Tenryou Commission.
After the confrontation, Kujou Sara felt utterly disillusioned with the Head of the House.
"I once secretly doubted whether implementing the Vision Hunt Decree was truly just. Even if it meant violating my own moral principles?"
"Yet I resolved that as long as it was the path guided by the Raiden Shogun, who was I to question its rightness or wrongness before reaching its end?"
"But now I realize there is no end to the Path to Eternity. Moreover, this path... has long been tainted by your selfish desires."
"Therefore, I must correct the Shogun's ear! At least to justify the resolve I've held until now!"
Kujou Takayuki: "Stubborn as ever... A futile gesture..."
"Go if you must. Nothing can shake the Kujou Clan's position now, nor will the political landscape change because of your actions."
"The Raiden Shogun is currently receiving an envoy from Snezhnaya—the Harbinger known as La Signora—in the tenshukaku."
Lumine and Paimon reacted instantly.
"La Signora?!"
Kujou Sara: "An envoy from Snezhnaya? Perfect! She won't think she can leave Inazuma unscathed!"
With that, Kujou Sara stormed out.
Paimon: "Sara just charged out! Is she planning to force her way into the tenshukaku?"
Lumine agreed: "Perfect timing. We have plenty of scores to settle with La Signora ourselves."
-
Tenshukaku.
By the time Lumine and Paimon arrived, Kujou Sara had already fallen.
Rosalyne: "Storming in one after another... If I didn't know this was Tenshukaku, I'd mistake it for a bustling marketplace."
"Now, you should finally understand," she sneered, glancing at the unconscious Sara on the ground.
"Ah, Kujou Sara got taken down by La Signora..." Paimon blurted out.
Before Paimon could finish, the Raiden Shogun, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke:
"The sins of Inazuma's citizens are mine to punish. You have no authority here, La Signora."
"...My apologies, Your Excellency," Rosalyne replied, her tone utterly indifferent, as if the person standing before her weren't the God of Inazuma.
"La Signora!"
Rosalyne turned her head. "Alright, alright, I know you can't forget me. You don't need to keep repeating my name."
"I also know you resent me, persistent Traveler. Seeing you here is no surprise at all."
Lumine confronted Rosalyne with her crimes in Inazuma, but La Signora remained unfazed.
"Those insignificant pawns whose names will never be remembered—to have played a part in this revolution, this Path to Eternity, even as mere stepping stones..."
Rosalyne gazed down at the unconscious Kujou Sara. "Isn't that already an extraordinary honor for their fleeting lives?"
Finally, in a move that sealed her doom, La Signora turned to face the Raiden Shogun:
"Shogun, I'm right, aren't I?"
The Raiden Shogun closed her eyes and let out a cold snort.
Lumine continued, "And in Mondstadt, you seized Venti's Gnosis. In Liyue, you put the entire nation at risk..."
"Shut up!" Rosalyne suddenly roared. "Don't you dare mention Mondstadt in my presence! Barbatos, that worthless wretch, has been in Mondstadt all along, yet he couldn't even protect his own people. How dare he call himself the Anemo Archon?!"
"He failed to save his people all those years ago, and he fails them again now! Where was he when Rostam sacrificed himself? Where was he when Rola died?!"
"He's just a self-righteous fool who can't accomplish anything!"
As she spoke, Rosalyne's eyes turned bloodshot, clearly consumed by extreme fury.
Lumine and Paimon were both taken aback by La Signora's violent reaction to the mention of Mondstadt.
The players in the live stream were equally shocked.
In the main storyline, there was no mention of Rola ever having known La Signora.
While there was a subtle reference to it in a side quest, it was so well-hidden that only a handful of players had ever discovered it.
[She mentioned Rola?]
[It sounds like La Signora knew Rola quite well.]
[Impossible! How could someone like Rola associate with someone like La Signora?]
[Someone like Rola would know everyone. It's not surprising at all.]
[Regardless, a fight's about to break out, right? I've hated La Signora since day one.]
-
Inside Tenshukaku Castle.
After venting her rage, Rosalyne glared at Lumine.
"The Tsaritsa's will is the purest and most noble thing in this world. What you call 'sacrifices' are merely necessary trifles."
Lumine, though curious about La Signora's earlier reaction, knew this wasn't the time to dwell on it.
"It's time we settled this, La Signora!"
"Heh, you're right. I've grown tired of your face too. I just never expected you to be so bold yet reckless..."
"Before you settle scores with me, remember this: you're Inazuma's most wanted fugitive, and standing beside me is the Raiden Shogun herself."
Lumine had anticipated this. She'd prepared for it; otherwise, she wouldn't have come here so brazenly.
"I challenge you to a Duel Before the Throne."
The Raiden Shogun suddenly opened her eyes and nodded.
"Granted."
-
At the Arataki Gang's headquarters, Yuna had fully recovered, and her Second Sister no longer restricted her freedom.
Without Kujou Sara commanding the Shogunate Army, and with its forces passively defending from top to bottom, the Resistance was on the verge of landing on Narukami Island.
Meanwhile, inside Tenshukaku, Lumine and La Signora were engaged in a Duel Before the Throne.
Seizing an opportunity, Yuna slipped away unnoticed.
Technically, I'm part of the Resistance too, she reasoned. Scouting Tenshukaku ahead of time shouldn't be a problem, right?
This was the climax of the Inazuma storyline, after all. She might even get to meet Shogun Ei in person.
Besides, Yuna had another reason for going to Tenshukaku: in case things went awry, she wanted to subtly "cooperate" with Angie to rescue La Signora.
At the same time, Angie was also stealthily infiltrating Tenshukaku.
-
Inside the Tenshukaku, the Duel Before the Throne raged on.
Having grown significantly stronger since the Rola incident, Lumine found the battle against La Signora relatively straightforward.
When her Ice Elemental Power proved ineffective against Lumine, Rosalyne encased herself in solid ice and incinerated it with crimson flames, transforming into the Crimson Witch of Flames.
Yet even this transformation proved insufficient against Lumine, ultimately leading to her defeat.
"Your power... how could you possibly..." Rosalyne stared at her hands, unable to comprehend her loss. How could she have been defeated by that detestable Traveler?!
"Hmph!" Paimon declared, hands on hips, looking utterly smug.
"Ha ha ha ha ha—!" Rosalyne suddenly erupted into manic laughter, pointing at Lumine and Paimon.
"Did you think I'd grovel for mercy? You must have been eager to see me beg, weren't you? Well, I'll tell you right now: it's never going to happen!"
"So what if I die? I should have died long ago. I don't need redemption, and I never wanted it in the first place! Never!"