I think I've finally made it out of my stressful period. And you know what that means? Time for some more stress relieving writings! This story is another of the Unleashed series, but not of the Seven Deadly Sins ones. It's a spin-off of sorts of strongLust,/strong an alternate outcome what was told had happened.
Anyways, as seen from the summary, this is not something you should be reading if your not comfortable with, so feel free to see yourselves out. Bye.
Strange I: Defeat
She heard it once, and she doesn't need to hear it again to act.
A yell of pain was heard, barely entering through the entrance of the nearly empty church on that noon. But her ears caught the sound when barely anyone else noticed, and without even saying anything to the three people in front of her, Lumine quickly turns around and dashed towards the exit, surprising her three friends behind her who called out to her in confusion.
It wasn't the scream that concerns her the most, but rather, who is the one that screamed.
Pushing the cathedral doors wide open, she was greeted with quite a disastrous sight.
Firstly, there's quite plenty of people dressed in dark clothes standing there, all of them shared a common trait in which they wore a mask that covers their faces, as well as the existence of the same looking insignias on their clothing. Secondly, there's a high concentration of elemental energy present in the air, crawling on the floor that covered the cathedral grounds with a thick layer of frost, and flows in the air to create a cold freezing atmosphere that could make anyone shivering. And then lastly, among the people dressed in black, and at the center of the freezing ground, there stood a woman of high stature, with long platinum blonde hair and pale skin, and object is held in her hand, a black mask is covering one side of her face, an a certain bard dressed in green is lying down on the ground out cold, right beneath her feet. Her friend, Venti.
"Venti!" Lumine screamed out, calling out to that boy who is unresponsive to her voice.
All eyes instantly turned to look at her, including one of that pale skinned woman. They're mildly surprised to see someone noticing their presence, even after they made sure to secure the place from the public eyes.
Lumine doesn't have much time to think. Her brain works by itself the moment she realizes the danger that has just befallen her friend. She was quick to act, jumping high in the air above them, reaching out one hand towards them.
"Scatter!"
A sphere of Anemo energy appears on her palm, and she shoots it down into the center of the ground. The moment the orb of wind hits the floor, it burst into a violent gust of winds that sends sharp waves of windblades towards multiple directions.
"Gwaaah!" The people dressed in black screamed out upon being blown away by the windblades.
The platinum blonde woman groaned a little upon being pushed back, she looks up to see Lumine summersaulted in the air, landing on the ground on her knees, the girl with blonde hair doesn't even waste a second to pause, she immediately get up and dash towards the tall lady, a sword magically appears in her hand, already prepared to use to shed some blood on this supposedly holy ground. But neither of them seem to care about that.
She lifts her sword and strikes with a downward slash, but her sword did not touch the lady at all, for her blade was greeted by another blade, one that made out of ice.
"How barbaric. Slashing down at someone the second you see them." The lady muttered, her other hand moves at the corner of Lumine's eye, and in a second, multiple shards of ice formed above them, all pointing towards her.
Lumine pulls back, and does a backwards cartwheel to avoid the ice shards raining down on her, doing so until she creates quite a distance between them, once she's back on her feet, she looks up to see those men dressed in black have gathered around her, with increased number as well.
"Deal with her!" The lady commanded, and her men complies without question, all charging in towards her, as the lady tries to leave.
Lumine gripped her sword with one hand, holding it tightly. She waited for the perfect timing when everyone is in their ideal position. And once they were all only an arm lengths away to get her, she moved her hand and swung her sword in every direction under a split second.
They're all screamed out in pain, a little too late, for it takes them about a hundred milliseconds to process the pain that they body felt and the realization that they've been slashed, hurling their bodies flying at every direction where they flew over the wall and down to the lower level beneath the stairs. Likely breaking a bone or two.
The lady heard the cries of her men. She turned around to sneak a glance, only to immediately meet Lumine right before her, her sword already swinging down at her.
"So fast!"
She doesn't have much time to react, only able to raise her sword shaped ice to block the incoming attack. But even that failed, her ice sword shatters the moment it met with the swing of Lumine's sword, and the lady could only barely dodge the swing of Lumine's sword by tilting her head slightly in a split second, allowing the blade of the sword to scratch her cheek with a long cut.
The slash of her sword is followed with a powerful kick to the lady's abdomen, who gagged in pain before she went flying towards a nearby wall of a building, leaving a large crater on the surface of the wall as she crashed into it.
Coughing and wheezing, the lady pushes herself up from the ground. Looking up towards her attacker, she saw the form of a blonde haired swordswoman, her pristine white dress made her look like someone that descent from a royalty, a princess perhaps, so different from the Knights that guarded this Mondstadt city.
