The girls remained at the Serenitea Pot ever since the Night Warden Wars a few weeks ago, as Aether explored much of Natlan and hung out with the designated heroes of each Natlan tribe (Kinich, Mualani [much to Ayaka's jealousy], and Xilonen). However during his time with Xilonen, he had to help with a frail mother taking care of her child.

Hearing this, Noelle went to help as well, something that Aether cannot convince Noelle off to stay inside the pot due to her insisting. However the simple matter of taking care of a child became a turn for the worse as it turns out the mother's real child has died, and she used an orphan's body to implant her child's memory at the cost of a lot of the other tribals' memorization skills.

This as a result, puts Noelle into another dilemma, as she went back to the pot, and do her daily task of cleaning the mansion.

One fateful day however, an adeptus portal opens in the master living room, and to everyone's surprise it is not any of them that emerged from within, but instead it's The Captain.

"It's a comfortable place you've got here, I mean, it's a good thing I've healed my wounds, but beyond that it's... What's the word... This generation and their words... Cozy." The Captain started, although his focus mainly targeted itself on Noelle. 

He has finally met the Maid-Knight of Destruction with his own eyes.

"Do not draw your weapons. The Traveler himself permitted me to enter this realm."

"And you are?" Noelle bowed to the guest, before Lynette immediately answered her question.

"He is known as The Captain, the first of the harbingers, I once heard Father conversing with him, but only in passing. At one point I heard rumors of him moving to another room at HQ to avoid listening to the Damselette's hypnotic singing."

"Who's the Damselette?" Nilou asked, curious.

"The Damselette's true identity is classified, but your meeting with her will be inevitable as time progresses." The Captain replied.

"Hypnotic singing... She's a temptress?" Furina raised a finger to her chin.

"You call her a temptress, I call her a demoness." The Captain bluntly insults.

"So, what do you want from us this time?" Ayaka asked.

"I wanted to request your assistance, the rewards will be satisfactory."

"If I need any Fatui themed infrastructure for this mansion, I'll steal the blueprints rather than demanding purchase." Keqing folds her arms, for once refusing to do a direct deal with a party.

"Hmm. It makes sense the Yuheng of the Qixing would be intrigued by our technology."

"Of course she would." Ayaka growled.

"Do you accept our assistance, or do you refuse?" The Captain asked politely, presumably for the last time.

"Maybe", "Yes", "No." Keqing, Lynette and Ayaka answered all at unison respectively, inviting a stifled laughter from Nilou from how comedic their reactions are afterwards.

"Well, this is certainly a hassle." The Captain sighed.

"What do you propose?" Noelle asked.

"To be rather honest, I'd like to offer assistance as I fear there will be an all-out war in Natlan against the Abyss."

"An all-out war..." Noelle ponders.

"And how are we supposed to trust you? That you won't backstab us?" Keqing puts her hands on her hips in distrust.

"Simple. I'd want the Maid-Knight to serve me as a guest, and if I do not even lay a single scratch on her, you can trust me. All you have to do is wait." The Captain replied, before taking a seat on the couch.

"What about if we just cut the waiting part?" Ayaka pointed her tachi to The Captain's throat.

"Oh, I see what you did there!" Nilou chuckled.

"No pun intended." Ayaka clarified.

"You all, stay off. Noelle babysits the harbinger."

"Miss Keqing!?" Nilou said, surprised.

"It's either this, or see Mademoiselle Kamisato get beaten with one blow again."

"If what he said is true, we can't afford to be wounded right now." Furina said.

"...Fine. Airhead, make sure to treat him well." Ayaka said, venom in her tone.

And so, the girls except for Noelle, leave the realm to help Natlan prepare for the upcoming attack.

A hot cup of tea is placed on the living room table, as Noelle then took a step back so The Captain can take a sip.

"Superb." The Captain said, after a sip.

"Thank you."

Noelle continued to sweep as The Captain looked at her intently, behind his mask, his lips struggling to open to speak more.

"...I can see your mother in you."

"Hold on. So, you know mother?" Noelle asked.

"Yes, I did."

Noelle stopped sweeping, and looked at the Captain as he continued to reveal what he knew.

"...And I'm the one who recommended her to speak to The Fair Lady."

"..."

"I understand you might be angry, but that is the truth, and I sincerely apologize. I never intended to have your mother killed."

"If so, why did you send her to speak to Lady Signora?"

"I never expected that you'd grow into a very powerful being. So much so that you ended The Fair Lady and avenged your mother. Not just that, the entire organization feared you."

"Is this another reason why you chose to visit the Serenitea Pot? Aside from offering to help us in the upcoming battle?"

"Indeed."

"..."

"So, do you accept my offer to assist you and your family in this war?"

"...." A deafening silence filled the air.

