Chapter 115: Chapter 109
A single day... A single fucking day was all it took for Ei to sally out, end the damned Civil War and empower Kujou Sara to use her Tengu heritage to zip around Inazuma and deliver the Visons she once took to inlay upon the statue of the Raiden Shogun.
After that, there was nothing holding Ei from following me back to Liyue as she was already a recluse with the Tri-Commission running Inazuma's day-to-day activities.
But while Ei the Raiden Shogun was finalizing the details of her going on a pilgrimage in her own words. Yae Miko had cornered me for a private discussion apparently.
"Haaa... You are literally stealing my homelands god. I can't tell if I am annoyed at the work you are dumping on me, or just glad you wrenched Ei from her shell so abruptly." Yae spoke lazily as she was eating some pink mochi that was only a shade different from her own hair.
I gave a wry smile as I said frankly. "Well, the consequences of doing a good deed I suppose."
Yae's eye's sharpened into slits as her little bits of electro-lightning danced between her fingers as she spoke more coldly. "You do realize running around with a god is going to have the world look at you much more differently though. You running into Fontaine with Ei for example will be far more involved and difficult with how more engaged the Goddess of Justice is along with that annoying water newt."
I shrugged only saying plainly. "Yae Miko... Literally every nation in this world is imploding for some reason or another right now. Whatever happens, happens... But yeah I get it though only the nations gods can hold Ei back." I finished with a weird expression as I wondered how my journey was going to change now.
What with the literal Raiden Shogun following me around, what real challenges could their actually be? Unless Ei just decides not to fight for some reason.
But I shook the thought away as I shifted to another topic. "Yae, the Fatui may still follow us due to the Electro Gnosis if she still has it. Unless you have it, which in that case I am not sure if they can sense or track it but the Fatui are trying their hardest to collect the damned things."
Yae Miko stilled and her eyes sharpened as she looked at me from where she was lazily squeezing her Mochi and she said somewhat sarcastically. "Hoh? Is that concern I hear from my adorable little disciple? But no I will be fine and I am curious as to how you think I have the Gnosis currently as I have made no mention of the trinket."
Shrugging my shoulders I decided to tease her back as I put upon a slightly arrogant voice. "As you well know, the dead when it comes to me do not keep their secrets... And besides my dear 'master' I have already surpassed your centuries of experience with but a month and a half of your enlightened tutelage. Soon, I imagine you will seek my own teachings."
The Narukami's head shrine maiden's face pinched as she looked like she wanted to slap or shock me with some lightning... But she knew from experience I could just call up a geo shield and just laugh at her from behind it.
After a moment Yae hummed and looked out towards the large gravel garden with myself looking out towards the picturesque little alcove in the back of Ei's massive palace and after a moment I could hear dark humor enter Yae's voice as she spoke.
"Oh, you desire to see me bow and accept you as my own master in the Electro arts? How about we spar for a minute with just Electro powers and we see the distance between the two of us?"
I looked at Yae, wondering where this came from as she was usually the very definition of a lazy fox who made everyone else do her bidding before she even bothered to get her hands dirty.
I was so confused I actually voiced that thought as I said flatly. "What is your game Miko. You are up to something."
Yae just tittered with her sitting up and gently patting her waist clear of any crumbs from her snacks as she said teasingly. "Oh are you scared of my lightning's bite Jake? Or do you need to make a bet out of this to actually get you to do this."
Snorting I got up and dropped my saber and my great sword on the wooden porch carefully while I spoke out with amusement. "No, it's obvious that you have some kind of ploy or something going on, you devious kitsune... So what do you want to bet on?"
She giggled with folding an arm under her breasts as raised her other hand at me while making the fox face with her hand by having the two middle fingers meeting her thumb while her pinky and pointer finger stood up like they were fox ears.
"Oh... Hmm. When I win you will go pay let's say a hundred and fifty thousand Mora to my Fried Tofu restaurant so I can have all the Fried Tofu while Ei is gone and I am so lonely. Oh and you need to kneel and call me master a dozen times as you bow towards me." She finished with sadistic amusement making my eye twitch at the cocky way she said that.
Sure the money was... A good bit of money but I could and did get five hundred thousand Mora while I was here in Inazuma doing some side adventurer work when Ei and Yae were busy doing their own thing with Shenhe's help as we killed bandits and Hilichurls.
But once again. She was up to something so I raised an eyebrow and said flatly. "I don't want your money... So what do you even have to offer then the joy of making you in turn bow to me and call me master or something to that effect?"
