"We're going way too fast! Slow down, slow down!"
"I'm already slowing down!"
"Aah— we're going to crash!"
Two green figures hurtled straight toward the entrance of Tenshukaku. Just one meter above the ground, they managed to screech to a halt. Due to sheer panic, divine patterns identical to those of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata lit up around Fu's neck and shoulders, glowing like a nightlight.
"That was close, close. Still, it proves my technique is superior."
Hovering mid-air, Fu carefully set Nahida back down on the ground. The young archon stood there in a daze for a long time before the light finally returned to her eyes, leaving Fu feeling rather embarrassed.
"Aha, sorry about that. I suppose that wasn't a very pleasant experience for you."
"It's alright... I've just been sitting inside the Sanctuary of Surasthana for too long, so I'm a bit unaccustomed to such vigorous exercise."
Meanwhile, inside Tenshukaku, Yae Miko, disguised as the Raiden Shogun, was presiding over a tribunal alongside a squad of shogunate guards, trying several moles and corrupt bureaucrats rooted out from within the shogunate. Though her actual strength fell somewhat short of the true Electro Archon's, to mortal eyes there was no perceptible difference—both could kill with a single blow.
"N—no! What do I care if I collected half a tax too much?! Why must you kill me?! I'll fight you to the death!"
A bloated, middle-aged man screamed hysterically. He snatched a guard's sidearm and lunged at the "Raiden Shogun" in a desperate gamble, but even a great yokai far weaker than the Electro Archon was untouchable by mortals.
In a flash, a bolt of divine lightning descended, striking the man squarely on the crown of his head. Instantly, it reduced him to nothingness, leaving not even ash behind. The Sakoku Decree had only been enacted in Inazuma very recently; even if every Snezhnayan operative embedded in the administration was rooted out, it wouldn't inflict the kind of devastating blow seen later in the story.
Yae Miko noticed the two arrivals at the door, her expression shifting instantly. She looked with astonished eyes at Fu, who was radiating a distinctly arboreal aura. Realizing something was off, Fu hastily shifted her color scheme back to that of the Raiden Shogun. Nahida stood dumbfounded nearby, sensing a strange, unfamiliar aura mingling with the familiar presence radiating from the other.
An absurd suspicion inevitably crossed her mind: could Fu perhaps be the offspring of the Electro Archon and the Tree Queen?
Soon enough, Nahida met the other Raiden Shogun, and despite being the God of Wisdom, her brain short-circuited for a full half-minute.
At present, Raiden Ei's complexion showed no signs of any ailment, yet she remained fast asleep. According to Yae Miko's account, she had even rolled over twice in the middle of it. Was she dreaming?
"Sssh— hehe, my lovely Nahida, I have a favor to ask of you."
Yae Miko couldn't help but chuckle off to the side. To be honest, Fu right now was essentially an extreme extrovert version of Raiden Ei; there wasn't a trace of divinity about her... calling her Venti possessed wouldn't even be an exaggeration.
"Me? Um..."
Nahida lowered her head with a hint of insecurity. Ever since her birth, no one had ever valued her, leaving her feeling like a dispensable, marginalized outsider (or god). Were it not for her Dendro authority allowing her to explore the outside world, coupled with an inner resilience, the Nahida of five hundred years later might not have been any braver than Shinji Ikari.
Yet this powerful deity before her was asking for the help of a lesser god like herself, leaving her feeling flattered and overwhelmed.
"That's right. The task ahead is something only you can accomplish. I need you to create a dream—an Inazuma where time is eternally frozen, right up until the moment before the dream dissipates and time flows once more. That sister of mine and I might stay in there for a very long time, perhaps tens of thousands, or even hundreds of millions of years. And one last request,"
As she spoke, Fu drew Musou Isshin from its scabbard. She had carried it with her the entire way, completely forgetting to use it, though there hadn't been any need for it along the journey anyway.
"I ask that you make my aura in the dream match this blade. I'm counting on you, my best Nahida."
Hearing this, Nahida froze, her breathing turning shallow. She had never been cared for so deeply, and her slender elven ears trembled slightly.
"Hoo— I'll do my absolute best... Hoo— you are in the dream right now!"
Nahida's figure suddenly vanished. At the same time, Fu's clothing changed, exposing her arms and legs, making her feel a bit awkward. Suddenly, an impassionate call rang out from the bed.
"Sister!"
