Teppei's respect for Sangonomiya Kokomi had gone up tenfold, and it was a shame it was through trial by fire.

He gave a suspicious look to his companion at the moment. Kaslana was relaxing in the corner, munching on a ripe Lavender Melon he'd picked out for her before she brought them to the Divine Priestess' very own abode.

Kaslana told him that Kokomi ordered him to do this before he accompanied her in investigating the source of the Fatui's Delusions. His gut feeling said it had to do more with the pseudo-interrogation he'd been put through before this.

Long story short, Kaslana was designated as the sole individual to investigate the Fatui due to her niche yet powerful ability and lone-wolf attitude. Unfortunately for all parties involved, Teppei had resolved himself to stay by her side no matter what.

His heart had started to jump out of his chest when the leader of the Watatsumi Resistance personally came to him. What ensued was more draining than any physical activity his frail body had gone through.

Teppei knew Kaslana could do it on her own. He knew he was the worst person to accompany her, and he was perfectly aware of how badly the odds were stacked against him.

Kokomi had confronted him with these sound arguments, which he didn't have an equally logical answer to. On the contrary, he agreed with her.

Still…

While sorting through the stacks of paperwork, he took a quick peek at Kaslana now and then. It was astounding how quickly she could get bored of things. When the two first came here, she had also been helping clean up the place. Now, she had eaten an entire tree's worth of Lavender Melons, fiddled with a pen lying on the ground, and was reading a book she got from Archons-know-where.

Ha. The sight was much more appreciated than her usual standoffish attitude, which drove away many an admirer from the silver-haired woman.

"What's so funny?" Teppei was jolted from his thoughts when Kaslana's voice cut through. When he turned to look, she was looking at him funny.

Did I say that out loud?

"N–nothing." He put a proverbial clamp over his lips and got back to work.

Sifting through everything lying around was quite enlightening. The man found everything from battle plans, children's books, and the Divine Priestess' diary, a way for her to keep track of her energy for the day.

He should probably leave that last one alone.

From the other side of the space, Kaslana sighed, "I know Kokomi asked you this herself and all, but are you sure you want to go along with this?"

"The rumored Cryo Archon herself being concerned for someone?" Teppei tried to shrug her concerns off with a false smile, "I never thought I'd see the day."

"That little God has nothing to do with this," She was not amused, "Answer the question."

"I'm sure I do. I'd never be able to look you in the eye if I didn't." What kind of person would he have to be to abandon a vow he'd just made?

"You do you. Don't be surprised if you don't end up doing anything, though."

Teppei winced. Leave it to her to be so blunt, "I know my limits, and I'm somewhat aware of yours."

"Name one."

"For one, your communication skills are subpar," He pointed out, "If there came a time where you would have to communicate with– say, a child, they would probably die of shock."

"Then there's your bottomless stomach. I can't imagine Your Highness stooping so low as to forage in the wilderness by yourself. Come to think of it, I've never seen you cook, either."

The silence that followed said everything.

"...Fair enough."

With that little victory over someone he'd once seen as an insurmountable wall, Teppei resumed his duty. Within the hour, they were ready to go.

His heart was the lightest it had ever been, and the search had begun.

She admired his enthusiasm, but they were trying to make a trail out of the one breadcrumb they found.

Asmodeus didn't possess Aether's Elemental Sight, so they would have to do this the mortal way. Namely, asking around and sticking their noses where they didn't belong.

For once, the Goddess would admit to herself that there were merits to bringing Teppei along, but only to herself.

They were presently at Yashiori Island, staying away from the areas with excessive Electro energy while the silhouette of a dead God loomed in the distance. The broken serpentine remains of Orobashi stood as a grim reminder of what would happen should one oppose the Raiden Shogun herself.

Teppei looked unfazed by their search, even as it carried them to where his home once stood. She'd suggested he didn't accompany her deeper into the island, but he remained as insistent as ever.

The man likely had an inkling of where the trail would lead, as they remained on the outskirts of Yashiori Island, where the unstable elements were at their weakest and where most of those living here settled down.

The adults tended to their meager crops, while the children who were too young had nothing else to do except play games with each other. At present, Teppei was taking on a band of children in a game of Temari, that one game she'd seen him play before.

It was a landslide of a game in favor of the man. He could sniff out all their hiding spots at the same speed the Goddess would have had she been using her ability to supplement her lack of skill.

