Fuse

Lying down on my bed in my room, I was staring up at the ceiling while thinking of a few things.

Currently, the plan to retake Sumeru was to just loudly announce the fact that their god was back, and hope that the sages surrender.

In the case that the Fatui, the bad guy organization that Dottore is a part of, intervene to stop us, Nahida told us to throw hands.

Well, she didn't, more like 'you're free to take care of it' which is really just permission to throw hands.

However, we did need to gather some more support so that all of this didn't just suddenly pop up, so Cyno and Tighnari went to the city first to get some allies on our side, since nobody knows that they're on our side right now.

Oh, yeah, and apparently everyone in Sumeru city saw our fight, which makes sense because Luciel froze a whole ass mountain during that fight.

They don't know it was us, but I'm sure a few of them could maybe guess who Luciel is if they saw her.

Speaking of Luciel, I pop my gaze back to her body, which is just chilling in the transparent coffin Nahida made for her.

Still dead, obviously, but it is kind of sad to see a Canadian cousin be taken out like this.

…Why am I lying? It's not sad at all, I killed her.

You have received a new fortune cookie!

Ah, another one? The last one just told me Luciel was coming up, I wonder if this has a hint as to which world I'll be traveling to?

'He who holds the fragment of destruction does not look back upon his actions.'

Hmm…

Hang on, what does my world menu tell me?

(World menu)

[You cannot freely travel between worlds until your Destiny is fulfilled. However, you are able to travel between worlds you've been to.]

[You are currently on: Luciel's Universe: Genshin Impact]

Possible Destinations:

[Eastern Wall of The Universe]

[Gamer's Hub]

[Garbanag's World: Terraria]

Ah, Garbanag, eh? What an odd name. I'd bet some money on him being the whole destruction guy.

Also, geeze, world menu, what a suspiciously odd note you have up there. But it is nice to know that I have some freedom to go where I want within reason.

Well, what else… I guess I should apologize to Dori for bringing this dead body to her house. And this whole situation too, I guess. It's probably bad for business to keep the god of wisdom in your house.

How? I have no clue, but Dori is more money-smart than I am, so I should probably apologize anyway to cover my tracks.

Getting up from my bed and exiting my room to walk over to where Dori probably was, I passed by Nahida on the way, who was probably going to look for me.

"Oh, hey," I greeted her, "Need something?"

Nahida nods, "Yes, actually. I want to make a contingency plan in the scenario where we would have to face The Doctor."

I waved my hand, "Nah, I think I win that fight now. Leave that to me."

I am actually supremely confident in my chances of winning that fight now. I mean, he may be fast enough to the point where my eye couldn't see him back when I first met him, but I think the extra 2 rank ups I've gone through since then has helped bridge that gap enough to the point I could probably just shoot him.

Not to mention, if I bring Dottore into my domain expansion, it's basically over for him as long as I remember to start shooting at him before he comes at me, and the guaranteed hit effect of the domain will do all of the work for me.

Walking past Nahida and her shocked expression, I found Dori chilling on the couch going over some documents.

"Hey, Dori," I called out to her, getting her attention, "My bad for probably tanking some of your cash account by doing all of this stuff. It's probably been really bad for the economy recently, right?"

Dori confusedly looked at me for a moment, then she laughed, "Hahaha! Trust me, your actions did not affect the economy at all! Look, I don't know if you knew or not, but Rex Lapis died not too long ago, and people are hoarding mora in fear of the golden house in Liyue not being able to mint more mora. It'll blow over, obviously, but trust me, you aren't doing anything wrong."

Dori gestured at Nahida, who was following me, "Plus, you've actually done a lot of things right. I would have never dreamed of having a connection with Kusanali, but you've brought her straight to me, and now we're good friends!"

I tilted my head, "You are?"

Dori chuckled, "No. But we will be in a few weeks when she starts helping me make mora by helping with advertisements and making my less legal ventures a lot more legal."

Ah, right, fervent capitalist. God, Dori's so American.

"This is why you're my favorite person in this world, Dori," I said, before turning to Nahida, "No offense to you, Nahida."

"None taken," Nahida said before asking, "But would you like to elaborate how you think you could win against The Doctor? The last time we fought him, he had to stand there and take your bullets for 4 straight seconds so that we could escape the battle, and he still had enough power to send out an attack that could severely wound or kill us if it landed. What makes you think you have a chance now?"

I thought about what to say for a moment, before eventually just pointing outside, "You wanna help me test out my new abilities on some poor fungi or hillichurls real quickly?"

I don't actually know what my domain expansion does right now, though I feel like I know what it is.

Speaking of new abilities, I just remembered something that I had!

[Random Pokemon Egg - You can get any pokemon out of this egg. It also comes with a pokeball!]

Taking it out, much to Nahida and Dori's surprise, I just said, "Oh yeah, I have this egg now, so I'll be walking with this so it hatches faster."

Some recognition goes through Dori's eyes, "Oh, from those little token things?"

I nodded, "Yep. Speaking of which, you wanna open another when I get a spare?"

Dori scoffed, "Pfft, no thank you. Gambling isn't my thing. It's a miracle the first thing I got was something suited to exactly me, and I'm not interested in seeing things go downhill."

Eh, fair enough. I can understand that, even though at this point I may as well consider myself a gambling addict.

