Aether teleported into Liyue Harbor in another flash of light. They were to find the Fischl doppelganger before Outworlder arrived. The need to look for anything out of the ordinary made him really look at the city. A tapestry of life, stretching centuries back, was baked into the architecture and weaved into its people as culture and tradition. Neither Rex Lapis' death nor Osial's attack could move its citizens to leave, for this plot of land was Liyue, or at least its heart which beat with the flow of Mora.
Paimon echoed Aether's thoughts. "Hm, maybe we should look for the adepti or the Liyue Qixing! They oversee the city, so to them finding a Fischl doppelganger might be easy."
"Alright, let's do that."
Walking around the Harbor, finding the adepti or Qixing wouldn't be very hard, since their form of dress made them stick out amidst the modest sea of colors. They found someone even better at Third-Round Knockout to aid them.
"Speak of deja vu, Zhongli, you're here! And you've got…"
"I, Fischl, Prinzessin der Verurteilung, descend upon this land by the call of fate. Though the crucible that is fate may task the Prinzessin across space and time, we stand against the tides of calamity, unbowed!"
"Mein Fräulein says, 'Nice to meet you.'"
Paimon recoiled, "Eh?! The suit's talking!" Fischl wore a skinsuit, emblazoned with the digits 'OZ.' Purple, a constant throughout Fischl's various lives, was her color. With an eyepatch and blonde twintails, she was every bit Fischl as Aether knew her.
Aether shrugged, "Not the strangest thing I've seen today…"
"Uh, so. We can explain, Zhongli…"
Far from being put off, Zhongli sipped his tea and nodded along as though it were the most ordinary speech to parse. Not surprising, Aether thought. With how long-lived Zhongli was, some verbose vocabulary wouldn't even raise his eyebrow.
"Traveler. Villagers in the East have reported a flying ship, headed for Sumeru. I assume all this is related." This he said less in question, more a confirmation of what he already knew.
Aether nodded.
"So, Fischl, you went to Schicksal, then to someplace called Tokyo-3? You're like a branch of the Outworlder then!"
"Indeed," Outworlder nodded, "your tale is a facsimile of the Prinzessin's, a wanderer between worlds whose diverging threads of fate led thee on another bizarre adventure!"
Fischl, or 02 as her suit's 'OZ' resembled, had a story similar to Outworlder. Yet the divergence came at the end. Schicksal had played host to someone named 'Asuka' before. This lined up with the background of 02's next world, where she replaced 'Asuka' as a pilot to the EVA in order to battle otherworldly creatures called Angels. Political machinations, emotional struggle, the immanent specter of curiosity from the powers that be with regards to her unique Vision, all while the fate of mankind rested on 02's petite shoulders as she rode out to battle alien nemeses.
This Fischl was a bit older, now that Aether had the chance to truly observe. With it came a hint of maturity which separated teen from adult. She was indeed 'tasked' by fate, yet remained unbowed and unbroken.
"This Auge der Verurteilung, which hath gazed upon that fated Gotterdammerung, shall be of use in aiding thy quest."
Zhongli had listened to them both. Only now did he cut in with a deliberation befitting a mountain of patience others broke themselves upon. "I have heard whispers of doppelgangers roaming Liyue. Corpses have been found near Dunyu Ruins, which bear the fallout of destruction by powers not of this world. Millelith scouts have reported sightings of an eyepatched blonde - separate from the one before us."
Paimon said, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find her!"
"We shall. But first, Traveler…" Zhongli glanced up at Aether. "Could you pay for this meal?"
"The Prinzessin, without her imperial retinue, travels light!"
"That, and mein Fräulein has not a Mora on her after traveling to various dimensions."
Aether and Paimon sighed. Deja vu was hitting hard, and some he'd been wondering how Zhongli, even as an employee at Wangsheng, could afford a meal at Third-Round Knockout, much less treating someone. Even so, it soothed the heart on some level to find some brevity amidst this multiversal phenomenon.
