Lumine asked, "What is it? Is this why you saved me?"
Yae Miko's expression turned serious. "You've seen her, haven't you?"
Lumine replied, "You mean the Raiden Shogun? I saw her, at the ceremony beneath the Statue..."
Yae Miko shook her head. "I'm not talking about that puppet. I mean you must have seen her, the real one."
Lumine said, "The one in that space..."
Yae Miko nodded. "Yes. The true Raiden Shogun, who maintains her sense of self through endless meditation within the Euthymia."
"Her name is Ei."
[Furina: Locking herself away in the Euthymia to meditate forever? Doesn't she get bored?]
[Ningguang: Even mortals in prison have some forms of entertainment. This is harder to endure than imprisonment.]
[Lumine: And the duration she endures is eternity itself.]
[Zhongli: This is Ei's will.]
[Paimon: Reminds me of Furina. Five hundred years of solitude, five hundred years of pretending. Day after day, with no end in sight.]
[Furina: Stop! Paimon, do you have a crush on me or something? Although those five hundred years were indeed hard to endure, I could still attend operas, eat little cakes. There was joy and small happiness in my life.]
[Paimon: Like bickering with Neuvillette?]
[Furina: Bickering? We get along perfectly well, thank you very much!]
[Lumine: You embody human will. Ei embodies divine will.]
[Ei: When I close my eyes, it seems I can forget the flow of time. I fall asleep, I wake up, and I don't know how long has passed...]
[Yae Miko: Did the liveliness just wake you up?]
[Ei: Mm.]
Paimon looked confused. "So you're saying the one at the ceremony was just a puppet, and the real Raiden Shogun is the one the Traveler met later?"
"Not only did the battlefield change, even the opponent switched."
Lumine said, "I noticed some subtle differences too. But why go through all this trouble?"
YaeMiko smiled. "This is precisely the eternity that the Raiden Shogun seeks."
"Before pursuing eternity for this nation, one must first attain eternity oneself. The physical body returns to dust, so she replaced it with a puppet body. The spirit cannot escape erosion, so she housed her consciousness within her blade, using meditation to avoid all distraction."
Paimon spread her hands. "So the space she cut open with her sword is..."
Yae Miko replied, "The Euthymia. A space identical to her inner world. Normally, only the self is permitted to exist there."
"Sealed within her own world, she leaves all external matters to the puppet, which rushes headlong toward eternity without regard for anything else..."
[Venti: Ehe, what a clever way to slack off! Leave the work to the puppet and slack off yourself.]
[Zhongli: That is inadvisable. Based on what we've seen, the puppet's intelligence has significant limitations, making it vulnerable to exploitation. We cannot entrust an entire nation to a puppet.]
[Ningguang: This is why the selection process for each generation of Qixing is rigorous. Candidates must pass layers of testing, possessing both capability and integrity to ascend to the Qixing, and carry forward the Qixing spirit through generations.]
[Paimon: That's why Liyue can be so prosperous, peaceful, and happy!]
[Keqing: These are all the achievements of Rex Lapis.]
[Zhongli: Mm. I have indeed devoted much thought to Liyue. But Liyue's current scale could not have been achieved without the efforts of every Liyue citizen.]
Yae Miko continued, "This is the path to eternity that Ei discovered."
Lumine said, "Zhongli also spoke of erosion. It was one reason for his retirement."
Yae Miko remarked, "You mean Morax? It's been a while. So Liyue's archon made such a choice. An interesting god indeed."
Paimon spread her hands. "But the way the Raiden Shogun does things does seem to avoid Zhongli's problem."
[Furina: Avoided one small problem, only to unleash one huge problem.]
[Paimon: It... actually does seem that way.]
[Zhongli: All matters have their pros and cons. The key lies in how one balances them.]
[Paimon: How would you balance them, Zhongli?]
[Keqing: Rex Lapis would always stand with the majority of Liyue's people.]
[Ningguang: Every decree from Rex Lapis, I would ponder deeply. His arrangements always aligned with the interests of most people.]
[Zhongli: On the scales, whichever side has more people... that side carries greater weight.]
[Yae Miko: Ah, Rex Lapis truly is interesting. In the eyes of many high-ranking officials of the Shogunate, starting a war for a sliver of profit is perfectly acceptable.]
[Paimon: Yeah. A big part of Inazuma's current situation is that there are people within the Shogunate deliberately stirring up conflict for their own gain.]
[Ei: They will all pay the price.]
Yae Miko chuckled. "But isn't her approach just like a child throwing a tantrum and locking themselves in their room?"
"Moreover, her so-called eternity has long since become the eternity she believes in. At its core, it's just fear of loss."
[Paimon: Miko seems to treat Ei like a child who doesn't understand things.]
[Yae Miko: Apart from her combat prowess, Ei really is like a stubborn child.]
[Lumine: They have such a close relationship.]
Lumine asked, "I still don't know what you need me to do."
Yae Miko replied, "Actually, our interests align. You want to save the people of Inazuma suffering under the Vision Hunt Decree. So do I. I just also want to save this nation along the way, and save her too."