Walking out the front door, with both Dori and Nahida following me, I guess Dori wanted to take a break from the paperwork, I conveniently spotted a group of roaming fungi.

I probably shouldn't bring my fragile egg into battle, so I'll put it away for now.

Walking up to them and grabbing their attention, I raised my hand and tried to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing with them.
Special hand sign, right? So what would be special to me is…

I stood straight and saluted, "Domain Expansion."

The surrounding area is quickly encapsulated by the sphere that was becoming my domain, the sound of gunfire, trumpets, and of cogs spinning fills the area as the sphere was completed and my domain started to appear.

In the form of Washington D.C, right beneath the steps of the capitol building where Congress would be.

"Revolutionary Battlefield." I finished off my sentence, as I admired the capital of the USA, and noted that there were guns pointed at the enemy in every nook and cranny of my domain.

American flags were planted everywhere, you couldn't look in a direction without seeing at least 5 of them. Not to mention that they were the highest quality American flags that I've ever seen.

The fungi looked absolutely confused at how their jungle suddenly turned into a modern metropolis.

Both of my companions' eyes widened at the sight, as Dori quickly asked, "Wait, is this your world?"

I nodded, "This place is like a replica of the capital of America, Washington D.C. Anyways, imagine that those fungi are Dottore."

I brought out Washington and pointed it towards the biggest one, and fired.

Every single gun in D.C fired alongside with me, completely decimating the group in a single volley.

I'm not going to lie, the feeling of firing once and every other gun firing at the same time was fucking magnificent.

I took a look at my mana, and apparently my domain expansion used half of it. So I guess I won't be able to just spam this every day. I'll actually have to decide whether or not I actually need it.

"Well," I put back Washington into my inventory, "Hopefully, that's how the fight's going to go."

I threw my arms towards Congress, "Well, wanna go exploring my domain? Because I wanna see how accurate this is. And besides, I haven't been to D.C since I was 16."

Nahida and Dori could only dumbly nod as I led them up the steps of the capitol.

Nahida

"Aw, they didn't name each congressperson's rooms." Fuse complained as they were walking around the building, which was extremely detailed despite Fuse mentioning that there's no reason for them to ever come here again.

Not to mention she could still see guns hidden in the corners of every room here. All for the express purpose of fulfilling the main purpose of what Fuse called his domain expansion, which is to kill people.

Fuse was… Well, to put it frankly, slightly deranged. He clearly didn't see the value in life, unless it was American. In that sense, Dori is likely the most important person in Sumeru right now, because otherwise, she doesn't want to see what would happen if Fuse didn't have a single reason to keep Sumeru stable.

In fact, she doesn't consider it unreasonable that there's not a single person in Sumeru who could beat Fuse right now.

Though, she would have to say Apep would definitely win against Fuse, though she thinks it might be very difficult for Apep at the start of the fight.

Even she can feel Fuse's natural talent for killing gods. She is a god, after all, and she isn't fully sure if Apep wouldn't be counted as a god.

Fuse shifted through some of the drawers in one of the rooms, though he found nothing inside of them, "Darn, I was hoping to find something nice in here, but there's nothing at all."

He looks at a flag, "Hm, maybe I could just take one of those?"

"Hey Fuse," Dori spoke up, diverting his attention from the flag to her, "How big is this domain anyways? Will we eventually hit an invisible wall?"

Fuse thought about it for a moment before responding, "Eh, yeah, we'll probably hit a wall eventually, but this domain is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. My guess is that we'll hit a wall when we exit the area of the city, but it could be less than that, who knows, I'm busy checking out the capitol."

Dori's eyes then widened, "Hm, wait, I just got a brilliant idea! Can we use this domain as a meeting place? Nobody would think twice about denying me a deal on technology if this is what the world could look like one day!"

Fuse stared at Dori.

"Dori, your genius is so strong it generates gravity." He complimented.

"I know."

She finally spoke up for the first time since entering this domain, "Ahem, Fuse."

"Oh, what's up, Nahida?" Fused questions, "You wanna know something?"

It's a bit of a gamble, but she needs to be able to direct Fuse into more positive directions, and this is the only way she knows of that has a guaranteed chance of allowing her to do that, if this plan works.

If.

"Is it possible for someone like me to be an American, in your eyes, at least?" She asked.

Fuse's demeanor immediately shifted to that of a child discovering his favorite food for the first time, "Nahida, I am so very glad that you asked!"

He quickly grabbed a flag off the wall, folded it, and put it on the desk on top of a book that he seemed to have manifested from his 'inventory' as he calls it, and motioned for her to step up to the desk, which she did.

"Now, I'll explain a bit of American history to you really quickly," He said, looking around the room and finding a map of the country on the wall, which he points to.

And then Fuse proceeded to go through the bare basics of American history for 10 minutes, describing how the first settlers came to America, and how America's immigrant culture came to be.

"So, basically what I'm saying is, yes, you can be an American and you'd be an equal to me." Fuse concluded.

Well, that was… Enlightening.

"Would I have to renounce Sumeru to be an American, though?" She asked, as it didn't really come up that clearly in his explanation.

Fuse nods, "Yeah, dual citizenship is a thing. I think I qualify to be a German citizen since I have a German ancestor and Germany lets people with German blood be citizens, I think. I read that somewhere, so don't quote me on that."

Oh, that's certainly interesting. Though the idea of national citizenship in Teyvat doesn't really exist, since Teyvat shares a common language and the 7 nations are basically split into different regions of Teyvat.