Another round, and then the group of kids were well and truly exhausted. Meanwhile, Teppei looked more lively than ever, still raring to go. His enthusiasm at this was intimidating.

With the children lowering their heads in defeat, Teppei returned to her side, "They said that there were some unknown people near Musoujin Gorge."

She blinked at him in surprise, "They actually spilled the beans?"

"Of course they did," He proudly pulled out a Temari of his own, floating above his palm, "Earn their respect, and they'll do whatever you ask."

Respect. An almost foreign word that Asmodeus could never recall saying out loud.

"Musouijin Gorge," She sighed, "I'm going to have to ask you to stay here for that one."

Teppei nodded sadly, aware of his situation. One pass through the island had almost killed him, and going through the heart of it all was certain to bring his demise.

"I have an idea, though."

"Hm?" His eyes gained a glint of hope at her words, only to be replaced with fear a second later.

"I think I'll sit this one through…" He trailed off.

The Goddess twirled the blue portal above her palm playfully, "Do you want to stay by my side?"

With the brutality of having his own words thrown back at him, Teppei relented.

With Teppei watching through a two-way connection she created with her ability, Asmodeus stealthily made her way to Musouijin Gorge. The dangerous Electro energy that lingered due to the Shogun's attack had minimal effect on her if it did at all.

"I didn't know you could use it like this." Teppei's eyes peered through the rift in wonder, his head likely reevaluating his opinion on being near her portals.

"Never had a reason to tell." Asmodeus shrugged. Aether had all but confirmed that he knew she could use her ability like this, but Teppei was the first person other than herself to see it in action.

"If you can use these in all sorts of ways, what's stopping you from doing whatever you want?" He poked at the edge of the tear in space carefully.

"I get a headache if I use it too much." That was a bit of an understatement.

Osial and Beisht had pushed her so far that the little show of intimidation Kokomi had her do. She could accurately capture each blast the Lord of the Vortex had sent their way at Liyue, but even summoning one in Inazuma almost knocked her out.

"Like when the Divine Priestess had you use it against the Shogun's army? Does that mean that you're hurting yourself by doing that right now?" She hated how earnest this man's concerns were.

"Don't worry," The Goddess grunted as she pulled herself over a boulder, "It would take a large one to have that same effect on me. A portal this small won't do much."

Sort of.

The Goddess had to make a conscious effort to filter that elemental energy through her portals so none of it reached Teppei, but the act of doing so didn't affect her concentration in the slightest. If anything, her senses had heightened beyond normality.

Taking advantage of that, Asmodeus noticed a suspicious figure near the very bottom of the gorge. The hazardous environment made them difficult to identify, but she could at least see where they were going.

"Stay quiet." The Goddess could only take his silence as a yes. Moving the portal as close to her as physically possible, she made her move.

The gravelly hum of Electro energy pounded in her eardrums as she tailed the enigmatic person. Her suspicions were confirmed a few minutes later when a Fatui encampment came into view, hidden at the bottom of the gorge and properly shielded against the chaotic environment.

Bingo.

The only problem lay in the lack of a good way of approaching the camp without being spotted. The Fatui had essentially bunkered themselves in with no quick way of making a getaway. That left her with a few options.

"Teppei," She silently called out, "Did Kokomi say anything about needing physical evidence?"

The slight hitch of his breath tickled her ear, "Not to my knowledge. Why?"

"We're going to have to fight our way through. I was thinking of blowing the entire campsite up and searching through the ashes."

"...You can do that?"

Asmodeus grinned, "Pretty easily."

Even excluding Osial's blasts of godlike might, there were still a couple of stray elemental blasts here and there floating in perpetuity within her dimension. She wasn't lacking in firepower, that was for sure.

"Can you see if they have anything… volatile there? I'd hate to be an accomplice to your wanton destruction of the landscape."

"Nothing from here," She ignored his little jab, "Getting any closer would mean losing the element of surprise."

"What about that thing you did back when we first met?"

The Goddess rolled her eyes, "Do you think throwing a really fast rock can knock out a Fatuus?"

He let out a muffled groan, "Just know that I had nothing to do with the collapse of Musouijin Gorge."

"Noted."

The deed itself wasn't as flashy or destructive as Teppei had expected. Asmodeus could be precise when she needed to. It just so happened that the Sustainer of Heavenly Principle's usual targets needed overwhelming firepower to take down.

