Ethereal [discontinued]

十四

"—and then, whoosh! Aether sent Childe flying! You should've seen him defeat that stupid harbinger!"

Y/N chuckled, following the floating pixie to wherever she was taking them. "Sounds like one hell of a fight."

"It was! Then we had to fight the overlord of the vortex named Osial! The Tianquan Ninguang had to sacrifice her beloved Jade Chamber to seal the monster off."

"That must've been rough. Glad you guys were okay."

"Hehe, it's all thanks to your son!" Paimon teased.

"Indeed, I'm proud to have a strong ass son! Like parent and child amirite?" The duo laughed, continuing to wander aimlessly. It almost looked like Paimon was keeping them away from something.

...That something being Y/N's birthday party. Aether instructed the small fairy to distract his parent for as long as she could until they finish prepping up Tenshukaku.

"Is this good enough?" Sara asked the traveler, backing away from decorating the main area of the palace.

"Yes! Thank you Sara!" Aether thanked her, turning to Ayaka and Thoma. "Is the food doing okay?"

"Yep, we managed to stop the Shogun from putting any hidden ingredients." The Kamisato retainer replied.

"Great! That's great, I wouldn't want Y/N to have food poisoning on their birthday."

"Speaking of your parent, I hope I get to have a proper chat with them other than a few pleasantries." The heron chimed in.

"Are you asking for their blessing?" Her retainer teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Thoma!" She blushed, hiding her face behind her fan.

"I kid I kid."

Aether rolled his eyes at their banter, shifting his attention to the firework maker. "Hey, Yoimiya! Are you done preparing the birthday fireworks for tonight?"

"I'm almost done!"

"Okay, so far so good. I just hope Paimon hasn't spoiled anything, knowing how loose lipped she normally is..." Aether sighed, shaking his head.

Back to Y/N and Paimon...

"Paimon, where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere!"

"We've been wandering aimlessly for an hour now."

"You'll see!"

"Okaayy, I'm trusting you on this." They smiled, keeping their pace up with the floating pixie.

During their stroll towards Chinju forest, they accidentally managed to alert an Abyss Mage. It did it's usual spiel of incoherent things, doing its annoying dance as they activated its shield.

"Damn you, you cocky twat and your pesky shields." Y/N cursed, summoning their weapon with a call of its name. They pulled out a flaming flower stemen from their pocket, infusing it with their weapon as they took a stance.

The mage shoot a couple of ice shards at them, to which Y/N easily flicked away with a twirl of their scythe. They disappeared in a blink of an eye, appearing right behind the abyss mage with a flash of electro. They swung their weapon, instantly melting the cryo shield as the mage dropped to the floor with an 'oomf'.

"Finish 'em, Y/N!" Paimon cheered.

"W-wait!!" The mage lifted a hand just in time to stop the scythe's blade from nearly slicing it off. "Are you really Y/N?!"