180 Death

"NOOOOOOO!!!* Xiao shouted and summoned her mask. She leaped up to the sky and flew towards Beisht.

" Lament!! " Xiao shouted and ran her spear through Beisht's head.

" RAAAAAGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The spear tore through her face easily. Xiao kept going and the spear tore her in half. One of Beisht's five heads is gone now.

Xiao continued her rampage and giant green spears rose out from the sea and pierced another one of Beisht's heads.

Shenhe dove down and caught Aether. She then landed on the beach and laid Aether against a boulder.

She stood up and looked at her hands. Every inch of it was covered in blood. She slowly looked in front of her.

Here laid Aether. He isn't moving, his eyes are half opened. He was just staring into the distance with no fire in his red eyes. Shenhe looked down.

Aether's left hand was gone. You would think that it was the only injury he had. You thought wrong. Shenhe's hand was shaking. Aether's chest had a giant hole in it. She can see his insides. But what is there left to see? There was literally nothing in his body. There was no heart pumping in him, there were no lungs. They are gone now. All of it was destroyed by Osial's beam There was no life in him anymore.

Ganyu and Paimon appeared beside her

Paimon choked and fell on the ground. She slowly went beside Aether and held his arm.

"Aether.... Please....Wake up.... This.... This is just a clone of yours right? Right?" Paimon didn't get any reply. Aether didn't even look at her. Ganyu slowly knelt beside her and gently put her hand on her shoulder.

" Paimon.... I'm very sorry.... He.... He's dead... Aether.... He's... g-gone.... " Ganyu barely managed to finish her sentence before tears poured out of her eyes.

Paimon stopped speaking. She went numb. She couldn't accept what she was hearing. Her best friend.... was dead. Paimon couldn't hold it in anymore.

"UWAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Paimon cried loudly. For the second time ever since she was fished out of the sea by Aether, she cried. Tears flowed out of her eyes, some snot flowed out of her nose.

Now she knew why she felt nauseous minutes before the fight, it was a sign.

Paimon put her hand on Aether's hand and looked at Aether once more. She looked down onto her knees. She kept sobbing.

Shenhe looked away and gripped her spear harder.

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!" Xiao screamed and kept punching Beisht repeatedly. Beisht was violently spitting out blood out of her mouth.

"Haaaa!!!!" Xiao punched through Beisht's skull and killed her. She leaped away, kicking away her body in the process and leaped towards the final head of Beisht.

Her spear flew back towards her hand and a dark green aura circled around it. Beisht charged up a beam and fired it at her as a last resort.

Xiao raised her spear in front of her and blocked the blue beam. She kept pushing forward and eventually was inches in front of her.

Xiao created a shockwave which cancelled the blue beam. Beisht was violently blown back by the shockwave.

Xiao brought back her spear. Her Primordial Jade Winged-Spear got larger.

The spinning spear turned into a large dark green spear.

"DISAPPEAR!!" Xiao shouted angrily and plunged the giant dark green spear through Beisht's face.

Beisht didn't get to scream. Her lifeless body fell down to the sea. Xiao stared at the falling body. It made a big splash.

She then looked at her right.

"I'm not done yet. You will die next. Osial. You were the one who killed him behind his back. Mark my words, I will turn all seven of your backs into ashes." Xiao growled at him and her spear appeared beside her and she grabbed it.

Suddenly, Xiao felt a pulse. It was from Shenhe. She looked down at her. She grunted.

"I'll be back." Xiao appeared beside Shenhe.

"What do you want—Oh....." Xiao looked at Aether's lifeless body in silence.

Xiao has lived for thousands of years. The Yakshas duties are to kill all enemies that threaten Liyue Harbor. She has seen a lot of death with her own eyes, and personally she has an uncountable kill count.

You could say that she is immune to seeing dead bodies and death in general. But his death, hits hard.

"Let's get married after the fight with Osial and Beisht, Xiao." Xiao thought back to what he said yesterday. She gritted her teeth under the mask and slammed her spear on the ground. It created a shockwave but she didn't care.

"You promised.... You promised.... I hate you so much.... Aether..... " Xiao muttered angrily and knelt beside him. She raised her fingers and gently closed his eyes. She stared at his lifeless body in silence.

" See you on the other side...." Xiao muttered and got up. She looked at Shenhe.

" We will kill him. It's what he wants and we will fulfill his needs. " Shenhe told Xiao. Ganyu arrived beside them.

" What should we do? " Ganyu asked them. Shenhe looked down and breathed in and out.

" Give me a moment." Shenhe replied. The ropes that were tied around Shenhe's waist loosened and dropped on the ground.

A red aura circled around her. Red markings flowed down her face. Shenhe closed her eyes and felt the power coursing through her.

She opened her eyes. They turned red. She looked at Ganyu. She saw that the half Qilin was shaking on the spot. Shenhe slowly put her hand on her shoulder.

That shocked Ganyu and she looked at Shenhe. "Ganyu, I know you're in a lot of pain right now. We all are, but unfortunately we have to stop grieving for a moment. Osial is still out there." Shenhe advised her.

"But....." Ganyu wanted to object but Shenhe shook her head.

"We will all grieve together once this is over. We will give him a sendoff with his friends and family gathered around him. He deserves it for all the good that he has brought to the world. " Xiao told her. Ganyu nodded and summoned her bow. Icy mist flowed around her body as her heterochromatic eyes glowed a bright pink and gold.

"We'll try to help as well." Ningguang said while walking over with Keqing beside him. Keqing's eyebags were very red. She had been crying on the Jade Chamber.

Ningguang however, was keeping all of it in her. She couldn't be crying, not now.

"I'm so useless...." Keqing muttered softly to herself. Ningguang looked at her and patted her on the back.

"Don't say that, Keqing. Aether would certainly disagree with you. He wouldn't want you to berate yourself like this. And he wouldn't want you to be sad like this either. " Ningguang told her. Keqing glared at her angrily.

"So you want be to just ignore the fact that he is dead! I can't! I know you can't as well, Ningguang! " Keqing argued with her. Tears were threatening to flow down her eyes again.

" Guys! " Shenhe glared at them. Keqing became quiet.

" We cannot argue at a time like this! We should focus on what we're here for! We can all grieve later! " Shenhe glared at them with killing intent oozing out of her. Keqing gulped and nodded repeatedly.

"I know that the youngster is watching from Celestia, cheering for all of us to win. I can feel it, can you? " Madame Ping asked them while looking at the Osial.

" I..... " Keqing muttered.

" Alright guys, shut up and listen to me." Xiao said with a commanding tone. All attention is on her now.

"Our objective right now is to kill Osial. That's it. After that, we will reveal to everyone about Aether passing away. Then our last objective, the funeral. " Xiao told them. She looked at Osial.

" RAAAAAGGHHHHHHHH!!!!! " Osial's seven heads roared loudly at them. They were mocking Xiao and the others.

"Shenhe, Ganyu. Let's show these fools who they're messing with....

(Act 1: The Start Of A Long Journey

Complete)