Little Flower |Scaramouche| ✓

◤XXVIII |Lost in Distress|

As the archon of Snezhnaya gave her speech to the entirety of Teyvat, Kuragari and the Cerise Praelia had arrived just in the nick of time to see that the armies of the other archons were quietly stationed all around the icy nation's palace. At first, he wasn't sure why they weren't all attacking and instead, listening to what the Tsaritsa was saying. But as they arrived closer, it seemed as though they were all under some sort of trance due to the large projection of the cryo queen.

Kuragari held his arm out to halt the Cerise Praelia, including Cyno and Collei as (Y/n) stepped into view alongside her "mother." She held a neutral expression on her face as the cryo queen continued on, eventually saying the words to officially begin the war.

"The ceremony... will begin." The clashing of weapons and elements mixed in with the cries of everyone fighting against the Fatui was like a wakeup call to the chief. The lavender haired boy signaled for his comrades to move forward and join the battle whilst he and his right hands snuck into the palace.

Whilst Kuragari, Yuhua, a still injured Bryn, and Taisiya rhythmically made their way towards Zapolyarny Palace's doors, the chief felt a tug on his cloak and he turned around to face Cyno.

"Collei and I will come with you. It's better if we have each others' backs against the Fatui." To this, Kuragari shook his head in disagreement.

"You'll be more useful out here. As I don't know you well enough to judge your skills in stealth and evasion, it's better for you to stay behind."

"You're one to talk," Cyno pointed to his three right hands. "They'll easily stand out against the sea of soldiers from the armies."

Sighing, the chief retorted back, "And that's why there's something called reversing the cloaks so that the red won't stand out." On cue, his three most trusted members of the Cerise Praelia quickly took off their garments and flipped the fabric so that the ebony inside was now displayed in place of the wine red. Deadpanning at this, Cyno simply shook his head and exhaled.

"There's no use in arguing here. On your orders, Collei and I will stay behind with the rest of the Cerise Praelia," he paused before adding, "Good luck, Kuragari."

Not saying a word, the lavender headed chief nodded in response before taking his very small brigade into the midst of the battle. Through this way, it would, in theory, be easier to sneak into the palace according to Yuhua and Taisiya.

Many Fatui skirmishers, agents, mages and even maidens got in their way, but with the help of Kuragari's cryo vision he was able to freeze them in place long enough for them to get away. With the added contributions of Yuhua's dendro vines, the group was able to make it into the palace unscathed and thankfully without alerting any of the harbingers to their presence.

"Yuhua, can you use your vision to find where Scaramouche is?" Kuragari questioned the blind dendro user. The boy nodded in response, quietly muttering under his breath, "Thank the Archons I still remember what his presence feels like."

It didn't take the blindfolded male too long to pinpoint the location of the soon to be former sixth harbinger and without wasting any more time, the pillars of the Cerise Praelia rushed to the lower levels of Zapolyarny Palace. The basement level of the large castle was very cold and there was little lighting leading to the many laboratories used by Dottore. Even when they were below ground level, the Tsaritsa's voice could be faintly heard as she spoke in a foreign dialect, presumably the ritual words to awaken the new archon.

Arriving in front of one of the many doors leading into a lab room, Yuhua reached for the doorknob and to his surprise as well as everyone else's, the door opened. Scaramouche hung on the wall, opposite of where they were currently standing. Quickly rushing in, Taisiya began searching through each drawer and cabinet for something they'd need.