Beyond Teyvat, in the vastness of the cosmic expanse, Sikorc once again felt the immensity of the universe under Su Xuan's guidance.
"It's been centuries since I last felt this," she murmured, sincere awe in her voice. Ever since she stowed into Teyvat as a stowaway she'd not left that world — and the space beyond had changed in ways she could hardly imagine. Moon fragments still floated broken in the void, but the Abyss's presence was far stronger now than it had ever been. When that black tide touched the shell of the False Heaven, it seemed to be swallowed and then seeped back out from a completely different direction.
Sikorc lowered her eyes and glanced at the planet beneath her. "To wrap an entire world in a time-space conduit…" she said softly. Against a planet, living things were dust; she could not fathom what power it would take to bundle a world like that — let alone what kind of force could shatter a planet with a single blow. Yet Su Xuan did exactly that with a strike.
"Release the Star-Swallowing Whale," Su Xuan said.
Sikorc moved without hesitation. Not long after Su Xuan left the Opéra Épiclèse, she had brought back the captured whale — a black orb in her hands that slowly swelled until a titanic, single-horned leviathan quietly materialized between them. The cosmic space tore; red, branch-like tendrils crawled out of the rift. The sight made Sikorc's brows pull together. Those writhing vines were unnerving in a way that stole her calm.
Su Xuan plucked one slender branch and wove it into the whale's body. He stared at the slumbering creature and said, flatly, "There. It's done. Once it wakes it will go searching for food on its own. I can absorb anything it consumes across space, time, and dimensional boundaries. If it dies for any reason, I'll notice immediately and revive it with the Qian-Kun Mirror, then send it back out into the cosmos."
This whale wasn't merely asleep like before. The original whale that slumbered in the Primordial Belly Sea had required Tartaglia — Sikorc's former master's disciple — to rouse it because fate intervened. But fate's arrangements mean little when Sikorc is involved: she'd woken it with two snaps of lightning in the sea and then knocked it out again, hauled it back, and presented it to Su Xuan. Now that it was returned to the celestial sea, it would wake, grow hungry, and feed; Su Xuan would quietly reap the energy.
"It'll serve as a cleaner — help clear Abyssal taint near Teyvat," Su Xuan nodded, satisfied.
Sikorc hesitated, then asked the question that had been burning in her mind. "You said it ignores space, dimensions, and time…"
Su Xuan smiled at her. "My Jianmu is…special. It ignores space and dimensions. Its branches form links regardless of distance. Even if the whale drifts to the edge of a universe or slips into another one entirely, as long as it lives, whatever it swallows feeds me."
"Even across different universes?" Sikorc's pupils widened.
She chewed on the impossibility. Different universes — really? It was more than any simple spatial trick. She rubbed her temples and decided some mysteries weren't worth prying into. Besides, the whale wasn't likely to wander the multiverse. She wondered what expression her old master, Suolterochi, would wear when seeing this — he'd be ecstatic and rush to Teyvat, though Sikorc had doubts he could slip in and out as casually any longer. Space itself has hierarchies.
Once the whale was sent back, the two returned to Teyvat. Su Xuan planned to linger in Fontaine a few days; Sikorc, Rosaline, Arlecchino, and Columbina headed back to the Jade Pavilion. But upon returning to their temporary residence, Su Xuan found three anxious figures pacing the room.
The moment Su Xuan appeared, Furina flung herself at him. "Su Xuan, you have to help me!"
He blinked, puzzled. "What's wrong?"
Furina rushed to explain, breathless: the Opéra Épiclèse performance had been a success, she'd publicly promised to solve Fontaine's crisis, and now she had to follow through — he couldn't abandon her.
Su Xuan's expression remained inscrutable. He scanned Clorinde and Navia as well: they, too, were on edge. Navia explained how she'd met Lumine and Paimon and gotten flustered by their talk — it turned out Paimon had frightened them with talk of "Les" and addiction. Su Xuan listened and finally laughed.