"Paimon figured the other boot was going to fall eventually…"
Right.
Aether turned to his floating partner, armed with Teyvat's most deadpan glare. "You get to talk after you've worked a day in your life for that Mora."
"Hey! That Mora is near and dear to Paimon's heart too, you know!"
Walking to Dunyu Ruins instead of teleporting there had its perks, most of all getting to catch up with Zhongli and let Outworlder bounce off 02. Along the way, Hu Tao had joined their party, thanks to Zhongli's presence, and she served as a useful foil in that bubbly way only someone like Hu Tao could. Adventuring wasn't always about getting from point A to B as fast as possible, but stopping to smell the Silk Flowers along the way.
And sometimes facilitated serendipitous meetings like right now.
Aether halted at the party assembled just outside of Dunyu. Ningguang helmed the party of Keqing, Xingqiu, Chongyun, Ganyu and Yelan. This was an entire army, since it was no exaggeration to say a trained Vision wielder equaled the strength of a thousand. Here, Aether saw another side to Chongyun and Xingqiu's relationship. Where Chongyun had put on his game face, that no doubt worn on his exorcism missions, Xingqiu had cut back on his jibes to let Chongyun do what he did best. Not just due to the severity of the situation mandating two Qixing members to intervene, but also an unspoken understanding shared between them.
Paimon echoed his thoughts, "Wowee, what's everyone gathered here for? You look like you're going to face Osial again!"
Ningguang nodded. "Not wrong. The Liyue Qixing also serve as protectors of Liyue, such a violent murder of bandits cannot be allowed to slide."
Yelan approached the twin Fischls, green eyes reflecting the intuition behind them which figured them out at a glance. "You two fit the bill… but we've received a tip-off from Mondstadt. Besides, you don't need someone like me to see that you two aren't capable of something like this."
Must be Diluc, Aether thought.
Paimon crossed her arms. "Must be that 'Civil Affairs' skillset at it again, huh? What other skills does it take to be hired there? Being able to lick your elbow?"
"Anyway," Ninguang cut in, "the situation is more dangerous than we had anticipated, if the target is capable of doing this." She waved her gloved hand back at the Ruins.
More than being defiled, the Ruins had been played with. The terrain had been squished, chopped up and warped with a violent whimsy perhaps charming when exhibited by babies, but here, painted a scene of incomprehensible madness tinged by a lust for destruction. This place was wrecked not out of any apparent purpose, but for the simple reason it existed.
At the distant epicenter was a blonde mop tied up in twintails, an omen Aether knew was the herald of incoming trouble. Not helped by the red smeared upon eviscerated walls.
Keqing nodded at Zhongli and Hu Tao. "The Liyue Qixing shall lead this operation. Though we are not at liberty to refuse the participation of civilians," she cast a glance at Xingqiu and Chongyun, "we warn that you do so at your own peril."
A disclaimer. It wasn't mean-spirited, Aether knew Keqing to not be like that. But it was the bare minimum to state that they were responsible in choosing to join the Qixing in exercising their duty. Even if they were concerned citizens, this was the line in the sand they had to cross of their own volition to confront a danger not seen since Osial.
Hu Tao chimed, "Oh, don't worry about us! It's the funeral director's duty to give these poor souls their last rites, especially after…" Her cheery voice faltered at the sight of blood, sure as the sun was obscured by drifting clouds. "If not properly put to rest, their souls won't be able to move on from these violent deaths."
Ningguang and Keqing relented, since they were not the only ones here motivated by duty. With this, both groups merged, then made their way through the wasteland.
Paimon shuddered, again hiding under Aether's cape. "Ooh, I hope this Fischl wasn't as scary as the Raikou Shogun! She certainly has the demolition part down pat!" The Qixing, not in the know, gave Paimon a strange look, but Aether's pleading glance got them to accept the fact there was more going on here than they'd time to explain.
"You," Outworlder and 02 seethed, the word laced with the horror of recognition.
"Hark! For I, Fischl, am the Herrscher of Delusion, and destiny has put you in my path to be smited!"