Conjuring another tear in space in the center of the camp, Asmodeus released an orb of Electro energy followed by a blast of Pyro. These were just one of the many things floating about in her dimension since her reawakening. It was only fitting that what she'd taken from the Fatui would be returned to them violently.

The clashing elements resulted in an overload that created a controlled explosion. It was enough to bypass the average Fatuus' elemental barriers, yet it was positioned properly to keep their encampment standing.

"That's that."

The trek down was every bit as treacherous as Asmodeus expected it to be. Loose rocks everywhere, crumbling bridges, not to mention the intensity of Electro reaching its peak. It made reaching the Fatui's campsite that much better.

The Goddess peered inside, ensuring everyone who occupied the camp was either dead or knocked out. She preferred them to be the former.

Crystals littered the ground, scattered around by the elemental reaction earlier. She picked one up and brought it to her shoulder where Teppei could see it.

"Recognize this?" The Goddess waved it around, brushing her fingers over a box with her other arm.

"Crystal Marrow. I've heard that it comes from the remains of Orobaxi, but I had never seen it myself until now." Teppei said as her curiosity got the better of her. She found even more of the stuff inside the container with a quick tug, taking the top right off.

Asmodeus was blasted with a wave of miasma, akin to the aura that a Delusion emitted, albeit less refined, more raw. Against all odds, her stomach still managed to speak up.

"Looks like we're not done yet. Want to eat?"

"It's rude to stare, you know."

"I know." Teppei absentmindedly replied, his eyes still fixated on the translucent barrier the Fatui had used to keep themselves safe from the constant Electro energy. Anyone living on the island would have gone to great lengths to secure such a thing if they knew it existed.

Kaslana had suggested that he cook their meal away from prying eyes within the safety of the camp they'd stolen. She'd made sure to dump all the bodies of the previous occupants into the lethal waters. He never did cook next to a dead body before, and he wasn't going to start now.

Teppei watched as Kaslana dumped the box of Crystal Marrow she found into another portal. He was slowly starting to understand how her unorthodox abilities worked. Thinking about where the stuff she put in there went still terrified him, though.

"This whole place was just one link of the chain," She muttered, glancing at him, "If you were a war profiteer that had ties with the Inazuma Tri-Commission, where would you put your Delusion factory?"

"I'm not the best person to ask."

"You're the only person I can ask right now, former logistics officer."

He cringed, "Please don't call me that."

Kaslana threw a cheeky grin in his direction. "If you say so."

"Do you want to eat or not?" Luckily for him, he knew where to hit her where it hurt.

Kaslana complied and got off his proverbial back, giving him enough reprieve to finish whipping up a meal for four people. To be more accurate, it was enough for him to fill himself up and barely sufficient to keep the woman beside him from starving to death. Or so she'd say.

Kaslana looked at her bowl with suspicion, "I haven't seen this before."

"It's what my mother would cook for our family back then," Teppei explained, "Resources were scarce, and the conditions were rough, but she made the best of it. I guess being here again reminded me of them."

"Right," She whispered, "You're not affected at all by being here, right?"

He blinked, "Who told me to stop being concerned?"

"I was talking about your body earlier. How's your mind doing?"

A chuckle left his lips, "Perfectly fine, I got over them sometime before I met you."

Teppei wasn't lying. His mourning for them had come and gone. The emptiness that ate away at him after didn't. His entire time in the resistance was spent cursing his weakness, slowly losing hope of whatever Gods were out there to acknowledge his plight.

Then that ambush came, and with it his savior.

As swift as the lightning that took away his family and strength, an entire battalion had been wiped out before he understood what had happened.

His savior wasn't who he thought she would be. She'd been adamant about moving onwards, and he had to grab her hand before she got out of reach.

When he took her back to Watatsumi Island, the rumors and speculation about Kaslana grew. The stark white hair and eyes as blue as the ocean from which they had come had made some think she was the Watatsumi Omikami reincarnated. Her aloof behavior led others to label her a princess of ice, where simply being near her would bring one frostbite.

Teppei couldn't help but snicker, recalling all those baseless theories and the looks people gave Kaslana whenever she was present. Some were positive, some were indifferent, and a few were hostile.

He couldn't blame them, though. His first impression of her was much the same.

Now that he'd come this far thanks to her, he almost couldn't believe she was the same person who laughed at his admittedly poor motivations, the one he'd mustered the courage to dedicate his being towards and put his life in her hands.

