Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

"You don't need to worry that I'll be upset about this. On the contrary, it made me much happier that you said it from the bottom of your heart."

"Of course I won't force us to make equal contributions or coerce you into not helping me. I just want you to do this voluntarily, without suppressing your own needs."

“I just can’t bear to see you suppress yourselves… maybe it’s because I’ve seen too many times when you’re insecure and don’t take yourselves seriously.”

……

"Is that right~?"

Alicia smiled softly, unconsciously squeezing her chest. The fingertips poking her cheeks simultaneously displayed two exquisitely soft and delicate parts, making her seem like a pure and flawless fairy from a celestial realm descended to earth—except that her shameless appearance was so different from her former self that it was shocking.

If one could ignore the fact that while seemingly panicking about the paint fading from her body, she was simultaneously wiping it away with her body without a care, revealing large patches of flawless white skin.

It almost made her arms sink into the softness, squeezing out an amazing shape. The plump, tender flesh, as if filled with thick, sticky, and tender soft flesh, was shaken seemingly unintentionally, yet it stirred up exaggerated waves that were incredibly eye-catching and attention-grabbing.

"Jiang Cheng just wants us to be happy. Unless we're heading down a path of self-destruction, he won't interfere easily."

"He's such a gentle person, someone who would even feel guilty and sad if we suppressed our own feelings. It's precisely because of this gentle nature that he chose to save us instead of standing by, isn't it?"

……

As she walked out of the corridor, Vilvi, who had been listening to everything without realizing it, ignored the still severely injured and shockingly plump and soft breasts, and clapped her hands lightly as well. Her silver-gray eyes held a warmth and happiness that was completely different from the happiness she felt after being satisfied, a happiness that came from the depths of her heart.

He rejected the notions of ordinariness, mediocrity, and even the status of a loser. The genius, standing at the pinnacle, simply praised this gentleness to himself.

"That's precisely what makes them endearing. After all, there are many extreme people in this world. Many people abandon their rationality and run headlong down a path to their doom. Even if they hit a wall, they will never turn back. It is those who can maintain their rationality and live an ordinary life like ordinary people that are all the more precious."

"If we can't care about ourselves first and live as human beings, then we will always stumble without being grounded."

"The me in this world... was so miserable that even after sealing myself in hibernation, I was still unable to use my talents to successfully save the world."

……

If there had been no so-called self-splitting, no loneliness to the point of having to play the role of a split personality to increase companionship, and no being forced by the blows to the soul and symptoms of depression to choose self-hibernation, only waking up before the Eleventh Herrscher to face the lonely end of being alone, drifting in the space where even sound does not exist, silently leaving this world.

So if one were to appear with complete wisdom and talent, even if unable to save the world, one could certainly protect more lives, realize sooner what lies beneath the crumbling exterior, and not feel so powerless in the face of disasters from outside the world.

Even after being divided into countless parts, talent can still create the Sword of God and prepare so many plans. The benefits brought by the complete form will only be greater, and it is absolutely irreplaceable by a mere genius in terms of literal meaning.

Even though they only shared one memory, the other self was so jealous that she almost went mad and refused to accept that the other self could win the boy's love.

This is the self that has already faced its own death, knows its own fate, and has theoretically grown to its most complete and peak state.

But this seemingly more mature, more progressive, and more enlightened self from another world, who had faced collapse until the very last moment and even sacrificed her life, only received a little empathy and experienced a little bit of the warmth she had once felt, the happiness of being tightly embraced by a boy, and became so insanely jealous that she wanted to destroy herself.

In reality, what progress has been made?

What maturity is there?

Where did Vilvi ever have any awareness?

It was nothing more than the gentleness inherent in their nature, which they possessed from the beginning, leading them to make the decision to sacrifice themselves in pursuit of a self-destructive desire.

Even after the Eleventh Herrscher was forcibly awakened, the first thing she did was cry, grieve, and fear her loneliness. She was unable to awaken the personality that had been separated from her, and thought that she had been abandoned once again.

