Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

Alicia has apologized to you so many times, perhaps you could also choose to apologize selectively.

All of this is predicated on your ability to uncover the truth.

Although it doesn't seem so far away.

[Because you can already feel the rekindling of feelings, even the slightest aftershock makes you feel like you're about to have a mental breakdown.]

Spiral Workshop, panties... countless fragments flash wildly through your memory, though, after being bound by something inexplicably locking your memories, those fragments are mostly different styles of panties.

[From the most basic triangle, to one that slightly tightens the circle to accentuate its shape, to delicate lace, the key details are gradually cut, until finally the fabric used is insufficient to make even one bracelet.]

[But these are the ones that remain as clear as ever, and there are even many styles you can see on Alicia that you still remember vividly.]

【Strange.】

[That's really strange.]

You know that you can't gain anything meaningful simply by resurrecting memories before you've truly found something of value.

The things that are flashing through your mind right now are really too strange; they serve no purpose other than making you look like a psychopath.

Why would you associate panties with the massive ruins in front of you? Is the Spiral Workshop a place that specializes in producing different styles of panties?

It seems you need to do something big before the emotional wave fully arrives.

[Option 1: Try digging through the ruins in front of you, try to find out what's hidden under the rubble. Perhaps there lies the truth you've always wanted, but Alicia has been constantly moving it away from.]

[Option Two: In any case, the intense feeling you experienced when you saw the ruins before you was absolutely genuine; it was a feeling that hadn't even arisen when you saw Alicia crying.]

Option 3: You won't do anything unnecessary. Once you find the answer you're looking for, you'll immediately leave these ruins and continue living happily with the girl.

……

It is a classic example of psychological descriptions that present three options, but are actually pieced together from a single choice, with slightly different psychological stages.

For a long time, there were no choices to be made. Life with Alicia was so comfortable that it was a choice between being proactive and being passive, or being passive all the time. There were no ups and downs, and no exciting moments that would make your heart race.

Naturally, the self and the inner self will not become one due to some inevitable reason, reaching a state where there is only one option and one thought.

Just as humans often only unify all their thoughts into an order to attack or escape when in a state of extreme crisis.

These are just everyday trifles, insignificant matters that won't interfere with major turning points in life, not even worthy of being called a detour.

It is simply impossible to make all those emotions converge to achieve a single, absolute result.

Even now, that classic feeling has returned.

although……

As before, when things develop to the point where there is only one option, that option often points to the worst possible outcome.

— Excavating the ruins of the Spiral Workshop.

— Digging up Vilvi's grave.

As lovers, you dig up the grave of your once beloved partner, someone you were inseparable from, someone with whom you even made a vow never to be apart.

In this world, in this world devoid of any kindness or goodwill, what could be a more hellish joke, more convoluted and bizarre?

Even the incident where Otto released a Honkai Beast to save Kallen, only to end up killing Kallen himself, pales in comparison to the current situation.

At least no matter how twisted or insane that archbishop was, he wouldn't have gone so far as to have a brain fart, suffer forced amnesia, and personally dig up Karen's grave.

what……

So that’s it.

So that’s it.

As expected, this is the birth of a tragedy.

The best comedy in the world is someone else’s tragedy, the most hellish joke, which in some ways is also the most tragic tragedy.

Knowledge has entered my brain in a despicable way.

……

113. This is... Virvi's diary [Free]

[The truth of everything is definitely hidden beneath the ruins.]

[In all the years since your resurrection, you have never felt such a deep-seated, almost primal, rejection of this matter.]

Even seeing Alicia cry only evokes sadness in you, and returning to the old pool for a bath only brings a touch of nostalgia.

[The overwhelming emotions are enough to make you succumb, fall into fragments of the past, revel in former thoughts, and achieve a spiritual fusion with your past self.]

Ultimately, however, these emotions can only subtly guide and influence you, and cannot cause you to develop any excessive or substantial emotions.

Although it was natural to lend a helping hand when you saw Alicia crying, it was by no means coerced.

[What truly piques your interest is Alicia's daily exploitation, which evokes an emotion that should universally be called fear.]

Even combined, they pale in comparison to the current denial; the mere thought of erasing them is akin to a tumultuous upheaval on a spiritual level.

You don't think you could have such a deep fear of anything or any possible outcome unless there's some unfathomable disaster beneath it, or a seal placed on you by someone else.

[You've already undergone a complete transformation. As a Herrscher, is there anything in this world that can truly be called a calamity?]

Wouldn't it be even better if it were the latter?

You are searching for the source of your memories.

