Chapter 130. Talk
Scaramouche saw his entire life. He saw many people from the past, those he had once cherished but who had already passed away.
For some reason, the people he cherished and the people who betrayed him both reached out their hands toward him, as if they were saying something. But Scaramouche could no longer hear them.
From their gestures, they seemed to be trying to stop something.
Stop what?
Could it be—they were trying to stop him?
Thinking that, Scaramouche had already swallowed the soup.
To be honest, as a puppet created by an Archon, Scaramouche did not actually need to eat. But he could still taste food.
From this alone, one could also see how remarkable Raiden Ei's craftsmanship was. To create such a lifelike puppet, that skill could be called extraordinary.
But now, after Scaramouche swallowed that mouthful of soup, the first thing he felt was an unimaginably surging Electro energy.
Buzz—!!!
Terrifying Electro energy frantically rushed into his body. Scaramouche could clearly feel that the seal inside him seemed to have been partially broken at that moment.
Could it be... this really was compensation?!
For a moment, Scaramouche truly felt that Beelzebub was compensating him. Within that surging Electro energy was a thread of divine power.
That was of enormous benefit to him, a being who had once "ascended to godhood."
Scaramouche knew very well how terrifying that thread of divine power was. If he could absorb it...
Then he might be able to glimpse a path to godhood that belonged to him.
Without relying on the Electro Gnosis, without relying on shouki no kami, the prodigal, and without relying on that so-called experiment, he could become an Archon himself!
"Hahahahaha!!!"
Scaramouche could not help but laugh out loud.
Although he felt that he would not survive Beelzebub's judgment and was surely doomed to die, he was still extremely happy.
Because this meant that even without relying on "external objects," he still had the potential to break through to Archon level.
That alone was enough to make him happy.
He looked at the purple thick soup in his hand with great fervor.
What had originally looked ominous now gave him hope of breaking through to Archon level.
Was this Beelzebub's method?!
It was truly terrifying!!!
Phew.
Seeing Scaramouche laugh, Raiden Ei quietly let out a breath of relief.
Then she looked toward Futsu Mitama and Yae Miko not far away.
She puffed out her chest proudly, as if to say:
"See? What I made isn't so bad that it kills people!"
"Strange."
Futsu Mitama stroked his chin, a hint of disbelief flashing in his eyes.
It was as if he had seen something incomparably shocking.
"Are the legendary kitchen utensils really that powerful?"
Yae Miko pondered.
"Are the legendary kitchen utensils really that powerful, to the point that they can reverse Raiden Ei's 'killer cuisine'?"
No one knew Raiden Ei's cooking better than Yae Miko.
She had once tasted Raiden Ei's food, and that year Yae Miko had almost become a dead fox.
This was no joke.
"I don't know, but I think he's so happy because he definitely gained some benefit."
Futsu Mitama understood Scaramouche's personality very well.
If he had not gained anything, Scaramouche would never have shown such a smile.
But Futsu Mitama did not know why he felt that Scaramouche was happy too early.
Raiden Ei was good at everything, except for her cooking.
In Genshin Impact, Raiden Ei was the only character who could not cook, which showed just how bad she was at it.
"Wait a little longer."
Yae Miko was not in a hurry, because Scaramouche had only just drunk it.
There was no rush. Waiting a bit was fine.
After Scaramouche gained a benefit, he naturally wanted another sip of soup. But at that moment, an unimaginable pain suddenly rose from his abdomen.
"This?!!"
Scaramouche's eyes widened.
What kind of being was he? A puppet created by an Archon!!!
Even if he ate expired food, or even so-called poison, it should have been impossible for him to feel this way.
But what was happening now?! Why did he feel such pain after only one sip of soup?
As a being who had lived for over four hundred years, Scaramouche had naturally endured much pain over the years.
Physical injuries were minor. There was also the betrayal of friends, the corruption of the abyss in his mind, the fire of jealousy, and more.
He had personally experienced all of that, so his tolerance for pain had already reached an unimaginable level.
But even he, now feeling unimaginable pain in his abdomen, could not endure it.
