Hold over Myriad of Worlds

Two days after the party, I found myself before a small crowd of people. Today was an important day for the Hold, departure toward a first new world.

-"Elysia, please be careful out there. If anything dangerous happens, choose your safety as the highest priority, do you understand?"

-"Yes! Don't worry, Yue. I'll be alright."

-"Sigh. Ganyu lease keen an eye on her."

-"I'll be sure not to let her leave my sight."-Cloud goat smiled softly.

As Elysia ran to members of Hope who will go with her, I moved to two Himekos who were making the final preparations for Astrall Express.

-"You really became twin sisters, huh?"

-"Hmm? Do seeing us two awaken some unknown fetish in you, Yue?"

-"From what I heard when I was a teacher in St. Freya, many fantasize about twin sisters."

-"Well, I don't mind if it's Yue, what about you?"

-"I have to get rid of my status as a left-over woman. I'm in!"

-"You... Sigh. Focus on the journey before you raise some flags."

Two redheads just giggled at my reaction.

-"Everything is prepared and double-checked. The only thing left is to start."

-"I see, then I can only wish you good luck."

Stepping back from the train platform, I looked over all who would travel. Astral Express crew all joined this expedition, and even more, they accepted a new member not long ago, Robin, who also will join them.

Aside from them, a total of ten members of Hope will be leaving for the new world: Elysa, Ganyu, Venti, Kiana, Bronya, Mei, Cecilia, Suzuka, Musashi, and Ryoma. As I was watching everybody board the Astral Express, Pom-Pom approached me.

-"Senior watching over thier juniors?"

-"You may say that."

-"Don't worry, they all will be alright."

-"I know, just... I'm still worried."

-"We have a communicator. If anything beyond us happens, we will call you."

-"Sigh."

A short while later, I watched how Astral Express accelerated and soon disappeared. Burying the worry deep in my heart, I left the terminal. 

-"Lord Yue, I received word that Hare returned with Seele."

-"Thank you, Rin. Bronya will be devastated that she missed meeting her before the departure."

I stood up from behind the desk and started walking out to meet Hare.

-"Fuxi, Nuwa, I completed the important documents. Please process them."

-"Leave it to us."

Moving to [Great Hall], where Hare and presumably Seele were waiting. As it was their first time here, they were looking around the hall. Hearing the Palace Guard saluting me, they looked over.

-"Yue, I brought her."

-"Thank you, Hare. You must be Seele. Did somebody tell you about what happened in your world?"

-"Yes... Your Majesty..? Is sister Bronya here?"

-"Sadly, you just missed her. You'll have to wait for her return. In the meantime, I suggest you learn how to control your Stigma from Hare."

-"My Stigma? Sister Hare, can you help me with that?"

-"I don't mind. Your stigma also gave birth to Stigmata, so I'll help to sort it out."

-"I notified Jingliu about you Hare. She accepted you becoming my Guard, and you will be working together with Sakura in the foreseeable future."

-"Good. Then please take care of me."

-"If you two have some questions, you can seek Jingliu in the dojo or ask Rin, who works here as my Maid."

They nodded and, after a few more words, left to look for the dojo I mentioned. I returned to my office and continued the mundane work of leaders.

Meanwhile, the puppet I controlled had finally completed all the tests. Casting illusions and preparing equipment, the puppet soon looked similar to me but with a much more average appearance.

-"Have you marked coordinates, da Vinci?"

-"Yes. Everything is ready for your jump."

-"Then let's begin."

Using World Compass as assistance, I started gathering the power of Trailblaze to perform a Warp jump. As no living being will be involved, it's much easier to do long-distance teleport. The only problem is to keep the puppet from being destroyed by Chaos.

Focusing my main body on the task, I opened the portal and jumped inside as the puppet. A short moment later, the rift closed, and I could feel that the puppet arrived at its destination.

What showed before me on the other side was a wasteland, with cities dispersed here and there. As I was falling from a great height, I tried to maneuver myself close to one of those cities, managing to land a short distance from one.

Sadly, it would appear that the luck of Nameless was still on me, as smoke billowing over the city suggested troubles were taking place. Deciding to bite the bullet, I entered inside, looking for information about where I was and what was going on.

The streets were mostly empty. I could only perceive groups of military and terrorists fighting sporadically. Avoiding them, I traveled around gathering what I could about the common sense of this world.

