Chương 13: D-Day

"Remember, you have to use your whole body to punch, not just your arm," Gojo explained as he blocked my attack.

He dropped down and kicked my legs, bringing me to the ground. With a groan, I slowly stood up and said, "I know. Let's try it again, then."

Once again, I lunged at Gojo, this time using my entire body to strike. Flexing my core, rotating my shoulders, and using my feet to transfer the weight, I delivered a straight. Gojo easily blocked it, but the power behind the attack was apparent.

With a quick jab to my face, Gojo stepped back and said, "Good. You actually are a fast learner, you know?."

Rubbing my nose, I smirked. "If you weren't such a shit teacher maybe I'd learn even faster," I quipped.

Gojo quickly closed the distance, delivering a devastating punch to my gut. "What do you mean?! I'm trying my best here, you know!"

I grabbed his arm and tried headbutting him. He moved his head out of the way, and kicked my shin, throwing me off balance long enough for him to slip out of my grip. With a final punch to my face, I fell to the ground once again.

"I was mostly joking... You're not that bad," I said, sitting up.

"Try teaching some time, then you can tell me if I'm still bad!" Gojo exclaimed, feigning indignation.

"Hey, I used to dabble with tutoring. It's not that bad."

After chuckling a bit, Gojo said, "Well, whatever. Let's take a break."

There was a brief moment of silence before I spoke. "You don't find it weird? Like, how we're in another world and how you're trapped here?"

"Of course I found it weird! What do you take me for?" Gojo said, sitting down. "But not anymore. I guess I've just accepted my situation. I already left behind what I was and what I had; it's time for me to focus on the present. Besides, you aren't half bad as company," Gojo said, smirking. "What about you? Don't you find it weird?" he asked.

"I'm the same as you. I've already come to terms with it... Though it wasn't that hard for me. I think... I was just looking for a change, to break free from my past life. That's why I accepted it so easily."

"Really now? What was your life like before?" Gojo asked.

"You don't know? Shouldn't you have my memories or something?"

"Why should I? Yeah, our souls are merged, but you're the one occupying our body, not me. As far as I'm aware, I'm just some kind of metaphysical existence now..." Gojo paused for a moment, looking conflicted. "Uh, now that I think about it, it's really weird."

"It is," I agreed. "Well, my past life was just plain boring. I didn't dislike it or anything, but sometimes I wished for a change, you know? When I was younger, I used to look for fights everywhere I went..." I said, a sad, yet nostalgic smile on my face as I reminisced. "Of course, that's no way to live. My family, and I guess society itself, forced me back on a more traditional path."

Gojo seemed serious, with an indecipherable expression on his face. He almost looked like he was sympathizing with me. "I see. I can't relate to you at all!"

'Or maybe not...'

"But I guess you're happy now, right? You have what you've always wanted."

"Yeah, I've been having fun being here, but... Well, that bastard Ananke appeared and soured it all," I said, my face contorting into a scowl as I remembered his face.

"Ah, somehow I forgot about him. Be careful around that guy," Gojo warned, his expression now serious. "You did well by not fighting him. In your current state, you stand no chance against him."

"I know," I said, feeling a bit frustrated. "Still, it's pretty weird, no? Why are there curses roaming around in this world?"

"My answer is as good as yours: I dunno."

"Of course. It wouldn't be fun if you knew everything," I said, standing up. "C'mon, let's keep up the sparring."

Gojo stood up as well, stretching his arms. "Man, you just don't get tired, do you?"

__________________________________________

"Wake up!" was the first thing I heard before my face was slapped.

I heard a gasp, and then a familiar voice said, "Oh, sorry! I used too much force, hehe..."

"What the hell...?" I said, suddenly opening my eyes.

The first thing I saw was Lina's face as she said, "Captain Kaeya told me to come wake you up! We're leaving in a few minutes." Lina left the tent, and I followed suit, still rubbing my eyes.

I flinched a bit at the light, still feeling groggy. Through squinted eyes, I saw that the knights were packing everything up to move.

"Hey, don't worry about the knights. We already came up with an excuse about why you and Captain Kaeya looked roughed up!" Lina said, whispering into my ear.

