Right.
Thoma did get captured.
I wish that wasn't the opening line of this chapter, but hey—life sucks sometimes. Especially in Inazuma.
By the time we reached the Statue of the Omnipresent God, the mood was already grave. You'd think the atmosphere would be dramatic in a cheesy, cinematic way. Nope. It was just grim. Bleak. The kind of silence that makes your chest feel tight before anything even happens.
And then I saw him.
Thoma. Tied up. Bruised. Two Shogunate soldiers were holding him down like he was some damn criminal.
I gritted my teeth so hard I thought they'd crack.
Then, as if to hammer the point home, Raiden Shogun raised her hand.
Thoma's Vision floated into the air, as if summoned by divine will—or in this case, divine tyranny.
But just before it reached her... Lumine, swift and bold as always, lunged forward and snatched the Vision midair.
Without hesitation.
God, I love her reckless bravery.
And that's when I lost it.
Dual blades in hand, rage burning hotter than a Pyro slime at peak summer—I lunged.
"You damn puppet! As if I'd let you!"
My swords howled through the wind, electro and anemo energy sparking to life with each step. No time to think. No time to breathe.
I spared a glance at Lumine, who had already begun untying Thoma's bindings.
"Take him and get out of here!" I shouted. "I'll buy you some time!"
Lumine hesitated. Her eyes met mine—and for a moment, I saw it. The doubt. The worry.
I gave her my best shit-eating grin. "Hey, trust me. I've got this. Probably. Maybe. Kind of."
...Okay, even I didn't believe that. But I had to try.
Then—boom.
The Raiden Shogun extended her arm and let loose a pulse of raw electro energy, sending me flying backwards like a sack of turnips.
My body hit the ground, sparks dancing over my skin. My ribs ached. My ego? Shattered. But I got up anyway.
She stared down at me, that cold, deadpan puppet face of hers.
"You two... capable of using elemental energy without a Vision."
Her voice was hollow. Robotic. Annoying.
"You are an exception, it appears. Exceptions... the enemy of Eternity."
I wiped the blood from my lip and coughed. "Shut your crap, woman!"
I charged her again, swinging both blades. Each clash of metal and elemental force echoed through the plaza. I managed to force her back a few paces—but she was just toying with me.
Then it happened.
She paused. Her body glowed.
Electro energy surged violently, and from her chest, a blade began to form. No sheath. No hilt. Just raw power materializing into a perfect weapon of death.
My eyes widened.
"Fuck! No, you don't!"
I rushed her before she could draw it fully—but I was too late. She blasted me again. My knees hit the ground.
She pushed me back with a wave of her hand. My back skidded against the stone, sparks trailing behind me.
"Goddamn," I coughed. "Archons really are busted. Even the puppet versions."
Finally, she pulled the sword out.
"You will be inlaid upon this statue."
The air around her cracked and warped. Then she slashed.
I felt the impact not on my body—but on my soul.
Darkness swallowed everything. Like falling into a void.
As if the world around me was tearing apart and reshaping into something beyond human grasp. I didn't know if I was falling, floating, or simply fading into nothingness. And in that void, that still moment before the next storm, I had one last thought:
Guess it's time to face the real Archon.
***
Darkness. Again.
Great. Just what I needed after getting metaphorically and literally bitch-slapped by a puppet with a god complex.
I blink a couple of times, trying to adjust to... wherever the hell I am. My vision's hazy, like someone smeared oil all over the lens of reality. The air is thick and heavy, electric and still, like the calm before a lightning storm. Then— something starts rising from the ground.
Torii gates. Dozens. No, hundreds of them. Sprouting like cursed flowers from the dark soil, stretching out in endless rows, blood-red and solemn, like we've stumbled into some divine execution ground.
"Where in the world are we...?" Lumine's voice pulls me back.
She's right next to me. Her hand rests near her blade, golden eyes scanning the horizon. I can see the tension in her shoulders. And the exhaustion too. Hell, we both just got our asses handed to us, and now—this?
I grip the hilt of my sword tighter. My fingers tremble.
"Plane of Euthymia," I mutter. My voice is low, almost like I'm afraid to say it too loud in case the place bites back. "The Electro Archon's personal playground."
Lumine looks at me, a frown pulling at her lips. "You've been here before?"
"Once. In a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. Either way, it sucked. This is why I told you to go first. We're in deep crap."
From the far end of the black horizon, she appears.
