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47.22% Genshin: The Serenity System / Chapter 51: The Bitter Waters [4]

Capítulo 51: The Bitter Waters [4]

"Isaac!"

"Isaac!"

Furina continued to shout for Isaac's name, hoping for him to respond or give a snarky remark like he usually does.

But she was only met with the dead silence of the deep pit which he had fallen into.

She and Clorinde have already climbed up to stable grounds and are near the gate that they encountered.

Clorinde watched in silence as she looked at Furina's call for her assistant's name.

However, she knows that his silence indicated that he either lost consciousness, sunk deep into the waters, or quite possibly...

'From the sound of it, the water below is flowing... That means he must have been washed away by now...' Heaving a sigh of breath, she bent down and touched Furina's shoulder. "Lady Furina, we should go back. Reporting this location should help us find Isaac."

"..." Furina's eyes continued to look down as she continued to listen to Clorinde speak. At the end of the latter's sentence, the former shut her eyes for a moment before opening them.

"No."

'I know him.' Standing up, Furina composed herself and composed her emotions. However, her face remained pale. 'He won't die from something like this.'

During their time of investigating, Furina had seen some of Isaac's abilities as well as his exceptional reaction to sudden situations.

As such, she knows that his meticulousness would save him in one form or another.

Looking down the deep pit, Furina contemplated for a few minutes before making a decision, "I'm jumping down."

"I can't allow that, Lady Furina." Clorinde rejected her idea without hesitation. "Our main priority right now is to—"

Thump—!*

Before she could finish speaking, sounds of thumping rapidly approached from the gate which had opened.

"Lady Furina!" Sensing something hostile approaching them, Clorinde immediately pulled Furina to her.

Bang!*

Bullets shot out from the darkness and into Furina's position. Fortunately, Clorinde reacted fast enough for her to narrowly avoid them.

"That's..." Furina, who was suddenly attacked, looked at the gate which opened. "It can't be..."

Soon, the figure that shot the bullets emerged from the darkness. Soon, the two women saw what it was.

More specifically, what they were.

"Another army of Clockwork Meks." Clorinde clicked her tongue. She then took out her gun. "Lady Furina, stay beside me at all times—"

Before Clorinde could continue her sentence, a Clockwork Meka resembling a dog pounced from all directions and aimed for Furina.

Bang!*

Clorinde reacted quickly and shot the Clockwork Meks down, however, soon, more of them replaced the injured ones.

Before the two of them knew it, Clockwork Meks emerged from all directions and quickly overwhelmed them in number.

"Lady Furina! Escape without me!" Looking back at Furina, Clorinde immediately ordered her to leave.

However, as her eyes glanced over to Furina's figure, the only thing she saw was the unconscious Furina being picked up by a Meka.

On her head was a bruise— a concussion for her to fall unconscious.

"Miss Furina!" Seeing this, Clorinde's eyes widened. However, against Mekas from all directions, she wasn't able to escape from their never-ending encirclement.

"Miss Furina!" Yelling, Clorinde activated her visions and imbued her gun with elemental power, killing every Mek in her path.

However, the Meks were adamant in keeping her and Furina away, replacing those who had fallen in an instant.

Soon, more batches of Meks resembling dogs emerge from the tunnel.

The last thing Clorinde saw before being surrounded by an army of Mekas was Furina being dragged into the gate which they opened.

As Furina was being dragged away, only the sound of metal getting crushed and destroyed echoed from the distance. As well as the sound of gunshots and thunder.

* * *

In an unknown location.

After an unknown amount of time.

"!" Isaac, who lost consciousness from falling, woke up dazed. Before he could think of anything, he suddenly opened his mouth and spewed out water. "Blergh!"

Sea water escaped his mouth and hit the ground. After a few moments, Isaac coughed violently. "What... What the hell..."

Isaac took a moment to recollect what happened. His mind was a bit groggy, but he was able to remember them.