I had totally forgotten about that, even though I was a bit sore from yesterday.

"What did you tell them?" I whispered back.

"That you and Captain Kaeya had a friendly spar!"

I questioned the effectiveness of that excuse as I said, "Well, whatever. As long as it keeps them from asking questions."

Just then, Lina looked like she remembered something, and then went on to say, "Oh, Captain Kaeya told me to tell you that he wanted to speak with you!"

As Lina told me that, I spotted Kaeya standing nearby, watching as the knights worked on packing everything up.

I thanked Lina for telling me and went straight to Kaeya. With a smirk, I waved as I called out to him. "Hey. How was your sleep?"

He rubbed his forehead, sighing. "I turned in my sleep and woke up because of the pain six times... Not too great."

"You counting that? Well, I, for one, feel great!" I said, posing and flexing with a smirk on my face.

As I flexed my core, I felt the burning sensation of the stab wound that Kaeya had left me with his sword. I winced in pain, grabbing the spot.

Kaeya snorted in amusement, as he went on to say, "I can tell."

"So, we're actually leaving, right?

"Yes. We could always keep going, but... I'm not in good condition. I'm almost using all my energy standing up..." Kaeya exhaled, crossing his arms as he said, "That means you're not getting paid the promised amount, as the expedition was unfortunately cut short."

Kaeya tried to look serious, but a hint of a smirk appeared on his face. I just clicked my tongue and said, "Alright. Guess that's fair... But you will pay me just a bit, right?"

"Maybe."

"You better," I replied, as I waited for the knights to finish packing up.

Kaeya and I made small talk as a way to kill time, and eventually, we started making our way back to Mondstadt.

The knights seemed to glance at me quite a lot. Kaeya was also getting a lot of looks from the curious knights and I guessed it must've been because they probably didn't buy the excuse Lina gave... Nevertheless, none of them asked anything, and I was grateful for that.

The trek back to headquarters was uneventful, to say the least. Most of the time I spent talking with Kaeya, Lina or Mattias. Eventually, we arrived as the sun started to set.

"Here," Kaeya said as he handed me a pouch with mora. "It's not much, but don't get too greedy."

"I'll take it, I guess." As I grabbed the mora pouch, I realized that I might've left the other pouch that the agent gave me back at Dragonspine...

'Oh, well.'

"Alright, I'm leaving. See you around," I said with a smile as I patted Kaeya's arm.

Kaeya nodded, and with a wave, he sent me off.

Before I could get far away, though, Lina stopped me in my tracks by getting in front of me.

"Where are you going without saying goodbye?" she said, pouting with her arms crossed.

"C'mon, stop pestering him," Mattias said, coming in from behind.

Lina made a big show of purposely ignoring him and asked me, "Will you be coming around?"

"Probably. I'll most likely be here at the training grounds in the morning. That being said, goodbye." With a wave, I started walking away.

Lina made some noiseless gestures of protest that were quickly quenched by Mattias dragging her away.

I took a deep breath, enjoying the evening breeze as I walked to the inn.

Time to plan the next few days.

I'll probably train in the morning, do commissions with Bennett throughout the day, and go to sleep early so I can get some more training done with Gojo...

And that's what I did the following days.

They were uneventful, to say the least. Not much happened other than what I already had planned. No Ananke sightings, and no weird shenanigans.

I trained hard with Gojo, and I managed a... breakthrough with my Limitless, let's say. It was very rough and tiring training, but it was necessary. The Limitless is not a technique one can use with ease, after all.

Still, apart from training with Gojo, doing commissions with Bennett was a fun way to pass the day.

The first time I met him after that stunt with the cursed spirit, he couldn't stop gushing about how he had a 'streak of lucky days.' Maybe it'll take a bit more time before he realizes that maybe it's more than that...

But I digress. In the days that I got work done with him, I noticed the kid had a lot of potential. Namely his skill in combat and how he utilized his Vision. Any wound that he would get, he'd instantly cauterize with his Pyro... It almost felt like healing magic.

