Ch 273: Are you sturdy?

"Enter." called out Jinah, looking away from the screen.

The door of the cabin (the third best one after the Captain's and the one La Folia used) opened, revealing her new silver-haired friend.

"The cook has been complaining about you. He says you're a glutton and demanding the impossible, like we're in the capital with unlimited access to ingredients." grinned La Folia as she entered the cabin.

Her tone clearly suggested that she was grossly exaggerating the cook's comments.

"Ah! He didn't complain when I gave him a gold ingot as a tip. He's good at his craft, that man." chuckled Jinah.

"The Einherjar isn't just any warship." nodded La Folia, sitting on the bed when Jinah invited her to. "It is the corvette the royal family uses when needing fast travel with at least some deterrence against sky pirates or flying beasts, and for that reason, some of the cabins are more luxurious than what you would expect from a warship of this size, and the cook is one of the military's best."

"I understand. You even have access to internet, after all." smiled Jinah.

"Yes, another thing a ship of the line wouldn't have, for obvious reasons. You were watching a video?"

"Yeah. I was trying to find out more about the Progenitors and Dimitrie Vatler's combat capabilities."

"I see. And what do you think?"

"Frankly, I'm not impressed." shrugged Jinah.

"Not impressed?" blinked La Folia.

"If those videos are representative of their combat capabilities, even the weakest member of our faction could easily slaughter them, provided they share Noah's abilities." shrugged Jinah.

"The Progenitors are said to have the power of whole nations' militaries. They carved their own empires, and you say they are weak?"

"Well, not precisely weak, but they are slow, which is much worse." sighed Jinah. "I'll give you an example."

Jinah stood, took an apple from the nearby table, a plate from a drawer, and created a light knife. She activated Augment, then threw the apple into the air.

All La Folia saw was Jinah's right arm turning into a blur, and the apple was instantly dismantled. When Jinah stopped moving, the plate was filled with bits and pieces of the apple's skin, but also six sections shaped like bunnies.

Jinah took one and started eating it while extending the plate to La Folia, who also took one section, noting the thinness of the peels and the regularity of the cuts. It wasn't perfect, but still fairly close to what she might achieve by holding the apple in her hands and taking her time.

"I am thoroughly impressed… I understand what you mean now." breathed La Folia.

"Right? Noah has always told Akeno, who then told me, that in battle, speed was king, and he has been to a large extent able to direct his development in that direction. Since we share some of his abilities, that largely holds true for us as well. I have fought enemies in close combat who could deliver twenty attacks in barely a second. When we get serious, time around us slow to a crawl from our perspective, and we can move well past the speed of sound."

"So, when I see those videos of Progenitors who basically can't do much beside quickly heal their injuries and summon big, slow monsters, however powerful those monsters are…"

"You're not even in the same league." nodded La Folia, biting into her apple.

"Exactly. You, Pascalia and Londe will become just as strong eventually." grinned Jinah. The cute twins had been just as thrilled by the idea of becoming immortal superheroes visiting various worlds to perform good deeds than La Folia had been about meeting Valkyries.

"…Not my parents?" asked La Folia with a raised eyebrow.

"…That's more complicated." winced Jinah. "I mean, technically, they could both gain immortality and all the other perks, yes. But the prerequisite for this is to be completely loyal to Noah, and this isn't something that can be worked around. If your parents choose to gain those… this is bound to impact their marriage."

"…I see… In practice, that would mean my mother joining Noah's harem, right?" asked La Folia with a conflicted expression.

"Not necessarily, but that would be a strong possibility, yes." nodded Jinah. "I know that once all of this is over, I will ask Noah to make my mom immortal. Even if it's going to be weird sharing my man with my mom, it's not like I'm going to be the only one in this case. Akeno and several others already are in this situation, and after a while, they don't seem to mind anymore."

"And your own father?"

"He died when I was four years old, so I do not have a lot of strong feelings for him." shrugged Jinah. "For a father figure, yes, but not for him as a person. I will likely ask Noah to revive him one day, but only after Mom becomes immortal. That will wreck their marriage, but I think it is worth it, even if they both end up resenting me for it."

"I need a minute to digest this." sighed La Folia, sitting on the bed. After a while, she nodded to herself.

"…I can see my father making that choice. He loves my mother and the rest of us so much that he might accept not being with her anymore, as long as she becomes immortal and happy, and we never have to experience the pain of losing each other. But you said that he too could become immortal?"

