Watching Raiden Ei's figure gradually disappear, Fu inwardly let out a cacophony of screams like ten thousand groundhogs. It was over, totally over—she had caused a massive disaster.
"Stop right now! I was wrong!!"
She grabbed Ei by the shoulders and shook her frantically, but Ei had already made up her mind; swaying wildly from the shaking, she didn't react at all.
Yae Miko, standing nearby, began to panic so hard her expression shifted through a kaleidoscope of colors, yet she was utterly helpless.
Forcing herself to calm down, Fu could only think of one method: using her own origin to fill the void. Carefully sensing the presence of the origin within her body, she forcibly gathered it into the palm of her hand.
"Ugh—so painful."
It felt as though a piece of flesh were being forcefully ripped from her body. After a wave of intense pain, a ball of purple energy appeared in her palm. With no time to overthink, she hurriedly shoved it into Raiden Ei's mouth.
"Please, just eat it already, don't spit it out!"
There was no help for it; Ei simply wouldn't swallow. Seeing Ei's body beginning to dissipate, Fu danced around in anxiety, nearly tempted to deliver another slap.
"Damn it, I'll force it down!"
She had to take responsibility for the mess she made. With resolute determination, Fu cupped Ei's face—which was identical to her own—held her breath, and enduring the excruciating pain, transferred the origin into her mouth, once again blocking those soft lips.
It felt like a blade twisting inside her stomach. Fu's face turned pale from the agony, but she still gritted her teeth and continued to channel her divine origin to Ei. Finally, Ei's body stopped dissipating and began to solidify once more.
I do not know how much time passed, but the pain within Fu's body grew almost numb, and her consciousness was on the verge of fading before Ei's complexion finally improved.
Fu gave a bitter laugh.
Although she had been angry at Ei's unprovoked hostility earlier... she had once been crazy about Ei in her past life; it would be a lie to say she had no feelings at all, even though the Ei of that time did not know her.
"It finally stopped, I almost kicked the bucket too..."
Hearing Ei's steady breathing, Fu finally felt a wave of relief. She sat on the floor, exhausted, holding Ei in her arms and gazing at the exquisite face with its closed eyes. A strange, inexplicable impulse stirred within her, though it was entirely out of the question now.
"...Yae Miko, let's head back to Tenshukaku first and let Ei have a good sleep."
Tenshukaku was completely different from how it appeared in the game. In the game, it was merely a small multi-story building, but in reality, the size of the entire structure surpassed even a modern residential compound. No wonder the plot required such a long walk just to reach the Ante-room Duel.
Carefully placing the sleeping Ei onto the bed in her chambers, Fu broke out in a cold sweat. Yae Miko, meanwhile, was staring at her as if she were a monster, because Miko could sense that Fu's divine origin was recovering—an outright impossibility.
After pulling the blanket over Ei, Fu finally had the chance to carefully admire one of the top beauties in the game. Compared to the screen, the real-life Ei was far more breathtaking and refined, making one want to...
Fu glanced at Yae Miko, who was wiping Ei's face nearby, and ultimately abandoned the thought.
"She wants Eternity; actually, it's not impossible to let her experience it, but I'll need to call in some outside help... My head is spinning..."
"The situation is far more complicated than I imagined. As the Chief Priest, it is my negligence not to have considered the consequences of a conflict between you and Ei."
"Don't blame yourself. Even without me, a few hundred years from now she would still be defeated by a blonde Traveler. Right now, I actually have a way to make Ei realize that Eternity isn't all that great. I need to make a trip to Sumeru."
...
Inside the kitchen of Tenshukaku, Fu looked at the ingredients on the shelves in contemplation. Although she was not a professional chef, when it came to making pastries and cooking dishes, she knew a little bit of everything—commonly known as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Soon, the table was laden with various dishes that looked more like Liyue cuisine, alongside a low-budget mousse, a crepe cake, and a cup of caramel milk tea.