He gently patted Furina's jellyfish-soft head and said, "Why don't you taste the Les? If there's no strong emotional reaction, no addiction, then you're truly normal. Besides — drinking Les won't dissolve you."
The trio blinked in dawning comprehension.
"Right!" Furina cried. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Su Xuan smiled, "Lumine and Paimon see things through what they know of me. But small problems like this don't need so much drama. While you were at the theater, I already made the Fontaine people into true humans."
Furina exhaled a sound of pure relief. "I knew it. So I can keep taking my seat in the VIP box every day without worry!" She stood a little taller, proud.
Su Xuan suppressed a grin — he found it amusing the way Furina and Focalors differed ever so slightly in temperament though they shared the same form. Even if he had used DNA from Furina's body to construct a new body for Focalors, the moment Focalors' consciousness returned, a subtle gap appeared: manner and bearing flowed from within. Perhaps it was the old 'face follows heart' notion — Focalors' inner maturity showed outwardly. Su Xuan wondered at it quietly.
Clearing his throat, Su Xuan pretended gravity and sighed theatrically, "I'm a bit hurt that you'd trust a gluttonous Paimon over me. Fine — if you insist, I'll revert them."
The three women shrieked. "No!" Furina spun like a top, frantic. "You can't!"
Su Xuan feigned sternness. "Then let's be civilized: in Inazuma they have duels before lords, and Fontaine has similar customs. If one of you wins this duel, I won't take the change back. Come with me to the Serenitea Pot."
With that he produced the Pot and led the bewildered trio inside his personal realm.
—
Meanwhile, back at the Palais des Mers, Neuvillette read the diary's explanation and felt his face go pale. Focalors' plan — her sacrificial scheme to restore the Ancient Dragon's authority and absolve Fontaine — was terrifying in scope. What Neuvillette least expected, though, was Su Xuan's arrival: he hadn't merely moved things; in a heartbeat Su Xuan altered the genetic structure of the Fontaine populace, turning mimetic bodies into genuine humans. That exceeded Neuvillette's conception of power.
"No wonder Furina dared to taunt the High Heavens with confidence," Neuvillette murmured. "That so-called Captain of the Azure Legion was just an identity he attached for show. Su Xuan—he and his two lieutenants are from beyond the world. His power? He could claim the Throne of Eternity if he wished."
Focalors nodded softly. "Furina is fortunate. Su Xuan likes her." She bowed her thanks to Neuvillette and relayed Su Xuan's words: he promised he would, when time allowed, personally visit the Sky-Isles and return the Ancient Dragon prerogatives. He had good relations with Tervalin and the Rudra Dragon King; he would do this when he chose.
Neuvillette felt gratitude and a cautious hope. With Su Xuan's intervention, the need for Dragons to reclaim their ancient rights was less pressing — but if Su Xuan offered to restore those rights later, it was only sensible to accept.
Just then the air split. A red rift tore open and a roaring pressure flooded the room, making both Focalors and Neuvillette gasp. From the tear stepped a silver-haired woman, her legs wrapped in white bandages, her bare feet poised as if they walked upon nothing. Her eyes were golden and icy; they swept across the pair and imposed a crushing, silent force.
"Who are—" Neuvillette's composure cracked; sweat beaded his brow.
"Keeper of Fate," Focalors whispered with horror, unable to hold it back.
Though Focalors was only the second Water-Regent to inherit Egothelia's position, the passing of the mantle had left her with a memory — a face — of this very Keeper. She recognized that noble, terrible presence instantly.
Silence fell. The Keeper's gaze fixed on Focalors. The woman raised a palm — and in it was a diary copy identical to Focalors' own.
Focalors stilled. The Keeper's voice flowed, quiet and steady: "Take me to him. I have brought the seven God-seats and the mechanism of the False Heaven's Fate System."
Focalors' breath caught. Neuvillette's eyes widened into stunned question marks.
—
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