Inazuma City was not peaceful.
With the full implementation of the Sakoku Decree, thunder and storms blanketed Inazuma.
The canopy of Inazuma's sky was forever a dim, gloomy hue. A slightly noisy wind swept through the desolate, empty streets. The dust-covered fish-and-dragon flags made flapping sounds, and among the rows of houses, the few clusters of late-blooming cherry blossoms had already mostly withered.
Yae Miko lowered her fox ears. She raised her eyes, glancing at the pavilion beneath that leaden sky.
The pavilion named Tenshukaku stood at the highest point of Inazuma. She twitched her nose slightly, seeming to smell the old, gloomy, damp scent of the wooden pavilion.
Ei was still there.
Ei was still there fighting... fighting with herself, fighting with the past, fighting with endless time.
No one could help her in this slaughter.
The sky hung even lower and darker.
Miko withdrew her gaze, staring somewhat dazedly at the letter in her hand, frowning slightly, lost in thought.
This letter... came from distant Liyue.
Signed: Ganyu.
Because of the Sakoku Decree, mail was also delayed. A full month had passed from the time this letter was sent to when Miko received it.
Since Seino Raimei passed away, Miko hadn't corresponded with Ganyu for a long time.
And the content of today's letter made her frown even more.
She pursed her thin lips lightly, reading the words on the letter over and over again.
[Miss Miko, are you well?]
...
Ganyu did not explain everything that happened in Liyue in the letter. At Rex Lapis's request, she hid Seino Yaku's name and the changes in The Chasm, only telling the story of Bosacius—including the truth of history.
Bosacius... Yae Miko naturally knew this name.
Even in Inazuma, he was quite famous: the vow-breaking adeptus.
He was also Ganyu's senior brother.
In their past correspondence, Ganyu had clearly expressed her hatred for this "traitor."
But the content of Ganyu's letter today completely overturned the verdict of history.
'Bosacius never betrayed'...
This was enough to thoroughly change Liyue's history.
Yae Miko read that line of text. The slender handwriting showed obvious distortion and tremors, all indicating the writer's mood at the time... Miko could understand that feeling.
For some reason, she had a strange illusion; her heart was gently touched, seeming to associate this with other things.
Without any reason, she just intuitively sensed that there was something fishy hidden in this matter.
Since Seino Raimei passed away, Miko felt that everything hid something fishy.
She was investigating that old fellow's past. He had some connection with a boy named 'Seino Fugin', a very close connection... but before the matter could progress further, Seino Fugin had died.
Died in Mondstadt, at the hands of the Harbinger named [La Signora].
And now, another drastic change had occurred in Liyue Harbor.
From Inazuma, to Mondstadt, and finally Liyue—between these events, perhaps there was some pattern.
She didn't know what this pattern was, only feeling she had faintly touched upon some truth—but perhaps it was just her illusion, an illusion born of unwillingness to accept the old fellow's death.
But regardless, this matter needed attention.
Speaking of [La Signora], today seemed to be the date of that Harbinger's arrival.
With her mind made up, she put down the letter and walked slowly out of the shrine.
Looking out from the shrine, she could see the grand and magnificent branches of the Sacred Sakura, weaving across the leaden sky. Clusters of blushing petals scattered messy rays of twilight. Midsummer had arrived. Looking at the Sacred Sakura, Yae Miko lowered her head gently.
"Old thing," she whispered, "I want to eat Kitsune Udon."
...
Fatui Harbinger [La Signora] arrived at Inazuma's port today.
For Snezhnaya, this Harbinger had experienced a journey to Mondstadt and achieved praiseworthy merits—seizing the Anemo Archon's Gnosis, and even receiving commendation from the Tsaritsa.
After returning to Snezhnaya to report, she was dispatched to Inazuma City again due to the lack of progress with the Inazuma Delusion factory.
Praiseworthy merits... La Signora smiled self-mockingly.
She thought of past events again, lingering like a nightmare.
She lowered her eyes, her gaze gloomy and complex.
Truly... praiseworthy.
Many colleagues praised her—truly praiseworthy!
Even though the wound in her heart had slowly healed and scabbed over with blood, once touched, she would still feel a gentle pain. It seemed that scab was also a wound; as long as it was touched, it would hurt, the scab cracking layer by layer, the heart seeping blood.
