Taking over the Abyss

40- Fatui: Become Human

Kokomi followed you into the medical tent. You paused at the sight of all the soldiers affected by the Delusions they'd been using. All of them looked shriveled up, all of them laid out on cots wasting away and waiting for the inevitable. Kokomi moved towards one of the afflicted soldiers and bent down beside him, conjuring Hydro energy into the shape of a jellyfish and sticking it onto him.

You followed suit, finding Teppei asleep amidst the weakened bodies. You reached out with your marked arm, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Hopefully what you had in mind would work. Although you weren't sure exactly what 'Delusion overuse' was truly comprised of, it was obvious that using a Delusion was extremely toxic and drained the user of their life force. Or at least, using these faulty ones had that effect, since they were made with the tainted remains of Orobashi.

But, if the remains were tainted, then it meant you had a better chance at trying to reverse the damage. Your fingertips sharpened into points, and you gently stuck them into Teppei's chest. Taking a deep breath, you shared your Poison Resistance and Abyss Resistance with him. Though the Abyss really had nothing to do with the main story of Inazuma, and with Orobashi, it was more of a precaution than anything.

Teppei showed no immediate reaction, but that was to be expected. You moved onto the next soldier, hoping that it would do something good. There wasn't much you could do about drained life force since you weren't truly a healer, but since the concept of 'healing' existed in Teyvat, it was safe to assume that Kokomi could handle it.

As you moved onto each soldier, it became more and more clear what exactly you were up against. You could feel the coagulated blight sticking inside of them, consuming everything it touched for strength and leaving wilted tissue in its wake. The Poison Resistance worked to cleanse it, but could only do so much on its own. Eventually, you and Kokomi began to overlap the soldiers you'd treated, and came to the conclusion that a combination that your resistance and her healing was enough to keep them from dying.

You finished injecting the last soldier when Leiptr finally returned, holding a disheveled looking Nathan by the collar of his shirt. He seemed all too proud of himself, tossing Nathan into the dirt like a cat bringing back a kill to its master. "I have returned."

Kokomi stuck one last jellyfish onto the remaining soldier's face and got up to go and interrogate Nathan, dragging him out of the tent by the arm. Leiptr briskly stepped over to you with a smile on his face. As a reward, you gave him headpats and some praise, "Good job, Leiptr."

"The pleasure is all mine, milady," he gave a slight bow. Leiptr observed the mostly unconscious soldiers with mild disgust, "Ugh. They look like raisins."

"A good observation, but a little inappropriate," you commented. A few minutes later, Gorou came strolling into the tent, tail hanging down limply as he looked around worriedly. "Ah, Gorou's here."

One of Gorou's ears twitched at the sound of your voice. He made a beeline over to you, quickly checking to make sure nobody could overhear before asking, "Um... do you think that they're going to be okay?"

"W-well..." you trailed off, not wanting to get his hopes up just in case their fate was inescapable. Still, you wanted to give him some sort of answer, "I think... it's really up to them to push through right now, Kokomi and I have done all we can."

"I see," Gorou said quietly, shoulders slumping in defeat.

You still felt bad, so you tried to cheer him up a little, "Don't worry too much. Like I said, they have to be ones to push through. They were already brave enough to use such a dangerous weapon for the sake of bringing in victory, I'm sure they can manage it again."

Gorou's ears perked up, "Yeah... yeah! They're strong, it'll be okay."

"It seems that the Fatui have been playing both sides after all," Kokomi came back in, sans one Nathan. She gave the two of you a small greeting smile and approached before continuing, "The Fatui have been doing everything they possibly can to drag out the fighting between us and the Shogunate. They were also most likely responsible for the disaster at the Mikage Furnace, too."