"You... You dare... To attack me? A diplomat from Snezhnaya?!" The lady growled, standing up.
She was expecting some kind of response, a change of expression at least. But for the blonde haired swordswoman, whose eyes are sealed shut behind layers of bandages, even a rock would be more expressive than her.
And that pisses off the lady.
With a motion of her hand, the lady fires a barrage of icicles towards Lumine, the blonde girl is unfazed by this, and using her sword, she deflects all of the incoming projectiles like they were nothing, all the while she keeps advancing towards her opponent slowly with small heavy steps.
The lady gritted her teeth, realizing how futile her attempt were, no matter how much or how quick she throws her attacks at Lumine, the traveler will just brush it off like nothing happened.
That mere thought chipped away her focus, and it was an opening that all Lumine needed to move forward. With a charge of winds that blows away the remaining icicles, she dashed forward with a speed of sound.
Barely having time to react, the lady tilts her body aside. Lumine slides her weapon forward, the blade nicking her foe’s neck, drawing blood and swipes off a lock of her hair
"G-Guh!" The lady hisses in pain. Using a shower of frost aimed at the ground, she creates some distance as far away as she could from Lumine.
Landing on the ground, she clutches the bleeding wound on her neck with one hand. Hissing in both pain and frustration, she looks back towards her opponent, only to find her missing, so then she looks up, seeing the form of the blonde girl high in the air, lunging towards the exact spot she's standing, sword aimed down.
The lady barely jumped away when Lumine's sword struck the ground with so much velocity that it caused the roads to crack and ground to shake.
Now's her chance!
With the Traveler's sword stuck on the ground, she is not making a move just yet. The lady creates her ice sword once more and thrusts forward.
"Die!"
She yelled as her ice sword punctured through the girl's sides...
Or at least, that's what she thought should've happened.
Instead, the lady finds herself coughing out blood as a searing pain rises from her abdomen and spreads throughout her whole body in exactly one hundred millisecondz. And it takes another one hundred for blood to rise up to her throat and out of her mouth.
"W-What?!"
The lady's eye looked down, widening in great shock as a sword had punctured her through the gut.
It was a different sword. The blonde girl cleverly tricked her into thinking that she got an opening when she never had one. And once the lady charges in to take that vain hope of the chance of beating her, Lumine materialize another sword, and use her other hand to stab her enemy with a speed faster than a normal human brain could comprehen.
In just a few minutes, she had outsmarted the eighth of the Fatui Harbinger, such as the unpredictability of this Outlander.
Lumine roughly pulls out her sword from the lady's abdomen, the sword on her right hand disappeared, replaced by a sphere of swirling Anemo energy, which she slammed right into the open wound of the sword stab, causing the lady to gag out more blood.
"Windblade!"
A burst of energy was released, and the tall lady screamed out in pain as her body was sent flying out of control.
Crashing to the ground far away from her, Lumine approaches to finish the job, but before she gets there, one of those masked people, the kind of who are female and wore dark purple robes appears out of nowhere, grabbing her superior, she then teleports out of sight while bringing the lady with her, saving her from Lumine... For the time being.
That's fine. She's the least of her worries right now.
"Honorary Knight!"
A familiar voice shakes her out of the rage that had consumed at that moment, snapping back to the reality of her surroundings. She looks back to see Acting Grandmaster Jean and the Deaconess Barbara coming out of the cathedral, their faces pale as they see the sights of destruction around her, from the unconscious Venti, to the large cracks on the floors and the walls.
"Venti?! Oh no... Who did this to him?" Barbara grimaced as she checked on Venti, gasping in horror at the terrible wound on his chest that is stained red with blood.
"Honorary Knight, what happened here?" Jean asks- no, she is demanding answer from her.
"It's those masked people. They assaulted him." Lumine answered, barely paying attention to the carnage the battle has caused. She walked to the two, passing by Jean, and approached Venti.
Now that her rage has faded, she only has eyes for Venti. Crouching down, she cradles him into her arms, noting how cold and limp his body was. This isn't good. His body is but a vessel made from Celestial Energy as a concealment of his true form, now that whatever the thing that supplies him with the constant flow of that energy is gone, this form would surely loses many of it's functions unless if she treated him now.
Wordlessly, she lifts him up off the ground.
"W-Where are you going? He needs an urgent treatment right away!" Barbara sees her ready to leave with the injured bard and immediately protests.
"He can not be healed through normal means." Lumine replied, looking back at Barbara, she gives her a reassuring nod. "I know of a way, trust me, I'll make sure he's alright."
