Cyno emerged from the shadows; it turned out he had been there all along.
Lucian chuckled inwardly—satisfying! This was exactly the feeling!
With Cyno here, the Doctor here, and even Nahida, Venti, and Ei watching, this room might have only the Great Sage confronting Lucian, but in reality, quite a few people were observing.
"Take him away." Lucian waved his hand.
Cyno understood—drag him to some deserted place and give him a beating, right? I'll get right on it.
Lucian didn't know Cyno's thoughts, but even if he did, he wouldn't care. Beat him if you want; he deserves it.
But don't beat him to death; once I'm done with the busywork later, I want a couple swings too.
Thinking of how many people outside also wanted to beat him, Lucian worried Azar might not hold up.
"Cyno!?" Azar retreated half a step. "You have no right to arrest me. I am the Great Sage; I have committed no crime."
"If it were before, your words would be correct, but now your crimes are plain as day." Cyno said flatly.
"Indeed, I have no right to judge you, for this time, it will be all the people of Sumeru who judge you."
Azar let out a long breath, gritting his teeth tightly. He knew he was finished.
Unwilling! I'm so unwilling! Why! Why!!
Before being taken away by Cyno, he asked, "Lucian... why exactly did you interfere?"
He spoke rapidly, as if he couldn't hold it in: "You didn't have to interfere at all, right!? What's wrong with cooperating with me?"
He roared: "What I can give you is definitely more than that god!"
"That god is just a child—what if we act as if she doesn't exist?"
"What do you want? Her information? Or her authority? I can give you those too!"
"Even what she can't give you, I can! Sumeru's resources? The void's computational power? I can give you all of it!"
"Even if you want the people of Sumeru, that's fine!"
"Can she!?!?"
"Why are you helping her exactly?! This has nothing to do with you!"
"Cooperating with me would clearly be more beneficial!"
"I'm clearly the one in control of Sumeru!"
"She's just a... incompetent god!"
Azar wanted to continue, but Cyno grabbed his cheek, rendering him unable to speak.
At this moment, Cyno was furious to the extreme. His expression was no longer flat; veins were even visible on his forehead.
These weren't veins from exertion; they were veins from restraint. He had to restrain himself, or he really would crush Azar's head.
Cyno enunciated each word: "No! Repent! Reform!!!"
He slowly lifted Azar up, his arm trembling.
Not from the weight, but from anger.
The "Doctor" was still watching the show from the side, leisurely saying to Lucian, "He's saying all this— what do you think?"
Lucian ignored Dottore and walked to Cyno's side, patting his shoulder. A stream of water seemed to flow into Cyno's body, calming his emotions considerably.
Slowly releasing his hand, Azar winced in pain, collapsing to the ground and tilting his head back just to meet Lucian's eyes.
Lucian looked down directly at Azar: "I*~@, you~%!#" (Earth profanity)
Azar was such a beast; Lucian couldn't help cursing a couple times, but he used Earth language, like a streamer muting their mic to curse—anyway, no one else could understand.
Everyone in the room was stunned. What was that?
"The reason I interfered is simple: what do you take life for?"
The crowd was puzzled. So that's what it meant? It did seem to have 'you' and 'I' in it, but the tone felt off somehow.
Under Azar's rule, aside from the interest groups around him, the other people of Sumeru had never been treated as people by him.
Academic discrimination, racial segregation, national division, hierarchies of persons.
He had even directly 'sold' all the people of Sumeru to Snezhnaya—treason was a minor charge on him.
"Nahida is not an incompetent god; that's a judgment you made based on your own delusions."
"The knowledge consolidated by academic cliques holds no interest for me."
"What you're lacking isn't 'willingness' to hand over something, but 'unwillingness' to hand over something."
You@%~#!
Lucian didn't say the last sentence, because his composure kicked in and he held back.
With a wave of his hand, he signaled Cyno to take him away. Lucian shook his head—ideologies like this person's couldn't be bridged with words; what was the point of talking? Fists worked better.
It was also Azar's words disregarding others that annoyed Lucian a bit. Sigh, after streaming for so many years, he still got led into the rhythm.
When talking or teaching Ei, Lucian had never gotten angry.
Because Ei was just stubborn, self-deluding, but at heart, she wouldn't disregard 'mortals,' so Lucian was willing to debate with her.
Azar was different; he despised 'mortals' from the bottom of his heart, even thinking everything created by 'mortals' was meaningless, and only gods could lead them.
Imprisoning the god for human rule, yet his mind was full of contempt for human wisdom while pursuing divine wisdom—utterly abstract.
Azar could abandon everything—faith, gods, his people—he could cast it all aside, because he believed a new god would grant it all back to him, even more.
As a vested interest holder, as long as he himself didn't lose out, it was fine.
So Lucian said the Great Sage was 'willing' to give up anything.
Nahida was a god, but she had too many things she was unwilling to give up, and it was precisely these unwillingnesses that made her unable to act against her people for so long, making her more human than Azar.
Even someone like Scaramouche, a puppet, had many things he was unwilling to give up.
But Azar? He was only unwilling to give up himself.
"Remember to get the door-opening intelligence out of him," Lucian said.
Cyno nodded: "Leave it to me with confidence."
I have a hundred ways to make him talk; if I use one less and he spills early, it doesn't count.
Lucian came before the "Doctor." "Had enough of a look?"
The Doctor smiled. "Not at all."
"As an object yet to be studied, how could I complain about too much observation?"
Lucian: "I'm not your research subject."
"Instead of researching me, why not research how to thicken your skin? That way, it won't hurt when I slap your face later."
Dottore was utterly unconcerned with Lucian's provocation, not because of any 'ally' relationship.
Everyone knew how fragile the 'unbreakable alliance' between Lucian and them really was; they could part ways at any moment.
Lucian said he'd beat him later—maybe he really would. But Dottore still didn't care.
He had confidence in his abilities, not just in knowledge, but in martial prowess too.
Besides, if he lost the fight, that just meant his abilities weren't up to par.
If he won, he could study Lucian and maybe uncover the secret of 'resurrection.'
Then Dottore would directly transform into Teyvat's Orochimaru.
Lucian: "Alright, hurry up and finish your final research."
Dottore spread his hands and obediently sat down to complete the final wrap-up of the experiment.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice Line · Lucian: About Profanity
"What profanity? I don't say profanity."