When the Red Thread Unwinds (Act II)

"Traveler, could you lend me a hand over here?" The traveler comes at you and begins to assist you as you were hammering a nail down to the ground to secure it tightly.

You and the traveler had been assigned to create some traps within the trees at the island to the west of Nazuchi beach, although not just any regular traps. You two had thought that trapping Fatui soldiers and the Kairagi with plain old traps will end up useless since they are more likely to escape using their visions, and so to counter that, you had to make use of your vision by taking advantage of your surroundings. Fortunately, there's enough flora around which is perfect for a dendro vision-wielder like yourself, and not to mention that you're on shore so you could make use of the sea nearby. After the trap has finally been set, you slowly stood up and wiped the sweat off your forehead.

"There, it's done!"

"Are you sure this would work? Cuz Paimon thought that the trap needs to be a bit more complexed than that in order to capture the Fatui and Kairagi more accurately"

"Oh it is indeed complex, I just haven't started activating the trap just yet since it sets off at the presence of elemental energy, we might get ourselves in a tricky spot if I try to start setting it up now"

"Paimon's wondering, how does the trap work?" The silver haired companion tilted her head curiously.

You only let out a light chuckle as you placed a finger over your lips. "It's a secret for now~ although the traveler seems to be getting the gist of what the trap is, right?" You then turned to your blonde companion, who then responded with a determined nod.

"No fair! Paimon's always the one getting left out here!" She cried with a pout and you just chuckled.

"Don't worry, Paimon I promise, you'll see it soon" You then ushered the two to get away from the trap.

Once you, Paimon and the traveler managed to clear the area, you three went off to hide by the bushes nearby, waiting for the signal.

After a short while, numbers of footsteps can be heard up ahead. You slowly peek your head out from the bushes and see your allies running through the trap zone, behind them is a couple of Nobushis, followed by a Kairagi and a Fatui soldier. You thought that the plan's going well and now all that's left is to wait for the targets to reach the designated area before activating the trap.

By the time they all finally gathered in the area, you immediately activated your dendro vision to start setting off the traps. All's well for a moment until you realized that there was a slight technical issue with the trap, the distance was a bit out of range from your area so the trap didn't set off immediately. This soon made you internally panic as the targets were about to slip through the trap.

Before you knew it, the Traveler suddenly jumped out of the bushes and blocked their paths. You let out a short sigh in relief that the Traveler noticed and bought you some time to fix it all up. You then snuck out from the bushes without trying to be seen as you head for the area that got disconnected from activating the trap.

You checked the area up and realized something, although it starts to make you think twice before you decide to proceed with it. You then tilt your head up to look at the Traveler who is trying their best to buy you time, and you didn't want to put their efforts to waste.

"I...have to do this.." You muttered to yourself.

[Traveler's POV]

It's a bit hard to buy y/n some time when there's only the both of us holding off against them. Tsk, those guys decided to dump the hard part on us. Could really use the help here.

I firmly held my blade, looking at the nobushis slowly gathering me altogether with the Kairagi and Fatui soldier. Y/n, hope you found the issue of the trap by now.

I gave a short glance at y/n up ahead and from the look on her face, she may have already found the problem but something doesn't feel right.

She muttered something to herself then looked at me directly with a slightly hesitant look which then turned into determination. She then nodded her head, cueing me to finally get out of the way so I immediately retreated.

"Hey!!" She raised her hand up high with dendro energy coating it as she called out the attention of the enemies, which turned out well as their sights were no longer on me.

The grass beneath them starts to grow on their feet, and on the right moment, I coated my blade with the electro element and directly shot the energy at the growing grass. This would make the grass grow faster and it didn't take long before they started to become immobilized and more than half of their body covered in grass and moss like a statue.

But as I looked at y/n, she too, was also affected by her own trap and is slowly being consumed in grass and moss. I tried to rush in to save her but someone suddenly tugged me back.

"The heck are you doing!? C'mon! we need to hurry up and call the soldiers to apprehend them!" One of our allies, the guy who gave us an attitude since our stay here, he exclaimed while trying to pull me back.

"Y/n is still there!-"

"Leave her behind, damnit! Now c'mon before they end up breaking free from the trap!"

I had no choice, neither Paimon liked the idea either but we ended up retreating as we left y/n behind.

We soon arrived back at camp while the battle in Nazuchi beach was still going on. I quickly went to look for Heizou to quickly report to him what had just happened.

"Heizou!!!" Paimon loudly called for the red-haired detective as we finally found him up ahead, discussing with the Tenryou soldiers.

"Hm? Oh, hey there traveler. Is our group's job all done?" He turned to look at us with an expecting look.

"Heizou, bad news!" Paimon and I stopped for a moment to catch our breath.

"Calm down now, take a deep breath and tell me everything"

"I-It's y/n! She's-" Before Paimon could finish, the detective had already caught the gist of what we were about to say and rushed past us.

"Gather all the guards and have them follow to apprehend the Fatui and Kairagi!" He ordered as he had run off. Paimon and I looked at each other for a moment and nodded to quickly call the all the available guards in the camp.

[Heizou's POV]

Of all times for this to happen. This is why I simply can't allow her to participate in this kind of mission!

I can't afford to lose her, not again!

I quickly rushed off to the west of Nazuchi beach, just where the group I was handling were assigned to create the trap. After getting across the water and arrive at the island, I continued my pace forward and suddenly stopped in shock upon seeing what is right in front of me. I'm not sure if I should be horrified or amazed at the view but all of the samurais and the Fatui soldier were completely turned into grass-like statues.

After trying to count all of them, another had caught my eye from the distance. My eyes widened at the sight of a certain figure with her arm raised up. I slowly approached her, fear slowly creeping up inside of me as I am certain who this person is.

"Y/n..?"