Chapter 12: Progression…

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting. Haaa… haaa…" Ether stopped to catch his breath after sprinting over to the Temple of the Wolf.

"No big deal, my guy. I heard a lot about you from Lumine as we waited for a good 10 minutes." Kaeya winked and gave Lumine a thumbs up. "Man she was as bright as a tomato in that conversation."

A confusing face took place on Ether's face. 'I only saved her though, no?' "I only did what I was suppose to." Ether brushed it off, "Don't think too much about it."

What happened was outside of Kaeya's expectations. The girl who was talking with him moments before Ether's arrival wasn't even shy around himself, who he himself had thought of as handsome because of all the lads who dreams of him. Lumine, who was acting quite mature and coolheaded was contracting her usual actions that Kaeya had seen on her since they've met. He had asked Amber about what happened in the Temple of the Falcon but Amber simply brushed it off and told him to not worry about it. 'How could I not worry about it if it's this interesting?' Kaeya chuckled at the thought. 'Man, Ether is quite a lady killer for those around his age, huh?'

Lumine blushed intensely, hiding behind Kaeya. "Did I do something wrong?" Ether asked the two.

"Hahaha! No Ether! Let's get going now!" Kaeya laughed it off, the fact that Ether was treating this casually and Lumine taking it quite seriously reminds him of how he and Diluc normally acts. He's the one that's always joking around, while Diluc is the one always taking things so seriously. 'Good old times.'

The trio entered the domain and swept through the whole thing without much trouble. Although Lumine had her face on fire the whole time, the enemies were easily taken care of. 'No wonder Kaeya is the cavalry captain of the knights of Favonius,' Ether thought.

Despite Kaeya's attitude towards everyone, he is responsible when it comes to his work. Although he appears to be aloof and carefree most of the time, he takes his jobs seriously. 'Someone to look up to… in that perspective at least.'

"Lumine, go ahead first! I have something to talk to Kaeya about! I won't be joining Lisa and you in the next one though so there's no need to wait." Ether said as he waved Lumine off, who had a disappointed look on her and left the domain.

The two looked at each other and nodded, having the same thought in their mind. 'No way Hilichurls organized an ambush like that, not with their limited brain capacity.'

"Heeheehee…" a creepy sound echoed through the domain from behind the two, revealing a fluff ball, or an abyss mage.

"So YOU were the true culprit behind this…" Kaeya said, tilting his head and looking over to Ether, who shook his head in disappointment.

"Gohus. Chiso Vonph." The abyss mage casted, taking the chance to prepare itself before the two launched there attack.

"You know what? I take my word back, this much was expected…" Ether sighed as he charged in, dodging the incoming attacks from the abyss mage by sidestepping.

Before the storm mage could react, Ether swung his sword, but missed the abyss mage by a centimeter. "Heeheehee, what were you trying to hit?" The abyss mage provoked Ether, who shrugged at the comment.

"At least I am not a stupid fluff ball that doesn't know when they're cut." Ether said as he sheathed his sword back, as the abyss mage was sent flying and fainted onto the ground, with a cut to their stomach. "Anyway, you missed the party, Diluc."

Diluc appears behind Kaeya, clapping his hand besides Kaeya. "Efficient as always, Ether. Unlike the knights of Favonius…" Diluc commented as he glanced over at Kaeya.

"Agree to disagree. But either way, this does make things a whole lot more interesting." Kaeya commented as he clapped alongside with Diluc as the trio left the domain.

—Outside of the domain, or the temple.—

'It seems that Lumine joined with Lisa at the third temple already,' Ether thought to himself as Kaeya laughed foolishly as he put his shoulder around Diluc, who clearly was annoyed.

"Well, let us stop wasting time here and get on with the work." Ether said as he shook his head, the fact that he had to help shows him that his expectations were to high, he didn't expect that Kaeya was clueless about the Abyss's involvement in this case until now, when dumbass Hilichurls were organizing their attack on Mondstadt based on their actions. Ether walked away from the other two, with Diluc following close behind and Kaeya bugging Diluc about useless matters.

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When Ether returned to his place, it was already 4:30 in the afternoon. Which took him a while to clear the domain with Kaeya and worrying about Lumine in the meantime. 'Hopefully, they will be done with that soon,' Ether closed his eyes as he relaxed his body and fell straight into the bed.

Ether's eyes unfolded after a while, and he immediately looked at the clock, 7:24. It had been close to 3 hours since he had fallen asleep and finished the second domain. 'So how is it going for them, I wonder.' Ether stood up and looked out the window, the sky cleared up.

'Guess that's answered then,' Ether shrugged as he saw the clear skies. 'Guess I'll go out and train for the rest of today then.'

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—In the darkness…

"The pieces are finally coming together…" a voice said, moving the chess pieces around.

"Hmm… so your plan to help me demolish Celestia is finally blooming?" Another figure across said and as moved their piece to take a pawn.

"Hmm… you could say that it's all coming in place now." The man said as he took his opponent's Queen. "Why else would I have told you to do the things that I did tell you if not?"

The man had black quiff hair, wore a black cloak with fur surrounding his neck, light grey jeans, and brown leather boots.

"I don't know, for fun?" The figure with blond hair across him said. "You are unpredictable,"

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment then," The man chuckled at his comment. "I wouldn't have you use that power for nothing."

"Guess so, I suppose I should have some expectations now, right Anubis?" The blond said as he moved his piece.

"Yes, and…." The man dragged his Queen across the board, "Checkmate."

A/N: Slower updates now because I'm running out of ideas, also am thinking of possibly starting another fan fiction… dunno. Let me know what you think!