"Well, in that case, will you allow me to become American?" She asked, hoping he would allow her to burrow into his inner circle.

Much to her delight, she could practically feel his smile hidden under his mask, "Oh, Nahida, you are my second favorite person in this world."

"Now, first things first, why do you want to become an American?" Fuse asked, likely already beginning the interview needed to become American.

To get into Fuse's good graces, but obviously she couldn't answer that, so instead she says, "Though I am the god of wisdom, the ideals that you describe as the spirit of America are quite appealing to me. And since you describe America as accepting of anyone, I was interested in becoming one of its citizens in order to better understand the country that you seem so infatuated with."

Fuse nodded slowly, "Yeah, normally you'd just stay in America for a few years to better understand us, but I guess right now that's not possible so honorarily becoming a citizen is close enough for our purposes."

Fuse pointed at her, "But hey, don't worry about it, the moment I can take us there, we'll go on a road trip through all 50 states for like 3 years, and you'll love it."

She blinked, "Wait, that's the only thing I needed to answer?"

Fuse chuckled, "Well, there's no set definition on what being an American means. You can ask all 330 million or something people in our country and you'd get 330 million different answers."

Well, that's certainly an interesting idea, it's quite charming, to be honest. Simply just not having any concrete national identity. The people of Sumeru pride themselves on their knowledge, the people of Liyue on their wealth, Fontaine on their justice, but America simply seems to be a place where people were just proud of themselves.

It's similar to Mondstadt, in that regard, but America seems to be a more extreme version of that freedom.

"You can just swear the oath, and we can just ask the president to give you citizenship," He said, holding up the book and flag in his left hand, "Alright, just put one of your hands on the flag and book, hold the other one in the air just like I am, and just repeat after me, I had to memorize the oath in highschool for my AP government class. Oh, and don't worry about some of the wording in the oath, nobody cares about the specifics of the oath, there are exceptions all the time, you just need to show that you're willing to be an American."

So, She nodded and put her right hand on the flag and the other one up.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

And so, she, in the eyes of Fuse, at the very least, became American.

"Bam, now if anyone asks, you're American." Fuse said, very happy about the fact, "Technically not really, of course, there's a bunch of stuff you need to do to get your physical citizenship. You haven't even been to America- Not counting my domain, of course- So you'll have to live in America for about 10 years or so to get real citizenship, but mentally speaking, you're basically American already."

Fuse looked at the ceiling for a bit as he seemed to realize something, "Oh wait, we just call those immigrants."

She chuckled, "Well, I'm very thankful to you for just allowing me to become an American so easily. I would've thought it would be harder."

Fuse shrugged, "Eh, it's usually harder. Well, not harder, just more tedious. Ah, but I forgot to tell you…"

"The punishment for betraying our country is the death sentence. Though I'm sure you'll never disappoint me, right?"

The sudden whiplash from casual to serious sent a chill down her spine, as Fuse stares her down waiting for an answer.

"...Of course, I would never betray a country that I'm now a citizen of." She said, staring Fuse directly in the eye.

Fuse relaxed, the cold aura disappearing from the room, "Of course, of course! Anyways, I think we can leave this domain now, C'mon, Dori, get closer to us."

"Hm, I didn't have to say that whole oath thing." Dori mentioned, getting a shrug from Fuse.

"Eh, you're so American that you've already done the oath, you just haven't realized it yet." Fuse answered, getting a chuckle from Dori.

Briefly, Nahida entertained a thought of betraying Fuse if he had ever tried to prioritize America's prosperity in exchange for Sumeru, however…

She feels as though her punishment would be a lot more painful now that she's made herself a citizen in his eyes than what she would've gone through if she were still just another foreigner.

Hopefully, fate won't bring such a scenario into reality.

Fuse

Man, domain expansions are cool. I've gotta compare mine to the actual Washington D.C one day.

After getting out of the domain expansion, apparently Tighnari returned alone because Cyno was just waiting for the signal to arrest all of the sages, since apparently the Fatui made themselves scarce after I bodied Dottore the first time.

Oh, and he brought his apprentice along, Collei, for some reason.

"Oh, so that was you inside that sphere!" Tighnaro exclaimed, shortly bowing as Collei followed his lead, "If I may ask, what happened inside of there?"

I decided to answer his question before Nahida could, "Nahida is now a proud American!" Then I moved on from the topic, much to his confusion, "Anyways, we're just gonna wait a day before walking into the city. Just so I can grow just that little bit stronger."

Collei tilted her head, "Um, does that mean you're about to go training?"

I shook my head as I retook my Pokemon egg out of my inventory, "Nah, we're going on a walk. Dori, Nahida, you're both not busy, yeah? Wanna join me on my walk?"

Dori thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, sure, I have time."

Nahida shook her head, though, "I'm sorry, but I need to contact a few people."

Huh, she has contacts? That's weird, considering she was stuck in a cage for 500 years.

Well, I won't question it. Maybe she had a phone in there or something.

"That's fine, Dori, c'mon, let's walk somewhere, doesn't matter what direction."

"Lesser Lord Kusanali, do you really place your trust in Fuse?"

"Yes, I do. He is the one who freed me, after all."

"...I will trust your judgment, then."

Fuse

Walking on the uneven dirt path through the lush jungle, the scent of its various flora assaulting my untrained nose, I do my best to ignore it all while talking to Dori.