To die alone in the starry sky, in a place where even sound cannot be heard, in absolute darkness, to meet one's end, to suffocate little by little, to freeze in the universe, a feeling that even one dares not imagine.

Perhaps if the boy were by her side, she wouldn't be so afraid, but at that point, the focus would be on how to save the boy.

……

The shared experience of memories is not just a one-way transmission. Every wave that erupts from a single point spreads outwards. Even if it seems to be just ripples spreading outwards in the water, it is only because the upward wind is too small and it is powerless to resist the density of the seawater downwards.

The message and sorrow emanating from Alicia alone were enough to plunge the other heroes, who were information beings, into endless despair.

As a "memory" of the same level, Alicia was affected to the point that she almost lost her smile, and even her flawless flowers withered a bit.

So, how will Vervi be affected by emotions?

……

262. Jiang Cheng: Is this trying to kill me?

If one's heart is closed off and sinks into an endless abyss, even light cannot reach Alicia, who can use escape to avoid the transmission of information.

So, how will Vervier respond to the information?

……

—It's not just a bad ending for the person of Vilvie.

Having received no love, no salvation, every struggle was like a helpless hand outstretched by a person stranded at sea, waiting in darkness for no light, only to be repeatedly battered by the waves.

I was once confused, lost, cried, wanted to be saved, wanted to be loved... but in the end all of that was shattered, like the clouds in the sky being blown away by the wind, leaving only the traces of my past tears and sorrow.

The original story remains unchanged; everything from what I experienced and felt as a child to the self-loathing I developed is exactly the same.

All the changes came from Alicia, the fairy who wasn't taken in by the boy and instead grew up happily in the orphanage.

I still travel alone, but without the anxiety and restlessness of the past, and without the boy who loved me deeply but always treated me with indifference.

So there was no prince like in fairy tales, no special developments, and no participation in the banquet to see the boy he loved most.

The girl named Velvet ultimately chose self-exile in solitude, allowing herself to fall into eternal slumber. Because of her excessive self-loathing, she created another self, wearing a mask—a mask of personality that might make others like her—until she became a Fusion Warrior, completing this ability, separating her talents from her personality, and letting her true self fall into an endless slumber forever.

Even more absolute and desperate is the existence of everything about oneself as a complete Fusion Warrior, from another world outside the memory.

It was already an extremely bad ending, a bad ending that couldn't be saved, and then they added a final ending that was so bad it was utterly terrible.

Suffocating alone in deep space, unable to see even the slightest bit of light emanating from celestial bodies, with no foothold, helplessly drifting in space, no matter how much you struggle, you will only drift further and further away from the planet, and slowly die frozen by the sub-zero temperatures.

This is a very, very long process, especially since the physical attributes of the fusion warriors make death almost a luxury, and even non-professional combatants have incredibly strong vitality.

The sense of bodily ignorance does not make the senses disappear; the phantom pain of being unable to exert force is ever-present, and the mind and thoughts are constantly and endlessly at work.

Cold, loneliness, darkness... how long must I be enveloped in this despair before I die? How much more thought must I have before I can stop?

do not know……

Don't know...

It is beyond calculation and beyond thought, because it is too long, too agonizing, because even the act of thinking itself is on the verge of collapse.

Even if this sense is just a fragment, it still seems to continue eternally and endlessly, to remain at the end of the universe in the most painful way—a way that is many times more painful and torturous than being nailed to a coffin while alive and suffocating to death in a small, immobile place.

When she first felt this despair, Velvi even mistakenly believed that hell really existed in the world, and that this was her own hell.

If it weren't for the fact that we were able to avoid exchanging this information to some extent later on, we wouldn't be able to endlessly recall our past with the boy with an active mind.

Even in darkness and despair, there is still a ray of light: the love the boy once gave, the unwavering desire to stay in the world, the will to live, the desire to live forever, the desire to stay by his side, no matter what he becomes, he must live on, he must stay by his side.

