Shrine

Petrified. If one word can describe Aether at the moment, it would be petrified. It wasn't in a bad way though, as he was more petrified by someone else's beauty instead. That is, until he internally slapped himself.

'You're married, dumbass.' Aether told himself as he snapped back to reality.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Aether." With a smile, the wandering god finally introduced himself. He stretched his hand forward for a handshake, and that is only when the elegant beauty he was mesmerized by finally spoke.

"Ayaka. Kamisato Ayaka, pleasure to make your acquaintance." 

Kamisato Ayaka, the Shirasagi Himegimi. Ayaka had fair skin with white-blue hair and silver blue eyes combined with her sky blue pupils. Her clothing had bits of armor to it. On her hand was a fan, one that she used to cover half of her face.

Using her free hand, Ayaka took hold of Aether's hand. Aether couldn't see it, but Ayaka was blushing quite a bit behind that fan of hers. However, her eyes soon widened as she felt a sudden burning sensation on her hand. She quickly retracted her hand, shocking the blonde for a few seconds until he noticed her clutching her hand.

Without saying a word, he took her hand once more. Ayaka tried to protest, but the complaints she had were caught in her throat as she felt a soothing sensation wash over her injured hand.

"Sorry about that. I got a sudden powerup earlier, so I'm still adjusting my energy so it won't be harmful for others."

"O-oh, it's quite alright." Ayaka was quite surprised at how much mastery the blonde has over Anemo. All of the energy wasn't wasted, instead it was focused on healing her injury. And without her even realizing it, he was done.

"That should be it. I recommend putting some ice on it though."

Simply just nodding, Ayaka formed pieces of Cryo on her now gone injury. Taking a sigh of relief, Aether looked around. Ayaka took note of the god's heterochromatic eyes. They were beautiful if you ask her. 

Noticing the now awkward air, Ayaka coughed to her hand to catch his attention.

"Would you like some tea?"

"Oh, sure, thank you."

While Ayaka guided Aether to the estate, he took note of how everyone else looked at him strangely. 

'Right, I forgot that me being a god is somewhat public knowledge. I guess they're just not used to having someone divine being near them. Surprising that the lady earlier didn't recognise me.'

And he was right on the money. Aether was highly looked upon in Inazuma. Being a closed off nation, the information that enters Inazuma was very limited. That's why when they hear stories of the Legendary Traveler turned god, it was understandable that they would be in awe. Someone who came out of nowhere comes and saves not one, but two nations was an incredible feat.

Suffice to say, everyone was giddy at the moment.

"Please, take a seat."

Nodding, Aether took a seat. He waited as Ayaka prepared their tea. While waiting, Aether focused on himself. Rather, he focused on his energy. Just as he thought, it was calm, but some of it was leaking. Wanting to test out the extent of his current "base", he channeled Electro to his fingers and snapped.

...

It was a huge mistake.

A loud bang could be heard, as if lightning struck the estate. Ayaka hurriedly went towards where Aether was, only to see his hair was now untied and that the room contained an overwhelming amount of Electro. Most of the guards outside went inside just after she arrived. However, they all soon left, seemingly dizzy from the amount of Elemental Energy in the air.

"Note to self, positive and negative charges make things more explosive."

Not minding the somewhat flabbergasted girl, Aether formed a hair tie using Geo and Anemo, opting to tie his hair in a high ponytail style this time. Only after he finished tying his hair did he turn to look at Ayaka. 

"Sorry about that, I just wanted to see what "base" me can do and… well even I'm surprised."

He was right about that. He's been… passively getting stronger lately. Aether doesn't know how, considering his power grows each time he kills. Sure you could count his Corrupted Vision and obtainment of Electro as a buff, but that's besides the point. He's getting stronger, fast. 

Sounds like the problem of a certain baldy.

-x-X-x-

"Do I really have to wear this?" Aether asked as he looked himself up in the mirror. He was wearing a golden collared coat with flowing sleeves over a white kimono and his typical black pants. Ayaka heavily insisted that he wore Inazuman clothing so as to not stick out more. Not that he wouldn't stick out still. He was still really recognizable.

"You look nice in that." Thoma commented.

"Thanks, just gonna take me a bit to get used to this. I just hope this thing won't rip when I fight." Aether said as he moved around a bit.

Both Thoma and Ayaka were taken aback by his speed. One second he was in front of them, then he was behind them the next. It's really a good thing they made his clothing really durable. 

"Oh, it held up. Neat." Aether smiled as he finally got used to his clothes. A little change in fashion shouldn't be too bad. "Now, shall we start?" He said as his eyes glowed to their respective colors.

-x-X-x-

"Not again..." Aether groaned as he saw the shrine. No wonder Kazari gave him three wards earlier. He needs to unlock the seal. Again. "Let's just get this over with..."

And so he did. He went at it at his fastest speed, creating multiple afterimages. Once he finishes, another samurai appeared. This time though, he was prepared.

"I won't let you move."

Summoning chains made out of Pride, he held the samurai in place. Since Pride is more Divinity than Corruption, this shouldn't damage the Sacred Sakura. Why didn't he just use this earlier...

"Sorry man, but I have a feeling that I should absolutely speedrun everything."

And with just a flick of his wrist, the chains crushed the samurai. He didn't feel anything after that, no remorse for how brutally he just killed that thing, and no satisfaction. For some reason, he felt empty.

"Why do I feel like I'll be having this emptiness often...?"