Esmeralda: Inazuma 2
A/N: This takes place after Esmeralda: Inazuma, and before the Interlude Quest Inversion of Genesis.
The Furnace was overloading. Daisy was going to explode from the immense energies surging through it. Esmeralda quickly tried to solve the issue.
"Daisy, core overload," she commanded. "Maximum power output. Aim up."
Daisy did as ordered, looking directly into the sky and opening up its 'eye'. Its power core, now exposed, released a massive, continuous laser that cut into the clouds.
The initial blast of energy could be physically felt, jerking the tired soldiers to attention. They were, understandably, worried. "What are you doing?" Takasaka demanded. His sword was not drawn yet, but his hand hovered over its hilt. The soldiers behind him had their spears at the ready.
Esmeralda, still focusing on the myriad of readouts - many flashing a warning red - in front of her, gave just a quick and tense reply, "Power overloading. Need to release it." Her hands flew over the controls as she attempted to control the flow of energy.
The soldiers ducked instinctively as purple lightning arced from Daisy to crash into the rocks around them, dislodging pieces of the walls. One struck a house, shattering its windows and scorching the wood.
"Shut it down, now!" Takasaka demanded.
"I am."
More lightning arced, sending the soldiers diving for cover. Only Takasaka held his ground, hand firmly on his sword. "Whatever you're doing, it's not working! Disable - "
Esmeralda turned her head slightly to glare at Takasaka. With a flick of a finger, she directed several bolts of lightning around him. One in particular struck his sword, forcing him to release it with a pained gasp. "Do not disturb me," she hissed.
Taking the soldier's stunned and fearful silence as acknowledgment, Esmeralda returned her focus to the immense power of the Miakge Furnace.
The amount of data that the systems within the Mikage Furnace generated was incredible, as was its speed, requiring an entire team to handle it in normal conditions. Surprisingly, Esmeralda felt entirely capable of processing it, her mind racing far more quickly than she had ever experienced. Perhaps it was her bond with Daisy, who was currently overcharged and running many times over capacity, that allowed her to tap into the power that filled the air, allowing her to keep up with the demands of the Furnace.
Esmeralda heard voices behind her, but she was too focused to respond to whatever the Shogunate soldiers were saying.
Overhead, Daisy's beam of energy grew even wider and the lighting grew wilder. The cloud responded in kind, sending down immense bolts throughout the island that ripped stone apart.
The storm's intensity grew until the very air started becoming charged with Electro, causing an unpleasant sensation for all nearby. The sky roared, eager to unleash lightning and destruction. Sparks began to fly in the air as the energy threatened to overflow.
And just like that, it was done.
Daisy's laser stopped and it returned to its normal form, the battery pack on its back glowing bright purple. The unspent energy in the air began to dissipate without a source to feed them. The sky's roar turned into a low grumble, denied of the opportunity to vent its anger.
Esmeralda breathed a sigh of relief as the Furnace powered down. She look into the sky and was met with a beautiful sight. The world was purple. The clouds above the island had surged into a spiral, with an eye at its center where the laser had been. The lavender sky still crackled with lightning, making for a mesmerizing sight. It seemed almost familiar - was there another island like it? Yes, Esmeralda remembered. She had caught a glimpse of another, broken island, where an eternal thunderstorm raged, as she ventured through Inazuma. Still, a quick comparison between the furious storm on the neighboring island and the already dissipating one overhead revealed that the source of the first was not only several orders of magnitude more powerful but still currently active. Esmeralda did not fancy going to that particular island, although it might yet serve as an alternative. Should the Mikage Furnace be ineffective, perhaps she could harness the power of the storm. If -
"Esmeralda! Are you alright?" Takasaka's shout snapped her out of her contemplation. Back in the present, she noticed that he had been shaking her shoulders and that there were several new faces around.
One of whom had dog ears and a tail, kind of like her.
"I'm sorry," Esmeralda apologized. "I was distracted. Um, who's that?"
Takasaka looked at the dog-boy. "Well, you're up."
"Right. I'm General Gorou of the Watatsumi Island Resistan- No, wait. General of Watatsumi Army," he introduced.
"General? Resistance? Do you happen to know General Kujou Sara?" Esmeralda asked.
