Fanfic / Entirely Out of Spite

Entirely Out of Spite is a Genshin Impact fanfic AU written by Bgtea. It is inspired by The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong as the author has stated.

Ajax died in an unfortunate electrical accident cursing Genshin Impact, the game he poured so much of his time and money into playing only to deliver a crappy, unfulfilling ending with lots of unfinished plot points.

It's after his death that he's given a second chance as a new User of the system and newly bounded to the Eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui, Tartaglia.

Now, he has to navigate his new life as the unlikable, shitty, one-dimensional, cartoonish villain and try not to die a second time meeting a gruesome death in the first act of the original game like Tartaglia originally did. ...It'd also be nice if he could try and stop being so attracted to his target, the Geo Archon, please and thank you.

Entirely Out Of Spite provides examples of:

• 0% Approval Rating: The "original" Tartaglia had this, which led to his downfall and death by mob violence.
• Accidental Proposal: Downplayed — Ajax finally gathers his courage and decides to ask Zhongli to become his boyfriend, but the gifts he brings for the occasion are laden with dragon-and-phoenix imagery, traditional Chinese wedding symbolism. Zhongli almost loses grasp over his mortal disguise in sheer happiness but nonetheless asks for some time before agreeing, to prepare the reveal of him being Rex Lapis to Ajax.
• Adaptational Heroism: Downplayed and Justified. As elaborated on below, canon Childe is essentially a Decomposite Character in this fic. Ajax—also partly thanks to his different background—takes on the positive and 'good' aspects of his character while the other...
• Adaptational Villainy: ...that is Tartaglia, is left with and ramps up his harsher, negative aspects—lacking the lighter ones of the character, such as being a Benevolent Boss, which is a trait that is then present in Ajax.
• Afterlife Angst: Played With as it does not deal with the traditional afterlife but, rather obviously, with the characters' lives in another world after their deaths in their old one. Ajax copes with the realization that he's dead in his old world and breaks down over how he was never able to say goodbye to his loved ones or mend his strained relationships with them.
• Anger Born of Worry: When Lumine and Paimon meet Ajax alive and well in Mondstadt, Lumine is so angry that she tries to skewer Ajax while screaming at him.
  "WE THOUGHT YOU DIED AND YOU’VE JUST BEEN RELAXING IN MONDSTADT?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’VE PUT US ALL THROUGH?"
• Ascended Fanboy: As per the premise, Ajax relishes in being able to "play" the game "in real life" and is ecstatic to make friends with Zhongli, his favourite character—a prospect in which he rather gradually suceeds in.
• Big Eater: Oh Ajax, this boy could eat an entire feast in one sitting—he even has a Sweet Tooth to boot!
• Benevolent Boss: One of the things Ajax does to fix Tartaglia's reputation is to start being nicer to his underlings. He spends time doing actual bank work, gives acknowledgments to the bank workers who aren't secret Fatui, and spends time helping train the recruits.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Even though Zhongli has mellowed out compared to how he was in the midst of the Archon Wars, he held the title of the Warrior God for a reason as the Tsaritsa and now Lumine are finding out. According to Venti, it would take the other six Archons to be able to land a blow against the oldest Archon.
• Celestial Bureaucracy: Played With, once again, as it does not deal with the traditional afterlife but rather, once again, with the characters' lives in another world after their deaths in their old one. The forces behind the transmigration(s) operate in a strangely official manner—with the System being less of a mysterious, omnipotent being that watches over the life of its user, and more of a disgruntled office employee.
  • Lampshaded by Ajax in chapter 22 when AR (the System's name) reveals to him the structure of his work under the Administrators, citing it as being "oddly bureaucratic".
• Child Soldier: Tartaglia was fourteen years old when he was recruited into the Fatui. When Ajax is being vetted by Diluc, Jean, and Kaeya, they are all horrified that a civilian child was sold into the Fatui military for a condition (Abyssal Taint) that no one had no idea how to treat or cared to treat at all.
• Covert Pervert: Zhongli really likes seeing Ajax wear shirts with low v-necklines that expose his chest.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Ajax's is rather somber and painfully realistic. He was the youngest child of a failed marriage, which led to emotional neglect from both his parents that severely damaged his self-esteem at a young age. When his step-father kicked him out in his teenage years for acting out (due to said self-esteem issues and emotional neglect), Ajax resigned himself to being unloved and alone.
• Decomposite Character: In this fic, (canon) Childe is essentially split into two characters; Tartaglia from the in-universe video game, and Ajax the transmigrater as well as the subsequent main character. Both variations contain traits from the canonical Childe, with Tartaglia containing the harsher aspects of Childe's character and background—while Ajax has the friendlier, lighter and even more positive aspects. In a way, Tartaglia is who the canon Childe could've been if he didn't have the genuine affability, decorum and even sense of morality/remorse that can be seen in Ajax.