"In his case, I can think of two ways for him to gain immortality. He could come to respect and admire Noah to the point that he would recognize him as an authority figure, and that could be enough to fulfill the loyalty condition. This could be achieved naturally, or even artificially using things like magic hypnosis. The second option would be for Noah to arrange for one of the female Champions to take him into her own group of..."

The ship shook with a loud impact noise, and an alarm started ringing.

"That's no air turbulence." frowned La Folia, standing.

Jinah reactivated Augment and was the first to reach the door, opening it. Two members of the Royal Guard were standing by the door and were about to open it.

"Let's go to the CIC." said La Folia, and Jinah nodded.

The CIC, or Combat Information Center, was the best place to know what was happening without disturbing the Captain and officers on the bridge. It was the normal battle station for flag officers like admirals. Corvettes were normally too small to assume a command position within a fleet, and thus didn't have a CIC, but the Einherjar was different.

"What's happening?" bluntly asked La Folia to the nearest officer.

"We're being boarded, Your Highness! A small ship landed on the deck, the number of hostiles seems to be only two, but they are overpowering us!"

"And you didn't see that ship coming?"

"Negative, your Highness." replied the officer, shame and regret in his voice. "We will thoroughly investigate the reason for our lapse after the attack is repelled."

"La Folia, I'll be going. Bellion, I'll leave protecting the Princess to you." said Jinah, and the huge shadow soldier emerged from her shadow. He was forced to hunch over due to the low ceiling.

"Understood, Monarch." rumbled Bellion, and La Folia sighed, but nodded. It ate at her to be protected, as she wasn't a blushing princess, but the warning from the gods wasn't something she could just ignore.

Jinah nodded and ran down the hallways and up the stairs, toward the sounds of fighting could be heard. Screams, and the sounds of cold weapons clashing, but also a few explosions.

When Jinah stepped on the deck, the last soldier crashed against a steel wall and collapsed, unconscious.

"What a drag, making me work so hard." exclaimed one of the two intruders, a woman with blue eyes and waist-long blonde hair, dressed in a wine-red leather bodysuit with a front zip open almost down to the navel, exposing a large part of her heavy breasts, and high-heeled boots of the same color. She held a spear in her right hand. She scowled at Jinah, feeling irritation at the sight of a woman more beautiful than she was.

"Just hand over that rotten little bitch already."

"BB, I'm done destroying the escape pods. Is she the princess?" asked the other one, a 220 cm tall… male with a hairy face and wolf ears that reminded Jinah of both old low-budget werewolf movies and monkeys, was dressed in a gray shirt, black leather jacket, and dark pants.

On the deck beyond them was a small airship, jet black in color, and with a sleek but edgy design seemingly made to minimize radar returns.

"No. Were you not listening properly before? The sow has silver hair."

"BB?" asked Jinah, looking the woman up and down, before she smiled. "Those letters wouldn't happen to stand for Beatrice Basler, by any chance?"

The woman twitched, her sadistic expression disappearing, but her eyes only grew colder.

"I was fine with just knocking them out, but now I have to kill everyone. And you, I will take you along with the sow and torture you until you tell me where you heard that name."

Jinah snorted and looked at the big man, quickly confirming with her quests that there was nothing about capturing a male enemy.

"Are you sturdy?" asked Jinah with a smile.

"Yes? Why are… Gufooo!!"

His words were interrupted when Jinah used Shunpo to appear in front of him and gave him a Spartan Kick, sending him flying far over the edge. The warship was flying at an altitude of well over a kilometer, and they were somewhere around the border eastern part of Kazakhstan, in a sparsely populated region. Even assuming he survived the fall, he probably wouldn't show his face in front of her ever again.

Jinah could hear his increasingly distant scream as he rushed toward his date with the ground below.

"You bitch!" snarled Beatrice, thrusting at Jinah with her spear despite being six meters away. The spear extended, its head separating into three sharp tentacles that attacked from different angles.

Jinah seized two of the tentacles with her hands, blocked the third with a Light shield, and used her Ruler's Authority to tear the weapon off Beatrice's hands before putting it into her inventory. She next grabbed Beatrice with the same technique and brought her closer to her. She lightly punched Beatrice in her guts, making her double over with a gasp of pain, and chopped at her neck, knocking her out.

Jinah engraved a Stop rune on her nape, made sure she wouldn't wake up soon, but also wouldn't die, and walked to the small airship to see if there were other enemies. There weren't, but she saw inside the back compartment a few restraints on the steel floor, obviously meant for La Folia. Two pairs of wide, lockable leather cuffs, a steel belt with D-rings on the rear, front and sides, some kind of high-tech steel collar with blinking red LEDs on its front, a black leather blindfold, and a ball gag harness with a leather panel that would cup the mouth, cheeks and chin of its wearer. And it would be a very unhappy wearer, judging from the almost comically huge size of the rubber ball.

