Honkai Impact 3rd: The Girl Who Chases the Flame

"You look carefree, but you seem to have a lot on your mind."

"Me? Hmm... I wasn't actually that preoccupied before."

Melutina propped her chin on her hand.

"However, I met an old friend a few years ago and heard some things. I felt somewhat... lost and disappointed."

"Feeling lost and disappointed?"

"When you're fighting with all your might to protect something, you find that what you once wanted to protect has already left you. And when you succeed, you don't know if what you protected was the same thing you wanted to protect in the first place."

"That sounds really mysterious."

"So I can't figure it out myself."

Melutina stuck out her tongue.

"If you ask me about Fu Xuan, the sworn brother she became a few years ago, she would definitely say—it's all about timing, luck, and fate. Please accept my condolences."

"That's not wrong."

"I think for a moment and then I say," said Hiluva.

"But you still want to protect something, you want everything around you... to be the same familiar thing you knew back then."

Melutina buried her head in the pillow.

"Longevity is a bad thing. You forget more and more, and you lose more and more. Even though you should have ended long ago, you only realize much, much later that you have lost your end."

"..."

"Sorry, you probably don't understand. It's just some of my rants."

"No, I was just thinking that, actually... life might not be that complicated."

Hiluva scratched her head and said.

"How to say?"

"Shouldn't we live in the present?"

Hiluva said,

"Take it one step at a time... but that's a human privilege."

"...Live in the moment?"

Melutina paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Yes, live in the moment."

"Tell me about it first, what does it look like beyond this sky?"

"Hiluva said curiously."

"Well, let me start with my experiences over the years. Among the countless stars, there are..."

Chapter Seventeen: My Good Brother Fu Xuan Told Me

"that……"

"Ah, it's over, we can go back now."

……

Jepard stood fully armed in the snow and ice. He remembered that he had gone out today to muster his troops, assign tasks, and then send Melutina as the vanguard...

And then...

That was the end of it.

"If the legion wants to deal with me, it should at least send someone capable... Oh, sorry, I forgot, these aren't the ones who can deal with me."

"..."

Upon hearing such Versailles-like remarks, Jepard took a deep breath... and held back.

"What does 'legion' refer to?"

Jepard sighed and didn't go back. After all, returning so soon would inevitably arouse suspicion among the soldiers.

"A pawn of destruction... Oh, how should I put it, there are countless worlds like Beloberg beyond the heavens, and in these endless worlds, there are beings of higher dimensions. You can think of them as gods, and we call them star gods."

Melutina sat on a pile of broken walls and ruins, but she didn't feel cold.

"God...isn't God the protector of mankind?"

"No... For beings at a higher level, they tend to favor their own theories rather than human morality. The path they take and the principles they uphold are their destiny; there are as many destinies as there are star gods."

Melutina said,

"For example, the people who built Beloborg were called the City Builders. The City Builders were followers of the planetary god Krippar, and they built walls within the planet to protect it from the impending disaster."

The rift now eroding this world originates from something called the Star Core, cast down by the Star God of Destruction, which will destroy all life on Earth.

As the saying goes, all superstition and stubbornness stem from a lack of knowledge. (Merutina herself said this.)

Therefore, in order to change this stubborn boy, he must be told many truths.

"Destruction? Why would he drop that thing called the Star Core?"

Jepard couldn't help but ask.

"Because he felt that life itself was a fallacy, and that these things should never have come into being."

Melutina shrugged.

"This is a matter of opinion; meaning is something we create ourselves, but perhaps meaning itself is ephemeral. The same thing can be approached from many different angles, and whether right or wrong, it's all a kind of..."

Ahem, sorry, it's an occupational hazard for scientists.

“...You are right about one thing: meaning is something you create yourself.”

Although Jepard only understood part of it, it did not prevent him from grasping the general situation.

"Right? So don't overthink it. Even the Star God doesn't know everything. In life, there's only so much that you can think about and understand."

Melutina patted him on the shoulder.

"Little Jie, you're still young. When you grow up to my age... well, when you grow up to my age, you'll definitely regret not dying sooner."

"...You can say something auspicious."

Jepard sighed.

……

"I was saying, the unidentified energy entity on the surface that Schwarzro mentioned, could it be...?"

On March 7th, the group was on their way back.

"It should be one of ours. If it's an unidentified energy entity... it's Aunt May, right?"

Dan Heng thought for a moment,

"After all, its presence is so strong that even the underground Swaro can sense it, so there can't be anyone else like it."

"That's your comrade? Why didn't you say so earlier? Schwarzro had already included that as a variable for the enemy."

Seele rolled her eyes.

"Just saying it's an unidentified energy entity, who knows if it is? I've never heard of Aunt May having any abilities..."

"March, lance."

Danheng reminded him.

"what……"

On March 7th, I suddenly realized...

"I thought it was her in person."

"A walking energy body... I don't think Miss Melutina's existence is that comical."

Xing said helplessly.

"That doesn't make sense. Aunt Mei has come down. Doesn't that mean she'll beat that... Great Guardian up in a couple of moves and then come looking for us?"

Asking questions on the seventh day of the third month.

"Aunt Mei isn't you."

Dan Heng shook his head.

"She must have some plans."

……

At this time, Belloberg

"Wait until I finish my noodles!"

"You always eat so much, I really want to know if you were being abused every day before."

"I can't help but say this as I wash the dishes," Hiluva said helplessly.

"It used to be alright."

Melutina wiped her mouth.

"But during those years of wandering around various planets, we didn't know where our next meal would come from until we met Brother Jingyuan, at which point we finally had three meals a day."

But habits are hard to break: eat as much as you can when you can, so you can hold out a little longer when you don't have any food later.

(Note: Melutina's affection for Jingyuan is mostly because he provides meals.)

"What you said is truly heartbreaking. Many children from poor families probably think the same way. I wonder what happens next..."

Hiluva stopped speaking halfway through her sentence when she saw Jepard's increasingly serious expression.

"The lower level... has probably declined considerably."

Jepard shook his head.

"A soldier's duty is to obey orders."