MGSFV?! Chapter 373. Kevin, Thank You
The background music no longer surged with intensity—it began to soften, gently fading.
The in-game camera panned out…
Leaving behind a beautiful scene of two people smiling back-to-back.
And then...
The screen suddenly went black.
A sigh echoed.
Elysia: "Sigh~~"
The players' hearts skipped a beat.
[What? What's happening?]
[Is the writer about to hit us again?]
[Let's talk this out, don't change the BGM...]
[Is it happening? Is it really happening? (nervous)]
As the screen remained pitch-black, a creeping anxiety took root in their hearts.
After all, with the track record of the MiHoYo writing team...
Trust? Never heard of it.
But...
When the screen finally lit up again—
They saw Mei and Elysia, now back in casual clothes... actually playing on swings?
Huh?
Was this... another sugar-filled moment?
Just as a hint of relief surfaced at the thought—
Mei suddenly asked Elysia:
"So… is this the end?"
Players: ? The end??
A question no one could avoid crept into every heart.
Elysia nodded. "Mm, it's over."
She looked into the distance, swinging gently, her smile soft and wistful.
"To think it would all end like this… that I'd get to experience a 'banquet' one last time... Thank you, Mei."
"So this... is the last form of you that the other Flame-Chasers saw," Mei asked softly.
"Mhm."
Elysia recalled what Vill-V had once said:
"Those who left did so because they trusted Elysia and refused to strike her down."
"Those who stayed did so because they trusted Elysia and attended the banquet."
"I originally hoped that uniting against a common enemy would bring everyone together... but in the end, we achieved that unity another way."
For once, she tucked away her smile and revealed a different expression—not sadness exactly.
Rather... a complicated kind of joy.
"I was so lucky… to have met everyone."
The BGM grew even more tender than before—
As if afraid to disturb anything.
Dreamlike… with a faint touch of sorrow, like a cherry blossom's final descent to the ground…
Like the music that plays when an amusement park is closing.
It stirred deep, specific emotions from within every player watching.
But that was... inevitable, wasn't it?
After all, this music was titled elysianrealm.
elysianrealm (Elysian Realm) = elysia + realme.
As a curtain call, it was less "perfect" and more like... cheating.
Players: ...
They were still too naive.
Still expecting "mercy" from the writer.
And yet...
This moment was so beautiful.
Painfully beautiful—they could only watch on, smiles hidden beneath tears.
...
Mei swayed lightly on the swing and asked gently again:
"So… Kevin, Eden, Aponia, Vill-V… the four owners of the Crystal Flowers—did they all know?"
"Mhm."
Elysia smiled as she explained.
She had already told Eden everything about herself.
And Aponia, with her foresight, had long known the truth.
As for clever Vill-V—she had deduced it through "simulation."
She didn't say anything because...
Well, spoiling the ending of a magic show is just poor form, isn't it?
Very much in line with a magician's flair.
And if Vill-V could deduce it, then that green snake-lady definitely could too.
But… she didn't show up at the banquet. Who knows why.
As for Kevin...
"He didn't know a thing. He came to the banquet just to say—"
Elysia looked up at the pink sky, lowering her eyes with a soft laugh, mimicking Kevin's tone:
"There are no Herrschers here—only Flame-Chasers who bear their true selves."
"From a girl's perspective, he's just so stupid, don't you think? Just like always…"
[Why is she smiling while saying this, yet I'm over here tearing up?]
[Wiped my screen and accidentally hit the skip button… now I'm in the stream just watching story. Don't ask why I wiped my phone.]
[Hey, why'd you wipe your phone? 😎😎]
[Ask me that again after you take those sunglasses off.]
And so the older brother speaks of the younger, who returns fire with equal force.
Meanwhile, the story pressed on.
Though Elysia had hidden the fact she was a Herrscher…
It was obvious—except to Kevin.
Kevin: ???
Post-Elysian Realm, I feel like I've been reduced to comic relief.jpg
Ahem.
Back on topic.
Most people had long suspected Elysia was a Herrscher.
They didn't speak of it because they still chose to believe in her—always.
They trusted her real self, her true heart.
After finishing her explanation, Elysia turned to Mei.
"So… with all of them trusting me, how could I not know?"
"But what I chose to do wouldn't change—and couldn't be changed."
"Our civilization had already collapsed. The only thing I could do was leave behind hope… for the next generation."
Any player who had seriously followed the story up to this point had long figured it out.
Elysia didn't have many options. But hope—hope was an immeasurably precious gift in a time of despair.
And yet… what was the cost?
"I wagered on it, at the price of my own disappearance. Hoping that the future… the fate Aponia foresaw… could be altered, even just a little."
"I don't know if I'll succeed. I don't even know what comes after…"
"But I still want to believe—believe that doing this… will make a difference."
"Believe in humanity's power to change."
She smiled at Mei.
A smile filled with joy—and with fifty thousand years of waiting.
Bloom, blossom, bear fruit…
Being able to see Mei—she was truly satisfied.
And also… so very grateful.
To Kevin.
That guy… still so dumb. Just like before.
Elysia looked once more toward the horizon, as if her gaze pierced straight through the Elysian Realm.
This was the greatest gift she could've received.
Thank you.
She spoke no more.
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