Jinah snorted and took the restraints before returning to Beatrice.

She was starting to apply them on her limp body when a full squad of armored soldiers emerged from below deck, led by the Royal guards, and followed by Bellion and La Folia.

"Thank you, Bellion." smiled Jinah, and the Grand Marshall saluted before returning to her shadow.

"Just how strong is Bellion?" breathed La Folia, sweating. "I could feel pressure from him even when he wasn't moving.

"He's the strongest of my Shadow Soldiers, stronger even than the dragons." nodded Jinah, starting to push the gag's rubber ball inside Beatrice's mouth. It took some doing, and Jinah didn't doubt that Beatrice would suffer from severe cramps soon, but it was a nice way to punish the sadistic woman.

"Where is the other intruder?"

"I sent him over the edge. He didn't have a parachute. This is Beatrice Basler, one of the tree women we were asked to thoroughly reform."

"I see." nodded La Folia, carefully examining the captive. "Did she tell you why she attacked us?"

"To capture you. Those restraints are things I found in their ship, clearly intended for a certain princess. Aren't you happy I was there?"

"I am positively ecstatic." nodded La Folia, staring at the severe-looking gag harness that Jinah was fitting on the blonde woman and touching her own face on impulse with a shudder. "Did they tell you why?"

"No. But once we reach Itogami Island, we will make her talk, you can be sure of that. Medb is very good at that kind of things. Do you recognize this collar?"

"It is a device to retrain someone with supernatural powers." nodded La Folia. "Although I do not have any. I only use magic equipment in battle."

She turned to one of the officers examining the damage.

"How bad is the damage to the airship?"

"Superficial, your Highness, aside from the escape pods. I would advise returning to the Kingdom for your safety."

"No. If the ship can keep flying, we keep going." firmly said La Folia as she shook her head. "There is another member of the royal family in need of our protection, and with Jinah here, I think I am safe enough."

"I understand, your Highness. I will inform the Captain."

"Thank you."

"I'll heal the injured and take this one to my cabin. Want to be there when she wakes up?" asked Jinah when she was done binding Beatrice.

"Yes, I want to. Maybe she will start talking before we reach our destination."

…

Lumine opened her eyes when she felt the fleeting air current of suddenly displaced air on her skin. It was that man. Just like that hateful, cowardly woman who had captured her, he could appear and disappear at will.

"Hello, Lumine. How are you doing?"

"I was just peachy, until you came." replied Lumine with a sour tone. That only made him snort in amusement.

"I now have time to deal with you."

"You won't break me." replied Lumine, steeling herself for the torture she knew was about to come.

"Many have said that. They are now my devoted maids. You saw a few of them in the garden when Erin brought you here. They are happy, and so will you, eventually."

"Weaklings." snorted Lumine.

"You shouldn't badmouth people you do not know. It's a bad habit." said the man as he made a chair appear from nowhere and sat on it. "As you surely heard, my name is Noah. Before we start, I'd like to hear more about you and your motives."

"Do you really think that I will just talk and start giving you information before you even torture me?" asked Lumine incredulously.

"Why not? I am not asking you to reveal anything that would harm the Abyss Order at this time. I just want to understand you better. I know that long ago, you were separated from your brother by a white-haired woman with delusions of Godhood, that a lot of time happened before you found each other again, and that the Abyss Order was causing trouble for the local residents, which is the reason Athena asked Erin to capture you. What I do not know is why."

Lumine blinked, confused. A white-haired woman with delusions of Godhood? That was a very crude and insulting way to refer to that woman she hated so much. But what confused her was the implication.

"Isn't the Unknown God one of the Goddesses you serve?" frowned Lumine.

"No, she isn't. Our Goddesses have asked us to take charge of Teyvat and make life easier for their inhabitants, stopping wars and all that. If this Unknown God agrees with it, we have no issues with her. If she tries to stop us, we will deal with her."

For a few seconds, Lumine stared at Noah, wondering if he really was serious, or if he was trying to trick her into revealing something he could use again the Abyss Order. She decided to tell him some things he wouldn't be able to use against the Order, carefully gauging his reactions.