Gorou nodded. "General of the Shogun's Army. Because Takasaka is with you, I assume that she sent you here. So, Esmeralda, what're you doing here? And what was that beam of light?"
"Wait, how'd you know my name?" she asked.
Takasaka answered that. "I told him while you were dealing with... that," he said, gesturing vaguely at the complex control system of the Miakge Furnace.
"Huh. So... what can I tell him?"
Esmeralda looked at Takasaka, who gave a shrug. "This is not confidential information," he said, "And we're at peace now. Tell him whatever you want."
She nodded. "Alright. Long story short, I was doing some research on Ruin Machines in a cave near Tenshukaku. Sara doesn't want them there because they're dangerous, so she told me to bring them away. I needed a significant amount of power to do that, so she directed me here. I just finished charging the battery I made."
"So what Takasaka said is true? You can control that thing?" Gorou asked, pointing at Daisy. It was still crackling with residual power and its eye was glowing purple, but it was otherwise unchanged.
"I'm not sure about 'control', but she listens to me, yes," Esmeralda said.
Gorou nodded, deep in thought. "Amazing... I sure wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of that."
Takasaka snickered. "Scared of getting your ass kicked?"
"What? No way. My soldiers are prepared for any situation. We will be victorious," Gorou replied with conviction.
Esmeralda thought about correcting him but decided against joining the argument in favor of poking around in the Furnace.
"Ha! Says the person who can't hold his own in a fight!" Takasaka retorted.
Gorou retorted with something that Esmeralda ignored, and things only got even tenser. Although the civil war had ended, past grievances could not be forgotten so easily. The laughter became more stained and the jabs cut deeper.
It was not her business. As they argued, Esmeralda returned her focus to the Mikage Furnace. Daisy's battery was charged and ready, so there was nothing she needed to do there. The Furnace, however, was an impressive feat of engineering that she was intrigued by. A quick look into its programming revealed quite a few issues - no proper shutdown sequence, surge protection, and no security of any kind. It seemed as though the Furnace was indeed sabotaged some time ago.
While the soldiers argued behind her, Esmeralda focused on making improvements to the Mikage Furnace software. The first thing she added was a simple password system to prevent any random bandit from taking control of the Furnace. She would, of course, have to tell Takasaka the password, as well as how to reset it, but that could be done once they calmed down. She glanced at the two groups of soldiers. Still arguing.
Next was to protect the Furnace's systems from overloads by venting excess energy. A simple artificial intelligence could handle that, Esmeralda decided and began implementing it. It was an overall simple affair; the AI did not need to be sentient, just capable of detecting abnormal situations and reacting accordingly. She would then give it some general guidelines and backups, allowing most simple mishaps to be solved automatically.
Without access to the physical portions of the Miakge Furnace itself, that was about all she could do. Esmeralda looked back to the soldiers.
"Is everything done?" Takasaka asked once he noticed that she had stepped away from the Furnace controls.
Their argument seemed to have finished, Esmeralda realized. "Yup. All done," she said. "Oh, and I made some improvements to the Mikage Furnace as well."
Both Takasaka and Gorou frowned at that. "What did you do?" they asked.
Esmeralda explained her work. At first, the soldiers seemed skeptical, but once she got to 'prevent unauthorized access, she knew that she had their full attention. She told them how to reset the password, as well as the emergency procedures now built into the system.
"Alright, understood," Takasaka said. "I will pass this on to General Sara. But please, don't do something like this without consulting me first, alright?"
Esmeralda apologized sheepishly, "Sorry. I will."
"I need to return to Watatsumi now," Gorou said, "I need to inform Her Excellency about these changes. I hope we'll meet again, Esmeralda. Perhaps I can introduce you to Her Excellency."
"Who?"
Takasaka answered for him, "Sangonomiya Kokomi, Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island. His leader."
Gorou nodded. With a final wave and goodbye, he turned to leave, his soldiers following him.
Once they were out of earshot, Takasaka turned to Esmeralda and asked, "Did you have to tell them about the new security?"
"Oh! Was I not supposed to?" she responded.
"I mean..." Takasaka sighed. "We aren't in conflict anymore, but we should still be wary of them."
Esmeralda frowned. "I don't understand."
He shrugged, dismissing it. "It's nothing. We should return, too."
