Their conversations in the tranquil Tenshukaku garden became the new, quiet engine of change in Inazuma. But their talks were not limited to the borders of the island nation. Ren, feeling a new, easy comfort with the gentle, thoughtful god, began to speak of his own, wider world, of his adventures in Mondstadt and Liyue.
He told her of his inventions, of the simple, compassionate logic that had led to the creation of the heater and the refrigerator. Ei listened, her analytical mind fascinated by the principles, but it was the story of the man-made Visions that truly, deeply, captivated her.
"You created a path to power that bypasses the divine," she mused, her voice a whisper of pure, scholarly awe. "A mortal-forged ambition, made manifest. It is… the most profound challenge to the established order of this world that I have ever conceived of."
He also, carefully, and with a deep, shared understanding, spoke of Liyue. He told her of the Rite of Descension, of the "death" of Rex Lapis, and of the final, stunning revelation of his retirement. "Morax," he said, using the Archon's true name, a sign of the deep, confidential trust between them, "he chose to step down. He gave up his Gnosis. He decided that his people were ready to walk on their own."
Ei was silent for a long, profound moment, processing the news of her old, stoic, and steadfast colleague's decision. It was another crack in the foundation of her own, isolated Eternity, another testament to the fact that the world, and even the gods themselves, were changing.
"The Gnosis," she said, her voice a low, contemplative murmur as she looked at the beautiful, violet chess piece that she now kept with her. "Morax was right. It has become… a liability."
She looked at Ren, her amethyst eyes full of a new, sharp, and strategic clarity. "My own power is more than sufficient for the defense of Inazuma. This object… its connection to Celestia, its status as a symbol of divine authority… it is of no use to me. It is only a target. A prize for others, like the Tsaritsa, to covet."
In that moment, a new, audacious, and utterly brilliant, plan was forged in the mind of the god of Eternity. It was a plan that was not born of fear or of isolation, but of a new, pragmatic, and deeply protective, wisdom.
She summoned Yae Miko to the garden, and in the quiet, sunlit peace of the Tenshukaku, she laid out her decision.
"I am going to give it away," Ei stated, her voice calm, and absolute.
Miko's foxy, intelligent eyes widened in surprise.
"I will give the Electro Gnosis to the Tsaritsa," Ei continued, her logic as cold and as sharp as a blade. "But not for free. It will be a transaction. A contract."
She looked from Miko's stunned face to Ren's quiet, understanding one. "I will offer her the Gnosis in return for one, single, non-negotiable condition: she is to recall every single Fatui operative, both visible and hidden, from the soil of Inazuma. Permanently."
The sheer, breathtaking audacity of the plan left even the cunning Miko momentarily speechless. It was not a surrender; it was a purge. A masterful, political checkmate.
"The Fatui will never disobey a direct order from the Tsaritsa," Ei explained, her strategic brilliance now fully, terrifyingly, awake. "If she commands them to leave, they will leave. All of them. The spies in the commissions, the soldiers arming the resistance… all of them will be gone. It is the only way to truly, and cleanly, purge their cancerous presence from my nation."
She had taken her greatest liability, the very object the Fatui were scheming and fighting to obtain, and she was transforming it into her greatest weapon, a bargaining chip to achieve a goal that would otherwise have taken years of bloody, internal conflict.
She then turned, her divine authority now fully, powerfully, present. "Kujou Sara," she commanded, her voice ringing with an imperial power.
The loyal, formidable general appeared in an instant, kneeling before her god.
"You will draft an official, diplomatic letter," Ei instructed. "It is to be sent directly to the Zapolyarny Palace in Snezhnaya, to the Tsaritsa herself. It is not a request. It is a proposal for a transaction. My Gnosis… for the complete and total withdrawal of all her forces from my lands."
Kujou Sara, her face a mask of stunned, but absolute, loyalty, simply bowed her head. "It will be done, Shogun-sama."
The order was given. The grand, final, and most brilliant move in the Inazuman game had been made. Ei was ending the Fatui's shadow war, and she was doing it not with a battle, but with a single, perfectly crafted, and utterly unrefusable, contract.