"Jiang Ning!"
Lumine's eyes reddened as she watched Jiang Ning being engulfed by lightning, her gaze gradually becoming hollow. It felt as if a huge chunk had been carved out of her heart.
"Jiang Ning..."
Paimon also started crying. This was Jiang Ning, how could this possibly...
Raiden Ei was about to withdraw her Musou no Hitotachi. Being hit head-on by this strike, even the Geo Archon would have suffered greatly if he were here.
Let alone this new god.
"Hmm? Something's wrong!"
Raiden Ei's eyes once again filled with gravity.
Then, as if witnessing the most impossible thing in the world, her eyes widened.
"How... is this possible?"
The originally massive and majestic lightning dragon had now transformed into a very clingy and... affectionate? little dragon.
This transformation was so quick and dramatic that it made Raiden Ei's mind short-circuit.
Why couldn't her lightning harm this strange deity before her?
Jiang Ning looked curiously at the lightning that surrounded him, seemingly acting spoiled.
Unconsciously, he reached out his hand to touch the lightning.
There was no stinging sensation, instead a tingling feeling.
It felt like touching a cat's tongue.
In the distance, Lumine, who had been ready to avenge Jiang Ning or die trying, stood frozen in shock.
Tear stains still marked her pretty face, but she didn't care anymore because the scene before her was too bizarre.
As for Paimon, she stared dumbfounded at everything unfolding before her. Unconsciously grabbing Lumine's hair, she asked with wide eyes:
"Hey hey hey, am I seeing things right? What's going on here?!"
"Paimon! Let go! My hair!"
Lumine erupted in anger. Didn't she know that for a girl, hair was as precious as a second life?!
Paimon sheepishly released her grip: "Sorry, sorry, I wasn't thinking..."
"Miss Makoto, you're amazing... how did you do that?"
Jiang Ning asked inwardly.
Raiden Makoto spoke softly:
"Ei and I are twin Archons, our lightning authority complements each other... How could Ei's lightning ever harm me, her elder sister?"
Jiang Ning nodded: "I see... Then Miss Makoto, would you like to come out?"
Looking at Raiden Ei whose aura was beginning to intensify again, Raiden Makoto sighed and said:
"Yes, it's time."
Her tone carried a sense of eagerness.
After several hundred years of separation, Raiden Makoto now wanted to properly meet her sister as soon as possible.
"How did you do that... No matter, I will strike again."
Raiden Ei's expression quickly calmed. She looked at Jiang Ning, preparing to unleash the Musou no Hitotachi once more.
However, when she tried to swing her sword, she frowned.
For some reason, the Musou no Hitotachi seemed very reluctant to strike at Jiang Ning.
In all these years, this was the first time Raiden Ei had encountered such a situation. For a moment, she stood there stunned, the bewildered expression on her face carrying a hint of adorable confusion.
Jiang Ning looked at Raiden Ei before him and suddenly said:
"Actually, Ei, you know what? Your Musou no Hitotachi listens to me more."
Raiden Ei responded with just two words: "Absurd."
Jiang Ning said: "You don't believe me... Come here."
In an instant, the Musou no Hitotachi flew out of Raiden Ei's hands and straight toward Jiang Ning.
Caught off guard, Raiden Ei could only watch as the sword her sister had left her flew toward Jiang Ning.
The Musou no Hitotachi flew to Jiang Ning's side, gently moved to disperse the surrounding lightning, and very intimately took the lightning's place. This made the nearby lightning seem anxious, circling around but unable to squeeze in.
"This..."
Raiden Ei was completely bewildered.
Wait, what was going on? What had she done all these years? Had the outside world changed so much?
Moreover, seeing her lightning and her sister's Musou no Hitotachi competing for Jiang Ning's attention, Raiden Ei felt incredibly aggrieved and helpless.
It was like watching something she had cherished and protected for years being stolen away by some white-haired stranger.
And she could only stand there witnessing it happen right before her eyes.
"What did you do?!"
Without the Musou no Hitotachi, Raiden Ei still had her naginata.
With killing intent in her eyes, she stared intently at Jiang Ning, ready to strike again.
"Enough, stop, Ei!"
