Theresa also said, "Exactly, exactly! Elysia has always been such a perfect existence."
The others all agreed strongly.
It was Eden who spoke with deep emotion: "It's not just Ellie—the thirteen Fla-Chasers are all portrayed so outstandingly. They're really shaped so well. I love this version of Eden so much; it really fits ."
SAKURA also said, "To be honest, at first when he wrote my little sister's death, I wanted to kill him. But as the plot developed, I have to admit—my role turned out really great!"
Aponia agreed: "Yes… I can't even imagine being able to present this side—sacred and holy… Director Hessian really did an amazing job."
Kevin also said, "Exactly—especially ! It's practically in real life. I just hope reality doesn't actually head in such a tragic direction."
The rest spoke one after another.
Without exception, they were all extrely satisfied with their portrayals.
At that mont…
Hiko suddenly asked, "Since Elysia's ending is about to be revealed soon, the Fla-Chasers' endings should have sothing too… right? What are they like?"
Uh…
The entire lounge fell silent.
So knew only partially, others knew nothing at all.
And… no one could guess what that dog director was thinking.
So.
Everyone tacitly chose to keep watching the TV.
On the screen.
After Elysia left, the sky darkened… This really did have Elysia's style.
i's thoughts were in turmoil.
Once dawn arrived, Elysia would dispel the fog shrouding that island for her.
As long as she reached it, she would learn everything that happened at that banquet—the truth about the 13th Herrscher, and… the answer she sought.
After that… she would have to leave this place.
...
Leave...
Would she really leave?
She had never considered this question.
Having entered in the posture of a successor, she should naturally leave as one too—it was only right. She hadn't even imagined the possibility of returning here like Raven had.
But at so point, the present felt like yesterday's dream.
Yet this journey of pursuing the past, and the mory bodies she t along the way… had beco… so real.
When the ti for parting arrived, was her relationship with them truly only that of inheritor and bearer?
When seeing off one successor after another, what would they think in their hearts?
And that girl who greeted her with a smile at the very beginning—had she already foreseen today back then?
"…"
She didn't know.
But for answers she didn't know, her choice had always been to seek.
"Instead of spending the final monts back in reality… why not…"
"Let feel your mories a little longer."
i wandered through the Elysian Realm, savoring everything around her, and encountered Fu Hua. They chatted freely.
At that mont.
The TV perspective switched to SAKURA.
She was in the archive room, holding a freshly printed file in her hand.
The contents transford into mory scenes.
It was a hazy moonlit night.
"Ready to set out, SAKURA?"
SAKURA heard the voice and nervously pricked up her ears, looking around—
When she saw it was Elysia, she finally relaxed.
She said, "Yes. I told Rin the rendezvous point. We'll depart separately… I'll act as the decoy to shake off the pursuers."
Elysia said, "Sounds like a very risky plan…"
SAKURA said, "There's no ti to prepare anything safer. I can only go all in. What about you—are you okay?"
Elysia said, "? You an reluctant to part with you? Of course that matters."
SAKURA said, "You were the one who told Rin had been identified as the 12th Herrscher. If we both disappear…"
"You'll likely co under suspicion, maybe even be held accountable."
Elysia said, "They probably won't guess it was . Even if they do… what can they do to ?"
SAKURA guessed, "Maybe… they'll lock you up, just like they planned to do to Rin."
Elysia said, "I'm Elysia, who once sat at the head of the thirteen Fla-Chasers. What place could possibly hold ?"
SAKURA said, "Thirteen Fla-Chasers… huh. At first I thought it was just one of your whims, but I never expected you to keep insisting on it until now."
"If this is the goal you've chosen, then I'll be its firm supporter."
"It's just…"
SAKURA put away the rare smile she had shown and returned to her usual seriousness.
"Elysia… Rin… is she really okay?"
Elysia asked, "Which aspect do you an?"
SAKURA said, "Fire Moth would never identify her as the 12th Herrscher without any basis. If… I an if she really beca humanity's enemy, then I—"
"SAKURA!"
Elysia interrupted her: "Do you think… Rin has shown any abnormality?"
SAKURA said, "…No. I can guarantee it. She's still the sa Rin as before—my little sister."
Elysia affird, "Then she's human. No matter what Fire Moth discovered, they won't understand Rin better than you do."