"So, who's the strongest person in Sumeru, in your opinion?" I asked, somewhat curious if she would answer 'me.'

Dori hummed while thinking about it, "Well, there are a few candidates, but they're all close to each other in strength. But I know of the definitive strongest monster in Sumeru."

I tilted my head, "Oh really? What kind?"

"Have you heard of the dragon sovereigns yet?" Dori asked, piquing my interest with a name like that.

The word 'sovereign' has always been a cool one that keeps being misused because it's such a cool word.

"No, feel free to inform me." I said, eagerly awaiting the history lesson.

Dori nodded as she started to explain, "Well, it's a bit of an obscure topic since a lot of the information about them has been lost to time and they're generally considered myths. But the gist is that before the 7 archons, there were the 7 dragon sovereigns that ruled over Teyvat. But for some unknown reason, they died out and their deaths lead to the rise of humans, buuuuuttt…"

Ah, I can tell where that's going, "Let me guess, there's one of them still alive in Sumeru?"

Dori nodded, satisfied I got that right, "Yep! Apparently, some people have stumbled upon the Dendro Dragon, and they managed to take their stories back to civilization. And they describe it as this gargantuan snake-like form that demanded them to leave her domain, or die."

Hm, snake dragons? That's an Asian concept, I'm pretty sure. I've seen it depicted in a few Chinese restaurants.

"Hm, do you think that the 7 dragons were gods?" I curiously asked.

Dori shrugged, "Who knows? But why do you want to know?"

"Well, don't tell Nahida this, though I think she already knows, but I have a special talent designed to kill god's." I revealed, garnering some interest out of her.

"So," I continued, "If that dragon were a god, it might be a bit hard and I could see myself having to flee and attempt a round 2, but I'd win that fight."

"Oh really? In that case, how would Nahida fare against you?" Dori asked.

"I would win, and it wouldn't be that close." I confidently told her.

Dori's eyes gleamed with… something, and she just smirked, "Well! It seems as if my investment keeps growing and growing with you!"

I chuckled, "You're lucky the labor laws around here don't have a minimum wage, otherwise I'd be demanding my fair share."

"Do you actually want a fair share?"

"Nah, not really. I'm going to be jumping worlds soon, so money isn't going to be helpful to me."

Dori hummed, "Well, don't die in another world and leave my investment in a place where I can't take it back."

Aw, she does care about me!

"I won't, don't even worry about it." I confirmed.

Dori smiled, "Well, that's goo-"

Then, the egg I had conveniently decided to start shaking and cracking.

"Ooh, it's about to hatch!" I excitedly told Dori.

Ooh, I wonder what Pokemon it could be! It could be literally anything, right?

Watching it hatch, anticipation built up as the egg shines with bright light and revealed the tiny form of…

REGIELEKI?!

Regieleki

Status: Great

Level 1

Nature: Quirky

Ability: Transistor

Overall Rank: C

The Regieleki happily made a buzzing noise as it jumped out of my hands and onto the ground, hopping up and down.

I got a legendary Pokemon out of this egg?!

The remains of the egg shifted into a basic Pokeball, Regieleki's Pokeball, and I just stood dumbfounded by my luck.

Dori saw my reaction and asked, "Is that, uh, good?"

I nodded, "Hell yeah it's good! This is a super powerful Pokemon that I just got."

Walking up to the very happy to be here Regieleki, I told him, "Alright, because you're my first Pokemon, I'll name you… California."

Achievement Unlocked! X2.

[Gotta Catch Em all!]

Requirements: Obtain Your First Pokemon

Description: You always remember your first, and the bond between you and your Pokemon will never be broken.

Rewards: Your starter pokemon will be stronger than most other of its same species.

[Myth Catcher]

Requirements: Catch something mythical.

Description: It's like catching cryptids!

Reward: 1 gacha token, 1 Random Pet Egg.

[Random Pet Egg - Gain a harmless pet out of this egg after you break it. And yes, you have to physically break it.]

Sweet! That's good, very nice. I'll focus on that later.

California was hopping up and down, probably in support of his name.

"California? Oh, that's the part of America you were raised in, right?" Dori asked.

I nodded, "Yep! Now that the purpose of our walk is over, we can go home and I can try the next thing I wanted to try."

I turned to California and held out the Pokeball to him, "Hey, buddy, you wanna enter the Pokeball, or would you rather walk?"

California beeped happily as he ran head first into the Pokeball.

What a funny little guy.

"California sure does look excited," Dori commented, "You said it's very powerful?"

I nodded, "I'm not exactly an expert, but I do know that he's super fast and his electric attacks are equally as strong. Though, I don't think he can do much aside from those 2 things. He's sort of hyper specialized."

Dori thought about it for a moment before shrugging, "Well, hope he serves you well, then."

"Yeah. Anyways, I just got a few rewards for hatching that, one of them being a gacha token." I said, getting an 'ooh' from Dori, "Wanna watch me open this?"

Dori nodded, "Sure, we have nothing better to do while walking home."

I nodded, and then I broke the gacha token.

Legendary Class Upgrade Perk

[Armor of Stone - When using geomancy spells that boost your defense, the potency of your geomancy spells increase by 1 rank.]

Ah, I don't have any geomancy spells that boost my defense because I've been neglecting it for a bit. But I guess this is a sign I should focus on that.