'I remember...' Isaac heaved heavily as he caught his breath. 'I tried making dendro vines to hold on to... But my momentum just made them snap the moment they materialized...'

It was inevitable.

Vision holders rely heavily on their ability to muster elemental energy to use their elemental power. As for Isaac, well, he hasn't been using his Dendro vision that much, as such, he wasn't quite proficient in mustering and manipulating elemental energy.

Shaking his head, he looked up to make a sense of his surroundings. "Where am I...?"

He looked around, only to see what seemed like rotting wood around him. Looking down, he saw that he was currently sitting down on the same decaying wooden floor. From what Isaac saw, he made a guess:

"Is this a cabin?" He asked himself as he looked around. Just then, he noticed something off. "Wait..."

His vision and gun weren't with him. They were both strapped to him, so they couldn't have possibly been taken away by the water.

Noticing this, Isaac tried to move his hands— but to no avail. He looked behind him and saw that his arms were shackled behind his back.

Clang!

Clang!

Isaac tried his best to break out, but the shackles didn't budge.

"No way..." Seeing this situation, the perceptive Isaac quickly realized what kind of situation he was in. "I was captured..."

"Correct." Just then, a deep voice echoed in the cabin.

Isaac moved his eyes and looked at the source of the voice. His eyes landed on the cabin's wooden door, and the figure that opened it.

The man at the door stood still. He was wearing a black robe and held a cane in his hand.

The most noticeable feature about the man was his Clown Mask.

'Oh for God'd sake...' Quickly realizing who it was, Isaac's face turned gloomy.

"Honestly, I'm surprised..." The man with the clown mask spoke in the same monotone and deep voice. "Whether you came here bravely knowing that it's a trap, or just stupidly dived in."

The man walked over to Isaac and stood in front of him. "You and the Hydro Archon... Don't think I don't know your involvement in Spina Di Rosula."

"You two have been quite the thorn in my back, you know?"

Isaac remained silent the whole time the man spoke. After he finished speaking, Isaac opened his mouth. "...so you're the one behind the Sinthe distribution?"

"Indeed." The man chuckled in a deep voice. "You may call me... The Masked Clown."

Hearing this, Isaac's eyes widened before curling up a smile and bursting into laughing. "Haha... Haha!"

"Haha!"

He continued to laugh as if he had heard the funniest thing in his life. It was a joyous and pure laugh, devoid of any falsehood.

It was a genuinely gleeful laugh.

...yet it sounded eerie.

"..." The self-proclaimed Masked Clown watched as his hostage laughed hysterically for a minute or two, never letting out a sound.

After what seemed like minutes, Isaac's laughing finally died down and he once more looked up at the Masked Clown in front of him. "So... The infamous Masked Clown is the Sinthe manufacturer?"

As he spoke, he kept subtly fidgeting as if he was overwhelmed with joy and couldn't stop internally laughing.

"I'm guessing this is the part where you tell me your grand plan?" His eyes moved to the Masked Clown's figure.

"...You are one happy fellow." The Masked Clown remarked. "But you are correct. Like any villain in an opera, I would now divulge my most evil plan to you."

"How comedic," Isaac said sarcastically. "Well then, I'm listening."

The Masked Clown turned around and slowly walked further away from Isaac. "Do you perchance know about the prophecy?"

"That everyone would be washed away and be dissolved, and only the Hydro Archon— Furina— would be left behind, weeping on her throne." Isaac maintained his casual smile as he recounted. However, his trembling eyes and eerie smile made it seem like he was losing his mind. "Yeah, I've heard it a lot of times now."

"Good, that saves me the trouble," The Masked Clown said in a deep voice. "Did you know that that prophecy is true? Too accurate, might I add."

"— that we would quite literally be 'washed' away." As the Masked Clown said this, he suddenly walked to a table and placed down a leather pouch from his robe.

The Masked Clown opened the leather pouch and took out a series of bottles, as well as a syringe.