The injuries on her body had healed almost completely, likely due to her inherent healing abilities, yet such a recovery speed remained an utterly explosive existence within the realm of gods.
"I wonder if Nahida is locked up at this point in time... I'll eat first before worrying about that. I haven't eaten anything all day."
Just as her chopsticks were about to bring the food to her mouth, a heart-wrenching cry suddenly echoed from outside Tenshukaku:
"Your Excellency the Shogun! I must see Your Excellency the Shogun!"
A white-robed youth broke through the guards' blockade, waving a golden feather in his hand as he pounded on the heavy doors of Tenshukaku.
"Is that Scaramouche? No, it's Kunikuzushi! (Drops chopsticks)"
At the entrance of Tenshukaku, several shogunate guards were pulling and dragging, forcibly hauling the youth away. The leader, who looked like a minor foreman, sneered mockingly.
"Oh my, what bad timing. Her Excellency went out and hasn't returned since. You'd better go back wherever you came from."
Hearing this, Kunikuzushi's eyes instantly lost their luster, allowing the guards to drag him toward the gates. If not for their wariness of the golden feather in his hand, those guards would have drawn their swords long ago.
"Stop all of you!"
The doors of Tenshukaku were pushed open by an invisible force. Fu had changed into a new imperial robe and stepped out with a stern expression.
"Your Excellency the Shogun! Your Excellency the Shogun! Something has happened at Tatarasuna! I beg Your Excellency to step in and save them!"
Catching sight of the Raiden Shogun, Kunikuzushi seemed to have found his last straw. He struggled desperately, breaking free from the guards' grip. After a moment of conflicted hesitation, he chose to kneel before the steps at the entrance of Tenshukaku.
Tatarasuna? The Mikage Furnace incident from the Scaramouche background lore? It seemed she was finally going to meet the scum of humanity—Dottore.
"Please rise. Since the situation is urgent, we shall set off right now..."
Just as Fu took her first step down the stairs, she forgot she was wearing wooden clogs. Her foot slipped, and she tumbled all the way down the steps, rolling to the ground and inadvertently knocking her head hard in a formal kowtow right in front of Kunikuzushi.
Everyone kept their faces stiff, none of them daring to laugh. They could not imagine that the usually awe-inspiring Shogun would make such a huge fool of herself today; this was completely unlike her usual self.
"No matter... No matter... Have the Tenryou Commission prepare a fast boat! And prepare more large vessels to evacuate the survivors of Tatarasuna!"
Issuing commands with the title of the Raiden Shogun worked wonders; in less than half an hour, a nimble skiff was prepared at the shore. It wasn't that Fu didn't want to fly there, but with her abysmal flight skills, she would likely spend more time falling into the sea than in the air.
During the voyage, she stealthily felt for her smartphone. The device brought from the third dimension was miraculously sturdy; even after enduring various battles, it emerged completely safe and sound.
"Do you happen to have a close friend named Niwa right now?"
"Yes!"
Hearing that name, a glimmer of light seemed to return to Kunikuzushi's eyes. Just how important that person was to him went without saying.
"Then has an engineer who claims to be from Fontaine arrived at Tatarasuna?"
"Some time ago, a Fontaine mechanic named Escher did indeed arrive!"
"Your friend is in danger. He is not at all... Never mind, just follow my lead when we get there."
Now was not the time for spoilers. If she told Kunikuzushi now, his impulsive nature would lead him to immediately confront Escher. Not to mention whether Escher would admit to it, someone still needed to repair the Mikage Furnace; if possible, it would be best to make Escher confess with his own mouth.
Thinking that the Dottore of this era might already be plotting to tear out Niwa's heart and lungs, Fu irritably scratched her back. She had to admit, the open back of the Shogun's imperial robe certainly made it convenient to scratch an itch.
Standing behind her, Kunikuzushi watched his "Mother" perform actions utterly incongruous with her status and couldn't help but suspect whether his "Mother" might actually be a man.