Explaining what I got to Dori, she seemed a bit disappointed, so I decided on a whim to give her a gift.

A new pet, obviously.

Taking out the egg, I explained, "Yeah, I also got this. Apparently, you just crack this thing open and you get a pet." Then I moved the egg in her direction, "I don't have the time to take care of it, so do you want it?"

Dori raised an eyebrow, "I already have the Jinni, and now you expect me to take care of another living thing? I have a job, you know."

"I dunno, Dori. This pet is apparently guaranteed to be harmless, and you already had an insane amount of luck in getting that perk from the other token. Care to test your luck?" I said, trying to coax her into opening the egg.

Dori sighed and made grabbing motions with her hands, "Ugh, fine, hand it over to me."

As she got the egg in her hands, she asked for a quick clarification, "So, I just break it?"

I nodded, "Yep."

So, she quickly moves over to a nearby rock and gently smashes open the egg, and outside comes…

Huh, some weird, gold looking frog, who quickly jumped up from its egg and into Dori's arms, which catches her by surprise.

So, what is this thing?

Gold Producing Frog

Status: Good.

"...Gold Producing Frog?" I blankly muttered out.

As if on cue, the frog in Dori's arms burps out a small nugget of gold, which Dori quickly appraised and found to be very satisfying.

Dori smirked, "Hehe, I think we'll get along perfectly, I think I'll name you Dhahab!"

What the fuck is her luck?!

"Oh my god, I cannot believe your luck." I said in pure disbelief, "You're… I swear, I should just hand all of my tokens to you."

Dori laughed, "Nope! I will not accept any lows from here! Anyways, we should get going. Have any ideas on what you want to talk about while we're walking back."

We start moving before I come up with something to talk about, but I did find something, "You wanna hear about the game Regieleki, California, came from? It's Japanese, but it's still pretty decent and fun."

"Ah, sure, why not."

The revelation of games being able to come to life, and the subtle implication of Dori being in a game, didn't actually affect Dori all that much, and I know that Dori knows, because she subtly implied that she got what I was laying down.

I have no idea why we just didn't say anything outright, but I guess it was a bit fun.

Eventually, we reached Dori's place and Nahida apparently wasn't home, so I asked Dori, "Hey, can you help me with checking the time dilation between Teyvat and this other place I can go to?"

Dori tilted her head, "I thought you said you were going to finish up things here before you left?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I just want to know if 1 second here is 1 second there, and the place where I'm going isn't even where my next adventure is, it's more like I'm visiting an acquaintance."

Dori raised her eyebrow, but otherwise didn't say anything about it.

So, I took a watch out of my inventory, which I got from Dori a few days ago, "Just keep track of the time, and when I get back, we can compare."

Dori eyed the clock in the room and nodded, "Alright, go ahead."

"Alright, thanks."

I opened up the world menu, clicked on the eastern wall of the universe, and a portal appeared in front of me. Though it was a solid white color, so I couldn't actually see anything on the other side.

"Oh, it's a portal I walk through, how convenient." I commented, getting a hum of affirmation from Dori, "Alright, thanks again, see you in like 5 minutes."

Then, I walked through the portal.

The sensation of falling down came over me as I briefly panicked again, but before I could truly launch into nonsensical tirades, my feet found solid ground again as I tripped a bit as I found myself where I was last time, just right around where Skryb was supposed to be.

So, I walked up to the obviously evil crack in the wall again, and asked, "Hellooo? Anyone home?"

A very deep and eldritch voice answered this time, "So you are the one that Skryb has entrusted the future to."

It obviously wasn't Skryb, and though his voice was still very menacing and evil, it didn't exude the same sort of power Skryb did when he spoke.

But I'm a polite guy, so I said, "Hey! Yeah, my name is Fuse. I assume you're a friend of Skryb?"

"I am but one of his loyal servants, though my power eclipses many of the gods who rule this universe." He cryptically answered.

"...Okay, what's your name, then?" I asked.

"My name is Zavvox." He replied.

Ah, Zavvox, what an edgy name. Got the Z's, the V's, and the X.

Well, I suppose not all of us grew up from their teenage years.

Wait, is Zavvox even one of the gamer guys that reincarnated and relives life in an game or anime or show or whatever people?

"That's, uh, certainly a name of all time. Are you also a gamer? And god, what a terrible fucking name." I asked and added with some disdain, because the term 'gamer' is just horrendous.

Quite frankly, it sounds like a 14 year old made it to sound cool.

Zavvox slowly answered, "Yes, I am one of them, however, we prefer the term 'player' because it sounds less… Youthful."

Eh, player still sounds awful, but it's a step-up from 'gamer.'

"Yeah, I guess I'll take your lead and use player instead." I said, before moving on, "Anyways, why are you here?"

"I was given permission to be the first to speak with you," Zavvox said before revealing, "And I was also given the honor to be the second to grant you power."

"Nuh uh." I flatly declined, "I accepted Skryb's offer of power, and he can literally hijack my body now. I'm not interested in having you in my head as well."

"Not all of our powers will manifest itself in the same way as Skryb's did. For his power is boundless, and through using you as a vessel, he is able to slip his consciousness through this wall to act through you." Zavvox explained, "And I am not as powerful as he is, so what you will gain from me will be less than that, but as such, it will also protect you from my influence, and you will keep the power."

Okay, that sort of makes sense. I'm still suspicious about it, though.

