The peaceful, scholarly days at the Grand Narakami Shrine were abruptly shattered by a wave of tense, urgent whispers that swept up the mountain path like a cold, ill wind. The news arrived, delivered by a breathless, pale-faced shrine maiden: the ceremony for the confiscation of the 100th Vision was about to take place, in front of the great statue of the Omnipresent God in the city. And the target was a man known to them all: Thoma of the Yashiro Commission.
"We have to go," Ren stated immediately, his voice quiet but firm, his book forgotten.
"Ren, no," Ganyu protested, her face a mask of worry. "It is a military ceremony of the Tenryou Commission. It is dangerous. It is the very heart of the conflict. It is not a place for you."
"I have to see it," he insisted, his gaze unwavering. He knew this was it. The moment of open rebellion. The point of no return for the Traveler. "I have the Shogun's pendant. They won't harm me. But I need to be there."
His resolve was absolute, and Ganyu, though her heart was a knot of pure, unadulterated terror, knew she could not stop him. She would simply have to be his shield.
They rushed down to the city, the air thick with a heavy, oppressive tension. A massive crowd had gathered in the plaza before the giant, imposing statue, held back by a stern, unyielding line of Tenryou Commission soldiers.
Ren and Ganyu, however, were not stopped. The guards saw the pendant on Ren's chest, their eyes widened in fear and respect, and they parted, allowing them a clear, unobstructed view of the terrible proceedings.
In the center of the plaza, Thoma was on his knees, his head bowed, his usual cheerful demeanor completely gone, replaced by a grim, stoic acceptance. The Raiden Shogun puppet stood before him, her presence a crushing, divine weight, her face as beautiful and as emotionless as ever.
And there, standing defiantly between the crowd and the ceremony, was Lumine, her face a mask of furious, determined resolve.
The Shogun raises her hand, and the glowing, Pyro Vision at Thoma's hip was ripped from its place by an invisible, irresistible force. It flew through the air, a small, desperate flame against the oppressive, violet sky.
But it never reaches the Shogun.
With a speed that was a blur of gold and white, Lumine leaped into the air, her hand outstretched. She snatched the Vision from its path, catching it in a tight, defiant grip.
The crowd gasped. The soldiers tensed, their hands flying to their weapons. This was an act of open, public rebellion against the will of a god.
The Raiden Shogun's head slowly, deliberately, turned to face Lumine. Her amethyst eyes, once cold and empty, now held a flicker of a new, dangerous light. She descended, not by walking down the steps, but by walking on the very air itself, a slow, terrifying, and graceful descent until she hovered just a few feet from the defiant Traveler.
"Capable of using elemental energy without a Vision," the Shogun stated, her voice a low, dangerous hum. "You are an exception. Exceptions… the enemy of Eternity."
With a crackle of pure, violet power, the Musou no Hitotachi materialized in her hand. "You will be inlaid upon this statue."
She slashed the air.
It was not a physical strike. It was a conceptual one. A wave of pure, reality-altering power, an attack on the very soul. The air around Lumine was fractured with a flash of brilliant, blinding light. For two, eternal seconds, she stood, her body trembling against the overwhelming, divine assault. And then, with a small, choked gasp, she collapsed, unconscious, onto the hard, stone plaza, her sword clattering beside her. It was an instant defeat.
But, Ren knew what had just happened. She had been pulled into the Plane of Euthymia, had faced Ei in a duel, and had, inevitably, lost.
The Shogun raised her glowing, humming blade, preparing to deliver the final, fatal blow, to erase the anomaly once and for all.
And in that moment, Ren moved.
He broke away from a stunned, horrified Ganyu, his mind not thinking, only acting on a single, pure, protective instinct. He ran, his small legs pumping, and threw himself between the Shogun's descending blade and Lumine's unconscious form.
He did not summon a shield of ice. He simply raised his hands, his small body a fragile, human barrier against a god's judgment, his glowing azure eyes fixed on the impassive, puppet-like face of the Shogun, a silent, desperate plea.
The Musou no Hitotachi, the blade that could sunder islands, stopped its descent, inches from his head.
The Raiden Shogun… hesitated.
That single, almost imperceptible, moment of hesitation was all it took.
From the crowd, Thoma, who had recovered from the initial shock, and freed himself from his bindings, acts. With a furious, desperate war cry, he grabbed the nearby guard's polearm and hurled it with all his might. The spear flew through the air, sailing directly over Ren's head, aimed directly at the Shogun's head.
The Shogun, her programming forced to register the new, immediate threat, instinctively raised her sword to block the spear's trajectory.
It was the opening Thoma needed. He sprinted forward, his movements a desperate, frantic blur. He scooped up the unconscious Lumine, slinging her over his shoulder. He gave Ren a single, fleeting, and grateful look, a look that said I should be grabbing you too, but I can't reach you in time. He was of course acutely aware of Ganyu running beside Ren, so someone was going to be with Ren was his only consolation.
And then, he ran, disappearing into the now-panicked, screaming crowd, a loyal retainer escaping with the fallen hero, leaving the small, quiet boy to stand alone, before the silent god of thunder.