At the sound, Fu looked over. Raiden Ei had woken up. Catching sight of that familiar outfit, she scrambled down from the bed in a clumsy rush. Treating Fu like a priceless treasure, she grabbed her shoulders and checked her over meticulously, looking her up and down again and again, before rubbing her face back and forth against Fu's proud, mountainous chest.
Are interactions between you two sisters always this stimulating? Rubbing against me like that is making it hard to hold back!
Only after confirming that her aura was entirely authentic did Ei's final line of defense crumble, and tears poured down her face.
"Sister... sob, sob—"
Ei threw her arms around Fu and wept bitterly. Fu gently returned the embrace, stroking her back.
"Ei, Ei, don't be afraid. Sister is right here."
Cry, let it all out and you'll feel much better. She had silently endured alone for five hundred years, suffering isolation every single waking moment, meditating through constant agony. All of it had accumulated until now, bursting forth like a flood.
After crying for an unknown length of time—perhaps hours, perhaps a whole day—Ei finally began to look better once she had vented five hundred years of pent-up negativity.
The flow of time within the dream was a thousand times slower than in the outside world, meaning Nahida could no longer interfere with its progression; after all, a single thought from her could cause years to pass within the dream.
Beneath a golden sunset, falling maple leaves froze mid-air, gently caught by a curious little hand. Everything in the world was brought to a standstill. This was eternity.
Ei looked overjoyed, circling around Fu to examine this eternal world. Most importantly, her sister had come back.
Her once unattainable dream had finally come true.
Inwardly, Fu marveled at how beautiful an eternal world could be, but she couldn't let herself get too carried away; she had to play the role of Raiden Makoto to perfection.
Her palm stroked softly over a cat frozen mid-air, feeling the sleek texture beneath her hand. A moment later, Fu felt a weight settle on her back. Like a sloth, Ei draped herself over Fu's shoulders, clumsily describing the sights and sounds of the day. No one knew how much time had passed—perhaps a decade. Ten years ago, Ei hadn't been this proactive.
Street vendors were still frozen mid-flip with their spatulas, though the ingredients in their woks would hang suspended forever, never falling back down. Fu picked up a piece of poultry, took a bite, and spat it back out. It wasn't cooked at all—and in this eternal world, it never would be.
Strolling through a world of cherry blossoms, Fu felt a faint sense of unreality. A hundred years had already slipped by; she even worried her consciousness might scatter. After all, in her past life, she had merely been an ordinary mortal. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened—though her past habit of sleeping in remained unsatisfied.
Suddenly, a pair of warm hands covered her eyes.
"Guess who!"
"Ha, Ei~ who else could it be besides you?"
She didn't know when it had started, but Ei had grown fond of playing this game with her. Perhaps it was around the two-hundredth year. Back then, Fu had deeply missed the single-player games on her phone; even though Inazuma was hundreds of times larger than any game world, they had now tracked their footprints across every inch of it.
She played the role of Makoto as best as she could, even starting to worry that when the dream finally woke, she might truly believe she was Raiden Makoto herself.
She didn't dare let Ei step outside of Inazuma. Simulating the entirety of Inazuma was likely Nahida's absolute limit; the moment they stepped outside, the deception would inevitably fall apart.
The two of them simply wandered aimlessly through this timeless, frozen world. By now, Fu felt as though she could walk across all of Inazuma with her eyes closed. How long had it been now? Perhaps a thousand years had passed.
At Narukami Shrine, Yae Miko's figure, caught in the middle of waving her gohei, was frozen before the Sacred Sakura. The sunset cast a warm glow over her lazy yet exquisite face, set off by her pink hair fluttering in the wind, making her look exceptionally striking. The only thing ruining the scenery was the colorful graffiti painted all over her face—applied perhaps around the two-thousand-year mark, and wiped away and redrawn in various styles several times since.
"Ei, do you suppose Yae Miko will throw a screaming fit when she sees her face painted like this?"
"Then I'll laugh at her without mercy."
At some point, Ei's smiles had grown more and more frequent—perhaps around three thousand years ago. As for whether Yae Miko would actually get mad? Well, this was an eternal world now; who could possibly say?
"So, do you want that moment to arrive?"
"......When that moment comes, will you disappear?"
"Hehe, perhaps."
"...Then I don't want it to..."
With a tender expression, Fu looked at Ei, continuing to walk with her through this eternal Inazuma. In truth, however, fatigue was already beginning to take root in Fu's heart, yet she had to press on until Ei realized the imperfection of eternity.
"Sister~"
"Heh, I'm right here."
In the eternal world, the two of them continued on, side by side.