Hello everyone! I'm back from the dead to continue this story to Its end.
Thank you everyone who has read the story so far and all of those who will continue to do so.
Special thanks goes to rosaurocunanan16 for giving me the motivation to write this chapter.
As for why I haven't updated this in more than 2 months, I've had a lot of shit happen IRL that all the free time I've had has now gone to dealing with it.
Anyway, comeback rant over now we shall get to the story which will focus solely on Liyue for the time being.
Chapter 10: The new contract
"Shattered Heaven indeed." said Xiao after the explosion calmed down. The Ocean now having a deep crater the size of the Chasm on its floor.
The others standing in the Jade Chamber could do nothing but nod their heads in agreement with his words.
"Conqueror of Demos, how come you know this being of immeasurable power?" asked Cloud Retainer in a strained almost fearful voice with nervous sweat going down her head.
"I met him when he entered Liyue through Dihua Marsh, after he sensed me and invited me to join him for a meal." answered Xiao in an unemotional voice.
Xiao seeing everyone beside Ningguang, looking towards Naruto suspiciously and preparing for a fight he quickly added.
"Relax, he will not harm us if we don't pick a fight with him. He is a person deserving of respect, especially since he just just saved us from an attack which more than likely would have killed everyone who is not an Adeptus." he finished.
After hearing the arguably strongest Adepti alive refer to the stranger with respect, almost everyone relaxed their guard and just stood there watching as the blond flew lower towards where his attack had landed to make sure that the fight was over.
On the other hand the Adepti present narrowed their eyes towards the blond traveler. After all It's not everyday that the Conqueror of Demos talks this much, let alone for another person.
'Who are you to have left such an impression on the last remaining Yakasha?' were the thoughts of Cloud Retainer as she looked at Naruto with interest.
'We shall have to be careful dealing with him now that Rex Lapis is no more.' thought both Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver at the same time.
Though everyone's thoughts came to a halt as soon as they heard the floor of the ocean shaking once more. Thus spreading panic through the forces who thought the god was still standing.
- Meanwhile with Naruto -
Having finished his attack Naruto waited for the aftermath to die down so he could investigate.
The moment the dust cleared Naruto descended towards the landing place of his attack, arriving there in no time he let out a small whistle.
"Good thing I only used half the power of that attack. It could've gone seriously wrong had I used its full potential." he said out loud seeing the giant hole he had created in the middle of the ocean floor.
"Might as well fix this before I flood the harbor or something." Naruto said going through some hand seals.
"Hope they don't mind a new forest in the middle of the ocean. Mokuton Hijutsu:Jukai Kōtan(Wood Release Secret Technique:Nativity of a World of Trees)" saying that with his hand clamped together he poured almost a third of his chakra onto the technique.
From the creator that had formed a small rumbling could be heard slowly rising in scale until it started to look like a big sea quake.
Everyone looked at the origin of the quakes only to see a single vine rising into the air from the ocean floor. Only for the single vine to quickly be followed by hundreds of others, growing to be as tall as big buildings of Liyue and the next second for them to start becoming into hundreds of tall trees making a giant tree forest in the middle of the water.
As Naruto slowly landed on the Jade Chamber he was greeted with the stupefied looks of all of those present. After he gave a small chuckle at them he spoke.
"I hope you don't mind the new sea forest I made to prevent the water flow from changing." Naruto said in an unconcerned voice as if he was talking about the weather.
- In the sanctuary of Surasthana -
The eyes of the god of wisdom shot open in surprise.
Having been observing the battle in Liyue in order to see how strong the mysterious entity was. She was surprised to see someone use an attack with a magnitude thought possible only by Morax. However Buer was more than shocked when she felt him use a technique with more power in it than most Archons had in store.
But that still wasn't the most shocking part of it. The technique wasn't an attack, it instead created life, something only possible to be done by her or Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
As she watched the trees grow she tried to connect with them through Irminsul, only to her shock she couldn't. Not only that but after they finished growing she could feel the amount of life they had, it might have not been as much as the world tree but when considering that they were just made by a person it's more than unbelievable.
"You are the only hope that Sumeru has left. I hope that you arrive before it's too late." Buer said as she closed her eyes in order to rest after all the strain on her mind from observing something so far for so long.
