To create Honkai Impact 3rd in a world where Kallen exists.

Will he... also die?

She felt a little sad, but she didn't show it, because she was already a mature child.

But... what will Kosmo's skills be like in the game?

She couldn't help but become curious. Based on her previous experience fighting in the story, she had controlled Mei and Sakura to fight it... Next, she should control Kosmo, or perhaps herself?

Gretchen held this thought in her mind.

But the reality was somewhat different from what she had imagined.

What she manipulated was not the Kosmo, but the Herrscher of Corruption, although... it was Alicia's sister's skill.

"Look, Gretchen is about to beat up Kosmo..."

"Hmm... the overweight and super-mutant Kosmo was beaten down by Gretsch from 50,000 years in the future."

Alicia, always eager for a good show, egged them on, her bright eyes darting back and forth between Gretsch and Kosmo.

"Hmm... how about you do it, Alicia? I... I'm not very good at it."

Even Gretchen, now grown up, felt somewhat awkward about Alicia's intrusion and the strange confrontation scene in the picture.

She put down the handle, her face slightly flushed, as if she wanted to hand it to Alicia and let her take it.

"No, Gretchen, you'll get used to it with practice. I believe in you... Kosmo won't blame you, right?" Alicia chuckled, even pushing the things in the opposite direction.

"Um... no, it's... I haven't used your skills yet, and I'm afraid I can't beat Kosmo."

Gretchen said shyly, revealing the real reason.

Even when playing Kosmos in a game, she doesn't mind trying things she's never done before. She doesn't particularly like games, but if there are familiar real-life characters in the game, she finds it very novel.

Just like... during that long journey, she read about the old stories of heroes and came to understand their true meaning.

But there are still many secrets that are not recorded. She has learned a lot from the game just now.

Luo Mo?

Luo Mo naturally didn't offer any opinions, which was exactly what he expected, and he was even happy to offer some words of comfort to the other party.

"It's alright, Gretchen. You'll get used to it after a while. See? Your health is 9999. There won't be any problems with the controls."

He said gently.

"Hiss~, that's ruthless, boss. Doesn't this clearly mean that Kosmo is going to die too?"

Kiana gasped, only then noticing that the Herrscher of Corruption's health bar had already skyrocketed to its peak.

Even players who want to intentionally give away freebies will find it difficult, right?

"...I'm actually quite curious, is it because you didn't want to use Kosmo's attack method, so you did it this way and directly...chosen Alicia's method."

Big Gretchen puffed out her cheeks and glared at Luo Mo angrily.

During her travels, she rarely showed any emotion, and even fewer people were able to see it.

Luo Mo immediately looked up at the clouds outside the window; they were all so white.

"...Alright, let's continue. I...don't want to continue appearing in that posture."

It was Kosmo who came to the rescue. In the game, even without any action, the Herrscher of Corruption's health recovered extremely quickly, proving that Luo Mo's statement that there was no need to worry about failure was indeed true.

Kosmo had no objection to his own sacrifice.

That aligns with his view of a hero, even if... he is merely a ray of dawn before sunrise.

Grand Gretchen did not refute the other party's words, and quietly began to operate the Herrscher of Corruption in the game, giving Kosmo a good beating for his artificially collapsed state.

Arrows rained down on the Kosmo, the monster roaring furiously. Big Gresh's cheeks flushed slightly with excitement.

After all, it's just a game... right?

Kosmo's cheek twitched, and he looked down with a hint of helplessness, glancing at little Gretsch who was staring at him.

...

For Kosmo, the corrosive power spread extremely slowly through his body.

At first, the Herrscher of Corruption had not found the cause, but after several observations, combined with the memories captured from Velvet, she gradually identified the source.

Vishnu's self-devouring.

A surprise that Mebius herself created—Kosmo, given enough time and enough rationality… he can devour everything and make it his own.

But that was just a hope, not a reality.

Even more so, Kosmo struggled to maintain sufficient lucidity after the artificial collapse.

When faced with erosion, it uses this ability on itself, devouring the eroded parts to slow down the process.

The Herrscher of Corruption quickly came to a conclusion she didn't want to reach—at this rate, she probably wouldn't be able to leave this place, especially now that every second counted.