------

In the outside world however, the invasion had started early. However, due to the 5 maidens joining, they were able to hold off the initial waves effortlessly. 

Furina went on her own to the Northwestern part of Natlan, facing off hilichurls and abyss mages that spawned there. Clad in the now-made-into-reality Force Armor which she brought home from Simulanka, she effortlessly slashed away any foes in front of her with her arch-transcended form's enhanced pneuma blade, and blasted them with her ousia projectiles.

Keqing and Lynette went to help the Scion of The Canopy settlement as the villagers evacuate. Due to their combined might and control over electro and anemo, most of the abyssal invaders were either turned into ashes, or sliced into million pieces before being blown away by the remaining anemo residue.

Ayaka and Nilou helped the People of The Springs evacuate, as they either held back the incoming waves of abyssal invaders there. Ayaka froze and shattered the hordes of hilichurls and rifthounds hunting down the civilians, while Nilou made sure that the waters are inexplorable by the enemy. As shown, a horde of hilichurls that spawned out of an abyssal pylon in the middle of a small island immediately dissolved into the water around them, as if the water is a living hazard.

As minutes went by, suddenly the skies darken as an abyssal energy wave surged there, and a massive rift is made in the skies, which begin to rain down meteor-like rocks that when landed, became basically unbreakable pylons which continuously spawned more hordes.

Ayaka and Nilou turned around to see one landing right at the empty settlement, where seemingly thousands of them spawn out of the portal.

"Well, Miss Ayaka... You take the 500 on the right, I take the 500 on the left."

"No way, I shall take 501!"

"That's the spirit!"

Keqing and Lynette sees one of the meteors landing in the deep reaches of the valley, and see hordes of the invaders flood it like kicking a hornet's nest.

"Damn... I hope the others have evacuated enough civilians...!"

"We're severely outnumbered, Mademoiselle."

And on Furina's side, she kept on slashing whilst looking back ever so often, and when she sees the evacuees have fled, she retreated back to the bridge leading to the stadium.

However, despite all their combined efforts, some defenders and civilians still fall victim to the relentless attacks. At one point, Aether and Paimon were too late to save a contingent of warriors, and Aether gave a grim look at what all of Natlan is facing right now.

What is even worse is that in order to dispel the rift in the sky, the ritual that required 6 heroes from each tribe is only one person less. As of current, Mavuika's powers are too dim to dispel the rift on her own.

"Could this really be how it ends...?"

On the bridge, the Captain suddenly appears out of an adeptus portal, and saved Silonen from nearly getting killed by a stonehide lawachurl attempting to attack her on her blind side.

"There's just no end to them..." Mualani said, as she took small breaths due to exhaustion.

However after another minute passed, an extremely bright light shines throughout the land, which slightly caused the rift to distort.

And when it dissipates, the light pinpoints down onto the middle of the stadium's ring.

"You're..." Mavuika raised a brow.

Both sides on the bridge stopped fighting, as they looked at the figure slowly exiting the stadium grounds towards the bridge.

"T-That's!?"

"T-The Maid-Knight of Destruction!"

"No, do not flee. She is on our side this time." The Captain ordered, absolute authority in his tone.

Noelle stood still on the end of the bridge, as some of the hilichurls, lawachurls and rifthounds charged toward her.

They reached her, and tried their best to hit her to cause damage, but none of their attacks, even the electro riftwolves' spinning electro projectile dented her slightly.

Noelle's eyes dart toward the dead warriors littering the valley surrounding the stadium, before she closed her eyes. And she saw all the other casualties, some of them even include children.

The hilichurls stopped attacking, and backed away, as they were shaken at the fact that their attacks are doing absolutely nothing.

"Fools, let me attack her!" A pyro abyss lector said, as he spawned out of a portal.

He fired a wave of searing pyro towards Noelle, and hailed a rain of burning fire upon her, akin to tiny meteors.

After the ashes settled, Noelle looked down at her body, before dusting off the embers that barely burnt her.

"W-what!?"

"It seems that it is my turn to act..." Noelle said, her voice roaring through the winds despite her saying it in an eerily calm manner.

A sudden shockwave shook the land, as another bright glow emanates from Noelle's body. The glow healed and reinvigorated everyone that is not of the Abyss, causing them to look at their bodies in surprise.

"W-who is she!?" A raven haired teenage boy asked.

"Ororon... that's... that's one of our outlander guests..." Mualani replied.

The light dissipates, revealing...

Noelle. Her armor is dishevelled, and her appearance is akin to her Arch-Transcended form, however with striking differences. A pair of golden horns grew from the sides of her head, and on the back is a crown shaped row of thorns resembling a the back of a dragon's head.

Her cape is now a pair of wings out of translucent geo, similar to Omega's, however, her wings also have roses adorning them.

"So... Shall I begin?"