That voice... Raiden Ei's eyes grew wide. This was the voice she had longed for day and night, a voice she hadn't heard for hundreds of years.
"Makoto?" Raiden Ei said instinctively, "No, impossible, Makoto is gone. Don't try to confuse my mind..."
But in the next moment, Raiden Makoto's soul slowly appeared, looking at her with tender concern and self-reproach.
The gentle gaze in her eyes was just like that last night before she secretly departed for Khaenri'ah, when she took her final look at Ei.
That was a gaze etched into her very being, buried in her deepest memories. Even if Raiden Ei later forgot herself through erosion, she would never forget that gaze.
"Makoto... is it really you?"
With a clang, the naginata fell to the ground. Raiden Ei's body began to tremble, something almost impossible for a deity who had mastered martial arts to perfection.
But it happened nonetheless.
Raiden Makoto looked at Raiden Ei and nodded: "Yes, Ei. I'm sorry for leaving you alone all these years. I'm back."
"The Sacred Sakura... Yes! The Sacred Sakura's strange activity recently, it was you, it was you being revived, right?!"
Raiden Ei looked overjoyed and rushed toward Raiden Makoto without any guard.
Right now, she only wanted to feel her sister's embrace again after so many years apart.
But contrary to her wishes, Raiden Makoto was currently only a soul. Raiden Ei passed right through her body.
"How can this be?"
Raiden Ei stood motionless, not daring to approach again. She looked like a wounded animal, cautious and timid, making Raiden Makoto's heart ache.
"I've just been revived and don't have a body yet, I'm only a soul right now..."
Raiden Makoto quickly explained.
"Then, then I'll gather materials, help make you a body..."
But soon Raiden Ei seemed to remember something and became frustrated.
Because currently, the Raiden Shogun was made from her own modified body.
Any other body made from raw materials would, in Raiden Ei's view, be a failure, unworthy of her sister.
Right, Scaramouche?
"You shouldn't have brought that up..."
Raiden Makoto's gentle expression gradually faded, replaced by pain and disappointment:
"Is this how you treated your body while I was gone? Modifying your body into a puppet and letting it rule? Do you know what state Inazuma has fallen into?"
Raiden Makoto's authority as an elder sister burst forth at this moment. Even though she was no match for Raiden Ei in combat, she made Raiden Ei become anxious and uneasy, just like a child.
"I... I... this, this was for pursuing the path of eternity, it was a necessary sacrifice..."
Seeing her stubborn sister, Raiden Makoto was both amused and exasperated.
She turned to Jiang Ning and said: "Jiang Ning, help your elder sister with something. Go, give her a couple of hits to wake her up."
Jiang Ning grinned: "Sure thing!"
He moved to do so. Felt good cutting me earlier, didn't it? My turn now.
Raiden Ei glared at Jiang Ning, looking ready to cut someone down at any moment.
Raiden Makoto let out a snort:
"Hmm?"
Raiden Ei could only let Jiang Ning hit her.
Hmm, nice feel, a good head makes a good sound.
Raiden Ei covered her head, looking wronged.
Raiden Makoto said: "You still call it a necessary sacrifice? Still for eternity? Your path of eternity has completely deviated! You've become too obsessed!"
"And about that sacrifice you mentioned... Is this how you treat the Inazuma we fought so hard to build? Do you know that Inazuma outside is nearly facing destruction?"
Raiden Ei was startled and forgot about debating the path of eternity with her sister, blurting out:
"Impossible, I've seen the Shogun's memories, the reports from the Tenryou and Kanjou Commissions all stated that the people live in peace and prosperity, there are only some stubborn rebels, not worth mentioning... and there were many Vision holders who rebelled, that's why the Vision Hunt Decree was necessary."
"Have you never gone out to see for yourself?"
Raiden Makoto asked.
Raiden Ei said: "There was no need..."
Jiang Ning burst out laughing: "You really... have been kept in the dark. The officials below dare to deceive their superiors and falsify documents. Haven't you noticed that in all this time, there have been no documents from the Yashiro Commission?"
"Yes... why haven't there been any documents from the Yashiro Commission?" Raiden Ei mumbled.
"Because the Yashiro Commission is almost gone, destroyed by the Tenryou and Kanjou Commissions who are in league with the Fatui. The Kamisato Clan is nearly persecuted to ruin."