Yae at my words put a finger to her lip as though in thought before she smiled deviously and said. "Oh and how about a kiss from me hehe?" She giggled at the end of her words, due to my expression before I rolled my eyes.
"Alright alright Yae. I don't know what game you are playing but I will go along with it for now." I said stretching out and between my fingers arced dark purple lightning as I flexed my bare hands seeing as we were just sparing but Yae summoned her Gohei that allowed her to channel her Electro lightning due to being made from a branch of the Narukami Shrine tree in the back that housed Makoto's soul for centuries.
'Yae is strictly a caster and although we haven't directly sparred or fought before. I can call upon more lightning but hers will be more concentrated due to the Gohei and her having more time to refine the lightning's control.' I thought.
And after a moment of our eyes meeting we moved!
Lightning crackled violently through the garden as I enhanced my body with electro energy and dashed towards Yae with my hand in a chopping motion. But she dodged with her body turning into a pinkish purple electro haze as she lazily dashed away but she left behind a large ball of lightning that violently exploded behind her.
Swiping the lightning away from myself as my form jolted with more lightning I took inspiration from the Lightning Armor technique of Naruto but with Electro. It was my own energy formed from my soul and body's energy so that it literally couldn't harm me.
So I was able to far more easily enhance my body and bodies reaction time.
A bolt of lightning shot down on me from the sky filled with Inazuma's naturally enhanced lightning energy and I held in an eye roll as Ei loved this attack the most besides just cutting things in half with her spear or her sister's sword.
Taking a breath I absorbed the powerful bolt of lightning onto my form as I dug my toes into the ground and winced at the power of it. But in turn as Yae came out of her little spectral dash I punched toward her and the massive bolt of natural lightning's excess energy left my form as a carriage-sized fist of solid lightning that screamed as it tore through the air and smashed into where she was.
"My oh my that was violent. You are taking after Ei so much in using Electro energy, I don't know what you could teach me if all you are doing is throwing giant fists of lightning." Yae teased as the lightning fist construct broke apart as Yae created an electro-barrier construct that diverted and grounded the lightning into the ground.
I chuckled and held my hands out as I said evenly. "Sometimes the blunt and bombastic method is the best for getting to the heart of things... Oh and I made up my mind, I think a certain smug Miko needs a little bit of a spanking for all her mischievous actions should I win."
My words made Yae look at me with a dark look in her eyes as she gave out a throaty chuckle. "Hoh? Well, then I suppose I cannot afford to play around then... But in that case, I will probably step on your head a bit when you are bowing to me when I win."
My lips twitched as I looked at her thick wooden sandals and I said firmly. "Then I am sorry Yae Miko... I cannot afford to lose then."
There was a tense silence as we stared at one another. Waiting for the other to make a move so we could counter them. But I had already began my own plan long ago when I had grounded myself with my feet entering the ground. I pulsed the thin but solid lines of electro power I had burrowed into the ground out of her view and Yae's eyes flashed in surprise as ten large ropes of purple lightning shot from the ground around her up into the air to ensare her form.
Instantly she tried to do that weird electro-spatial shifting trick she had but the lightning ropes managed to snag onto her but just before I could make my next move I saw a cold smile enter her face and I instantly threw up a powerful shield as from the original path she made when she was dashing around at the start of the fight.
A dozen totems that sparked with great Electro power roared to life and knowing that even with aura I was in for a bad time I did the smartest thing and spun around with my electro shield spinning apart into a web of thin threads that lashed into the ground like a circus tent over my form and as the totems shot countless arm sized bolts of lightning into the web of grounding wires I made.
But I could see through the net as Yae smiled victoriously for some reason as I mentally pulled the Electro ropes binding and shocking her form making her kneel and call out with a fake as hell pitiful voice. "Aiii that's enough Jake, are you trying to fry this helpless little miko out of some misplaced anger?"
Knowing that Yae was a troll, I asked frankly as her lightning totems broke apart into motes of purple electro light. "Do you yield?" I asked with the lightning ropes going slack around her form and she nodded with that same pitiful expression as she rubbed her arms where my ropes got her.
To which Yae gave me a pointed look and said flatly. "Yes Jake, I formally surrender. All hail the great disciple of the Narukami Ogosho, the keeper of the Lightning's Glare, breaker of evils, and hope bringer of Inazuma. Do I need to list off the other titles the people have given you to stroke your ego?"