Genshin Impact: Mondstadt Alter
Act 1 Chapter 4.1:
Assassin
The sky remains dim, and the chilly air is beginning to seep through my jacket, penetrating my skin. Vapor escapes with each exhale, forming a mist before me. I rub my hands together in an attempt to stave off the cold. Despite the discomfort, I remind myself that I won't be here much longer, so I endure for a little while longer.
Looking at the gate, I see two men walking outside and standing on the sides. Since I'm leaning against the tree close to the gate, they notice me almost immediately.
"Good morning, Morgan!"
"Hah, you sure are early today." He yawned.
"Morning' to you, too." I greeted them back, "I guess so. Just feeling for it today."
"Haha, quite diligent one, aren't you? Unlike someone I know."
"Hey, don't look at me like that."
Those two almost bantered like usual in the morning had I not interrupted.
"Anyway, can I ask you a favor?"
The couple looked at me in confusion.
"Oh, sure. What is it?"
"I want you to give this piece of paper to Mrs. Frederica when she's looking for me."
I give it to them, and they take it with question marks on their heads.
"No problem, but why?"
"Yeah. Why don't you wait for her instead?"
"Thanks. I'd love to, but I have to go now." I stepped back from them.
"Alright. I suppose we can do that, but what if she's not looking for you?"
I prepare to leave, "You guys can throw it, then. Bye."
After bidding them goodbye, I jog my way out of the city.
…
After some time, I arrive at the coast under Stormbearer Points. But I haven't stepped foot on the sand yet because behind me is woods. I look at every high peak where I could see myself if I were there.
After checking everything I need, I take a deep breath and relax my muscles for the last time. Despite that, my nervousness remains unchanging. Regardless, I have to do this.
"You seem troubled, kid." A voice came from behind me.
I quickly pivot myself, "Who's there!?"
The person in question didn't answer and kept approaching me step by step. Consequently, I follow his pace by walking backward. We keep going until I almost get cornered. Neither of us takes any action.
I can't see his face because he's wearing a mask, but I can tell we look at each other in the eye. His full black attire with crimson silhouettes and something eye-catching on his chest got my attention. Let's not forget his blade sticking to his right arm.
Oh man, this is such a red flag, isn't it?
"Who are you?"
"Morgan Friedrich. They sent me to deal with you. I wonder if that's because of your vision?" He put his arm on his hip.
"... What are you talking about?"
"Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself." He raised his hands, "For someone blessed by the archon, you are a reckless kid. I couldn't tell either because you're confident in yourself or you're so ignorant. Doesn't matter in the end."
"What do you want from me?"
"Hmph! I'll say this once. Surrender yourself." He said in an arrogant tone.
"What if I say no?"
"Then you won't like how this is going to end."
No matter my chosen option, this won't end well for me. I control my breathing because my hands and feet are trembling a little. At this point, I don't care if it's the cold or fear. I keep observing his movement with no motion or voice.
My ears filled with my heartbeats' echo.
"Hoi! How about answering my question, you punk?!"
"..."
"I see. Die, then."
He bolts his way towards me as fast as his declaration. Swiftly swinging his right arm, I barely manage to duck. But the follow-up landed on my right cheek, putting distance between us. Thankfully, I reduced the damage by putting my left arm to guard. I lie on the ground and try to stand, but he dashes toward me with a kick on my gut.
"Guh…!"
The pain troubles my breathing, resulting in me coughing continuously.
He stands right beside me, "Stand up. You think you can take me?"
I force myself to stand. Once again, I rest by bending my body with my hands on my knees. Instanously, I pick the knife on my hip and send it towards him. He dodges with ease and counters with a punch to my face.
I'm lying on the water when I collect my senses. He hit me right on the nose, and as a result, I could feel my eyes getting moist. I blink a few times to count how much damage I have already.
Three. Only three times, and yet, I can feel the pain through my body.
"You shouldn't have refused. But if you give up now, I'll spare you."
So far, this has gone worse than I anticipated.
Bathing in the seashore and ignoring my injuries, I inhale deeply and exhale before getting on my feet. I nearly stumbled, but I steadied myself. I take a stance since, fortunately, my arm didn't let go of the knife.