Whenever this happened, she would subconsciously tighten her grip on the brilliant crystal inside her sleeve. A faint glimmer penetrated her skin; warmth spread along her blood vessels, scattering into her limbs, so the wound slowly healed and scabbed over again.
'Please give this heart to Kunikuzushi'
She gripped that heart deathly tight, refusing to let go no matter what, the shadows in her eyes growing denser.
The ship had docked. She stowed the heart away and disembarked.
Kunikuzushi waited calmly at the port. The cool sea breeze blew the boy's white haori. He stepped on his wooden clogs, raised his eyes, and met La Signora's gaze.
"Hello."
He said.
——
One month has passed since the matter of The Chasm.
One month has passed since Seino Yaku's departure.
Liyue seemed to have returned to its former calm.
The stories about Karma, about The Chasm, about Bosacius, had finally concluded thoroughly.
As the Karma entrenched deep in the abyss was thoroughly pierced and cleared by Rex Lapis's stone lance, this fate that had entangled for thousands of years finally fell like a curtain. After Liyue removed the filth of the past, the road to the future was bound to be smoother.
The sky was clear and the moon bright.
The Chasm had also returned to calm. It was another dusk.
As the setting sun slowly withdrew, twilight began to ambush on all sides.
The Chasm, having burned for a whole day, finally subsided, but the dying fire of the slanting sun struck the rock walls of every layer, reflecting a glaring fiery light. Layers of fiery light piled up; viewed from afar, it held an inexplicably eerie and desolate color.
As dusk faded and sunset dispersed, at the end of the barren, lonely plain...
The heartless boy bowed his head, quietly watching the rising bonfire.
His aura had dissipated; because it was too weak, it was hard to detect his existence.
He didn't know where he was going. Before him was a plain where grass rolled in waves; at the end of the plain was a line of azure sea, scattering sparkling waves.
A person without a heart would die, but the boy had not died yet—or rather, not thoroughly died.
His body had, after all, received the pollution... and remodeling of two thousand four hundred years of Karma.
Filth deposited in his limbs. After the Karma died, this scattered as his power. On a physiological level, the boy could no longer be counted as a mortal—but this was not the real reason he was not yet dead.
What supported him to live was the seventh covenant.
[Covenant Seven: Please proceed to The Chasm]
[Reward: Bosacius's Heart]
Just as Seino Yaku had predicted, the seventh covenant was an agreement with himself, a promise to his Id. This heart, originating from Bosacius, had been inherited by the Dendro boy, and similarly, two thousand four hundred years later, Seino Yaku also inherited this heart.
But this heart could not support him to truly [Live].
This was just a temporary heart; it would dissipate eventually.
"So this was your plan," Seino Yaku whispered, not knowing who he was speaking to.
"Really." He gave a helpless, bitter smile.
The dark red bonfire illuminated this night curtain. Another shadow walked out from the firelight.
It was Mr. Zhongli.
And at this moment, in Mr. Zhongli's hand... there was a... [Heart] flowing with brilliant golden light, overflowing with gilt hues.
Rather than calling it a heart, it was better to call it an aggregation of Geo elements.
This was Morax's... Gnosis.
"Give that thing to me." The boy's voice was very low, and very weak. He struggled to prop open his eyes, staring at the figure across the firelight. "Can you bear to part with it?"
Seino Yaku could feel the authority contained within the Gnosis. This was Celestia's recognition of an Archon. A god's authority, a god's heart—naturally, only a god could carry it; a mortal body could not accept it.
But the current Seino Yaku was different.
His body had been remodeled by 'Karma', and he had once reached the life level of an Archon of the Mortal Realm. He was qualified to accept this gift.
'Qualification to Ascend to Godhood'
"Liyue no longer needs Rex Lapis." Zhongli smiled and shook his head. "Liyue is a nation of humans. The gods of old should fade away. It is time for me to retire too."
"Let Karma remodel my body, then remove the Karma, and give the Gnosis to me."
Seino Yaku whispered: "You doing this... is it because you want me to break free from the reincarnation of mortals in this life, sever all the past, and obtain the qualification for advancement?"
"This is only one of the purposes." Zhongli shook his head. "Not just you—Liyue also needs to break free from that past, needs to remove the Karma."