The first thing that struck me was the appearance of the natives, who all possessed animal-like characteristics. I had yet to see someone with a purely human appearance. Another thing was an energy that was slowly gathering in the atmosphere.

Deciding that the only way to gather knowledge I require is to question someone, I tried to find a person who would be easy to catch. Discovering a group of people who were sneaking around, I waited for an opportunity to grab one of them, but before I could take action, another group joined them.

Even though I lost the chance to capture one of them, I got to know that they were the third force aside from soldiers and terrorists. Following them from a safe distance, I saw them saving passing civilians and trying to leave the city.

Listening to the dialogue happening between them, I learned that they referred to their organization as Rhodes Island. Learning about Oripathy and Originium, I understood why this world possesses such high energy potential, yet it constantly dissipates and leaks outside.

Rhodes Island was able to defend against their opponents, receiving support from their other teams from time to time. Only when they run into a woman carrying a claymore do they become overwhelmed and pushed into a precarious situation.

Choosing to save them before some could sacrifice themselves, I appeared and, using the path of Nihility, destroyed the fire that surrounded them. Having power limited by the capacity of the puppet, in addition to lacking abilities coming from my body and spirit, I only made a breakthrough and ran away with members of Rhodes Island.

Allowing me to join them, I soon find myself on a transport plane.

-"I'm truly thankful for your assistance."

-"Treat it as me trying to gain something from you."

-"Even if you only want something from us, you saved our lives."

-"Amiya, he may be overwhelmed by your enthusiasm. Give him some space."

-"Ah! Sorry."

-"Don't worry, I just heard enough thanks lately."

-"So, can you tell us what you want from us?"

-"Knowledge."

-"Huh?"

-"You can consider me in a similar situation to your Doctor. I don't know anything about this place at all. Only some snippets from dialogues I heard in the city."

-"I see, then why don't you join Rhodes Island?"

-"Thank you for the invitation, but I can't become a member. If you want, I can become an advisor of sorts, but circumstances disallow me to become an official part of your power."

-"Your help will be much appreciated. We have some visitors there, so it's not a problem for you to stay."

-"Happy cooperation then, how can I call you?"

-"Right, I'm Amiya. Next to me are Dobermann and Ace. You already know the Doctor."

-"I'm Yue."

-"Are you from Yan? Your name shares similarities with the people there."

-"No, I don't have a homeland that I come from."

-"So you are a drifter. Well, don't mind. Many of us don't have a place other than Rhodes Island to call home."

-"Thank you, but I already found my home. I'm just traveling right now."

-"Good for you then."

-"Can you explain what you want to learn from us?'

-"Everything I can."

-"You are quite greedy."

-"That may be."

-"Capitan we arrived!"

-"Let's talk more later."

We landed on a massive landslip named the same as their organization. We were welcomed by personnel who started attending to the wounded and the Doctor. Amiya took me to the control room in order to introduce me to others.

-"Kal'tsit! We are back!"

-"Welcome back Amiya. I heard that the rescue was successful."

-"Yes, we were all able to return."

-"Good. This must be the person who helped you."

-"This is Yue. He saved us in need."

-"Yue, what do you want as a reward?"

-"Knowledge you can give."

-"We can't give you classified documents about Rhodes Island."

-"I'm not interested in those. I want everything about Terra, Originium, 

and history."

-"Are you some kind of researcher?"

-"You can consider me as such."

-"OK, it's agreeable to give you access to this type of information."

-"Thank you."

I left, and after being led by some nameless operator, I arrived in the archives. Picking some books about Terra, I started seeking a way to stabilize this world.

At the same time, in Hold, My main body was sitting together with Yae and Kokomi. While having relaxing tea, we talked about the Ministry of Culture.

-"You want to organize a festival, huh? But won't it be too quickly after the founding day?"

-"You are partly right. I want Hold to have six major festivals, the founding day, and one per Principle."

-"That is not a bad idea. What Principle do you want to celebrate first?"

-"As in the calendar of Hold new year starts on the founding day, the first day of the third month will be a day of Avarice."

-"And how do you plan to celebrate this day?"

-"We will move the festival from Liyue to Hold."

-"Something similar to Rite of Descension then. Ningguang would be happy to continue that tradition, but will you require me to do a speech or something?"