A piercing azure gaze inches away from his face interrupted his musings, "You're zoning out again."

Teppei blinked, "I guess I was."

"We should get going now." She stood up, extending a hand for him to pull himself up.

"What are you laughing at?"

"It's nothing."

It wasn't just nothing. That much was obvious.

Asmodeus let Teppei off the hook and didn't push any further, but it was starting to get concerning. Just a little, though.

The Goddess didn't think he would go as far as to hide any problems his frail body might have, but she certainly wouldn't put him above doing so just to keep going.

She had Teppei go back through her portal to the island's edge and continue watching from their connection once they had packed up and left the camp. While there wasn't anything to suggest that they were creating Delusions at Musouijin Gorge, it allowed them to narrow down its location to strictly Yashiori island.

Still didn't change the fact that she was traversing the land on foot. She'd gotten fitter since arriving in Inazuma, but even this was too much. Suddenly, the idea of grabbing that Geo construct Aether had carried her with before sounded much better.

"You can take a break, you know?" Teppei piped up, his voice laced with worry.

"This place gives me the creeps. I'll do that once we leave."

The place in question was marked on the map as Higi Village. She thought it would be the easiest to search out of all the options on the island, but the goosebumps crawling in her skin said otherwise.

Teppei's silence was also a factor, and Asmodeus had a theory of why.

"Come to think of it, which part of the island did you even live at?" Her tone was full of innocence, but the intent was clear.

"...You already know, don't you?"

She rolled her eyes, "I wanted to hear it out of your mouth. You could have just said that we're standing in your home."

"It's not my home. Not anymore."

"I can see that." Asmodeus drily responded, her eyes catching sight of a particularly damaged house.

"Guess I'll take that break now." She saw a small patch of farmland around the back, the wilted, deformed forms of what had once been a harvest, which was still recent. More recent than any other in the village, at least.

Teppei noticed it, too, "Wait!"

She feigned ignorance, "What?"

"There are better options around you. For example, one with an actual roof above your head?"

"I want this one." The Goddess ignored the rest of his excuses, swinging open a door on rusty hinges and making herself at home.

If the sad excuse of a building could even be called one. Teppei had said the Shogun's army had come knocking on their door for a Vision wielder they harbored.

She had her doubts about his story, but seeing the wreckage up close confirmed it. This sort of damage could only be possible through the manipulation of the elements.

"...I'm actually here again. Sort of." Teppei released a shaky breath.

"You're finally talking again," She remarked, "What was this place like before… you know?"

"Pretty plain, if that's what you're wondering," He answered, "You could look at the other houses here. That should give you a good idea."

"I wasn't talking about the house."

"Then what–" The realization dawned on him as he released a hitched breath in surprise.

Asmodeus was pretty surprised herself.

Teppei sighed, "Spent most of my childhood indoors. Once I was older, Father had me help tend to our crops, but there wasn't much else of note."

"That's it?"

"We were the only ones living here at the time," He replied, "Hard to have a childhood when you spend most of the day hiding from the Tatarigami."

"Hm." Asmodeus hummed, deep in thought. She was starting to be much more self-conscious of her earlier interactions with Teppei, and she hated it.

"Since we're already here, can I bother you to check something out? There's something I want to see." Teppei asked.

"Fine. What is it?"

"It's in a small, wooden box. If my memory serves, it should be in my parents' bedroom."

She followed his instructions, finding the object left half-open on the floor. Whatever was inside caught the light well, the glint of something metallic catching her eye.

The Goddess picked it up, closing the box and blowing off a thin layer of dust that had built up before raising it to her shoulder where Teppei could see, "Is this it?"

"It is. Can you open it?"

Asmodeus did, pulling out a plain trinket attached to a chain. A necklace.

She studied the jewelry with mild interest, "Was this yours?"

"It was my mother's." He corrected, "Father had his own on himself at all times, while she had no time to grab hers before we fled from the Shogun's army."

"Then where's the one your father had?" She questioned.

"It's with me. The one I wear around my neck at all times."

No wonder he tried to hide it from her back then, "Do you want it back now?"

"Probably not right now," Teppei admitted, "It's been exposed to the elements for a while now. I'm not sure if I'll just drop dead when I go near it."

"I don't have pockets." The Goddess flatly stated. Another thing to consider is when she gets another change of clothes.

"Can't you just throw it down a portal and take it out later?"