"Let's go."
The return journey was simple and routine. No bandits dared to attack such a well-armed group and the battery showed no signs of failure. Esmeralda and her escorts made it back to the cavern quickly.
What was more surprising was who was waiting for them there.
Although Esmeralda, unfamiliar with local figures of authority, did not recognize the man, sipping some kind of tea, who was standing outside the cavern, Takasaka certainly did. He took one look at the formal white coat with dark blue lapels that the man wore and immediately exclaimed, "Lord Kamisato! What are you-" Takasaka stopped, composed himself, and continued, "What brings you here?"
"Sir Takaska," the man greeted. He was flanked by a pair of guards. "And is this the lady who commands the machines?" he continued, looking at Esmeralda.
"Um, yeah. I'm Esmeralda. Who're you?"
Takasaka seemed almost offended at Esmeralda's words. "This is Lord Kamisa-"
"Thank you, Sir Takakasa, but I can answer for myself," Kamisato interrupted, a playful glint in his eyes. "Esmeralda, please ignore this man and call me Ayato."
Takasaka made no counterargument, so Esmeralda shrugged. "Alright, Ayato. Is there anything I can do for you?"
As much as she enjoyed her research, Esmeralda did get lonely while out in the wilds. And while Daisy was a reliable companion, every conversation they had was remarkably one-sided, like talking to herself. So when her new friend Ayato asked to see her research and discuss its applications, she accepted without a second thought.
At her command, the imposing metal doors slid aside, allowing them entry into the cavern that now served as Esmeralda's lab. Daisy flowed in after them, still crackling with energy.
"Sorry about the state of things here," Esmeralda apologized, setting up the equipment that would help control the energy surges when Legacy was reformed. "I didn't have time to clean up after the Nobushi before Sara told me to leave." She paused for a moment. "You know about that, right?"
Ayato nodded, inspecting her desk. In it lay scattered piles of scrolls and paper, each filled with complex mathematical notes and designs. "Yes, Madam Kujou has informed me of her decision, and it is one I support," Ayato said. Esmeralda kind of understood, even if she disagreed. "Still," Atayo continued, "I am interested in your research on these machines. Can you truly control them?"
Ayato was now approaching a dormant Ruin Sentinel. Unlike many others, he seemed unafraid of it; Esmeralda supposed that it posed no threat to a man of his abilities, a suspicion substantiated by the Hydro Vision glinting at his waist.
"Well," Esmeralda began, but a subconscious warning from Daisy made her freeze. It was telling her... "Someone else is in here."
"Oh?" Ayato muttered. He glanced around but seemed unconcerned. "Who?"
Esmeralda placed and hand on Daisy as it began scanning the area. "I sense... something familiar... and Cryo energy."
Ayato laughed. To the air, he called out, "Alright, Solomon, come out. You've been busted."
From the shadows, an icy must consolidates into the shape of a man wearing a long black trench coat. He crossed his arms and spoke, "I won't get caught again."
"Esmeralda, this is Solomon," Ayato introduced. "He's one of my... assistants.
The man in question raised an eyebrow but did not speak.
"Hello," Esmeralda greeted. "Why do you seem familiar?"
Solomon flicked up his coat to reveal a sword at his hip. "My sword is from the same source as your machines. That's what you sensed." As Esmeralda pondered that, he turned back to Ayato. "I'll be outside."
Esmeralda watched him leave before turning back to Ayato. "So, what were you saying?"
"I was wondering how you managed to control these machines."
"Right, I found and repaired a control unit that allows me to command them," Esmeralda freely replied. "It was not easy to decipher it."
Ayato nodded thoughtfully. "So, can I assume that no one else can take control?"
"Not unless they've dedicated their lives to the study of automatons," Esmeralda replied, running some diagnostics on Daisy. Everything seemed to be in order.
"I see. With this command unit of yours, they obey your words, yes?" Ayato continued asking.
"Yup."
"Could they obey someone else?"
That was an interesting question: Esmeralda had never really given it much thought. After some consideration, she said, "That's not impossible..."
"That wouldn't be good for us, now would it?" It seemed that Ayato was of some status and concerned about the safety of Inazuma. If someone with malicious intentions did manage to override her control, it would be disastrous for the citizens. Worse, it would disrupt her work.
