"I’m just a passing-through Kamen Rider. You’d better carve that into your brain and remember it."
Kamisato Satoru casually made up some nonsense, his face brimming with mischievous amusement.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
"Consider this little move an appetizer from me. We’ll have plenty of chances to meet again in the future."
His fingertip moved slightly.
Without even making another motion, a red sphere of light violently erupted.
The overwhelming repulsive force swept outward like a collapsing mountain and roaring sea, instantly flattening the entire mountaintop.
"Kamisato Satoru, was it? We’ll see about this."
Aether’s deep voice echoed from empty space.
He sounded perfectly fine, as though the explosion just now hadn’t injured him in the slightest.
"Tsk, tsk. Just as I thought. He’s a tough one."
With the terrifying perception of the Six Eyes, Kamisato Satoru had seen everything clearly.
At the instant of the attack, Aether had swiftly torn open a spatial rift and slipped inside.
Red hadn’t touched him at all.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don’t you think you went a little overboard?!"
Venti transformed into a light teal breeze and silently landed beside Kamisato Satoru. Looking at the collapsed mountaintop, his eyes were filled with helplessness.
The once-tall and picturesque mountain had lost a huge chunk of its peak from a single casual attack by Kamisato Satoru.
All that remained was a barren stretch of scorched black earth. Every trace of the lush greenery from before had been obliterated.
The bald landscape was almost painfully ugly to look at.
"How is this a big deal? Mondstadt’s Barbatos once blew away the snow and split mountains apart."
"Morax over in Liyue casually tossed a few stone spears around and created Guyun Stone Forest."
"And then there’s Beelzebul in Inazuma. One slash from her carved out an entire gorge."
"Ehe. You certainly know a lot of information that isn’t supposed to be public."
Venti looked somewhat surprised.
Knowing the locations was one thing, but most people only knew of the original Electro Archon. The name Beelzebul, the one who had served as her shadow warrior, was something an ordinary person could never have heard.
"That annoying pink-haired fox told me."
Kamisato Satoru shifted the blame without so much as blinking.
Big matter or small, blaming that troublesome fox was always the safest option.
An image surfaced in Venti’s mind of gatherings among The Seven, where a certain little fox would often lie on Baal’s shoulder acting cute, her thoughts seemingly occupied entirely by fried tofu.
"Say, Venti. You’re the mighty Anemo Archon. How did you end up this useless?"
"It’s honestly making me wonder whether all of you are secretly working together to put on some giant performance and mess with everyone."
Kamisato Satoru finally voiced a question that had been bothering him for a long time.
Even back when he played the game, he’d always found it strange.
Why did every nation’s catastrophic crisis seem to erupt precisely when the Traveler showed up?
"Ehe. My old injuries still haven’t healed!"
Venti’s expression stiffened for an instant, and a complicated emotion flashed deep within his eyes.
Kamisato Satoru caught the tiny change.
He immediately understood that the waters behind all of this were far deeper than they appeared.
The judgment of the Heavenly Principles, the ambitions of the Abyss, and the mysterious Traveler shrouded in layer after layer of fog...
Even though he knew the road ahead led straight into an enormous pit, Kamisato Satoru wasn’t afraid.
If anything, he was finding it more and more interesting.
"In any case, as long as you continue walking across this land, the truth will naturally reveal itself."
Venti wasn’t simply brushing him off this time.
Kamisato Satoru’s current strength was already enough to stand alongside gods, while the limits of his future potential were impossible for anyone to predict.
"Maybe."
Kamisato Satoru pulled his blindfold back into place, his tone deliberately noncommittal.
Even if he really did end up confronting the Heavenly Principles head-on someday, that was still far off in the future.
"The greater someone’s power, the heavier the burden they must bear. One day, there’ll be no avoiding it."
Venti spoke meaningfully, his gaze as deep and still as a bottomless pool.
Hearing the strangely familiar line, the corner of Kamisato Satoru’s mouth twitched, and his expression became exceptionally odd.
Wasn’t that basically Spider-Man’s uncle’s famous last words?
Hearing something like that feels like setting a massive death flag for yourself.
Then again, after thinking about it, there probably weren’t many people in this world who could actually send Barbatos to his grave.
"Who would’ve thought? An alcoholic like you can actually spout profound wisdom."
"Ehe ;-)"
Venti playfully winked.
Looking at his delicate features, a thought suddenly occurred to Kamisato Satoru.
If this guy put on a dress, he’d probably be prettier than a lot of girls.
Wind spirits weren’t restricted by gender in the first place. Male or female, it could presumably be whatever they felt like being.
That reminded him of Old Man Zhongli, who had assumed countless forms while wandering the mortal world.
For all anyone knew, he might have turned into a beautiful young woman on one of his journeys.
"Why do I get the feeling you’re thinking something extremely disrespectful right now?!"
Venti narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Kamisato Satoru’s barely suppressed grin.
"Hahaha!"
"You’re imagining things. I’m heading out."
Kamisato Satoru was secretly astonished.
This guy’s intuition is ridiculously accurate.
He lightly tapped his toes against the ground, transformed into a blur, and flew toward Mondstadt.
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