The Puppet

Defense Measures

"Sorry I'm late," Kaeya said, straightening his shirt as he walked into the war room. "Venti needed something. And no, it wasn't Mora."

Jean nodded. "Hopefully, he stays around. We'll need all the help we can get. Now..." She turned to the knights and Razor who gathered here. The only knight who wasn't there was Klee. The little girl was stressed out and tired, so Jean put her to bed. "Lumine and Paimon had left to possibly get some help. Said that it would take a day at most."

"She's probably going to see Xiao then," Amber said. "Closest guy to us and hopefully he can spread the word."

Jean nodded. "Hope... only thing we have right now..." She cleared her throat. "Hertha?"

The knight nodded. "We are slowly convincing people that Liyue will be only temporary. I would like the pace to be picked up a bit, but fear of the Inferno Mage is working both ways: for us and against..." She spoke. "The majority of the concerns is that the mage is going to attack the exodus while they are leaving."

"I can see where that concern is coming from," Lisa said. "The Inferno Mage isn't exactly kind with the way he attacks."

"At least we know where he is going to attack next... just the when is... a bit scary..." The outrider said.

Kaeya turned to Albedo. "Did you do what I asked?"

"No, Kaeya. I'm not drawing you like I would one of my Liyue girls." He said with a straight face, catching Kaeya off guard. Sucrose snorted quietly as everyone else looked at him. Before the Cavalry Captain could say anything, Albedo held up a hand. "The reports of the Inferno Mage's appearance were conflicting. That Hopkins character didn't help." He set down some pages with different drawings.

Razor picked up one. "Why drawings?"

Kaeya finally found his tongue again. "I've asked Albedo to see if he could draw the Inferno Mage based on the reports of the people who claim to see him. To at least see if he is hiding out with the rest of the population. Hiding in plain sight sort of thing." He picked up another and looked at it. "Though, I'm not recognizing any of these faces."

"Most of it is my interpretation." Albedo said. "Like I said, conflicting reports. But some things are consistent."

"Like what? That he is a pyro vision user?" Amber asked.

"Like each report said that he is a tall man. He is male. His vision is on his waist. And he uses a claymore. And... one more thing that I found odd."

"His laugh?"

Albedo turned to Sucrose. "O-Oh, me now?" She points to herself, in which he nodded. She clears her throat. "W-well... O-old Finch w-was the only one to say th-this... but..." She pushed a few papers out of the way until the one she was looking for was visible and pointed at it with her pencil. "Th-this might be the closest w-we have to what h-he looks like." Jean picked that one up. The image was of a man, claymore on fire. Along the visible parts of his skin were dark purple lines or cracks running all over it. "D-despite being the o-only one who mentioned it..."

"I found it interesting. It neither conflicts nor confirms with any of the reports, thus I concluded that this... this skin marking is part of his appearance. Just like Kaeya's highlights and Sucrose's ears." The woman in question hid her face.

"Why important?" Razor asked, not following.

"I don't know yet. But it's such an odd feature that I had to take note of it. Is it a skin condition? Are they tattoos? Are they a side effect of working with the Abyss Order? I'll have to research this..." Albedo soon devolved into muttering theories. Razor was still confused.