The journey back home was much quieter than usual. Clorinde could tell that her mentor had a lot of things weighing on his mind after he exited those ruins and told her that they would make the return journey home, but at the same time it also looked like there was a great weight that had been lifted off his chest, like he had finally understood something or had made a resolve.
"Is everything okay?"
She still couldn't help but ask a few hours into their journey back home. A soft smile greeted her as he fondly ruffled her hair.
"It will be," he promised. "We finally made significant headway into our goal of averting the prophecy. What caused the prophecy to come about or what that "sin" may be, it's not important anymore. I already have an idea how it can be averted."
"Really?" Clorinde's excitement and surprise was audible in the sudden shift of the tone of her voice.
"Lady Egeria laid some groundwork for us before her death, we just never knew about it until now."
"Are you referring to that man from earlier?"
"He's not an enemy, neither is he an ally. At best, we are two different parties who shared similar interests, which was why he gave me several important pieces of information for me to make a breakthrough in our investigations," Lucian answered cryptically. "I'm sure he had other motives but for now, he can be trusted."
"He knew who you were on sight."
"Yes, he did. I've never met him before but I have met the archon he served several times. She wasn't yet an archon then."
"Have you… met the other archons before?" Clorinde decided to get a little bolder in order to indulge her curiosity. Fontaine's archon has a unique presence in their nation and is more of a superstar than an archon, but she had heard that people from the other nations treated and revered their archons very differently from how Fontaine treated theirs.
She's a little curious about the culture and how archons were viewed and treated in the other nations.
"I did, but that was before the cataclysm happened. Come to think about it, I never did check with Neuvillette or Furina which archons are still in power and if their positions had been replaced. My knowledge might have been several centuries behind."
"But have you met the original archons? The ones who were still archons before the cataclysm?"
"If you are talking about the original seven then yes, I did. There's an event known as the gathering of the seven, which occurred some time after the original seven rose to their seats of power and it would take place regularly every few years. I did not attend the first gathering, but I was there for the second gathering and the subsequent ones that followed because I accompanied Lady Egeria to those gatherings. It was also through those gatherings that I met the kagemusha that I told you about."
"How are the archons like?"
"Some would differ quite a bit from the expectations you would have of an archon, I'm afraid," Lucian shook his head in mild amusement at the memory. "But no matter how un-archon-like they look, they are ultimately still victors of the Archon War. There's a very good reason why they rose to that seat of power instead of others. It would be foolish to underestimate them no matter the cause."
"Which ones are un-archon-like?"
"The Anemo Archon is an incorrigible lazy drunk," Lucian spoke and Clorinde's eyes widened in disbelief. A lazy archon? That's… not exactly the most disbelieving thing she had ever heard if she were to compare the Anemo Archon to Lady Furina, who never really acted like a true archon, but hearing such a comment coming from Lucian was certainly unexpected.
"The Geo Archon?"
"He would fit the conventional expectations one would have of an archon. He's also the oldest archon."
"The Electro Archon?"
"A gentle soul. She's not a powerful archon, but she is very good at understanding the hearts of people around her and is what made her such a beloved ruler in the eyes of her people."
"You sound like you have been to Inazuma before."
"I've visited Inazuma a few times before. It's a beautiful place, I would suggest going there for some sightseeing if you ever have the time, but I still prefer Fontaine."
"I had heard that Inazuma had very beautiful pink trees, called… called…"
"Sakura trees?"
"I think that was what they are called?" Clorinde answered hesitantly, unable to recall what she had heard in passing about Inazuma.
"The sakura trees are indeed very beautiful when they are in the blooming season," Lucian admitted as several fond memories came to mind. "You can try visiting Mt Yougou if you visit Inazuma, it's a great view up at the top. The last time I visited Inazuma was a few years before the cataclysm happened, and you can see Inazuma City from the top of the mountain. It's been over five hundred years since then but I doubt the scenery has changed much. Time seemed to stay perpetually still in Inazuma, the same sights are always there no matter the period of time which I visited the place."