Unlike Velvi, who was forced to sink into despair without ever having experienced love, she still possessed the courage to strive forward even in the most desperate circumstances.

No matter what happens, as long as the boy is alive, he cannot die; even if the boy is gone, we must live on and do everything we can to revive him.

Even if she seems to be above everyone else, the superhuman girl could easily be swallowed up in a place that has already swallowed up another version of herself.

……

Although this is not the reason why Wilvi is acting so sincerely now, and it is just an insignificant incident, a small twig that was accidentally broken by the train moving forward - because for the girl, her love is something that has long been confirmed and will never change.

Witnessing the sorrow of another version of yourself cannot strengthen this love; love that has already reached its full potential cannot be increased further.

These minor setbacks and hardships, at most, added a little bit of fun to the reunion, the most useless embellishment.

The world's most outstanding genius pressed down on his weathered, almost unbearable appearance, yet it remained soft enough to swallow the fingertips.

"So no matter how many times, no matter how much time we've spent together, I still feel that you are the greatest miracle to me. If I have any wish, then... it must be your wish."

“In this respect, I am indeed much more extreme than you, because the individual named Wilvi only needs to love you, and doesn’t need anything else. The meaning of her existence and the reason for living only need to love you.”

"That's why you chose to tolerate my self-harming behavior—I really, truly wanted to be beaten up by you to prove my existence, especially after seeing another version of myself."

"Of course, this is also unimportant, because it's all in the past, but there's still some lingering obsession with the idea that you should treat me well."

……

She gently pinched the marks left by the boy on her chest with her fingertips, and the cruel pain inflicted by the boy was awakened. This moment of peace overwhelmed all the words she wanted to say, words she wanted to say, and words she shouldn't say.

The girl, with a gentle smile, abandoned the topic she had started, her eyes so tender they seemed to hold a clear moon melting in water.

Like a lone sail struggling to move forward amidst stormy seas, it is fragile, yet beneath this fragility lies an incongruous resilience.

As a top genius, she could naturally see at a glance that the boy's expression after bringing up the topic showed a thorough familiarity with another version of himself, a kind of understanding that could not be found in the other version of himself's memories and had no trace of, as if it came from nowhere.

The boy who came to this world, although his attributes seemed to be similar to his own and Alicia's, appeared before him, even though he died later than him, by several months.

Despite three days of contact, everything about the eyes and body that met during their first encounter undeniably proved that he was the boy.

He wasn't even a so-called counterpart, nor was he a boy from another world; he was Jiang Cheng, genuinely his own, and unique.

It's not just because of those identical, gentle eyes, but the warmth contained within them; it's not just because of their identical appearance, but the habits lingering in their memories beneath the surface.

Besides gaining a lot of knowledge, complexity, and more ideas out of thin air, even the emotions and many irreplaceable details, as well as the instinctive memories of one's actions, all undoubtedly prove that Jiangcheng is complete, real, and undeniable.

and so……

That's it.

Let's end this topic here, without any clear beginning or end.

No matter how well you know me, no matter what you've been through in this world, no matter how complicated things have been, I will wholeheartedly believe in you. If you choose not to tell me, then I will pretend I don't know, completely forget it, and wholeheartedly protect you. I will absolutely... absolutely never let tragedy happen again, not even once!!

"Let's not talk about such heavy topics, let's eat first."

……

Raiden Mei, who had been unable to join the conversation, finally couldn't stand the riddle any longer and stepped forward, immediately interrupting the heavy atmosphere. She stood in front of the two of them, seemingly impolite yet excessively polite.

"Those are all things of the past. Now that we've finally reunited, let's not keep bringing up trivial matters."

"Expressing one's love and excitement can be done in many other ways; it doesn't have to rely solely on words and thin phrases."

"In order for Jiangcheng's method to continue, supplementing nutrition is necessary, even for Herrschers who have gaps in their experience."

Raiden Mei waved her arms, trying her best to block the two from exchanging glances, and her gentle face couldn't help but show a bit of seriousness.

"—Let's go eat first. I made this special tonic for you today."

……