You gritted your teeth, suppressing the urge to vomit and feel nauseous, and gently pried aside a piece of gravel with both hands.

[It's painful.]

The emotions experienced when you actually try it are more intense than you could have imagined before.

[If it weren't for the relentless daily exploitation by Alicia, and the profound training of your will and resolve during the long periods of sagehood, you wouldn't have become stronger.]

[I'm afraid that after just digging through the first piece of rubble, you'll completely lose the ability to continue exploring and will only be able to seek comfort from the girl.]

Alicia probably never imagined that her past actions would lead to such consequences.

You now have the ability to continue exploring.

[Under its own resistance, this dissatisfaction can do nothing but feel disgusted. The remaining instincts cannot control the current emotions. The only thing it can do is perhaps suppress the use of your authority, leaving you with no choice but to use your bare hands to forcibly dig away this ruin.]

For ordinary people, this might seem like a pipe dream; their hands would quickly become raw and calloused.

【pity……】

You are a Herrscher.

This overwhelming power, capable of uniting all of humanity without internal strife, is not merely about acquiring authority.

If this is the only factor, then humanity only needs to overwhelm a Herrscher's body with a massive population and weapons until it can't withstand the strain.

How could it have fallen so low as to have only a dozen or so cities left, and control only one-fifth of the Earth's surface, as described by some refugees from other places?

This also includes the physical attributes of individuals enhanced by Honkai energy, which can even surpass those of ordinary individuals, known as Fusion Warriors.

[You don't need authority; with just your hands and physical prowess, you could shatter the skull of an Emperor-level Honkai Beast with a single punch.]

[What's called an "emperor-level impact" might terrify ordinary people, but for you, it's nothing more than a joke.]

How could someone with such extraordinary physical abilities possibly feel tired or overwhelmed simply from digging through a pile of rubble?

[This isn't Alicia. In this world, perhaps only this girl can make you feel that exhausting urge to escape.]

[The Moth that Chases Flame truly lives up to its name; even the ruins of the Spiral Workshop feel sharp and dangerous, and you might even feel blood flowing from the body of a Herrscher.]

Ultimately, it's just a small hill.

For an ant, climbing this hill might be an impossible task. No matter how high it looks up, it can only see the unreachable summit, and can't even fully grasp its tip.

But for a person, if they don't want to waste time, they can simply stretch out their foot and kick, flatten, and trample this small mound completely.

[The seemingly pristine hands and the hard stones, a laborious and arduous struggle, can actually be accomplished with just a gentle wave of the hand, a flick of the fingertips, and the sharp, dust-covered stones will fly away.]

[If it weren't for something deep within my soul forbidding the use of authority, not even my fingers would be stained with any dirt or dust.]

The deeper you dig, the more solid the material becomes. After clearing about a meter of rubble, the remaining framework was almost entirely intact.

Using special materials in critical areas is a perfectly normal practice to ensure one's own safety and protective capabilities.

The only thing that's somewhat puzzling is that this inexplicable protection doesn't seem to be used for protection or to better safeguard lives.

This sentence might be a little hard to understand. How could the place where an important person lives not be for the protection of that important genius?

But when you plunge your hands into the ground, your mind does give a response that you should absolutely not know, and absolutely could not understand.

This is absolutely not the attitude one would expect from a spiral workshop, nor is it the proper approach to the measures designed here.

This kind of open posture shouldn't be here.

This is clearly for preservation purposes.

[He's just an ordinary person, nothing special, with talents limited to the average person.]

[Yet, the moment you saw the measures in front of you, the relevant data and the correct activation method automatically popped into your mind.]

Compared to the data I remembered, the startup in front of me was riddled with flaws, like a clueless idiot.

[Compared to protective measures that activate automatically at the first moment, this seems more like a last-minute measure specifically designed to seal something away.]

Even if it was to preserve important documents, it's hard to say for sure. If there were any documents that needed to be saved, they wouldn't be sealed off in such a completely sealed way, nor would they have left all of this here for so long.

If there were anything truly of utmost importance, this place should have been opened long ago, and the confidential documents should have been retrieved long ago.

[How could they possibly wait until you arrived? The sealed equipment is perfectly intact, as if no one has ever tried to open it.]

Surely a single massive cataclysm wouldn't set back humanity's technological level by hundreds of years?

It doesn't matter.

These things aren't really relevant to you; you just need to open them.

The device used for sealing and preservation might be beyond the reach of ordinary people, but it crumbled and collapsed into distorted matter after you forcefully suppressed your discontent and applied a little gravity.