"There were many legends in Fontaine and one of them was about a certain liquid." The Masked Clown spoke in a deep tone. "It was a special type of liquid that, once touched by a Fontanian, would dissolve them into water and return them to the sea."

"It was called... Primordial Sea Water." As the Masked Clown said this, he suddenly took the syringe and filled it with a sparkling liquid.

The liquid that was poured glistened in both the light and dark. It was as if it could shine in the void, and stand out in the light.

"Hm? Then I'm guessing..." Isaac saw the Masked Clown's actions, however, Isaac remained calm on the outside. "You'll silence me with that?"

The Masked Clown didn't answer Isaac and continued to fill the syringe. After a few moments, the syringe was finally full.

The Masked Clown then finally decided to speak up. "I've been investigating you, Isaac Alder."

"You might seem like an ordinary barista, but your keen observational abilities can land you in any investigative career. You deserve my praises." As the Masked Clown said this, he slowly turned around. "However..."

"There truly are times when one fails, no?"

"What do you..." Isaac wanted to ask what he meant when he was suddenly interrupted.

"I've been investigating this liquid, you know?" Suddenly, the deep voice of the Masked Clown started turning erratic. "To save all of us— to save our loved ones!"

"For years, I've experimented with it— but all of them yielded barely any results!" The Masked Clown said with a furious voice. "The only good thing that came out from experimenting with all those women I took was perhaps Sinthe..."

"Kidnapped women... The Serial Disappearances Case..." Isaac said with a low voice. After saying this, Isaac smiled. "Three infamous cases in a row— amazing."

"You know, for a supposed "savior", you sure do kill a lot — and for what?" Isaac decided to provoke him. "Little to no results."

The Masked Clown heard this and calmed himself down. Composing himself, the Masked Clown cleared his throat. "That may be so— but that's because the specimens I've worked until now were just mere mortals."

"If I were to stand a chance in bringing back people dissolved by the water— then I must take my experiment to greater heights!" The man said as he raised his deep voice.

Hearing the Masked Clown's words, Isaac, who was perceptive of hidden meanings, instantly recognized what he meant. His eyes widened and his mouth opened in disbelief, "You don't mean..."

"Haha..." Seeing Isaac's expression change, the Masked Clown laughed. "That's right—"

"For me to have this opportunity, I intentionally placed key locations around this area to lure in the two of you." The Masked Clown said, back to his deep monotone voice. "This was all to lure in the being above us mortals and the one who didn't listen to my pleas..."

"Furina De Fontaine!"

Boom!*

As he said this, the cabin suddenly collapsed, and he was exposed to the outside.

However, it seems like they were still inside a cave.

Isaac took this opportunity to look around— then he saw it. Something he didn't want to ever see in his life.

Strapped on a bed, Furina was lying unconscious. Hanging above her was a syringe filled with Primordial Sea Water.

For a moment, it was as if something had broken inside Isaac— and felt like time had stopped.


next chapter

Capítulo 52: Your smile [1]

"Hey, do you mind if I ask a question?" On a bright sunny day, Furina got curious.

"What is it?" Isaac, who was eating an apple as they walked, glanced at her figure.

"Would you still not consider becoming my official servant?" Furina said, keeping up her pace. "You don't have to do much anyway— moreover, what you would do is no different from what you're doing now."

"You'll merely follow me everywhere, do tasks I assign you to, and brew and cook for me." As she said this, her face turned, and looked at Isaac. "It isn't demanding at all."

"Sounds like a dream job of many," Isaac softly smiled. "However..."

"I told you many times, Lady Furina," Glancing back at the road in front of them, Isaac heaved a soft sigh. "I'm already satisfied with my current job. And, to be honest..."

Isaac contemplated for a moment before shaking his head. "I much prefer to not be around you."

"What...?" Hearing Isaac's words, Furina halted on the spot. She then looked at Isaac with bewildered eyes. "What do you mean...?"

"Oh— Don't misunderstand," Realizing that he used the wrong words, Isaac quickly tried to fix it. "What I meant is that your status as a God should not have a mortal constantly lingering around her."

