Aether struggles to carry both Dain and Ayaka, and they've only reached The Stony Halls, where Aether stops, and pulled out the Serenitea Pot from his inventory.

"Why didn't I think of this earlier...? Come in, Dain. I've made sure the inside will not cause any harm to you."

But then the portal that leads to the inside of the pot vanished as an abyssal light slashes it back shut. The impostor has appeared again, Aether making a face of fear as he doesn't know what happened to the real Noelle.

"Where is Noelle!?"

"Oh, Aether... She is here." The impostor pointed to herself.

"What did you do to her!?"

"I've made sure that she sleeps permanently, unmoving, just like all of these rocks, stones and ores!"

"No..."

Tears are slowly falling down his face, as Ayaka barely mutters a word, "Traveler..."

Aether summons his sword, and shielded both Ayaka and Dain from the incoming impostor, who licked her lips as she walks in closer towards them.

Meanwhile elsewhere, Noelle opened her eyes, to find herself shrouded in darkness. She looked around after standing up to see a light coming from a campfire. Beside the campfire, a figure is seen sitting down. Noelle widened her eyes as she instantly knew who it is, judging by the silver hair, and the makeshift knight armor that she wore.

"...Mother?"

"Noelle? So you've arrived as well." It is Shirogane, The Silver Knight.

Noelle walks toward her, and sat down next to her.

"Am I..."

"Dead? You're nearly so. You remind me a lot when I was still alive, always so stubborn, and rushing in to protect even if it's life threatening."

Shirogane chuckles as she then stared at her daughter's getup.

"So, have you...?"

"Eh? No, I never became an official knight. I was on a duty, to protect a Honorary member..."

"Honorary...? Haha! So the three of us had something in common after all!"

"W...What do you mean?"

"I was also a Honorary Knight as well, never a fully official one. And you shared my blood, appearance, and that stubborn persona that I just mentioned."

"I... I see. Mother..."

"Yes, Noelle?"

"Did you know of my ventures when you saw me from here...?"

"I did, I saw your progress through this fire, and now it slowly fades, as this fire is your life."

"Then... Why did you ask me if I had become--"

"I loved to tease people sometimes, Guuji-Sama sure has rubbed some of her quirks on me."

"Ah... I just remembered that you're from Inazuma... Our true home?"

"Noelle. You can't call a place your true home, when it doesn't feel like it. That's a mistake I made when I tried to avenge the people who had their quirks even as far as back then."

Noelle and Shirogane continued to stare at the fire, until the latter breaks the silence once again.

"So... Is that Honorary Knight your love interest?" She asked with a mischievous look on her face.

"What- You mean, Aether? Indeed... I fell in love with him in our journeys, and the reason I gained the powers akin to an archon is from the want to protect him."

"You're making your mother jealous, Noelle~ Your father refused to follow me to Mondstadt, and instead resided back in that Harbor City... Liyue, was it?"

"Father is from Liyue?"

"And it's unique isn't it? You grew up in Mondstadt, born to me, an Inazuman mother and a Liyue father."

"I've been to Liyue, but I never met him. Who and where is he?"

"Beats me. I heard he vanished without a trace after I left for Mondstadt with you, tightly cradled in my arms. That Qilin half adeptus refused to tell me, and neither does that trite Yan Fei when I headed back to take a ship to Inazuma to go on that suicide mission. It's strange, as if those memories I spent with him corroded away."

Noelle then raised a brow, remembering someone. Was it... Him? The person who asked me if we ever met?

"Noelle."

"Yes?"

"I was just thinking about the name I gave you. You were nameless until we reached Mondstadt, where I finally decided on that name. You know what that name meant, do you?"

"I never knew about it. What does my name mean...?"

"I took it from an old Fontaine text, that is translated into Mondstadt as Natalie, but I preferred the old Fontaine one, as it sounds even sweeter. That name meant, The Lord's Birthday... And shockingly fate decided that you transcended to have archon level power."

