Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

When one story ends, it means that another story begins.

If we can sacrifice dirty, despicable, and shameless stories to allow beautiful stories to unfold, and for the children to live in a happy world.

There's probably no more profitable option in the world.

and so……

That's it.

Alicia silently recited it in her heart.

She took one last look at the villa, her pink eyes reflecting a deep sadness at the thought of parting—yet a sweet smile played on her lips, as if she were back to the way she was when the boy picked her up.

At least in the final moment, did I get any closer to that flawless paradise?

I've stopped insisting on a response.

Alicia turned and left the paradise she had pursued all her life.

God... if you truly exist, please grant this boy happiness.

[God... if it truly exists in this world, please let the boy see that one and only paradise.]

God... if you truly exist, please let the boy forget himself.

[You'll be content with this. You don't pray for the boy's gaze when you leave this world; just watch him silently for a while.]

Ideally, you should be forgotten, forgotten into a corner, even your memories thrown into the trash, so the boy can embrace a new future and live happily with Vilvie, who truly deserves him.

All of this could be achieved by sacrificing a non-human monster, by sacrificing a villain who should never have been a part of a teenager's life.

That's all.

There are no other requirements.

This is all so wonderful.

【—Isn't that right?】

……

The girl once again set foot on the land where she had lived for several years, the land where she had lived as a despicable escapist and voyeur.

A period of time has passed, but nothing has changed here at all.

It still looks the same as before.

Isolated from the world.

The ruins of the Spiral Workshop remain the same small mountain of remains, except for the addition of a tombstone; they are exactly the same as the one the girl had seen before.

After its destruction, this once-prosperous base seemed to have been completely abandoned by people, with no energy or thought left to even collect the remains.

But this does not mean that not a single flower or blade of grass has grown here, not a single bird has built a nest here, and not a single animal has lived here.

Even the soil will be completely polluted, eroded, and destroyed by this energy, and will never have the chance to give birth to any form of life again. Before the calamity is cleared away, all life will cease to exist, and only death and decay will remain.

The air will be polluted by this energy. Its immense power can be carried by the wind and kill tens of millions of people, or even a number that would terrify anyone. The world is not even able to bear this power.

This place has been completely abandoned and reduced to ruins.

No matter how prosperous and great it was in the past, at least for now, this place has only one name.

--ruins.

But maybe…

Alicia can bring this place back to life.

May the girl who should not have been buried here find redemption.

A belated redemption.

"I'm sorry, Vilvie."

"I……"

"—They're here."

What utter despair.

65. Möbius: Jiang Cheng, you son of a bitch!!

[—It's meaningless.]

[You did indeed rely on the notes left by Velvi to manufacture many weapons during this period, which propelled your status throughout the world.]

In a time when so many outstanding scholars and top-tier researchers have passed away, you are almost on par with Möbius.

Your past resume was so outstanding that even Dr. Möbius designed a health regimen for you, and almost all the credit for Vilvie's achievements was attributed to you simply because you were her superior.

[Due to the deaths of numerous politicians, the rights that should have been fought for are now subject to the same perverse consequences, and even the most prestigious titles can easily vanish, forcing everyone to unite wholeheartedly.]

Just as the threat of nuclear weapons was enough to maintain a semblance of peace among nations that were engaged in almost endless warfare every year.

Is it really just because the damage is significant?

Is it really because radiation is difficult to eliminate?

【--No.】

Humanity has created countless cruel, brutal, and bloody weapons, constantly pursuing firepower. In its pursuit of more efficient self-destruction, humanity has used ingenuity far exceeding that used to exterminate any other species.

[It's simply because nuclear weapons aren't enough to establish a superficial balance among nations, even if their destructive power were ten or a hundred times greater.]

The reason for this is simply that those in higher positions realized their lives were no longer safe.

Those politicians can't sit back and enjoy fine dining, or sit at the negotiating table ordering and watching young men give their lives.

[With just one nuclear bomb, even they would easily become one of countless corpses.]

Thus, humanity maintained an extremely long period of peace.

This is simply a replay of the past.

[They shifted the internal disaster to the outside.]

The power of all humanity was united at an almost unimaginable speed, accomplishing what would normally be possible only in the mid-to-late stages of the game.

[Although this approach has lost much of its morality and become extreme, even somewhat populist.]

[Even the collapse itself wasn't deliberately announced; rather, the deaths of many high-ranking officials inevitably affected ordinary people, making them aware of the problem and leading them to fight for their rights through strikes and protests.]

The harmony that humanity fought for over centuries and countless wars has been utterly shattered in this moment. Morality has died out completely, and populism, long ago discarded, has been revived.

Countless foolish, incompetent, and even self-deceiving people, yearning only for a supposedly enlightened ruler, have begun a new form of deification.

You are one of them, perhaps even one of the best, second only to Dr. Möbius, who was elevated to a pedestal due to his admiration for the strong and his hatred for the weak.

【not enough……】

Not nearly enough!

What you crave is not a rise in status.

[The status that others value, the worldly power, the crown that symbolizes nobility, the glory that everyone admires, or even wealth that rivals a nation… to you, none of these things matter as much as a glass of milk offered to you by a young girl.]

【No……】

That's not how it works.

Those things are completely unworthy of comparison.

How can those things be compared to the glass of milk the girl hands you?

No matter how luxurious the things, they are useless to the dead.

You are already dead.

You died the day Wilvie died.

[The girl is an entire library, even her index is the size of a dictionary, and over the years you've only flipped through less than half of it.]

But that alone is enough to make you feel all that charm.

Your thirst for knowledge makes you want to keep reading.

The pursuit of love keeps you yearning for the heart of a young girl.

—They're all gone.

The emotions you place in your heart, the books you read, even everything you strive for has lost its purpose and all its color.

How could you possibly have even the slightest interest in such an ending?

The only person in this world who might care about you has died.

The person whose arrow pointed in both directions died.

[Alicia... This girl's birthday present is still lying under the ruins, and you no longer have the ability to replicate the exact same bow.]

That's all.

[Anyway, unlike Velvi, Alicia is capable of making a good living for herself, and the girl is probably still happily traveling right now.]

[But Vilvie is different; you're her only light. How could she bear to be alone?]

[Assuming there truly is a heaven, the girl is probably suffering right now.]

[Because no one else would have the patience to read through an entire library, or even the thought of doing so; they'd be scared away immediately.]

【So……】

Let's increase the workload.

[It reached a level that even astonished Möbius.]

[Your talents are limited to this. After resolving all these issues, there's no point in you continuing to exist; you can't do anything more.]