"If you want to expose it to more elemental energy, go ahead." Not to mention the chance of the necklace being destroyed. It wasn't very organized there, and she could not do anything about that.

Asmodeus thought her options through, groaning. Undoing the clasp holding the thin chains, she brought it around her neck and secured it again.

"Kaslana?" Teppei asked, clueless. He couldn't see her from this angle, so he remained blissfully unaware of what she'd just done. In truth, she would have preferred it to stay that way.

Alas, she was stuck with this fool for the foreseeable future. Better to just get it over with.

The Goddess moved into his vision, expecting the worst.

"O-oh."

Asmodeus leaned forward, masking her relief to the maximum she could, "Is that it?"

"N–no," He stuttered, "I just wasn't expecting you to wear it."

"Why not? It's not like these things are cursed."

"They kind of are."

"Explain."

"Mother used to say how they bought these necklaces off a wandering merchant. They were told it could absorb and mitigate the curse that had befallen Yashiori Island."

She snorted, "And your parents believed them?"

"They were desperate for anything that could help them, and it did seem to work as intended. Father held on much longer than she did…"

"Right…" Asmodeus trailed off, berating herself for letting her mouth go to town. It was funny how often she still did it when doing it right after she'd awoken from her imprisonment, which led to Aether almost killing her on the spot.

"I'm glad to see it still intact, and…" Teppei looked away bashfully, "...I think it looks good on you."

The Goddess got what she wanted at the expense of her dignity. She could already imagine the disgust those holier-than-thou snobs at Celestia would openly show at being complimented by a mere mortal.

Good thing she wasn't one of them.

"What's this?"

Teppei gestured to the ancient statue Kaslana was currently fiddling with. He'd seen similar structures before, but he and others would always treat them with reverence, as legend had it that it was a shrine made by the Raiden Shogun herself as a protective ward against evil.

"Not sure," Kaslana said, "But it feels familiar, and it reminds me of the Waypoints that Aether would constantly use."

"Aether," He echoed, "Who's that?"

She sneered, "A fool that likes being all secretive and mysterious. He dumped me in the middle of this war over the Vision Hunt Decree, and now he's off fighting the Electro Archon."

Teppei gaped in awe, "He's that Traveller?"

"How in Teyvat have you heard of him?" Kaslana sharply turned her head, blue eyes convincingly promising an unpleasant outcome should he answer wrong. Not to brag, but he'd gotten used to it by now.

"Mostly just hearsay, us folks with nothing to do at camp just share stories with each other when there's nothing to do. Oh, and Amakane Island, do you remember taking me there?"

"Somewhat."

"Well, there were others there also talking about it, saying how a foreigner had interrupted the Raiden Shogun's ceremony at the Statue of the Omnipresent God."

To say that the news spread through the Watatsumi Resistance like wildfire was an understatement. The Raiden Shogun was the one variable that even Sangonomiya Kokomi could not predict nor control, and to hear that someone capable of going toe-to-toe with an actual God was awe-inspiring, especially to him.

"What's he like?" Teppei asked, perhaps just a little bit excited. Maybe Kaslana could introduce him to the Traveller once the Vision Hunt Decree was gone.

"He pisses me off. Aether rarely talks, but I can feel his smugness every time he does," She fumed, going on quite the tangent, "He's cryptic, and I usually only understand what he means once I'm wrapped up in his problems."

"Sounds like you."

"Don't joke about that." Kaslana glared at him before she returned to inspecting the statue, or as she called it, a Waypoint.

His eyes wandered to his mother's necklace, fitted snugly around Kaslana's neck. He noticed that she would move in odd ways to keep it away from the sand, going as far as to shield it with her own body from the grains. Did she notice it, too?

The Waypoint she was inspecting started to glow in a sapphire blue aura, catching him and her off guard as they jumped back. Staring intently, they saw a small boat rise from the depths.

"It worked." Kaslana exhaled in relief as she waded into the waters, reaching out to touch their new mode of transport.

"You seem surprised." Teppei looked at the boat in wonder. Who would have thought that these odd structures actually possess a practical purpose? Better yet, how were these even made?

"I have no recollection of seeing these work, ever." She replied, pulling herself up and clambering into the boat's interior, which he followed thereafter.

He looked at her, confused, "Isn't this your first time seeing one, though?"

Kaslana looked just as perplexed as he was, staring into empty space.

"...You're right," She eventually spoke, "That's weird."