There was an ephemeral elegance in the Herrscher's dress, her intricate, Mondstadt robes flowing down her figure. But with said ephemerality came an inhuman detachment, an insidious bedrock of indifference to all life behind those eyes. She could stand before Aether, and he felt his hand would pass through the Herrscher as though reaching for the faraway moon.
Keqing stepped up. "You're the one who killed those bandits, correct?"
"You dare punish this Herrscher for taking out the dregs of society? Ungrateful wench, you should've brought more of thy allies to take on this Herrscher's wrath!"
A flood of liquid metal flowed out from thin air like water out of a broken dam, and swiped at the dispersing team with malicious intent.
Xingqiu shrugged, "Guess that's our answer."
Ningguang said, "Take the culprit down, alive! She will be tried by Liyue's laws."
Aether picked up Outworlder's concerned whisper to herself. "How could the Prinzessin have fallen to such depravity? To act against mankind and bring about destruction untold?"
The team dispersed to avoid the Herrscher's liquid metal. The thing writhed into shapeless molds in the grotesque imitation of some beast's claw, nearly tearing Chongyun's head off with deceptive speed.
Aether slashed at the liquid, but a jolt shot through his arm as his blade crashed upon its surface.
Paimon called out, "This thing's hard like a rock!"
"Traveler!" Zhongli's terseness got Aether to back off, trusting the Archon with what came next. "I will have order!"
"Your life is mine!" Ningguang joined in Zhongli's meteor assault with her hail of gems, and for an instant Aether's heart soared at the thought of the Herrscher being buried under the torrent of elemental bursts. But said hopes were dashed upon as liquid metal shielded the Herrscher, both Geo attacks unable to even scratch its surface.
Paimon cried. "Wha - how?! Paimon can't imagine anything would be left standing after all that!" Everyone's stunned silence echoed sentiments along those lines.
The Herrscher answered. "This Herrscher invites thee to think. Could there exist a material at once solid and liquid? If such an imaginary material should exist, it serves as offense and defense. This is my Gedankensache, that which brings imaginary matter into being, and operates on laws separate from this world!"
Zhongli cut in, "How were you not petrified?"
"A trifling matter. After all, could you not hypothesize a material impervious to petrification? A thought experiment, except that as Herrscher of Delusion, thoughts become reality!"
Aether's mind raced to think of ways to counter such a power. The only thing which came to mind was perhaps overwhelming the Herrscher with elemental firepower, but - wait, couldn't she come up with an element impervious to every element?
How was anyone supposed to beat that?
02 stepped up with purpose. "Traveler, allow the Prinzessin to show you the skills we have picked up in our travels across dimensions."
She threw a hook at thin air.
And conjured a fist the size of a cottage.
The Herrscher, liquid metal and all, flew into the stone wall and vanished in a thunderous detonation of dust and debris. From the masks of shock worn all around, nobody expected this. And though nobody had expected this to put the Herrscher down, to see her be thrown around filled the team with a massive morale boost. Powerful as she was, she was not invincible.
"That," Oz cut in from 02's suit, "was the EVA unit. Or at least the fist I manifested."
A crack of splitting stone, and the Herrscher dragged herself out of the wreck. "Oho! Interesting, But as two Archons cannot occupy the same nation, neither can we three bear the title of Prinzessin! Have at thee, pretenders!" As though an Archon had deigned to notice a mortal, the Herrscher trained her glare on Outworlder and 02.
With 02's summoned flurry of gigantic kicks and punches, their assault redoubled in an attempt to bring down the Herrscher.
They could do this.
They couldn't do this.
Even 02's physical barrage couldn't break through the Herrscher's hypothetical matter, as all it did was to change up her tactics. She summoned more matter to defend against 02's strikes, then enveloped the Herrscher with antifreeze properties to shrug off Xingqiu and Chongyun's tag team attack. Yelan sprinted around to poke at the Herrscher's weak spots, coming closest to taking her down. Ganyu, Keqing, Ningguang, Zhongli, 02, Hu Tao, Outworlder and Aether's wrath fell upon the Herrscher like a crash of thunder, yet her defense simply wouldn't give, for she simply couldn't imagine her vaunted matter doing so.
