Genshin Impact, I, a mere mortal, cannot accompany you to the very end.

"Shadow is also naive, and Shadow is also stubborn, but this girl has one advantage, which is that she is too resilient—she is actually also afraid of loneliness."

"I can't be with her until the end, but you can. You need to become her strength."

Saro clenched her clothes tightly, her nails digging into her flesh.

I said too much in one go.

"cough, cough"

"Kiyono Sara".

“You must walk into the magnificent sunlight, and you must do it, because you are Kiyono, because you inherited my surname, and more importantly,”

His lungs grew weaker, and he coughed repeatedly, each cough draining all his strength. Yet, Kiyono remained upright and slowly walked towards the shadows.

“Saro, what I want to tell you is, cough, cough...Saro,”

His silver eyes met those of the girl below him.

The sunlight was cut in two by the window frame, and inside the room, one half was filled with magnificent brilliance, and the other half with dim shadows.

"What I want to tell you is what I want to convey to you is,"

Bathed in the soft light of early morning, Qingye said softly:

"...You have always been my pride."

silence.

silence.

They fell into a long, long silence, and only a very few sounds remained in the world.

The sound of the fireplace burning, the sound of snow melting, the sound of the wind blowing... and the sound of tears dripping onto the tatami mats.

The girl raised her face, which had been hanging down.

From the moment I entered the room—or rather, from a very long time ago.

She maintained her calm and composed expression, her resolute and composed face, because she had to be strong. She was a warrior of the Pillar State Palace, and she symbolized the will of His Majesty the Pillar State. Therefore, she had to be strong and powerful.

But at this moment, she was somewhat different.

Biting her lip, her bright golden eyes trembled slightly, her nails dug into her flesh, and more importantly:

Slightly moist, slightly bitter, and a little salty.

Clear tears appeared on the face of the eternally cold and eternally strong Tengu.

"...Yes. As you command."

She gently wiped away the tears from her face, and then, resolutely and without hesitation,

A voice from the depths of the soul:

"In accordance with the will of the Pillar of State, in accordance with your wishes,"

She drew her sword, slashed it across her palm, and the flowing blood stained the fine lines between her fingers before dripping onto the tatami mat. Against the backdrop of the white snow, the blood was strikingly vivid.

"Kiyono Sara made a vow,"

Sara stood up, walked forward, into the light, stood before Kiyono, and made her vow:

"I vow to protect Inazuma with my life, and with this body become Narukami's thunder, for ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years, until eternity—"

Until the blood runs dry!

She plunged the naginata into the tatami mat, its cold light flashing and thunder rumbling. Her blood fell along with the thunder, creating a deafening roar at the top of the clouds.

It took a long time for the noise to stop.

——--

PS1: I'm changing the update time because the author, well, has class before 4 PM... so I'll update at 8 PM every day.

PS2: And then, let me make a statement in advance.

As you may have noticed, this work will have some changes compared to the original story. In order to adapt to the story, I have slightly adjusted the timeline of the original background.

For example, the timeline of the "lockdown order" was moved forward, and there were other changes to the timeline afterward, but these did not affect the main plot development and can be ignored.

Book 1: Chapter 7 The Shadow's Confusion

Long ago, when Kiyono Sara wasn't yet called Kiyono Sara, when she was just a little girl, she lived in a quiet mountain forest.

It was a very beautiful birch forest.

A thin morning mist blanketed the mountains and forests, and the fine, broken leaves cut off the sunlight, casting patches of light on the edges of the earthen mounds.

Under the sunlight in the mountains and forests, in the soft soil, ivy, foxtail grass, moss, and tiny wild roses... all kinds of plants grow.

Saro then lived in this mountain forest.

Perhaps this is the nature of the celestial dog: to live far from the mortal world, to be with the wild spirits of the mountains, to fall asleep with the night dew of the three mountains as its pillow, and to rise with the first light of dawn. Such a life is indeed easy and carefree.

One day, all of that changed.