"You were there with your kagemusha friend?"
"And a few others. Lady Egeria was there too," Lucian answered as certain memories that he had nearly forgotten started to spill forth once more. The Electro Archon had extended an invitation to them to visit Inazuma after the last gathering of the seven, just like how they once invited them over to Fontaine decades ago. Peaceful relations between the seven nations were at an all time high back then. Lady Egeria had a closer relationship with the Electro and Dendro Archon in comparison to the others, which was also why they had visited Inazuma and Sumeru considerably more often than the others.
It wasn't the first time they had been invited to Inazuma and it wasn't their first visit. Egeria would have tea with Lady Makoto under the Sacred Sakura Tree, debating about the differences between Inazuma and Fontaine tea and which tea is the superior one. Rhodeia and the other oceanids closer to Egeria would usually follow, spending time with Lady Makoto's closest confidantes, drinking and eating at a nearby table and making a ruckus.
He and Ei, on the other hand, would always be found somewhere far away on a separate area of Mt Yougou partaking in a never ending waltz of steel that would only end when it's time for him to return to Fontaine. It's too difficult to meet somebody else who is an equal to them at their level, somebody who could push them to their limits in order to further refine their skills as warriors.
It was why they cherished every single spar they could have with each other.
"I still couldn't beat you."
"I couldn't beat you either," he replied as they both took a short break underneath a sakura tree. They could both view the sea from here, a great view that he enjoyed even if he preferred the pristine waters that constantly surround Fontaine.
"I was talking to Chiyo the other day," Ei said, "she said we should try teaching each other our region's sword arts. She was drunk at the time and half her words were nonsensical ramblings, but I think her proposition might be fun."
"Are you certain? I can be quite the slavedriver. My own student said so," he laughed, recalling all the times Focalors cursed and swore at him during their lessons when he made her life a living hell. That said, he's still quite proud that he managed to groom the problem child Focalors to be a masterful swordsman in just a few decades.
"Ah, that problem child you always complained about?"
"Yes, her. She's still throwing a tantrum before we leave because we didn't bring her along," a wry smile crept up his face at that memory. The reason why they left Focalors behind was because it was high time she started to learn the ropes to run a nation and Neuvillette is more than qualified to guide her through it.
Although knowing Focalors, he would bet that she would skive off nine lessons out of ten.
"So, what do you think about my proposition? Interested?" She challenged with a slight gleam in her eyes. As an old friend of Ei, he understood that this is a side of her that she only showed to her closest friends. Ei is usually stoic and expressionless, such a playful side is only reserved to those that she trusts.
"It will be an honour to learn the Musou no Hitotachi from the esteemed kagemusha of Inazuma."
"And I'm sure that it's a great privilege to learn Egeria Bladework from Fontaine's Grand Duelist," she replied to his jest in kind before her gaze wandered to the Temporal Sword resting just beside him, leaning against the trunk of the sakura tree.
"But that sword won't do. I will have to get you a suitable sword to practice the Musou no Hitotachi with."
"Excuse me? The Temporal Sword is a legendary sword in its own right."
The jewel adorned in the handguard of the Temporal Sword glowed slightly in an oceanic blue, almost as if protesting against Ei's impudent remarks.
"You know what I'm talking about," Ei shook her head with a fond sigh. Of course Lucine understood her point, it's simply not suitable to learn the Musou no Hitotachi with a longsword, he would need to learn how to wield the Inazuman katana in order to learn her Musou no Hitotachi.
Similarly, she would need to learn how to wield a Fontainian longsword to learn his Egeria Bladework and for that end, he will have to get her a suitable blade to reciprocate her intended gift.
"Then it's a promise," he decided. "The next time we meet, we will give each other a suitable blade, and then we can get started on teaching each other our own techniques."
