[Main Quest: Purify the Wind Demonic Dragon]
La Signora.
Rosalyne.
Seino Fugin whispered softly.
From Wolf Pup Rostam—no, from his past memories—gently quivering in his chest.
He wouldn't deny it, because Rostam was himself.
All past events came back to him.
Seino Fugin clutched his heart, closed his eyes. Those events seemed like yesterday. As soon as he recalled them, he could smell the scent of gunpowder on the battlefield again, hear the roaring and howling of the Wind Demonic Dragon Duling rampaging, the corrosive poisonous blood eroding his skin, and he fell helplessly to the valley floor.
It's strange. He was already dead back then, and his memories had long ceased, yet he could still feel the tears.
The young woman's tears, moist and crystal clear.
He had written her a letter, telling her not to return to Mondstadt during that time, but that foolish girl insisted on coming back, making her witness his embarrassing side.
La Signora, it's laughable to say, her appearance had clearly changed so much. Wearing a crimson mask, shedding her scholar's attire, switching out her girl's white dress, in Seino Fugin's impression, she always wore a hood because she was shy and timid. When talking to others, she often liked to hide behind, clutching Seino Fugin's sleeves.
But now she was different. She was so proud, dressed in a deep black gown, trailing a cloak. Her transformation was truly immense.
Human Principles System asked, "Seino Fugin, will you tell her?"
Seino Fugin replied:
"No." He said. "I won't. Never."
["Why?"]
Seino Fugin stepped onto the dimly lit mountain path. As he hurried along, he replied:
"Because I don't have much time left."
From the moment he inherited Rostam's memories, degradation had relentlessly begun.
["Yes."]
He coughed once, the coldness scrambling in his lungs,
"I once learned a saying: 'Do not form bonds, lest you add to your loneliness.' If loneliness is destined, then from the start, do not form bonds. I am about to die now. Even if she knows, it will only add to her loneliness. I came to sever this bond. Moreover..."
["Moreover?"]
Seino Fugin paused, lowering his gaze, feeling the chilly aura within him—elemental power from Rosalyne.
Seino Fugin's body began to collapse, this root-damaging power played a big role.
"I don't want her to know. Maybe she was the one who killed Rostam." Seino Fugin said. "She would be very upset."
["Even though she would kill you?"]
Seino Fugin shrugged. "After degradation started, I wouldn't live long anyway. So stop bothering others before I die."
["What do you plan to do?"]
"I want her to continue on without any attachments."
Seino Fugin's expression was serious. "In the years to come, when she recalls this, it will just be frozen memories. Maybe she'll think she killed an ordinary Mondstadt knight, an insignificant person. That way, she won't be sad or regretful."
"I don't want Rostam's lingering soul to torment her—I hope she can peacefully continue on the path she chose."
["Do you think the path she chose is correct?"]
"No, I don't think so. I don't think her path is correct."
Seino Fugin shook his head, gazing at the thin moonlight, whispering as the forest winds carried a low song. At the end of the jungle was Seino's destination.
With a calm mind,
He could feel that sailor, McCa's aura. He was still alive, his life's flame flickering in the night.
"But I respect her choice. She was a willful and proud girl, but she had her own opinions. She persisted in her path for five hundred years."
"I have no right to deny her persistence, nor to deny the meaning of her five hundred years."
["Humans are so strange."]
He paused, saying, "Just like... um, like the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma. The Raiden Shogun, right? She insisted on that eternal path thing. I just can't believe that back then, I thought it was right—it's just a rubbish thing, but so what?"
"Seino Reimei will respect her path, even if he doesn't agree."
Respect.
["You are enemies now."]
"Yes."
Seino Fugin lightly gripped God Cutter, which vibrated slightly, emitting a low hum. "I will struggle with all my might. Whether she kills me or I kill her, it's all respect. Enemies are enemies."
["You must know:"]
["It's not your time to die yet. Your body is not mature, and your life's mission is not yet complete."]
["Don't make the same mistake as last time."]
["You shouldn't go to save that sailor now. He's just an ordinary person, and you have a more important meaning."]
Seino laughed and shook his head, "What meaning? What special meaning do I have? We're all mortals! All just ordinary people! Do I have some damn special meaning?"
He took out the beer from his chest and took a sip. The warm beer warmed his stomach. The aroma of malt wafted up his throat—now he was doomed, Seino Fugin was addicted to drinking again.
"Don't die now."
"So I'm saying!" Seino Fugin downed another gulp of beer, exhaled a puff of steam, and said freely, "I will struggle with all my might!"
