When it came down to it, in Yae Miko's eyes, her own departure had likely become the final straw that broke Ei's spirit.
To personally witness every one of her closest friends pass away… and then, in that brief moment of chaos, to suddenly inherit the immense burden of ruling Inazuma—
For someone like Ei, who had always only cared for battle and nothing else, expecting her to govern a nation was absurd.
In Ei's heart, Celestia was unshakable—both for its overwhelming power and its merciless nature.
Once such a belief had taken root, Inazuma could easily become another fallen nation, like the lost civilization buried beneath Dragonspine.
Ei couldn't bear to let Makoto's legacy be destroyed.
And so, she chose to pursue Eternity, detaching herself from the present.
But mere persuasion would never move Ei.
A god has her own conviction—unless something truly shakes that belief, her will cannot be changed.
And for Ei to truly open her heart again…
Perhaps only if Makoto could be resurrected.
A bitter smile tugged at Miko's lips.
"Honestly… this doesn't work, that doesn't work! What does work, then?"
Paimon puffed up her cheeks in frustration, hands on her hips.
"That woman's that stubborn, huh?!"
Miko didn't bother scolding Paimon's tone.
Truth be told, she herself harbored a trace of resentment toward Ei.
After all, Ei was a god—a ruler of Inazuma.
Everything she did was supposed to put the people first.
But the way she'd acted lately… wasn't worthy of a true Archon.
And worse still—
She'd shut herself away.
Miko hadn't seen her in ages.
Her only remaining friend in the world… and that friend refused even to see her!
She didn't even send her a single piece of fried tofu!
Sometimes Miko really wanted to drag Ei out by force and give her a good scolding.
Did she think Miko didn't get lonely too?!
"Ei's never been good at governance," Miko sighed at last.
"Truly losing someone close to her—it's too heavy a burden to bear."
She shook her head, letting the matter drop.
Paimon waved her tiny fists in irritation.
"Ugh, I really thought we'd solve this quickly and head back to Liyue to find Ryen! But now it's going to take forever again!"
Then she turned toward Lumine, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Lumine! How about we call for backup?"
"If we just beat that puppet general up a little, Ei will definitely come out! Once she's out, we fight her again, and then she'll calm down and talk to us!"
Lumine was silent for a moment before sighing.
"You and your fighting… have you been hanging around Ryen too much? He's rubbing off on you!"
"Sure, using your fists solves things fast—but he's strong enough to do that. Are we?"
Paimon lifted her chin proudly.
"Paimon's got connections! If we can't win, we just call someone stronger!"
Lumine glared.
"And what, you want to sink Inazuma?"
"If we call Ryen here and the Raiden Shogun insists on defending Eternity, they'll fight—and then what?"
"Do you really think Ryen would go easy on her? One punch from that guy, and all of Inazuma would be gone!"
Upon hearing that, Yae Miko raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Ryen is that strong?"
Ayaka pressed her lips together and spoke softly:
"Terrifyingly strong…"
"Ryen doesn't possess any Elemental Power. He only wields weapons that contain elemental energy — like the space-wielding blade, or the staff he obtained from that other world."
"But Ryen's true strength comes purely from his own physical power."
"Ryen…" Ayaka paused for a moment before continuing quietly,
"Before we left, Ryen took the Geo Archon and the others to the Outer Seas beyond the Abyss — and caught a god there, saying he wanted to bring it back for research."
"Ryen can treat the Outer Seas — a place infested with dangerous Archons — like a hunting ground, slaughtering any of those gods as he pleases."
"The most crucial thing is — Ryen doesn't have the ability to seal or suppress anything. If he strikes, he can only kill."
"That's also why no one wants Ryen to go against Celestia."
"No matter what, Celestia is tied to Teyvat's existence. If she were to die… Teyvat itself might collapse."
Yae Miko clicked her tongue softly in surprise. She had never heard of such a purely physical power system before.
Half in jest and half seriously, she said,
"In that case, little ones, you'd better not invite him over. This lady still wants a place to live afterward, you know."
Paimon giggled.
"Not Ryen! We meant to call Zhongli and the bard instead!"
"They were the original Archons — shouldn't they be strong enough to defeat that Raiden Shogun?"
Yae Miko chuckled and shook her head.
"The War God Morax alone would be sufficient. But under the Covenant of the Seven, Archons of one nation are forbidden from unleashing divine power in another nation."
"With Morax's strict sense of contract, he'd never break that rule himself."
Paimon scratched her head and mumbled,
"So troublesome… Then what about the Adepti?"
Yae Miko shook her head again and said softly,
"Leaving aside the fact that the Raiden Shogun possesses all of Ei's martial prowess — something no ordinary god's follower could overcome — the Adepti themselves are part of Liyue's forces. If Liyue's Adepti fought the Shogun, it would mean open war between nations."
"Little ones, Inazuma couldn't withstand such a war."
Lumine fell silent.
They couldn't fight, and reasoning didn't work either.
It was a complete dead end — how were they supposed to proceed?
As she pondered, a spark of realization flashed through her mind. She clapped her hands suddenly.
"Wait a second! If what you said, Miko, is true — that Ei's inner conflict stems from losing her sister…"
"Then couldn't we convince Ei — if Makoto were to return?"
At that, Miko smiled bitterly and shook her head.
"If you could do that, of course it would work. But Makoto has already…"
Lumine's heart steadied. She exchanged a glance with Ayaka — both seeing the same glimmer of hope in each other's eyes.
"What if… we could bring Makoto back to life?"
In an instant, Yae Miko's head snapped up. She stared directly at Lumine.
"Resurrect her?!"