Chapter 4: Constantine

(Chapter 4 Constantine)

Constantine the Blademaster... His name brings fear into the hearts of many throughout Teyvat, known by many names across the seven nations, in the deserts of Sumeru, he is called the Bladestorm, in the thunderous realms of Inazuma, he is known as the Silent Storm, in the war-torn region of Natlan, he is feared as the Juggernaut,

throughout most of his life, Constantine traveled across Teyvat, mastering every technique of every sword ever forged by man, despite bearing no Vision, his unrivaled prowess alone has won him countless duels, and his journey to perfect his swordsmanship has made him a living legend, a force of nature that strikes terror into the heart of his enemies, though he was born and raised in Fontaine, he shortly left after becoming twenty-one years old, he's not loyal to a flag or nation or any set of ideals if you wish to speak him you must do it with a sword in your hand.

Throughout his travels, he has purposefully avoided only two places, Snezhnaya and the ruins of the once-great nation of Khaenri'ah, he simply told Tempest, that he hates cold environments, and as for Khaenri'ah, it was supposedly the final place to end his journey to perfection, he spent half of his life honing his skills and learning new techniques of different swords, and throughout his journey, he has only been beaten thrice, hanging on his belt are four distinct swords, each hailing from a different nation, each having a unique story of their own.

The purple katana with the electro emblem at its base originated from Inazuma, a samurai commander of the Shogunate army who once challenged Constantine to a duel during his travels through Inazuma. The condition was that if the commander won, Constantine would submit and serve the Electro Archon forever, Constantine, seeking to hone his skills, did not refuse the challenge, the duel took place in Inazuma City, just outside the castle of the Electro Archon.

The Raiden Shogun was one of the spectators of the duel, during the duel Constantine grabbed a random samurai's katana to be his weapon, his opponent had an Electro Vision and years of disciplined training, but Constantine didn't care about it, the duel ended in a humiliating defeat for the Samurai commander, it ended merely in three minutes and not once the Samurai commander could land a hit in Constantine, Disappointed, the Electro Archon left, seeing one of her commanders lose so easily to a foreigner disappointed her greatly, Constantine took the Samurai commander's katana as a trophy, after a few days the Samurai commander retired from the Shogunate and took his own life... Or what they say in Inazuma, Seppuku.

The green-bladed Scimitar came from Sumeru, after arriving in Sumeru city he accepted a commission from the Corps of Thirty, that no other people would accept, the commission was to arrest the chieftain of the Second Sons Eremite tribe, who had been raiding other peaceful tribes in the desert and attacking research convoys from the Akademiya on their way to the desert.

Shortly after accepting the commission, Constantine set out into the desert, trekking through the unforgiving sands for days until he arrived at the gate of the Second Sons tribe, he politely requested a duel with their chieftain, only to be met with laughter and refusal from the guards, they made a terrible mistake, Constantine was not in a good mood, having endured the scorching desert journey for days only to be denied, fueled by anger, he slaughtered every warrior in the tribe, forcing his way through the gates. Anyone who blocked his path met a swift and brutal end, he truly was not in a good mood.

Finally, he faced the chieftain of the tribe, there was fear in his eyes, as the man in front of him slaughtered every warrior in his tribe only sparing those who wouldn't fight, their duel lasted much longer than he thought, Constantine, was still not familiar of the fighting techniques of the Eremites, but in the end, he won by a swift strike in the chieftain's heart, he claimed his sword as a trophy that he still wields today... He forgot he should've arrested the man, so he did not return to Sumeru city, because he'll probably be the one arrested.

During his ventures in the Chasm of Liyue, he obtained a pure black blade longsword, after visiting every Adepti domain in the high mountains of Liyue and finding his requests for a challenge unanswered, he ventured into the Chasm in search of a true test of his skills, he descended into the depths, far beyond where any miner would dare to go, as he ventured deeper, he discovered an inverted city guarded by strange knight-like individuals, the further he delved, the stronger the miasma from the peculiar purple crystals became, those crystals seemed abundant to the place.

As he decided to ascend back to the surface of the Chasm, he was stopped by the strange knight-like individuals, three of them blocked his path that would lead to the surface, and he was left with no choice, but to fight his way out, the knights fought with coordination and supported one another, their fighting style unlike anything Constantine had ever seen before, despite this, he persevered and survived the encounter, as a trophy for surviving down there, he picked up the pitch-black longsword that one of the knights had wielded.

The final and original sword that Constantine used most often was a Rapier, it was a weapon of exceptional craftsmanship and elegance, originally belonging to his wife, a skilled swordswoman, Constantine revealed to Tempest that it was his wife's sword, but he preferred not to elaborate further on its history, holding its emotional significance close to his heart, when he wielded the rapier, it was not just a tool of combat but a nostalgic connection to his memories and enduring love for his wife, who passed on to soon...

When Constantine returned to Fontaine he was asked by a courier from House Proudmoore to be the sword Teacher for Tempest, with no Mora on his name and preferring to sleep in a clean bed, perhaps teaching a child one or two techniques about the sword would not hurt, so he went with the courier to take a boat to Stormwind.

When he arrived at the Proudmoore mansion, Mengsk Proudmoore himself, toured him through the mansion, but Constantine didn't really care about the mansion's elegant displays and priceless artifacts, he constantly yawned every time Mengsk would explain the history of the previous Dukes from House Proudmoore, as Mengsk led him to the training grounds were his son waited for his new mentor, his eyes immediately widened when he laid his sights on Tempest, this child is no joke...

