"It's over." Nahida took out Ei's Gnosis. "Here, Beelzebul—your Gnosis."
Ei didn't reach out to take it; instead, she pointed at Lucian and said, "Give it to him."
Lucian: "?"
You're pretty carefree yourself, huh? Is the Gnosis that unwelcome to you?
After Yae Miko, it was Lucian's turn; to Ei, things like the Gnosis could just be handed over to the 'brain' to worry about.
If there's a need, just tell me where to go and who to hit.
As expected of someone whose name rhymes with little Lumine—their thinking logic was quite similar.
Nahida nodded; she naturally had no opinion on how to arrange Ei's Gnosis and turned to look at Scaramouche. "What about him, then?"
Scaramouche was created by Ei, after all, so she still needed to ask.
Ei had no intention of killing Scaramouche—from before, she hadn't; now, Ei's thoughts had even changed further, and she felt many things about her past decisions were improper, including the matter of Scaramouche.
Scaramouche had done wrong things, and this was inseparable from Ei's creation and abandonment.
Ei had created and then abandoned Scaramouche because he had emotions and would cry; she feared Scaramouche would suffer the same mental shocks as she had.
What was that mental shock? Makoto's death! So Ei created and abandoned Scaramouche because of Makoto's death.
Then why did Makoto die? Because of Khaenri'ah's folly.
Putting it straight: if Khaenri'ah hadn't been foolish, Makoto wouldn't have died; if Makoto hadn't died, Ei wouldn't have needed a proxy.
If Ei hadn't sought a proxy, she wouldn't have created and abandoned Scaramouche—so the problem lay with Khaenri'ah.
As for the culprit, the Doctor? The Doctor's involvement was indeed a key link, but he could only be said to be one part of the play—a shit-stirrer.
After experiencing a series of events, Ei now didn't know how to treat Scaramouche; taking him home wasn't feasible either—how would she face him?
Sister's back, and there's a cook at home now—no shortage of cooks anymore.
But letting him go wasn't likely either; supervision was still needed, but who to assign it to?
Nahida saw Ei's difficulty and suggested, "Then leave him in Sumeru."
In Sumeru, he couldn't escape Nahida's eyes.
Ei breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry to trouble you, Buer."
After the 'birth mother' agreed, Nahida turned her gaze to Lucian and Lumine.
"Lucian, Lumine—what do you think?"
In this matter, Lucian and Lumine's contributions couldn't be ignored, so naturally, Nahida wouldn't overlook their opinions at a time like this.
"I have no opinion." Lucian spread his hands.
He had no particular feelings toward Scaramouche—neither like nor dislike.
If anything, Lucian just couldn't stand people like the Doctor, the Grand Sage, and Vacher; he'd deal with them sooner or later.
The other 'main characters' had done both good and bad things, but these people didn't do a single human-like thing.
Like Childe and Signora—they'd done bad things, but they'd also done good ones; only the Doctor and his ilk were purely self-serving.
So Lucian had already dealt with Azar and Vacher; he wanted to deal with the Doctor too, just no opportunity yet.
Speaking of which, that old bastard the Doctor looked down on everyone, including Vision wielders.
But he was very fond of Delusions—why? Because he invented them! What he invented was good!
He'd toss the Grand Sage aside without a second thought; Azar even wanted to ask him: Weren't we supposed to form a lifetime research group? You really only think about yourself.
Eh, and he'd be right—the 'Doctor' really only thought about himself; not only could this not hurt him, he'd even say thanks for the compliment.
"My opinion is the same as Lucian's." Lumine indicated she'd follow the vote.
"Eh?" Paimon looked left and right. "I kinda hate this guy—he scared me so many times!"
"But I didn't contribute anything, so I'll just go with everyone's decision."
The vote ended: two in favor, three abstentions—passed.
"In that case, we'll do it that way." Nahida nodded.
From now on, he'd study deeply in Sumeru; day student turned boarder—hard to leave, even going online would require climbing the wall.
Now Scaramouche couldn't do day school—he'd have to tough out boarding (tough out the laughter).
No more 'Beelzebul, I have ascended to godhood.'
Now it was 'Beelzebul, I have enrolled in a PhD program.'
Come to think of it, Sumeru was full of 'Buddhist' flavor, and Nahida had a bodhisattva's compassion.
Then Scaramouche 'impersonated a bodhisattva,' only to be defeated and subdued by the true 'bodhisattva.'
Wasn't this just the plot of the bodhisattva subduing Red Boy?
So Nahida was the bodhisattva the Traveler invited—then the Traveler was the Monkey King himself?
Got it: Khaenri'ah was 'the havoc in heaven,' fighting the Heavenly Principles was really 'fighting the Tathagata.'
Later sleeping for five hundred years was being suppressed under the Five Fingers Mountain.
Perfect—the Bull Demon King liked fooling around with fox spirits and ghosts, and Ei liked that too—wasn't that the full set?
Who would've thought the 'Alienated Journey to the West' that Lucian and Zhongli talked about would become a prophecy too.
Speaking of which, Scaramouche had accomplished nothing this time again; after becoming a god, he got beaten and it ended.
Perhaps not even as good as the original world's him; at least the original had conned a believer.
That was the great god 'Everlasting Lord of Arcane Wisdom's' one and only believer; this time, because of the agreement with Lucian, he hadn't even conned that.
As for the truly major impact, the 'endless Flower God birthday festival' that shook all of Sumeru—that was the Grand Sage and Doctor's doing; he didn't even get a cameo.
Even his ascension to godhood was only known to everyone through Nahida's 'live broadcast'; otherwise, he really would've accomplished nothing.
And thanks to Lucian and the others intercepting early, or else the Grand Sage would've tried to possess him too.
Scaramouche truly lived up to the Lightning Eternal name—sure enough, he couldn't accomplish anything.
One could only say Scaramouche's life was truly inextricably linked to the words 'failure' and 'falling.'
From birth, he was a 'failure'; later, wanting to integrate with humans, he failed because of the Doctor's meddling.
The core went berserk, he wanted to call for aid—failed.
Now, becoming a god was nothing more than wanting to prove he wasn't a 'failure.'
Scaramouche hadn't even considered whether he could beat Beelzebul; he just wanted to prove himself.
He had to think: was this his only chance in life? In the end, he still failed.
His body had reached god level, but his spirit hadn't sublimated; having power inferior to Ei's, in Ei's eyes, obviously wasn't enough to prove anything.
So even if Lucian brought Ei, Scaramouche still couldn't successfully prove himself—he failed again.
In the future, he planned to erase himself, making himself into an existence that had never been born—that way, it would be better for everyone, or so he thought.
But he failed again.
Failure always permeated his life to the end.
Though Scaramouche's life was very much a failure, the him outside the game was quite successful.
His 'success' even made Nahida faintly trend from 'Vijnana' toward 'Preserver'; the Grand Sage had actually been whitewashed.
No wonder 'Vijnana' was an iron can—for durability.
Now the Grand Sage was caught, Scaramouche defeated, and naturally no one in Teyvat would want to whitewash the Grand Sage; everyone just wanted to kick him a few more times.
If not for all the previous Grand Sages being dead, they'd drag them out for a few kicks too.