"Alright, let's leave this place first!"
The ethereal, gentle voice instantly pulled Veliona's attention back.
The fiery emotions stirred by Nagami's words gradually softened.
Veliona's lips curved into a harmless, innocent smile, her expression that of a sweet little girl.
"And this beautiful big sister is…?"
"She's also Nagami-oniichan!"
Nagami gently took the girl's delicate hand in his.
He hadn't intended to keep this from Seele—after all, all the other girls around him already knew about his dual bodies.
Hiding it served no real purpose.
In fact, being honest might even… increase her affection for him?
'Wait. Why am I instinctively thinking about things in that direction again?!'
His mind insisted on restraint, but his body was utterly captivated by the little Seele clinging to him.
"Hm?"
Seele blinked, her wine-red eyes wide and mesmerizing, her expression puzzled.
"It's just like how you and the other Seele share a single body. Nagami-oniichan also has two bodies of his own."
As he gently smoothed down Veliona's long, midnight-black hair, Nagami patiently explained.
Then, staring into her slightly dazed eyes, he put on his most serious face.
"This is a secret only my closest people know. You must promise me, Seele—you absolutely cannot tell anyone. Got it?"
"When there are outsiders, you have to call me 'C.C.-oneechan,' okay~"
C.C. raised a slender finger and winked at Veliona.
Veliona froze, staring blankly at the scene, then glanced between the green-haired woman's teasing smile and the black-haired boy's earnest one.
A strange, unfamiliar warmth welled up inside her chest.
'Closest person.Secret.'
Those words burned brightly in her mind.
Lowering her head, she let her bangs hide the crimson glow flickering in her ruby eyes, shutting them quickly before the heat creeping up her neck betrayed her.
'This man—why does he always throw the ball straight at me?!'
'I don't even get the chance to tease him first!'
The darkness cloaking her Herrscher form faded away, revealing a pristine, pure-white dress once more.
Her long lashes trembled as her face, flushed red with embarrassment, tilted up ever so slightly.
Through messy bangs, Seele's blue eyes peeked shyly at Nagami.
Her gaze wavered, never daring to truly meet his.
The instant their eyes locked, she panicked and dropped her head again, heart pounding.
'Does the other me… already like Nagami-oniichan, even though we just met?'
'But—but Nagami-oniichan and Bronya-oneechan are…'
'If that's true… then…'
Her head shook furiously, like a rattling drum.
Seele waved her thin arms frantically, as if denying something only she could hear.
"Seele, what's wrong?"
Nagami reached out and poked her flushed cheek.
Seeing her fluster so badly left him baffled.
"Mmm—Seele's fine!"
The little girl nearly buried her head in her chest to escape.
Watching her, C.C.'s expression went flat, dead-fish eyes flashing for just a second.
"Alright, let's stop here for now."
As entertaining as it was to watch adorable little Seele panic, Nagami knew it was time to move on.
Better to leave this dark place—one filled with painful memories for her.
"Seele, next we're heading to another world. Hold on tight to me."
At first, he'd worried she might not be safe in Teyvat.
But now that Seele had awakened as the Herrscher of Life and Death, wielding quantum power itself, those worries vanished.
Seele commanded the powers of creation, while Veliona wielded annihilation.
Though both could use the other's abilities, in practice each gravitated toward her own strength.
Once Seele truly mastered these powers, few beings in Teyvat would even be able to break her defenses.
And if things got dangerous? Veliona could always armor up.
As the personality born directly from the Stigmata of Death, her control over the Herrscher's power far surpassed Seele's.
Conservatively speaking, her strength was already comparable to a retired grandmaster casually walking his pet bird.
———————————————————————
[Nagami]: @Lumine, how much longer until I meet Aether? I'm ready to head to your world!
———————————————————————
His pulse quickened.
In Genshin's endless sea of fanworks, just letting "Aether" undo his braid and slip into women's clothes was enough to overwhelm comment sections with cheers.
His popularity easily rivaled Lumine's. If crossdressing alone was this dangerous, then "Aether-nee-san" would be absolutely unstoppable!
———————————————————————
[Lumine]: Come on, come on! You'll meet him soon. I've been waiting for you!
———————————————————————
Their personalities clicked so well that the Traveler was genuinely excited.
———————————————————————
[Blank@Sora]: A moment of silence for Aether.
[Shiraori]: A moment of silence for Aether.
[Akemi Homura]: A moment of silence for Aether.
———————————————————————
…
Repetition—every group chat's greatest curse. No one could ever resist the temptation of a +1.
Nagami pulled out a white card he had purchased through the chat group—the [World Travel Card].
He and C.C. both widened their eyes as a violet hexagram unfurled across the void, shaped by the power of his Alpha Stigma Eyes.
As soon as he focused his intent on traveling to Teyvat, the card lit up, radiating dazzling brilliance.
A torrent of information surged into his mind.
In mystic terms, these were the laws of spacetime.
In scientific terms, they were the base structures of existence itself: time axes, dimensional layers, spacetime quanta, quantum foam, superstrings…
If he could one day master this knowledge, Nagami would command spacetime itself—roaming the multiverse at will.
Even so, the sheer flood of data was enough to crush minds.
Even Sirin would faint instantly at a glance.
Gritting his teeth through the mental pressure, Nagami narrowed the scope of his Alpha Stigma Eyes's parsing.
He didn't need the card's complete foundational knowledge of the cosmos.
All he needed was Teyvat's coordinates—and the precise steps for making the jump.
The special vision opened before him.
Against a backdrop of boundless, jeweled starlight stretched an endless sea of stars, vibrant and radiant, as if one could simply reach out and pluck them.
The Imaginary Tree.
"There it is!"
The card connected him to a particular star like a drawn line.
"No wonder Teyvat exists both on the Imaginary Tree and as a bubble world… so that's it."
That particular leaf was indeed attached to the Tree—but half of it was submerged in the Quantum Sea.
"Toward the stars and the abyss, huh?"
Nagami murmured softly, nodding in thought.
The Core of Reason within him blazed at full capacity, amplifying his control over space to the maximum.
Channeling the copied formulae through his spatial authority, he willed spacetime to bend.
And with that command—
The gate opened.