Su Han's arrival in Inazuma should have been something to celebrate.
Instead, someone had managed to anger him on the very first day.
At Narukami Shrine, Yae Miko was at a rare loss for words.
She changed quickly and said to Kanzaki Hiiragi, "Watch over the shrine. I'm going out for a bit."
"Yes, my lady."
Her body blurred into lightning and shot toward Ritou.
Behind her, Huaying flapped frantically after her. "Master, wait for me!"
A fox tail curled back through the air, hooked the little beast, and pulled her along.
…
In Hiragi Shinsuke's estate, Su Han sat quietly.
He didn't mind waiting. The useless fox would come. He was sure of it.
About five minutes later, lightning flashed through the clouds overhead.
Yae appeared in the courtyard.
Her expression mixed helplessness with a certain tired resignation.
"You," she said, looking him over, "you're the one who said you didn't want to face Ei. And now you're making this kind of scene.
"Aren't you afraid that puppet of a Shogun will move?"
Su Han answered calmly. "This is diplomacy. It isn't part of the promise I made you.
"If the Raiden Shogun intervenes and I can beat her, that's one thing.
"If I can't…
"The Geo Lord won't just sit and watch."
The four words—"the Geo Lord won't"—hung between them.
Even Yae had to swallow.
She had almost forgotten.
Su Han wasn't just some powerful drifter. He was Liyue's national treasure. If another nation's forces stole Liyue's ore and then escalated to open conflict, why would Morax tolerate it?
He wouldn't.
All at once, Yae understood.
He intended to use this incident as a lever—to tear out the two Commission families at the root.
Ei could be dealt with later.
Hoofbeats thundered outside.
Kujou Sara had arrived.
"Milady, eyewitnesses say those thieves are in my estate," Hiragi cried from the hall. "Please, you must destroy them!"
"The two of you wait here," Sara said. "I'll go in."
She took up her spear and strode toward the courtyard, soldiers falling in behind her.
One step through the gate was enough.
Her eyes went straight to Su Han.
For a moment, the Tengu general froze.
What was he doing here?
In that instant, she knew this was nothing like the story Hiragi had told.
For a man like this to come in person, there had to be more.
She didn't even have time to ask.
Hiragi shuffled out from behind her, pointing a shaking finger at Su Han's group. "General Kujou, these are the thieves who killed my men! They wield elemental power.
"Under the Vision Hunt Decree, you must seize them at once—"
Shenhe's eyes went cold.
"Liar," she said. "You attacked first."
Ice bloomed in the air.
A sharp icicle burst into existence and shot straight for the old fox.
A flash of black feathers cut across its path.
Sara's reaction was fast. Her arrow‑feathers met the ice in midair.
They weren't enough.
Lightning crackled. The spike tore through the wall of feathers and punched into Hiragi's shoulder, throwing him backward.
Blood spattered across the stone.
"Someone's trying to kill me! Help! General Kujou, save me!" he shrieked.
"They defy the Sakoku Decree and the Vision Hunt Decree—do something!"
He had run out to fan the flames.
He hadn't expected the foreigners to strike at him right in front of Sara.
She looked down at him, then let out a quiet breath and drew her sword.
She was not just an archer.
Her swordsmanship was equally sharp.
She had wanted to sit and talk, to ask what had truly happened.
But the moment Hiragi invoked the Vision Hunt Decree, she knew she could not ignore the Shogun's will. She would have to take their Visions first.
The rest could be discussed later.
Su Han watched her stance settle and smiled faintly. "You really mean to fight? You know who I am.
"With your strength, you can't beat me.
"You can't even beat the man at my side—Kaedehara Kazuha."
"The Shogun's will cannot be defied," Sara said, voice like steel. "If you have something to say, we can speak after I execute the Vision Hunt Decree."
Up in the eaves, Yae covered her face with one hand.
This idiot… so stubborn again.
In all else, Sara was competent, even admirable. In loyalty to Ei, no one could match her. If Ei wanted her dead, a single word would have been enough to send Sara marching to her own end without a second thought.
At moments like this, that same loyalty was enough to give anyone a headache.
Black feathers rose behind Sara's shoulders.
Lightning purled along her limbs.
"Tengu Juurai: Narukami's Wrath."
Thunder boomed.
Power shook the courtyard, cracking the flagstones under her feet.
She knew exactly how strong Su Han was.
