When the Raiden Shogun returned to Tenshukaku, she did not sit long on the throne.
"Compile the most recent reports concerning foreign lands," she said to her attendant. "Bring them to me."
"Yes, my Shogun."
The servant left and soon returned with a thick stack of documents.
They covered many matters: major events in Liyue and Mondstadt, but also countless smaller items that would never reach rumor‑mongers' ears.
Ei read in silence.
The materials Kujou Sara had delivered before had already shaken her judgment; if not, she would not have held back as much as she had earlier that day. Even so, those reports had been limited.
This dossier was something else.
It treated Su Han as a subject worthy of true scrutiny.
A very ordinary man, it began, who had started in Liyue—more precisely, as an employee of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Two months ago, during the Rite of Descension, the Geo Archon Morax himself had named him Liyue's "national treasure." From that day onward, his rise had been relentless. He had cracked down on the Fatui and Treasure Hoarders, founded the Liyue Bank, and worked with Tianquan Ningguang to reshape the state from the ground up.
Railways.
Locomotives.
Even something the report called "technology."
Ei's gaze paused on that word.
Her heart tightened with a familiar dislike.
Then she saw the line written beneath.
"Liyue's technology is used solely for the people's livelihood. It does not touch warfare, and there has been no attempt to copy the Fatui's firearms."
"So that's it," she murmured. "That's why Morax allows his research."
Technology belonged to Khaenri'ah in her mind. Most Archons recoiled from it.
Especially her.
The fact that Su Han could confine it to civil use alone was… surprising.
She read on.
He had suppressed the Abyss in the Chasm, cleansing the taint below. After that, he had gone to Mondstadt. For reasons the report did not fully spell out, his connection to that city had grown unusually close. He had begun traveling frequently between the two nations.
He had even invested heavily to build a place called Eaglewing City.
Daily trade volume there, the documents noted, was now triple that of Jingfu Harbor.
Ei paused.
Such numbers were not easy to produce.
"But Mondstadt is not Liyue," she thought. "Freedom is their greatest original sin. How did he manage to act there?"
For a moment, the Shogun's cold mask slipped, and the awareness behind her eyes shifted.
It was no longer the puppet on the throne reading the paper.
It was Ei herself.
As expected, Mondstadt resisted him. They clung to their freedom, sang its praises, and raised it as a banner to oppose any attempt at management. The West Wind Church's leadership, in particular, had pushed back.
But the Anemo Archon had not supported his own faithful.
He had named Su Han "Pope" instead.
The report quoted a single slogan, said to have spread through Mondstadt's streets:
"Freedom has always rested on a foundation of order. Freedom is not chaos. What you want is not freedom at all, but the freedom to indulge your crimes."
Any who wanted that kind of "freedom" were told plainly: they were welcome to leave.
Mondstadt was already in ruins and had no space left for people who only shouted slogans.
He promoted talent aggressively, smashed the Fatui's schemes, and began digging a great canal. At first, the people had seethed. They resisted, loudly and bitterly.
But little by little, they realized their lives were changing.
For the better.
In the end, what common folk wanted was not some abstract "freedom." Mondstadt had always been a land of freedom. What they lacked was safety. Order. A strength that could genuinely protect the nation.
Freedom, in every heart, meant something different.
When the Twin Dragon incident broke out, the report said, Mondstadt's citizens had stood together to defend their home with their own hands.
From that day on, the nation's will had become one.
"So I was wrong as well," Ei whispered.
Her eyes drifted to the sakura blossoms drifting beyond the open window.
For a long moment, they simply looked lost.
She was an Archon. She was not supposed to feel like this.
And yet, unbidden, memories rose: her sister's smile; the shrine maiden Kitsune Saiguu; Sasayuri; Chiyo the tiger.
One by one, they had all left her.
By the time she looked up from the papers and back into the darkness of the hall, she realized there was no one left at her side.
"I have nothing left to lose," Ei said softly.
Not a throne, not a divine title.
Not when everyone she had once trusted was already gone.
…
Night settled over Konda Village.
Under the moonlight, in front of the old fox statue at the village edge, mist gathered and took on a human shape.
A slender woman in shrine maiden's robes, her face hidden behind a fox mask, slowly stepped into view.
She looked over the scarred land—the withered fields, the faint miasma seeping from the village well—and sighed.
"So there is still no one to perform the rite," she murmured. "I'm… almost at my limit."
"Excuse me, miss. Do you need help?"
She turned at once.
Behind her stood a silver‑haired man, as if he had been there for some time already. His expression was calm, almost amused, as if he had been waiting.
Hanachirusato frowned. "You… came here for me?"
"That's right," Su Han said. "With the recent fighting, the filth on Narukami has been building up again, hasn't it? It's even started to eat away at your form."
Her fingers tightened slightly on her sleeves.
"You see clearly," she admitted. "For some reason, the impurity that should have held steady for a while longer suddenly began to surge. I can barely maintain myself."
Su Han was quietly glad he had come when he did.
The war had begun with Delusions.