"Ah, and if it makes any difference, I was an American."

"...Was?"

"Well, I am still American. I have not renounced my allegiance."

Well, sure, I guess I can put some trust in him, "Alrighty then, I'll accept your offer."

The hole in the wall started to emanate with dark power again as it flowed straight to me, and I can hear Zavvox saying one last thing.

"Then Let Your Enemies Fear You."

[Zavvox's blessing – Since time immemorial, our meeting has been prophesied. – Gain the skill [Darkness overflowing] While active, your power will outwardly manifest itself and cause your enemies to fear you, and your allies to revere you.]

…Darkness overflowing? That's a lame name. But an aura of malevolence could be somewhat useful.

Telling Zavvox what I got from that, he seemed rather pleased, "Very well. I have also been informed that you will meet someone new here every month, in order to not attract too much attention. Do not forget."

"Well, I'll be back, then. See ya, Zavvox." I said, saying my goodbyes as I used my world menu to open up a portal back to Teyvat.

Every month, huh? Hopefully I'll be able to figure out what their overall goal is from the guys coming over.

"So how long was that for you?" I asked Dori as soon as I came back.

She was lounging on her couch, her stomach was being used as a pillow by Dhahab, and she slightly shifted her head over to look at the clock.

"4 minutes." She nonchalantly answered.

"Ah, sweet, 4 minutes for me as well. Looks like time goes by as usual there." I said, satisfied, before asking, "Oh, I'll have to do that again, since there's another place I can go to."

Dori looked back at me and raised an eyebrow, "Again? How many more times?"

"Just this once, and we'll do it again when we finish up around here just in case I'm stuck in that world until a certain point." I answered.

Preferably, I'd be able to travel in-between worlds whenever I want, but that's not a guarantee so I'm just not going to risk it.

"Okay, I'll be traveling to the hub now, so see you in like, 5 or 10 minutes." I said before creating another portal, white again.

"See ya," Dori casually said, snacking on an apple from the fruit bowl in front of her.

Walking into the portal, the sensation of falling still gets me, but I was able to adapt to it quicker this time, so when my feet touched solid ground, I was more prepared to land perfectly.

Taking in my surroundings, this place looks like… Some sort of heavenly shopping mall, if I had to describe it.

Everything is thankfully written in English and there were some stores that were being advertised, like "Eugene's Potion Shop" or "Pharo's Weapon Emporium."

So, I assumed those were other ga- Yeah, players, who were in charge of the stores.

Additionally, I see some people just talking to each other, and a bunch of other groups of players talking about, and though most of them were human, there were a bunch of other forms around here too.

Well, I have nothing better to do, I'll see if I can chat one up to see if there's anything here for me.

Walking up to the nearest pair, a black guy with an afro and some weird bipedal panda, I quickly asked, "Hey, I'm new here, anything I should know?"

They shared a look, and the black guy said, "First of all, use your observe on everyone you meet so you don't have to do introductions. Do that really quickly."

Ah, right.

Desmond

Status: Great

Race: Human

Title: King of Kings

Overall Ranking: S+++

AnPandamonium

Status: Great

Race: Panda

Title: Lord of Pandas

Overall Ranking: S++

Damn, they're strong! They'd snap me like a twig if I were to look at them the wrong way.

"Oh, right, and switch over to the multiversal rankings." AnPandamonium said, "A lot of the scaling is wack in the lower tier verses."

Oh, yeah, okay, that makes sense.

[You have switched over to the multiversal ranking system, your ranks have changed as a result]

Overall Ranking: C+

Power Rank: C+ [Expand]

Magic Rank: C+ [Expand]

Social Rank: C [Expand]

Ranks Expanded: (Universal)

Power:

Strength: C+

Dexterity: C+

Vitality: C

Endurance: C+

Magic:

Intelligence: C+

Wisdom: C+

Control: C

Social:

Confidence: C

Charm: C

Luck: C+

"Man, that felt bad." I morosely said as I saw all of my ranks go down, though I knew I wasn't affected in any way. I guess I'm just sort of… I dunno how exponential the scaling goes, but I'm probably just a really strong mortal, now.

Desmond chuckled, "I felt the same way too, bud. You're just a really strong enhanced human, nothing else. Anyways, if you go into the shops, we trade in favors and 'what feels right.' so just be aware of that." Then he leaned in and whispered to me, "And I wouldn't betray anyone here if I were you, because there are some rough gangs around here that'll beat you and everyone you love for betraying them. I've seen that shit happen."

Ah, right, so a bunch of morons with power can't be reasoned with. Alright.

Desmond leaned back, "Well, anyways, this is mostly a place where you just hang out with your equals or get some help from said equals. I know a few dudes around here who just need some help doing some crazy bananas theatrics for the plot in their world."

I tilted my head, "Aren't we supposed to be able to become gods or something?"

AnPandamonium laughed, "Oh! Yeah, but there are limits on our power. None of that omnipotence thing. But we still solo all of fiction by ourselves, though. And besides, we enjoy each other's company."

Huh, no omnipotence, eh? That probably gets on Skryb's nerves, somehow.

Speaking off…

"Oh, yeah, I got like, a permanent way point to that big border of the universe thing. Any info on that?" I asked, getting a scowl from the both of them, which immediately made me defensive.

"Which side?" Desmond menacingly asked.

I hesitantly answered, "...Uh, East?"

