Chapter 644: The Plan to Save Greater Lord Rukkhadevata

If not for Khaenri'ah stirring things up, the forbidden knowledge would at least have been contained, and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata could have had more time to think of countermeasures.

Even if 'reincarnation' was still necessary, enough safeguards could have been left, and Sumeru wouldn't be in the current situation.

Unfortunately, there are no 'ifs'. The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata of that time was caught off guard by the sudden forbidden knowledge.

If not for having dealt with forbidden knowledge a thousand years prior, the outcome would have been even more unbearable.

Greater Lord Rukkhadevata created the 'Void Realm', unifying all of Sumeru's wisdom to curb the spread of forbidden knowledge, but she also realized she had long been infected.

[Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: "Even if I die, my existence and everything related to me will remain preserved in Irminsul as memories and knowledge, so forbidden knowledge can never be truly eradicated."]

["And I... can never 'erase' myself—this is a paradox."]

Seeing these words, the readers seem to realize something and cry out 'no'.

This is too cruel, isn't it? Whether for the audience watching this scene or Nahida participating in it.

Finally meeting the object of her dreams, only to have to erase the other?

Scaramouche's expression darkens. Is that so... unable to delete oneself, huh.

Nahida's face changes upon hearing this, her small face full of grievance—this isn't asking her to 'erase' Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, is it?

Yes, Nahida guesses correctly. Greater Lord Rukkhadevata wants Nahida to delete her.

But is this right? An Archon who has sacrificed so much, only to meet this kind of end? An end of being forgotten by all?

A person dies three times; the final death is when they are forgotten.

No one remembers her, no one misses her, no one, no one...

This is wrong! Her deeds should be engraved in memory; what she has done should not be forgotten!

Nahida's tears drip onto Irminsul. She clenches her small hands tightly, refusing to extend them no matter what.

"So that's why I came." Lucian smiles.

It's time for the system's wondrous gadget to make its appearance again.

The system puppet has one very important point: it is a 'system product'.

The system's authority is above Teyvat's; everything about the system is outside Teyvat's jurisdiction.

So as long as Greater Lord Rukkhadevata enters the puppet, she won't be 'deleted'—it's like leaping out of the Three Realms, beyond the Five Elements.

But this only means the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata in the puppet won't be deleted; the one on Teyvat's Irminsul will still vanish.

The puppet is equivalent to giving Greater Lord Rukkhadevata an 'overseas' identity; her local household registration still needs to be canceled.

Simply put, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata will completely sever ties with Irminsul from then on, and Teyvat's people will still forget Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's existence.

But Greater Lord Rukkhadevata will live on, at the cost of becoming completely ordinary.

As for the consciousness issue with the puppet, there's no need to worry. Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's consciousness has always been in Irminsul; she could even whisper secrets to Nahida earlier.

She fundamentally 'can't die'. Irminsul is her, and she is Irminsul—they're bound too deeply.

On the contrary, if the binding between Irminsul and her weren't so deep, there might even be other ways to save her.

Given the relationship between the Dendro Archon and Irminsul, she won't 'die' until Nahida deletes her or Irminsul itself dies.

Greater Lord Rukkhadevata is the embodiment of Irminsul; to die, she might even need to create another 'embodiment of Irminsul' first.

It's like submitting a resignation letter but having to complete the handover first, or else you're not allowed to leave.

Now, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's 'physical body' is dead, in a state of eternal consciousness—somewhat like digital life, but she is still herself, not merely 'digital memories'.

Fortunately, the puppet doesn't need a body; it is the body. As long as there's consciousness, that's better than anything.

The required power is no issue either; Nahida and the Dendro Archon are of the same origin, so she can stand in fully—this has even been tested on Raiden Makoto.

Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, puzzled: "Will this really work?"

At this point, she has already entered the puppet. It's worth mentioning that once inside the puppet, she no longer resembles Nahida; she has 'hyper-evolved'.

The current Greater Lord Rukkhadevata truly deserves the 'Greater' title—overwhelming in every aspect compared to the Hall Master; they're not even in the same weight class.

Lucian doesn't dare look at Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, because she's now wearing clothes made to Lumine's proportions, which are a bit too small. Though they cover her, the visuals are somewhat stimulating.

Good thing it's not Nahida's clothes; otherwise, that size would just be a bellyband.

Lucian replies: "Believe in the prophet."

Actually, Lucian isn't entirely sure if it will succeed. Whether consciousness can enter the puppet has been tested—Raiden Makoto, after all.

What Lucian is uncertain about is whether eliminating the Dendro Archon's existence this way can clear the 'forbidden knowledge'—this hasn't been tried, so success isn't guaranteed.

But whether it works or not isn't a big deal; if it fails, they'll think of another way.

Hearing him say this, Nahida relaxes a bit, and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata also heaves a sigh of relief—this is indeed out of trust in the prophet.

Irminsul records many things; though there's no Lucian, there are his books, so Greater Lord Rukkhadevata is well aware of the prophet's capabilities.

Greater Lord Rukkhadevata asks: "Then when do we start?"

"No rush on that; you two can chat a bit more." Lucian smiles.

When to start? Of course, when the movie plays the part about deleting Greater Lord Rukkhadevata—such a prime opportunity, how can they not let everyone experience it fully?

This is the task Lucian assigned to Lumine: to inform him when the movie reaches the appropriate spot.

As mentioned before, system items have higher privileges, so even if Lumine and Lucian aren't in the same spacetime, the system's communication tools can still be used.

Hearing Lucian say this, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata really starts chatting with Nahida. The two of them have long wanted to talk.

Nahida has many questions she wants to ask Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata has many words she wants to say to Nahida.

It's just that the scene really looks too much like a mother and daughter. If they really were, the husband would have to have recessive genes—zero visible inheritance.

On the other side, the movie-watching crowd isn't having such a warm and serene time.

In the movie, Nahida and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata are both crying. Seeing this adorable little grass Nahida cry so heartbrokenly, who could bear it?

[Nahida says with a choked sob: "The people love you so much; everyone has always, always missed you. I... I too..."]

["How can we... just forget you like this..."]

The audience's faces grow heavy. Now everyone finally fully understands Zhongli's words.

No wonder he said 'witnessers come to witness, recorders exist to record'.

So in this world, memories can be tampered with and deleted, requiring an outsider like the Traveler to record it all!

But deep down, everyone still harbors a sliver of luck—they think they probably still won't forget Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.

Little do they know, the evil prophet is plotting something big.