Chapter Text
On a relaxing day in Daguanyuan…
Dante (using a whiteboard): SO HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH IDENTITIES?
Lin Daiyu: Hmm…
She seems lost in thought, but nervous at the same time. Baffled, even.
Lin Daiyu: They’re alright, I guess, but honestly I think it could be better.
Dante whiteboard: ARE YOU OK?
Daiyu: I’m fine, really. But I’m worried for your sinners.
Daiyu: Like… I heard from the white haired woman… Faust I believe… that sometimes some parts of this “identity” that your sinners equip can remain even after returning to their usual self.
Dante whiteboard: OH YEAH THAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES
Daiyu: how often?
Dante whiteboard: UHHHHH IDK
Daiyu: I have seen two incidents of that very thing happening within 48 hours. Is that normal?
Dante whiteboard: THAT SEEMS TOO OFTEN
Huh… within two days? I thought it was nearly every single time we returned from the infinite mirror dungeon, but I guess that’s because I made the sinners do that so often back on the bus.
Especially on the Great Lake…
… At least we have other people to talk to aside from just ourselves here.
Dante whiteboard: CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THOSE INCIDENTS
Daiyu: ah.. For the most recent one…
Daiyu: … I think I understand Xichun now.
Dante whiteboard: OH
Daiyu: So just today I was taking a brisk walk to the far lakeside of Daguanyuan and I saw…
[flashback]
*coffin noises*
“AHAHGUGAGUAHGUAHGISGJOHHFJAHGSHLJEHBSGZWAESRDHTFJKBDBNXNZCMIGROHhGMXRGB4W”
“My liege, I sha—”
“WHA– MAO, CU–” *slice* “BLBLHLBLLHLHBLLLLLRRRGHHGH”
“Fau—”
“WHO THE FUCK IS CATH—” *coffin* “PLKPSBCN”
* thunder* “SCREEE” *THUNDER* “A—” *THUNDER* *DIES*
"MAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
“AWAY WITH THE STORM!!!!!!!!!”
“MY LOR— AAAAAAAA!!!!!!” * gets triple tapped by big brambly sword*
And kneeling, victorious over the swathes of Heishou, all under the command of the Hongyuan Lord was…
… Heathcliff? … No…
More like… Heathcliff as Lin Daiyu…
… But instead of using a spear, he used…
… Oh no…
… not again…
… Especially not after Wuthering Heights…
…Heathcliff didn’t even have that darn personal infinite “Wild Hunt” army the real Erlking had! And he steamrolled all of the H Corp Heishou! Holy shit…!
To think we somehow survived the real deal back at the manor… wow…
We’ve come far, huh.
Daiyucliff?: “W..here… are..you…”
Daiyucliff?: “..Cath..y..”
Didn’t she get erased from every mirror world…?
So… oh wait…
…oh. That’s my fault.
And then all the Sinners suddenly return to their base IDs.
Apparently everyone, save for Heathcliff, was mortally wounded.
… man. I think I realized that I accidently left the IDs on the sinners for too long when that happened and then I deactivated those chips.
And then Heathcliff turns around
and walks up to Daiyu
[author note: google translate incoming...]
Heathcliff?: "你他媽是誰？為什麼你長得像我？"
Daiyu: “你為什麼說中文啊？”
Daiyu: “你不是來自‘Wetherin High’嗎？” ("aren't you from 'Wetherin High' or some shit?") [author note: mispronunciation of "Wuthering Heights" (Daiyu didn't quite get the name right...)]
Heathcliff?: “凱瑟琳在哪裡？” (WHERE IS CATHERINE?)
Daiyu: “那人到底是誰？” (who the hell is that?)
Daiyu, in desperation and utter disbelief, looks to the side and finds Gregor standing by, taking a smoke like he usually does.
Daiyu gestures to Gregor to come help her.
Gregor promptly takes over the conversation, just as Daiyu leaves.
Gregor: “所以你最近發生了很多事，是嗎？” ("so you've had a lot happen recently, is that so?")
Gregor: “是的，與我所遭遇的相比，這還不算太糟糕，哈哈……” ("yeah, that's not too bad compared to whatever happened to me, haha...")
Gregor leans in
Gregor: “那麼讓我來告訴你有關煙霧戰爭的事情…” ("So let me tell you about the Smoke War...")
Gregor proceeds to talk about anything besides the Smoke War. Or so I assume.
Idk I don't speak Hongyuan. Or Chinese...
... Wait, what the hell is "China", even?
If anything, Heathcliff wasn't listening.
At some point, Gregor switched to a different language. Probably the language that Faust was most familiar with.
"German" I think it is called? (what the hell is Germany as well???)
Gregor was very evidently more fluent in German than Chinese.
Eventually, after a while, Gregor switched languages once more, this time to "English". (and also what the hell is England?)
And then...
Heathcliff?: "Oi Gre-"
Gregor: "Oh you're finally normal."