So she didn't bother holding back. She poured everything into this.
She already knew she would lose.
There was no doubt.
But she would treat this as a test—one more battle to remember, one more lesson for the next time she faced something like him.
In the next heartbeat, she turned into living lightning and fell upon him.
The speed drew involuntary gasps from the soldiers nearby.
A general of the Shogunate moved differently. This one strike alone was beyond what ordinary Vision bearers could handle.
Kazuha watched, quietly impressed. "No wonder my friend lost to her," he said. "Against this, he didn't stand a chance."
"But for someone with peak Observation Haki," Shenhe murmured, "she's still moving too slowly."
Sara's shape resolved out of the thunder.
Su Han's hand was wrapped around her blade, bare fingers closing gently over the steel.
She knew then that she had already lost.
She did not stop.
She let go of the sword at once, kicked off the ground, and sprang into the air.
Her hand went to the longbow on her back.
Black wings unfurled behind her as she drew.
"Tengu Juurai: Devastating Might."
Under the glare of lightning, she seemed almost like a statue of a war goddess.
She drew the power of the storm into one point, compressing it for as long as she dared.
To keep from harming the others, she focused everything on the man below.
This would be her strongest shot.
If even this could not defeat him, she thought, then surely the Shogun would not blame her.
Thunder rolled.
The arrow of pure lightning dropped toward Su Han.
He looked up, saw the desperate hope in her eyes, and sighed.
"There's no need," he said softly. "Even if you see my true strength… what then?
"Still. I'll respect you."
Tessusaiga's seal fell away.
The blade swelled into its dragon‑cleaving form.
Conqueror's Haki flowed into the steel. So did the raw power of nature.
"Wind Scar."
He spoke the name almost under his breath.
Then he swung.
A single slash tore the lightning apart.
The rift it opened didn't stop there. It kept expanding, ripping through the estate and tearing a chunk out of the mountain behind it.
This was no place to test power.
But in that moment, Su Han had seen the plea in Sara's gaze.
So he had given her a single stroke in answer.
The beautiful Tengu general braced herself and poured everything she had into meeting it.
In the howling gale, she barely managed to hold.
Everything behind her—walls, pines, distant ridge—collapsed under the force.
The soldiers who had not yet raised a hand stood rooted in place, stunned.
Hiragi Shinsuke's eyes rolled back. He collapsed in a dead faint.
Sara knelt on one knee, chest heaving.
Su Han watched her for a moment. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"Cough… Thank you for your concern," she managed. "It was my mistake."
It took her a long while to steady her breath.
Then she drove the remaining soldiers out of the courtyard.
Only once they were gone did she turn back and begin asking what had actually happened today.
Lightning flickered.
Yae Miko stepped into the open, face expressionless.
"It's those two Commission families," she said flatly. "They ordered a raid on Su Han's mines.
"Did you really think he came to Inazuma just to cause trouble for fun?"
"What? A raid on the mines… That's impossible," Sara said, shaken.
What were the two families doing?
To provoke Liyue like this…
But the evidence was all there before her.
She could hardly deny it.
"Damn it," she whispered. "Why would Father do this? Why would Hiragi?
"Don't they care if it sparks a conflict between nations?"
Seeing her anger, Yae gave a short, cold laugh. "They probably thought pinning it on the Fatui would be enough.
"Fish‑eyes and pearls, mixed together.
"It's just ore, after all. The Fatui and the Treasure Hoarders have done that sort of thing for years."
In theory, it was a clever enough plan.
In practice, they had picked the wrong target.
Su Han was far more ruthless than any of them.
Touch what was his, and he would come straight to your door.
Sara looked at Yae. "What do we do now, Lady Guuji? Should we interrogate Hiragi here?"
"Send him to the capital," Yae said crisply. "You go as well. Take every scrap of evidence with you. I want to see how the Raiden Shogun will handle this.
"A man of high status, doing things this dirty… I'd like to hear her justification."
Her temper was showing now.
Sara nodded. "All right. I'll have Hiragi Shinsuke escorted to Tenshukaku at once. It's just… if he starts talking about the Sakoku Decree and Eternity, then perhaps the Shogun…"
She glanced at Su Han.
Her meaning was plain.
If Hiragi framed this as an attack on Eternity itself, Ei might well move personally.
Su Han smiled. "Go.
"This is exactly what I came here for.
"I'm not afraid of her."