  • Likewise, with him being separate from Tartaglia, Ajax is a kinder Childe—also partly due to being raised in the modern world and not having to deal with canon Childe's backstory—which was then handed off to Tartaglia. The most notable case of this is Ajax's horror at the prospect of releasing Osial. In canon, Childe—despite admitting that it was a last resort—was still rather brazen in committing the act. And though he mentioned that it goes against his principles and even seemed apologetic about it in his later appearances, they are still more Downplayed relative to Ajax's reaction.
  • Both Tartaglia and Ajax, however, still share common traits (from canon Childe, obviously) with eachother: their bloodlust and love for battle (with Ajax even mentioning his desire to become the strongest in Teyvat), and their unwavering love for their families, come what may. Their commonalities become a plot point within the story—as mentioned below, it's implied that the reason Ajax was chosen to take Tartaglia's place was due to their certain similarities.
• Defrosting Ice King: Several characters fall under this effect thanks to Ajax's, frankly, loveable personality.
  • Zhongli is a downplayed example as he was never outright cold to Ajax, though he was rather miffed when his meeting with the original Tartaglia was cancelled. Regardless, his reservedness (and caution towards Ajax thanks to OG Tartaglia's reputation) still makes it so that his first few outings with Ajax earned the latter only a few couple of F points—and it isn't until Ajax calls them friends that Zhongli really softens up.
  • Xiao was initially contemptuous towards Ajax due to their clashing personalities as well as his affiliation for another Archon, and only protected him thanks to Zhongli's orders. Overtime, however, he himself starts feeling concern for Ajax and later admits (in his narration) to appreciating the latter's kind nature.
  • At first, the System was merely a mysterious entity that seemed neutral at most towards Ajax—with the help it provides simply being a part of its function and not being genuine, which is reflected on their rather mechanical speech. However, their POV chapters reveal them gradually warming up to their asigned User; expressing frustration at being unable to help more and being genuinely worried when Ajax amps up his workaholic tendencies so much that it bordered on being self-destructive. By chapter 22, they've become uncharacteristically candid with Ajax as they lament their progress on a sidequest together.
• Desk Sweep of Rage: Ajax, of a sort, does this along with destroying his entire apartment unit after seeing Tonia's name in the letter sent to him as Tartaglia—seeing it as a mockery of his regrets from his previous life.
• Déjà Vu: AR comments on how familiar the dreams he and Ajax have been receiving, and explicitly describes it as a sense of Deja Vu in chapter 25.
• Divine Date: Zhongli and Ajax, though it takes them time to get there.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Xiao, who looks up to and admires Zhongli even as a guardian figure of sorts, is forced to witness said guardian figure act smitten with Ajax while the latter is lovingly offering his prayers via music to quell his Abyssal Taint. The situation leaves him embarrassed and perturbed.
• Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: Ajax is horror-struck when he finally understands who AR previously was, frantically apologizing for using Tartaglia's body to date Zhongli without a care for the original goods' gender preferences. AR is surprisingly cool with that, claiming he's dead and has no further use for his former body and as such, Ajax is allowed to do whatever he wishes with it.
• Even Evil Has Standards: La Signora is infuriated to learn that Morax is gleefully seducing the Eleventh Harbinger, one of the most high-ranked followers of the Tsaritsa, considering it "an insult to Her Imperial Highness".
• Everyone Can See It: Lumine comes to the conclusion that Zhongli and Ajax are obviously married after just a few minutes of sharing a meal with them.
  • And pretty much everyone within their personal circles, particularly the bank staff, believe that they're already dating or on the way to marrying each other.
  • This includes the System, who is aware that they aren't officially dating but can very much see the mutual feelings.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even Diluc who isn't thrilled to be dealing with a former Harbinger is horrified that Tartaglia was essentially a civilian child sold off to an army with a harmful condition that their god purposely let fester before he was sent off to a suicide mission that he was likely to fail due to the fact that the Fatui's Vangard was possibly the worst person to send off on an assignment that required diplomacy.
• Exact Words: When Xiao confronts Ajax when the latter is in prison, he says this to the Yaksha to explain his role in the entire thing:
  "Because the gods will it, so it must be done."
• Faking the Dead: Apart from Zhongli's case, as per canon, Ajax also plans to do this after he completes his Mission of releasing Osial to avoid any proceeding repercussions from the act and to free himself from his role as a Harbinger.