—
No longer willing to struggle.
McCa coughed.
He slightly and laboriously lifted his head, the thin moonlight filtering through sparse branches, shining on him. The sky was dusty, as if covered with a thick cloth.
Not far away was his ship.
This sailor had been sailing the seas for thirty years. The traces of the ocean seemed to have been etched deep into his bones.
Snezhnaya is a very cruel country.
Regarding the treatment of traitors, it had long been written into legal codes.
Tonight, he was to be executed.
He didn't really regret it, accepting his fate calmly.
In recent days, McCa kept recalling past events, the days sailing the ocean, the salty sea breeze brushing his face, rough against his skin. He would also think of his child, who hadn't been seen for a year?
How were they doing?
McCa thought about his grave. He didn't need a grave. If he could be buried directly in the sea, that would be fine. He would watch his child with the waves.
"Hey. Sailor."
The Fatui executioner, wearing a dark ghost mask, carrying a long cleaver, the fierce blade light reflecting McCa's face. The executioner grasped the sailor's sea-blue hair, exposing his neck, positioning the cleaver at his throat.
"Are you ready?" he said, looking disdainful. "Anything else to say? Any final wishes?"
The executioner despised this man, or rather, he despised all mortals. Weak and powerless, babbling about wanting to protect something, yet unable to even save his own life. It was ridiculous.
He loved to sever their throats, listening to their despairing wails, blood spurting from their insect-like necks, a beautiful macabre sight.
But now, the executioner didn't mind giving the man some time at the end. He quite wanted to hear the man's pleas.
"You haven't killed me yet. It's been two days."
"This is not Fatui efficiency. Lord."
The executioner was stunned.
Unexpectedly, McCa didn't cry or shout. His expression didn't change. He just smiled silently.
"You want to keep me around to lure that boy out of Mondstadt, don't you? That boy is a Knight of Favonius. Maybe he'll come to save me. You must be planning that."
"When he comes to save me, you can use my life as leverage, making him have doubts, even to surrender."
He had followed the Fatui Lords all his life, knew their methods inside out.
If the boy truly came for him, neither of them would survive.
No one could defeat La Signora atop the tower.
...This civilian was a bit smart, huh.
But still, he was just a civilian, without a Vision or a Delusion, no different from livestock.
The executioner scoffed, glanced upward, contemptuously staring at the man. "So what? A commoner?"
"You're right, that little bastard is coming soon, and we'll kill him too. What can you do about it?"
"Lord. Lord. I'm a commoner."
McCa raised his head, the sailor's dark brown eyes reflecting the luster of the sea,
"I bowed my head for life, but I don't want to die so humbly. Death is the shape of a life, I can't endure it, can't stand helplessly waiting for others to redeem me. Even if he's just a child, it's better than dying as a burden."
"What are you trying to say?" The executioner laughed mockingly. "What can you do?"
...
What can he do?
He was just a sailor, thirty years at sea. He didn't have a Vision, he didn't have a Delusion, he was powerless.
"I'm going to die no matter what. It's better to die alone than to die together."
"What?" The executioner asked.
McCa thought of that boy. If he could see his son, his son would be about the same age as this boy, right?
They shared a drink when they left, having a drink together meant being friends, right?
"My heart belongs to that pure sea. I won't taint it. Lord."
McCa said fiercely, his eyes wide and blood-red beneath the ghost mask, the corners of his mouth split wide, "I will show you my heart as a mortal, as a sailor."
—"The shape of my death is this vast ocean!"
The cleaver was placed at McCa's neck, originally just to scare him.
But McCa took advantage, pushing upward swiftly, the executioner didn't react in time.
His pupils contracted, sensing something, but it was too late to stop it.
That bastard—he was going to face death!
The sharp blade actually sliced open the sailor's neck, blood gushing out, blood flowers blossoming. Moonlight flowed through the blood water, McCa uncle fell helplessly to the ground, the light in his eyes fading rapidly.
"What… What kind of joke is this!"
The executioner couldn't understand. He couldn't comprehend it!
He had never seen a mortal like this.
To do this much for a stranger boy?
His plan was completely messed up. How could he explain it to the Lords on the ship?
Thinking of La Signora, the executioner felt a chill down his spine.
La Signora's orders were clear:
Do not kill this sailor. Use him to threaten Seino Fugin. If the plan succeeded, erase the sailor's memories completely.
