[Genshin Impact] I, the Successor to the Heavenly Principles, Am a Villainous Enemy

I think my life could be turned into a book called "The Wandering Adventures of ???".

*

In the life before my last, I was a launch-day veteran and an insanely lucky player. In my last life, I was kidnapped to another world and became a savior who sacrificed herself to save the hero.

I got the tragic white-moonlight role and died, as expected. But just when I thought I could finally lie down and stay dead, I opened my eyes and found myself transmigrated again. This time, I'd lost my mind.

Somewhere in Teyvat's umpteenth altered run, the white-haired woman who'd kidnapped me and I stared at each other in bewilderment. She told me to study hard, work hard, and grow up so I could help shoulder her workload.

Me: "Is that even allowed?"

The Heavenly Principles: "Quit whining and study."

So I learned how to do things no decent person would do:

What's this? A technologically advanced nation? Let's destroy it.

What's this? A Traveler from another world? Let's capture one.

What's this? Some unknown fairy? Let's chase it aw, Hey, hey?! Heavenly Principles, help! This woman is taking me away! Heavenly Principles, look!

Hilarious. I hadn't even studied for a few days. Before I could get around to doing anything indecent, the Flower God kidnapped me again. Whatever. I couldn't remember what happened before I came to this world, but I was sure I'd been kidnapped countless times. When in Rome, right?

Good times never last. The world was in turmoil. My guardian, the Flower God, died, and my other two guardians went off to save the world at the cost of their lives. If I wanted to eat, I had no choice but to get up and help them.

As the power poured into me and ran out, I closed my eyes...

And drifted in a daze for far, far too long.

When "I" finally regained consciousness, I started making my way out of the bottomless abyss. I kept going, passing through who knows how many nations, without knowing what I had become.

I stopped to rest on an island and fell asleep again. Not long after, on this little island called Tatarasuna, the boy who had raised me and I "died" together in a great fire, and I began wandering aimlessly once more.

My intellect had greatly diminished by then, and I was confused. It took a very, very long time before I understood one simple truth:

Good people get betrayed, while the wicked always get what they want, then ride off into the sunset...?

Then I might as well be wicked beyond redemption, with a list of crimes too long to record.

*

The Fatui's Sixth Harbinger, Scaramouche, was a strange man. He kept a monster.

The little monster went "A-ba, a-ba" every day. Aside from being a little indescribable in appearance, it was astonishingly cute. It would slowly trail after their Lord, clinging to him.

Subordinate: "I saw the little monster following Lord Scaramouche again today... The one trailing behind him, why does it look so much like... uh, the Doctor?"

Me, the monster in Dottore's form: "My lord, why are you afraid of me? I only ate that nasty fellow for your sake."

The monster he'd picked up himself had followed him from Tatarasuna all the way to Snezhnaya. The little thing was dumb as a brick, but it never left his side.

After that incident... it seemed to eat everything, and it seemed not to care about anything. It felt no fear or emotion. He fed it, and it followed him.

Scaramouche silently took care of it. Then one day, he forgot to put the little monster down. Just before Dottore took him away, the little thing was still sitting there, dazed and silly, tucked inside his clothes.

The experiment ended quickly. The little monster drank his blood and even gnawed on part of him. Then its appetite grew larger and larger, until one day it followed them and ate a Doctor...

Was this his own fault? What would the others do when they realized one of the Doctors was missing? Wait, this was kind of exciting

After pondering it all with great interest, the Harbinger turned around and met a pair of scarlet eyes. The person gazed at him tenderly. It seemed... tsk, it had Dottore's face.

Him: "..."

Him: "Stay away from me. You're disgusting!"

Me: innocent.jpg

What a pain. I'd finally regained my wits, only to find that the little master who'd raised me for so long had been dissected. Was that my fault? And between a puppet and a machine, if I needed a body, I wouldn't even hesitate to choose the latter.

After all, cyberpunk is so cool!

Forget it. I'd better hurry up and play Miracle ○○ to sculpt myself back into my old shape.

But after I had sculpted myself back to normal, I went with Scaramouche to a meeting at the Zapolyarny Palace one day and noticed someone staring blankly at my face. When I came to, the Tsaritsa was standing in front of me, asking:

Her: "Do you... want to become the Fatui's Zeroeth Harbinger?"

With a face that looked thirty percent like the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, I said:

"Hmm... So, we team up to fight the Heavenly Principles?"

The woman's expression turned strange. She looked at me and said, "The Heavenly Principles have fallen into a deep slumber, but the world still needs someone to protect it... You must be her successor. Sustainer, why have you come?"

Obviously, to cause trouble!

Without hesitation, I declared righteously, "You have no idea how boring the Heavenly Principles is as a boss. Every day it's nothing but overtime, and she doesn't even give me a bite to eat!"