"You fool!" Furina subtly bit her lip and did not let Isaac see it. "As the God of Justice, having a mortal assistant by my side at all times is a common occurrence!"

Hearing this, Isaac took a bite of the apple he was eating before smiling. Gulping down, he spoke with a soft smile. "I know."

"But It's not just the matter of becoming your assistant, is it?"

Isaac's words struck Furina's ears and she looked back at him with slightly surprised eyes. "Wh-What..."

Seeing her reaction, Isaac burst into chuckling lightly. "Haha, It looks like I hit the bull's eye."

Composing himself once more, he slowly walked past her and let out a small sigh. "Well, who knows? My mind might change one day but for now..."

He then turned his head and looked back at her with a genuinely sincere and soft smile.

"For now, I'm just happy to see you... Not as the God of Fontaine, but as who you are."

As he said this, the wind blew from a certain direction, bringing forth a warm breeze that swayed both of their hairs. Along with it was a crisp scent of nature.

"..." Furina looked at Isaac in front of her as her heterochromatic eyes reflected his figure. She wanted to persuade him more, but her words somehow struck something inside of her that made her words get stuck in her throat.

It was a warm sunny day that day. There were barely any clouds, and only the green grass that stretched far and wide and the blue skies surrounded them.

It was a serene moment.

* * *

"What's wrong?" Seeing Isaac turn silent, the Masked Clown got curious. As if mocking him, he chuckled with a deep voice, "Is perhaps seeing the God of Justice broke you? Oh, how pitiful—"

"Don't bring her into this." Suddenly, Isaac interrupted the man's words. His face looked up to see the Masked Clown. "Let her go."

"Ah, what a great expression you have." Seeing Isaac's face, the Masked Clown dryly clapped his hands. "Worry? No, it's more like..."

"Rage."

Isaac's normally flaccid deep-amber eyes which gave off both warm and eerie vibes on those who start upon, were now devoid of anything humane.

His widened eyes looked as if they wanted to crawl out of his eyesockets and find various ways to mutilate the masked person in front of them right now.

Coupled with his current outfit, Isaac looked a bit too close to a certain good hunter who hunts relentlessly.

The Masked Clown stared at Isaac's eyes, and, for the first time in twenty years, he felt a shiver run up his spine.

A cold sweat ran down his head, but the Masked Clown merely shook it off and composed himself. "Amazing. Such profound raw emotions waiting to burst out..."

"Good! Good!" The Masked Clown laughed. He then turned around and took something. "For such a wonderful sight, I shall reward you!"

The Masked Clown then turned around, this time, holding a syringe filled with liquid. "Before you dissolve, I shall let you experience a bit of happiness, no?"

"I'm sure you already know the effects of Sinthe." As the Masked Clown said this, he approached Isaac and held the syringe near his arm. "Just about this dose can make you experience euphoria beyond imagination!"

Looking at the syringe getting close to his arm, Isaac squirmed his body and struggled, not letting the needle touch his skin.

"Rowdy." Seeing Isaac's desperate efforts, the Masker Clown clicked his fingers, and soon, Clockwork Mekas resembling dogs appeared. "Don't let him struggle."

Chomp!

Following this command, the Clockwork Meks resembling dogs immediately bit down on Isaac's limbs.

"...!" Isaac felt the immense pain from the sharp teeth of the Meks and wanted to yell, but he controlled himself. He focused all of his energy on trying to avoid the needle at all costs.

He wanted to use everything in his arsenal to try and break out, but his Serenity system was only that— it didn't sell anything that could help him in this predicament.

In the end, all his efforts were futile.

"—Urgh!" Soon, the stinging sensation of a cold needle penetrating Isaac's skin was felt. "No... No...!"

"Don't worry now," Seeing that the Sinthe successfully entered Isaac, the Masked Clown chuckled deeply. "From this moment, just treat everything like a hazy dream. A euphoric hazy dream."

