5 The Ruin Guard

Just to clear up the time period in which Ayato is current in, it is a time a few weeks before the Traveller has arrived in Mondstadt. If I keep my future plans currently with no changes, then you should expect Ayato to meet with the Traveller at some point during their Mondstadt journey. Though, that might change.

Also, like I had explained about the Social Links and how I decided them in the previous chapter, do you guys have any ideas as to who would fit the Justice Arcana? The type of character description on the internet is: Concerned with matters of fairness, and otherwise are very stoic individuals.

--------------------------------

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

『System/Persona Speech』

--------------------------------

"So, you're a travelling chef basically?"

"Yep! More specifically, a chef that's on a mission to find the rare and exotic ingredients from all the corners of the world!"

"I see."

At the current time, Ayato was still making his way towards Liyue, though as you can tell, he wasn't exactly alone, not including Dagda. He as now accompanied by a young lady who appeared to be the same age as himself, having dark indigo-black hair tied cut into a bob-like style, along with what looked to be a golden paw hairclip. Along with having a pair of golden eyes.

Her attire consisted of a brown and gold leotard with red ribbons in the front and back, the back being larger and holding what looked to be a bell. She also wore a pair of brown fingerless gloves and boots, as well as a braided red ribbon around her left thigh and right arm.

He had run into the girl not too long ago, and from what she had told him so far, her name was Xiangling and had been running around the local area trying to search for any new thing she could utilise for cooking. She didn't really specify anything in particular, just whatever she could find.

They were both walking through the area, and since they were both pretty much heading towards Liyue, decided to had there together. So far, nothing seemed to really catch Xiangling's attention for what she could use as an ingredient for a dish.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Xiangling suddenly called out, making Ayato raise an eyebrow in confusion. Suddenly, the strange panda attachment on her belt released a small glow before flying off and expanding as it landed on the ground. "This is Guoba!"

"A panda bear...?" Ayato blinked in surprise as he looked down at the new creature. It looked to be similar to that of a panda bear, though it had a unique design to it. It also stood on two legs as it waved at him, making him wave back as well with an unsure look on his face. "Guoba-san, right? Nice to meet you, I'm Ayato..."

Guoba gave his own greeting back, though Ayato couldn't exactly understand a single thing he was saying.

"So, is Guoba-san a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, we've been friends for a long time now!"

『Now that's interesting』

'What's up, Dagda?'

『This Guoba carries a faint sign of divinity』

'What?' Ayato hid his surprise visually, but he was very much showing inside. This panda-bear in front of him had divinity? 'You're telling me that Guoba-san here is a god or something?'

『That would seem to be the case. However, judging by the amount of divinity I'm sensing from him, which practically nothing, I'm honestly surprised I could even sense it』Dagda snorted as he said this.『Nontheless, this Guoba is indeed a form of a deity, although not a pure deity』

'Okay... Wait, pure deity?'

『Don't worry about it, kid』

'If you say so...' Ayato mentally shrugged. He wasn't entirely sure what Dagda meant by that, but decided to shrug it off for now unless it popped up again at some point. Anyway, as they were walking, Ayato suddenly stopped. "Do you guys hear that? Sounds like stomping..."

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I do..." Xiangling stopped to listen as well after having heard Ayato's comment. Guoba seemed to have heard it as well as he was looking around with a confused look on his face. "It sounds like it's coming from over there. Let's go check it out!"

"H-Hold on, Xiangling-san!" Ayato was taken back when Xiangling began running off with Guoba, so he quickly ran after her. Soon enough, Xiangling began slowing down, prompting Ayato to do the same as he walked up next to her. "Don't go running off like that. We don't know if it's something dangerous or not..."

"Look, it's a Ruin Guard!" Xiangling called out as she peaked over the piece of rubble they were standing behind. Ayato blinked when he heard this, and in curiosity, he too peaked over the rubble to see just what she was talking about. "I wonder what it's doing?"

"A robot?" Ayato looked over in surprise when he saw that the source of the stomping was what looked to be a large mechanical entity that was mainly bronze in colouration. It looked pretty steampunky in his opinion. Though, why was it here in this... ruin?

True to that, the surrounding area looked to be some kind of destroyed ruin, stone pillars and pavements all over the place in a destroyed manner. Looking closely though, the robot, or Ruin Guard as Xiangling called it, appeared to almost be patrolling it as it walked in a specific fashion.

"What's a Ruin Guard?"

"Huh, you don't know?" Xiangling asked in surprise as she looked at her new friend with a surprised look on her face. Ayato just blinked before shaking his head in response. "That's surprising as pretty much everyone's heard about them by now... Well, they've been spotted all over the world at this point. We don't really know where they came from, but we just call them Ruin Guards."

