82. Miko's Plan

Jiu didn't dare to say anything knowing how Ryūhei could handle her with his technique. In addition, she didn't know how strong his doppelgangers were. If those doppelgangers could do the same as Ryūhei, then she was done for.

Looking at Jiu's dejected expression, Ryūhei felt somewhat bad as he sighed. He rubbed her back while saying.

"I'm sorry, okay. It's not like I'm against your freedom in talking. It's just, please refrain from talking about me or Morax to someone else carelessly, okay? These are examples, Snezhnaya has eyes through the Adventurers' Guild and Fatui, and the Steambird from Fontaine also has their eyes everywhere through their reporters or journalists. You wouldn't know if there are enemies in the dark who are also watching you, trying to control you through Erosion."

A few moments after Ryūhei said that, he heard a sweet and seductive voice beside him.

"I didn't know that you were this paranoid, you little scoundrel."

Yae Miko got closer to him. And somehow, a sweet scent from her struck his nose. Ryūhei flinched for a bit. But he still kept his composure.

"You can say that it's my way of survival. Unknown enemies are scary, you know!" Ryūhei said without turning his gaze. Then, he added, "Say, Lady Yae. Can you keep our conversation and your conversation with Jiu a secret?"

"Hmmm. In exchange?" Miko smiled.

Hearing her response, he couldn't help but sigh.

"I knew it. Well, what do you want me to do?" Ryūhei turned his head while asking.

"Hehe. You know, you can even defeat her in her dragon form." Yae Miko pointed at Jiu. "Then, how about helping me to bring my friend to her senses?"

Ryūhei's face contorted after hearing what she said. He asked deeply.

"The friend you are referring to, don't tell me it's the Raiden Shogun?"

"Who else if not her?" Miko chuckled.

"F*Beep* no! This is by no means a fair exchange." And naturally, Ryūhei couldn't accept this term. There's no way Ryūhei could accept something with no merit in it. "Confronting that mad Archon can cost me my life. If you can't give me a satisfactory exchange, then the deal is off. I don't want to take the risk."

Honestly, he would confront the Raiden Shogun without Yae Miko asking him to do so. However, he still needed time to gather information, whether how to deal with the Raiden Shogun or deal with the aftermath.

He wasn't stupid enough to take action when considering the aftermath of the battle would be messing up the law order. In addition, Ryūhei had a hunch that there were some undercover agents inside the Tenryou Commission and Kanjou Commission, just like in some movies or TV series in his previous life. There are bound to be moles when a country is in bad shape. Perhaps the ones acting behind the scenes are the Fatui. Or maybe other organizations. He had no clue, so he needed to gather information.

"Ufufu. You don't need to worry. I already prepared a special program. It's called an Anti-Raiden Shogun Training."

"Ugh. That's kinda a lame name though." Ryūhei expressed his disapproval of that kind of name.

"Don't mind such a trivial thing!"

Ryūhei nodded. Then he held his chin while saying.

"Then, why do you think I would do that? Knowing how experienced you are, do you think it's possible for me to defeat her?"

"Don't you realize how special you are?" Miko pointed at him. And Ryūhei just nodded in agreement while putting on a smug face.

"I do"

"..." His confirmation made Miko speechless for a moment before saying, "Well, never mind. Anyway, you do learn a lot of things from Morax, right? By looking at this sealed space, I suppose you can do something more powerful."

"Then what does this technique have to do with her?"

"Since you already understand Erosion, this makes it easier for me to explain. The current Ei, I mean her current physical body, in fact, is just her puppet."

"Wait! Are you serious? And Ei, is that the Raiden Shogun's name?"

"Yes, that's her name, and I'm dead serious this time."

"Then, the real one?"

"Listen to me first. The godly beings are susceptible to erosion. You already saw with your own eyes how Jiu over here was also affected by it. Because of the losses Ei sustained in the past, she became fixated on "eternity," hoping to preserve Inazuma's prosperity forever. Ei created an autonomous puppet with the explicit purpose of withstanding erosion. And since the spirit is susceptible to erosion, she placed her consciousness inside her sword, where she remained in a meditative state in her realm of consciousness called the Plane of Euthymia, to free herself from all disturbances." Miko explained Ei's situation while Ryūhei listened attentively.

But then, he frowned. His enemy is just a puppet. Although he has puppets with complete emotions due to their chips that got Ryūhei's knowledge, he wasn't sure about the other puppets in this world, just like Katheryne from the Adventurers' Guild that was devoid of emotions since she was programmed to talk politely.

His percentage of winning against an Archon was whether the Archon had emotions or negative energy or not. If his enemy was just a puppet without emotions and far stronger than him, then the task to defeat the Raiden Shogun was nigh impossible. In order to defeat his enemies, he also had to know his limits. Just like a quote in his previous life, know thyself, know thy enemies, a thousand battles, a thousand victories.

"If she's just a puppet on the outside, then I shall back down. This is a rather impossible task for me." Ryūhei shook his head.

"I'm not asking you to defeat her puppet, but knocking Ei to her senses within the Plane of Euthymia. If you can make an isolated space like this, and although this isolated space is not that powerful, this should be enough to trigger her to pull you inside her plane. Your technique is performed without relying on a Vision. This means, your spiritual energy manipulation or like is exceptional. Without a doubt, people like your kind will be bound to be able to manipulate the spiritual body. And inside the realm of consciousness, you can freely use your power with just your spiritual body. The moment you executed your technique, Ei would see you as an obstacle for her eternity."

Ryūhei had a doubt about Miko's statement. After all, he never experienced something like entering such a realm.

Seeing Ryūhei's doubtful expression, Miko added.

"If you don't believe me, then I'll try to drag you inside my realm. Though, the process might be a little bit troublesome."

Ryūhei understood that everyone had their own realm of consciousness. However, only a handful of them can get free access to enter or leave their realm of consciousness to train their spiritual or mental state. This is also knowledge from his previous life as well according to a certain religion. In fact, he didn't believe it at that time since it was too unscientific. However, he is in a fantasy world where there are so many unscientific things. Thus, when Miko stated that, he couldn't help but believe in her, knowing Miko was a more than 500 years old granny. The older the person, the more experienced the person is.

However…

"No. This isn't about whether I can get inside the realm of consciousness or not. Rather, why do you think I can defeat the real her when I'm sure I still can't beat the puppet?" Ryūhei asked her pensively.

But, Miko smiled.

"I can help you if you manage to enter her realm of consciousness. For combat, as I said before, I have a special program." She replied.

"So, this anti-something is the preparation to confront her in combat?" Ryūhei asked her.

"Exactly. Think of it as a catalyst that can reproduce the Raiden Shogun's combat moves. I made it from my own memory, which means it should be perfectly accurate — unless of course, her skills have declined."

According to Miko's knowledge, Ryūhei was so talented in combat. So, she decided to give it a try, having him learn to counter Ei's fighting style.

She did divination years ago. In her divination, Inazuma would be in a crisis due to Ei's pursuit and third-party interference. Yet, within the helplessness of the people, a person would carry the burden of all people, including those who had their Visions seized, and that person stood among the masses, confronting Ei.

After she heard a story from Jiu, she believed that Ryūhei was the destined person who would stop Ei in her divination.

"Then, what if her skills improved instead?"

Miko pondered for a moment on Ryūhei's question.

"Count it as your bad luck!"

"Hey!" Ryūhei curled his mouth downward.

Undoubtedly, Ryūhei was interested in the program that Miko mentioned earlier. However, he wondered if such a thing was comparable to the real one.