Barbara looked like she has more to say, but Jean, who knows of the true nature of this situation, prevents her, she puts her trust in the Traveler enough to know that she can trust her to save their god. And with that, Lumine leaves in a spark of glowing blue lights.
And while she was on her way there, Lumine's now focused mind reflecting back to the battle she had just now, particularly, to the opponent she had faced.
Those platinum blonde hair, that sharp eye, the haughty aura she's emanating... Though she appears a little different, there's no doubting who she is...
"So... That witch is in this world too, huh?"
Lumine doesn't know why, but she can not help herself but to let her lips spread into a grin.
~o~0~o~
The sounds of clacking heels on the floorboards echo through the throne room of the Tenshukaku. A blonde haired girl in a pristine white dress with eyes that are covered by layers of bandages enters.
Her sight focused on what lies at the end of the room. Two figures standing, and one lying down on the ground out cold.
She recognized all three of them, and she gotta say in all honesty, she is less than pleased to see them standing in the same room.
The last time they met, she had left quite a scar on that lady for messing with her friend. And now, she dare to not only showing her face again to her, but to also stir up chaos throughout Inazuma, the nation of eternity.
Lumine felt nothing but rage and disgust for that lady. Attacking her dear friend back in Mondstadt is one thing, but ruining the peace and prosperity of Makoto's nation is not something that can be forgiven.
Hearing the clacking sounds of her heels, the two figures that are standing turned their attention to her. The almighty Raiden Shogun, the ruler and god of Inazuma. And as for the second one... The so-called diplomat from Snezhnaya. La Signora, they called her, the Fair Lady, the eighth of the Fatui Harbinger.
Rosalyne-Kruzchka Lohefalter... That's her true long forgotten name.
"The way people charge in here as they please, so uncivilized..." That annoying haughty tone, it's just like what Lumine always remembered from their brief encounter in the past. "If I didn't know this was Tenshukaku, I might have mistaken it for some kind of street market."
Lumine then turned her attention to the third figure, the one on the floor. The great Shogunate army general, Kujou Sara, is lying on the floor, still alive, but the bruises and bleeding scars across her body shows that she is far from being okay.
"The right to punish Inazuman for their crimes is mine alone. Not yours, Signora." It was the voice of the Shogun, Lumine gives a quick glance to the puppet, the Shogun's eyes are closed and her arms are crossed, as if to give an impression that she was unimpressed by what just happened.
Looks like her presence here is akin to nothing but dust to be swept away despite of their encounter several months ago during that ceremony.
"...Then I apologize, Almighty Shogun." Signora bows her head in apology, there's nothing sincere about it, looks she she bows down to nothing but to her and only rightful god.
Focusing back to her task at hand, Lumine crosses her arms.
"I thought I would never see that face of yours again. Not after what happened back in Mondstadt." Lumine said, gaining the lady's attention as she turned her body to face her. "Distributing Delusions to the resistance aemy and trying to seize control of Inazuma... You have quite the guts to do this with me around."
"Ah, so you came to expose my crimes in front of the Shogun?" The woman asked before doing that god-awful laugh again. "I'm just a Snezhnayan diplomat. I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about." The way she's trying to act oblivious makes something snapped in Lumine's mind. "And don't go thinking I'm surprised to see you here. I'm well aware of how much you hate the Fatui, with the way you always there twarting all of our plans."
Lumine is shivering inside, her blood are boiling like a raging magma, she wanted this woman DEAD.
But somewhere, in the back of her mind, whatever is left of her sane mind is trying to hold her back, holding her back from losing herself, again.
"Get out of my sight if wish to live." Lumine muttered.
"What?" Signora raised an eyebrow at her.
"Leave Inazuma this very instant, you abd all your men, leave and never returned." Lumine demanded, taking her first step forward approaching the two tall figures. "If you do that, I'll be generous, and I'll spare you and every Fatui members under your lead. But if you don't do that... Well..."
A burst of wind came out of Lumine which spread throughout the room, causing the already suffocating atmosphere to get even heavier.
"You're going to take responsibility For all the pain you have caused to the people of this nation." Lumine's voice was cold, colder than the already usual blankness of her tone. Signora even paused for a second when she realized the hidden deep hatred behind the blonde girl's words, hatred that don't even exist before.
And after a long pause, the Fair Lady laughed.
"Hahaha. Never I imagined someone like you are even capable of making such hilarious jokes." The platinum blonde lady laugh while clutching her stomach. "Really, telling a Snezhnayan diplomat to piss off? Threating to kill me? Seriously?"
After a while, she finally calms her laughing fit down.