Still, Esmeralda had to clarify. "In order to override my control, they need to have something with higher authority than mine. Unless they're an engineer who created these machines, that's all but impossible."
"But could you order them to obey someone else?"
"I... could, yes. But I'm not sure how long it'll last. Doing so would be very dangerous, for both the person and anyone nearby."
"I see. Well, that's all the interrogation I have for you today. How are things? Ready to move out?" Ayato asked.
Esmeralda nodded. "Yup. Just give me some time to clean and pack up. I can leave by... tomorrow night? Is that acceptable?"
"Very good. I'll send some men then to direct you to a quiet beach."
"Alright."
The soldiers escorting her were quite nervous and definitely scared, but they did their job well. Honestly, Esmeralda thought, their composure was quite commendable, given that they were leading about thirty or so Ruin Sentinels, each one of which could overpower them in a fight.
The automatons and their commander followed the soldiers quietly, the power cores of the former glowing under the moonlight. By the time they reached the agreed-upon spot, the soldiers seemed ready to make a break for it.
Both Kujou Sara and Kamisato Ayato were there, waiting for her, as well as a small army of soldiers and samurai. Esmeralda was not threatened: they were definitely not a match for so many Ruin Machines. Especially when Daisy has so much spare energy stored up.
She could not wait to show them what they could do.
"You've arrived," Sara said, as a way of greeting. "Is everything ready?"
"Yup!" Esmeralda cheerfully answered. Then, quieter, "Alright, Daisy. Let's go."
Purple lightning shot out of Daisy's power pack, striking the gathered Sentinels nearby. Glowing orange, they were charged up and pulled together, transforming into a form that Esmeralda was now familiar with, but to the soldiers, it was quite a shock. Legs, wings, a tail, and a terrifying draconic visage.
"What are you doing?" Sara demanded, bow raised. Her soldiers rallied around her, pointing their spears as they surrounded Esmeralda and the machines.
Esmeralda ignored her. Quickly, the Sentinels took the form of a great dragon, their individual parts locking together. Legacy spread its wings wide and roared into the sky. Daisy was on its back, battery crackling as it fed the Eternal Automaton Command Core.
Before Sara, Ayato, or anyone else could speak, Esmeralda ran up to Legacy, which lowered its head and allowed her to climb aboard. The thrusters built into its wings and back roared to life, spewing out flame and heat.
Esmeralda held on tightly with one hand, waving to the shocked spectators with her other. "This is awesome!" she laughed, feeling the energy in the mechanical beast beneath her. "Thanks for the help with the Furnace! Bye!"
With a massive roar of engines, Legacy took off into the sky, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake and dumbstruck soldiers on the ground.
Legacy soon stabilized in the air, cruising at a moderate altitude as they flew across the sea. It was low enough that the air and temperature were comfortable, but its shape would be easily recognizable from below.
By boat, the trip would take a few days. By dragon, it would take just a few hours to return to Liyue, but that was still quite a long time.
Sometime later, as Esmeralda was feeling drowsy, a flash of light drew her attention. It came from the boundless ocean below. Peeking down, Esmeralda noticed another flare and a thick column of smoke in the air. With a few taps in the command unit, she ordered her ride to descend and head toward the commotion.
Soon, she could make out the outlines of a small group of ships - three of them, although it was difficult to tell. One was a distance away from the others, tilting dangerously and spewing thick black smoke. The other two were locked together by some unseen mechanism and their crews engaged in a deadly duel.
A flash of purple lightning erupted from aboard the largest ship, sending a wave of Electro energy at the ship alongside it. The lightning raked across the smaller vessel, scorching the wooden planks and striking one of its lesser masts, bringing it down with a mighty crash.
Esmeralda recalled her initial journey to Inazuma with Aether. That ship down there looked distinctively like the Alcor, Captain Beidou's flagship. And the pirate captain herself did have an Electro Vision. Esmeralda decided to help her out.
As Legacy went into a full dive, its targeting systems locked onto the enemy vessel currently entangled with the Alcor. The push of a button released a barrage of missiles, which accelerated forward to seek out their targets.