  • While helping Ajax break out of prison, Hu Tao purposely fakes Ajax's death by burning the corpse she brought along with her to make it unrecognizeable and have people believe that he died. Unfortunately, it works a little too well because the aftermath of faking Ajax's death leads to the Qixing having to deal with a political fall out from the citizens mourning Ajax's death and Snezhnaya who no doubt will demand answers for the death of the Harbinger that had died in their custody.
• Frame-Up: Zigzagged in that while Ajax did release Osial, he was framed by La Signora for the murders of six milileth officers.
• The Gadfly: Ajax, for all his genuine niceness, has the tendency to relentlessly tease Zhongli and Xiao in various ways because he enjoys seeing them lose control of their cool facades.
• Greed: Befitting a dragon, Zhongli enjoys surrounding himself with fine possessions and quickly grows deeply possessive of Ajax. However, it's positively presented since Zhongli genuinely cherishes his treasures, appreciates their deeper meaning and dotes on Ajax.
• High-Voltage Death: This was the cause of Ajax's former death before he was transmigrated into Tartaglia. Out of rage at the ending of Genshin Impact, he carelessly knocked over hot tea all over his laptop and in trying to unplug it, he accidentally electrocuted himself to death.
• In-Series Nickname: the original Tartaglia is explicitly referred to as "OG Tartaglia" by Ajax and Hu Tao.
• Irony: Rex Lapis is more happy and delighted to receive Ajax's genuine and loving prayers and worship than Liyue's devotion, in spite of the Harbinger being a follower of the Cryo Archon.
• It's All My Fault: Zhongli blames himself when he is told that Ajax is dead.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The Adepti are slightly baffled to see how possessive Rex Lapis is towards a mortal who technically worships another Archon, but very much support the relationship because they want for their lord to finally enjoy a lifetime of happiness after all his millenia of watching over Liyue.
• Jerkass Gods:
  • The Tsaritsa is explicitely stated to be more feared than loved by her people, and is hinted to be uncaring towards her Eleventh Harbinger suffering from Abyssal Taint, even if it drives him to turn in a bloodthirsty, traumatized monster. People express some surprise over Ajax not praying to the Cryo Archon for help, but think it makes sense.
  • For all his benevolence, Zhongli is positively gleeful over the prospect of spiting the Tsaritsa by stealing one of her devoted Harbingers to be turned in his devoted worshipper.
• Loved by All: The new, transmigrated Ajax manages to slowly build this reputation for Tartaglia once he takes over his life- though anyone who knew "Tartaglia" before the transmigration is significantly harder to win over. His reputation is so great that when Ajax is put on trial on trumped up charges, many people refuse to believe he is guilty and gather to protest. When he 'dies', the outrage and backlash is so great that the Qixing find themselves dealing with a large political fallout in the aftermath, having to run around and do damage control. And that doesn't even go into how Zhongli's grief alone is causing violent earthquakes that threaten to drown the city.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Ajax to Zhongli, as Zhongli's POV chapters show.
• The Masquerade: Several hilariously waved around that Ajax has to pretend to be oblivious about
  • Zhongli is pretending to be a normal human, hiding his mortal identity from even Ajax (albeit only for the time being). As a transmigrator, Ajax already knows exactly who Zhongli is.
  • The Northland Bank staff are largely spying for Signora at first, which Ajax already figured out from the original storyline
  • Ajax has one himself, enforced by the System- he cannot let anybody know that he's not the original Tartaglia. Trying to break this rule results in his body literally seizing up to prevent him from talking.
• Mirror Character: One of the side-chapters, as well as Ajax's backstory, implies that Ajax was chosen as a transmigrator specifically because he's one of these for the original Tartaglia. He looked like a scrawnier version of Tartaglia in his original world, and they have the same birth name. Personality-wise, Ajax is what Tartaglia could've become if A) Abyssal Taint wasn't a thing, B) society had punished him for using violence to express his childhood trauma, instead of making him a high-ranking officer in a Decadent Court, and C) his mental health, festered by said Abyssal Taint and the mistreatment of his peers, wasn't deliberately neglected by the adults who govern him.
• My Greatest Failure: How Xiao feels in the aftermath of Ajax's 'death' due to learning that not only is the Geo Archon not really dead, but that Ajax had released Osial and endangered Liyue on the Tsaritsa and Rex Lapis orders. Even moreso when Zhongli is utterly shattered and his grief threatens to drown the nation.
  If only he had been kinder. If only he had asked more questions. If only he had stayed just a second longer. If only he had kept a more vigilant eye on things—
  Then, Childe would still be alive and his Lord Lapis wouldn’t be losing himself to his sorrow and terrifying rage.
