Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

【—How is that possible?!】

How could she not want to continue the relationship with you?

How could she not be looking forward to a real wedding with you?!

How could she not long for children with you? Embrace each other, grow old together, and pass away without regrets at the end of your lives.

As the person who knows girls best in the world, how could you not see that these are just words she said against her will to keep you from worrying and being sad, a backup plan she had prepared in advance?

What kind of death is this?!

What exactly does this kind of death mean?!

[How can such a pure, abrupt natural disaster, which gave people not even the slightest time to react, be called perfect?]

The so-called lack of regrets, the so-called "this is enough," including the later suggestion to forget the girl, are all just ways to comfort you.

[To avoid making you sad, to avoid causing you pain, I didn't even want to reveal my true feelings in my last words.]

【ah……】

[How could you possibly believe, how could you possibly accept, that this seemingly understated expression, coupled with the slight tremor in her voice and the profound sorrow hidden within her words, was the answer to everything—Vilvie's last words.]

Even if the girl herself told you, you wouldn't believe her, let alone this being just a pre-prepared backup plan.

[The credibility is less than one percent.]

Even if the other party does accept it, truly accepts this pathetic and laughable ending.

【--you.】

[Jiangcheng.]

How could Virvi's partner possibly accept this?

How could she just leave like that? She said you were her only partner.

Eight years...

Eight years.

You spent a full eight years with the girl.

We met on your eighteenth birthday, chatted online for two years, and when you turned twenty, I received an invitation from you to become your sole assistant, leaving behind everything in my past life to follow in your footsteps.

[You, an incompetent person who couldn't even attract attention at your own birthday party, became a special envoy with the help of a young girl.]

[The special envoys of the "Moth Chasing the Flame" are among the most powerful people in the world.]

At twenty-three, a girl confessed her feelings to him on his birthday; at twenty-four, they officially moved in together, and you still keep the bed sheet with the bloodstain.

You've long since grown accustomed to that heavy, mountain-like emotion; without something weighing you down, you feel too relaxed and uncomfortable.

Even the thickest, most ancient ice would melt before Velvet.

The girl was definitely not some moth drawn to a flame.

[What's in that heart is definitely not just weeds.]

[It is magma, it is flame, it is the greatest inventor in history, capable of easily triggering a massive explosion, containing limitless energy and potential.]

Until now...

You are twenty-six years old.

You've become good enough now; even ignoring the help you received, you're enough to be a pillar of strength within the Firemoth.

【But……】

What's left now?

What's left now?

You raise your hand, staring blankly at your palm. Instinctively, you clench your fist, as if trying to grasp something.

【No……】

What you hold in your hands now is...

[Completely empty!]

You are now completely empty.

The person you once cared about no longer cares about you, and now the person you care about who also cares about you has disappeared, dying when you were only twenty-six.

Your early life revolved around Alicia, and after that birthday you followed Velvi.

Now you have nothing left.

[Collapse...]

【Collapse.】

[Collapse!!!]

……

——Collapse.

As Jiang Cheng recited the phrase "effortlessly," his once light voice became incredibly heavy.

An unprecedented heaviness surged from my heart, an indescribable feeling, as if my heart alone was being crushed and destroyed by multiple times the force of gravity.

What a terrible word.

Even just reading it aloud makes you feel angry.

But at this moment, the emotions in my heart were not only a burning anger, but also a kind of horror, a fear of the rapid changes in the situation, a fear of being unable to accept life.

—Ville is dead.

That girl really died.

That genius, who should have died only in the final battle and was the pinnacle of human knowledge, died so easily in the second battle of the Herrscher.

Velvet was easily destroyed by the Great Honkai before she even met the Second Herrscher.

Even Mebius almost died.

If it weren't for the special training that the other party received from Vilvi, and if it weren't for the fact that I had also improved my physical fitness through some methods of "chasing the moth to a flame," I would have been able to achieve great things.

I'm afraid that I and Mebius will undoubtedly die in the Fire Moth's conference room, die in the collapse, and become one of countless corpses.

It has become just another cold, impersonal number in the reports of those politicians.

A bit ridiculous.

He and Mebius survived because of Vervière.

—But Virvie died.

……

There are two things to be thankful for now.

[Firstly, while working at Vilvie, you memorized some of the materials and notes prepared by the girl, and recorded some of the more tedious details in your private account. Those techniques are enough to advance civilization.]

Based on your familiarity with Vervier's level of expertise, and the results of your long-term study, you might now be able to call yourself a qualified scholar.

Secondly, the Second Herrscher is not yet dead. You still have a chance to use the weapon you created to send that calamity, that demon, away from this beautiful world.

What else is there to think about?

You begin to wait, waiting for rescue, lying prone in place. Your once dark eyes have lost all light, plunging into utter darkness, where not even a single star can be seen in the night sky.

This time, the rescue team arrived incredibly quickly, as if they had been shown a safe route, and swiftly pulled you out of the cataclysm.

But as they prepared to clean the area, you stopped them, using your authority as the owner of the Spiral Workshop to designate it a restricted area.

[Thanks to some power struggles within the Firemoth, they were not puzzled by this.]

[This empowers you to fulfill the girl's requests.]

[I guarantee that no one will disturb the girl, that ugly state will not be shown to anyone, and no one will see it.]

You've only erected a tombstone.

[—The Tomb of Vilvi and Her Lover Jiang Cheng.]

63. Alicia: I... I was a Herrscher after all.

Vivi looked up. The bustling street was crowded with people, and she and the boy stood alone in the crowd, looking rather strangely lonely.

It seems that the Herrschers of Honkai are isolated from them, and Honkai is only referred to as a natural disaster, something to be discussed only in casual conversation.

The feeling of being alone is just like it used to be.

It even reminded the girl of herself as a fool with some talent, who feared loneliness, feared social interaction, and loathed herself.

At the height of his mental health issues, he even considered becoming someone else and wanted to make Wilvi disappear from the world completely.

But it doesn't hurt as much now.

There's no need to be sad anymore.

Now that I'm with Jiangcheng, I can finally enjoy the wonderful life ahead.

The girl gently took the boy's hand, as if it were the last straw before falling into an abyss, or a rope for this drifting little boat, preventing it from being smashed to pieces by the endless waves.

A happy, long, and ordinary life.

tentatively……

—Let's continue until the day we die of old age.

Without a sound, the girl moved closer, her slender, soft fingers holding on tightly, yet maintaining a slight distance for fear of hurting the boy, her heart swaying between these two conflicting emotions.

Jiang Cheng seemed to realize this, and took the initiative to move closer, his large hands completely enveloping the girl's slender hands.