What was Scaramouche's past like?
Was it painful?
A little. But among the Seven Archons, past or present, whose experiences weren't even more painful than his?
As the vision came to an end, flickering darkness swallowed everything. Within it, Lora saw a massive mechanical body, and at its core… Scaramouche.
The moment she saw him, he lifted his head.
His gaze locked onto hers.
"I see you!"
The vision shattered.
Lora opened her eyes and released Haypasia's hand.
Haypasia looked at her with unrestrained excitement.
"How was it? Wasn't connecting with a divine consciousness absolutely exhilarating? This is true blessing, a symbol of wisdom! It means we're about to obtain higher knowledge, wisdom granted by the gods!"
As she spoke, Lumine and Paimon hurried closer.
"Lora, what did you see?"
"The Balladeer," Lora replied calmly.
Neither of them recognized the name at first. The unfamiliar title hung in the air for a moment.
"Who?"
"That's not important." Lora shook her head, then turned to Haypasia. "What you connected to wasn't a god. You… dialed the wrong number."
"Huh?" Haypasia blinked, completely lost.
Lora didn't explain. She simply raised a hand and tapped Haypasia lightly on the forehead.
The girl went limp, slipping into sleep.
After settling her down, Lora turned back to the others.
"She should be fine after some rest, as long as she wasn't pulled in too deeply."
"Did she connect to that false god's consciousness?" Nahida asked softly, her gaze resting on the sleeping figure.
"False god?" Paimon looked between them, confused. "What does that mean? Who are you talking about?"
"The Balladeer…" Lumine repeated thoughtfully. "If that's his title… then he must be…"
Lora nodded.
"That's right. The Sixth of the Fatui Harbingers, Scaramouche. The puppet Ei created."
Paimon's eyes widened.
"He's a Harbinger? And he's… becoming a god?"
"Scaramouche is on the verge of ascending, and Dottore can manipulate the Akasha…" Nahida fell into thought, her voice growing more serious. "At this point, we have no choice. We must go to the desert. There, we might find a way to save Irminsul. If we succeed, we can resolve Sumeru's crisis."
"What's Irminsul?" Paimon asked, now thoroughly overwhelmed.
Lumine explained, "It's the giant tree I told you about. The pink one."
"That's Irminsul?" Paimon turned to the others in surprise.
Nahida nodded.
"Yes. Scholars once drew knowledge from it. But at some point, it became ill. The creation of the Akasha was likely tied to that."
"So if we fix Irminsul, we fix Sumeru?" Paimon asked.
"You could say that," Nahida replied. "It would resolve most of Sumeru's problems. But the Fatui… we'll still have to deal with them ourselves."
"Then let's not waste any time!" Paimon said. "Let's go!"
...
Deep within Sumeru City, at the heart of a colossal machine, Scaramouche stood in silence.
Before him stood Dottore.
"What do you want?" Dottore asked.
"I saw her," Scaramouche said quietly. "The Hydro Archon."
"The Hydro Archon?" Dottore paused, briefly thinking of Focalors, before realization dawned. His expression sharpened. "You mean… Egeria is in Sumeru?"
"Yes. Her consciousness connected to mine just now. That vast, overwhelming presence… I couldn't mistake it." His voice turned colder. "If she's here, our plan will be affected."
Dottore fell into thought.
After a long silence, he spoke.
"Leave it to me. Your only task now is to become a god. I went to great lengths to gather those divine remains. We can't let them go to waste."
"I don't need you to tell me that," Scaramouche replied, his tone low and resolute. "No one desires godhood more than I do."
Dottore turned and left.
Once outside, he connected to the Akasha.
This time, he found it.
A trace.
An access point with abnormally high privileges. One forcibly obtained through sheer mental strength.
Lora.
Without hesitation, he rewrote the system's permissions.
Her access was revoked.
"Hydro Archon… until our plan is complete, I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of this."
...
On the road toward Caravan Ribat, Lora suddenly paused.
A subtle disturbance rippled through the Akasha.
She reached up and removed her Akasha Terminal, examining it.
Nahida noticed immediately.
"What's wrong, Auntie?"
Lora frowned slightly.
"…Someone revoked my access."
"What?" Paimon flew closer, staring at the device. "Who could even do that? Someone from the Akademiya?"
"Unlikely." Lora shook her head. "They don't even know who I am. At most, they've locked me up once. They have no idea what I really am."
"Wait, you've been locked up before?" Paimon blinked.
"That's not important." Lora waved it off, glancing back at the terminal as realization dawned. "Ah… I see. It was Dottore. He can alter the Akasha. He must've learned from Scaramouche that I'm here, tracked me through the system, and cut off my access."
"He can influence the Akasha?" Lumine asked, surprised.
"Doesn't matter." Lora shrugged casually, tossing the terminal aside. "It's not that useful to me anyway. Losing it changes nothing."
She continued forward without hesitation.
In truth, cutting her off meant very little.
If she wanted, she could break back in at any time.
Unless someone rewrote the very foundation of the Akasha itself.
The core.
The Dendro Gnosis.