Chapter 589: Raiden Ei's Prayer! The Return of Raiden Makoto!
After careful perception, Ren breathed a sigh of relief. The small fruit was indeed the Chaos Realm, but it had evolved. Now, it was a Chaos Universe. The powers of faith and sin had intertwined to form a new world, a strange, two-layered cosmos that was still expanding into the void within him.
The upper layer was a universe of pure black, a canvas of deepest shadow where nascent planets, star systems, and nebulae were draped in silent darkness, absorbing all light. The lower layer was its perfect opposite: a universe of pure gold, a sea of brilliant light and creation where golden stars ignited and planetary systems began to form.
Teyvat, the world he had just claimed, had settled like a unique jewel within this golden universe, bathing in the endless radiance of faith. At the very center of this duality, between the black and gold, were the two inverted masses of light—the original Faith and Sin Realms, now acting as the twin hearts of this new, burgeoning reality.
"Do you feel any changes?" Ren's voice echoed not through sound, but as a gentle thought that crossed the cosmic distance into the minds of his people. One by one, their familiar consciousnesses answered positively from their respective domains. There were no problems.
Just in case, he also focused his perception on Furina and Focalors, who were taking a bubble bath together in Fontaine's opulent opera house. With the appreciative mindset of 'since I'm already here', his mental voice, laced with amusement, echoed in Furina's mind. "Fufu, do you feel anything abnormal in Teyvat?"
"Wow!!!" Furina, submerged to her neck in fragrant bubbles, suddenly spun her head around, her eyes wide. She saw no one. The vast, empty bathroom was silent save for the soft splashing of water.
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Focalors looked at her in confusion, a trail of bubbles sliding down her nose as she spoke.
Furina frantically wiped her eyes with a fair, wet arm. After confirming no one was physically there, she shook her head, her multi-colored hair flicking droplets of water. "Nothing, I just heard Ren's voice. Did you hear it?"
"Ren?" Focalors was sure she had seen nothing. She tilted her head, then a sudden, mischievous thought struck her. Her heterochromatic pupils lit up with a glint. An auditory hallucination! She's hearing his voice even when he's not here? Could this be the legendary… love! As expected of my ideal human, she has indeed embarked on the right path!
"Fufu, it really is me talking to you. I'm not in Teyvat, I just wanted to confirm if you felt any changes~" Ren's voice playfully echoed in her mind again.
"Eh!" Furina's bubble-rubbing motion froze. It was real! She looked at Focalors' knowing smirk, then down at her own naked body, barely concealed by the sea of foam. Her face exploded in a vibrant blush. "I! I've been seen naked!"
"?" Focalors quietly watched her counterpart perform, covering her chest in a panic despite being underwater.
"It's true! Ren is watching us from outside Teyvat, and he even asked me if I felt any changes in Teyvat!" Furina quickly explained in a flustered whisper.
Focalors wasn't as excited. "Changes in Teyvat…" she pondered, her expression more analytical. "Indeed there are. I feel a particularly sacred power surging into my body, making me feel warm all over."
"Why don't I feel it?" Furina blinked, genuinely feeling nothing but embarrassment.
Ren discovered that those in Teyvat connected to this new power of faith seemed to be non-ordinary people with special abilities like a Vision. The Seven Archons, naturally, had the closest and most profound connection.
When he turned his full gaze to Teyvat, its most powerful inhabitants felt the presence of a new, supreme will, like the sky itself had gained a new consciousness.
In the Plane of Euthymia, Raiden Ei suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze piercing the timeless, purple void of her domain. For centuries, this space had been her unchanging sanctuary, her fortress of Eternity. But now, something was different. A new presence, vast and absolute, had superseded the cold, distant authority of Celestia. "A new Sovereign…" she whispered, the words feeling alien on her tongue.
This presence had replaced the old, and from its ability to effortlessly erase erosion, she could sense its special, overwhelming nature. Hope, a feeling she had long since severed and sealed away, stirred painfully within her heart. After centuries of static meditation, a desperate prayer, born from a grief she thought she had conquered, rose unbidden.
She clasped her hands together, a gesture she had not made since she was a mortal. "My Lord… if you can hear my voice… can you bring my sister back? I will dedicate everything to you!"
"..." She waited, her entire being focused on that single plea. For a moment, only the familiar, crushing silence of her plane answered. Raiden Ei painfully lowered her arms, her eyes dimming with a familiar, soul-deep disappointment.
"Ei?"
A sudden, gentle voice flowed into her ears like a warm current, into her very heart. A gust of wind, impossible in this sealed space, blew through. With it came the delicate, almost forgotten scent of cherry blossoms.
Trembling, she raised her head. Raiden Ei saw the end of her self-imposed eternity. Before her, the desolate plane was transforming. The sterile purple ground softened into lush green grass, and a giant, magnificent cherry tree burst into full, vibrant bloom. Under its branches, a familiar figure holding a purple oil-paper umbrella stood amidst the falling petals, looking as bewildered as Ei felt.
"Sister!!!"
Her eyes, long since dried by the pursuit of 'Eternity,' became moist. Brushing past the swirling blossoms, she rushed into the embrace of the woman who looked so much like her, holding her tightly, afraid that this was a dream and that her sister would disappear the next second.
Raiden Makoto, startled for a moment, recognized the desperate grip. She gently and tenderly stroked Ei's long hair with one hand. Perhaps no one would have imagined that Inazuma's fearsome Electro Archon would display such fragile, heartbreaking emotions.
Gently raising her head, the disjointed memories of her final moments finally twisted into a clear, visible line in time. Makoto understood. She had died in the war in Khaenri'ah. She was now alive, in an era that did not belong to her. It was he… the new Sovereign.
Her cherry lips moved slightly as she softly murmured, "Thank you, My Lord."
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