"Today, I brought Griseo over~~!"
Griseo was a member of the Elysian Realm. She usually kept a low profile and only occasionally streamed herself painting.
However, she did not need the little bit of popularity that came from online streaming, because Griseo was one of the most renowned painters of the present day.
The viewers present might not have watched her streams, but not a single one of them had missed her artwork.
"May the road ahead of you be lit by the stars. Everyone, let's begin~~"
As the sweet voice rang out, the previously silent audience immediately became excited.
Elysia first gave the camera a cute wink, then shifted the shot over to Griseo.
It really was Griseo! Ah Wei is dead!
Teacher Griseo is a girl? She's so cute!
She was already a beautiful girl artist, you fake fan.
On screen, Griseo wore a white dress, her azure hair cascading all the way down to her fair calves.
With a beret on her head, she perfectly blended an artist's aura with a young girl's adorableness.
"Elysia, why did you ask me to come today?"
"Oh my, don't call me big sister. Just call me little sister Elysia~~"
Little sister Elysia... Pfft!
So Elysia cared about her age too?
Faced with Elysia's request, Griseo said with a wronged expression:
"It was because you made me call you little sister, then call Aunt Mobius Grandma, that she got angry."
"Ah~~ Sometimes, a prank is also an expression of love."
Elysia said with a smile as she stroked Griseo's head:
"Alright~! Stop frowning all the time. Today, we're going to play a very fun game~! Cheer up~!"
"Um..."
Griseo said troubledly:
"Because I made Aunt Mobius angry, I wanted to paint something warm and cheerful for her. I don't really want to play some dark-themed game."
Griseo's paintings were easily influenced by the outside world, which was why she had such concerns.
"Then that's perfect~! Honkai Impact 3rd fits your requirements perfectly! Not only are the characters beautiful, but the story is also very positive and uplifting~!"
"Really?"
Griseo looked utterly innocent, as though she had forgotten how Elysia had deceived her before.
"Of course it's true! Today, we'll experience it together~!"
Elysia said expectantly:
"The new version's main story will definitely let you paint your warmest, most cheerful work yet!"
Believe in the Developers
Griseo had played Honkai Impact 3rd before. She had heard that its art style was good, so she had tried it out.
Her account progress was a little behind Elysia's, but she generally knew what had happened in the earlier story.
The St. Freya Academy Arc had indeed been rather cheerful, so Griseo did not suspect anything.
"Everyone, Griseo still has a bit of the main story to catch up on, so let's pull some cards while we wait for her~~"
Since the new version had just launched, most players had not progressed very far yet. There was no particular reason—they simply wanted to play alongside Elysia.
In other words, the millions of viewers currently in the livestream were all experiencing the latest main story of the current version together with Elysia.
"Elysia... little sister, I've reached the latest chapter of the main story."
"Hehe, from now on, Elysia and Griseo, two beautiful girls, are going to bring Kiana home~~"
What Elysia had told Griseo before was not a lie. Up to this point, her view had been the same as the players'.
The villainous BOSS had entered the banner and become a character on their side. The ending was definitely going to be a happy one, right? What else could it be?
"After Queen's Descent, the entire world fell into a massive crisis."
In the livestream, Griseo and Elysia's delicate faces appeared on opposite sides of the screen, while the game footage occupied the middle.
High concentrations of Honkai energy had been detected inside Kiana. The signals from all the mechs deployed by the advance force had vanished.
Honkai Beasts were pouring endlessly from void wormholes into the real world, and the Hyperion had suffered severe damage as well.
As soon as the story began, the blazing sea of fire and countless wounded immediately let players feel the scale and brutality of the war.
Then came a trial character stage, where Himeko, clad in S-Rank Valkyrie armor, slaughtered enemies in every direction.
Later on, they could even control the Queen to fight Theresa.
This design made Elysia and the players marvel in unison:
Good lord, MiHoYo really went all out just to sell characters.
Surely no one actually fell for that? Wait, I spent money too? Then it's fine.
After that, the players saw Himeko collapse from her injuries in the story, while Fu Hua left behind a feather as foreshadowing.
After Theresa was defeated by the Queen, Fu Hua came to save the day. Unfortunately, the Queen was far too powerful, and she was ultimately beaten down.
At the crucial moment, Otto stepped in and blocked the attack. After saving everyone, he promptly shot Fu Hua in the head.
What the hell?! Fu Hua died?!
How dare he hurt my class monitor? Otto, you old bastard, must die!
