The Empire was the largest warship ever built under Snezhnaya's standards—and likewise the largest and most advanced vessel in all of Teyvat.
It stood as a symbol of Snezhnaya's overwhelming national strength.
Even the most rampant pirates would give it a wide berth.
Yet not long after leaving Inazuma's waters, the Empire came under attack.
A large fishing vessel—flying no flag at all—charged straight toward them. The moment it altered course, alarms blared across the deck.
"Your Highness, shall we open fire?" the captain asked tensely.
"To dare attack the Snezhnayan delegation is courting death," the Mirror Maiden said coldly. "Your Highness, allow me to deal with it."
She was no mere ornament. With her Delusion, she could manipulate water mirrors in combat. Though she fell short of the Eleven Harbingers, she was still considered first-rate among the Fatui.
"Go," Severin said, lifting his teacup unhurriedly. "Take one alive."
The Mirror Maiden leapt from the bridge to the bow, unfurling layers of shimmering water mirrors before the Empire, forming a defensive barrier.
Seeing this, the fishing vessel abandoned its suicidal charge, slowing to a halt several dozen meters away.
A purple blur shot out from its cabin.
So fast that no one could make out his face.
The water mirror shattered with a deafening crash. The Mirror Maiden was struck head-on and hurled into the sea.
"It's over—we're done for!"
Several timid sailors nearly collapsed in panic.
The Mirror Maiden had been defeated in an instant. The enemy's strength was terrifying.
"Your Highness, retreat through the rear passage!" the captain shouted, raising his musket. "We'll hold him off!"
Severin set his teacup down with a sigh.
Over the past three years, he had rarely acted openly. As a result, many in Snezhnaya believed the Prince excelled mainly in invention and governance, not martial might.
"There's no need. Remain at your posts," he said calmly. "This one… is here to challenge me again."
In the next instant, Severin vanished.
When he reappeared on the deck, the captain and crew stared in shock—only now realizing just how monstrously powerful their Prince truly was.
Severin extended his right hand and closed his fingers.
A horrifying icy tempest erupted like a dragon-shaped tornado, freezing the onrushing attacker into a solid sculpture of ice.
The frozen man wore a kasa hat and a violet cloak. His violet eyes were striking even through the frost.
"It's Lord Scaramouche!"
Only then did the sailors finally relax.
The ice melted. Scaramouche brushed the frost from his clothes, descended lightly before Severin, and bowed.
"My respects to the Prince. Your strength seems… greater than before."
Among the Eleven Harbingers, only Scaramouche took pleasure in challenging Severin.
Whether it was masochism, or—as he claimed—that sparring with the Prince rapidly improved his strength, no one could quite tell.
In Severin's view, it was rebellion.
A doll unwilling to accept his own existence. A fractured sense of self. A relentless urge to prove himself superior to anyone stronger.
Still, once someone joined the Fatui, Severin would not neglect them.
After all, the Eleven—each harboring their own schemes—were still, together, a kind of family.
"Scaramouche," Severin said evenly, "I've already obtained Inazuma's Gnosis. There's no point in you remaining here. Come with me to Mondstadt. The situation there is complicated—I'll need a capable subordinate to clear certain obstacles."
Mondstadt, the so-called City of Freedom, appeared defenseless on the surface.
But Severin knew better.
Obtaining the Anemo Archon's Gnosis there would be no easier than Inazuma.
"You already have it…?"
Scaramouche looked up, genuine surprise in his voice.
He had spent years scheming in Inazuma without success.
Yet the Prince had arrived for only a few days—and claimed the prize Scaramouche had coveted all along.
"In rumor, the Gnosis was held by Yae Miko," Scaramouche said slowly. "Without the Shogun's approval, she wouldn't dare hand it over. The Raiden Shogun is aloof and domineering—how did you persuade her?"
"By striking at the heart."
"…That sounds familiar."
Scaramouche fell into thought.
"One of the elective courses at the House of the Hearth," Severin replied calmly.
Scaramouche's eyes widened in realization.
Three years ago, the Prince had proposed personally teaching courses to the children of the House of the Hearth.
One of them was called Psychological Warfare.
At the time, it sparked fierce debate.
Opponents called it pointless. Supporters believed it invaluable.
Then Severin had spoken those words that ended all argument:
"In the art of war, conquering the heart is supreme; conquering cities is secondary.
Mental warfare surpasses armed conflict."
The Tsaritsa herself had approved the course on the spot.
"I really wish I could've witnessed it," Scaramouche said with a hint of regret. "Unfortunately, I wasn't in Inazuma these past few days."
"There were people trapped in Enkanomiya," he continued. "I went to rescue them. Then I received Her Majesty's order to monitor the Dark Sea. I just happened to encounter you here."
The Dark Sea…
Severin clasped his hands behind his back and gazed toward the southeastern horizon of Inazuma.
That region, eternally shrouded in storm clouds where sunlight never reached—beyond even the Seven's radiance—was the Dark Sea.
It was said that many defeated gods, unwilling to live under the new order of the Seven, fled there and became malevolent deities.
A nest of fallen gods.
Mysterious. Terrifying.
Even Snezhnaya, the strongest of the Seven Nations, treated it with due caution.
"Scaramouche," Severin said quietly, "I know you've obsessed over Inazuma's Gnosis because you wish to fuse with it—to surpass the Raiden Shogun and prove to Ei that you were the superior creation. You want to prove you were not discarded. That abandoning you was her mistake."
Scaramouche stiffened in shock.
This secret—he had told only the Tsaritsa.
And she had promised never to reveal it.
"This has nothing to do with Her Majesty," Severin said, reading his expression at once.
"In my eyes, none of you have secrets.
Because I am the Prince of Snezhnaya."
To outsiders, that title sounded like nothing more than nobility.
But to the Fatui's inner circle, it represented something else entirely—
the Tsaritsa's recognition of Severin's unfathomable power and unrivaled statecraft.
Prince of Snezhnaya meant omniscience.
It also meant omnipotence.
"Your command, Your Highness," Scaramouche said, bowing deeply—his respect now bordering on reverence.
"From this day forward," Severin said, "abandon your obsession with Inazuma's Gnosis. Even Ei understands she cannot rely on it—hence why she entrusted it to Yae Miko. If you wish to surpass the Raiden Shogun, you must rely on your own strength. External power is, at best, an aid."
He paused, then concluded:
"The Gnoses come from Celestia.
They are shackles placed upon the gods."
The words struck like thunder.
Scaramouche's mind reeled—shaken, yet enlightened.
For the first time, the path ahead felt clear.
"Your Highness is wise," he said solemnly. "I know what I must do."
He bowed once more, then returned to his vessel, continuing on toward the Dark Sea to carry out his surveillance mission.
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