"…When I arrived in Teyvat, I found a world divided into factions. Seven Archons ruled over their territories, and they had a long history of waging war against themselves, and the Unknown God had only watched… After having a few adventures, I was adopted by king Irmin of the Kingdom of Khaenri'ah, the only country who didn't worship any Archon. People from all the Archon territories who were dissatisfied with the Gods migrated to Khaenri'ah."

"We knew the Kingdom would be a tempting target the next time Archons fought each other, so we prepared for war. Some of our researchers started experimenting with the energy drawn from the Abyss plane, that could counter the power of Celestia."

"Celestia?" asked Noah.

"The place where the Unknown God lives… They attacked us, five centuries ago. The Unknown Gods, and the Seven archons. Khaenri'ah was destroyed. Some of its pure-blooded citizens were cursed with immortality. The others became what others called monsters, like the hilichurls."

"So the Abyss Order is made of former citizens of Khaenri'ah?" asked Noah, and Lumine nodded with a sigh.

"We want revenge. Over the Unknown God, over the Archons, and over their followers who trampled our country and danced on its corpse. And after the Unknow God and the Archons are dead, we will rebuild a better world, a world without Gods seeing mortals as they toys. Have you ever wondered why the Gnosis who give Archons their powers look like pieces on a board?"

"I did notice about the Gnosis, but I didn't want to make guesses about those before knowing more." nodded Noah. "You told me about your goals, and I now understand you better, thank you, Lumine."

She frowned as he started using that small, thin black device she had learned was some kind of communication device. A minute later, Erin appeared near him. Lumine spotted a wide gold choker around her neck. She frowned, as it was the first time she saw her wearing any jewelry, and this was a rather big and flashy piece.

"Is this a choker or a collar?" asked Lumine, suspicious.

"Oh, now you're speaking to me?" grinned Erin, before she touched it with obvious pride. "It is a slave collar. I belong to Noah now."

"Ah? Aren't you supposed to be equals?"

"We are both Champions of different Goddesses, but she agreed to become mine, which means that Teyvat is now under my overall responsibility. Erin, I was thinking about sending five thousand Sisters over there for a month to deal with the Abyss Order, assuming Lumine refused to cooperate."

"Five thousand?" asked Erin with a raised eyebrow. "Talk about overkill. A month with them exploring Teyvat, and we would have been almost certain to find them, wherever they hide."

"Sisters?" warily asked Lumine.

"Long story, but each of them is likely stronger than the Fatui Harbingers, and possibly not far from being able to fight the Archons." said Noah.

Lumine frowned at his words. Surely this wasn't possible.

"Considering the powers you gave me, I think maybe the Archons are a bit much for the Sisters, at least not without a few more months of training, but some of your other girls would likely be able to defeat them. I am confident I could, at least." nodded Erin.

"Maybe. Anyway, I am reconsidering. Lumine told me about her motives. Did you know she thought we are working for the white-haired woman who separated her from her brother?"

"She did?" exclaimed Erin, her eyes wide as she stared at Lumine.

"…In hindsight, I mentioned my Goddess a few times in her presence, when I was trying to make her speak, but never really expanded on her. And it's not like we had many conversations in the first place, with her being busy imitating a statue. How did you make her talk?"

"I didn't ask any question that would give us an advantage over the Abyss Order, only about her motives. And I guess me not having a past with her helped?" shrugged Noah.

Lumine nodded, glaring at Erin. She didn't forget that, while she might not be a servant of the Unknown God after all, Erin still had cut down quite a few members of the Abyss Order before capturing her.

Of course, Aether had done the same, but he did not count.

"So, what did you learn?"

Noah succinctly resumed what Lumine had told him.

"Lumine, if you were to ask the Abyss Order to stand down, would they obey you?" asked Noah when he turned his attention back to her.

"No. They know I have been captured. Even if you could convince me to give up on revenge, which I won't, they would only see me as a traitor or someone who has been broken and became your puppet. They will not give up."

"Too bad… Thank you, Erin. I wanted to see if your own information corroborated what Lumine told me."

"As far as I am aware, it does." sighed Erin. "Information about the fall of Khaenri'ah has been deliberately suppressed, and even Zhongli refuses to speak about it. He vaguely mentioned having once been played for a fool by Celestia, but that is all he said. I'll be returning, I have a meeting in a few minutes."

"Yes, thank you, Erin." smiled Noah before she disappeared.

"Lumine, you aren't wrong for wanting revenge, and I will not ask you to give up on it. The problem is that you are directing your anger at people who weren't even born when it happened."

"You think I do not know? That I am too stupid or blind to realize that?" replied Lumine with a bit of anger. "I never instructed the Order to go after civilians. Only Vision holders, those who serve the Archons are legitimate targets."