• Mysterious Past: In-universe, the "original" Genshin Impact game that Ajax played didn't give Tartaglia a backstory. The world Ajax finds himself in uses the IRL-canon backstory about Tartaglia falling into the Abyss, which Ajax has to piece together from context clues.
  • And eventually, the System—who goes by the alias AR—is shown to have one as well; though the specifics of his past have yet to be discovered by Ajax, the readers, or even by AR himself. The latter of whom having no memories of his life prior to being a System.
• No Ending: The reason Ajax got so upset that he died cursing a video game- the Genshin Impact of his world ended by saying that the Traveler's sibling had already moved onto another world years ago.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Ajax gets this when he visits Guyun Stone Forest and realizes just how dangerous Osial is in this universe.
  • When Zhongli walks to the administrative building after being told that Ajax had 'died', everyone has this reaction when they feel the pressure of his power and realize that the Weirdo Funeral Consultant is actually an Adeptus.
  • Ganyu also has this reaction when she realizes that Rex Lapis isn't actually dead and that he's so angry not only is his power leaking out but his mortal disguise is barely holding itself together.
  • Venti is sweating bullets when he realizes that Ajax's fiance is his old friend Morax who would likely subject him to being stoned by mountain should he realize that he's having Ajax cook for him.
• Oblivious to Love: It takes Ajax some time to learn what the "L-points" he's getting from Zhongli mean- if Hu Tao hadn't spelled it out, he likely still wouldn't know. He also seems only semi-aware at best that he's had a crush on Zhongli since he played the original game.
• Physical Religion: Ceremonial purification is practiced in Liyue and, as the side-stories show, these prayers sometimes serve to alert the Adepti and Rex Lapis about various non-physical dangers that they then deal with.
• Power Levels: The System analyzes Ajax to give him accurate reports of his "level" and "stats", and one of the first things he does is buy the "scan" ability that allows him to read those same attributes in other characters.
  • That said, these are explicitly reflections of a character's abilities, rather than defining features- the System calculates the stats based on the person's demonstrated skill, rather than the person's skills being defined by their stats. So naturally there's no such thing as a level cap, or if there is it's absurdly high and the millennia-old Xiao is level 2031.
• The Powers That Be: First Averted with the System, then played straight with the Administrators. The "System" Ajax communicates directly with is actually a single individual who lives in a White Void Room and gets his own orders from a more enigmatic force known as the "Administrators".
• Pretty Boy: Hu Tao is baffled by how pretty Ajax is.
• Properly Paranoid: It is revealed that Tartaglia was hiding, at least to him, sensitive information under the floorboards of his apartment. Considering his reputation before Ajax's damage control and his fate in the game Ajax played, it's not an unreasonable act. Hu Tao, (one of) the creator(s) of the game, explicitly mentions it as being the actions of a paranoid man with plenty of enemies in the dark.
• Relationship Values: An In-Universe example. Ajax's progress with his relationships is tracked via the R (Regret) and/or F (Friendship) points he receives from the people he interacts with. If one reaches the level cap, the F points can upgrade into L points.
  • Interestingly, it isn't exclusive to the "game" characters, as it was shown in the first chapter that Ajax "earned" several R and L points from his parents in his old world upon his death while in the process of transmigrating.
  • It should also be noted that R points mean exactly as the word "regret" means, they are points earned from when a character regrets anything regarding the person they are directed to—which can also include regret(s) regarding a character's relationship with them. For example, Word of God confirmed that the R points gathered from his mother are about her regrets in how strained her relationship with Ajax became—and not, say, because of an increased dislike towards Ajax himself.
• The Reveal: It is heavily implied if not outright revealed in chapter 25 that the System AR is actually OG Tartaglia, with his memories wiped—which is no longer the case as of the end of the chapter. This has actually been a theory among avid readers for as far back as chapter 12.
• Revenge Before Reason: La Signora was so obsessed with getting revenge on Tartaglia that she purposely framed him for releasing Osial and several murders of millileth officers with the hope that he would get incarcerated and likely executed for the crimes. This in turn leads to a number of events that eventually end up with her being demoted before being forced on the run as the Tsaritsa is forced to execute her and deliver her head to Morax lest he threaten to destroy the Cryo Archon's plans by telling Celestia about the rebellion she plans against them.
• Running Gag: Several side-chapters end with Ajax getting notifications for relationship point changes with the POV characters of the side-chapter- which never fail to baffle him.
  • In later chapters, Ajax's friends keep ribbing him about his caffeine and sugar intake.
• Serenade Your Lover: An indirect variant- Ajax offers ceremonial tribute to Rex Lapis in the form of musical performances, which Zhongli can actually hear.