SAKURA sighed, "I understand… I believe in Rin, and I believe in you."
"Mm."
Elysia nodded. After a mont of silence, she asked, "By the way… do you want to… sync your mories in the Realm one more ti?"
"If we don't record those feelings from just now, it feels like such a waste."
SAKURA said, "…No. It's better this way. I don't want the in there to know what happened to Rin."
"Even if it's just a mory body, I hope… I don't have to face that kind of difficult choice again."
Elysia said, "Got it. Next ti we sync mories, I'll remind everyone on that side to keep it secret from you."
"…Safe travels, SAKURA."
SAKURA said, "Thank you, Elysia."
"The true aning of Setsuna no i… I really like it."
"The roads of the martial world are long. Farewell for now."
The mory scene faded.
Moonlight passed through the open door, casting SAKURA's silhouette in the dim archive room.
She stood silently, saying nothing, quietly clutching a sheet of pale white paper in her hand.
Then Elysia's voice suddenly rang out: "…Hey, SAKURA, what a coincidence…"
"The day we said goodbye… it was a moonlit night just like this, wasn't it?"
The TV screen returned to i.
The first ray of light stread in.
Laughter and cheerful voices ca from the distance, making i think of Elysia.
She had always been smiling like that—even when saying goodbye to her, it was illusory yet eternal, flawless…
The garden was empty; she had arrived earlier than the agreed ti.
i waited there in the garden.
Ti passed quietly.
Elysia still didn't appear. Instead, Fairy Ellie suddenly showed up.
"Ah, cute human! eting you so early in the morning—is this fate destined by fairies too?"
"…"
i said helplessly, "Although I'm pretty much used to it by now, I still want to sigh—not bad for sothing modeled after Elysia."
Fairy Ellie said, "Oh? So today you're not with the mature ?"
"Could it be… you ca alone to see ? Fairy Ellie is so happy!"
i said, "No… I made plans with Elysia to et here, but she seems to be late."
Fairy Ellie said, "That's really rude. If it were , I'd co early to wait for you and cherish every last mont with the cute human~"
i asked puzzled, "…Last monts??"
Fairy Ellie said, "Yeah. Once you learn the full truth, won't you leave here? Yesterday when we were fixing the typewriter together, the mature said that."
"She's really reluctant to let you go."
"She said that to make sure you always rember us, she's preparing tons and tons of surprises on the final island—so many that whenever you dream, you'll co back to the Realm."
"That way, maybe you won't want to leave."
"I laughed at her for being too naive. You've suffered so much here—how could you possibly not want to leave!"
"…Uh, would you?"
"I…" i couldn't answer.
She changed the subject: "Forget about —what about you? Why are you here? As the archive room administrator, is it really okay to leave your post?"
Fairy Ellie stamred, "Well… um… there's a reason… After you two left yesterday, no one ca to the archive room anymore. I figured idling was idling, so I went out to enjoy the scenery."
"The afternoon sun was warm, the flowers in the air slled sweet, I snuggled up to a soft little kitty, and before I knew it, I fell asleep."
i remarked, "So fairies need sleep too."
Fairy Ellie said, "When I opened my eyes again, the sky was already dark and the kitty was gone. I hurried back, but… but…"
"The archive room door was locked!"
i asked, "Locked? Didn't you lock it yourself?"
Fairy Ellie said, "There's nothing dangerous in the Elysian Realm—I don't have anything to guard against."
i said, "I don't know about dangerous things, but there are thieves. That cat you slept with might have been an accomplice."
"Anyway… anyway…"
Fairy Ellie said, "I tried every unlocking spell I knew, but I still couldn't pick the lock… In the end, I had to spend the night in the garden."
i said, "Every ti I hear about your magic, there's always sothing unsettling about it… So you still couldn't get into the archive room?"
Fairy Ellie was puzzled too: "Yeah, this is the first ti sothing like this has happened."
i felt sothing was off and asked, "Besides that typewriter, is there anything else important in the archive room?"
Fairy Ellie said, "Of course! There's also an adorably charming, flawlessly perfect fairy administrator!"
"…" i looked at her speechlessly.
Fairy Ellie quickly added, "Okay, fine, nothing else."
"Ah, could soone be targeting the one-and-only ?! No way—Fairy Ellie won't allow such atrocities!"
