The players rejoiced over the fact that the Flame-Chasers still had a chance to be revived.
Some even let their thoughts wander—to gacha, and such things.
If it was just a misunderstanding… then maybe there was no need to blow it out of proportion, right?
But before they could get too excited—
The next moment—
Mei suddenly asked, "Then… what about Elysia?"
Her question instantly captured everyone's attention.
Even the in-game BGM abruptly stopped.
The atmosphere turned strange.
Original Vill-V stayed silent for a while.
Only after that did she speak, voice tinged with sorrow: "Elysia, she…"
"I don't want to believe it either… but the Herrscher… seems to have completely deleted her data…"
Even though players had mentally prepared themselves countless times, hearing the devastating news again—was still too much to bear.
Elysia…
That most adorable Miss Pink Elf.
Is really… not coming back??
[mhy, are you seriously just milking one character to death?!]
[Writer!! Give Elysia back to us!!]
[Wait—she said 'seems'? Could there still be hope?!]
[One can only hope.]
The players reacted intensely.
And Mei, who had long since grown close to Elysia, knew all too well—Elysia, unlike the others, didn't have a possibility of revival.
She fell silent.
"..."
Original Vill-V continued: "That Vill-V didn't want anyone to find out Kevin still had the potential for resurrection, so she destroyed the typewriter and forged the record that said Kevin was dead."
That revelation solved one of the players' long-standing mysteries.
No wonder they'd thought the typewriter didn't seem like Sakura's doing.
After all, if Sakura had done it, she would've just cut it in two with one slash.
So it was Vill-V who broke the typewriter.
"But the night Elysia disappeared… the 'absolutely objective' typewriter hadn't been destroyed yet, so…"
So what? It was obvious.
Kevin's death was forged by the 'Malice' Vill-V.
But Elysia's death… was the truth, printed out by the typewriter itself.
The players: ...
This outcome…
Pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain!
This Elysian Realm! It's not happy at all!
And in the story, Mei clearly couldn't accept it either.
But…
She had already mentally prepared herself. Hoping for Elysia's revival was, indeed, too extravagant a wish.
"As for the reason…" Original Vill-V was still explaining, "I'm sorry—that happened after I was dormant."
"Perhaps… tearing us apart, and inciting conflict between the Flame-Chasers… really was part of the Herrscher's plan."
"And now, the full picture is clear to you."
"What we need to do next… comes down to two things."
Original Vill-V laid out the upcoming plan to Mei.
First: defeat the 'Malice' Vill-V and escape from Vill-V's Sea of Consciousness.
Second: defeat the Herrscher of Corruption and give all the Flame-Chasers the best possible ending.
[I want to ask the writer—what exactly counts as the best possible ending? And I sincerely hope they give it to us.]
[Let them all leave like heroes? (just a guess)]
[But I think—without Elysia, it's not the best ending for anyone.]
[So… where's my Elysia? Where's my Elysia?? Writer! Did you see her?!]
…
With the plan complete, the two were ready to head off to confront the 'Malice' Vill-V.
But before they left—
Original Vill-V wanted Mei to accompany her in retrieving something first.
In the game, this was shown through Vill-V guiding Mei through a few of her memories.
The first memory was about the Battle of Restraint.
This memory had actually been mentioned before in Vill-V's [Remnant Chapters].
Within the Domain of Restraint, Vill-V's MANTIS ability—Personality Division—was completely suppressed, and the original personality was forcibly awakened.
Believing all the other personalities to be dead, she panicked.
That led the then-slightly-younger Mobius to show an expression like…
Suddenly being approached by Elysia with a cold, determined look, declaring, "No matter the cost, humanity will defeat the Honkai."
That expression—so unlike her usual self—shocked everyone.
She even said things like—
"That's enough. Is your own failure really that hard to accept?"
"Hey! You're making me think I was wrong about you all along."
"You're pathetic, Vill-V."
"What's with you? Don't tell me… that version of you I met before was all an act?"
Words that sounded harsh and sarcastic—yet unmistakably Mobius-style concern.
This part of the story actually sparked a real-world conversation between Mobius and Vill-V.
"Vill-V, so you do panic sometimes," Mobius said with interest.
"Everyone's different. It's normal to have different personalities, behaviors, and thoughts," Vill-V replied casually.
"You don't seem to mind much." Mobius raised a brow slightly. "Doesn't that bother you, Vill-V?"
"Why would it?"
Vill-V shook her head and spoke without a hint of embarrassment: "You have no idea how happy I was. They can freely display their talents… and someone else always ends up cleaning up the mess…"
"Ahem, I mean, someone else will deal with whatever pops up and interrupts Vill-V's inventions."
Mobius: "..."
"There must be someone among you who suffers the most," she said, for once showing concern for a Vill-V.
Gourmet: That's right. It's me.
Waking up every time to a mountain of catastrophic engineering projects is just plain awful.
I'm just a chef! Why must I face cold machines?!
My domain should be…
Feeling the pulse of ingredients leaping under my knife, the heat of the flames, the rhythm of garlic and ginger meeting sizzling oil to create delicious brilliance…
Where's the Conductor? Where's the Expert? Help me out already!
Expert: Thank you. I'm the chief architect of those so-called "catastrophic engineering projects," and I'm just as frustrated when people mess up my schematics.
Conductor: Should I install a jaw-dropping feature in your "miraculous invention"? Like, say, an auto-fireworks launcher?
Gourmet: No thanks, I'm good.
After Vill-V's brief "brainstorm" (foggy and chaotic)—
She calmly responded to Mobius' earlier question.
"She doesn't seem to suffer much, actually."
"She still has the energy to throw shade."
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