• Shout-Out:
  • To the original material- Ajax is thrilled when he realizes, since this isn't a video game with limited mechanics, he can pet the various stray dogs and cats hanging around Liyue harbor.
  • Early on Ajax checks if there's any punishment for behaving out of character for Tartaglia- a limitation that gave Shen Yuan much stress in The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong.
  • Several of the songs Ajax plays are explicitly real-life popular pieces, including Dynamite, Wonderwall, and Despacito.
  • A failed endeavor in cooking leads the System to label Ajax's creation as a "Suspicious dish"
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Lumine and Childe's subordinates would really like for Ajax and Zhongli to stop being domestic and get married already.
• Sidequest Sidestory: Another in-universe example. Once Ajax learns of the Abyss, something that did not exist in the "original game", he unlocks a new sidequest titled "Traces of Tartaglia", in which he has to find—well—traces of the original Tartaglia's past and story.
• Stepford Smiler: For the first few chapters, Ajax spends a lot of time trying hard to not think about how he literally died and everyone from his old life is as good as gone to him. It lasts until he's forced to face his issues due to the suppressed trauma causing the lingering Abyssal Taint on Tartaglia's body to act up, after which he starts recovering.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Invoked — when Ajax ultimately finds himself unable to unleash Osial, AR hijacks their body to assume the role of the Eleventh Harbinger, claiming Childe is too soft-hearted in front of Lumine and Paimon.
• Switching P.O.V.: Several extras and side-sections feature events told from the perspective of side characters such as Ekaterina, Zhongli, and Xiao.
• Sympathy for the Devil: As Ajax slowly pieces together a picture of what the original Tartaglia's life and past was like, he starts pondering to himself just how sad and lonely it all seemed—a predicament that he relates to all too well.
  • Downplayed, but in an extra, the bank staff becomes uncomfortable when they learn how young Tartaglia was when he was enlisted into the Fatui and that he came from a poor background—wondering what type of person he could've been if he was raised in a better environment.
• Take Care of the Kids: Right before the Rite of Descencion, Rex Lapis openly claims Ajax as his mate in front of the Adepti and asks them to ensure the Shnezhnayan diplomat's safety. After the very public "demise" of their god, the Adepti are left reeling and at least two of them (Ganyu and Xiao) are desperate to fulfill the Geo Archon's Last Request by protecting his chosen bride.
• Through His Stomach: A favourite strategy of Ajax to improve his relationships.
  • He often invites Zhongli to the Liuli restaurant and learns to cook the older man's favourite dishes. Zhongli especially enjoys Ajax's cooking since he perceives the earnest care put in them.
  • He brings tins and tins of cookies and tea cakes at the bank for the employees, quickly cementing his reputation as a Benevolent Boss.
  • He gains several friendship points when he lets Paimon gorge on sweets.
• Trapped in Another World: The premise of the fic.
• Troubled Production: In-universe example, as internal issues in the company making "Genshin Impact" in Ajax's world caused staff cuts, plot derailment, and general quality drop in the game as it went on.
• Whole-Plot Reference: To The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong, of which it takes several elements:
  • A gender-inverted "Reborn as Villainess" Story featuring a more action-focused piece of media that the main character literally died cursing out.
  • An enigmatic "System" providing assistance but also enforcing strict rules upon transmigrators, giving them "quests" to achieve in order to "improve the story". Also, the System using a point-based setup for reward purchases, quest failures punishment, and quest success rewards, with the caveat that dropping down to zero points results in the transmigrator's death.
    • One of these quests being for the main character to replicate some plot-relevant atrocity that their original counterpart committed, with the point deduction for quest failure being so steep that failure would guarantee death. In addition, this specific quest is something the main character is aware of from the beginning, and has time to make plans for.
  • The main character being the second transmigrator in the world, with the first transmigrator being (one of) the creator(s) of the original work.
  • The protagonist being initially oblivious that he had a crush on one of the characters in the original work of media, and not realizing it until after said character returns his feelings post-transmigration
  • Some of the original plans for the story the characters transmigrate into (ie the In-Universe What Could Have Been concepts) that got scrapped in development became real in the universe that the story takes place in.^note Tartaglia's backstory, as listed under Mysterious Past, is later revealed to have been part of the original character concept for Tartaglia.
• Workaholic: Between grinding his combat stats, spending time with Zhongli, grinding his non-combat stats through music, and keeping up on his cover job at the bank, Ajax averages about five hours of sleep per night and lives on sugar and caffeine. And initially, he was also motivated to drown himself in work so he didn't have to think about the life he lost when he died.

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