Raiden Makoto said: "If it weren't for young Ayaka supporting them from behind, there wouldn't be any clan loyal to you left in all of Inazuma."
"Embezzlement, oppressing the people, and all sorts of things... see for yourself."
Jiang Ning couldn't help saying.
Raiden Ei's expression darkened. If it were just the words of the Traveler and this strange deity, she certainly wouldn't believe it.
But since her sister said so...
Raiden Ei's gaze finally, accompanied by thunder, saw the current state of Inazuma.
Lifeless, corpses everywhere, monsters roaming the wilderness...
Even the population was decreasing, but what about those nobles?
They were all living in debauchery, and she even discovered numerous Fatui activities in Inazuma, far too frequent.
Seeing Raiden Ei's increasingly dark expression, Lumine spoke up:
"If you don't believe it, the Kamisato Clan and Ayaka have plenty of evidence, and besides, judging criminals requires evidence, right?"
But Jiang Ning said to Lumine: "Lumine, you seem to have misunderstood something..."
"Inazuma isn't Fontaine, and Liyue isn't Fontaine either. Judging criminals, if they're human, requires evidence, but remember."
"In Inazuma and Liyue, the gods are supreme. Although they usually don't interfere too much in affairs, if a god wants to judge criminals, they absolutely don't need evidence."
"A god's command is above all else."
"That may be true... but who are you? Strange deity."
Raiden Ei looked at Jiang Ning with hostility. This mysterious "invader" of her domain had fought with her and, in Raiden Ei's view, the rebels only reached the Tenshukaku's gates with this deity's help.
It's quite a joke - a foreign deity following rules and laws in matters of right and wrong, while one's own subjects and loyal subordinates secretly guide rebels.
"Ei, Jiang Ning was the one who revived me, and the rebels were let through by Ayaka."
Raiden Makoto said.
"?"
Raiden Ei remained confused.
Wait, why? Had she really done wrong? Why had Ayaka sided with the rebels?
No, she couldn't be wrong...
But if her sister said so, then she must have been wrong... Yes, her sister couldn't be wrong...
If it were just Jiang Ning and Ayaka, Raiden Ei would still be very stubborn.
But now there was the trump card of Raiden Makoto.
How to put it.
It was like someone whose brain hadn't been connected for hundreds of years suddenly getting power today.
Everything became clear.
"Um, thank you..."
Raiden Ei sincerely said to Jiang Ning.
Whatever his purpose might be, having her sister appear alive before her now couldn't be fake.
This was a greater kindness than heaven itself.
Raiden Makoto said: "Well then, let's go out now. We'll discuss the rest later. I need to clean up the mess you left first..."
Raiden Ei said: "Yes, alright. Since sister is back, the position of Electro Archon naturally belongs to you again."
Raiden Makoto said: "We'll talk about that after I have a physical form... By the way, Jiang Ning, what materials do you still need to create our bodies?"
Jiang Ning said: "Well, Electro Crystals, Amethyst, Naku Weed, Sakura Blooms - the more of these things, the better."
Hearing that she could help create a body for her sister, Raiden Ei immediately said:
"I'll order people to gather them right away."
"First deal with Inazuma's affairs. We don't have that many spare hands right now."
Raiden Makoto said sternly.
"But these things, how can they compare to sister's matters..."
However, sensing Raiden Makoto's seemingly gentle but actually quite dangerous smile, Raiden Ei shrunk her neck.
She'd forgotten that although her sister's tone was calm now, after so many years as sisters, she knew that her sister was already angry...
If she continued to be willful, she'd probably get a beating.
Seeing Raiden Ei fall silent, Raiden Makoto said:
"From now on, follow all my words, alright?"
Raiden Ei said: "Of course, sister."
Raiden Makoto said: "First, let's resolve the chaos at the Tenshukaku, and also, treat Jiang Ning's group in Inazuma as you would treat me. Any problems?"
Raiden Ei answered instantly: "None."
Raiden Makoto silently looked at her somewhat dull sister, suddenly having an idea. Between the two sisters, if one controlled the divine position, the other...
It seemed they could form a marriage alliance with Liyue...
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