A small smile tugged at the edge of her lips. It's very imperceptible, but he had known her for long enough to know the signs, it's been almost two thousand years.
"I'll look forward to it."
Their promised meeting never happened. The cataclysm struck and when he woke up again it was five hundred years into the future. He's no longer the Grand Duelist.
"What about the other nations? What do they look like?" Clorinde inquired, breaking Lucian out of his short trip down memory lane. He smiled, he had always been a little worried about Clorinde because she always acted like a mini adult when she's still a child. It's good to see her starting to act like a child her age.
"Liyue is a harbour city. It's where the gathering of the seven was traditionally held. It's a very busy city, a city of trade, and right there mora are being exchanged at a rate that would put the other nations to shame. The architecture and culture there is very unique too, very different from Fontaine. Their culture places a heavier emphasis on food as compared to the others, almost everything can be discussed over the dinner table. Like how we once had the oceanids, Liyue has the adepti assisting the archon in protecting their nation. I had met a few of them before."
"Are they powerful?"
"They are."
"If compared to you? When you were still the Grand Duelist?"
"Then they wouldn't stand a chance. Not to toot my own horn, but I was powerful enough to be qualified as an archon if I really wanted that position."
"If you hadn't gone missing in those five hundred years, would you have… would you have been our archon instead?" Clorinde asked hesitantly, a little unsure if her question would offend her mentor.
"I… guess so? It's a very likely outcome. Lady Furina never wanted this position so it's likely that she would have passed it over to me and I think I would have taken that responsibility given the circumstances. In fact, she used to abhor responsibility with a passion so I'm actually surprised she took up this role and managed to lead Fontaine so splendidly in our absence. Yes, she has her flaws and Fontaine is far from perfect, there were definitely things that she could have done better, but it's still not easy for her to have led Fontaine to what it is today." He answered before replying to his student with a teasing smile. "Why? You want me to be Fontaine's archon?"
"Not everybody could claim to be an archon's student. I think it's worth a shot." Clorinde cheekily admitted in a rare display of childlike behaviour. "Lady Egeria wielded the Sword of Spiritual Justice and you wield its sibling sword, the Sword of Temporal Justice. I think just by that alone, it would be fitting for you to be an archon candidate. Nobody else had ever gotten the Temporal Sword's recognition ever since it was forged and it was the same even when you were gone."
"Lady Furina is equally worthy," Lucian gently corrected Clorinde's misconception. "If my guess is right, she now wields the missing Sword of Mercy, which holds the potential to overpower both its sibling swords under the right circumstances. If she could really wield and control the Sword of Mercy it would mean that she is equally worthy of the archon position."
It would be more accurate to say that it's Focalors who he suspects now wields that legendary blade instead of Furina, but that's not something that Clorinde should know at the moment.
"But Lady Furina…" Clorinde tried her best to imagine Lady Furina wielding that legendary sword that nobody ever caught sight of, only to fail trying to picture that image in her mind. Lady Furina was known for many things but being a swordsman wasn't one of those, even if her mentor had vouched for her, saying that she's his first student and a master swordsman in her own right.
"Looks can be deceiving," Lucian poked at her forehead and gave her a light push. "Yes, I understand why you sounded so hesitant given her usual behaviour. Her real gift lies in the performing arts instead of swordsmanship. While she never took a shine in instruments like Egeria did, she has a beautiful voice. Have you seen her sing or dance before?"
"Once," Clorinde nodded as the memories from attending a certain performance surfaced. "It was stunning. I was really captivated."
"And yet, she still managed to be a master swordsman all the same despite not having the same talent for it as she does for the performing arts. Never judge a book by its cover," Lucian reminded his student.
"But why would you say that the Sword of Mercy is more powerful than its sibling swords under the right circumstances?" Clorinde asked and Lucian decided that there's no harm explaining it to her after some consideration. Clorinde is not the type to blab her mouth and he knows that she knows what can or cannot be said to others. She can keep secrets.