Then they really started to look pissed as Desmond answered, "Ugh, here's some history. We saw a disturbance on that border a few months ago at this point, and a bunch of us went to go see what was up."

AnPandamonium nodded as he continued the story, "Yeah, and there we met someone who called himself the Gamebreaker, or at least that's the title we could observe."

"He didn't show himself. All he did was tell us to get off his turf and…" It looked as if the words were hard to say for Desmond, "Well, all it took was like a 2 minute fight, but his spells were so powerful that we had to retreat if we didn't want to permanently die."

"Yeah, and then he concealed the area so we could never find him again." AnPandamonium bitterly said, "The only reason we got the rest to believe us was because we're gods and have spells that allows us to replay memories."

"So what were saying is, never go there again. You don't want to find out who's on the other side of the borders of the universe." Desmond concluded.

"...Thanks, that'll be all." I quietly said before turning back and leaving.

"Hey! But don't let me scare ya, buddy! It's all mostly fun and games!" AnPandamonium shouted out as I was entering the portal back home.

So, they know of Skryb already because he kicked their asses.

Well, I guess that's another secret to keep.

"8 minutes." Dori said as soon as she noticed my presence.

"Same here, nice to know." I confirmed.

Alright, so we share the same time zone between places, so hopefully it's fine when I go to Terraria and I can come back without Teyvat going through the heat death of the universe.

"It's getting late out, by the way." Dori mentioned, then she held up the fruit bowl on her table, "You wanna eat?"

I jumped over to the other side of the couch and sat right next to Dori, "Yeah, sure."

Taking an apple for myself, I looked away from Dori to quickly pull down my mouth and swallow it whole.

Dori sighed as she put down the bowl, "You mentioned getting super anxious when you take off that mask, yeah?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I do." I answered before I realized something, "Wait, I think the exception is when I'm around people I trust."

Experimentally, I took off my hood.

Nothing happens.

With a bit more hope, I take off my mask.

Nothing happens.

Hoping a lot, I took off my shades and stared directly into Dori's eyes.

I smiled, "Hey. No panic attack."

Dori scoffed, "Congrats. There are footsteps outside, by the way."

"Ah, nah, I can handle it."

The door opens, revealing Nahida and-

I immediately duck behind the safety and comfort of the couch and begin to put back on my disguise, my heart racing.

"Oh? I hope we weren't interrupting something." Nahida said, entering the room with a group.

After I got my mask and heart under control, I looked at the group who came in.

Tighnari, Cyno, Alhaitham, and Kaveh.

Dori answered for me while I was getting my bearings, "Nah, not really. I hope your group isn't about to start having arguments with me, though?"

She stared at Kaveh in particular, who seemed to be only mildly bitter about being here.

"No, we're all gathered here to decide the fate of Sumeru." Alhaitham answered, "I don't mind leaving past grudges behind."

Kaveh sighed, "Easy for you to say, I'm still in debt to her…"

I stood up, finally, and immediately asked, "So I take it the plan changed from walking in and hoping they accept you?"

Nahida nodded, "Unfortunately, there are too many people in the Akademiya that need to be replaced, so before I strip many of their titles, I need to have replacements for them, and this is the group I've decided to start with."

"So… his friend group?" I questioned.

Nahida nodded, "I will freely admit it is nepotism, but this is only a temporary measure. They are also all very capable from what I've seen."

Well, as long as she holds her words for a republic, it should be fine.

"So, how long do you need to get that done?" I asked, feeling a bit impatient, "Because I actually really want to go to, y'know."

Nahida gives me a sorry look, "I'm going to need a week."

Jesus, I was a disbeliever, but I need just a comically large spoonful of your infinite love, forgiveness, and mercy.

Because I am not going to last a week like this.

I ended up having to last a week like that.

It was a very hard debate with myself whether or not to break my word and just dip out to Garbanag's world, but I managed to hold out.

Only because Nahida was now a fellow American in need, because otherwise I'd have gone the moment I heard they needed a week. No matter or not if I would be stuck until I killed Garbanag.

Also, I finally ended up getting that last few primogems I needed to get a singular gacha pull.

Uncommon Perk

[Fighting Celebrity - Whenever you're fighting, you just look better.]

And of course, it was pure crap.

But at least I made a bunch of stuff for my stylist profession which I've been putting off forever! I'm now the proud owner of a self-made suit, some old revolutionary war style uniforms, and I made a redcoat uniform just so I could burn it.

That was a good night.

But now, we were finally prepared to just walk into the city and overthrow the tyrannical government!

Man, I hope that Nazi shows up again, because I am so ready to domain expansion the hell out of him.

So, Nahida and I marched into the city, getting a large amount of attention on us as we made our way to the entrance of the Akademiya.

Nobody clearly knew what to do with us, because we walked uninterrupted the entire way until the Grand Sage appeared just outside of the entrance of the Akademiya, looking extremely fearful.

As he deserves.

Nahida repeated her words from before, "Azar, by my authority as the Dendro Archon of Sumeru, you are hereby stripped of your rank as the Grand Sage, and are to be imprisoned until further notice."

Shock travels through everyone watching, because nobody was really sure what was happening. So to see their leader be dismissed by their god that they've never seen was highly unusual.

Azar, meanwhile, started lashing out, "You can't do this to me! I-I've been a faithful servant all along!*

Ah, liar. I wish I could just shoot him.