Do you even understand the value of being a villain fan? I'm done being a good person! My verdict is, I'd rather be a menace who does things for fun.

Harbinger: ...

Tsaritsa: Heavenly Principles, you really are disliked by everyone.

*

I decided not to become the Zeroeth Harbinger after all. I had no interest in introducing myself to people by saying, "I am the worst villain of them all, the Fatui's Zeroeth Harbinger, [Heavenly Principles 2.0]."

I was having a great time running wild in this world, but you never know what fate has in store. One day, our Eleventh sent word that he'd been thoroughly swindled in Liyue.

Me: "He got swindled again? Sounds fun. I want to see it too." Let's take a chance. Maybe I'll be the weekly boss.

But when I arrived, I had planned to meet this run's Archon, Morax. Instead, I turned around and locked eyes with a golden-haired young man.

At the same time, an electronic voice came from him: [Ding! Target found! Traveler, please help this lost child return home as soon as possible, and give all the poor parents in the world a warm home.]

Me: ?

Me: Dendro, bro, what took you so long? I've gone from Sustainer of Heavenly Principles to an enemy monster!

Aether: ???? Isn't this person just an innocent lost child?? What are all these titles in the file, [Sustainer of Heavenly Principles 2.0], [MVP of the Sumeru Forbidden Knowledge Purge], [Hidden Fatui Harbinger], [Bad Woman of the Third Run], [Ancient Ancestor of the Ancestors], [I Quit Being Human, Now I'm a Villainous Enemy Monster], what the hell are these achievements?!

Me: "Uh..."

Tartaglia and Paimon: "?"

Zhongli: "Traveler, what's wrong?"

Take back what I said. I think my life could be a thesis, titled "On the Possibility of a Good Person System Begging Me Not to Be a Villain".

Aether: "Can't you just travel with me?" Why is the System on me, pestering me?!

I smiled at him. "You could come back to Snezhnaya with me, too. I can recommend you for the position of Zeroeth Harbinger."

Paimon: "?"

Zhongli: "...Traveler, you should think this through."

Tartaglia: "Uh, I'm a little confused. Have you two met before?"

Aether and I: "We hit it off at first sight."

And then immediately went our separate ways.

*

People have always believed that divine knowledge is sacred wisdom beyond the reach of reason. But when madness and malice stir within them, driving them to pry into even a corner of the secrets sealed behind her, they are always horrified, then blurt out one word in astonishment: "Monster."

Ha, but it's true.

The girl called the "Successor to the Heavenly Principles" by humans and gods alike has walked the world since time immemorial, never considering herself either "human" or "god." That's what she always thinks, smiling as she moves through the abyss with her bowstring drawn taut.

She hunts her own "kind," as well as the intruders who cling to life between death and the living... Then she lowers her eyes.

"Ah, little one, good night."

"You'll have a good dream this time. Rest in peace."

She curved her lips into a lighthearted smile. No one was left around. In the surging darkness, there was an endless tide of twisted monsters, and she was one of them.

People who came later were always curious about her true form. The girl would sometimes take someone's hand in jest and slowly guide it into the opening in her chest.

She would put her arms around them as if embracing them and ask on a whim, "How does it feel?"

Scaramouche was conflicted. He held the girl too, but from this intimate position, he was the only one who could see... blood and flesh were twisted together in a grotesque tangle, stripped of their natural order.

Cold fragments settled inside her body, while power fought against power, like a terrifying arena of beasts.

A body even stranger than the Second Harbinger's experimental subjects...

"Mm... My lord, be gentle."

"You're squeezing too hard. That thing used to be my heart."

She furrowed her brow slightly, then smiled tenderly.

The young man couldn't help but shudder. He looked up instinctively

Her golden eyes were strikingly inhuman, as dangerous as a beast staring down its prey.

And beneath that seemingly gentle face, that smile full of affection... sinister, absurd thoughts twisted and curled, quietly peering out at the world from within her body.

The Heavenly Principles'... "successor"?

It would be more accurate to say she was a lurking monster.

She loved the old boss more than anyone else, and she loved this world more fervently than anyone else.

Of course, she also wanted more than anyone else to witness the instant its brilliance faded.

If you asked, she might even give you an answer...

"Hm? ...I was just curious."

★ The protagonist is chaotic evil and a menace who does things for fun

★ The characters' values do not reflect the author's values

★ First-person narration, mostly comedic, with lots of plot holes

★ Occasional sanity-breaking moments; everyone is a villainous lunatic

★ Eldritch villainess protagonist, maxed-out golden finger, absurdly overpowered

★ Includes a good person turning evil; the pairing is undecided for now, but probably Scaramouche

★ The worldbuilding has a crossover with the other novel "Transmigrated as the Rich Man's Little Sister", but it's mainly a parallel world

Theme: Instead of the 996 grind, why not slack off and fall in love?