Raiden Ei. The real one. Not the puppet. Not the echo.
The Archon.
Her presence doesn't just command the space—it owns it. The air shifts around her, vibrating like a taut string. Time itself feels slower. She walks, barefoot and elegant, across the unseen floor like a ghost made flesh.
I instinctively step in front of Lumine. "Stay close to me. We fight together. No matter what."
Lumine doesn't even hesitate. She takes her place beside me and flashes a determined smile. "Of course. I won't leave you here to face her alone. Win or lose, we stick together."
Goddamn it. She really knows how to say the right things even when everything's burning around us.
Raiden Ei finally stops a few paces away, her eyes cold, unreadable.
"You two," she murmurs, like she's commenting on the weather. "You are the furthest from Eternity."
I smirk. Spit hits the ground. "Heh. Eternity, huh? Your so-called perfect way to preserve Inazuma? You can't even see how much it's tearing your people apart."
My voice rises, not out of anger, but out of clarity.
"You've become a statue while your region bleeds. People suffer, visions get stolen, families are broken—and you call it peace? You're a sorry excuse for a god."
She doesn't even flinch. "You are an enemy to Eternity. All enemies must be removed."
My neck cracks as I roll it.
"Yeah, yeah. Screw your Eternity and your booba sword. We'll take you down, right here, right now."
Without another word, Lumine and I charge.
It's chaos.
I throw the first strike, my twin blades clashing against her polearm. Sparks explode. She meets us with calm, graceful strength—but we're not backing down.
I twist my blades, channeling Anemo into a rising gust that knocks her briefly off balance. Then I slam my foot down and summon a row of Geo spears—jagged, massive, and glowing with a golden hue—erupting from beneath her.
She dodges cleanly, flipping mid-air. The woman fights like a blade in motion, never pausing, never faltering.
Lumine joins the fray. Her sword dances with light, slicing through the darkness, weaving between my attacks. She slashes with elemental bursts, calling down Electro strikes and Anemo waves. We move like a duo that's fought a thousand battles. Trust, reflex, rhythm.
I swing one of my claymores—Anemo and Electro fused into it—creating a wave of volatile wind wrapped in crackling purple lightning. It explodes upon impact, forcing her to deflect with raw energy.
She retaliates instantly. A massive arc of lightning roars toward us. I hurl up a Geo barrier with my hand, absorbing most of it—but it still singes my shoulder. The pain is sharp, burning.
"Guh—! Dammit! She's too strong!"
"Keep going!" Lumine shouts. "We can break through her defenses!"
I nod. Focus.
My bow appears in hand, glowing with combined energy. I notch an arrow—infused with Anemo, Electro, and Geo—and let it loose.
BAM!
The impact blows a crater into the platform we're fighting on. Dust explodes. Raiden Ei skids back for the first time, just a little.
I don't let up.
Using both hands, I conjure a volatile mass of Anemo and Geo magic—then I add Electro. It's unstable. Dangerous. Glowing like a tiny star.
"Catch, bitch!"
I hurl it.
BOOM!
It explodes near her, the shockwave rattling the gates themselves. But even then—even then—she only emerges with a slight burn.
We're panting. Bleeding. Fighting tooth and nail.
But she's not even breaking a sweat.
We clash again. Lumine gets caught by a sudden lightning strike and screams. I see her hit the ground, hard.
"LUMINE!"
I run to her side, blocking another strike from Raiden Ei with my claymore. My hands shake. My knees tremble.
I can't win. I know I can't. But I won't stop. Not now.
"You want to preach about Eternity?! Look around you! You've lost touch with your people! You hide in this damn plane while the world suffers! What kind of god does that?!"
I rise, wobbling, sword raised.
"I swear to all Celestia—"
Lightning falls.
"—I will take you down myself!"
CRACK!
Pain. White-hot, soul-burning agony.
Then—nothing.
I gasp.
Air floods my lungs. The darkness is gone.
We're back. The plaza. The real world.
Paimon's voice is distant and panicked. "Shigeru! Lumine! Wake up! Come on! Please!"
I grit my teeth. My body screams in protest, but I move.
Slowly. Painfully.
I stand. One leg at a time. I reach down and pull Lumine up, her body limp in my arms.
The puppet Raiden Shogun approaches. Sword raised.
I won't let it end like this.
She steps forward—
Thunk!
A spear whistles through the air and strikes her blade, just in time.
Thoma.
He's breathing hard, eyes wide, but alive and standing.