- Back on the Jade Chamber -
Naruto was sitting in the air floating with a board face just waiting for the other people there to finish arguing with one-another over who should be the main defense for Liyue now that Rex Lapis was no longer there.
"Without us this Chamber would have fallen a lot sooner than it did" proclaimed Claud Retainer.
"Even if the Adenti weren't here, in the end we still would have persevered. If push came to shove I would've sacrificed the Jade Chamber in order to stop Osial." added Ningguang.
"That's why Liyue should be led and defended by Qixing, especially considering that the Adepti hardly ever set foot in Liyue Harber. Who are people to find more trustworthy?" Ningguang said with a confident smirk on her face.
"You impudent child ho-"
"ENOUGH!"
A loud shout coming from an irritated Naruto cut Mountain Shaper's sentence short.
Everyone there including the Adepti were surprised by the blond, who up to this point was an easy-going, always calm person. So seeing him so irritated and raising his voice came as a surprise.
"Enough with these pointless arguments." said Naruto as he stood up to his feet.
"All these important characters, Liyue's last line of defense, squabbling like children." he continued with narrowed eyes looking at them.
"I don't want to be a part of your arguments, nor do I care who takes the leadership of this place. However…" At this point all who were in front of Naruto got tense as they felt a sense of dread when looking into Naruto's narrowed and glowing Rinnegan.
"...I will not stand aside as you use innocent people lifes for your little children's squabble to the point of starting a civil war." finished Naruto in an icy tone of voice leaving no room for argument.
"From this point onward instead of fighting among each other over the power gap that has been left by Rex Lapis you need to unite in order to close it as much as possible and not gamble with the peoples life." He added now in a much calmer and wiser tone.
"Mister Naruto is correct. We cannot allow Liyue Harbor to fall into despair at this time." Ganyu quickly cut in, seeing her chance to stop the arguing between her employers and her fellow Adepti.
"That is indeed correct. How about we do this? The Qixing will take over as the new head of Liyue, while we the Adepti continue to protect the harbor in our own way and not ordered by the Qixing." Madan Ping spoke right as Ganyu finished.
"I can fully abide by this contract, as long as the Adepti continue to protect Liyue the Qixing will have no reason nor desire to order them to do what they want." Ningguang agreed, seeing no reason to push this matter any longer.
"Hmph! The Adepti always have and always will protect Liyue Harbor. I see no reason as to not agree to this contract as well." Cloud Retainer voiced the opinion of her fellow Adepti.
"Very well, then this shall mark the formation of this new contract that replaces the one of old." said Ganyu holding up a sigil of permission.
"Then it's time I excuse myself as I have quite some work to do." said Naruto giving them an exaggerated bow.
"Xiao, care to join me for a walk." Naruto asked the yakasha with a serious voice.
Xiao just nodded as Naruto walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder and both of them disappeared in a swirl. Leaving the other on the Jade Chamber to go back to the harbor.
- On Top of Mt. Tianghang -
Naruto and Xiao stood there in silence as they watched the Jade Chamber stop moving and the Adepti fly off from it and going their separate ways.
"Xiao I have a favor to ask you." Xiao looked up to Naruto waiting for him to continue speaking.
"I want you to go to the other Adepti and inform them that Rex Lapis is still alive." Naruto informed him and watched him from the corner of his eye to see his reaction.
Xiao's eyes widened when he heard that, he was stunned, he couldn't even say anything. So he just sat there trying to look for a reason.
"If he is alive, then why?" Xiao asked after some time.
"Why not ask him yourself when you and the other Adepti meet him at Qingxu Pool in 2 days. He said that he owes you all an explanation." Naruto replied with a small chuckle.
After that the two of them sat there in a comfortable silence until Xiao spoke. "Thank you Naruto for telling me. I shall go and inform all the others of our meeting with him in 2 days. I bid you farewell until we meet again." he said as he vanished using the power of his vision.
After about 5 minutes of staying there Naruto finally got up himself as well. Vanishing in streak of lightning.
- Northern Bank -
In a room at the Northern Bank there were three people discussing among themself. These people being Zhongli or better known as Morax, Tartaglia also known as Childe the eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers and also La Signora The Fair Lady the eighth of the Fatui Harbingers.
"So you're telling me that I was merely a pawn in this grand scheme that you two made up!" asked an annoyed and angry Childe, looking at the other occupants in the room.
