Completely unrecognizable.
Suppression and corruption constantly traded places. The energy released during the process violently hammered the air, turning everything in Imaginary Space into blurry ripples.
Amid the chaos...
All that could be heard was the sound of the God-Slaying Spear being injected, and Kiana's shrill cries.
Dawn broke.
41. And so, light remained
The crisp morning sunlight shone through the hole in Imaginary Space, illuminating the space filled with oppression and despair.
It shone upon Ye Ming's closed eyes, upon his relaxed brow that looked as though he were peacefully asleep...
The bird that had once soared above the dome and torn open the dark storm clouds seemed to have fulfilled its final duty, silently falling from the sky.
"The shield... disappeared?"
Himeko, who had witnessed everything, had long been frantic with worry.
Still trapped within the stone pillar, she suddenly realized that the energy field protecting her was gone.
At the same time, all of Imaginary Space began to collapse.
"No, it can't be..."
The collapse of Imaginary Space meant the Herrscher of the Void had lost, which was nothing much.
But the stone pillar was crumbling, and the shield had vanished...
Himeko did not even dare think about what that implied.
"Ye Ming!"
After searching again and again, Himeko finally found Ye Ming amid the fragments of crystals filling the sky.
She immediately flew toward him, stretching out her arm and trying to close the distance between them as much as possible.
"Urgh! This is...?"
When Himeko drew close enough, an overwhelming flood of memories surged out from within her mind.
The closer she got to Ye Ming, the clearer those memories became.
Being rescued from the fire, being comforted out of her trauma, receiving his silent help throughout her Valkyrie career, being saved alongside Captain Ragna...
The most blurred parts of those memories now all appeared clearly before Himeko.
"It was you?"
Countless faces she had been unable to remember ultimately took on Ye Ming's appearance.
"So... it had always been you..."
With every inch she moved closer to Ye Ming, the impact of the memories became stronger.
Himeko's pupils kept constricting and dilating in shock, and she could not stop the tears from flowing.
"Why... did I forget?"
No longer able to control her emotions, Himeko burst into tears after embracing Ye Ming's body.
"Why... did I forget..."
Shame, self-reproach, but more than anything, an endless longing for someone.
"Yes... how could I... forget..."
At the same time, the real Himeko also burst into tears amid her shock.
Just like herself in the video, Himeko seemed to have remembered something as well.
"Himeko..."
"Ye Ming? You're alive..."
As Himeko wept uncontrollably, the gentle voice of the boy in her arms sounded beside her ear.
"Let's go home."
Those words, "Let's go home," were more reassuring than any comfort.
"Mm, let's go home."
Even if St. Freya could no longer continue operating, even if those days of the past could never return.
As long as the person before her was there, as long as she had that... one and only light that belonged to her.
No matter where she was, no matter when it was, she would be able to see that road... home.
The ending, flowers everywhere... sob, my hands were shaking when I posted a comment.
It's finally over. Thank you, uploader, for giving me such a happy ending.
You did well! You did so well!!
There were several times when I thought it was going to end in tragedy again. Luckily, in the end... sob.
When Ye Ming broke down, I really thought it was over.
That first-person shot was absolutely insane. My legs went weak just watching it.
You hid the sweetness way too late! I almost got stabbed to death by angst.
After watching the video, the viewers felt as though they had just fought through a hard battle.
Many of them even suffered slight oxygen deprivation after finally relaxing, their fingers too weak to properly work their phone screens.
How was the video made? How good was its quality? What techniques had it used?
No one cared anymore...
After going through so much with Ye Ming, all the viewers wanted was an ending that would not keep them awake at night.
Such a simple wish, yet so difficult to fulfill.
It would be great if the official story were like this too.
Yeah, in the original main story, Big Sis Himeko still left us.
This fan work has basically forced the official story into a corner.
There's no helping it. If I'm too sad, I can only watch the fan work twice to soothe myself.
You call Ye Ming's fan work soothing? I still don't dare watch it a second time.
All we can do is hope for the official story later on and look forward to Himeko appearing again.
Right, maybe after seeing this fan work, the official team will bring Himeko back later.
Believe in MiHoYo. Himeko will definitely appear again. They won't let us down.
That last sentence had been posted by the girls in the studio.
After watching the fan video, they too could not suppress the surging emotions in their hearts. One after another, they messaged Ye Ming, asking whether Himeko would appear again later.
Only after receiving Ye Ming's affirmative answer did they dare confidently promise everyone that they should believe them, letting viewers and players alike place their faith in them.
"Strange, why do I feel like everyone on the street is staring at me?"
On his way to the café to meet Yae Miko, Ye Ming suddenly felt a chill down his back.
Looking around, he realized that everyone seemed to be watching him with strange expressions.
Some looked astonished, some envious, some were secretly laughing, and some were excited.
"I'm obviously someone who works behind the scenes. Why am I suddenly so... ah!"
Ye Ming suddenly remembered that today was the day Reaching for Unrequited Love uploaded its new video.
"No way... it can't be that bad, right? It's only been up for one day. How many people could have watched it?"
Ye Ming opened the video site, then nearly fainted from the 9.76 million views.
"What the hell?! If you don't make it into this year's Top 100, I'm not watching!"
At the time, Ye Ming did not know that these were only Bilibili's numbers. Many short-video platforms had also reposted his story, not to mention overseas video sites.
It could be said that however popular The Last Lesson had become after Griseo took it abroad and beyond its usual audience, Ye Ming's image had become equally popular.
"Big brother..."
"Hm?"
Just as Ye Ming was considering whether to pull up his collar to cover his face, a little girl suddenly ran over.
She wore a bright, cheerful smile as she said:
"Thank you for saving Teacher Himeko."
"Haha... little one..."
Ye Ming awkwardly said as he stroked the girl's hair:
"Remember to distinguish between fiction and reality, okay? Those were only stories."
"Huh? Is that so?"
"Of course."
"Then Big Brother doesn't have a wound on his chest from Honkai corruption either?"
"..."
That question made cold sweat break out on Ye Ming's forehead.
He stood frozen for a long while before guiltily answering:
"N-No."
"I see."
The girl nodded very seriously. Yet she did not look disillusioned at all. Instead, she happily said:
"Then... thank you, Big Brother, for bringing us such a wonderful story~~"
As she spoke, the girl curled her tiny fingers into a fist and gave Ye Ming an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
·
At the end of the previous chapter, the battle had originally reached its climax, with the victor still unknown.
I was afraid people would complain about a cliffhanger, so I forcibly changed the ending and told everyone that the Herrscher of the Void had lost.
And I still got scolded for ending on a cliffhanger. I'm really crying from the unfairness.
42. I'm Happy to Be Alive in This World
"You..."
The little girl's answer caught Ye Ming off guard. Her final gesture especially made him think of an old friend.
"Vita, it's time to go home."
At that moment, a mature, sweet female voice called out from not far away.
Hearing the call, the little girl before Ye Ming, whom she had called Vita, reluctantly said:
"Let me play a little longer."
"It's already time for school."
Before you continue