I Pray To You

Yun Che.

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***

'"A praying ceremony?" Yomite asked, his head tilted.

"You see, every year, old man Zho—...Our dear Archon, Rex Lapis, descends to give our city his blessings and to pass down knowledge. And each year, people pray right before his descension, in order for their wishes to be fulfilled. Some of them end up being ignored, some of them not. Of course, being a God, he should have plenty of power at his disposal, yet even he isn't omnipotent." Hu Tao explained.

"Ohh... I get it now." Yomite nodded in understanding, "Why don't we follow suit and also wish for something? Seems fun."

"Paimon wants an unlimited number of sweets!"

"..."

Lumine remained silent, but the expression in her eyes revealed everything.

Finding her brother was her greatest desire.

To be able to see him again was a goal she wished to achieve. No, a goal she would achieve.

But, no matter how hard she tried, she could never seem to catch wind of him.

"Hm...I do have a small wish of my own as well. Let's go! Let's go!" Hu Tao smiled as the four of them made their way towards the Yujing Terrace's open area.

Yomite didn't expect anything extravagant from the prayers; knowing he was scammed by Zhongli earlier today, he doubted these wishes would ever come true.

As they walked, they saw Barbara kneeling in front of them, hands clasped tightly together as she prayed earnestly. She was preoccupied with her prayer and was unaware of the arrival of others.

Iris was standing right next to her, munching on something while gazing disinterestingly at a huge censer Barbara was praying to.

She turned around when she smelled the scent of her master behind her. When she did so, her eyes immediately lit up, "Master. Welcome."

"Hey there, aren't you bored?"

"Indeed. But food is good. So it doesn't matter."

Iris answered simply with a slight nod.

"Yo, Barbara! No need to take the praying so seriously." Yomite patted her shoulder lightly.

Barbara smiled faintly but her eyes remained fixated on the censer.

"These couple of days, my faith had been waning, like an empty bucket. Ever since getting to know the real identy of Lord Barbatos...and also meeting the esteemed Rex Lapis...I no longer know what to do..." Barbara admitted, a trace of faint sadness seeping into her words.

"Since I began working at the Cathedral, I was responsible for praying and ensuring the Church of Favonius was in excellent condition. Ever since I was a young child. But lately...my faith has been slipping away. Was I lied to this whole time? What am I supposed to do? My life has been thrown out of balance, like a leaf that got caught between two waves. How can I make things better?" her voice broke at the last part.

The five stood in silence, uncertain of what to say or do. Even Iris appeared troubled.

Then Yomite took a step forward.

"I know it must have been a shock...that's why we didn't want Venti's real identity to be exposed...but don't worry about it too much, okay?" He gave her shoulder another pat.

"If you enjoy praying, then continue doing so. However, if it's more like a chore to you at the moment, something you no longer wish to do because it's annoying, then you shouldn't force yourself to do it." He gave her a thumbs up.

"Yep Yep! We'll help you figure out your problems." Hu Tao added.

Barbara let out a sigh and smiled gratefully before rising to her feet, "I've taken enough of your time. If you wish to pray, put the incense into the censer."

Barbara then moved past them and sat on the stairs in front of the altar, her attention returning to the censer as if nothing had occurred.

"Alrighty! It's my turn to pray then!" Hu Tao declared cheerily.

She put the incense stick into the censer.

'For a healthy family.'

And bowed.

The flame within the censer shone brilliantly, illuminating the area.

With that, Lumine followed suit, but unlike Hu Tao, she used two incense sticks instead of one.

'To find my brother...and...'

She glanced at the second incense in her hand before averting her gaze and turning red.

"Uu..umm...um...ummmm..." As she felt the fire's heat scorching her cheeks, her speech became incoherent.

Hu Tao watched as Lumine stared at her own hand in embarrassment, until she seemingly realized what was going on, "Heyaaaa Lumi-Lumi, are you gonna continue with your prayer later or what?" she teased her, leaning forward to whisper in her ear, "I know you feel the same. I bet my lovely assistant would be overjoyed if you prayed for him~"

She winked at Lumine playfully, before giving her a slight shove.

"S-Sssshhh Sssshh!!" Lumine shushed her quickly, her face even redder than before, "I-I-I'm just having a momentary lapse of thought!"

She quickly darted her eyes towards Yomite and sighed in relief when she realized he was too far away for him to hear.

Before Hu Tao could say anything else, Lumine quickly threw the second incense in, and hurried away from her.

Hu Tao chuckled. "So cute...Lumi-Lumi is very shy. I wonder why though…" she pondered, watching Lumine run into the crowd.

Yomite observed them from the distance but had no idea what just transpired, "I guess it's my turn." He sighed before walking over to the incense and placed it in the censer.

Once he had done so, he bowed a little awkwardly to the altar, 'For a peaceful life. And for the people around me to be happy. Also, don't be a scammer Zhongli, or I'll get strong enough to kick your butt.'

He repeated in his head. Following which, Paimon carried the incense stick with both of her hands, having a bit of difficulty due to her size.

As such, Yomite put it in for her.

After that, they returned to where everyone else was waiting.

Iris wasn't interested in praying, so currently they were just waiting for this so called 'Descension' finale to begin.