"The key is this: the Euthymia is Ei's inner world. If you can defeat her there, you might be able to overturn the Raiden Shogun's will."
Paimon suddenly understood. "This is the way you thought of to abolish the Vision Hunt Decree?"
"Not by arguing with words, not by using the resistance to stage a coup, but by directly changing the Raiden Shogun's inner world?"
Yae Miko nodded. "Quick on the uptake, little one. This is the only way left to get Inazuma back on track before it plunges into eternal darkness."
Lumine asked, "But why does it have to be me?"
Yae Miko's expression turned serious. "Haven't you realized your own specialness yet? I told you, the Euthymia is normally a space that permits only the self. The fact that you could appear there proves she finds you sufficiently interesting. Perhaps she has never encountered an individual so unstable in the face of eternity."
[Lumine: I am not from Teyvat.]
[Yae Miko: Someone from beyond this world. No wonder Ei is so intrigued.]
Paimon spread her hands. "Has no one else ever entered before?"
Yae Miko said, "From the moment that devout follower of eternity sealed herself away? Never. No one even knows what that space looks like."
"Your existence is not just an opportunity—it is the key itself. You truly haven't disappointed my expectations, little one."
[Lumine: Miko, I am older than you.]
[Yae Miko: When I say 'little one,' I'm not referring to age. I'm referring to height.]
[Paimon: I just noticed—Miko is so tall! Next to Miko, Lumine really does become the little one. Furina isn't as tall as Miko either.]
[Furina: ...]
With that, Yae Miko led Lumine to another camp. "Anti-Raiden Shogun Training. I prepared this carefully for you. Hurry up and follow."
Following Yae Miko, Lumine arrived before a mechanical device.
Paimon asked, "What's that?"
Yae Miko explained, "Think of it as a device that can replicate the Raiden Shogun's techniques. I made it from memory. If her martial skills haven't deteriorated..."
"Figuring out her attack patterns in advance and finding counter-strategies would be a great help, wouldn't it? Try not to get hit by those attacks. You've escaped from her once before, so this should be manageable, right?"
[Zhongli: Ei's martial prowess is formidable, without flaw.]
[Keqing: An opportunity to learn from the master! Watching the Shogun's techniques could be incredibly useful.]
[Paimon: I remember now! From the video, Keqing's Vision is Electro!]
[Keqing: Exactly! Perfect chance to learn from Her Excellency the Shogun's martial arts, her control over elemental power!]
[Lumine: Yes, opportunities like this are rare.]
After a period of training, Lumine finally adapted to the device's rhythm.
Paimon was also out of breath. "That was quite the workout!"
Lumine said, "Yes, it was exhausting."
Paimon looked at Yae Miko. "Speaking of which, Miko, how do you know so much about the Raiden Shogun?"
Yae Miko replied, "Ah, you're asking me? Perhaps because I am the familiar of the Electro Archon."
Paimon immediately thought of Stormterror. "Like the relationship between Dvalin and Barbatos? I never would have guessed."
Yae Miko crossed her arms. "From the sound of it, you're more interested in my appearance as Lady Kitsune?"
[Furina: Lady Kitsune... is she fluffy? Cute...]
[Yae Miko: Interrupting here. I can no longer transform into my Lady Kitsune form.]
[Paimon: Why not?]
[Yae Miko: Mm... because I simply don't want you all to see it.]
[Kirara: Youkai forms don't wear clothes. Before taking human form, it didn't feel strange. After taking human form, transforming back feels very embarrassing.]
[Paimon: Oh, so that's how it is.]
Lumine and Paimon were both excited. "We're interested! We're interested!"
Yae Miko tossed her head back haughtily. "In your dreams."
"However, the truly strange thing isn't my form, but the fact that she and I no longer meet, isn't it?"
"A nation of unchanging eternity was our shared dream. But I never believed that meant complete stasis. From a certain point onward, she walked a path I found increasingly difficult to reach. Before Ei entered the Euthymia, she never said goodbye."
"Perhaps it's wishful thinking on my part, but I believe this is how she thought our friendship could remain eternal."
"By not saying goodbye, by not meeting again, our relationship would remain forever as it was back then. At least, that's what she believes."
Lumine said, "The Shogun's thinking is too biased."
[Yae Miko: That's why I say Ei is like a child who never grew up. Stubborn, and a bit childish.]
[Paimon: Given Ei's identity, only Lady Miko would dare say that.]
[Yae Miko: Not true. Paimon, you probably sense it too. You've already teased quite a few gods yourself.]
[Paimon: Have I?]
[Furina: I confirm and affirm: Yes! I am the victim! Picking on me just because I don't have a Musou no Hitotachi.]
Yae Miko looked up at the sky. "Now that we've walked two completely different paths toward eternity, I could maintain the status quo. Or I could choose, regardless of cost, to bring her back to the right path."
"Today, I have chosen the latter. Because if retreating into the Euthymia was her stubborn pursuit of eternity alone, then dragging her out of that self-imposed world is my duty as her eternal familiar."