After saying this, the Masked Clown ordered the Meks to stop biting Isaac and broke his chains, letting him go.

Thud!*

Isaac fell to the ground with not much strength left.

'No...' Not long after the drug was administered to him, Isaac immediately started feeling the effects. His senses turned sluggish and it was as if his perceptions were being muffled.

His groggy deep-amber eyes looked up where Furina was, only to see the Masked Clown walking beside her, proceeding with his experiment.

At the thought of Furina getting dissolved, Isaac's mind raced. He can't allow that. He must not allow that.

...he will never allow that.

Thud—*

Isaac's mind raced so fast, that it was as if the world halted and became frozen. In this world where time did not move, multiple thoughts entered Isaac's mind.

'If your one true wish could be granted, what would it be?' Just then, Freminet's questions resounded in Isaac's mind.

'To live a comfortable life,' Isaac vaguely remembered his answer. 'To give peace to troubled minds.'

'Will you fight for your wish?' Freminet's words continued to echo in his mind.

'Of course. Apart from her, no one else knows about her troubles.' Isaac didn't even know if that was the answer he gave. 'I will let her know that she can still rest for tomorrow.'

Finally, Freminet's last question dropped. 'What would you do if your wish is lost?'

"..." As the last question drifted to Isaac, he fell silent. However, after a second, he smiled. "Of course..."

Suddenly, memories of the times he spent with Furina flashed through his mind. He remembered all her smugness and boastfulness. As well as her pain and the tragedy that she hides behind a mask.

She was suffering, but for her people, she continued acting. Every day, for the past five hundred years.

Knowing all these, Isaac wanted her to be happy. But not the point that it will destroy her progress.

He only wanted to maintain all that was beautiful about her.

"Of course..." Having thought of all of this, perhaps it might be because of the drug, but Isaac smiled softly. "I'd fight for it... Over and over again... To let her know that someone acknowledged her pain."

That's right.

That was his first and utmost goal ever since he woke up in this world.

He wasn't a spotlight taker nor did he want to help the traveler.

Since the beginning, he always wanted one thing:

Serenity.

[00:00:00]

[Notice.]

[The Main Quest, Pious Believer, has now reached its completion.]

[Rewards are now being distributed...]

[...Notice.]

[Rewards are being altered according to the host's performance.]

[Calculating rewards...]

Just then, a series of notification windows appeared in front of Isaac. His diluted deep-amber eyes focused on each word until finally, the last few windows popped up.

[Complete.]

[New Reward:]

[Evernight]

[Name: Evernight]

[Type: Skill]

[Description: ...]

[Effects: For 30 seconds, able to use a portion of the Authorities relating to the Darkness, Dreams, Concealment, Horror, and Misfortune.]

[Note: Can only be used once a week.]

[Warning! Unknown side effects might occur after use. Please use with caution!]

As the notifications appeared, the moon outside shined brighter.

The moonlight had always been beside Isaac all along.

His guiding Moonlight.

*

*

*

As the Masked Fool was just about to begin his experiment, he suddenly noticed something. "Hm?"

Turning his head, he looked at where Isaac was. He expected him to be in a hallucinative state— writhing out in pure euphoria.

However, what he met was something else. Something that shouldn't have been possible— by any means.

Standing in the same position he was in, Isaac's figure had trouble standing still, with his left leg slightly drooping down as his head looked upwards.

As he continued to look upward, his face suddenly broke into a smile. That smile wasn't gentle, soft, or sincere. Instead, it was... horrific.

At that moment, something changed about him. It was as if...

[Evernight Skill activated.]

It was as if it was someone else entirely.

"...You..." The Masked Clown, who saw this, felt horror. It wasn't simply being scared— no, it was pure genuine horror from the depths of his consciousness.

Fear overwrote everything in his body at this moment— every fiber of his being was telling him that that man had changed.

"Hey..." Just then, Isaac's voice escaped his mouth as he eerily giggled. "Do you believe in Serenity?"