A filth, seemingly from nowhere, descended upon this mountain forest. The birch trees, which had spread out like fire, turned withered and yellow, and the sky was covered with a leaden color. Plants withered and rotted, and animal carcasses decomposed in the soil, emitting a damp and cold humus smell.

It was from that day on that the little tengu realized how insignificant his power was.

There's nothing she can do.

She fought the monster to the very end, her wings were broken, she was covered in blood, and she was forced off the cliff.

As she fell from the sky, all the girl could see was the leaden sky, the burning forest, her hometown... everything was being destroyed.

"It shouldn't be like this..."

She murmured in the air.

"It shouldn't be like this... I thought that with my abilities, I could protect this mountain forest forever..."

Everything before my eyes was rapidly receding: the dust was gray-black, the sky was upside down, the flames were blood-red, and flickering within them... was something overwhelming...

It was a thunderous mark that seemed to pierce the sky!

On that plain, in those mountains and forests, all the filth, all the suffering, all the monsters, were all wiped away in that almost pure white world of sword light! With a single strike, everything vanished in an instant, all things fell silent, and only the thunderous roar of the clearing wilderness remained in one's ears!

It was a magnificent world that the girl had never seen before.

This is also the world she will pursue in the future.

The last thing the girl saw was the man standing atop the dome.

White breath escaped from between his teeth, and lightning flashed in his silver-gray pupils. His thin shirt rustled in the wind as he slowly slid a katana still writhing with lightning into its sheath—sheathing the sword.

The thunder subsided, the sky cleared, and a gentle breeze blew.

"A tengu...?"

"An old friend of mine was also a Tengu... You've worked very hard..."

"You've tried your best... Little Tengu."

"You've worked very hard."

In her dazed state, she heard a man's voice, and his laughter—hearty, cheerful, and unrestrained, echoing in the clear sky. It was the laughter unique to the Great Pillar of State, giving the coward endless courage.

“But my home has been destroyed…” the little tengu murmured. “I have nowhere else to go.”

She realized she was being held in his arms. The man's chest was broad and had a faint smell of tobacco. He gently stroked her broken wing; his large hands were rough yet gentle.

He held her gently, without saying a word, and walked with her out of the forest.

...

From then on, the Tengu whose home was destroyed had a new name.

Kiyono Sara.

She joined the army, honing her martial arts skills day and night, all to catch up with the pure white world she had seen that day, all to avoid being abandoned by him, the powerful and magnificent one...

But only now did Sara realize:

That day's strike was the only strike Kiyono Raimei had made in ten years.

It was also the last blow he struck in the rest of his life, or rather, in the five hundred years of his glorious life as the Grand Pillar of Qingye Leiming.

His hair was turning gray, he coughed frequently, and he was awakened at night by pain. Da Zhuguo was slowly growing old.

That pure white world was ultimately created for her.

In this life, she will never see that world again, nor hear the thunder of Qingye again.

-

"Lord Saluo, Lord Saluo..."

I heard shouts coming from my ear.

Kiyono Sara was stunned for a moment, then slowly came back to her senses.

The morning sun shines through the huge torii gate onto the steps. As you ascend the long steps, until you reach the end of the path, you will find an ancient and solemn palace.

This is Narukami's residence, the pinnacle of Inatsume's power—the castle tower.

"Your Majesty Narukami has granted you permission to have an audience," the soldier in charge of announcing the visit said respectfully.

Sara slowly exhaled, her bright golden eyes reflecting the palace at the summit, and she slowly tightened her grip on the katana in her hand—she could hear the sound of her own heart beating.

She had been waiting at the foot of the steps for a long time.

As snowflakes danced in the air, we climbed the steps one by one, passing towering buildings and jade pavilions, and traversing long corridors and covered bridges.

It is the deepest part of the castle tower.

It was empty and silent.

With the sound of heavy, massive doors being pushed open, the winter sun bathed the deathly silent hall.

The sunlight was soft, with tiny specks of light floating in the air.

General Thunder sat cross-legged on the futon and slowly opened his eyes.