"Don't overestimate yourself, Outlander." Signora sighs as she stares her down, arms folded under her breasts. "You think because you have beaten me that day, means you're on the same level as me? I wasn't even taking things seriously back then." She clicks her tongue, looking annoyed. "Though, now that you mentioned it, I still remember the pain you've caused me, the humiliation I suffered after. It's time I returned the favor back to you."
A chilling atmosphere breezes through the room, one that was as cold as the darkness of the night. A complete contrast to the source of fragrant warmth emanating from the one single girl in the room.
"You have proven to be quite a problematic thorn on her majesty's side." Signora stepped down from her place. "Someone like you has no place in the new world the Tsaritsa's will create. It is time for me to do her majesty a favor and dispose of you." Now standing oN the same level as Lumine, the two face each other heads on. "I believe you have no objections to this, almighty Shogun?"
The puppet Shogun didn't respond, which, as far as anyone knew, is her way of allowing them to proceed.
Lumine stares at the fool before her, and sighed. So it's a duel before the throne then. So be it.
"So be it then..." Lumine said as she took a breather. "The loser must forfeit their life. I hope you're prepared to be reunited with Rostam, once I'm finished with you." Uncrossing her arms, Lumine took a stance. "Rosalyne-Kruzchka Lohefalter! I challenge you, to a duel before the throne!"
Silence fell over the room by that last single sentence. Signora's eye blown wide open with shock, her calm demeanor seemingly crumbles in an instant.
"Proceed." The emotionless puppet Shogun has given them the permission to do battle, before the god's very eyes.
Signora glanced up at the emotionless face of the puppet Shogun. And then to the Traveler's before her, who at this very moment, finally shows her some semblance of emotions, pure rage and disgust, all aimed towards the Harbinger.
Clicking her tounge again, Signora looked at her opponent sharply. "My, you're so full of surprises. As expected from the mysterious figure of unexpectedness as you. So you've learned to make the law of the land work for you too, hmm? I'll admit that I never expected to be in a situation where the two of us were on equal footing."
The room temperature begins to drop drastically. A bitter cold is slowly pouring out of the Harbinger and to the walls and floor of the throne room, covering everything with frost.
"As per your wishes then, only one of us could walk out here alive. I hope you don't die with regrets over your own decision, Traveler."
There was a sudden burst of cold shockwaves, which sends Lumine flying back to the other end of the room. She lands on her hands and knees, looking forward as Signora approaches, step by step.
"I will deign to share this last dance with you. Till death do us part." Signora said, as an ice barrier formed around her.
So it finally comes to this, Lumine can't say she isn't surprised, but still, this outcome is something that she had expected somewhere in the back of her mind.
She's facing a Fatui Harbinger...
She's battling a Fatui Harbinger...
She's going to kill a Fatui Harbinger!
"Oh? You're trembling." Signora remarked as she released another laugh. "Is it the cold, or just cowardice?" She asked with a smirk.
Signora had hoped that either way is the case. But little did she know, it was neither of anything she could imagine.
The Traveler smiled, her lips spread wide, she showed her teeth and she grinned as she began to chuckle, her arms hugging the sides of her body, as she cackled loudly. Signora would've thought that she had gone insane if she was any other person. But for this girl however... This scene in front of her, is nothing but unsettling.
"Sorry... Sorry. I'm just feeling really excited right now." Lumine apologized whilst her body is still trembling.
Excited?
"My mind can't help but be full of ideas." Taking a deep breath to stop herself from laughing, Lumine raises her head. Behind those layers of bandages, Signora could feel the sharpness of her glare which penetrates straight into Signora's being. "What will I do to you once we're finished... So many ideas, my whole body is itching to kill you!"
Signora paused, she found herself at loss for words.
This girl is... A Demon.
"Now..." Lumine materialized her sword, taking a stance by holding her blade with both hands in front of her. "Let's dance!"
She charges in while still wearing that maniacal grin.
~o~0~o~
To this day, Rosalyne-Kruzchka Lohefalter can still recall the appearance of the blonde-haired Traveler pointing ber sword at her in the Tenshukaku and saying "I challenge you to a duel before the throne!"
At that time, she was extremely confident and arrogant, because of her position as a harbinger, because of the blessings her majesty the Tsaritsa had given her, because of the sacrifice she made to trade her own humanity in her pursuit for the ideal world.
When she had faced the Traveler in Mondstadt, she was utterly defeated, she was reduced to nothing but a weak maiden who could be beaten by a mere single knight with little to no effort. Her ice are nothing in front of her, and the Fair Lady could only watch herself helplessly being thrown around like a ragdoll.
