The Puppet

An Outdoor Cookout

"What the-?!" The traveler looked at the burning village. "D-did he pulls one over us?!"

"Doesn't matter!" Amber summoned her bow as the screams of the people reached their ears. "We need to get there now!"

"Klee and I will get Jean," Venti said, picking up the sleepy child. He played a few notes on his lyre, causing a wind shaft upward to appear. "This shall get you there faster."

"Get the bombs as well!" Lumine yelled as her group summons their respective weapons and head to the wind shaft. "We don't want that going off!"

The hilichurls screamed in sadistic glee as they stormed onto the village. "Zido yaya! Zido yaya! Zido yaya!" They screamed.

Aether watched from afar in his Abyss Mage outfit. He smiled under the mask when he saw a house explode in flames, followed by a shrill of psychotic laughing. "He's having fun."

The Abyss Mage from before hesitated. "A little too much fun. He's going to burn down this entire forest at this rate."

"Why do you think I brought so many water mages?" He chuckled. Aether peered off into the distance. "Looks like my sister and her friends are coming... with Kaeya..." He grumbled a bit. "Keep him away from seeing him. Okay?" The Mage nodded. Aether squinted a bit more and saw the bard with... a cart? "And... send some hilichurls to get that cart."

Amber lets loose a rain of arrows down on a group of hilichurls and a mitachurl with an ax before the others slammed down with their weapons into them. Razor let out a blast of electro energy, inflicting the overloaded explosion on them. While those two took on the hilichurls, Kaeya and Lumine doubled teamed a water mage, freezing it and getting it stuck next to a wall with her tornado. "Please tell me that there are at least three fire ones," Lumine commented.

"Haven't seen one yet," Amber said, firing back words without looking, nailing a water samachurl in the face.

"Amber and me will help people," Razor said. "You put out fi-"

Another house exploded in a fireball, startling everyone. A shrill laugh came from where the house once stood. It was neither from an Abyss Mage or any kind of hilichurl.

"BURN TO THE GROUND. HAHA! BURN!" The voice was littered with the sound of a man who has completely lost his mind. Lumine grumbled a little, not recognizing the voice.

"HEY!" Kaeya ran towards the laughing, sword out, only to be tackled by Mitachurl. Razor ran to help him.

"We are wasting time!" Amber yelled as the laughing slowly left. She shot another hilichurl's face.

Razor quickly finished off the Mitachurl. "Put out fire. Kaeya and Lumine. Help people. Amber and me."

"I'll do that... once I give that man a piece of my mind!" Kaeya said, getting up.

Lumine grabbed his arm. "We'll deal with him later! Come on!" She drags him to the spreading fires as the other two went to help the people.

"We can put an end to him now, if-!" Kaeya began before Lumine shoved him against a wall. For such a short young woman, she was strong.

"Kaeya! Get your head out of your ass!" She yelled. "You are upset about Diluc. I know. I get it. I know how it is to lose a sibling." Kaeya bit back correcting her. "I don't even know if Aether is alive or not. But... do you think he would be happy that you were going to attempt to fight the monster responsible for this while ignoring the people you swore to protect!?"