Balladeer fell silent, and Paimon and Lumine also fell silent. (Paimon couldn't see, but Lumine and Qixuan-jie were speaking aloud, not through consciousness.)
A few minutes later, Balladeer suddenly laughed.
“Balladeer (consciousness): Hahahaha! I thought you would use some method to dispel this consciousness of mine, or reveal a plan to stop me. I didn't expect you to make up a lie to fool me. What? Is this a new Sumeru joke?”
“Lumine: (Qixuan-jie wouldn't joke at a time like this. If she said Greater Lord Rukkhadevata is still alive, then... Greater Lord Rukkhadevata must be trapped or severely injured for some reason right now.)”
“Paimon: Has he started talking nonsense? No! If you want to hurt them both, you'll have to beat me first!”
“Balladeer (consciousness): Hahaha, seeing as we've had a good chat today, I advise you to put away those so-called guardian sentiments. You know nothing of the truth. This is for everyone, and even more so for yourselves. For creatures like humans, ignorance is bliss.”
“Qixuan: Heh heh, I'm waiting for Lumine to beat you to a pulp and then send you back to your creator so she can properly discipline you.”
“Lumine: Me?”
“Balladeer (consciousness): Heh heh, no matter. Soon, you will know that the authority of a god is a peak you cannot surmount. I look forward to our confrontation. Before that, don't throw away your lives for nothing. How about it, anything else you want to ask?”
“Lumine: Dottore wants to take Haypasia away, you know that, right? She's still sick, and that will worsen her condition.”
“Balladeer (consciousness): Is 【Dottore】 going after my first follower?”
“Lumine: You're not angry?”
“Balladeer (consciousness): Hahahaha, how amusing. Has no one told you? You're not good at sowing discord. He has always been arrogant. A mere human, even now, still wants to interfere with the affairs of a new god. You're somewhat naive to think you can use my power to eliminate Dottore with just a few words. But I'm willing to give you a gift, just like I did for Haypasia...”
“Lumine: What are you going to do?”
“Balladeer (consciousness): Heh heh... Good deeds and bad deeds are the same to me. That's what's special about a god.”
Balladeer's hand suddenly dropped, stirring up a series of thunderclaps.
“Paimon: Ah! It's thundering! Did Balladeer really chat with you for so long?”
“Qixuan: Heh, bluster.”
“Lumine: Could it be that Balladeer used the Gnosis to change the weather...?”
“Paimon: Then aren't the people outside in danger? Let's go out and see quickly. Dehya and Tighnari are still outside.”
“Qixuan: Let's go. It's time to settle this. Let's meet up first.”
“Lumine: Mm.”
.........
“Paimon: Tighnari! What happened to you?!”
At this moment, Tighnari was emitting faint electrical sparks, as if he had just been struck by lightning. Qixuan helped him remove the electricity from his body, which made him feel a bit better.
“Tighnari: Ugh... Thanks, I'm fine now.”
“Dehya: Don't move around. You need to rest now. I've seen this kind of lightning strike before, and you need to recuperate.”
“Paimon: Struck by lightning?!”
“Dehya: Just now, the weather suddenly became very strange. The lightning seemed alive and furiously attacked this place. Luckily, only the two of us were here, and we're quite agile, so dodging was relatively easy. I also heard screams from a distance. It must have been the Fatui who couldn't escape in time and got struck.”
“Lumine: The lightning was... because of me. I'm sorry.”
“Tighnari: It's okay. You couldn't have predicted this would happen, so don't worry too much about it. By the way, how is Haypasia?”
The thunder in the sky grew louder. Qixuan first told everyone to go inside to talk, as she had some things to deal with.
“Lumine: Be careful.”
“Qixuan: Don't worry, I'll be fine.”
Then, her figure flickered and disappeared from the spot.
After everyone went inside, Lumine told Dehya and Tighnari what had just happened.
“Tighnari: Good thing she's okay.”
“Paimon: You should be worried about yourself!”
“Tighnari: My condition... I know it myself. It's not fatal. Besides, didn't Qixuan-jie remove the lightning for me? I'm fine.”
“Dehya: Don't try to be strong.”
“Tighnari: Haha, but... that Balladeer would actually do something like that, and the Akademiya, the God-creation project, how outrageous...”
“Paimon: I didn't expect it either.”
“Dehya: I don't know how to comment on these, uh... grand ambitions? Can I say that? Anyway, I don't understand these guys. But what makes me even more curious is, Qixuan said Greater Lord Rukkhadevata isn't dead? What's the situation? Is that human language?”
“Lumine: I don't know either, but Paimon and I, throughout our journey, she has helped us a lot, just like family. Qixuan-jie wouldn't lie.”
“Tighnari: Then there are many points we need to consider. Let's put this aside for now. We can now confirm that Dottore has indeed left Sumeru for something.”
“Lumine: Mm. Haypasia's matter is related to Balladeer. He said Haypasia was his first follower and personally witnessed his past.”
“Tighnari: So, how much does Traveler know about Balladeer? What happened in his past?”
“Lumine: I'm not very clear, but I heard Qixuan-jie say that he is a puppet abandoned by Raiden Shogun. That's why he has the Gnosis of the Electro Archon, I guess.”
“Paimon: I heard Yae Miko mention it too.”
“Dehya: ......... It's very tricky. But now we can confirm that his relationship with Dottore is very bad; they almost can't stand each other.”
“Tighnari: That might actually be a good thing. At least Dottore won't come to disrupt the plan anymore. *cough cough*...”
“Dehya: Tighnari, thank you for your help. You should rest well here now.”
“Lumine: Please make sure to rest well. Leave the rest to us.”
“Tighnari: Okay.”
“Dehya: All right, next, we should go meet up at the Grand Bazaar.”
On the other side... In the thundering Sumeru City, all residents thought it was going to rain heavily and hid in their homes.
Inside the Sanctuary of Surasthana... Nahida seemed to sense something and slowly opened her eyes, then saw a familiar figure.
“Qixuan: Heh heh, awake? Even such loud thunder outside didn't wake you up.”
“Nahida: You shouldn't be here. Balladeer is still monitoring me. This will affect your plans.”
“Qixuan: I believe in Lumine. She's no longer the Traveler who first gained elemental power and got herself swept up by a tornado.”
“Nahida: That's truly delightful news. However, once I leave his sight, he will act prematurely.”
“Qixuan: Whether we fight early or late, it's still a fight. Let's go.”
Qixuan quickly pulled Nahida out, which left Balladeer on the other side dumbfounded.
(Balladeer: Alms? Am I not respected?)