The Traveler had left an everlasting scar on her, one that she should have set as a reminder, a reminder to never underestimate a person, a reminder to never look down on others, a reminder to never piss this Outlander off.
And yet, she had to act foolishly. She had to make her pride overwritten her own survival instincts, even when every fiber of her being are screaming at her to not cross the line, her arrogance have led her to her own downfall.
How dare this Traveler threatened her and mocked the hands of her majesty? She shall make this girl pay!
So, Rosalyne took up the challenge.
But the result was completely unexpected. Or rather, it was something that she had expected somewhere in the back of her head, but it was something that she had chosen to ignore.
The gust of winds combined with the earth shattering rock, and the bellowing thunders shuttled among them, clashing against the fierce wave of cold, and later the blazing red flames that leaves not even ashes remains.
Even after she released her power as the Crimson Witch of Flame, she was still defeated by the traveler in the end.
She still remembers the ear shattering screams she released, as her true form was sliced apart by the Traveler's blade. Her flames subsided, her body crumbled, leaving her back to her frail, weak, human body, falling to her knees as the victor was decided.
And with that, the Shogun's blade shall fall to execute the loser, of this duel...
...Or at least, that's what supposed to happened...
~o~0~o~
The loser of the duel before the throne has nothing but their fate to be executed by the Raiden Shogun's blade. Signora originally firmly believed that as a diplomat of Snezhnayan, the Shogun would not do anything to her, but she did not expect that the god of thunder to actually raise a knife.
But that was the least of her worries right now.
There are other things more terrifying than the wrath of the Raiden Shogun...
It was the wrath, of this blonde Traveler.
The Shogun had taken steps forward to formally executed the loser, but then suddenly, she finds herself unable to move. It was like there's a barrier that prevents her from moving forward, or perhaps, more accurately, there was an invisible shackles that lock her in place, that restrict any kinds of movements.
Signora stares at the figure of the god. What is going on? Why did she stop moving? Why does it look like she's struggling to even move a muscle?
There was no time to be concerned about this though, as while the Raiden Shogun is immobile and struggling to move, the figure of the Traveler approaches closer and closer, with her sword held in one hand. Signora felt nothing but bloodlust coming out of her.
"I am a Snezhnayan diplomat... You know what happens if you lay a finger on me..."
Signora muttered, she weakly pushes herself off the ground and back to her feet, as Lumine continues to advance.
"I swear, if you strike me, I will make sure..."
She finds herself unable to complete her words. Lumine's complete silence could greatly unnerved even the most arrogant of the Fatui Harbingers. Feeling fear for perhaps the first time in centuries she finds herself falling back from the Traveler's continued approach.
"the Fatui will make sure that you will...!"
Swush
She stopped, seeming to realize something had happened. Before her body fully realised the pain on her arm, as it spreads throughout her whole body.
A blade had just flied through the air and pierced her on her right arm, it happened so quickly that even her brain could not comprehend what happened before it was too late.
"Ah..."
And on the next second after that, before she knew it, countless blades were raining down on her, blades of various shapes and size, it pierces her all over her body, on her arms and legs, her torso, her head. She felt them all, every sensation of pain of having her body stabbed in all kinds of places.
It was a miracle that she's still alive at this point, or rather... It was a curse.
The Harbinger fell to her knees once more, blood spills out of her mouth and out of the wounds throughout her body, she breathed in and out roughly, despite of being sure that her lungs have been punctured. Through her bloodshot eye, she looks up to see the figure of the Traveler standing before her, looking down at the woman through her bandage covered eyes.
With every second that passed felt like an eternity. The Traveler wordlessly raised her blade, holding it horizontally, and swung it down to Signora's neck.
This is the end... This should be the end.
The blade never swung past her neck, in fact, it didn't even touch her neck. It stops a mere inch away.
Something has changed in the Traveler's mind. With how she is knocking on death's door right now, Signora has no way of knowing what it is. But she is sure of it, the Traveler has a change of mind, something clicks in her and makes her stop.
The sword on Lumine's hand disappears, and so too the ones that stabbed Signora all over her body. Her near lifeless body went limp, and Lumine caught her by the head to prevent her from falling to the floor.
Weakly, subconsciously, Signora looks up at her, as Lumine stares down towards her fallen enemy, her lips parted as words came out of her mouth.
"I think I have other uses for you..."
Is the words Signora remembered her said, before blue lights enveloped her and made her body lighter, and she was magically transported out of the Tenshukaku, away into a place unknown.
This is her first step in her new life, her new life as the Traveler's pet.
To be continued...
So Signora didn't die in this story, unlike in Lust. So that should be a good thing, right? :)
See ya in the next chapter!