Noah appeared at the Grand Narukami Shrine using the power of space, only to see Yae Miko acting all coy and whiny, pretending to complain to Raiden Ei. A playful smile crept onto his lips as he observed the scene.
He spoke up with a teasing tone.
"Oh~ So, little fox, what kind of reward do you want? If your request amuses , I might just fulfill it on a whim."
His sudden words made Raiden Ei's entire body tense up. She quickly turned to him with a nervous expression.
"Lord Noah!"
Yae Miko's ears almost perked up in surprise. She imdiately dropped her petty thoughts about getting so perks from Ei and composed herself. With an elegant bow, she greeted him.
"Ah, so it's Lord Noah. Your humble fox greets you."
Kamisato Ayato and Kamisato Ayaka, who were standing nearby, lowered their heads respectfully. As mbers of a noble family taught in decorum, they knew better than to involve themselves in a conversation far beyond their station. Any interruption would show a lack of tact.
Noah smirked with a hint of mischief and said, "That doesn't sound like you at all, Miko. Why so formal all of a sudden? You're making it less fun for to tease you."
As he said this, his gaze—sharp as if it could pierce reality itself—locked onto Yae Miko's slightly trembling fox ears.
Feeling that intense gaze zero in on her ears, Yae Miko's heart skipped a beat. She felt like crying inside. "Has this great god from Celestia decided to treat like a pet fox?" His playful behavior left her frustrated.
"It's over. It's over. Ei doesn't even care! It's as if she's silently offering up to this guy!"
Panicked internally, Yae Miko quickly rolled her eyes in thought. Clapping her hands together suddenly, she changed the subject with feigned excitent.
"Oh my, Lord Noah, could it be that you've co here to reward everyone for completing the mission so flawlessly? If so, we're all looking forward to it!"
In an instant, the attention that had been focused on her shifted toward everyone present.
Sure enough, Raiden Ei, whose emotional intelligence wasn't particularly high, fell for the bait. Curious, with a hint of anticipation, she turned to look at Noah.
She wondered what kind of reward this new Heavenly Principle would bestow. After all, during her reign as an Archon, she had never received anything from the previous Heavenly Principle. Not once.
The Gnosis and her position as one of the Seven were gifts from her late sister, Raiden Makoto, and didn't count.
Even Kamisato Ayato and Kamisato Ayaka looked up at Noah in unison, intrigued.
Noah glanced at Yae Miko's sly, sparkling eyes and twitched the corner of his mouth slightly.
"Well played. No wonder she's a fox—you managed to smoothly redirect my straightforward teasing without breaking a sweat."
"Very well, you've provoked thoroughly. Just wait, I'm definitely going to ruffle those ears of yours later."
Clapping his hands lightly, Noah's expression shifted into a bright, smiling facade.
"Though the Demon Slayer World was like a child's playpen compared to Teyvat's challenges, completing the mission successfully wasn't possible without your collective efforts. Even the simplest tasks require dedication."
"Teyvat's condition has improved by more than 60% as a result of these efforts—an indisputable fact."
Hearing this praise from the Celestial Lord, Kamisato Ayato and Kamisato Ayaka couldn't help but feel a surge of pride.
Though the majority of the credit undoubtedly belonged to the shrine maiden Miko, the two siblings felt gratified knowing that their own contributions, however small, had helped achieve such monuntal progress.
After all, they had been part of sothing far larger than themselves—a once-in-a-lifeti undertaking to shape the future of Teyvat.
Noah paused for dramatic effect, then added with a mysterious smile.
"So, all of you may state your wishes to ."
Yae Miko's sly eyes glimred as she tilted her head, considering sothing. After a mont, she asked with a playful smile, "Anything at all?"
Noah stroked his chin thoughtfully and replied, "As long as it's within my power."
With a grin, he added, "Go ahead, don't hold back. Be as bold as you like."
In Teyvat, while certain over-the-top wishes were beyond his capabilities, Noah felt confident that more reasonable desires were well within his power to grant.
Yae Miko intertwined her fingers and hesitated for two seconds before finally speaking up.
"May I ask you a question, Lord Noah?"
"Is this your wish?"
Yae Miko quickly waved her hands. "Of course not! How could I waste a precious opportunity to make a wish to such a great deity? My wish cos after I ask this question."
"And what's the question?"
Yae Miko took a deep breath as if preparing to say sothing audacious.
"Are you… the God of Ti?"
Raiden Ei froze in silence.
She knew Yae Miko had misunderstood. Although she was aware that the Heavenly Principle had four subordinate governors, one of whom governed ti, she had never personally encountered that being.
But Noah… Noah was an existence far beyond her understanding, soone infinitely greater than even Phanes.
Noah chuckled and replied, "You can think of as one if you wish."
He had never revealed his identity as Heavenly Principle to beings beneath the Four Shades. He preferred not to inspire a sense of reverence so overwhelming that it drained all the fun out of life.
Besides, exposing his true identity to mortals and gods alike would rob him of countless opportunities for entertainnt. And, truth be told, there was no practical benefit in unveiling himself to lower-level entities.
Thus, posing as a high-ranking god suited him perfectly. It allowed him to maintain his dignity while keeping things amusing.
Yae Miko's heart pounded as she stared at the smiling god before her.
"Does the power of ti… allow the dead to return to the living?"
Hearing this, Noah imdiately understood her wish. It wasn't surprising.
"Hehehe, so your wish is to bring soone from the past into the present? Quite the audacious little fox, aren't you?"
His playful gaze shifted from Yae Miko to Raiden Ei.
"If I were my predecessor, you'd already have a Divine Nail from the heavens descending upon you for this treacherous thought."
Both Raiden Ei and Yae Miko paled at his words. But before they could speak, his next sentence filled them with both lingering fear and uncontrollable joy.
"However, the current state of Teyvat is now strong enough to sustain what was once considered a blasphemous act. Besides, your contributions have earned you this wish. I approve."
In the previous state of Teyvat, such an act would never have been allowed by Celestia. Reviving the dead would have accelerated the depletion of Teyvat's already fragile resources.
The amount of Ley Line energy required to resurrect even a single person was astronomical. To revive a god—or a being of Archon-level power—would require an amount of energy sufficient to drain one-third of a nation's Ley Lines, drastically hastening the collapse of the world.
But now, after the fusion of the satellite world, Teyvat had an abundance of resources and could support such a wish.
Noah looked at the pair and spoke.
"Little fox, Ei, tell —who is it you wish to bring back?"
Even without their answers, Noah already knew who they would choose. This was, after all, exactly what he had anticipated.
Raiden Ei couldn't help clenching her fists. Her violet eyes shone with a mixture of intense anticipation and nervous excitent.
"Even a god… can be revived?"
She feared hearing the word "no" more than anything else. But if anyone could grant this wish, it was this being, far greater than even Phanes.
Noah looked at her eager, hopeful expression, which was entirely unguarded, and felt a bit moved.
"A god doesn't truly die. Gods are incarnations of fragnts of the Primordial One. As long as the Primordial Fragnt hasn't been reclaid, a god's existence is never truly erased."
He paused, watching their wide-eyed expressions, and continued.
"Your sister, Raiden Makoto, still retains a fragnt of her consciousness within the Musou Isshin. As long as her Primordial Fragnt is retrieved, her divine essence can be restored."
With a casual snap of his fingers, Noah tore open a fissure in the sealed gates of Khaenri'ah, hidden beneath the sands of Suru's desert.
From deep within the crack, a streak of violet light shot forth, piercing through the dense layers of sand and stone, soaring skyward like a cot.
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