He said calmly: "Erroneous history must be corrected. A nation with a wrong history has no future."
"Moreover," Zhongli said, "Xiao, or Ganyu, and all the Yakshas—they must also face the true past and bring it to a close... Though this is painful, if one does not choose to break, one cannot establish."
"They need to move forward." Zhongli looked at Seino Yaku earnestly. "Liyue also needs to move forward."
"Seino Yaku, you also need to move forward."
The setting sun fell upon the world.
Seino Yaku spoke softly; he seemed to have figured out many things.
"The Karma in The Chasm... you allowed Ganyu's inner demon to release it, didn't you?"
Seino Yaku had detected the suspicious points long ago. Such a critically important seal—Rex Lapis should have been watching it at all times. How could it be released by others so easily?
"Do you trust me that much...?" Seino Yaku asked. "Trusting that I would take the initiative to step forward, trusting that I would go absorb that Karma...? If I didn't do it, your subsequent plan couldn't succeed."
"And you must know, once it failed," Seino Yaku stared quietly at Rex Lapis, "for Liyue, it would be a massive disaster."
Allowing the inner demon to release the Karma... if one had to make an analogy, it was like allowing the Fatuito release a sealed god... How much boldness did this require?
"This was also a [Test]," Zhongli whispered. "Testing whether you were still that Bosacius, testing whether you were worthy of inheriting this authority. And you did it."
And Seino Yaku did it. He did not choose to flee. He was still him—two thousand four hundred years ago, and two thousand four hundred years later, he had always been him.
"What if I had run?"
"Then the Karma could never have been thoroughly removed. But I would not have let it pollute Liyue; I would have sealed it along with the entire Chasm."
Mr. Zhongli had actually hidden his hand... he had prepared for both possibilities long ago. If it failed, he could also clean up the mess.
Only with his personal authority, it was naturally hard to achieve.
But over the two thousand four hundred years, he had begun to slowly remodel the entire The Chasm. Countless seals were buried around the abyss to prevent the Karma from polluting all of Liyue after breaking the seal.
He didn't think it would fail, because he trusted his [Friend].
For Liyue to move forward, to thoroughly remove the filth entrenched for two thousand years, to correct the history, and also to fulfill the past contract, to let his friend break free from the destined reincarnation and gain that sole opportunity—this was worth Rex Lapis using The Chasm as a gamble.
"You really are... a genuine God of Contract." Seino Yaku clutched his empty chest. "The last covenant, you fulfilled it too."
"You really killed me." He smiled helplessly.
"Apologies."
Mr. Zhongli looked at Seino Yaku. He was truly apologizing, lowering his head deeply. "Apologies..."
Apologies.
The afterglow of the setting sun covered Zhongli's back, scattering a shallow light. He bowed his head and didn't raise it for a long, long time.
So Rex Lapis also apologizes.
Really...
But Seino Yaku couldn't blame Rex Lapis.
Because as Bosacius, he also owed Zhongli. And now, they were even.
"Your acting before was really good."
Seino Yaku said in a joking tone, "I almost thought I was really done for. Zhongli, you owe me a drink. Use the best Osmanthus wine."
You owe me a drink.
This was everything.
Seino Yaku took the Geo Archon's heart. He felt the surrounding Geo elements cheering; brilliant golden light embraced him. He could hear a deep beating from his chest.
After being pierced through the chest by Zhongli, he had lain there for a full month before slowly recovering. And now, he was ready to carry this heart.
The setting sun slowly fell to the earth. At the junction of dusk and twilight, Seino Yaku accepted the Gnosisinto his empty chest. Bosacius's heart was also slowly dissipating, scattering into threads of light, slowly blending with it. The body shaped by Karma filth was also embracing this heart.
At the junction of dusk and twilight, Seino Yaku stepped onto the first step of the Steps of Ascension.
Everything was broken down to zero, embarking on a new starting point. And at the very top of those long steps was freedom transcending mortals.
[Seino Yaku]
[Level: 1]
[Talent: Gnosis, Bosacius's Heart, Body of Karma]
These were slowly dissipating, leaving only one.
[Talent: Steps of Ascension (Archon Rank)]
"My friend, take my heart—" Zhongli laughed heartily, "and move... upward!"