He wags his head in disappointment, "Foolishness."
Instead of dashing, he takes his time pacing toward me. He provokes me by not attacking me even though I'm within his range. Having no choice, I strike first. Expectedly, he grabs my arm and lifts me high. Then he hit my face back and forth with finisher on my stomach and let go of me.
This time, I land on my feet, but with the help of my arm. I'm on my knees to let myself rest and recover. However, I'm starting to lose focus and pant heavily. He closes the gap between us.
Raising his blade in the air, "This is the end." He said before dropping it at high speed at my head.
I drift my body slightly to the left. The blade connects to my shoulder, leaving a deep cut. My blood sprays a lot upward from the wound. When his blade departs my torso, I see it as an opportunity to strike. I drop the knife and dig some sand to throw it at his face with my barely functioning right arm. Only a little slip in his eyes, but that gives me enough time.
I jump and rush at him with my left side as a cushion to push him away and give him a side smack with all my strength. With that, I distance myself from him before he can bounce back. I straighten my body and hold tightly my right shoulder with my left arm.
"Tsk! Cheap trick." He barked.
"Haa… Haa…"
Great, that did nothing to him, and my right side is pretty much useless now.
Spending no time rest, he charges at me and sends his leg to my side. I take one step back and drag my left arm inside before pushing it forward with anemo force.
"Hmph!" He blocked it with his hands.
I expand the gap between us, albeit not much. The man bends a bit and presses his stomach until he gets up while I clutch my shoulder, watching him. My breathing starts getting heavier, and my limbs are shaking.
Fuck, it's hurt!
I hiss, looking at the wound as my hand is covered in blood. I notice he makes his move. When I look at him again, he lunges at me with more speed than before to slash me vertically. I narrowly evade his attack, but it causes me to fall on my bum.
He followed it with a kick. In order to not get hit, my only escape is to drop myself backward. When I lay on the shallow part of the coast, his next move is to stomp on my face. However, I roll to the side and stop in the crouch position.
Unfortunately, I did it prematurely. So, I couldn't evade his next move. He quickly catches on to me and grabs my throat before running onward to bring us on land and fling me away. I try to stand, but I have a hard time doing it.
Instead, I face him, only to find him nowhere in sight. I dart my eyes all around, but it's futile. I see no trace of him, yet my power says he's standing ahead of me. For the last try, I eventually can get up.
So he can make himself invisible, huh?
He gets around me swiftly on tiptoe, trying to find an opening. His movement barely produces noise, but I can still tell his exact position, thanks to my sonar, so I look around to fake panic.
As I predicted, he gets behind me. Approaching me slowly, he reveals himself right before he swings the blade at me. For the second time, I duck and kick his ankle to make him lose balance, which works since it seems he didn't expect me to dodge his attack.
I pronto aim for his face with my left arm. To my surprise, he blocks it with his hand. However, that covers most of his view on me, so I separate us with a spurn to avoid his counter. We stand still from each other.
"You, you avoided that?"
"You were just too predictable, I guess."
"Bullshit! If that were the case, you wouldn't have the time to strike back."
"Well, I wouldn't let a chance like that slip away."
Obviously, he didn't take my words easily.
"I knew it. You did something, didn't you? Something you hide from people."
"Huh, sounds like you've done your homework. Should I praise you or something?"
We stroll to the side, making a circle without making additional distance. In this chat, I take my time to recover as much as possible and pressure the wound on my shoulder while he tries to dig for more information about me.
"Don't get cocky. I've inflicted you with a deep cut and a lot more. You, on the other hand, haven't given me at least notable damage."
"A shame for me to admit, but you're right."
He paused for a moment before continuing,
"You're more relaxed now than you did at the start." He commented.
"Because I actually knew you were going to act today."
"What?"
He stops moving, and so am I. His tone of disbelief suggests he believes what I said. I planned not to say much, but it seems necessary now, knowing all my injuries need more time to heal. After all, we're in a pretty secluded place and far from people. I detect nobody except us within a radius.
"Before I continue, I should ask you something first. Did you know I noticed you stalked me ever since you started?"