Immediately, Constantine asked the ten-year-old Tempest for a duel, he was eager to see how this child fought, never before in his entire journey had he been so interested in someone else's prowess until now. Adrenaline coursed through Constantine's body as he anticipated witnessing Tempest's full potential in combat.

The young Tempest looked at Constantine stoically, to him, this seemingly crazy man had appeared out of nowhere, asking for a duel, after a moment's consideration, Tempest nodded. Mengsk, observing the exchange, informed Constantine that his son had no prior experience with swords. undeterred, Constantine assured Mengsk that he would teach Tempest everything he knew if allowed to duel him, after some hesitation, Mengsk reluctantly agreed.

Constantine grabbed one of his four swords in his belt, giving Tempest the pitch-black longsword, he observed it for a while and he then held it with both his hands, signaling he was ready.

Constantine wielded his rapier, and as expected the boy fought with such ferocity that he was able to easily dodge and parry Constantine's attacks, his intuition was correct, this boy is talented... No, a prodigy that would one day surpass him.

Though Tempest lost the duel, he held his ground, he gave Constantine a good challenge compared to his other duels in the past, his journey has been put to a pause, he wants to witness this child's future endeavors.

"The Fatui? What do you wish to know about them, Young Master?"

Constantine asked Tempest, with a raised eyebrow.

"Everything..."

To which Tempest simply replied to him.

"Hm, very well, though my knowledge about them is limited, but, I do know a thing or two about how they do things, but first, fill me in on what you and your father talked about."

Constantine put his hand on his chin, curious about what he and his Father talked about.

"My Father after calling me into his office, shortly left after I sat down, and I was left alone with the Knave, she offered me to join the Fatui."

Tempest explained to Constantine.

"Did you accept?"

Constantine looked at him seriously.

"No."

Tempest replied to him quickly.

"Good, you shouldn't be near with those... People... They are known to manipulate others and are quite good at it, in my eyes, people who manipulate others are stupid, but people who are being manipulated are stupider."

Constantine shared his wisdom with Tempest with a smirk, to which he replied with a sigh.

"The Knave also gave me this."

Tempest took the small box out of his pocket and opened it for Constantine to see.

"A Delusion huh? A Pyro one as well, did it glow?"

Constantine asked Tempest, while he held the small box and looked at the Delusion closely.

"Yes, is that bad?"

In response, Constantine sighed and put his hand on his forehead.

"Technically yes, let's discuss this privately in my room, your father's eyes are everywhere."

"Agreed."

Tempest replied to him nonchalantly, they both headed inside the mansion, with Tempest following Constantine at the back as he led him into his room, the many empty rooms that were meant for guests to reside in when visiting remained unused for months, considering the current reputation of House Proudmoore, and the very end of the hall of it was Constantine's room.

"Come in, Young Master."

Constantine opened the door for him, as he stepped into his room, the overwhelming smell of wine and tobacco hit him instantly, the air was thick with the scent, almost suffocating, scattered clothes and empty wine bottles littered the floor, creating a chaotic and disorganized mess, clearly this once homeless person, is wasting himself in his free time.

"Seven hells... It reeks of wine and tobacco here... Let the maids for once clean this... Hellhole, how do you even live like this?"

Tempest winced his eyes, as the smell of tobacco was hurting his eyes, he cleared the scattered wine bottles and clothes using his boot and walked to the window opening it.

"Ha, everyone's a critic, sit down, Young Master, I've got something to show you."

Tempest sat down on a chair at the table near the window, as Constantine grabbed a locked chest in his closet.

"What's that?"

Tempest asked him, as Constantine put the chest on the table, he used his rapier to unlock it.

"See for yourself."

Tempest's eyes widened after seeing the contents in the chest, countless Visions and Delusions were inside of it, but something was not right, Tempest picked one of the Visions in the chest and held it with his two fingers.

"Why is it white?"

Tempest asked Constantine, the Vision in his fingers was merely an empty husk, none of the symbols of the seven elements present on its crystal.

"Oh, that? the owner is dead obviously."

Constantine replied to him while he also grabbed a masterless Vision in the chest before continuing.

"Once the person who wields a Vision dies, the Vision loses its color and any trace of elemental power within, turning it into an empty husk, I collected all of these during my travels, just a small trophy when winning a duel to the death."

Constantine explained to him while he looked out at the window, enjoying the cool breeze.

"I see... So it's useless now then."

Tempest replied, not even fazed by the fact that the Visions, Constantine collected were from his fallen foes, Tempest returned the masterless Vision to the chest, and he then grabbed a Delusion from the chest.

"What's so different about the two?"

Constantine turned to Tempest as he asked him a question, he grabbed a Delusion on the chest holding it with his right-hand fingers while he held the masterless Vision on his left-hand fingers.

"Before I reply, tell me, What is the main difference of the two?"

Constantine asked him, Tempest thought for a while before shortly answering his question.

"Visions are granted by the Gods of Celestia to those who have particularly powerful desires, or so they say, Delusions are obviously created by the Fatui, but how they make it is the question."

Tempest answered his question while putting his leg on top of the other and using his arm to rest his head.

"Correct, what sets them apart though, is that Visions can be used without limits and no consequences while Delusions cost something to its user to borrow its power, how did you even awaken yours?"

Constantine nodded at his answer, then he put back both Delusion and Vision in the chest.

"I tried to crush it with my bare hands, but one of its sharp ends pierced my fingers, the blood made contact with it and it started to glow for a few seconds."

Tempest replied to him.

"I see, I think the Delusion has recognized you as its user, the question is, are you gonna use it?"