Ei had withdrawn into her pursuit of eternity and stopped watching over the nation. Her subordinates knew only how to kill. Between that and the Fatui's meddling, the result on the land was exactly what he was seeing now.
"How about letting me help you?" he asked with a smile.
"You don't seem to be from Inazuma," Hanachirusato said slowly. "And yet there's something strange about your aura.
"Are you truly willing to help me? The tasks I want to ask of you will be… dangerous."
"The Grand Sacred Sakura Cleansing, yes?" he said.
"You—how do you know that?" she blurted. "Are you from Narukami Shrine?"
The ceremony's name was not something just anyone should know. Only the shrine's Guuji was supposed to be aware of it.
"The current Guuji is a friend of mine," Su Han said. "And I'm… unusual. I know quite a few things.
"Including who you are.
"Come on. If we wait too long, the moonlight will fade.
"In your current state, you can't take form during the day anymore, can you?"
She went quiet for a moment, then nodded.
"The increase in filth has made it impossible for me to appear in daylight," she admitted. "If that's the case… then I must thank you in advance."
She followed as Su Han walked toward the village.
"Can you tell me," she asked as they went, "why the filth has suddenly grown worse?"
"In simple terms," he said, "the current Electro Archon has trapped herself in a dead end, and her subordinates lack the will or wisdom to correct course. That led to civil strife.
"War breeds impurity, and the Fatui's Delusions made it worse.
"The birth of those false eyes has only intensified every conflict."
Hearing that, Hanachirusato's shoulders sagged.
It seemed that every time she woke, every age she remembered, the land was filled with war.
"I see," she said quietly. "No wonder…"
"Don't worry." Su Han glanced back at her. "I came here to end this.
"I crossed blades with the Archon this afternoon. It went… well enough.
"I'm confident this will be the last Grand Sakura Cleansing you ever have to perform."
She actually laughed at that, light and brief.
"Then I'll place my hopes on you," she said.
At this hour, Konda Village slept. No one stirred as the two strangers passed through their streets.
Su Han led Hanachirusato to the old well.
He drew his blade and made a small, neat cut in the air above it.
Space peeled open.
The hidden chamber below revealed itself.
"Come," he said. "I'll take you down."
She hesitated only a heartbeat, then gave a small nod.
He wrapped an arm around her to steady her and stepped off the edge.
They landed in the sealed cavern.
Impurity pressed in from all sides, thick enough to feel almost solid on the skin.
Hanachirusato looked at the strained barrier wrapped around the roots of the Sacred Sakura and shook her head. "Let me help you," she said.
She began to work.
As she moved the foci into place, the ward responded. Lines of light pulsed through the shrine stones. The seals loosened.
Filth surged out from the roots in answer.
"Careful," she warned. "The impurity has taken shape."
Even as she spoke, forms rose out of the muck—phantom warriors, one after another, dragging themselves into the open.
"Kill…"
"Destroy…"
"Break…"
Their hoarse cries filled the chamber as they rushed toward Su Han.
He simply took something from his side and held it up.
The Dragon Vein's light spilled over the cavern.
Every wraith froze where it stood.
In the next moment, the howls turned to shrieks.
One after another, the phantom samurai collapsed, convulsing on the ground as the light ate into them.
The Dragon Vein had entered the field.
There was no need for exorcistic arts. Its presence alone could unmake corruption.
Clear radiance washed through the space, sweeping out every corner.
"What is this—my body… it's melting…"
"No… I'm disappearing…"
The warriors struggled for a time, then crumbled into ash.
The roots of the Sacred Sakura, freed from their burden, slowly returned to their original state.
Hanachirusato stared at Su Han, stunned. "What is that?" she asked at last. "I can feel an incredible power in it.
"The filth just… vanished."
"It's called the Dragon Vein," Su Han said, sounding pleased. "Strong enough to steady the whole of the Nine Provinces.
"A little impurity like this is nothing.
"All right. Now that we've purified the first site, can you trust me?"
He smiled. "My name is Su Han. I'm a friend of Narukami Shrine's current Guuji, Yae Miko.
"Tell me—should I call you Hanachirusato?
"Or… Kitsune Saiguu?"
The masked shrine maiden let out a long, quiet sigh.
"What does my name matter?" she said. "I'm already a rootless soul. I'll disperse sooner or later.
"Since you know so much, you must understand this: my existence clings to this filth.
"To put it more crudely, once the impurity is gone, I go with it."
Her voice was calm, but beneath it lay a weary resignation.
Still, there was no regret there.
In life, she had given everything for the land she loved.
In death, she had no intention of changing that.
Su Han studied her slight frame for a moment. "If there were a chance for you to go on living," he asked, "would you take it?"
She laughed softly.
"Don't chase dreams," she said. "I'm only a broken fragment of a soul now. If not for the holy object in your hands, I wouldn't even remember my own name.
"But… if there were some impossible way for me to live again…"
Her hand went briefly to her mask.
"Then call me Hanachirusato.
"The name Kitsune Saiguu disappeared five hundred years ago."