He also charged head-on into battle without any fear, and his attacks, though rough and unrefined, packed quite the punch... If he received proper training, he would truly be a formidable warrior. Well, not like I can teach him much. I don't use a sword, after all.

Still, an idea popped up in my head. Knowing that in a few days, I'll have to go and confront Stormterror with the others...

"Hey, Bennett," I said as we sat down near the edge of the forest to rest.

"Yeah?"

"In a few days, me and the knights will execute... uh, an operation of sorts. I know you love adventure, why don't you tag along?"

"Uh, me? I mean, it sounds really cool! But I'm not part of the knights or anything. Besides, I don't want to ruin the operation with my luck..." Bennet said, a bit hesitant.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulder, smirking as I said, "Ah, c'mon, don't worry about that. Your luck has been good the past few days, right? It'll continue like that! Besides, I'm the Honorary Knight. I have quite the leverage, you know? Just come with us and have some fun."

After a few moments of silence and pondering, Bennet finally spoke. "Well, if you put it like that... then I'm game!" Bennett smiled as he quickly stood up.

"That's the spirit."

Yep. I'm bringing a kid to a very important operation that decides the fate of Mondstadt...

Hey, it doesn't hurt to have one more pair of capable hands on board. You never know what might happen.

I also would've brought Kaeya, but he's... uh, out of service, for the moment.

Ah, I'm just the paragon of great ideas.

__________________________________________

The day arrived, and I was very excited. I was also a bit... nervous.

I didn't exactly know what would happen at Stormterror's Lair. I mean, I know the story, I've played the game, but... things have changed somewhat, so what if something else happens?

Leaving my pessimistic thoughts aside, I met Bennett at the main plaza and started walking to the knights' headquarters to meet with the others.

I had told them beforehand that I wanted to bring someone else along. Of course, I did my best to convince them, but it wasn't all that necessary.

Even though it was a very important operation, the group was happy to bring someone else, as long as they were reliable, of course.

As we walked toward headquarters, I noticed Bennett was a bit stiff, so I asked, "Nervous?"

"No! I mean, yes. A bit," he instantly replied. "I mean, I'll have to work with the knights, right? This seems a bit more serious than what I usually do."

"You'll be fine, don't worry about that."

"By the way, what does this... operation entail?" Bennett asked.

"Didn't I tell you?"

"Not really."

"..."

Curse me and my impulsiveness.

I quickly explained to him what we were going to do. Bennett listened intently, and I half expected him to freak out, but he didn't. Even though he was nervous, he looked more determined and excited than anything. Something about 'getting to help Mondstadt with its crisis,' or so.

Once we arrived at Jean's office, we went in, and everyone was already there waiting.

"Finally! I was starting to regret waking up so early," Venti said, standing up from his chair with a showy jump.

Diluc looked at Bennett up and down appraisingly. "Is he the one you said you'd bring?" he asked, his arms crossed.

"Yeah."

After a moment of silence, Diluc then sighed and said, "I know you're reliable, so I'll trust your judgement."

I'm not really reliable, but whatever...

"Now that we are all here, I think it would be a good idea to discuss our plan before heading to Stormterror's Lair," Jean said, standing up from her desk.

After a few minutes of going over what we would do, explaining the plan to Bennett, and readying ourselves, we started making our way to Stormterror's Lair.

The trip was mostly silent, which I hated, but I managed to make small talk with Lumine as we went on.

We passed through Springvale and the Dawn Winery, before finally arriving at Stormterror's Lair.

A giant wind barrier permeated the whole area, barring anyone from entering. We knew this was here, so naturally we knew what we had to do.

Venti stepped in front as he said, "Let me at it."

Suddenly, I felt it. That cursed energy... that malice.

Turning around quickly, I looked upward. In one of the cliffs, high up, there he stood, with his creepy grin. Ananke.

He waved at me, turned around, and left, not before making a gesture with his hand. As he did so, multiple hilichurls appeared out of nowhere from the sides.

Mitachurls did the same, jumping from the cliffs down onto the path.

"Well, the stage will need to be cleared before I start my performance!" Venti said as he manifested his bow.

I clicked my tongue as I muttered, "Nothing can ever go according to plan..."