Noelle widened her eyes, as she heard those words. The Lord's Birthday?

"And, what is your constellation after you found yourself a place in the stars?"

"When I got my vision...? I asked Lady Mona before my duty started... She said that it's Parma Cordis... Heart's shield."

"And what made you transcend?"

"When I saw Aether, my... My love, getting injured by Lady Signora, and my desire to protect him went over the roof..."

"That is why, your vision has finally given you divinity. And if you use it one more time, then you will achieve full, true divinity."

"Immortality..."

"It may suck, yes... If you outlive everyone that you knew. But this Aether... He's also ageless, no?"

Noelle nodded.

"Fate does not only make you a maid-knight in the Ordo Favonius, but it also made you meet him in the first place. Now, will you take the path that fate has chosen you?"

Noelle nodded.

"I will, Mother. I will awaken, and I will be there by his side, for eternity, through different worlds and time."

Shirogane then puts her right hand on Noelle's left shoulder armor, and the fire suddenly blares brighter.

"W...What is happening!? M-mother!?"

"He needs you, Noelle. Now go back for him."

A bright light fills the darkness, and in the world of the living, Noelle's vision starts to shine brightly, as her body slowly rises to a standstill. The vision begins to absorb the energy from all ores, and those which are made of rocks and stones into it, and a bright light shines throughout the chasm.

---------

Aether is being thrown around the Stony halls like a ragdoll, before he recovers, and tries to bind the Noelle impostor with geo, imprisoning her in rocks, which she breaks by activating her barrier. shoots out his lightning blade, which the imposter easily deflects using her abyssal breastplate barrier. Using this opportunity as the barrier fades away, Aether thrusts his sword towards the impostor, who caught the blade bare handed, and tossed him down to the ground before he recovered.

He dashed towards the impostor, and managed to land a handful of hits using his sword, and after doing an uppercut which sends the imposter flying upwards, Aether used Anemo to shoot himself up towards the impostor, and he grabbed her body, as they then fell down to the ground together.

"Falcon drop!"

What Aether did, is a high altitude piledriver which caused a crater to form on where they land. After the smoke caused from the impact dissipates, Aether sees that the impostor is nowhere to be seen. He then sensed something behind him, which is an Abyss portal that the impostor opens. Aether then did one last resort by sending a tornado towards her, which she absorbed using the palm of her hands. The impostor's eyes then glowed, as they shoot a ray out of abyssal light towards him.

Damn it! Is this how it ends...? If only... Wait, maybe Noelle is still alive! Maybe if I...

"NOELLE!!!!"

A bright light then fills the entire underground mines, causing the camping Abyss Mages, Lectors and other cronies to kneel in pain before their bodies dissipate into thin air. The Noelle impostor shields her eyes in surprise.

"Wh-what the!?"

When the light dissipates, Aether slowly opens his eyes to see a geo vision on a red ribbon.

"Noelle!? You're back!"

Dain widened his eyes when he sees who came to save them, and then he remembers.

"S...Shirogane...?! No... So that maid... she's her daughter!?"

The impostor shook her head, and grabbed her hair in anger.

"You... How did you survive!? I... I destroyed your heart!"

"You should know, my shadow... That even my heart has a shield... That will never be penetrated unless you took him away from me!"

Noelle then went over to Ayaka, and casts her hand over her head, as a golden light emanates from her palm that instantly healed Ayaka, and she stood up slowly. The both of them then looked at the Noelle impostor, and summoned their weapons.

Ayaka quickly transformed into her transcended state, her cryo heron wings sprouting from her back, while Noelle's vision glowed, as she then shook in pain, grasping her chest in reflex while her translucent golden cape spawns on her back. And when the pain is gone, she faced back up to the impostor, and when she opened her eyes, instead of a tiny golden light...

Geo sigils formed in the middle of her olive green eyes.