"I see..." Ayato frowned slightly. Good information to keep in mind, that's for sure. Turning his attention back towards the Ruin Guard, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Just why was it here? Who could have made it? Was there a nation out there that was technologically advanced?

"I wonder if I can make a dish out of it..."

"Wait... what??" Ayato snapped out of his thoughts as he turned to look at Xiangling with a face that was like (O_o). Did he hear her right? She wanted to see if she could make food with this thing? He couldn't help but deadpan at her. "You can't be serious. What are you going to make? Some kind of French cuisine? Maybe Korean?"

"French? Korean?" Xiangling looked at him confused when she heard him say that. Ayato soon greatly regretted his small blunder as she looked at him with a star-filled gaze. "Oh, what kind of cuisine is that?! Do you have any of that on you?! Can I try some of it?!"

"Oi, don't talk too loud!" Ayato shouted in a whisper as he snapped his head towards the Ruin Guard. Though, it seemed that it was to no avail as the girl seemed too excited. Soon enough, the Ruin Guard noticed them as it turned to face them. "Oh, crap... Xiangling-san, are these things dangerous?"

"Well, somewhat..."

Then, boom! Fucking missiles!

"Yeah, that's dangerous! Get out of the way!" At the same time, all three of them quickly jumped out from behind the pillar they were behind as they rolled before coming to a stop. The missiles that were fire from the Ruin Guard blew the entire pillar into small pieces as dust now occupied the space they were previously standing.

"Can you fight, Xiangling-san?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me!" Right when she said that, she seemed to summon forth what looked to be a polearm just like Xiao, just a different design. Guoba quickly changed back into his accessory form before reattaching himself Xiangling's belt, to which both Ayato and Xiangling began running in opposite directions and began circling the Ruin Guard.

They both then charged in before both attacking with their weapons at the same time, though it didn't seem to do much as the powerful body of the guard reflected their weapons as only sparks were released from the contact. It seems that the Ruin Guard was not made of normal metal.

Just as Ayato was about to try again, he saw Xiangling charging it once again, but this time jumping up as her polearm was now releasing fire from the tip of the blade. She then aimed it towards the optical plate that was the Ruin Guard's 'eye' as she struck it with great force.

When the spear-tip made contact, a lot of sparks came flying off along with a burst of flames. Xiangling slid backwards after landing on the ground, and the Ruin Guard stumbled back slightly as it's 'eye' released a few sparks before stopping as it charged at them once again.

He had read about how certain people could manipulate the elements thanks to Visions, a gift given to mortals that the Archons have recognised. Depending on the kind of Vision you had, it would also determine what element you'd be able to manipulate.

Take Xiao for example, he had seen the guy wearing a green crystal of sorts on his hand, which he determined to be a Vision that allowed him to manipulate the power of Anemo, that being the power to manipulate the power of the wind. He had seen Xiao do so multiple times before in the past.

Speaking of which, Xiangling had one he could see hanging on her belt, a red one instead of green.

'I see, so it's eye is the weak spot. Should have guessed, that's usually the weak point of all enemies.' Ayato scoffed to himself as he quickly dodged out of the way of the Ruin Guard before rushing back after it. he then jumped over it before plunging Onimaru deep into the 'eye'.

He didn't waste time trying to pry the katana out as he just jumped off, Onimaru soon returning to his inventory as he immediately summoned it back into his hand. The Ruin Guard tripping due to the attack as he soon fell down to its knees.

"Xiangling-san, take cover!" Ayato quickly took notice that the Ruin Guard's back began to shift as both of them dodged to hide behind some of the rubble as more missiles fired out from the Ruin Guard. When the explosions stopped, he noticed that the robot got back up before spinning with both arms extended outwards. "Great, now it's a damn beyblade... Xiangling-san, get moving!"

"Right!" Xiangling quickly jumped out from where she hid from the missiles before running as the Ruin Guard was spinning towards her location. It was chasing after her, but it didn't seem to be moving as fast as it was when it charged towards them normally. "What do we do?!"

"Don't attack just yet, it looks like it's starting to slow down!" Ayato quickly responded. True to his words, the Ruin Guard was starting to slow down, and not too long after, completely stopped before standing still as its 'eye' was blinking constantly. "It stopped moving, now's our chance! Xiangling-san, can you knock it face first to ground?!"

"Leave it to me!"

"Alright, let me give you some help! Heat Riser!" Ayato quickly casted as Xiangling's body began to give off a powerful glow. "That should make the job much easier, go for it!"

