Pure love - Episode 5

Context : Right after a completely broken Ayaka disappears into thin air with Rover, Aether is left wandering aimlessly through Sumeru, his spirit utterly crushed. It is then that Mona Megistus arrives in a rush. She hasn't come to comfort Aether, but because Citlali sent her a cryptic, irresistible message: I have found a man whose very existence proves the false sky is a lie. Come see for yourself. Driven by her absolute obsession with astrological truth—and secretly enticed by the promise of massive research funding to solve her constant poverty, Mona rushes to the scene without a second thought. Mona tracks down Citlali and finally comes face-to-face with Rover. Catching sight of her, a desperate Aether runs over, pleading in a panic for her to be careful because Rover is extremely dangerous. But Mona, deeply arrogant and fiercely proud of her supreme astrological science, coldly dismisses the broken Traveler. Pulling out her prized astrolabe, she casts her Hydromancy to read Rover’s destiny. But the moment her gaze plunges into the aquatic reflections of Rover’s soul, a violent cosmic backlash occurs. Her star charts glitch violently, the water in her catalyst begins to boil furiously, and her sacred astrolabe cracks and shatters into pieces under the crushing weight of Rover’s golden frequency. Staring at the shards of her life's work, Mona is utterly paralyzed, but her shock quickly morphs into absolute fascination. True to her unbreakable rule of absolute, brutal honesty in her predictions, she turns her gaze to a weeping Aether. With cold, scientific detachment, she delivers the ultimate psychological death blow: she declares that the stars have spoken, exposing Aether as nothing more than a pathetic, obsolete puppet of Teyvat's false sky, while Rover is the one true protagonist of the cosmos. Seeing her complete submission to the truth, Rover steps forward, replacing her shattered catalyst with an advanced, glowing holographic Resonator device from Solaris-3. Fully blinded by this unlimited cosmic knowledge and the absolute financial security Rover effortlessly provides, Mona completely surrenders her pride, dropping to her knees to worship her new golden god. To seal her eternal allegiance, Mona takes up her pen to commit the ultimate act of public betrayal. As a star columnist for Fontaine's most influential newspaper, The Steambird, she immediately drafts a revolutionary front-page article. Under Rover’s dominant gaze, she writes a glowing piece praising him as the true cosmic savior of Teyvat, while publicly exposing Aether as a fraudulent, pathetic loser. Aether is left entirely alone in the dirt, watching his close friend prepare to broadcast his ultimate humiliation to the entire nation. Artist : Leisan Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/Leisanu Pixiv : https://www.pixiv.net/users/35096337