The departure anchor could not be used. The Past's Paradise seemed as though it had shut down for good.
Was this world the kind where, once the protagonist left, the lives and deaths of the NPCs no longer mattered?
From Klein, Raven obtained some information. It seemed that the memory entities had been active, and an unknown Flame-Chaser had taken an interest in Raiden Mei?
Mei was not here at the moment, but Raven wanted to owe her a favor, so she decided to help investigate the abnormalities occurring in the Elysian Realm.
As she explored, Raven spotted an extremely suspicious cat. Following its footsteps, she eventually arrived at a pitch-black place.
It was as dark as if the power had been cut, but World Serpent did not owe anyone an electricity bill.
"You finally came here... stranger."
"Were you... the one who brought change to this Elysian Realm?"
"Ah... it seems you are not the one I was waiting for."
The most mysterious figure in the Past's Paradise had appeared.
She was also the final Flame-Chaser Raiden Mei had yet to meet.
Perhaps The Deepest Place had been too dark... perhaps Aponia's dark circles were too heavy, or perhaps she had not opened her eyes...
Or perhaps the threads of fate were too tangled, and Aponia had just happened to miss Raiden Mei.
And she had found the wrong person, too.
But that was not her biggest problem.
No further words were needed.
Aponia, the most extraordinary of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, could see the outcomes of the future.
Yet when she tried to do something—
She discovered that the future would not change because of it.
No matter their personalities, the Thirteen Flame-Chasers all had obsessions of their own.
Perhaps Aponia's obsession was knowing the outcome, yet being unable to change it.
Unable to change anything.
Unable to save anyone.
So-called sin... so-called fate...
The Law of Retribution, clearly issued while bearing humanity's hopes, had instead brought about disaster.
The concept of contradiction seemed to be embodied by every Flame-Chaser.
But Aponia... the miHoYo Famous Actress she had been waiting for was currently on her way to support her wife.
Her scenes here had been canceled outright!
There was even a "stand-in" investigating and filming in her place, and she had not even realized that she had been eroded by the Herrscher of Erosion within that pure white space.
So... was an "infectious disease" spreading through the Past's Paradise?
Was that why Aponia later kept dragging Raiden Mei into the little dark room in The Deepest Place...
Aponia played a different role in every miHoYo event, but the part of night-shift nurse showed up frequently...
Strange. Why did the Past's Paradise storyline fit every kind of situational drama so perfectly?
Alright, that was the last update for today.
The bounty is currently 15-5-2-2=6.
Anyway, I am going to sleep first. I will work harder on the rest tomorrow.
Good night, everyone.
A Senior Being Teased by a Cat
The third part of the Past's Paradise was about to get to the main point.
Just as Aponia had said, Raven would "bring" Raiden Mei over.
Because after the famous actress had rushed off to the set and returned once more to continue exploring—
She discovered that Raven had vanished.
The development of the Past's Paradise eating people had changed the atmosphere again and again.
There were simply too many suspects.
She returned to the familiar palace, but Mei's thoughts still lingered in that pure white space.
For certain reasons, Raiden Mei temporarily interrupted her exploration of the Past's Paradise and provided assistance to Kiana and the others far away in Kolosten.
After pushing the authority of the Herrscher of Thunder to its limit, she delved into the source of the Gem of Conquest and thus achieved her goal of helping Kiana. Doing so also brought Mei into contact with Him once again.
In that brief instant, Raiden Mei truly saw Him... the Will of Honkai.
He had never responded to any of her questions, so she would seek clues from the Flame-Chasers who had once fought Him.
Thus, Raiden Mei returned to the Past's Paradise once more.
What she did not know was that a newborn Herrscher had already attached itself to her, secretly learning, imitating, and gradually growing.
The dumbest Herrscher in the world had been swept into the space where she and He resided.
The newborn and weak it knew nothing. It even tried to erode the Will of Honkai, but failed without causing the slightest change.
The two figures standing before it—whether "He" or "she" who wielded authority—were both beings the newborn Herrscher could not possibly erode.
It should never have appeared here. The only reason this newly born "third party" had been dragged into this place was because it had been "accidentally caught up in it."
It split itself "in two," continuing to "embrace," continuing to erode...
Even if it could not succeed... it still wanted to remain with her.
Under such circumstances, the Herrscher of Erosion successfully attached itself to Raiden Mei, planting the seeds of future trouble.
Yet when she looked around, Raven was not slacking off by the sofa. Where had she gone?
From Eden, she learned that Raven had headed deeper inside, but Elysia had been with her as well?
Although Eden said that with Ai Li around, there was no need to worry about Raven's safety, the thought of those two being together gave Raiden Mei a bad feeling.
But there were no leads. Raven had already disappeared when Elysia let down her guard for a moment, and even after Mei explored all the way to the end, she had not found Raven.