Of the six, four struck the base of the primary mast, causing the entire structure to collapse overboard with a massive splash, and disorienting all on board. The last two missiles struck at the side of the ship not currently scraping against the Alcor, shattering the oars that served as the ship's secondary method of propulsion. As the sailors were recovering from the unexpected assault, Legacy itself landed heavily on the ship, its claws digging into and cracking the wood on the sides of the ship where it gripped. The mechanical dragon, almost as long as the ship itself, spread its wings and roared loudly enough to stun the panicked sailors.
From atop Legacy, Esmeralda looked over the gathered sailors, all of whom were now frozen in shock at her arrival. She quickly found the captain of the Alcor, Electro Vision glowing, greatsword in hand, and defiance in her eyes. That quickly turned into surprise when their eyes met.
"Hey, Captain Beidou!" Esmeralda called out, waving as though she was not perched atop a monstrous war machine. "I saw you fighting, so thought I'd lend a hand."
"You- Esmeralda, was it? I see you've upgraded since we last met," Beidou said, quickly getting over her shock.
"You could say that. Unfortunately, I can't stay here forever, so would you kindly do-" Esmeralda gestured wildly to the boat beneath her, "Whatever you were going to?"
Beidou turned to her men and yelled, "You guys heard her! Bring these pirates to the brig."
Said pirates did not particularly seem to agree with that suggestion. One fired his crossbow at Legacy, doing absolutely no damage to it. In retaliation, Legacy turned to face him and roared, flames flickering within its maw.
With a yelp, the now-terrified man threw his weapon overboard and raised his hands, saying, "I surrender, I surrender!"
"So, Esmeralda," Beidou called out, "Thanks for the assist. I have to ask, though, why are you here?"
Esmeralda shrugged. "I was just flying over to Liyue when I saw your ship in combat. Thought I'd drop in and lend a hand."
"Well, you've certainly made things easier here. No offense, though, but I'm going to have to ask you to at least take off."
"I understand," Esmeralda replied. She did, really. Legacy was obviously dangerous; it was no surprise that Beidou wanted it away from her ship. She began reactivating Legacy's thrusters. "I'll be leaving now. Thanks for the lift last time, by the way."
"It's nothing. Although now that you have that, maybe you'll give me a lift next time," Beidou commented.
Esmeralda laughed as Legacy took off. "We'll have to see. Bye, Beidou!"
As the ships shrunk out of sight beneath her, Esmeralda looked forward, where the city of Liyue Harbor could be seen. The sun was setting, bathing the coastal city in beautiful shades of yellow. She took a long look at the city before sending Legacy soaring even farther upwards until she was almost within the clouds. At this height, no one below would be able to properly identify the dragon soaring over the harbor. There was no need to give the defenders of Liyue a reason to go after her.
Up here, the air was frigid and thin, so Esmeralda dared go no higher. The latter she could handle - strapped in securely, her oxygen requirements were low enough that she was in little danger of passing out. The cold, however, cut through her clothes, which were not at all designed for such weather.
Daisy noticed her shivering. Carefully, from its position behind her, it moved an arm onto Esmeralda's back and began emitting heat. Esmeralda sighed contentedly as the warmth spread through her body. It was an old functionality that she had added, back when she was exploring Dragonspine. She never expected it to be useful now, three kilometers above the sea.
Now comfortably warm, Esmeralda rested, half-asleep, until Legacy began to descend. It landed right outside the main door of the Ruin Guard Factory that she had long commandeered. Recognizing her, the great doors opened up and allowed the mechanical dragon to enter before sealing shut once again.
Finally back at her home base, Esmeralda realized just how tired she was. The journey from Inazuma had been long, and the lack of oxygen in the final stretch had done nothing to help.
Once they arrived at the innermost room, Daisy decoupled from Legacy, causing it to fall apart into its constituent Sentinels without a suitable power source.
With Daisy holding an ever-vigilant sentinel, Esmeralda collapses onto her bed.
There was still much to do once she awoke. Check on Daisy, check on the Sentinels, check on the factory, improve the Leyline extractor, write to Aether...
A/N: Solomon is my third OC. His story should be up soon (tm).
The next chapter of this story will be Esmeralda's story quest 3 in Sumeru, which will take a while to write while I try to figure out Sumeru's lore, which is not fully released yet.