Chapter 244: A Dream Promised to Her Subjects

"When people advance with all their might..."

"They can exceed the expectations of gods."

Lumine looked at Raiden Ei before her and spoke.

"Is this what you learned from your journey in Liyue?"

Yae Miko looked at Lumine beside her and said with some surprise.

"Indeed..."

"Morax and I are unexpectedly satisfied with what the people of Liyue have accomplished."

Morcius smiled upon hearing this.

Then, transforming into Qiu Bai appearance, he spoke slowly with a smile at the corner of his lips.

"A nation where humans run forward, leaving the gods behind..."

"Then why have we stubbornly unilaterally given up on advancing?"

Yae Miko crossed her arms over her chest and asked Raiden Ei before her with a sense of melancholy.

"...The losses that come with progress."

"You have witnessed them alongside me."

Raiden Ei placed one hand on her chest and spoke to Yae Miko with a slightly trembling voice.

"Only eternity, only eternity can..."

Raiden Ei murmured with her eyes slightly closed.

A scene appeared in the Plane of Euthymia.

...

"Where lightning flashes, shadows are cast..."

Cherry blossoms around were stirred by a gentle breeze.

On the bridge stood a woman wearing a kimono.

She looked exactly like Raiden Ei; she was Raiden Makoto.

But in the reflection below the bridge, wearing armor and holding Engulfing Lightning, was Raiden Ei.

"I am the shadow."

"With Musou no Hitotachi, I clear away all obstacles to Inazuma progress..."

Raiden Ei held Engulfing Lightning, behind her were numerous Inazuman samurai in armor.

The scene flashed to show scales of a serpent, gleaming with lightning, incredibly hard.

The giant serpent opened its bloody maw toward Raiden Ei, roaring!

The scene changed, a Thunder Manifestation, pierced through by a beam of lightning!

"Yet... with each step forward, something is lost..."

Ei knelt on one knee, holding Engulfing Lightning.

Behind her were numerous mutated monsters brought about by the disaster that Khaenri'ah had triggered.

"Until finally, even 'she' was lost."

Raiden Ei closed her eyes slightly, a tear of blood streaming down.

"She once said that she had forgotten something..."

"But she would still go to that tombstone to plant a sea of flowers..."

The scene changed to a tombstone, surrounded by a beautiful sea of flowers, countless petals flying toward the high sky.

Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei stood before the tombstone.

Holding flowers, they were planting them in this sea of blossoms...

"I... have also forgotten."

"But she is no longer here..."

The scene changed, showing Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei planting flowers, but one of them was missing...

"Those deeds."

"Are still celebrated under the shade of every Thunder Sakura tree."

"But those losses, the marks they left on this country."

"Still burn with pain."

It was the Sacred Sakura at the Grand Narukami Shrine, the beautiful Sacred Sakura, dropping its crystalline petals...

Yae Miko stood below, looking at this beautiful Sacred Sakura.

"Pursue it if you wish... even if it's just a fleeting light."

"At least we have this moment..."

Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei stood on a patch of grass, facing a cherry blossom tree hung with wishes.

Raiden Makoto, dressed in a kimono, held a cute pink fox and an oil-paper umbrella.

Her beautiful, gentle appearance created a clear contrast with Raiden Ei.

"She once said this..."

Raiden Ei lowered her head and said sadly.

"Yet I witnessed a nation running with all its might..."

"Lose everything before the Heavenly Principles..."

It was a vast sea of fire, with fragmented land floating above it.

The buildings on the land had been destroyed beyond recognition.

Countless dark red cubes floated above the sea of fire...

"...Perhaps only by freezing time."

"Can lightning never fade away..."

Raiden Ei held the deceased Raiden Makoto, weeping in pain.

"This moment is fragile and illusory..."

"Only eternity comes closest to the Heavenly Principles."

In the scene, Raiden Ei raised Musou Isshin, firming the resolve in her heart.

"Now, I am no longer a shadow."

"This body, the most noble and precious form, should hold the great power of the world."

Raiden Ei sat in the Plane of Euthymia; the red moon behind her was initially gray and dim.

"This body should promise its subjects a dream."

"That is eternity, unchanging and unwavering through thousands of generations."

The puppet Raiden Shogun sat in Tenshukaku holding Engulfing Lightning.

She cast her gaze toward the higher heavens.

At this moment, the scene disappeared from above the Plane of Euthymia.

...

"The Heavenly Principles are something I don't quite comprehend."

"In any case, you simply want to protect your beloved Inazuma forever, is that right?"

Yae Miko thought for a moment with her hand on her chin, then looked at Raiden Ei before her and asked softly.

"You're describing it too lightly."

Raiden Ei turned her back to Yae Miko and spoke slowly.

"But does this nation have value in existing eternally?"

"A nation that has lost its wishes, lost its changes, and merely exists, is nothing but an empty shell."

Yae Miko looked at Raiden Ei back and said with furrowed brows.

"Heh~"

"In that case, what would it matter if it were destroyed?"

Yae Miko chuckled lightly; what would it matter if such a nation were destroyed?

"Miko, withdraw your reckless words."

"Eternity unchanging through thousands of generations is the promise I made to my subjects."

Raiden Ei looked at Yae Miko before her, clutching her chest with a frown.

"But what your subjects need..."

"Is not your promise, what they want is your attention."

Yae Miko looked at Raiden Ei before her and sighed.

"Visions?"

"Humans live only for a hundred years; they cannot bear those losses."

Raiden Ei looked at Yae Miko before her and shook her head.

"I, who have experienced everything."

"Will choose to guide them toward the correct eternity."

Raiden Ei looked at Qiu Bai and the others before her and spoke.

"...But eternity for you."

"Is too cruel, Ei..."

Yae Miko looked at her dear friend before her and said with pain in her heart.

"For me?"

Raiden Ei opened her beautiful eyes and murmured somewhat naively.

"You not only no longer watch over the people."

"You have also stopped watching over yourself."

Yae Miko looked at Raiden Ei before her and said gently.

"For hundreds of years..."

"Being alone here must have been very lonely."

Yae Miko looked around the space and said with heartache.

"But this is necessary..."

Raiden Ei covered her chest with one hand, looked at Yae Miko before her, and shook her head.

"If you don't move forward, you'll miss out on many things..."

"Even as you remain still until eternity, aren't you also losing something?"

Yae Miko looked at Raiden Ei before her and asked in return.

(T/N: Like the story fellow daoist? Now you can read 30 chapters ahead on my P@treon [p@treon.com/DaoistRongyi] Thanks for your support! 😊)