"No, they aren't. Only those who participated in Khaenri'ah's downfall should be held responsible." firmly said Noah.

"Naive fool." snorted Lumine. "Vengeance or not, this is a war. The instant those Vision holders turned their blades on the Abyss Order, they became enemies."

"…I can't really argue with that." sighed Noah. "It seems the best way to obtain peace is to subdue the Abyss Order by force, then."

"Do your worst. We are well organized, and we have plenty of reserves." challenged Lumine.

"…I won't do my worst with you. You have plenty to answer for, but you aren't a complete monster, either.  But you will tell me everything you know about the Abyss Order soon. It's time to start what Erin brought you here for." replied Noah as he stood, the chair disappearing.

…

Noah looked at Lumine for a few seconds, deciding on what to do with her exactly. He first decided against using one of the special collars with her.

Not because he wanted her to suffer more than strictly necessary, but because those collars had been given by Lilith as sort of training wheels, and he wanted to progressively phase them out. He wanted to graduate from those.

He would still use them with the six thousand plus followers of the four Goddesses because there were just too many of them, but for the others, their use would be exceptional. It would take significantly more time to train each future slave, but time was something he had plenty of, thanks to his new Sanctuary.

Noah teleported with Lumine into his office and took the Sanctuary from his inventory. He started pouring mana into it while Lumine was looking dubiously.

"I was expecting a torture chamber."

"You are about to experience a form of torture, you aren't wrong about that." nodded Noah.

"Tche. I was hoping you were a decent person after all, but I was wrong."

"I am not. Erin didn't send you to me for me to extract information out of you. At least, that wasn't the only reason. Look forward to spending the next few months with me."

"Months? Don't you have anything better to do? Aren't you supposed to rule over several worlds?" protested Lumine.

"I am cheating." smiled Noah. "This crystal ball I am charging with my magic power is something similar to a Domain in Teyvat, but time can flow thirty times faster in there. This will be very intense, for both of us."

The Sanctuary was loaded, and Noah set it on the desk. Anyone needed him would quickly find him and know they could find him inside.

He teleported her and himself inside the Sanctuary's basement, and Lumine's eyes widened as she saw her new surroundings. As she realized just what kind of torture she was about to face.

"No…" breathed Lumine, her face paling.

"You've lived for over five centuries. Surely you have some experience?"

"I…" hesitated Lumine, looking away.

Noah saw in her body language that she actually didn't. He grabbed the short chain between her magic-sealing cuffs, led her to the center of the basement, and tied it above her head to a chain dangling from the ceiling.

"I see." nodded Noah. "I'd like to say that I would treat you more gently, but what I have in mind for you doesn't have much leeway for it. I am now going to remove your clothes before giving you something else to wear. Do not try to kick me, or you will regret it."

Lumine reluctantly nodded, knowing that resistance was futile. She knew after fighting Erin that the bodies of Champions were very hard to damage, and in her current state, she wouldn't even cause him a bruise.

Noah quickly found a few buttons cleverly hidden behind folds of Lumine's black and red dress, and unfastened them, making her dress fall to her feet.

"That is a pretty dress. You'll wear it again in the future." nodded Noah as he pulled her black stockings down and removed them, then did the same with her panties. Since Lumine didn't wear a bra, she was now naked aside from her black gloves, cuffs and collar.

He took from his inventory a pair of black latex stockings, and Lumine sighed with resignation as she let him stretch them over her legs. He replaced her long gloves with black latex versions, uncuffing her one wrist at a time.

"No hair down there, that is nice." smiled Noah, and she blushed.

"You damn pervert."

"I am a pervert, yes." nodded Noah, uncuffing her completely. She yelped in surprise when he took her in his arms, and he could see she was sorely tempted to try to punch him, but wisely refrained. He carried her to a bondage bench, laying her on her back, then took her right arm, folding it over her head and down, where he fastened a padded leather strap around her wrist. He did the same with her left wrist, then fastened two more straps around her arms, just above the elbows. Lumine's head was now framed between her arms, and her armpits were completely exposed.

Noah next dealt with her legs, binding them with two straps each to the sides of the bondage bench, spreading them wide, but not wide enough for the position to be uncomfortable. Lumine's exposed crotch was just over the edge of the bondage bench, in an ideal position and height for what would soon come.

"Please, don't do this…" pleaded Lumine, her eyes starting to glisten.