It was as if Raven had vanished. Even the traces she left behind had been cut off.
Raiden Mei's cheerful mood from having just seen someone seemed to have been affected.
A World Serpent executive had disappeared within her own territory?
That was simply too bizarre.
Raiden Mei returned to the Past's Paradise again, only to find Elysia holding something like a loudspeaker and fiddling with it. "Testing, testing, one, two, three. Testing, testing, one, two, three..."
"Ah! Mei, you're back! Miss Mei, the one who beat Mobius flat, is back~! (Extremely loud)"
This seemed like an ordinary farce. At this point, no matter what Elysia did, Raiden Mei felt she would not find it strange.
Yet while demonstrating the recording function, Raiden Mei heard something else... something that made Elysia's train of thought completely incomprehensible.
Raiden Mei's Herrscher of Thunder form resembled the "Ghost Armor" image of the Far East.
Apart from their flowing long hair and the exaggerated skirts some of them wore, Herrschers still had their differences.
And her most distinctive feature was the pair of oni horns atop her head, black at the roots and gradually fading into red toward the tips.
"Ah... I really want to touch her horns... I can't stop thinking about them, I can't stop thinking about them!"
The atmosphere fell somewhat silent, and Raiden Mei once again said the line she used most often: "..."
No one knew whether Elysia was doing it on purpose or intentionally.
She truly coveted Raiden Mei's horns.
And sometimes, she really could be a little naughty.
Beware of the Elysian Realm lesbians.
Then the loudspeaker also recorded something Pardofelis had said offhandedly. She did not know how to use it either...
It had cost three Crystal Flowers. Pardo felt like a shady merchant, but only later did this loudspeaker reveal its true value.
It was absolutely worth the price.
One insignificant little story after another revealed every facet of Elysia.
If she had been a character from another work, a good girl like Elysia might have been praised to the heavens long ago.
Such a beautiful girl, a little mischievous and so passionate.
Dear traveler passing by, do you acknowledge that the flawless Elysia possesses beauty unmatched in the world?
Great love is unmatched in the world! Pure beauty is everywhere!
The Church of Elysia? Everlasting!
She surely would have received praise like that.
But now, after the somewhat deliberate "misdirection" of the story—
Almost everyone who had reached this point no longer thought Elysia was a good person.
Instead, they felt Elysia was a high-level bad woman.
Su Nian could already imagine how they would shed tiny tears after seeing Paradise Ice Cube and "The Story Because You Exist."
Right now, what you saw of Elysia was what you got. There was not the slightest bit of deception.
After investigating from multiple angles, Mei heard some unfamiliar information from Klein.
The Deepest Place was the name of a detention facility belonging to Moth of the Fire, and it likewise existed within the Past's Paradise.
Aponia, a Psychic Flame Chaser, was also one of the Flame-Chasers Raiden Mei had not yet encountered. Chijie called her a friend, but when it came to that word... Raiden Mei could only be glad she was not Chijie's friend.
The only thing she could confirm was that Raven was still somewhere in the ordinary areas of the Elysian Realm. While searching for Raven, she also accepted Klein's task of investigating the problem along the way. She also took on Pardofelis's request to find Can, obtained a Mark, and then continued onward together.
Empty Dream Imprint, the one true god of speedrun teams.
Yet this was Raiden Mei's first time traveling with a Flame-Chaser. She had thought they would fight monsters together.
But Pardofelis merely watched from the side, offered a few comments, and showed no intention of stepping up to help.
"Pardo, are you planning to keep watching from the sidelines?"
"Oh, Mei, I am just a shopkeeper. I really am not good at fighting."
Silence was tonight's Cambridge.
A Flame-Chaser being bad at combat... once again expanded Raiden Mei's understanding, as well as her overall impression of them.
Whenever she developed a fixed impression of Flame-Chasers as a group, one or several of them would inevitably shatter it.
Still, Pardo really did have a talent for finding people. When she said she sensed Can, Raiden Mei spotted Raven and a cat in the distance.
MiHoYo even included a tiny detail here.
There was even a pendant around Raven's chest in her character art.
Then, on the way back, it was gone. Pardo had swiped it.
She was looking for Raven, while Senior Raven was being teased by a cat.
Sorry for the wait, sorry for the wait. I had classes all day today, so it was hard to find time to write, but I will still try to write more today. I finally made up my mind and successfully turned down the task assigned by my adviser, so I have relatively more free time now.
Give me some votes, some recommendation votes, some monthly votes. I want blades too...
Spoilers? Tiny Spoilers Don't Count as Spoilers
During the time Raven had disappeared, she saw a space that resembled a prison... it felt that way, but in truth, there was nothing there. It was simply darkness—aside from that mysterious woman.
Before Raven completely lost consciousness, the woman seemed to say something... and handed Raven a golden pendant set with a sizable Sapphire.
Before you continue