They might have had to battle it out the entire day and push the Herrscher into making a mistake, if not for Paimon glancing up at the sky.
"Huh? What's that up there?"
Another Fischl descended upon the battlefield, though one glance was enough to gleam how wrong this porcelain creature was in some horrific mockery of the human form. Its face was a featureless mask; eyes dotted its wings and halo to be colored in with Fischl's green tint, bows welded to its hands and gnarled feet akin to tree roots. It altogether formed the portrait of a heavenly visitor in all its terrific majesty. Nary a thought was spared in its creation to conform to the aesthetics of mortal ken, contextualizing its humanoid form as some divine attempt at caricature and a spit in the face of all who lived and breathed upon Teyvat.
It spoke to the depths of Aether's soul to hear Zhongli's concern bleed into his words.
"Retreat."
The battlefield erupted in angelfire.
The HEV IMMERNACHTREICH floated over Sumeru city. The Divine Tree, which stood as a bastion of knowledge for the nation, was enveloped in the purple sheen of a force field like a snow globe. So thin its walls, yet it withstood the collective battering of Vision holders who had the luck to be locked out of the capital.
On the inside, streets flowed with the blood of those who dared resist.
The city smelled of death, an aroma released by the body in a mix of excrement, piss and blood. And like smoke to fire, wherever the stench was strongest lay a scene straight out of the Cataclysm. Bullets sliced through all who resisted, a bloodbath the result of a technologically superior force rolling over its inferiors. With nowhere to run, it was a matter of time before the Akademiya was brutally suppressed and the city's citizens, though unhurt, were sufficiently cowed. Nobody dared mess with the soldiers whose smoking barrels felled guards like wheat before the scythe.
This was not warfare. Just slaughter.
The acrid sting of gunpowder filled the Akademiya's halls, heavy with the stomp of troops armed with otherworldly rifles. The Sages and their retinue were held at gunpoint, their secrets pried out with the correct application of force which left some of them clutching the bleeding hole where their kneecaps had been. Their howls, gusting from the bottom of their lungs, were motivated by agony one would rather their throat be slit than endure it any further.
The Kaiserin stood over the corpses strewn across the hall, mounds of lax flesh laid upon a floor of blood in symbolic loss of knowledge leaving the crumpled forms of every dying scholar. Her flickering visage hinted at a holographic presence, and she reviewed something on a tablet.
A soldier returned from a chamber leading further into the Akademiya. "Kaiserin, we've located the Lesser God Kusanali. It seems the Akademiya preemptively captured her in order to go ahead with their god-creation plan."
"Hm," the Kaiserin massaged her chin in thought, "and the Lesser Lord possesses her Gnosis in order to facilitate Akasha. A terminal which harvests dreams and gathers knowledge in the process to empower individuals. Interesting. See if you can get the Akasha to funnel its knowledge into our systems. Their research on godhood will prove useful."
Someone yelled, "You have no credentials to appropriate anything we Sages - "
A rifle bark knocked a Sage's head back, and he crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. The coarse discharge of regurgitated lunches filled the hall, feeding into the stink of death which stung the lungs and churned the soul.
The guard responsible gargled, "Speak when spoken to."
This cowed the hostages, none of them daring to court death after having been beaten into submission by the cudgel of pain.
The Kaiserin continued, "All this knowledge you hoarded, yet you don't do anything with it. Pathetic. Still, that makes things easier." She turned to the captain. "Tell the citizens everything the Akademiya did. The samsara and dream harvesting, creating their new god, everything. Then release them, for their fury shall aid us in tearing this entire country apart to find every scholar on this list. So we may kill them all." She pointed back at the Sages.
"Starting with them."
Gunfire filled the Akademiya's halls again.