Heathcliff: "Bloody wha-"
Gregor throws a lit cigarette butt at Heathcliff's face. Just to make sure.
Heathcliff: "AGH WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?!"
Gregor: "Ok now you're actually normal normal."
Heathcliff looks around. Then he walks away.
Daiyu: "Wow where'd you learn that from?"
Gregor: "*puff* man, boredom's a real bitch. Sometimes, you and your platoon don't get rotated properly, so then you're just stuck there with your fellow soldiers in the battlefield."
Gregor: "Back during the War, I knew someone from District 8 who served for G Corp."
Gregor: "So one day, I decided to learn some Chinese."
Daiyu: "How long did you do that for?"
Gregor: "Yeah, for a while. Don't remember."
Gregor: "The entire platoon that I was in also happened to learn Chess. And boy, we got real good."
Gregor: "In fact, we even held championships! I wasn't exactly the best player though... I was usually the "refree" or whatever..."
[you know what I guess i'm just gonna write this whole convo later, somewhere else...]
[flashback end]
Huh... well I guess I have a lot to learn about the Sinners...
Dante whiteboard: OH WOW THATS BAD
Dante whiteboard: YOURE SUPPOSED TO SMACK THEM IN THE FACE IF THAT HAPPENS
Daiyu: Is that official procedure?
Dante whiteboard: FAUST APPROVES
Daiyu: That’s not even the worst thing that I’ve seen!
Daiyu: At least this one, Heathcliff didn't have any weapons. I could get punched in the face, that's not too bad.
Daiyu: But I think you would want to know about it so… here goes…
Daiyu: well… the other day I was strolling around Daguanyuan like I always do nowadays…
[flashback]
Daiyu: …especially since things are more peaceful.
Daiyu: And then I stumbled upon an odd Hong Lu…
Daiyu: Hong Lu… He was talking about killing the Xianren or something. I don’t really remember.
Daiyu: The family Elders? They’re already functionally dead!
Daiyu: “Baoyu-gege…? What has gotten into you?”
And then Hong Lu notices Daiyu
Hong Lu?: “Ah! Who is this woman?”
Daiyu: “I’m Daiyu of the Lin family, Hong… Lu…gege…?”
Hong Lu?: “Daiyu? I know of no Daiyu who is of my age.”
Daiyu: *baffled* “...”
Hong Lu?: “The only Daiyu that I know of died during the Kong family massacre.”
Hong Lu?: “So… You must be a hallucination of mine.”
Daiyu: “Eh? I’m 100% real though?”
Hong Lu?: “Hah! Foolish imposter! Hallucinations can’t die!”
At this point, both Daiyu and Hong Lu have armed themselves.
Even though Hong Lu didn’t quite manifest his E.G.O., he still handled his usual guandao as if he was the Lord of Hongyuan.
… I could almost swear that I could see the faintest bits of muddied blood red emitting out of his guandao.
Daiyu: “no… whoever you are… this... what..."
Hong Lu suddenly pauses in his steps, as if he had realized something. He guides his right hand to his Jade eye.
Hong Lu?: "Ah... haha.. ha..!"
And then he gouges his eye out, once more.
Hong Lu?: "Pfft, Ahahaha! No wonder I didn't feel like myself..."
And then he throws his eye onto the ground, and proceeds to repeatedly stomp on the eye.
After reducing the remains of his eye to nothing but fine powdery dust on the pavement, he turns to look at Daiyu, with her now frozen in shock.
Hong Lu?: "Which family do you serve?"
Daiyu: "At first, the Kong! Then after they died, the Xue! Then... I don't know... ? Uh.."
Hong Lu?: "Ah, still serving one of those idiot families?"
Daiyu chucks her spear at him and sprints away .
He follows at about the same running speed, albeit maybe a litter faster due to having extensive training.
After running for a while, Daiyu runs headfirst into a wall while looking over her shoulder.
While getting back up from her injury, Hong Lu? stops running as he approaches Daiyu.
Daiyu, still dizzy, is unable to escape in time.
Hong Lu? motions himself to swing his guandao in such a manner as to decapitate Daiyu...
And then...
*stab*
Don Quixote: Ha! What manner of unbecoming villany is this?
Despite her cheery demeanor, Don Quixote was clearly drooling over the spilt blood from Hong Lu's destroyed brain. Evidently, she knew better than to consume sinner blood, but she was thirsty nonetheless.
[flashback end]
Dante whiteboard: WOW THANK YOU DQ
Daiyu: I think my ranking might be biased because I was actually in danger... but still, I think you should be more careful with your "Identities", Dante.
Faust: ...
Faust: ... Faust will note this for future reference.
Dante: <WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM FAUST!?!?!>
Faust: Faust was observing and taking note of the incidents, Dante.
Faust: A Sinner's Identity manifesting E.G.O. outside of their native Mirror World is... new.
Faust: Faust will remember this.