The boat's engine roared to life, lurching forward and sending an unprepared Teppei forward straight into Kaslana, who had been operating the transport.

"Ow." His muffled voice spoke into her back. Realizing his dangerous predicament, he removed himself from her and properly seated himself. Kaslana glared at him but didn't say a word as she put her foot back on the pedal and sent the boat toward their next destination.

Fort Mumei. They'd decided to save it for last, owing to its more challenging location and being far enough from the source of the Tataragami for Teppei to be safe.

They made landfall shortly after. This time, he was prepared for the shift in inertia, readily preventing another accident from happening again like before. Kaslana threw an undecipherable look in his direction but didn't say anything as they exited the boat.

"Before we go in, I want to ask you again. Are you sure about this?" She glanced at him as they approached a large hole in the ground, too big to occur naturally. Kaslana looked down at it with a seething hatred.

He couldn't exactly comprehend just what was down there, but just being near it triggered a primal urge to run away.

"I am." He couldn't, though. Not in front of her.

This better be enough evidence for her. Asmodeus internally mused as she strode deeper into Fatui's supposed Delusion factory. There weren't any of the cursed objects yet in sight, but she could feel the effects of their wretched existence. They were close.

The lack of guards was odd, but she could handle anything they threw at her.

The Goddess couldn't say the same for the man trailing behind her. Teppei, for all his misplaced willpower, was only human in a battle that was bound to go beyond the limits of a normal person.

She couldn't bring herself to take him out of this, not yet. Once the evidence was gathered and this factory was nothing more than ashes, he would return to his regularly scheduled life of watching from the sidelines.

Just a little longer.

Another turn in this endless maze led them down a spiraling corridor deeper into the earth. Teppei stuck closer to her as the natural sounds and scents of the surface petered out, the metallic tang of blood and rust invading their nostrils.

Going to the places where the corrupted aura seemed strongest, her gut feeling was proven right as they arrived at what appeared to be a storage room. Stacks of crates lined the inside, and the closest one was chock full of Delusions.

Grabbing the closest one, Asmodeus squashed her disgust for the foul imitation and handed one over to Teppei, "Take this."

"Why?"

"At the first sign of danger, I want you to run for it back to the Watatsumi Resistance," She stated, "I can't guarantee that this place won't collapse in on itself once I'm done with it."

He gulped, taking the Delusion, "Alright."

A half-assed excuse, if she'd ever seen one. A single Delusion would hardly account for evidence, and her wording made it sound as if she was at risk of not making it back. In truth, it was just a reason to get Teppei out of here.

"Hey," Teppei called out to her, "These things are like Visions, right? What would happen if I–"

"You'd be all-powerful for the five seconds your body can handle the Delusion before it kills you. Don't."

After taking an entire crate and throwing it into one of her portals, they moved on to the next room, encountering much of the same scene. They methodically repeated this method until they reached the end of the corridor.

"Stay here, and get ready to run if there's danger." Asmodeus commanded, taking a step forward.

Each movement she made echoed throughout the chamber, a crackling violet mist spewing from the walls, limiting her vision to a mere few meters in front of her.

Asmodeus clicked her tongue. Like she was going to let them make the first move at their leisure.

The Goddess snapped her fingers, tearing through space at her discretion to bring the endless void into real space. With a few adjustments on her end, the thick fog was swallowed into the portal, sucked into an eternity it could never escape.

She glared daggers into the crowd that had snuck up on her, "Are you rats done yet?"

The Fatui had encircled her, weapons aimed as they diligently waited for someone to make a move. Asmodeus calmly analyzed the situation like she'd always done as the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.

Their guns were trained on her, but none of their fingers were on the trigger. Yet. They learned from their first encounter with her back at Liyue Harbor, no doubt.

Oh? There was someone else here, too.

"Who might you be?" Asmodeus gave the unknown man a pointed look.

He was smaller in stature than all the other Fatui, yet the reverence with which they treated him implied that he was some sort of big-shot. Underneath his conical hat was an electrifying gaze and a vicious grin, all directed at her.

"Refer to me as the Balladeer, if you will."

The Goddess scoffed, "Am I supposed to remember all your self-absorbed titles? If that's all the Fatui are good at, I'm afraid I have more important matters to attend to." She took a deep breath, preparing herself for how big of a headache this would be.

The Balladeer casually moved towards her, "You may not know me, but I've heard plenty of you from Tartaglia."