"Even if I have to use door-smashing magic, I'll stop their wrongdoing!"
i remarked, "Your actions sound a lot more like atrocities…"
"Extraordinary tis call for extraordinary asures! Cute human, I'm off!"
Fairy Ellie waved and left.
More ti passed.
Elysia still hadn't co.
The agreed ti had long since passed.
i couldn't help but think: "Sothing's wrong… Elysia would absolutely never stand up. But no matter how you look at it, she's way too late…"
"Did I rember the eting place wrong?"
"…I'll look elsewhere."
With that, i began searching through the Elysian Realm.
After searching fruitlessly, she spotted the Fla-Chasers gathered together.
Su was there too.
She could ask him to use his ability to foresee sothing.
As she approached,
she heard the usually silent, ice-cold Kevin say in extre shock: "…This is impossible."
Su also said, "I thought so too, so… I double-checked repeatedly."
Aponia said, "Perhaps… there's a blind spot in our vision."
Mobius also said, "Is it really that hard to understand?"
"Don't tell you still think she's hiding sowhere right now, watching our expressions and laughing her head off?"
"She's never made that kind of joke."
Aponia said, "Oh… I didn't expect to hear affirmation of her from your mouth. Looks like Mobius was quite shaken too."
"…"
Normally, Mobius would never stay silent in the face of such remarks.
But at this mont, she went against her nature, lowering her head without a word.
—Or perhaps because before she could retort, soone else joined the conversation.
"Um…"
"Excuse ."
i walked over.
Mobius looked at her: "…Oh, look who's here?"
Aponia asked, "Hello, i. Is sothing the matter?"
i got straight to the point: "…Has anyone seen Elysia?"
The speaker had no intention.
But the listeners did.
Everyone present fell completely silent.
In that instant—it was as if an invisible wall separated i from those four.
On the other side of the wall, there was only endless silence.
Until the ever-silent Kevin broke it: "…What do you want with her?"
i told the truth: "It's not about anything specific. We agreed to et, but she never showed up, so I'm looking for her."
Kevin: "…"
i continued, "If you don't know, just tell directly."
Su spoke up: "Sorry, Visitor. Elysia… seems to have run into so trouble."
"She's temporarily…"
After a brief pause, i received three words.
"Missing."
She said in surprise, "…Missing?"
"What do you an by missing? Is she hiding? Or…"
"Sigh…" Mobius let out a breath: "Looks like this little lab rat is still completely in the dark."
"…?"
i looked at her in confusion.
Mobius said, "Su's words are always hard to understand. Let translate for you—"
The light vanished.
Laughter and cheerful voices ca from the distance, making i think of Elysia.
She had always been smiling like that—even when saying goodbye, it was eternal, flawless…
Yet illusory…
Mobius's latter half ca through: "The woman you're looking for…"
"…"
"She's dead."
??
?????
In that mont, i was stunned.
The entire nation's audience was stunned.
All the actors who had appeared in Honkai Impact 3rd were equally stunned.
The official chat group exploded with ssages.
"Huh? What? What does that an? What the hell is this? Elysia's dead? No way!!"
"No… what the fuck? What the actual fuck? Dead? You're saying Elysia's dead?"
"Ah!!!!!!? What the hell!"
"WTF? WTF? What happened? Dead?"
"???????"
"What the hell is this? That's Elysia we're talking about—the second Fla-Chaser Elysia! And this is inside the Realm—how could she possibly be dead?"
"Zero-fra opener? Playing it like this? Elysia can't die."
"What the hell is this plot? I really don't understand it."
"Damn it, hearing that made my heart skip a beat—tell it's fake!"
"No way, I can't recover from this. Mobius saying Elysia's dead? This isn't a joke, right?"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Anyone can die, but not Elysia."
"Hahahaha, happy now? Excited now? The dog director really cut your Elysia open for you—go ahead and see if she's pink-turns-black."
"Fuck you, I can't get into the Honkai world, but I can sure as hell get into your house, right?"
"…"
Countless ssages surged wildly in the group. Clearly, no one believed Elysia was dead.
Fire Moth Interstellar Entertainnt Company.
In the lounge.
In that instant, the entire room fell into a terrifying silence.
Everyone stared at the words Mobius had just spoken on the TV screen…
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