In The Midst of Snow

One Punch!!

The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles looked down disdainfully at a fallen Dainsleif, her magenta cubes surrounding her like watchful snakes, ready to lash out at a moment's notice. Powerless, the best the royal family could do was shield Kaeya who was quivering in fear.

The throne room was in tatters from the quick but unwinnable battle between Dainsleif and The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. Tapestry were shredded into pieces, thrones were upturned, walls were cracked and dented with the number of times Dainsleif was tossed into them.

It was a painful fight to watch. Both the royal family and Dainsleif had known that they were doomed the moment The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles had blasted her way into the throne room. Yet Dainsleif had still tried, even in a last ditch effort, to protect the royal family. Kaeya couldn't stand it.

"It's not fair!" he wailed, tears endlessly streaming down his face. The Queen tried to comfort him while the King glared at The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.

"Uncle Dain! Uncle Dain!" Kaeya sobbed. It was only with all her might that the Queen restrained Kaeya from running towards Dainsleif who was right at the feet of The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. "Wake up! Please!"

However, Dainsleif laid unmoving. Kaeya only cried louder, flailing harder in his mother's arms.

The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles moved her cold eyes towards the royal family. With graceful steps that echoed in the throne room, she stepped past Dainsleif's body and reached out towards the cowering royal family.

"This ends the reign of the Eclipse Dynasty, and of Khaenri'ah's existence," she declared. "From this day onwards, the nation of technology will cease to exist."

Yellow cubes began forming on her palm, bubbling to burst. The Queen ran forwards much to the King and Kaeya's shock, opening up her arms protectively.

"Darling-!" the King exclaimed.

"Mom!" Kaeya screamed.

BOOM.

A shockwave so powerful sent both the King and Kaeya tumbling. The King had quickly taken Kaeya into his arms to protect him, and it was with lady luck on their side that the King only suffered a couple of scratches.

Kaeya coughed, trying to see through the cloud of dust for his mom. When the dust cleared, however, his damp eyes shined with greater spark.

"Aether!" Kaeya called happily.

The King, too, snapped up in attention at the mention of Aether's name. True enough, Aether was actually there. With the Queen held safely in his arms, he was holding his palm outwards, a dead serious expression on his face. He clamped his hand, dampening the residual Electro energy as he released the Queen.

"Go somewhere safe," he ordered. "Get away from here, as far as possible-"

"What is an outlander doing here?"

Aether tensed. The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles had fixed her glowing unblinking eyes on him. It was also the first time Aether had met The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles in 3100 years. Just thinking about what she had done the last time they had met made Aether's blood boil.

Xiao's death.

Lumine's agony.

"Unknown god," he said, barely holding back his rage.

"Outlanders do not belong in this world," she stated as a matter of factly. But upon noticing the person on Aether's side, she paused. "Scaramouche."

As flamboyant as ever, Scaramouche smiled, purple eyes glittering with mirth. "Your Majesty."

Stiffly, the unknown god questioned, "Are you assisting this outlander?"

"What do you think, Your Majesty?" Scaramouche chuckled, a hand on his lips. "Here I am, siding with the anomaly of a god that you instructed me to kill thousands of years ago. Does it send shivers up Your Majesty's spine, I wonder?"

"So it is as I had thought," she said. With a swing of an arm, three star-shaped crosses appeared behind her. "You really are of no use to Celestia anymore. Perish, along with the denizens of Khaenri'ah."

Without warning, lengths of cubes shot in the direction like a hungry swarm of bees. Aether and Scaramouche just barely managed to leap away in time, the two of them going in opposite directions.

Aether glanced below. With no other exit from the throne room except for the double doors the unknown god was blocking, Aether had no choice but to bait the unknown god outside lest the royal family gets hurt. Gathering up Pyro energy into his fists, he smashed the ceiling into rubble, using Anemo energy to blast his way through all the floors and out into open air.

However, the cubes didn't give up either. Aether didn't even get a second to breathe the fresh air when the cubes shot out from the hole he had made, homing in towards him eagerly like a predator.

Back in the throne room, Scaramouche got the gist of what Aether was trying to achieve. After creating a temporary Electro barrier around the royal family, Scaramouche turned into electricity and zapped towards the gaping hole Aether had created.

"Catch me if you can!" he jeered.

He yelped as the string of cubes barely missed him, consuming a white rose off the top of his head. Without further ado, he bolted out of the throne room.

Which leaves The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles in a dilemma. To kill off the unprotected royal family, or to chase after an outlander and a traitor of Celestia?

Fine, she decided. It's not like the royal family could run far. If they ran to the upper world, they wouldn't be able to escape her watchful eyes.

With a blast of energy, she too propelled herself out of the ceiling, taking along with her her cubes and crosses.

"Dad..." Kaeya whined quietly. "Will Aether win?"

The King stayed silent. Kaeya's eyes welled again with tears. But this time, he will not cry. Instead, he snapped his eyes shut and clasped his hands together in prayer.

Back in the outskirts of Khaenri'ah, engaged in a fierce combat with Murata, Xiao and Lumine were parrying and defending for their dear lives. The Archons were no joke to be messed about; it was taking every single fibre of Xiao's to dodge every fatal move of just one Archon. If he were to take on five Archons at once, it was just asking for death.

But it was then Xiao heard a desperate prayer, a voice of a scared little boy.

'Please, Adeptus Xiao, help Aether!'

Aether...Aether was in trouble?!

"We're retreating!" Xiao shouted.

"What?" Lumine yelled.

"You think you can get away?" Murata cackled, slashing at them with her flaming blades.

Xiao immediately took Lumine's hand, using Anemo energy to retreat into the horde of mages and machinery to camouflage themselves from Murata. With Murata totally forgotten, he looked towards the palace in the distance. Magenta cubes were zooming around the top of the palace, chasing two glowing streaks - one golden, one purple - around in a frenzy.

"We need to get to the palace!" Xiao said urgently. "Aether's in trouble!"

Thankfully, Lumine didn't demand for an explanation. Instead, she grumbled, rubbing her head furiously.

"Argh, that damn brother of mine," Lumine groaned. "Let's hurry up before he does something stupid!"

A/N:
Scaramouche, doing the fandango: What's up Your Majesty? Feeling betrayed?