-"No, I plan to turn the ceremony into a day when one can pray for blessings from you but also send wishes your way."

-"Gathering public opinion?"

-"Exactly."

-"You truly are a fox."

-"Are you not?"

We smiled at each other. 

-"Kokomi, how are you doing? I hope Yae doesn't cause too many problems for you."

-"I'm well. Working here in Hold is rewarding."

-"Happy to hear that. Do you have anything in mind? You sit here quietly, don't be afraid to speak up."

-"I just wanted to be more useful to you."-Spoke Kokomi with a slight blush.-" You saved the people of Inazuma and continue to take care of them, yet I can't do anything to help with that burden."

-"Aren't you helping me all the time, organizing many things in the city alongside Yae?"

-"Am I truly helpful? I feel like I don't do much..."

-"Then how about you take me around the city some other day? I haven't walked the streets for some time already. Having someone to introduce some places to me would be nice."

-"Yes! Please leave it to me."

-"Wow, Yue, to think that you would ask someone for a date in front of me. You break my heart."

-"Date?!"-Kokomi reacted to Yea's words.

-"Don't worry, Yae, I'll take you another time."

-"That veil is making your skin thicker and thicker. I can't wait to spend some alone time with you."

Our tea time continued for some time. Yae and Kokomi left after it was late in the evening. I moved back to my workshop and started working on some personal projects. The next morning, Rin came to me in a hurry and told me about an emergency in the Divination Commission. 

Arriving there, Fu Xuan was fully focused on restraining some being that was trying to trace the Hold from outside. Jumping in to help her, we were able to push back our opponent. In ten minutes, the crisis was averted.

-"Fu Xuan, what had happened?"

-"Some kind of being was trying to make divination about you, and we resisted its action."

-"Divination about me? With that kind of power, it had to be Aeon or being equal in strength to it."

-"I'll put Divination Commission on high alert."

-"Don't overwork them."

-"I'm not Keqing. Thanks for your help, Yue."

-"There is no need for thanks between us."

-"Like you are one to talk about not thanking."

I stayed with Fu Xuan, and we put up some defenses against what had just happened. We also tried to trace the attacker back, but the only piece of information we were able to get was a chaotic mess of symbols.

On my way back, I ran into Dr. Mei, who asked me for a moment of my time.

-"Yue, we completed most of our preparations against the final Herrscher. We learned the approximate date of the fight from Gray Serpent, and it will take place in about ten days."

-"So quickly? Elysia might not be able to return in time."

-"I've already contacted her, and she will be back on time."

-"Good to hear that. I'll certainly help you. I suggest you also inform Jingliu and others in dojos. Some of them will haply challenge a powerful opponent."

-"Hmm... More hands to help will be appreciated. I'll be sure to ask them."

Continuing with my purpose, I arrived at the workshop of Vill-V. Inside, she, along with Tesla and Tsubaki, worked on some machine.

-"Hey, do you mind some interruption?"

-"Yue? We are just playing around at this moment. Do you need something?"

-"You are aware of my puppet, right? I found some information on what is going on there, but in order to stabilize that world, I'll need some new technologies."

I explained about Originium and its properties.

-"That material is truly mysterious."

-"I'll worry about a cure for Oripathy later. Now, we have to somewhat contain that energy from dissipating constantly."

-"Hmm... Do you have any ideas on where to start?"

-"We will either have to use the 'wall' that those ancient beings constructed there or find a new way to deal with it."

-"That wall can indeed be used..."

-"I think that making new technology is a better idea."

-"There are four of us. Let's create some basic tools right now and test them before we put all the eggs in one basket. Later, if both are still visible, we can split and work on two ideas at the same time."

-"Good. Can you bring some of that material here?"

-"Yes, but only in isolated workshops. I don't want to risk someone's health. You also should make some precautions."

-"Don't worry."

-"Yup. Let's go, I'm fired up!"

We started our work, cooperating between Hold's side research and puppet's side reading archives. Along the way, Aranyani and Sucrose joined us to try and create a cure for the Oripathy. 

During four days of work, we were able to create some minor tools filtering air, but nothing that could be called a major breakthrough. To gather some more Originium for the experiments, I decided to gather some with the puppet. As Rhodes Island was now negotiating with another city, I decided to go there and seek some more things that may prove useful.