That pain exceeded his imagination.
Unimaginable pain assaulted Scaramouche.
Subconsciously, he let go of his hand, releasing the purple thick soup he had been holding.
Raiden Ei decisively reached out and caught the purple thick soup.
This was a "finished product" she had painstakingly brewed, and it could not be spilled just like that.
"Pain!!! So much pain!!!!"
At this moment Scaramouche's face was pale, and he was drenched in cold sweat.
He had never experienced such pain before.
This caused Scaramouche to glare at Raiden Ei with a twisted expression and say,
"Is this your judgment?!!! Beelzebub!!!!"
Originally, Scaramouche had thought this soup was truly a blessing.
Now it seemed that this thing was probably part of the judgment.
What deep scheme!!!
Beelzebub! First she let him feel the joy of increased strength, then she kicked him straight into hell.
And perhaps because of the extreme pain, Scaramouche's eyes seemed to be seeing hallucinations.
He seemed to see the many enemies he had faced in the past, looking at him with mocking smiles, as if saying,
"You've got this day too?"
His once-trusted friends and companions also seemed to "resurrect" and appear before him, questioning the sins he had committed.
There was also the deceased Fatui Harbinger Signora, standing before him and slapping his face, saying how could someone so proud be so pathetic!
Dottore even stood there with his arms crossed, sneering at him and calling him a complete failure.
Not only them, but other familiar Fatui Harbingers also appeared.
The double torment of body and mind made Scaramouche scream frantically, telling them all to get out of his sight, while terrifying, violent Electro energy containing "divine power" burst out of him.
But that Electro energy was immediately sealed back in.
What a joke.
The seal on him had been carefully made by Futsu Mitama using the Geo Archon's inheritance, with the help of beings like Raiden Ei and Zhongli. There was no way he could break it.
However, when Scaramouche briefly broke free from the seal, a hint of surprise still flashed in Futsu Mitama's eyes.
Because even in such extreme pain, he could briefly break free from the seal. It seemed the soup made by Raiden Ei really did have something unusual about it.
"GET OUT!!! ALL OF YOU GET OUT!!! AH!!!! WHY IS IT SO PAINFUL!!!"
Scaramouche rolled on the ground, shouting at the "phantoms" approaching him to get away.
His expression was extremely pained and distorted.
Then he saw Futsu Mitama and Yae Miko not far away and shouted loudly,
"KILL ME!!! FUTSU MITAMA!! KILL ME!!!!!"
"GIVE ME A QUICK DEATH!! HURRY!!! HURRY!!!!"
At that moment, Scaramouche finally realized why Futsu Mitama and Yae Miko had told him it was still not too late to commit suicide.
He was now in a state where he could neither live nor die.
It hurt too much. It hurt so much that Scaramouche even began to reflect on whether his past sins had led to this judgment today.
Thinking that, Scaramouche, who had been tormented for a minute, began to lose consciousness, rolled his eyes, and completely fainted.
"How miserable."
Looking at Scaramouche, who had rolled his eyes back and fainted, Futsu Mitama spoke from the bottom of his heart.
He had seen very clearly just now that Scaramouche had only licked a tiny bit of soup, yet he ended up like this.
If he had swallowed the whole thing—
Just thinking about it made Futsu Mitama shiver.
Looking at the pot in Raiden Ei's hand, he suddenly felt that this thing might even be able to overturn the Heavenly Principles.
"Did something go wrong?"
Raiden Ei was a little puzzled.
She took a small sip of her soup, and Electro light flowed from her body.
Just like Hu Tao, Raiden Ei could eat her own cooking without problems, but for others—
Well, looking at Scaramouche's current state, it was clear that not everyone could enjoy this dish.
"Ei, you should put that away first."
Yae Miko looked at Scaramouche, who was rolling his eyes and foaming at the mouth, unconscious.
To be honest, she still could not imagine what kind of pain could make someone with Scaramouche's level of willpower scream so miserably and then simply faint.
Although Yae Miko did not particularly like Scaramouche, she knew that both his strength and his will were quite impressive among the strong on Teyvat.