"Calm down Childe, you played your part perfectly. And this is all done with the permission of her majesty." Signora said to him in a calm voice.
"Even so you could have at least told me beforehand so I don't look like a fool." said Childe, his anger calming down after knowing it was by order of the Tsaritsa.
"No need to be so angry Childe, I don't see you as fool. On the contrary I find this whole situation quite amusing."
The two harbingers froze when they heard that voice with Signora looking around wildly trying to find the origin of the voice.
"Well would you look at that it's the Fiery rude Lady who's here to finish her mission after a failed one." said Naruto as he appeared beside Zhongli who was just standing there looking amused by the situation.
"YOUUU! What are you doing here?" asked Signora with angry and afraid looking eyes.
"Ma ma Fiery Lady, no need to be so hostile." said Naruto with a mocking smile.
"IT'S THE FAIR LADY! AND ANSWER MY QUESTION!" screamed out Signora. Only for Naruto to completely ignore her and turn towards Childe.
"You're looking a lot better as far as I can see Childe. I'm looking forward to our next dance." said Naruto with a predatory smirk on his face.
"Hahaha! I can say the same here, I just need to heal some scratches and I'm gonna be right at the top of my game better than ever." Childe replied with a small laugh, his hand going over where Naruto had cut him still feeling some phantom pain from it.
Signora was fed up with being disregarded and decided to get the answers from someone else.
"MORAX! This wasn't our agreement. You made a contract with her majesty. Do you plan to go back on your word?" she asked him in a threatening tone.
"The contract I have made with the Tsaritsa has been fulfilled. And I shall hold my end of it." Zhongli said as he took out his Gnosis.
As Zhongli did so, Signora's eyes immediately went to the blond present and she became ready to fight to the death if needed, she couldn't afford to fail twice.
"No need to glare at me like that." said Naruto, seeing the look he got from Signora.
"I don't plan on interfering in the little deal Zhongli had with the ice princess." He added having known about the deal from his prior talk with Zhongli.
Signora quickly took the Gnosis floating above Zhongli's hand and turned to walk away before stopping and sending Naruto a final glare.
"I will not forget what you did to me in Monstadt. Let's go, Childe. We have to take the Gnosis to the Zapolyarny Palace and schedule a meeting with her majesty." She said as she walked out of the room.
"I'll come later. After all I don't want to share a boat with the likes of you." said Childe as he too turned to leave the room.
"We shall meet again soon comrade." he called out to Naruto as he walked out.
After a bit of silence between the two Zhongli finally spoke.
"You sure love to mess with people don't you?" he said with a small laugh.
"It's always fun to mess with people. Especially the ones that have a lot of pride." Naruto said back.
"So how does it feel to finally retire after more than 2000 years of work?" he asked in a sarcastic manner.
"Good I suppose. I have yet to fully adjust to this new change that has come to Liyue Harbor." answer Zhongli in a melancholic tone looking towards the sealing.
"I sure hope so. After all, the Adepti can't wait to meet you in 2 days for your explanation." said Naruto with a cheeky smile.
Zhongli gave the blond a deadpan look before replying. "*sigh* Why am I not surprised you did this?"
"Well you do owe them an explanation after all. You do know that the power vacuum caused by this could've caused a civil war right." said Naruto, putting his hands behind his head.
"Very well, since you already told them I would go I guess I have no choice but to do so."
"Good. Now I shall bid you goodnight, as I used quite a bit of energy to make a sea forest so I'm tired." said Naruto as he disappeared in wisps of blue fire.
Zhongli just looked at the spot where Naruto was standing before letting out a small Chuckle. 'With you here a lot shall change in this world. I wonder what you're gonna do about the Heavenly Principals when they start to actively hunt you down.' were his thoughts as he left to go to his new home as the full time consultant of the Wanshu Funeral Parlor.
- end -
Aaaaaand it's done. This took me about five days to finish with the amount of time I had to work on it. Hopefully it turned out alright.
Ok so from now on I'll try to post at least one chapter a week or one in two week if it has more than 5k words on it.
So thank you everyone for reading so far.
This chapter focused solely on the immediate aftermath of the Liyue Archon quest, next chapter is gonna be more focused on the long term changes that take place and also the Ganyu and if i have time the Childe story quests. After that it will be the first Lantern Rite followed by the first Windbloom Festival.
Anyway, see ya next Chapter!