"Alright! Here I go." Xiangling smiled before nodding as she rushed forwards. Xiangling quickly arrived next to the Ruin Guard, and Ayato was rather surprised when she began swinging her polearm as it then fired off what looked to be a spinning disk of flames towards the Ruin Guard. "Go, Guoba!"

As soon as she shouted that, Guoba soon once again emerged from her belt as he landed in front of the Ruin Guard. Ayato was caught off guard though when the bear suddenly made a giant damn chilli pepper appear. Guoba then ate the chilli before spewing out a torrent of flames.

'What the hell...?'

Anyway, as absurd as it was, it seemed to work as the Ruin Guard was stumbling back slightly. Soon enough, the disk that Xiangling created soon began clashing against the Ruin Guard's legs before striking it in the back, causing the Ruin Guard to tumble as it fell down face-first into the ground.

"Nice work! Leave the rest to me!" Ayato smiled as he saw this. Quickly summoning forth his Evoker, he aimed it at his temple before pulling the trigger. His head recoiled as his eyes began glowing blue once again, eyes shadowed as well. "Dagda!"

"Oh, wow! What's that?!" Xiangling couldn't help but exclaim as both she and Guoba had quickly backed away from the Ruin Guard before witnessing Ayato's summoning. Dagda stood tall behind Ayato as his arms were crossed over his chest, nothing new there.

『Alright, let's get rid of this scrap of junk!』

Dagda scoffed before a large circle of Curse energy appeared beneath the Ruin Guard. A pillar of Curse energy soon erupted right where the head was as the energy caused the Ruin Guard's form to start twitching rapidly for a bit, having fallen back down onto the ground as it had tried to get back up before Eiha had struck.

Amazingly, the robot was still kicking as it struggled to get back onto its feet. They could all see that the Ruin Guard was on its last legs though, it was taking a while to try and get back onto its feet. Struggling to even keep itself still as it did so.

"Dagda, finish it off now!"

『Hmph』Dagda stared at the Ruin Guard with annoyance before flying towards it at incredible speeds, and when he arrived right above the robot, he delivered a powerful punch downwards onto the robot's back.『Now stay down, you worthless piece of scrap metal!』

When Dagda's fist made impact, it broke through where the missile launchers were located and smashed right through all the components inside of the Ruin Guard. Dagda effortlessly pulled his fist out of the Ruin Guard's body, seemingly taking hold of a strange mechanical part from inside before crushing it in his hand.

The Ruin Guard was twitching like before, but this time it became motionless as it stayed on the ground. Unlike like time, the Ruin Guard didn't attempt to get up, not like it could. That final hit from Dagda completely destroyed it, the chances of it turning back on were zero.

Honestly, Ayato was surprised that both himself and Xiangling managed to get out of that fight unscathed. The only reason they managed that though was because they were quite a bit faster compared to that robot, it didn't exactly have smooth movements, and their attacks didn't help in that regard. Not like he was complaining.

『Level Up』

『Kuragasaki Ayato felt a surge of energy inside』

『Your Hit Points and Skill Points have increased』

『You are now able to create Personas up to level 11』

『Dagda has levelled up』

『Your Magic has increased by 1』

『Your Endurance has increased by 1』

『Your Agility has increased by 1』

『Dagda's Eiha has evolved into Eiga』

『Dagda learned Maeiha』

Ayato was pleasantly surprised by the notifications, especially the last two. It seems that due to his numerous uses of Eiha, it had gotten stronger and evolved into Eiga. Maybe he was remembering incorrectly, but he was pretty sure that didn't happen usually. He wasn't going to complain though.

However, that did mean that the stronger his Personas became, the more costly they would be to use. Well, he shouldn't really be surprised, it was a cost worth the results. He just needed to get more Personas and he'd have more options if he didn't have the SP to utilise his stronger ones.

Also, he noticed how Dagda had learnt Maeiha, which was the variant of Eiha that hit multiple enemies. He wasn't sure about this one though. This was the real world, so it was already possible for Eiha to hit multiple enemies. He could only assume that Maeiha had a wider range of effect.

"Thanks for the help, Dagda."

『No problem, kid』

With that, Dagda disappeared back into the Sea of Souls as Ayato de-summoned both his Onimaru and the Evoker. Soon enough, he looked over to see Xiangling running over towards him along with Guoba following close behind.

"Alright we did it!" Xiangling cheered as Ayato just chuckled at her excitement. That Ruin Guard was definitely the strongest thing he's fought so far in this world, and he doubted that it'd stay that way considering his luck. Xiangling raised her hand up towards him. "High-five!"

Ayato just smiled as he raised his hand as well and smacked it against hers.