I'm going to use Otto's skull as a bowl!
From Elysia's perspective, there were only a few comments left on the screen.
The reason was simple. Tens of thousands of people were cursing Otto, and after the platform filtered out the profanity, only those few comments remained.
"Elysia..."
Griseo looked at Elysia with resentment. She was no longer calling her little sister; apparently, her mood had already worsened.
"W-wait!"
Elysia was unusually flustered as she hurriedly explained:
"There'll definitely be a twist later! He won't let a beautiful girl die."
"He? Who?"
"Uh... I mean... the game developers."
While steadying Griseo's shaken heart, Elysia rapidly pushed through the main story, hoping to find proof as soon as possible that Fu Hua was not dead.
The good news was that Fu Hua was indeed fine. Not only had she not died, she had even changed outfits and appeared before Himeko.
"See! Cute girls are invincible!"
"Mm... Elysia, you finally didn't lie to me."
"Hehe~~ And look, Fu Hua brought Himeko serum to treat her body. That resolves the foreshadowing about Himeko being riddled with injuries and illness."
Afterward, Elysia led Griseo and the vast audience onward through the main story.
After watching Tesla get teased by Rita the maid, everyone's tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
Right afterward, Tesla and Himeko found records concerning that vial of serum.
There was a drug called the "God-Slaying Spear" that could weaken the Honkai energy within a Herrscher's body. It was an anti-Herrscher weapon.
And the serum Fu Hua had given Himeko was the key material needed to create the God-Slaying Spear.
Himeko handed the serum to Tesla and asked her to complete the God-Slaying Spear, making the players break out in a cold sweat.
It'll be fine, trust Fu Hua.
Trust the serum.
Trust the developers.
Are the developers really trustworthy?
After that, Himeko found a piece of Valkyrie armor—it was none other than Vermilion Knight: Eclipse from the promotional video.
The Plague Gem mounted within this God-Slaying armor could also allow its wearer to wield the power of the Herrscher of Flame.
But everything came at a price. The power to slay gods would also increase the burden on its user.
Her burden was going to get worse again?
Himeko's body couldn't take it, could it?
To spare Griseo's feelings, Elysia ignored those comments and hurriedly changed the subject:
"Miss Himeko looks so mature and cool. It really makes one's heart flutter—I want to dote on her myself~~"
Especially when she saw Himeko face the Herrscher of the Void and say:
"What? So gods can bleed too~~"
Elysia nearly screamed as she covered her cheeks.
It was not just this simp leader. The million viewers and players had all become fans of Himeko as well.
The focus of the banner had originally been the Queen, but now more and more people wanted to pull Vermilion Himeko.
"Strange, the atmosphere has been built up this much already, so why hasn't the Herrscher of the Void been defeated yet?"
Logically speaking, after all that buildup around "god-slaying," and with Himeko appearing as a hero, the battle should have ended already.
Yet the Herrscher of the Void had only been temporarily driven back, and Kiana had not been successfully reclaimed either.
"Hehe, good things take time. If the game were too short, players would complain."
Elysia happily took Griseo's hand, guided her delicate fingers, and pressed the play button for the following short film.
On the Hyperion, in a lower-deck corridor, Himeko leaned against the railing outside the medical bay as people carrying wounded personnel constantly rushed past her.
Not wanting to occupy the already strained medical resources, Himeko instinctively covered the wound that had sunk deep into her bones.
"Has the bleeding... become impossible to stop?"
Drip. Drip...
The fluid that sustained life fell onto the scorching floor, turning into crimson vapor that drifted away.
Himeko needed treatment more urgently than anyone, but she also knew that no treatment could improve her current condition.
The wounds she had suffered in battle, the side effects of the modification experiments, the stigmata, Honkai energy, the corrosion of the God-Slaying armor...
All kinds of pain seemed to be competing with one another, scrambling to drain what little life force Himeko had left.
"This time, things have really gotten out of hand."
Elysia: Don't Panic, It's Just a Technical Adjustment
"This time, things have really gotten out of hand."
Himeko's voice was full of self-mockery. At the same time, a sorrowful elegy began to play.
No one answered Himeko's words. Only a vial of serum flickered faintly, reflecting a face covered in scars.
This serum had originally been Himeko's only hope of survival.
As long as she injected it, the Honkai energy within her body could be purged, and the so-called side effects of the modification experiments would naturally disappear.
Yet it also happened to be the only hope of saving Kiana.
Before you continue