Banjiao Shichisei Tarou was no slouch, but he'd never had a real stage to shine. Snagging third in Reisen Riou's private competition threw him off balance mentally, and Reisen got that.
Understanding didn't mean indulgence, though. Shichisei Tarou worked for him—if his cockiness caused a major screw-up, Reisen would be the one eating the loss.
After chewing out Shichisei Tarou, Reisen returned to the Tenshukaku.
"Done with your errands?" Raiden Ei asked, arms crossed.
"Yeah. Honestly, these lucky bastards keep surprising me," Reisen said. "What's got me curious, though, is where's Alice? No sign or intel on her."
Reisen had hoped for a showdown between two luck-blessed titans.
But the other side didn't bite.
"I've been dealing with Teyvat's border issues. No time for your little games," Alice's voice called from the next room.
The door swung open, revealing Alice wrapped in bandages.
"Rough day, huh?" Reisen teased. "Looks like Ms. Alice met her match."
"Who'd guess her test subject would go berserk?" Alice groaned. "Rhinedottir's getting more dangerous by the day."
"Rhinedottir? She's alive?" Reisen asked, stunned.
"Is that weird?" Alice shot back, her eyes turning beady.
Alice explained Rhinedottir's recent moves. Though she brought Abyss energy to Khaenri'ah, her cold nature made its temptations meaningless to her.
As Alice's friend, Rhinedottir knew the dangers of outer-realm powers.
When Khaenri'ah's king started dabbling in Abyss energy, she sensed trouble and bolted, taking heaps of lab resources.
The king was too lost in fantasies of toppling the Seven Archons to notice.
Then the Seven descended.
By then, Rhinedottir was long gone, holed up in Mondstadt's Dragonspine, researching her grand work.
Later, she fled again—to Inazuma.
Reisen shot to his feet, eyes gleaming. "No way! I've been searching for years, and she's on my turf? Alice, spill—where is she?"
"I'm gonna give my 'old friend' a warm welcome."
"Cool it. You're no match for her," Ei said, facepalming. "By life energy, Rhinedottir's LV90+. She's like you and Alice."
She meant their combat strength couldn't be judged by life energy alone.
Rhinedottir, at her peak, could hit Archon-level power.
"Ei… help me out," Reisen said, clinging to her thigh-high stockings.
"Knock it off!" Ei yelped, startled by his ambush. Unable to shake him, she coughed awkwardly. "Ahem, you're embarrassing us in front of Alice."
"Can't you just get stronger yourself?"
"Ugh, I'm stuck," Reisen sighed.
During his work reviving Raiden Makoto, his life energy hit LV78. He'd been grinding, absorbing others' experience, and reached LV80, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break the LV80 cap.
Logically, such a barrier shouldn't exist, yet here it was, unyielding.
Reisen strongly suspected Celestia's Heavenly Principles had slapped a shackle on him to keep him in check.
Worse, his connection to his sixth Fate Star was fading.
Thankfully, his astrology skills were top-notch, letting him reinforce and stabilize that bond through rituals.
When Reisen mentioned this, Ei and Alice frowned.
But then Reisen debunked his own theory, pivoting to other powerhouses.
"Also, I've noticed fewer new powerhouses emerging, especially among long-lived species," he added.
He cited the declining pure-blood Fox Envoys and the dropping IQs of tanuki descendants. Inazuma hadn't seen a new great youkai in ages.
He'd spoken with a kamaitachi youkai close to breaking through, who felt a similar rank barrier in recent years.
Humans? Reisen didn't track them much. To avoid erosion, he kept few human friends, mostly juniors or subordinates, with little to discuss.
The kamaitachi's shackle was weaker than Reisen's. After burning rare materials, it was nearly gone, and he'd ascend to great youkai in a few years.
Reisen's shackle? A tearjerker. Only zero or negative-distance contact with Ei—intimate proximity—thinned it.
Other treasures? Useless.
Reisen wasn't about to tell Ei that, though.
After he spilled about the shackles, Ei and Alice started probing in their own ways.
Alice, using astrology, was manageable—Reisen could follow her methods, though hers were sharper.
Ei? Reisen's mouth twitched.
She straight-up pulled out her Gnosis and queried Celestia.
Ei got a response first, frowning as she passed it to Reisen. "See for yourself."
"So that's it," Reisen said, his face odd.
Though the Abyss invasion was repelled, it had embedded itself in Teyvat. To suppress it and stabilize Teyvat's laws, the Heavenly Principles went into slumber while healing, locking down the world's rules.
Stable laws slowed growth for those tied to them, like Reisen.
Archons like Ei, who wielded entire laws, and their kin were unaffected.
But Reisen? He was screwed.
No wonder he couldn't break through. Linked to nearly ten laws, his shackle was ten times heavier than others'.