"That sword is a special sword that's not really a sword in the truest sense, but rather a weapon of mass destruction that takes on the shape of a sword. It was forged with the intention to be the nation's deterrence to any external threats, it's Fontaine's last resort to be used in the event of an unprecedented crisis. It's forged with a blunted tip because we never really needed it to cut anything. What makes it so terrifying is its unique ability to absorb almost any kind of power imbued into it and if enough power is poured into it, it could theoretically, sever the connection between fate, heaven, and the stars."
"Sever fate?"
"Theoretically speaking, it could, but we really never got around to test that function before," Lucian shrugged his shoulders in answer. The unique ability of the Sword of Mercy and its unknown whereabouts was why he's now certain that Focalors had to be holding onto it. The Sword of Mercy is a terrifying weapon, one so powerful that one of the first things he did after he returned to the nation after his latest resurrection was to check on it and see if it's still there. Imagine his surprise when the legendary sword that was always kept sealed in a secret chamber of the Court of Fontaine had disappeared.
Back then, he simply assumed that Fontaine must have encountered a crisis during those 500 years that justified the use of the Sword of Mercy and it must be why it's no longer present. It was why he never asked any questions about its whereabouts because there's no way Neuvillette would allow it to go missing. However, he's now of the belief that his assumption was wrong, and it's precisely because there's no way Neuvillette or Focalors would ever let that sword out of their sights. Hell would be raised if it went missing, yet nothing was done about it. That meant that the sword did not go missing, it was simply being relocated. It must have been kept somewhere safe and if it wasn't with Neuvillette, then it had to be with Focalors.
And if Focalors is now hiding in the oratrice, then the sword must be with her within the oratrice. The oratrice had been transformed by Focalors to be an instrument to gather a colossal amount of power, so much that it could power the nation for several millennia. He's far from the brightest but he's not dumb, it didn't take him long to put two and two together after piecing out the clues available to him.
Focalors' plan involved using herself as a sacrifice. What method she employed, how she intended her sacrifice to be conducted such that it would avert the prophecy, he didn't have any idea then, but that changed after his meeting with Pierro and the hints which he dropped on him. Focalors' plan involved the Sword of Mercy, but for it to function as she intended she needed a great quantity of power, which was where the function of the oratrice came in. She intended to use the oratrice to fuel the Sword of Mercy, accumulating power into the legendary sword until it could really serve its theoretical function to sever the connection between fate, heaven, and the stars.
It's a very well thought out plan. Now, he's even starting to suspect that this was all part of Egeria's ploy as well. Fontaine's three legendary swords were forged and created under Egeria's orders, perhaps she already had the intention to defy Celestia way before she took him under her wing. It would justify why she ordered the creation of a sword like the Sword of Mercy, but her untimely demise didn't allow her to see to the end of her plans.
Did Focalors know of Egeria's original plan all along and decided to carry on where Egeria left off? Or had she pieced out the clues like he did? Or was everything just a coincidence? He doesn't know, but he's confident that he's not too far off from the truth. Egeria must have planned for him and Neuvillette to join the Court of Fontaine after she learnt of their existence, and it was indeed through her that they became citizens of Fontaine, knowing that only the two of them possess the possibility to go up against Celestia where she cannot. The cataclysm threw a big wrench into her plans when she died an untimely death and his resurrection was delayed for 500 years, but Egeria had already laid down the groundwork for Fontaine long before everything started.
How much did Focalors know? How much did she uncover like he did? Was everything part of Egeria's plan, or did Egeria entrust everything to Focalors before she left for the Tunigi Hollow? Egeria trusted Focalors wholeheartedly when nobody did, trusting Focalors when that child was still a whiny brat who wanted no responsibility in anything. Maybe Egeria saw something in Focalors then, something that nobody else had.