A choice gradually formed in her mind.

"Alicia, what would you do if you were in her shoes?"

She questioned herself inwardly, but the conviction about that difficult choice grew stronger and stronger—to delete Kosmo.

She made a decision—a decision the real Alicia would never make—without even a moment's hesitation.

"Kosmo...please forgive me..."

"All my beloved people have already received eternal and beautiful life within me."

The Corruptor spoke with sorrow, his grief evident in his words.

But she still made that decision: to kill Kosmo.

...

The words "Kill Kosmo" were written in blood red. A button appeared on the control screen: an attack button, a final blow option.

Simply press the button to delete a person's action.

The remaining health bar of Kosmo will be completely emptied with a single press, turning into a chaotic stream of consciousness that dissipates into Paradise, the Paradise in the game, and then disappears completely.

Big Gretchen was stunned for a moment. She looked up blankly at the people around her and pursed her lips.

She desperately wanted to shout out that this was not a choice Alicia could make, but she wasn't, not in the game, and she couldn't convey her message to the people in the game.

There is no button on the screen indicating a second option.

So... is Kosmo really going to die?

At first, she could play happily, even accepting being wiped out of health by hit after hit... but when the choice was given to her, she hesitated.

But all she could choose was death.

The delay was pointless; the plot had already sealed Kosmo's fate.

"Little sister Alicia..."

She spoke softly, as gently as stepping on cotton candy, yet hesitant and unable to make a decision.

"Is there really no other choice?"

Alicia smiled encouragingly, then rolled her eyes at Luo Mo.

The other party's decision to give Gretchen control of the game was clearly ill-intentioned.

"……Um."

Grand Gretchen nodded in understanding and held down the button to unleash the final blow.

The ferocious monster, which had been resisting, vanished completely from the arena with a final blow. Under the power of the Corrupting Herrscher, escape was virtually impossible.

Regardless of the reason, she made the choice to kill Kosmo.

I feel strange...

Greta Gerwig thought so.

Just like... when the Herrscher of Corruption in the story made the choice to delete the Kosmos, she seemed to have become an accomplice.

Meanwhile, the real accomplices chuckled to themselves, while Luo Mo covered his laughter with a cough.

Of course, Kiana, Mei, and Bronya, standing nearby, all looked at each other with an "I knew it" expression.

Chapter 89 Gretchen: Hitting Myself? (5k)

Undoubtedly, that arrow completely erased Kosmo's data, but just before the Corruptor was about to leave this space...

A roar echoed, and the monstrous figure reappeared in the space, as if it had crawled back from the ground. Its sharp claws, carrying blue light, swept towards the location of the Corruptor.

However, the Herrscher of Corruption easily evaded it.

She initially looked in the other person's direction with some surprise, not quite understanding the situation.

Then, as if enlightened, he looked up at a certain spot in the sky, a faint, enigmatic smile appearing on his lips.

"Oh? I see... The data did disappear, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was deleted?"

She didn't hesitate much for the next strike.

Since she could delete Kosmo once, she could do it a second and a third time. For her, that should be something like instinct, and suppressing that instinct might be more difficult.

So this time, she didn't hesitate much and easily deleted Kosmo again.

Once you've done something the first time, you don't feel guilty about it the second time.

Then, she drew back the bowstring towards the sky above, and an arrow exploded in the air like a purple crystal, transforming into a dazzling wall of light.

The places it points to are too random, seemingly implying a sense of self-abandonment.

But the Herrscher of Corruption didn't care at all, and even had a slight smile on her lips.

"Alright, come out here—I never agreed to be your model, Greta."

—At the very spot where that arrow landed, like a spark falling onto a piece of paper, the world she saw was torn open, just as she had imagined.

Kosmo's actions, almost immediately demanding a fight... even after the data disappeared, it could reappear, and he would entangle with her again...

"So, Kosmo... had already become a part of your painting all along. Wasn't that right, Greta Thunberg?"

She sighed, looking at Gretchen's image floating in the air with complicated emotions, feeling a little sad, perhaps because of her imitation of Alicia.