'The night streets of Liyue Harbor are truly something to behold. It's almost as lively as daytime.' Ruby enjoyed this kind of atmosphere.
Even though this world was extremely dangerous for normal people, they were fortunate enough to gain shelter from more powerful beings. But, they were always ambitious, gaining the ire of the Divine many times in the past.
Few people in this world know that the 'humans' of Teyvat are aliens. In simpler words, invaders.
As a curious species that always set their eyes on the starry skies, were they not curious about their origin?
Maybe if they knew the truth, the future of this world might've been a bit brighter.
Ruby didn't ponder too much. When you have absolute power, you stop caring about other people's opinions. And then, you simply try to shape the world the way it's pleasing to your eye, not caring the slightest about the suffering and destruction that came with it.
Beelzebul and Tsaritsa, both of them were prime examples.
Lofty goals? The salvation of the world? Saving humanity? Those are just petty excuses.
Deep down they know that they're just sick of this world, heartbroken, and incapable of seeing a brighter future. But instead of acknowledging this fact and moving on, they vent their anger and frustration on others.
While Ei's actions are extreme, she is abiding by the Heavenly Principles, trying to achieve 'stability' and 'eternity'. But the results are the complete opposite, creating war, and civil unrest across all of Inazuma.
An incompetent ruler, yet abiding by the Heavenly Principles and safeguarding Inazuma as a whole. Pardonable if her views are less extreme - As the Head Sustainer, this was Ruby's evaluation of Beelzebul.
Tsaritsa on the other hand… Ruby eerily chuckled.
"Speak of the devil… Fatui is already paying attention to me." Sensing that a fatui spy started to keep an eye on her, Ruby's smile became eviler.
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"Ningguang, are you sure about this?" Uncle Tian solemnly asked.
"This is inappropriate, she's a guest of Lord Rex Lapis. If she finds out, this might be a disaster." He persuaded her.
"I know. That's why I'm playing it safe, only observing our guests in public areas. And I'm sending the best under my wing." Ningguang replied.
"Yelan? It might be feasible. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in her identity. The Lord actually refused to tell anything about her. But Yelan likes to do things her way… I'm still a bit worried." Uncle Tian frowned.
"Yes. I'll remind her to 'strictly' follow orders this time."
"The fatuus are becoming more and more active lately. We have news that one of their harbingers is coming to Liyue tonight. Looks like our days of peace are over."
"Let them come. If they think they'll be able to run amok however as they please in Liyue, they're sorely mistaken." Ningguang replied with a frosty expression.
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At the Heyu Teahouse, Ruby sipped tea and watched Yunjin's performance. Though she felt the story was exaggerated, the play itself was quite nice.
Oddly enough, Zhongli was absent today. It seems he's not in the mood.
Ruby focused her gaze on him. He currently fiddled with the Memory of Dust in his hands at his abode. Silently reminiscing about something.
'Tsk, tsk. It seems he needs some osmanthus wine to remember those who share the memories.' Ruby smiled and kept watching the play.
'And Ningguang… It seems I've severely overestimated her intellect. Sending Yelan to just 'watch' over me?' Ruby curled up her lips.
Faced with something unknown or mysterious, Yelan's ultimate response is to unravel, no matter what it takes. As a person who dared to step down into the abyss, she takes pride in dancing with danger. The thrill and excitement is the only reason she's still in this business.
'As long as they stay in line, I don't care what they do. But Yelan's curiosity will cause her demise. Some stones are better left unturned.' Observing her future, Ruby was left disappointed.
Ruby stood up and left the teahouse. Coming down to the bustling streets, she aimlessly wandered from shop to shop, occasionally buying some snacks for Kusanali to try later.
'Oh, she took care of the fatui spy tailing me?' Ruby raised one of her eyebrows, 'I really dislike her nosy attitude. She has already disregarded the observation-only order from Ningguang. And it seems a punching bag is heading toward Liyue. How can I not pay a visit?'
Ruby stopped bothering about these, and simply teleported away.
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At the border between Sumeru and Liyue, a group of heavily armed people was traveling in carriages. The convoy lineup was quite impressive. They were the fatui 'envoys' coming to Liyue Harbor, swaggering the entirety of their journey through Fontaine and Sumeru.
Suddenly, something fell on top of them from the sky with extreme speed, annihilating most of the carriages at the front. All the people in them died instantly. The ground around the impact sunk hundreds of meters deep. The radius was quite frightening, and a big earthquake occurred because of this collision.
Encountering an ambush, the fatui wasn't flustered at all. A voice immediately sounded out from one of the carriages in the middle, "Spread out and take defensive positions! I really want to see who dared to act on the members of the fatui this arrogantly." A man exited the carriage. This was the Eleventh Fatui Harbinger, Tartaglia, also known as Childe. Despite the terrible devastation at the front, he seemed calm and composed, as if it wasn't his business.
A 'humanoid object' floated out of the depression created by the impact. The object's figure was feminine, the entire body was covered in white-colored futuristic armor with golden outlines, and the v-shaped visor on the face glowed with a crimson color.
Naturally, this figure was Ruby. She felt her hands itching and found a suitable punching bag to help scratch that itch. So she wore this thing and appeared here.
While this armor had some uses in this world, this was mostly just a decoration to Ruby, she just liked this design. Though even an ordinary person will be able to comfortably slaughter all the Gods and archons, shatter this world with just physical collision, or bathe in the energy of supernovas just by relying on this armor.
Mainly, she just wanted to play cat and mouse with the fatui, so she wore this so that they wouldn't know her identity. Although she could modify reality to erase her information or modify everyone's memory, for her, it felt tasteless.
She's here in this world on a vacation, to play and have fun, and to help out a friend in the process. She's not here to act like an omnipotent God that would just think about all the problems and they would simply disappear. If she did that, she might as well be the same as all those old hags that maintain realities and comoses under her mother.
Meanwhile, Childe had finished scrutinizing the enemy.
"No wonder you dare to act this arrogantly, you're hiding behind the scenes. I guess you won't be disclosing your identity, so.. mind telling me your name?" Looking at this 'mechanical puppet', Childe grinned.
And as for the possibility of this 'puppet' having a living being inside, he completely disregarded the idea. There seemed to be no elemental particles or signs of vitality inside this 'puppet'. And unless there was an archon-level being inside, it was impossible to stay unscathed after such a devastating impact. Even Pierro, the First Harbinger, would struggle a bit to achieve this.
Of course, in this world, such a kind of armor was completely unheard of. It was normal to mistreat it as a mechanical life form originating from Khaenri'ah or some ancient civilization that has been remodeled to act as a puppet.
Ruby was quite pleased with the misunderstanding caused by this armor. She decided to reply with a mechanical voice that sounded feminine, "My identity? I'll tell you later. I just want to ask a question."
"Sure, go ahead." Childe smiled.
"Why do only the large-breasted girls get to become mirror maidens? Isn't this discrimination?"
Childe: …
The rest of fatui: ...
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[Note: Uncle Tian is a member of the Qixing. He holds approximately the same amount of power and influence as Ningguang and Keqing.]