Even he could not withstand the mysterious thick soup made by Raiden Ei.
Then perhaps, on all of Teyvat, only Raiden Ei herself could enjoy this soup.
Sigh.
Raiden Ei sighed helplessly and put the soup away.
Seeing Scaramouche like this, she also knew that the soup she had painstakingly brewed had failed.
But she felt perfectly fine drinking it herself, so why had he collapsed after only one sip?
"I wonder how long it will take him to wake up. Should we wait a bit?"
Futsu Mitama was quite curious at this point about what had happened to Scaramouche after drinking that soup.
Paimon and Yae Miko, who had eaten Hu Tao's cooking, had both fainted before, but their symptoms were relatively mild.
Scaramouche's case was different. The twisted expression on his face and his "death-seeking" behavior were not fake.
It was clear what kind of pain he had endured, and Futsu Mitama was also quite curious what the world in his eyes looked like after he drank the soup.
"Alright."
Yae Miko had the same idea as Futsu Mitama.
Raiden Ei, on the other hand, remained silent, quietly putting the soup away and heading to the kitchen to tidy up.
Soon, half an hour passed.
Scaramouche slowly opened his eyes.
The moment he did, he suddenly jumped up, his face filled with terror.
"You're awake."
Futsu Mitama's voice rang out.
He looked at Scaramouche with interest and chuckled, "How do you feel?"
"Feel what? What did you just do to me?"
A trace of confusion flashed in Scaramouche's eyes. He did not understand what Futsu Mitama meant.
Then he clutched his head, feeling as if he had forgotten something, but in the instant before waking up, he had seemed to encounter the most terrifying thing in the world.
"You forgot?"
Yae Miko looked at Scaramouche's condition and found that it did not seem like an act.
Raiden Ei remained silent, not knowing what to say.
"No! I remember!!!"
At Yae Miko's words, Scaramouche instead became agitated.
He suddenly stared at Raiden Ei and said,
"Beelzebub! You promised me! You said you would tell me the truth about that year! As long as I drank something—"
As soon as he said "drank something," Scaramouche's face turned pale, and he could not continue.
Because his body instinctively prevented him from saying it.
Scaramouche clearly remembered that he had promised Beelzebub that if he drank something, she would agree to tell him the truth about that year.
But did he drink it?
His memory was blank, as if it had been wiped by a giant hand.
"You... what did you do to me?!"
Scaramouche's voice trembled, and his gaze toward Raiden Ei was filled with even greater fear.
What kind of thing was it that, after he drank it, even his memory was affected?
He was a divine puppet.
He was a puppet who had broken free from Beelzebub and Dottore, and had once even ascended to godhood!!!
Theoretically, even if Scaramouche's memory had been erased, as long as he became aware of it, he should have been able to recover it.
But when he instinctively tried to retrieve that lost memory, an indescribable sense of dread enveloped him, warning him not to try.
Because if he regained that memory, what he would have to face would likely be something more terrifying than the depths of the Abyss.
"You may not believe it, but we did nothing."
Futsu Mitama said very seriously.
Yae Miko smiled at Scaramouche and said, "What could we do to you? You're quite capable now. At most, we would just seal your power."
Yae Miko's meaning was clear: do not randomly blame them; your memory loss is your own problem.
Raiden Ei let out a soft sigh, though even she was not sure what she was sighing for.
Seeing this, Scaramouche was both shocked and enraged.
He wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
"Alright."
At this moment, Raiden Ei spoke.
She looked at Scaramouche and said seriously,
"I will tell you the truth about that year. But rather than me telling you, it is better for you to see it with your own eyes."
With that, Raiden Ei extended her hand, and a purple orb of light containing memories entered Scaramouche's mind.
A flood of memories poured into his head at once.
He quickly realized that these were Dottore's memories.
Why would Beelzebub show him Dottore's memories?
A trace of confusion flashed through his heart.
But soon, as the memories were sorted out, Scaramouche was first shocked, then filled with unimaginable rage and hatred!