『A mysterious voice rings in your head...』

『Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana...』

『You have established a new Social Link』

'Nice, that's two Social Links!' Ayato smiled as he saw the information appear to him. First was Xiao, and now Xiangling. That only made him wonder what kind of people he'd meet in the future, he did want to get as many Social Links as he could. It was killing two birds with one stone, he got to meet new people and also develop Social Links.

"By the way, what was that? When you summoned that thing... Dagda was it?"

"Oh, just a special power of mine." Ayato shrugged as he responded to the question. He didn't exactly want to explain his powers just yet, maybe in the future. He hadn't even explained to Xiao about the origins of his powers, and that dude was the person he was closest with in this world thus far. "Don't worry about it too much."

『Shuffle Time』

『3 Oracles』

'Oh, Shuffle Time again.' Ayato head the voice of the system speak as he turned his gaze upwards slightly to look as the cards appeared before shuffling around. Just like before, all the cards shattered as one of them was left behind, and when the card turned around.

『The chosen card as the Persona: Pixie』

『You have welcomed Pixie into your heart』

'Finally! Not the best Persona out there, but definitely useful. I'll damn take it!' Ayato screamed to himself mentally as he saw the result. Don't get him wrong, Dagda was an incredible Persona, he had many resistances and was only weak to Bless. But, he really wanted more Personas under his name.

While it was true that Pixie was probably the starting Persona that all the protagonists probably get as their second Persona, Pixie was very useful in various ways. First off, she could use Electricity, so that was already a plus, and also that she was a healer.

『Hey, kid. It seems like Pixie wants to talk to you, you'll have to bring her into your forefront』

'Okay, got it.' Ayato focused for a second before he felt an incredible amount of his power suddenly wash away from his body, and his connection to Dagda seemed to be far less powerful compared to before. But, he could feel the connection to Pixie strengthen greatly.

『Hello, master! Nice to meet you!』

'Nice to meet you as well, Pixie. You can call me Ayato, no need for that 'master' stuff.'

『Meh, I prefer master! Hehehe~. Quite the interesting situation you've found yourself in, isn't it?』

'Can you read my memories like Dagda?'

『That I can! Don't worry, master! I'll be here to help you the best I can!』

'Then I'll be in your care then, Pixie. I look forward to working with you.'

『Hehe~! Me too, master! Also, you might want to focus on that girl, she seems pretty annoyed~!』

'Eh?'

"Hey, Ayato!"

"W-Wah!" Ayato flinched heavily when Xiangling's loud voice suddenly erupted right in his ear. He jumped to the side and looked to see her hands on her hips, a pouting expression on her face. Guoba was standing next to her doing the same. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was calling out to you this entire time, but you kept ignoring me! You were just staring off!" Xiangling pouted as Ayato sweatdropped. He was completely lost in thought, with all those notifications and all. He honestly forgot all about Xiangling during that moment...

"Sorry..." Ayato sighed as he felt genuinely guilty about ignoring her. Could you really blame him? You'd probably be pretty happy about getting another Persona, right? Anyway, he placed Dagda back at his forefront, you never know when they'd be attacked again. Pixie wasn't exactly suited for battle right now. Maybe against weak enemies, but definitely not strong ones. At least at the moment. "So, are you going to go back to Liyue?"

"That's what I was talking about when you were ignoring me." Xiangling deadpanned as Guoba did the same. Ayato just stared at her with a nervous smile when he heard this. "As I said before, I was thinking of going around a bit more. I don't want to get back empty-handed!"

"Well, if that's the case, be careful. I'm going to make my way over to Liyue, perhaps we'll see each other again there!"

"Right! See ya later then."

"See ya!" Xiangling gave a small laugh before running off. Ayato watched as she ran off to who knows where, he could only crack a smile as he saw Guoba hanging onto her as she ran, all the while waving back at him. "Make sure to visit my family restaurant~!"

"Sure!" Ayato quickly responded. "Though, you didn't exactly tell me where or what that restaurant is... Oh well, she's far gone now. Time to get my ass moving."

.

.

.

『Omake 2 - The God of Chilis』

At the current time, Ayato could only stare with a look of utter astonishment as Guoba was eating massive chili peppers before throwing up a torrent of flames upon the body of the Ruin Guard. Xiangling was off on the sidelines near Guoba cheering happily as he did so.

"Hey, Dagda..."

『What is it?』

"You said that Guoba was supposedly a God, right?"

『Yeah...? What in the world are you thinking?』

"It's just that, I didn't think it was true..." Ayato soon gained a look of utter comical seriousness as he stared at the scene of Guoba lighting the Ruin Guard aflame with his stomach of a flamethrower. "I've heard ancient stories tell tales of the legendary God of Chili Peppers. But, I had only thought they were mere stories... Truly, legendary."

『...』

『...』

『Kid, shut the fuck up』