The day of the transaction dawned gray and overcast, the sky a muted, somber canvas that perfectly matched the mood of the occasion. The bustling, chaotic port of Ritou was unnaturally, eerily, silent. By order of the Shogun, the entire island had been emptied. The merchants, the officials, the common citizens—all had been temporarily relocated to the main island, leaving the port a ghost town, a silent, neutral ground for a meeting that would alter the balance of power in the world.
On the main, windswept docks, a small, powerful group stood waiting. Ei was there, in her divine, majestic form as the Raiden Shogun, her presence a silent, crackling storm of pure, controlled power. At her side stood Yae Miko, her usual playful smile replaced by a look of sharp, foxy, and deeply serious, vigilance. And between them stood Ren, a small, quiet figure at the very epicenter of this grand, historic, and incredibly dangerous, event.
At a safe, respectful distance, a second group watched. Ganyu, her hands clenched, her face a mask of profound, anxious worry. Kujou Sara, her expression as stern and as unreadable as ever, her hand never straying far from her bow. And Lumine and Paimon, silent, awestruck witnesses to this secret, divine, and world-altering, transaction.
They all watched the horizon.
A ship appeared, a sleek, black, and imposing Snezhnayan vessel, cutting through the gray, choppy waves. It docked with a silent, practiced efficiency, and a single ramp was lowered.
Three figures descended. The one in the lead was a tall, unnervingly elegant woman with pale, almost white, hair and striking, X-shaped pupils in her red eyes. She was dressed in an immaculate, severe, and impeccably tailored black-and-white uniform. Her expression was one of cold, detached, and utterly ruthless, calm. This was Arlecchino, "The Knave," the Fourth of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers. The two heavily armed Fatui agents behind her were mere shadows, their presence completely eclipsed by her own.
She walked with a slow, deliberate, and almost predatory, grace, her heeled boots clicking softly on the weathered wood of the docks. She stopped a respectful, but not subservient, distance from the Raiden Shogun.
"Your Excellency," Arlecchino's voice was a low, smooth, and utterly devoid of emotion, a voice that had likely ordered countless deaths with the same, calm, dispassionate tone. "I have come as the personal emissary of Her Majesty, the Tsaritsa. We have received your… proposal."
The Raiden Shogun did not speak. She simply raised her hand, and in a soft, brilliant flash of violet light, the Electro Gnosis, the intricate, beautiful, and divine chess piece, materialized, hovering silently above her palm.
Arlecchino's red, X-shaped eyes fixed on the Gnosis, a flicker of something—cold, professional satisfaction? a hint of avarice?—in their depths.
"The terms are accepted," she stated, her voice a flat, final declaration. She then produced a heavy, ornate, and beautifully crafted Snezhnayan casket. She opened it, and placed the Gnosis inside with a reverence reserved for the most sacred of artifacts.
She closed the casket with a soft, definitive click. The transaction was complete.
"As per our agreement," Arlecchino continued, her voice the cold, hard finality of a contract being sealed, "Her Majesty, the Tsaritsa, has issued a formal, absolute decree. All Fatui operatives, both military and intelligence, both visible and hidden, are to withdraw from Inazuman territory, effective immediately."
She then added the final, chilling, and utterly binding, clause of their agreement. "Should any Snezhnayan national who was formerly in the service of the Fatui be found within your borders after this day, the Raiden Shogun is well within her rights to… deal with them as she sees fit. The Tsaritsa," she finished, her voice a promise of absolute, brutal finality, "will not say a word."
She had not only agreed to a withdrawal; she had given the Shogun a license to kill any who dared to disobey.
With a final, curt, and almost imperceptible, nod, Arlecchino turned. Her gaze swept over Ren, the miracle boy she had heard of from Sandrone. She would have to keep herself updated on this child who now stood beside the Raiden Shogun during such an important transaction. She walked back up the ramp, her two agents falling in silently behind her. The ramp was raised, the ship's anchors were lifted, and the black, imposing Snezhnayan vessel slipped away from the docks, disappearing back into the gray, misty sea from whence it came.
The Fatui's shadow war in Inazuma was over.
Ei stood on the empty dock, a profound, heavy silence settling around her. The Gnosis was gone. A part of her ancient, divine burden had been lifted. But she had not just given it away; she had traded it. She had traded a symbol of a past she no longer needed, for the safety, the security, and the future of the nation she had finally, truly, chosen to lead once more.