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Your choice. I just decided to act today despite after all this time."
He remains silent.
"If anything, I'm more curious why YOU didn't do anything to me until now. I'm sure you would find it easier doing it then than now."
"There was a Knight that kept an eye on you."
"Indeed. But then, it was more often for me to go out alone than with her, wasn't it?"
"They told me to be careful. I didn't know what they meant about that, even now. And even after spending a long time, I find you're nothing I should worry about."
He keeps mentioning 'they', I wonder if the one he meant was his boss or something.
"Now that I got a closer look and fighting you, I sense something within you. But I can't really put my finger on it."
"Surely that doesn't mean you're scared of me?"
"As if. I was more interested in why they wanted your death. Now it seems like they misjudged you."
"I couldn't agree more. I wonder why, too."
"I honestly don't know." He waved his hand, "Your turn. How did you know I'll operate today?"
We continue walking.
"To be honest, all I did was stalk you back. The day before yesterday, I realized you were following longer than usual. You even visited the tavern with me without concerning yourself with the available Knights."
"The fact you spotted me there makes me believe your previous statement. I'll give you that."
"Anyway, after you finished, I carefully tailed you. We ended up in Whispering Woods, and you met with someone there while I listened to your conversation from a distance. Once I heard what I needed, I took my leave. I got trouble going back, though." I mumbled the last part.
"How ironic. I couldn't believe you got away with that. I suppose we were too carefree at the time." He shook his head.
This time, he stops and faces me but doesn't close our gap. I thought we finished chatting, but I was wrong.
"With everything you said, am I correct in saying you have a keen sense?"
"Who knows?"
"I see. It's a shame someone like you should die."
"Funny of you to say that." I shrugged, "I got one more question if you don't mind."
"I'll humor you for the last time. Ask away."
"You said I could surrender myself if I didn't want to end like this. What if I chose that option? What would happen to me?"
"I'll bring you back to our HQ." He answered.
Hmm. That's not what I expected, but I'm not amazed.
"What? Are you perhaps interested in taking the offer now?"
"After all of this? In your dream." I sighed.
"Heh, thought so." He scoffed before taking a stance.
I slightly bend my knees and twist my body sideways. Putting my rights in front, I clench my left hand. I'm still feeling a lot of pain. It makes me hard to move. I doubt I can last much longer.
"Good, brace yourself." He said.
"Let me tell you something. I haven't gone all out yet. Now, I think you deserve it out of respect. So, show me what you got, Morgan Friedrich."
I gulp as I prepare myself.
He raises his right arm to the side at shoulder level and sways it inside. I keep focusing on him until I sense something coming at me with a high speed from my left. I step backward to dodge, but it still manages to slash me in the belly, albeit a shallow one. The cut's feeling hot.
Before I can register what happened, he dashes right at me and grabs my neck. Lifting me higher, he points the blade at point-blank range. I try to resist with one hand by holding his arm.
"Urgh!"
"Do you get it now? You don't stand a chance against me, especially since you can't even move your right arm anymore."
"Cool- trick. I didn't know- you can throw- your blade like- that." I struggled.
"That was only one. You're lucky I used only one enhanced blade."
"Good- to know."
I try to lift my body with my left hand by using his. I can barely inhale much air to keep it in my lungs and hold it. Meanwhile, he pulls the blade deeper and says,
"Goodbye, kiddo."
He pushes the blade at my throat. Simultaneously, I puff my cheeks and blow all the air I was holding at him with the buff of anemo, resulting in forcing his blade to fail to cut my neck and staggering him.
In that small window, I compel my right arm to move and pick another knife on my back. I jabbed his left hand right below the wrist, and thus, he let go of me. To slow the fall, I cling to his hand and draw my foot to the back before delivering the final blow at his jaw, combined with anemo energy.
He grunts while holding his left hand and keeps walking backward a few steps. I land on my feet, maintaining the gap between us. Those attacks proved to be effective.
"Goddamit! Fuck!" He cursed.
Then he releases his hand and does the same thing as before. The same thing happens. But this time, multiple blades move at higher velocities and bear higher energy and heat. Suddenly, I hear my ears buzzing.
