and age? But why would one appear here?" He thought, not too bothered by such an enemy, despite the sounds growing louder and louder.
"We don't know! He just appeared out of nowhere! We can't do anything to stop him!" The man was becoming frantic, trying to get his boss to understand the severity of their situation. Even if the Oni was stopped, if he was left to rampage too long, their manpower would be cut drastically, leaving their defenses against the abyss to be shoddy.
Suddenly, the wall collapsed to the side of them, revealing a large man with red horns, long white spiked hair while wearing an oni mask.
"There he is, boss! That's the monster that's tearing up our base!" The agent cried out, before Scaramouche sighed.
"Shut up or I'll kill you." He threatened, causing his subordinate to quiet down.
"So what brings you to our factory? I don't believe i've done anything particularly wrong to the onis. Shouldn't you guys be focused on The Abyss? They sure are tearing it up out there." Scaramouche spoke casually as he walked towards the large man who was twice his size.
The man didn't even respond as he immediately swung his club at him, forcing the Balladeer to quickly react, moving out of the way by jumping back, not only to avoid the strike, but the shockwave generated from it.
"Raging Oni, huh? Let's see if the myths about your species are true or not." Scaramouche's face morphed into a psychotic smirk as he began to fight back against the monster.
The Fatui Agent couldn't believe what he was watching as the Fatui Harbinger seemed to make a fool of the Oni who had cut a bloody swathe through even their highest ranking members in the base.
For all his power, the Oni even seemed to lack in that regard to The Balladeer, but even if he did manage to overpower The Sixth, he wouldn't be able to touch him as Scaramouche continued to play with the rampaging demon.
Every attack was meant to cause superficial damage as the Oni continued to try and land a single hit on him, but slowly it began to slow down from the loss of blood. Numerous marks appeared all over his body to the point where there wasn't a single inch of his skin that was visible anymore, just a monster drenched in his own blood.
"How pathetic. To think Snezhnayans couldn't even handle something as simple as this. You guys sure make mother Snezhnaya weep." Scaramouche mocked as he crouched down to look at the fallen enemy who had finally collapsed.
"I don't know how you found this place or what we did to piss you off, but it looks like it didn't matter because you're too weak…~"
The monster didn't respond as it laid there, panting and breathing heavily as it tried to get up.
"Ah, wait. This is Inazuma, so maybe it was one of the many ways we really got this place to get so riled up. Are you from the Kujou Clan perhaps? Maybe you're here to seek revenge for how we played this entire nation?" Scaramouche began laughing as he recalled how gullible the entirety of Inazuma was.
That was when the boxes around them began to shine.
"B-boss?" The Fatui Agent nervously called out to him, but Scaramouche didn't pay him any mind as he looked over towards all the delusions.
"No way. Are you serious?" Scaramouche's grin widened as he realized what was happening.
"Hah! You're going to sacrifice your life for revenge? Go ahead! Take all the illusions! Let them drain out all your energy to give you even a chance to try and strike me down!" Scaramouche spread out his arms as the delusions from the boxes seemingly empowered the Oni, letting him rise to his feat with a massive aura of power.
"Boss… We just got word. Sara died on the battlefield…" Kuki relayed the information to him from the other side of the bars.
"What? No way. That's impossible. Who could possibly beat her? You're lying." Itto laughed it off as he sat in his space, not accepting such a thought.
"I'm sorry, boss. In the middle of the battlefield, Orobashi revived and killed everyone there." Kuki did not even entertain her boss's personality. This was something he had to hear and take seriously.
"There's… no way… Sara…?" Itto murmured, before Kuki spoke up again.
"Here. The Head priestess came to give this to me personally for some reason. She said you'd want to read it." Kuki passed on a slip of paper for the oni to read.
Itto took a moment, keeping his thoughts together before he took the piece of paper.
It detailed everything that had been happening behind the scenes, including what had led to Sara's death. While her cause of death wasn't directly tied to the perpetrators, he could tell where it all began.
"I'm sorry, boss. I'll get you out as soon as possible, just sit tight, okay?" Kuki's voice was soft in a tone that he wasn't used to. It was delicate and hurting, but before he could say anything to try and console her too, she had already left.
"HAHAHAHA IS THAT ALL?!" Scaramouche cackled as Itto continued to obliterate anything that stood in his way.
"Boss… I'm sorry… There's a … *cough cough* bunch of monsters out there and we… we couldn't do anything about them…" Akira was on the other side of the bars this time.
Itto didn't know what was happening outside as he couldn't hear anything from within his jail cell.
"Everyone else is dead. We couldn't protect anyone… *hack* We were too weak, we're… no… i'm so sorry, boss…" Apparently a swarm of monsters had appeared and was attacking everyone. They came without warning and the first thing the Arataki Itto gang did was stage a rescue operation to get him out of prison so they could stick together.
But there were casualties on the way here. Far too many. Only Akira managed to break in after the guards seemed to have ran off.
With the last of his strength, Akira managed to unlock the door, before slumping against a wall, smiling up towards Itto who was in shock.
"H-hey.. At least this time when i'm resting… I w-won't snore, right…?" Akira laughed weakly before he lowered his head. "Hehehe… I'm… i'm sorry we were weak… even Kuki had to die because of us… So…. sorry…"
Itto watched as the last friend he seemingly had left in the world died.
He couldn't even say anything himself. All that was left was the color red and the sudden swarming of floating wolves that began to crowd around the outside of his jail.
Itto's last thought wasn't that of the many people he had lost, but to the people who helped in starting off the beginning of this entire event.
He had no vision, but he didn't feel like he needed that as his consciousness completely disappeared, leaving nothing but blinding rage.
"Haah… Haah… Looks like you managed to get in a couple of lucky shots, but look at you now, you stupid idiot…" The Balladeer sat atop the now shriveled remains of what was once a man in the ruins of what was once the Fatui Delusion Factory.
There were no survivors besides him as in the midst of their battle, there was a bunch of unavoidable collateral.
"Tsaritsa is not going to like this…" Scaramouche judged as the dark sky hung over him.
There were sounds of growling, causing him to notice that he was now surrounded by many different horrors of the abyss as they all began to move towards him.
He was alone, slightly damaged and beginning to feel the signs of fatigue.
"Hehehe… While we started all of this, I really can't believe that stupid creator of mine let her country end up like this." The sole survivor didn't seem bothered as he began to engage in battle once more, uncaring of the overwhelming odds. He wouldn't allow himself to be killed by the abyss of all things.