Noah froze as he encountered his kryptonite, a pretty girl's tears, and he sighed, looking deep into her eyes. He activated Hands of Nirvana and gently rubbed her skin under her navel, making her shudder, and spoke with a soft voice.

"Here is what is going to happen, Lumine. I will take your virginity, and we will have sex, over and over, until you grow addicted to the pleasure. I am the Champion of Lilith, a Goddess who specializes in sexual domination, and I can promise you, no women can withstand this kind of pleasure I can provide without craving more. Then, I will condition the pleasure you receive with being obedient to my orders, over and over, until you come to see your submission as inevitable and natural, and do not care about the humiliation anymore. And I will keep drowning you in pleasure until you can't think of me as anything other than your Master."

"Once your training is over, and you become a happy slave like Erin, I won't necessarily ask you to give up on revenge for what was done to Khaenri'ah, but you will only take action against targets I will approve of. You will help me turn Teyvat into a better world, one without wars, and where the Archons, while allowed to live in and rule their territories, will still have to follow my orders."

"Now, I am giving you a choice. I can proceed with my original idea and tease you for hours and hours, until you break and beg for me to take your virginity. I will repeat that over and over, with your resistance eroding a little each time. Eventually, you won't resist at all anymore. You will be eager for my attention."

"Or, I can untie you and take you to the bed over there, and I will be gentler, as if we were lovers. There will still be ropes and cuffs involved later on, but I will make things a lot more gradual and give you time to grow used to it."

Lumine stared into his eyes, then his hand still rubbing the skin over her womb, then back into his eyes. Between his absolute confidence and the abnormally nice feeling his hand gave her, she understood.

She understood that she really wouldn't be able to endure the kind of torture he described. This made the choice simple, even if it wasn't easy, and she closed her eyes, a tear falling from her right one.

"I choose the bed." muttered Lumine with a mournful voice.

Noah nodded as he started untying her. As long as she cooperated, however reluctantly, he would train her using the same method he had used with Erin.

When all the straps were undone, Lumine shyly covered her crotch and breasts with her gloved hands.

He picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed, transferring his own clothes into his inventory.

"I will give you some advice, Lumine. It will be easier for you if you are an active participant. Try to convince yourself that you're doing this willingly."

"Like I can believe that." bitterly said Lumine. But she nodded and put her arms around his back. "I don't think I could fool myself, but I'll try anyway."

Noah smiled gently before kissing her. A chaste kiss at first, while he used his left hand to knead Lumine's right breast. She might be reluctant, but her body was responding to his touch, her nipples hardening.

Noah got an idea, and activated his newly created flight magic, freeing his other hand as he didn't need it to stop himself from falling over Lumine anymore.

His kisses became more insistent, and he could feel Lumine grow aroused.

Before long, she returned his kisses between soft moans and gasps.

Once Noah estimated she was ready, he carefully positioned himself, and entered her.

"Ouch." gasped Lumine, her fingers digging into her back.

Noah kissed her and focused on giving her more pleasure for a minute before he started moving.

…

After making Lumine orgasm a few times, Noah, decided she could use a break. He bound her arms behind her back with a pair of leather cuffs and hugged her, both of them laying on their sides.

She was looking at him with a tired expression, her face fairly twenty centimeters from his.

"You were great, Lumine." smiled Noah. "I think you did manage to convince yourself after a while."

"Like I had a choice." sighed Lumine. "…That's so unfair. No one can withstand… this."

"That is sort of the point." smugly replied Noah.

Lumine nodded reluctantly, and for a while, they didn't speak. Noah sometimes played with her hair, gently massaging her scalp, and could almost see the cogs turning in Lumine's head was she was processing what had happened.

Eventually, she sighed again and met his gaze.

"Tell me about the Goddess you serve. What is she like? What are her goals?"

Noah smiled and told her about Lilith. He also mentioned Athena, the Goddess who had created Teyvat, Celestia and the Abyss.

"Wait, this Athena created everything? Including the Unknown God?" frowned Lumine.

"The Unknow God may have come after. Deities like Athena tend to leave the mortals living in the worlds they create decide their own fate, and it is only when they prove that they need supervision after all that we Champions are sent. Some other Deities simply do not care once they are done with their duty of creating new worlds, and they would let every human living on those worlds kill themselves or suffer with barely a shrug."

"I see…" mused Lumine, falling into contemplation once again.

Noah was fine waiting. He knew that Lumine wasn't really evil. She simply had blinded herself with a desire for vengeance and had gone overboard. Way overboard.

He would give her many opportunities to make up for it later.