"Stop stirring up trouble, Yae," Raiden Ei, who was standing nearby, frowned slightly at Yae Miko's words and cut her off.
Yae Miko, upon hearing this, simply pursed her lips a little, then turned her pitiful, teary eyes toward Yuki. "Mr. Yuki, please release the binding on this humble maiden. Uuu~ I've already learned my lesson~" she pleaded in a cutesy tone.
Yuki simply spread his hands and lifted the control on her.
The moment Yae Miko felt the sensation of her body returning to her command, her beautiful eyes lit up. She gently twisted her body a little and even stretched lazily, confirming that she had full control of herself once more.
Standing off to the side, Yuki noticed her moving around. Beneath her red-and-white shrine maiden attire, those jiggling, bouncy assets were truly a dazzling sight.
Good heavens, that is some real elasticity right there!
Yae Miko seemed to have sensed Yuki's stolen glance. The corner of her mouth lifted slightly, revealing a charming smile.
Meanwhile, Kujou Sara had already approached the fifteen frozen intruders and ripped off their masks. Upon confirming their identities, her blood ran cold—several of these faces were familiar. They were the very same people who had been accompanying the Snezhnayan diplomatic delegation and the Fatui Harbinger.
"As expected, they're Fatui! This is outrageous! Is this how you people from Snezhnaya conduct friendly diplomacy with us?!" An expression of furious rage surfaced on Sara's face as she glared viciously at the fifteen individuals.
Just earlier, she had seen these very same people on the streets and exchanged pleasant greetings with them. And now, in the blink of an eye, they had turned into vile criminals endangering all of Inazuma, sowing chaos from within. The realization filled her with immense frustration. If only she had discovered their intentions sooner, so many innocent Inazumans would not have died at their hands.
Under her piercing gaze, the fifteen members of the Snezhnayan diplomatic delegation all looked uneasy. But unanimously, none of them dared to say a word, terrified that one wrong utterance might prompt the Raiden Shogun beside them to cut them down on the spot.
"General Kujou, this matter is not your fault. I bear part of the responsibility for allowing them to enter," Ei shook her head, comforting Sara while willingly shouldering some of the blame herself.
Soon after, Shogunate soldiers arrived with a group of reinforcements in tow. Upon seeing the Raiden Shogun, they all bowed respectfully. Ei cut short their formalities and ordered them to take the prisoners to the center of Inazuma City. She commanded them to notify all the citizens to gather there, so that the true mastermind behind the attacks could be revealed to the public.
The soldiers sprang into action, going door-to-door to notify every household. In no time, all of Inazuma City was abuzz with voices as people rushed toward the city center. After all, it was their revered deity who had taken action; naturally, the people would not pass up this rare opportunity to lay eyes upon their god.
Once the news spread far and wide, the Tenryou Commission headquarters—situated right beside Tenshukaku—descended into chaos.
"What's going on? Lord Varnava, didn't you say your plan was flawless? Why has even Her Excellency been stirred into action now?!" The head of the Tenryou Commission, the current patriarch of the Kujou Clan and Sara's adoptive father, glared furiously at the Fatui Harbinger standing before him.
Varnava had only just received the news himself. Facing the Kujou patriarch, his expression shifted between gloom and uncertainty.
"I've only just received this news as well, Mr. Kujou. I never calculated that Her Excellency would see through our operation and have everyone captured! Logically speaking, our plan was flawlessly coordinated—your Tenryou Commission provided us with intelligence on weak points in the defenses, while we sent people out to carry out the ambushes. That, without question, was seamless!" Varnava drew a deep breath, voicing his utter disbelief.
However, the Kujou patriarch was already at the peak of fury and had no patience for explanations.
Bang!
He slammed his hands heavily onto the table, his beard bristling and his eyes glaring deathly at Varnava. "You promised me, Harbinger! You said that if we did this, Her Excellency would no longer need to concern herself with these worldly trifles—she would only need to show the world that Musou no Hitotachi! It was precisely because you said this that I agreed to work with you!"
The patriarch was hopping mad, bitterly shouting out the exact reason he had conspired with the Fatui.
So it turned out that the entirety of this scheme was the result of the Fatui approaching the Tenryou Commission to collaborate. The Kujou patriarch's goal was, in fact, singular: to force Ei to ignore all mundane affairs and present to the world only the Musou no Hitotachi—the very same divine stroke she had used to slay the great serpent.
He believed that managing these worldly, trivial matters would only cause their deity to lose the martial artistry of that transcendent realm. In a certain sense, he was Ei's diehard fanatic, utterly obsessed with the absolute power of her blade.
Initially, when Varnava heard the man's objective, even he had been taken aback. But since the man was so fanatical, it only made him all the more useful to exploit. And so, the two sides entered into a cooperative relationship. It was precisely because they were backed by the head of the Tenryou Commission that the Fatui had such an easy time carrying out their attacks.
After all, the Tenryou Commission was in charge of all security across Inazuma—the Kujou clan knew exactly where the defenses were strong and where they were weak.
Hearing the patriarch's utterly unreasonable rant, Varnava felt a surge of irritation rising in his own heart.
"Patriarch Kujou, no need to panic. This situation may not be without a turning point!" Varnava forcefully suppressed his anger and placated the man, urging him to relax.
"What method?" The patriarch's expression eased somewhat at these words.
"Resolving this is actually quite simple. We only need to..." Seeing the older man calm down, Varnava's face twisted into a strange, sinister smile. He slowly walked toward the Kujou patriarch, and in the very instant he drew close, he struck! Varnava pulled a dagger from his robes and viciously drove it straight at the patriarch's chest.
Squelch!
A crisp, piercing sound rang out as the sharp blade plunged clean through the aged and frail body of the Kujou clan head.
"All that's needed is for you to die. Simple as that!" Varnava's sinister, chilling voice rang out.
The Kujou patriarch stared in utter disbelief at what the man had just done. In the moment he collapsed to the floor, his vision fading, all he saw was the Fatui Harbinger's appearance morphing into his own. In that final instant, he realized exactly what the other party intended to do.
Now transformed to look exactly like the Kujou patriarch, Varnava cast a disdainful glance at the dead body lying in a pool of blood. "Hmph, a delusional fool—this is about as far as one like you could ever go."
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the bloodstains from the dagger and his hands, and then conjured a ball of flame in his grasp. With a casual flick of his wrist, the roaring blaze landed upon the fallen Kujou patriarch.
Hiss—crackle!
As if fueled by dark magic, the flames instantly surged with ferocity and rapidly consumed the corpse. In mere moments, the fire had burned the body away completely, leaving nothing behind but a scatter of ashes on the floorboards.
"Now let me see... just who it was who ruined my plan!" A vicious gleam flashed through Varnava's eyes. He then walked out of the room, summoned the Kujou guards to escort him, and left the residence under the perfect guise of their patriarch.