The voyage across the churning, unforgiving seas to Inazuma was a testament to the skill of Captain Beidou and her crew. They navigated the fierce, unnatural storms that perpetually surrounded the archipelago with a practiced, almost casual, expertise. Ren, Ganyu, and Lumine spent most of the journey in a state of quiet contemplation, the rhythmic creak of the Alcor and the constant roar of the wind a backdrop to their own swirling thoughts. Kazuha was a serene, calming presence on the deck, his quiet poetry about the wind and the sea a strange comfort in the face of the tempest they were sailing into.
After what felt like an eternity, the storms finally broke, and the shores of Inazuma rose from the mist to meet them. It was a land of breathtaking, rugged beauty, its islands a vibrant, almost violent, shade of purple and crimson under a sky that was a constant, brooding violet.
They docked at Ritou, the segregated port town where all outlanders were required to first land and register. The moment they stepped off the Alcor, the atmosphere shifted. The boisterous, chaotic freedom of the sea was replaced by a heavy, oppressive sense of order and suspicion. Stern-faced officials from the Kanjou Commission, their armor gleaming, immediately surrounded them.
"Outlanders," the lead official, a man with a severe, bureaucratic face, stated, his voice devoid of any warmth. "Your papers may be well documented. But there is still the processing fee required. One million mora. Per person."
The amount was so ludicrous, so transparently extortionate, that Paimon let out an indignant squeak. "One million?! That's… that's robbery!"
Ganyu, her gentle face hardening into a mask of cold, adeptal authority, stepped forward. "This is a diplomatic delegation from Liyue. Such fees are an insult and a violation of all established…"
"The Sakoku Decree is absolute," the official cut her off, his tone unyielding. "All who wish to set foot in Inazuma must abide by its procedures. No exceptions."
A tense, hostile standoff ensued. Beidou and her crew watched from the ship, their hands resting on the hilts of their weapons. The air crackled with a brewing conflict.
It was then that a new voice, light, teasing, and full of an ancient, foxy amusement, drifted through the tense air.
"Oh my, what a dreary welcome. Is this how we treat our esteemed guests these days? How utterly… boring."
A woman with long, flowing pink hair and mesmerizing, violet eyes that seemed to hold a thousand secrets appeared, as if from thin air. She was dressed in the ornate, beautiful robes of a Guuji, a head shrine maiden, and a pair of fox ears twitched playfully atop her head. She was Yae Miko, the Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine and one of the Raiden Shogun's oldest, and only, friends.
She glided towards the group, a serene, all-knowing smile on her face. Her gaze swept over Lumine, lingered for a moment on Ren with a flicker of deep, profound curiosity, and then came to rest on Ganyu.
A genuine, warm smile bloomed on her face. "Ganyu, my dear. It has been far, far too long. The last time I saw you, you were still fretting over nonsensical things, even back then. You haven't aged a day."
Ganyu's cold, formal demeanor melted in an instant, replaced by a look of stunned, joyful recognition. "Miko? What… what are you doing here?"
"I heard a whisper on the wind," Yae Miko said, her voice a conspiratorial purr, "of some very interesting people arriving on our shores. I thought I would come and see for myself." Her gaze then fell upon the stubborn Kanjou Commission official, her playful smile turning sharp and cold as a shard of ice. "And it seems I arrived just in time to witness this… rather pathetic display of bureaucratic avarice. You are embarrassing the Shogun, and you are embarrassing me. Desist."
The official, though clearly intimidated by the Guuji's presence, puffed out his chest, clinging to the last vestiges of his authority. "Lady Guuji, with all due respect, the procedures of the Sakoku Decree are absolute! They were enacted by the Shogun herself! This fee is a necessary part of…"
He never got to finish his sentence.
The very air around them seemed to solidify. A silent, immense, and utterly overwhelming pressure descended upon the entire port, a pressure so immense it felt like the sky itself was pressing down on them. A crackle of pure, violet Electro energy, so powerful it made the hairs on everyone's arms stand on end, filled the air.
A new figure was standing in the middle of the street.
It was a woman of divine, impossible beauty. Her long, violet hair was tied in an intricate braid, and her eyes, a piercing, luminous amethyst, held no emotion, no thought, only a cold, perfect, and terrifying stillness. She was dressed in an ornate, majestic kimono, and the very air around her warped and shimmered with her divine, unrestrained power. This was not a vision bearer. This was not an adeptus. This was a god.
It was the Raiden Shogun.
The Kanjou Commission officials, their faces ashen with a terror so profound it was almost comical, fell to their knees.
The Shogun puppet did not even glance at them. Her emotionless, amethyst gaze swept over the assembled group and came to rest, with a singular, chilling focus, on Ren.
Her voice, when she spoke, was not a human voice. It was a sound of pure, divine authority, a melody of crackling lightning and absolute, unwavering law.
"The source of the anomaly," she stated, not a question, but a declaration. "A mortal-forged ambition. An artificial will that dares to mimic the divine. A threat to Eternity."
The pressure in the air intensified, a crushing, suffocating weight. The Shogun raised a single, elegant hand, and from a tear in the very fabric of space, a magnificent, glowing purple katana, the Musou no Hitotachi, materialized in her grasp.
"Threats to Eternity," she declared, her voice as cold and as final as a death sentence, "must be dealt with. Immediately."
Ganyu instinctively moved to shield Ren, a desperate, hopeless gesture against a power that could sunder islands. Lumine drew her sword, a grim, determined look on her face.
But Ren remained perfectly, preternaturally calm. He looked at the divine, puppet-like vessel of the god of Eternity, at the sword that could cleave reality itself, and he did not feel fear. He felt… an invitation. He knew that the being looking at him, the puppet, was not the one he needed to talk to. He needed to talk to the one within.
The Raiden Shogun raised her sword, its blade humming with a power that could erase mountains. She did not swing it at Ren. She slashed the air in front of her.
The space before her did not just cut; it shattered. Reality itself seemed to fracture, splitting open into a swirling, mesmerizing vortex of deep purple and gold, a gateway to another place.
And then, Ren found himself standing not on the dusty streets of Ritou, but in a place of perfect, serene, and endless stillness. He was in the Plane of Euthymia, the inner world of the true god of Eternity, Ei. And she was waiting for him.