A Harbinger? Just what she needed.

The Fatui Harbinger raised a hand, signaling to the entrance from which Asmodeus had entered. An agent amongst the Fatui surrounding her disengaged and sprinted to the passageway.

There was surely only one reason why. Teppei.

The Goddess was already thinking of a dozen different ways to obliterate the mortal that dared go after the frail man. The space next to the Fatuus was already distorting, ready to spit out another explosion of elemental energy.

Then, the Balladeer disappeared. She stared, bewildered, at the spot where he had been a moment ago, her eyes widening when he was now in front of her.

Instinct took over, prioritizing her own safety, conjuring a portal directly in his face and another one at his arm to redirect the blow into that of his own subordinates.

Asmodeus' opponent leaped back as he shouted a command, the Fatui surrounding her, unloading everything they had at the Goddess, only to shriek in agony as their own attacks were sent back at them.

That only left one problem. Well, two of them. There was now so much smoke around her that she couldn't see properly.

"Tartaglia wasn't kidding about you," He jeered at her, his voice seemingly coming from every direction, "But he also told me that you couldn't stop him from killing anyone foolish enough to get between the two of you at the Jade Chamber."

"You know what that means, right?"

A shard of what had once been a Geo construct whizzed through the air like an arrow, aimed at the apparent source of that annoyingly smug voice, only to find nothing as the smoke parted temporarily, quickly overtaken.

"I probably can't defeat you here, but what about your friend? All those souls already tainted by their Delusion?"

The lifeless body of a Fatuus was thrown at her to no visible effect, devoured by a portal of her making. Each attempt at landing a blow on the Balladeer and defending herself from his own had incremental effects on her head.

With each passing second, it was getting harder and harder to focus, while her opponent had barely broken a sweat. Leaving was impossible with the Balladeer constantly pressuring her, and each second wasted meant another second of leaving Teppei defenseless.

Asmodeus has had enough. Her eyes glossed over, and all traces of her previous turbulent emotions disappeared. Sensing the Harbinger's incoming tirade again, she ignored the pain as the room began to bend.

Reality itself started to crack again, the will of the former Sustainer of Heavenly Principles' imposed on that of the earth. It felt like her very mind was coming apart at the seams. The exertion did not go unnoticed.

Right now, though, there was something of greater importance. Someone.

She roared as a portal the size of the entire spacious area they had been occupying appeared beneath their feet. In an instant, the temporary smokescreen the Balladeer had been using dissipated, revealing a wide-eyed Fatui Harbinger.

With a final snap of her fingers, she disappeared into her own subspace as the room exploded in divine retribution from one God to another.

Back at the surface, Asmodeus was spat out on the other side of a dim portal, collapsing. Puffing and panting, she attempted to look around her, noting that everything looked blurry.

"Gods…" She clutched her head tightly as if applying enough force would make the pain go away.

It was a bit of a gamble. Detonating one of Osial's precious orbs of pure godly power would be enough to cause the factory to collapse– judging from the rumbling emanating deep from the earth, she would wager that it did.

It put her in a sorry state of affairs, to say the least. Asmodeus wouldn't be able to see properly for a while and was now forced to endure pain like she'd only ever felt once before.

Much to her dismay, the battle was still not over, not yet. There was one more enemy unaccounted for, and her only ally was yet to be found.

For the umpteenth time in the past minute, the Goddess willed her body to push on.

She stumbled countless times, her knees no doubt getting more than a few scrapes, but that pain was laughable compared to what she was already enduring. It did not matter.

After an eternity, the Goddess could spot a dark blob resembling that of a human, unmoving. Her heart stopped.

Breaking into a sprint, she tripped and fell next to it. Pushing herself back up, it was here where she came face to face with a curved blade, not one that Teppei carried, but rather a weapon of the Fatui.

Except the one before her was unmoving.

"They're dead?" She touched the Fatuus. No pulse.

But how? There couldn't be anything or anyone in the vicinity capable of taking on an agent of the Fatui, and something that could kill them so quickly was impossible.

Asmodeus' blood ran cold. Unless…

"Teppei!" With a trembling voice, she screamed out his name.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted movement and acted on it instantly. She was over there in an instant. She immediately took note of the distinct attire of a soldier of the Watatsumi Resistance. It was him.

