Chapter 10: Delay and Decreased

It's been more than 5 days since Lumine was suppose to arrive. In those past few days, Ether had been disposing the Hilichurls that he'll come across occasionally during his investigation. Luckily, none of them posted any trouble as they were simple, stupid Hilichurls. 'I hope that stays the same today…' Ether prayed as he was spotted by a group of Hilichurls. 'Here they come!'

Ether was instantly surrounded from all sides by the group of Hilichurls, the group consisted of 3 Hilichurl Shooters, 2 Hilichurl Berserkers, a Electro Hilichurl grenadier and a Pyro Hilichurl grenadier, and two Mitachurls.

The group split into position, the ranged Hilichurls in the back and supporting those in the front, and the melee or close ranged ones guarding those who are behind them while cornering Ether from all sides.

{Warning! A/N: Bad at battle scenes sorry}

The two berserkers charged at Ether as the Mitachurls backed away, the Crackling Axe Mitachurl readied its axe, preparing to swing as soon as the Berserker Hilichurls got out of the way, whereas the Wooden Shieldwall Mitachurl backed up and stayed in position.

Ether dodged one of the Hilichurls and narrowly avoided the second, getting his legs scorched a bit in the process. Right as Ether flipped, even before he could notice what was happening, the Hilichurl shooters shot at Ether, catching him off guard and injuring his left arm in the process. The only one of the three arrows made its contact with Ether, the other two were both deflected by Ether using his sword. "Freak, guess I'll have to used that now then."

Ether closed his eyes, focusing on every inch of his body and imbued the Anemo energy with it. 'So this is how it feels…' Ether thought as he opened his eyes, his body felt as light as feather and gentle as water.

"Now, this is where the fight begins!" Ether vanished from the sight of the Hilichurls, catching them off guard. The Hilichurls panicked as soon as Ether vanished, scanning their surroundings for signs of Ether. "Where are you looking for, big guy?" The Shieldwall Mitachurl heard before it was decimated by a sword, slashing it in half before the other Hilichurls could react.

*Swoosh*

Ether disappeared, only to reappear again after the two Berserker Hilichurls dropped dead. He breathed heavily, sweats all over his face. 'This puts too much strain on my body…'

The Hilichurls didn't give him anytime to rest, they followed up with grouping back together and taking cover behind the Shieldwall Mitachurl, and shot valleys of arrows at Ether.

'Crap, this isn't good' Ether thought as he tried to defend himself against the Hilichurls, but it was no use, his body was too strained from using his Elemental Skill and his left arm was shot by an arrow. 'Fuck, this will not be the end of me!'

Ether scanned his surroundings but there was nothing of use that he could hide behind or even use as meat shield. He just stood there, helplessly deflecting most of the arrows, as the Hilichurls continued their intense attack, with some that periodically hurt him.

…

Ether stood there, sword in hand as his body gave out. Arrows were sticking into his flesh, blood flowing all over his body. "It… is not over… yet…" Ether said before he blacked out. The last thing he saw was a blurry vision of three figures, a red one, yellow and white one, and a… marshmallow?

…

"Ugh… where am I?" Ether asked as he woke to find himself in the Cathedral instead of the outskirts. "What happened? Wasn't I out in the outskirts, dealing with a group of Hilichurls?"

"Ah! Brother Ether, you're awake! Please take it easy, you need to rest." A gentle voice called out to Ether from behind, one which he is closely familiar with.

The sight of Barbara appeared in his sight, he instinctively rubbed her head like he does with animals for some reason. Barbara flinched in response, then Ether realized what he had done. "Ummm.. sorry? And I guess that you healed me?"

"Y-yes! Brother Ether, you should rest more before you start-" Barbara said, blushing so hard that she had to cover her face before Ether interrupted her. "I know, I know. By the way, who was it that brought me here?" Ether interrupted, getting to the point so he doesn't waste anymore time. 'Especially when Lumine is around a week late,'

The situation had become more complicated in the past few days, even Jean is having trouble with fending off the Fatui and their idea of exterminating the dragon, the defense around the city weakened because of the fact that the dragon had wounded so many of the Knights. People had gone missing, like Rosaria for example.

A/N: I didn't know what part Rosaria would fit in so I made her missing so the story make sense, I didn't know that she was the you-know-who if you played far into the story so I just made her missing, sorry!

The whole city was a mess, the only thing he could do right now is to make sure that the Holy Lyre and the Traveler safely comes to Mondstadt, only then will the situation change.

"I believe it was Amber, a blonde girl, and her traveling companion called Pie…". Barbara says as she struggles to remember the name of that traveling companion.

"Paimon?" Ether interrupted her, he couldn't blame her for recalling its name with Pie now and he knew that was fitting.

"Yes! That's it!"

"Also Barbara, how long was I out for? Did anything happen in that time?"

"Hmm.. let me think…" Barbara sank deep into her thoughts. "Oh yea! Stormterror came to attack Mondstadt again but the traveler warded the dragon off!"

"That's a relief," Ether commented,"where are they now?"

"Hmm, I assume they are going to the headquarters to thank the traveler for what she did!"

"Thanks Barbara." Ether hugged Barbara, who was catch off guard and her face burnt red. "I'll see you around!"

Dashing out of the cathedral, Ether waved goodbye to Barbara and left. "Guess it's finally time!"

Ether made no detour to the headquarters and soon arrived. He entered the building void of people and heard a conversation taking place in Jean's office. "Let's get this party started!" Ether murmured as he giggled to himself.

A/N: Tried sorting out the character but idk if I did good job, also how is the battle scene? First time. My goal isn't accomplished yet (1.5k words)but I think this will do.