"Go!" he shouts.
I nod, reluctantly. My arms tighten around Lumine. I look at Raiden Shogun one last time. That cold expression. That false god's face.
I glare.
"This isn't over."
Then we vanish into the smoke.
And after a few minutes of endless running, we finally stopped.
Thoma let out a long breath and collapsed onto the ground like someone just unplugged his soul. Paimon hovered around us, looking at everything except where her mouth should be—quiet. Suspicious.
"Why'd we stop?" she asked eventually, floating closer to Thoma, whose body screamed exhaustion more than his words ever could.
He didn't look at us right away. His shoulders were heavy, like he carried the weight of every single spark and ember from the Raiden Shogun's lightning storm.
"Komore Teahouse," he said, voice low. "It's the safest place I can hide in this area."
That sounded... almost like a goodbye.
He glanced up at us, and that's when he said it:
"The problem is... I probably won't be able to leave again for some time. I'll have to leave the next steps to you."
I looked at him. Really looked. Eyes shaded under a veil of tired firelight. The guy wasn't just tired. He was burning out. And he was still choosing to light our way instead.
I sighed. Walked over, and without a word, I gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. I didn't say "thank you" or "take care" or "you're a hero," even though he deserved all of that and more.
He just nodded, once. Like we had an understanding.
Behind me, I heard Lumine shift. She'd regained a bit of strength, enough to stand on her own, enough to not need to be carried anymore—at least not physically. Her golden eyes were sharp again.
Thoma spoke. Voice filled with certainty and pleading. Or Maybe something more deep.
"I guess you know what you have to do next?"
I nodded. Slowly.
Did I know exactly what I had to do next?
No.
But I knew what needed to be done. I knew where the road pointed, even if it was fogged by lightning and old scars.
I turned to Lumine and Paimon, then looked out toward the horizon, where the sky bled from sunset into the deep blues of night.
"It's time for us to go."
Lumine tilted her head. "Go? Where?"
"Tatarasuna."
That name echoed inside me like an unfinished song. Sharp. Familiar. Heavy with things I hadn't said yet.
"We'll regroup with the resistance. Prepare."
I paused.
"And... I have a reason to go there, too."
I didn't elaborate. Not yet. Because that reason—that thread pulling me toward Tatarasuna—was wrapped in something older than my journey with Lumine. Something deeper than even my vendetta with Ei.
Something personal.
Thoma stood, just barely, like his legs wanted to fold again any second. I turned back to him.
"Tell Ayaka... just leave everything to me."
He raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a small folded piece of paper, and pressed it into his hand.
"And this... give it to Lord Ayato. Make sure no one notices."
Thoma's brows creased as he took it. "What's in it?"
"Nothing. Everything. Depends on who opens it."
He didn't question further. Smart guy.
Thoma took it, hesitated, then nodded. No words this time. Just the silent passing of responsibility between two men who both understood that war didn't wait for anyone to rest.
Lumine wobbled again. I caught her, half out of instinct, half out of fear she'd collapse completely. I bent down, hooked one arm under her knees, the other behind her back.
"Seriously...?" she muttered, voice tired.
"You saved me more times than I can count. Let me carry you for once."
I stepped toward the edge of the Komore Teahouse's balcony. Paimon flitted nervously behind us.
"Are you guys really going again already?! Can't we—like—just wait here?! Just a little?! Or maybe until Paimon stopped shaking?!"
I didn't answer.
I looked over my shoulder at Thoma one last time.
"Take care, Thoma."
His voice was soft as he watched us disappear into the night.
"You as well... heroes."
_________________________________
End of Chapter 54
Quests Completed:
*Confront the Raiden Shogun and retrieve Thoma's Vision.
*Rescue Thoma from execution and escape with him alive.
*Survive an encounter with Raiden Ei inside the Plane of Euthymia.
Rewards:
*×100 Primogems
*x6 Hero's wit
*+30,000 Mora
*+1000 Friendship Points with Lumine
*+700 Friendship Points with Thoma
*New Entry Unlocked – Plane of Euthymia (Lore Journal)
*Memory Fragment – "Duel of Eternity"(A unique key item that stores a blurred memory of Shigeru clashing blades with Ei inside her Plane. Can be unlocked later for an emotional cutscene.)
Achievements:
"One Man Resistance"
-Stand alone against divine judgment, and survive. Prove that mortals can shake the heavens if their will is strong enough.