She felt him shift in her presence, "Kaslana? Sorry, I can't see you very well right now…"

With Asmodeus' worst fears confirmed, what little strength she had left as her legs gave out from under her, and she collapsed right next to Teppei, "You used it…"

Even with the Goddess' sense of sight being heavily impaired, it didn't hinder any of her other ones. She could still sense the lingering corruption of a Delusion being used. One source of it was the deceased Fatuus she'd seen earlier.

The other one was Teppei himself.

He coughed hoarsely, "Yeah, it seems you were right about what would happen."

In a pitiful show of resilience, the man tried to stand up again. He barely got his head off the ground before he gave up and flopped back down. She did as well, only getting her upper body to a position where she could support herself with her arms. Her legs weren't as lucky.

Asmodeus' vision had been restored to a point where she could see Teppei clearly at last. He looked an entire century older now despite the last time she saw him, which hadn't even been half an hour ago. The Delusion gave him power, and it took the price.

The Goddess slowly lifted his wrinkled head and cradled it in her lap, caressing his hair with trembling fingers.

Teppei looked at her with half-lidded eyes, "I'm sorry."

He feebly raised an arm, and they both saw as the tips of his fingers started to turn grey before being reduced to dust, ashes fading away in the wind.

Seeing that his time was up, Teppei peered into her eyes, forcing a pained smile to bloom.

"Thank you, though," He solemnly said, "If it weren't for you, I'd never have…"

"Wait!" Asmodeus' eyes grew as wide as saucers as she gripped onto what was left of him like a lifeline, his final words going unsaid as the rest faded and disappeared into the sky.

When everything had cleared, all that was left to signify his existence was a plain trinket attached to a chain. Teppei's necklace.

"Don't go…" Now that Asmodeus had a good look at it, it looked identical to hers.

"Is that…?"

It had been pure instinct on Aether's end. Despite his generous usage of all the elements at his disposal, he was merely a jack of all trades, a master of none. Compared to the forces of nature that were Archons, his own elemental manipulation was like comparing a normal person to those who wielded Visions.

Ei's Musou Isshin had gotten too close for lightning to dodge, so he was forced to go faster, to tap into the energy that had once let him and Lumine travel the infinite void that lay beyond boundless skies.

As long as he channeled his Starlight externally, there was no need to worry about the backlash of it meeting with an opposing force.

Aether nodded, "It is."

By introducing an unknown variable, Ei paused her unrelenting assault, giving both combatants space and some room to breathe. Even before the fall of Khaenri'ah, the Traveller had never seen the Kagemusha be so distraught.

"Then that person before, they…" She looked to the empty space where Asmodeus had intruded on her domain.

"Do you know them?"

His question was dignified with a slash that was as sudden as lightning. With another burst of his Starlight, he narrowly avoided the attack.

Ei was trembling now, bangs covering her eyes, and the Plane of Euthymia started to shift in accordance with its creator. The stagnant realm was starting to crack, unable to uphold the eternity the current Electro Archon thought they wanted to see.

Uncertainty filled Aether's heart. His reserves of Starlight were much greater than when he'd fought Osial and Beisht, but still not enough for a prolonged duel against Raiden Ei.

Not to mention that the last time he and Ei had fought was when he was still in peak physical condition. Since then, he'd lost an eye and was sluggish in controlling his sword arm.

The reason for Aether's impairment was at the back of his mind, the presence of an Archon causing the Abyssal corruption to go haywire despite his best attempts at suppressing it.

It was more than screaming. It was an incessant need to destroy the deity before him. The Traveller would never forgive himself if he gave into those primal instincts.

A myriad of colors started to swirl around him, all seven elements of Teyvat at his beck and call. Golden light burst forth, giving shape to the Starseekers and restoring his dull blade to its original radiant glory.

If Ei wanted to go all out, then he would oblige. Whether either of them liked it or not, the wishes of the nation they called home outweighed their own.

Had he or Ei taken a few seconds longer before continuing their clash, they might have noticed the two near-identical presences watching over them.

Perhaps they could have noticed the tears that fell, too.

"...Long ago, buried heart, right away torn apart…"

AN:

Teppei dying is a canon event, I'm afraid.

A complaint I've heard of the Inazuma Archon Quests back in its heyday was that there wasn't enough time to get invested in the guy, not to mention how he ended up getting himself killed and didn't even realize it.

It feels like I ended up falling into the same problems while writing this part of the story. I'll probably elaborate on it further once I finish the entirety of what I've got planned for Inazuma.