While Nahida laid out his crimes in front of everyone, I looked around to see if I could find any Fatui members.

But nobody looked like they were, which was kind of strange.

Azar was in the process of being taken away by Cyno, and Nahida was also declaring a bunch of other people to be imprisoned, and I kept my guard up the entire time…

…And by the day's end, nothing had happened.

Dottore made himself very scarce.

It could just be that he decided that scrapping with me was an obviously bad choice and decided to leave before I kicked his ass.

Or maybe he's biding his time so he can corner Nahida to get that gnosis without being blown up about me?

It's probably that second one, to be honest, he does seem to be the type of smartass who thinks he can get away with that.

By the time Nahida finally finished everything that needed to be done today, I was basically begging for Dottore to show up.

"You seem very disappointed that the Fatui didn't interfere, Fuse." Nahida said in the comfort of the Sanctuary of Surasthana, where she was originally imprisoned.

I'm going to be honest, "I wanted to throw hands today."

Nahida giggled, "Well, you'll get your chance later. For now, will you help me with this other problem that I have?"

I tilted my head, "And that problem is?"

And that's how I figured out that there's a big disease in a metaphysical tree named Irminsul.

And I had to be the one to look into the problem because my nature as someone who came outside of Teyvat gives me some sort of special ability for this exact problem.

Well, Nahida could maybe do it herself, but she's not fully sure about it so that's why she wants to bring me along.

So, hopefully, we'll get rid of the sickness, and all will be good.

"Yeah, we fixed the problem." I told Nahida, who was in the middle of crying for no apparent reason.

"Then why am I crying?" She tearfully asked.

I shrugged and simplified it as much as possible, "Eh, apparently the sickness was because of someone's corrupted memory. So we erased their existence, and to be honest, I think speaking their name will just reintroduce it. So, you know."

"Ah." Nahida tried to neutrally say, failing, and then asked, "That's… was she important to me?"

I shrugged, not really caring for the forgotten god, "Probably."

Nahida's tears started to calm down, "I see… Thank you for your help, Fuse."

"I literally didn't do anything. We just walked in there and the problem basically solved itself." I admitted, "I think the reasoning was because your powers were being sealed before, or something? And now that you're free to do whatever, you could solve it easily."

"I remember that, I made the observation myself."

No, she didn't.

But I'm not gonna risk telling her that, so I'll just stay silent.

"Well, I guess I'll just leave it to-" I began to say but got a sudden tingly feeling inside of my body.

Huh? The heck is that supposed to be? Some kind of organ smoothie maker? Hah, take that! I don't have any organs because I'm half slime!

"Oh, I suppose it was a stretch to hope you could be taken out by that." A familiar voice sounds out across the room, causing my adrenaline to kick in.

Dottore pockets the device he used as some tough looking members of the Fatui started to get into a fighting position.

"Nahida, let me throw hands." I immediately asked her.

"You don't like the Akasha, right?" Nahida asked, getting a confused look from me as she elaborated, "This is a fine opportunity to pawn the gnosis off. We don't need it anymore."

Oh, you know what, that does make perfect sense.

But…

"Please let me fight this Nazi."

Nahida sighed as she stared at Dottore.

Dottore shrugged, "If my life is what it takes to bring back the gnosis to the Tsaritsa, it is a worthwhile trade."

Huh? Is he literally going to just let me shoot him?

No, there must be something wrong…

Dottore

Delta Form.

This isn't the real Dottore.

"No, I can tell you're not the real Dottore." I accused, getting a chuckle out of him.

"No, I'm not." Dottore readily agreed, "But I am a Dottore, isn't that all that's needed?"

No, absolutely not, I want to completely annihilate you and all of your forms.

But at the same time, Nahida doesn't look like she wants a fight happening here, and the real Dottore is probably far away from here, so…

I groaned and let my back go limp, "Ugh, fine, I kill you, and your underlings get the gnosis."

Dottore smiled, "Oh, that's good-"

I stood straight and saluted, "Domain Expansion."

The gunfire, sounds of trumpets, and of cogs spinning vibrates through my domain as everyone in the room except Nahida is caught off guard.

Then, we stood outside of the capitol as I finished my sentence, "Revolutionary Battlefield."

Pulling out Washington, I shot once, D.C shot with me, and as soon as I got the notification for his death, I canceled the domain.

Putting back Washington, I sighed as I called out, "Nahida! I'll be at Dori's if you need me, I'll probably leave tomorrow morning."

Then, I left the room disappointed.

What a colossal waste of my time. Nahida is lucky that she's an American now bringing democracy to this backwater world.

AN:

I was thinking of writing that erasure scene but it would be the same as in-game and the chapter was getting long already, so I didn't write it.

Also, the frog I gave Dori isn't really based on anything, I just like frogs and I decided to give it to her. Dhahab is gold google translated from English to Arabic.

I think 8K words is pretty good, but unfortunately I have to write another chapter really quickly so we make it on time for the 25th.

Fortunately for me, we're on the 15th. I am so back!

[It's because of the funny little domain bit. Doing something as crack as reciting the oath to the constitution in a fanfiction has revived my motivation for this chapter lol.]

(Chapter 11 is only 3k words because I thought 8k words for this chapter was pretty good and the next chapter is coming in 2 days anyways.)

(No, chapter 12 is not even remotely close to being finished. Blame Time Capsule.)