To sever fate, heaven, and the stars is too vague a description to describe the true power of the Sword of Mercy, so not many people really know what it can really do besides a select few. Besides, does Focalors truly know how to properly wield the Sword of Mercy? Has Egeria ever taught her to do so? Because to his knowledge the only other person whom Egeria taught how to properly wield the Sword of Mercy was him, her Grand Duelist and champion, the person who she wanted to enact justice upon the world on her behalf. There are many things one can do with the Sword of Mercy once sufficient power is imbued into it and if the wielder has full control over it. It can do what Pierro had repeatedly mentioned in their conversation: to rewrite destiny.
There was an old saying in Teyvat, that everyone's fate in Teyvat was already predetermined from birth and their fate was already written into the stars and in their individual constellations. If fate in Teyvat was indeed predetermined, whoever wields the Sword of Mercy holds the possibility to not only sever that predetermined fate, but also to rewrite it, or even outright eradicate their existence from Teyvat and from Irminsul if they are skilled enough to do so, or even swap their fate with somebody else if they are able to fully harness the Sword of Mercy without it going out of control.
Do Focalors know that? That's the answer he needs to desperately find out before that suicidal girl starts to do something recklessly foolish. If she is indeed planning to do something foolish…
There was a slight furrow between his eyebrows at the thought of it before it relaxed. It will be fine. This won't be like what had happened 500 years ago.
This time, he will be there.
This time, he will be the one to shoulder the consequence of defying fate. This time, he had a feeling, a feeling that's been steadily getting stronger ever since his meeting with Pierro.
It's time for the Grand Duelist to make his official return.
The skies over Tenshukaku turned dark and gloomy. A flash of lightning briefly illuminated the dark skies and revealed the silhouette of a lone figure standing on the top of the building gazing at the stormy clouds.
The exalted ruler of Inazuma continued to look far ahead, her gaze seemingly piercing through the clouds before she tore her eyes away and closed them with a soft sigh. She had been getting a little sentimental as of late. It's that time of the year where memories of years long passed would start to resurface without her consent, putting her in a depressed mood and that could be seen from the stormy clouds gathered around her nation.
She lifted a hand and the stormy clouds were dispersed with a light flick of her wrist, allowing the rays of the sun to shine through once more. There is no need to infect her people with her sadness.
She vanished in a violet crackle and reappeared within her personal chambers, striding into a specific room that resembled a private armoury with the large number of swords hung on display on the walls. She walked up to a specific blade and removed it from its rack, pulling it out slightly from its sheath and her own reflection gazed back at her from the reflective surface of the blade.
The Hasui Geppaku Futsu, the sibling blade of the Haran Geppaku Futsu which the Yashiro Commission has in their possession. Her sister had gifted the Haran Geppaku Futsu to the Yashiro Commission as an acknowledgement of their services to Inazuma before the cataclysm happened. The Hasui Geppaku Futsu remained with the Tenshukaku and it was the blade that she originally intended to give to the foreign warrior that she acknowledged as her equal at their very next meeting.
That meeting never came. What came was the news of his demise at the Tunigi Hollow.
This sword is now a present that she could never give and thus it remained here, only taken out for her to reminisce about happier days when she's feeling sentimental.
Celestia, it's always Celestia who took the people closest to her.
She pushed the Hasui Geppaku Futsu back into its sheath and set it back onto its rack. She turned on her heels and left, finding herself staring face to face of an identical copy of herself, the Shogun puppet.
"Done reminiscing?"
"You have overstepped your boundaries," Ei warned as she took a few steps closer. She created this puppet to rule Inazuma in her stead, not to question her about her private life.
"I'm simply following my directive in pursuing eternity. I will remove all factors that threaten the pursuit of eternity, even if it's you," the Shogun intoned emotionlessly and the both of them were finally close enough where their faces were within inches of one another.
"My will has not changed. Never had, and never will," Ei promised as she vanished from view and returned to her Plane of Euthymia. She had lost too many in her life. She won't allow herself to lose anyone else ever again.
Never again.