"Attack him!" Sensing something was off, the Masked Clown immediately yelled to the Clockwork Mekas around to subdue Isaac. "No matter what! Kill him!"

Realizing that Isaac's potential danger rose, he did not want to take any risks.

He then pointed at a Meka, "You! Get a bucket of Primordial Seawater and pour it to him! Hurry!"

He was panicking.

Never before had he felt this kind of horror in his life.

As he commanded every arsenal he had in a hurry, he suddenly heard Isaac chuckling.

The Masked Clown turned his head to look at Isaac and saw him looking back at him.

"I knew it..."

As Isaac spoke, the temperature suddenly dropped to a drastic state in an instant.

In the Masked Clown's vision, darkness suddenly emerged from Isaac and attacked the Clockwork Mekas that were approaching him. The darkness materialized as strands of hairs that attacked and strangled the Mekas.

Soon enough, only chaos was left behind. The darkness then quickly changed, enveloping the two of them, and leaving everything outside.

"You! What is this!" Panicked, the Masked Clown looked around frantically as he tried to make sense of this. "What have you done?!"

He looked back to Isaac, however, the man wasn't there. He had disappeared.

Just then, he felt pressure around his shoulders get heavy, as a cold sensation spread throughout his body.

"—Serenity truly is the only escape." As these words fell, Isaac suddenly appeared behind the Masked Clown and pressed down on his shoulders.

Isaac's face then turned to him— and the two looked at each other eye-to-eye. His bone-chilling eyes devoid of any life and his horrific smile were all that the Masked Clown met. "Don't you think so...?"

"Vacher."

"H—" Hearing his name, Vacher wanted to react shocked, but before he could do so, he was suddenly swallowed up by the darkness around them.

He didn't even have the chance to scream.

He simply got devoured by the darkness around them in silence.

Soon, the dark world disappeared, and Isaac returned to the real world. However, only Isaac remained.

Vacher had completely vanished— as if he was erased from reality.

[Skill has reached cooldown.]

[Adverse side effects: Immense fatigue and Hypersomnia statuses are now in effect for 48 hours.]

"Huff... Huff..."

Soon enough, the effects of the Evernight skill instantly wore off, and Isaac, who used it, quickly felt the side effects weighing down on him.

"Hmgh..." Just then, Furina's whimpering drifted over to Isaac's ears. His fatigued eyes then drifted over to Furina.

Furina, who had been unconscious until now, opened her heterochromatic eyes. "Where... Ugh!"

She felt a sharp throbbing pain in her head as she tried to stand up. Fortunately, Vacher had patched her bruise up.

Her bed straps had also been slashed away by the darkness that emanated from Isaac earlier.

"...Furina..." Suddenly, Isaac's weak voice drifted over to Furina. He walked towards her weakly.

"I... Isaac!" Turning her head, Furina instantly recognized who it was. She had never been happier hearing that voice— however, when she looked at him, she discovered something. "Wait... You..."

"I'm glad..." Isaac tried to stand beside her, but his legs were already trembling— even so, he continued walking towards her. Finally, the two were beside each other. "You're safe..."

Isaac's tired face and the horrible-looking state he was in instantly caught Furina's attention. Seeing this, she became severely worried, "You... What happened?! How did you—"

Isaac didn't know if it was because of his side effects, or perhaps because of the Sinthe effects, but at this moment, he just let his body move on its own.

His head lowered and got close to Furina. And soon, the two connected.

"—!" Furina, who was greatly worried for Isaac, was dumbfounded by his sudden action. A red hue suddenly spread throughout her face before she even knew it.

Both of them stayed connected for a few moments before Isaac finally parted with her.

With a flustered face, Furina looked at him with a flushed face. "What are you..."

Thud—*

However, before she could finish speaking, Isaac's body suddenly lost all its strength and fell down.

"Isaac!"

* * *

A/N:

Isaac might have fallen asleep, but don't fall asleep on me just yet! We're approaching the end of the volume, lads.


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