But now the sailor was dead, and that Mondstadt knight didn't appear. He had completely violated La Signora's orders.
He couldn't imagine his own fate.
The more he thought, the angrier the executioner became. He kicked the sailor's corpse hard again, his boots twisting the man's head, cursing: "Bastard..."
But he couldn't get the words out.
The wind of the whispering forest swept past his shoulders. He had intended to lift his cleaver to strike again in anger, but the blade couldn't swing any further.
It was a moment.
The blade was still attached to his left hand, shot upward, caught in the wind.
The trees swayed, dust flew, millions of leaves scattered in the air, falling down slowly.
Blood dripped along the blade of God Cutter, ticking on the sand.
Seino Fugin wiped the blood from God Cutter, turned around, his dark-purple eyes devoid of any emotional fluctuations, calmly staring at the man.
[Fatui: Executioner]
[Level: 65]
Higher level than the Debt Collector he met earlier, likely one of La Signora's top agents.
"Hiss... hiss."
The executioner covered his severed arm, eyes wide beneath the ghost mask, blood-red from excitement, his mouth split wide, "You still came, huh? Alright, alright. Very well."
He was a madman, seemingly without pain perception. His arm was severed, yet he was laughing.
Seino Fugin had returned; of course, he would laugh.
The executioner picked up the cleaver from the ground, removed his mask, revealing a ferocious face. A Delusion was embedded in his hollow left eye socket.
He bowed down, the Delusion's light flickering, disappearing from the spot, the cleaver swung toward Seino's face.
Seino didn't speak, didn't retreat, took a step forward, God Cutter extended forward, blocking the cleaver. The sword's wind was sharp and agile, following the executioner's wrist upwards, first severing his tendons, piercing through his body, destroying muscle fibers, pulverizing bones.
"Eh..."
The executioner realized his right hand could no longer exert strength, drooping weakly. Seino Fugin slightly lifted his left leg, suddenly accelerated, firmly planted it against the executioner's abdomen. He felt all his internal organs overturn.
The massive wind pressure penetrated his spine, he was like a cannonball launched, disappearing instantly. Multiple giant trees were smashed, each collision severed a bone. After breaking ten trees, his chest completely collapsed.
The trees fell to the ground, kicking up heavy dust.
The dust cleared, God Cutter sliced through the dust, straight into the executioner's calf, pinning him firmly to the ground.
Seino Fugin walked out of the dust, approaching him, lowering his dark-purple eyes, calmly gazing down.
"Hiss."
The executioner's right hand wounds healed quickly, he pulled out a dagger from his leg, swiftly moved it towards Seino's throat, as fast as lightning.
But Seino Fugin's eyes did not blink. The wind blade moved swiftly, cleanly cutting off his hand.
Like a butcher dissecting an ox.
The executioner finally felt fear. He wasn't afraid of death, but he was afraid of the boy's gaze. Suddenly, he felt an illusion—he had become like those mortals he once executed, helpless in the face of immense fear.
"Spare… Spare me."
"Beg you, spare me..."
He trembled his lips, wanting to say something, but Seino Fugin didn't give him the chance.
"He should not be begging for mercy," Seino said.
The executioner was stunned.
God Cutter sliced off his head, the executioner's head flew up.
His terrified, trembling expression was forever frozen on his corpse.
Seino Fugin wiped the blood from the blade, sheathed God Cutter, his footsteps on the sand, approaching the sailor once more.
He lay quietly on the sand.
Truly strange.
Seino Fugin lowered his head, watching this uncle.
They had only met once, shared one drink.
The gentle breeze slowly smoothed the wrinkles of his clothes, wiping away the blood. Seino Fugin helped him close his eyes.
He paused.
"Bastard." Seino suddenly cursed.
"I wasn't going to live long anyway," he said softly. "Who needs you?"
Silence.
Deadly silence.
Only the sound of the waves gently lapping the shore.
"I allow you to bury him now, " A calm, emotionless voice spoke from behind him. "and go die."
The crimson mask, crimson eye makeup, trailing a magnificent gown.
La Signora calmly declared this conclusion.
Seino Fugin turned his head, staring at her. Rosalyne... no, La Signora, she was no longer the girl he remembered. The cold moonlight shone between them, interweaving with the dark night. Along the coastline, half was shadow, half was moonlight like water.
Seino Fugin didn't know if he was in the light or in the darkness.
He was already very tired.
"Why?" Seino said.
"I despise the weak, but I respect the strong." La Signora calmly said, "That sailor deserves a proper funeral."