Three months had passed since the awakening of Osial, the Overlord of the Vortex. The ancient sea monster had wreaked havoc on Liyue Harbor, threatening to destroy everything in its path. It was only thanks to the combined efforts of the adepti and the Traveler and then dropping the Tianquan's Jade Palace on the god that Osial was sealed away once more.

But the peace that followed was short-lived.

It turned out that the perpetuator of Osial's awakening was a young man named Ajax, or the Eleventh Fatui Harbinger Childe. He enacted a meticulous plan to steal the gnosis of the Geo Archon while the entire nation was distracted by Osial. But the divine artifact was not actually in the dead body of the dragon god. It was but an empty shell. By the time he realised he was outsmarted, the Traveller from the star defeated the Harbinger.

Rex Lapis was still alive and now assumed the alias of the consultant of the Wansheng Funeral Parlour. He had given up his gnosis to the Tsaritsa by making a contract with her whose contents are known not to anyone but them. The ex-archon fully believed that his nation can prosper without him as long as they stay true to the essence of what built its very foundations.

He could not have been more wrong.

He failed to consider one variable in his thoughts. The Tsaritsa herself. She had found a loophole in the contract. It was his mistake to trust another archon who thought merely collecting the genosis of other archons was enough to rival Celestia.

Now it was almost every day he hears of someone dying. More and more Fatui attacks began happening around the nation of Liyue crippling their infrastructure and supply routes. They ransacked their vital resources and will continue to squeeze them dry until nothing of it is left. The superior technology and greater numbers had simply overwhelmed the Milleneth. And not to say, he cannot contact his adepti anymore. Even Madame Ping is no longer in the place she always was and had simply disappeared.

The ex-archon can only look at his nation in horror as his nation was plunged into turmoil and chaos.

Regret welled up inside him. How could he be so foolish to leave the fate of his own nation to someone else?

Liyue was now more vulnerable than ever. People were dying every day. And Zhongli could do nothing but watch.

He was no longer the archon of this nation. No longer was he Rex Lapis, but the consultant of the Wansheng Funeral Parlour, Zhongli. A man with a calm, reserved and polite personality.

He could no longer fight for them.

But then one such day, he got an inspiration the source of which was a lone book with origins from Inazuma sitting on the local bookstore of Liyue. Its contents were interesting enough for him to buy it.

With his own money.

The pages of the book told of a story of a band of superheroes and demigods. He finished the book within a few hours and puts its down. The book depicted various superheroes with different powers and personalities, who worked together or alone to save the world from various threats. Some of them were famous and admired by the public, while others were secretive and mysterious. A strange concept was introduced to him in the book, his inspiration, the Masked Vigilante.

These were superheroes who hid their identities behind masks or costumes, and operated outside the law or society's norms. They often used unconventional or illegal methods to achieve their goals, such as violence, intimidation, or deception. Not even afraid to break rules if it meant well for the people.

The gears in the brain of the ex-archon began moving.

The Tsaritsa exploited the fact that the contract specifically said she cannot harm the nation of Liyue, but it spoke nothing of using her subordinates to do so. What if he does the same? Instead of Zhongli, or Morax the Geo Archon, who will save Liyue and oppose Fatui is a masked vigilante.

He had the resources and the capability for it. The ex-archon required not to even eat or drink and he barely slept and had great combat experience. His geo capabilities were unparalleled and he had far more physical prowess than ordinary humans and even among the supernatural.

However, using the full potential of his geo manipulation or his full physical capabilities may reveal his divine form which would be detrimental to what he was trying to achieve. Liyue was still a nation with a dead god. The same god who deemed the people capable enough that they do not need him anymore.

If he reveals his divine form, all his work will go to waste. And that cannot happen.

He will save his nation not as Morax, or Rex Lapis, but as Zhongli, the mortal who stood up. He wanted them to have hope and courage, not faith in a god who foolishly abandoned them. He wanted their defiance, not their reverence.

For such, Zhongli will limit his geo capabilities and physical prowess to human standards. His meteor summoning and stele creation is already touching the limits of what one human can do with geo and revealing those will outright show his identity. He needs to get creative with his geo use. And he had no shortage of ideas of how to do so.

Zhongli rummages through his inventory and takes out an assortment of things. A black overcoat with a hood which seem to go to end at his waist. Black pants and black boots. A plain black shirt and a plain white mask with slitted slots for eye and the symbol of geo on the forehead. He had brought these in some festival both in and out of Liyue and thought of these being nothing more than souvenirs.

Now, these will become the assortments of Zhongli's redemption.

The man then begins sorting out his inventory and look for weapons for him to wield. He had a lot of them. Most of them were too powerful or too rare and prominent that can reveal his identity as Morax or Zhongli. But there were some which were capable.

The Prototype series of weapons and the White Tassel which he got from a trip to Mondstadt.

He was all set now.

Zhongli waited for midnight as he draped over his new garb. Taking out the Prototype Starglitter out of his inventory, he settled it on his back. He had used the weapon before. Back when he travelled with Aether and Childe to gather the ingredients for the funeral of Rex Lapis.

Making sure that there was no one around, Zhongli jumps out of the window and onto a nearby rooftop with the help of elemental propulsion through his feet. There was probably a hole in sole of his shoes now, but he will worry about those later.

Stealthily hopping between rooftops, Zhongli soon found himself out of the harbour's walls and into the wilderness of Liyue and soon on top of Mt. Tainheng. He had heard more than enough from the customers of Wansheng of where the Fatui had small bases and even had ideas of where some of there hidden bases could be.

This was his very first night. And he needed a plan for most efficient action and good results.

Tsaritsa played a dirty game on him. Now, he will destroy the whole game.

REMARKS:

This is the first time posting. I welcome any criticism that will help improve my writing.