'Miko? No, given that Fox's personality, she would most likely hide the katana herself, or cause some trouble before bringing it out.'
Raiden Ei knew that Fox too well. The other party was perfectly capable of doing such things, and might even be more outrageous.
Therefore, asking Yae Miko to deliver the katana to Shiki was completely out of the question.
'Speaking of which, that little girl from the Kamisato Clan, it seems she has a very good relationship with Shiki, right? She's also very diligent in her work, so why not just let her go?'
'Hmm, I'll let her go.'
She then had the Puppet Shogun issue an edict, instructing Ayaka to come tomorrow morning.
The delivery of the message was naturally handled by the Okuzume. As for why Shiki wasn't called directly, it was already mentioned: to give her a surprise.
Buzz!
As the final character 'Xing' fully appeared, the katana handle and tsuba that were placed on the ground seemed to be drawn by something, flying directly towards the katana floating in the air.
First the tsuba, then the handle, and then the blade suddenly erupted with a burst of Lei, completely integrating its components into one, inseparable whole.
At the same time, the triple tomoe pattern, symbolizing Lei, appeared on both sides of the connection between the blade and the tsuba, just like her Musou Isshin, only in gold.
And at this moment, Raiden Ei, quick as a flash, placed it into the pre-prepared scabbard.
She wasn't worried that others would use it. A divine artifact is, naturally, a weapon that only Archons can use. Forcibly using it without matching power would only lead to one's demise.
An ordinary person would not be able to draw this katana. The only ones who could wield it, besides Raiden Ei, its forge master, were its best match, Shiki.
"Xavier, is this the place?" On a beach, Shiki asked Xavier.
There was a large stone on this beach that Xavier had mentioned, so they decided to come and see. Interestingly, Shiki's body was spotless, and her beautiful furisode wasn't stained with sand.
On the other hand, Traveler and Xavier's legs were wet, and their shoes had a lot of sand on them.
When they decided to come up and take a look, Shiki directly condensed an Thunder Sphere on the beach from dozens of meters away, then flew over with a whoosh.
Traveler and Xavier could only miserably dock and then wade through the water to get ashore.
There was no other way; this wasn't a game where the word 'wet' would appear on their bodies when they waded, nor would the water dry in a few seconds.
"Emmm… it should be. This stone is similar to the one in the dream. If we search in the nearby mountains, we might find that cave," Xavier said after a careful look.
"Okay, then we…"
Shiki stopped mid-sentence, then grabbed the back collars of both of them and hid behind the giant stone.
"Shh… I hear someone coming."
Traveler was slightly startled, and Paimon also opened her small mouth wide. Then, they heard the unique rustling sound of shoes stepping on the sand.
"Ugh, I don't know what those two Harbingers are up to recently. How long have we been stuck in this godforsaken place?" one Fatui couldn't help but grumble.
"Of course, we can leave once the Harbinger gets that Gnosis. Besides, isn't it good for us to stay here? At least there won won't be any danger…"
Before this Fatui could finish speaking, a cold glint flashed before his eyes, and hot blood spurted from the wound on his neck.
"Hoo… hoo…"
The Fatui clutched his neck, desperately trying to stop the blood from gushing, but it was ultimately futile.
Another Fatui, after a brief moment of stunned silence, quickly reacted. Just as he was about to give a warning, a tremendous force struck him from the back of his head.
Bang!
Shiki grabbed the back of this Fatui's head and slammed him directly into the sand. No matter how much he struggled, her palm remained unmoving.
"Mmm… mmm…"
Faint sounds came from the sand, then grew fainter and fainter until they completely disappeared.
Slowly, the Fatui stopped struggling, suffocating to death in the sand.
Shiki dragged the body and buried it in the sea, even more skillfully than she had done at the Kanjou Commission.
"Done. Let's go."
"Uh… your moves are too fast. I was still thinking of catching one to ask some questions," Lumine's eye twitched. Goodness, she truly was a ruthless person.
"Asking would be pointless, and there's a risk of them alerting others. It's better to just kill them."
Shiki never intended to get anything out of these two Fatui. Besides, it was just an entrance; they could find it by searching more.
Since Fatui had already appeared here, it meant the entrance to the Evil Eye Factory was nearby.
"Alright, but speaking of which, how did you know two Fatui were coming?" Lumine asked, and the answer was quite unexpected.
"Simple, I heard them."
"..."
Indeed, discussing this question was an unwise choice. She had inherited the power of the previous Raiden Shogun! In Liyue, that would be an Adeptus!
How magical an Adeptus was goes without saying, so Traveler could also accept Shiki's somewhat absurd special abilities…
What the heck!
Can a person really hear such faint sounds?
"Uh… both of you, I think I found the entrance." Xavier, who was looking around, discovered a somewhat incongruous gap, and from that direction, looking out, he could just see this large stone.
"Found it?"
Upon hearing this, Shiki took the lead, slowly drawing her Kujikanesada from her waist.
Seeing this, Traveler also took out her wufeng sword, while Xavier, empty-handed, walked in the middle with Paimon.
After all, these two had little combat power. Together, they couldn't even take down a single wild boar.
Subduing a wild boar without tools or traps required three adults, and Paimon's combat power was only equivalent to one-fifth of a wild boar. Together, they were just over half.
In other words, bare-handed, these two could at most take down half a wild boar.
Archon Quest Updated — Contradictory Spiral
Quest Description: Through Xavier's unusual dream, you found a factory secretly built by the Fatui on Yashiori Island. What are the Fatui plotting, and what happened to Xavier…
Objective: Investigate the Fatui's factory.
Hint: For this Domain, Shiki will join the team as a trial character. Shiki possesses extremely strong killing abilities, enough to handle most crises (referring to Traveler who is scraping by due to insufficient practice).
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