Before I can even look, one of the blades hits my left eye and nose bridge. It was so fast that the pain registered late in my brain. However, I dismiss it and crawl lowly. The next thing I realize, he runs at me with an ignited blade.
I'm too slow and weak to recover from crawling to stand, and he swings the fire blade approaching my side face. I put my right hand with the support of my left to prevent it from connecting to my head. I can feel the heat before it can even land on my hand. As soon as it touches,
*CLICK*
I kick the ground with the force of anemo and headbutt his chest, throwing both of us quite far. I roll my body as soon as I hit the ground. The abrupt momentum makes my head dizzy, I have trouble standing.
My whole body feels numb. Trying to get up with the help of my right hand, I trip and drop to the ground again. Using my left, I finally get on my feet but immediately fall to sitting on my feet. My legs have no strength.
I look down and see my bottom part is quivering. Touching my left face, I wince due to the pain. My left eye seems broken. I force my right arm to move by bringing it up. I gasp the moment I notice above my elbow is missing, dripping blood.
The moment I grasp the situation, a fresh wave of pain surges from my stomach, coursing through my entire body. I find myself airborne before being struck squarely in the face. Only then do I realize what's happening. Collapsing onto the sand, I lie there immobile, gasping for breath as my brain begins to register the full extent of the agony I'm enduring. Summoning the last bit of strength within me, I attempt to stand but to no avail as I remain motionless on the ground.
"Stupid kid. Resorting desperate moves like that."
His blade cuts the air towards me, but,
*CLANK*
"Khh!" He got knocked back.
Coming to my senses, I see someone else standing in front of me, with their back facing me.
"Morgan! You still there?!"
I want to answer, but I can't. And I don't have the strength to move a muscle. Everything feels fuzzy until I lose consciousness.
[...]
…
He remains motionless. Without a doubt, he suffers heavy damage.
I look at the person standing ahead of me while pointing my sword at him.
"How dare you!" I frowned.
He stares at me, but I catch him quickly peek at Morgan.
"Tch. This not supposed to happen."
I was about to charge at him, but unexpectedly,
"This is as far as it gets, huh?" He said before running through the woods.
Before I can even give him a chase, I hear coughing behind me. I quickly turned my head to Morgan and realized it was his. I sheathed the sword before I crouched and grabbed his shoulders,
"Morgan! Are you okay?"
No, that was a stupid question, Frederica.
Morgan blinks a few times, and his mouth agape a little as if he's absent-minded. I patiently wait for him to collect his thoughts. After a while, he blinked a few times before asking,
"Mrs. Frederica? Why are you here?" He raised himself to sit.
"I'm here because of your message! Are you hurt?"
He observes his body, "I guess not."
Despite him saying that, I can't believe it. After all, his clothes are in a rough condition, not to mention the crimson color on some parts. His shoulder and the weird cut on his right sleeve are the most conspicuous.
I gently touch his shoulders, arms, neck, and face to examine his condition further. Morgan didn't comment or refuse during my check. I pay attention to his expression to avoid accidentally hurting him and see if he hides the pain, but his face remains flat.
"Uh, are you done, ma'am? It's a little embarrassing for me."
Morgan is literally bathing in blood, but I couldn't find any form of injury. I release him.
"You SURE you're alright?"
"Yeah. I'm good."
Standing up, I say, "Can you stand?"
I help him to stand on his feet. It was subtle, but I noticed he was troubled had I not supported him. It also comes to my attention his clothes are wet.
"Phew. I feel tired for some reason."
"Let's head back then. We need to check on your condition, AND you get a lot of explanations to do." I emphasized.
"You're right. I'm sorry, and thank you." He bowed his head.
"Eh?" I moaned, "What for?"
"You saved me, remember? If you didn't come, I probably would be dead by now."
Oh, right. Wait, that's not what I was asking.
I sigh, "Well, save it. We'll discuss it on our way back."
He nodded, and we returned to the city side to side.
A/N: The first action chapter so far! I admit it was somewhat clunky, but I hope you like it. Not to mention this was rather long as well. I planned to release it last week but got distracted by HSR.
Thank you for reading, and carry on!