Once someone pointed it out,
more and more people quickly noticed.
Bullet comments flew across the screen:
[So Fairy Miss was acting like a prophet?]
[Seriously… I wonder what Fairy Miss thinks right now?]
[Probably shocked beyond words.]
[Ah, so that's what Elysia's strange expression meant when she started streaming. This is too dramatic.]
At that moment, Elysia also noticed the bullet chats about her "weird" behavior.
She paused slightly.
Thinking back… it was true.
The entire Elysian Realm task force was now gone.
Her stream was filled with ghosts… cough cough.
It seemed Hokuto's influence from the earlier dubbing session still lingered on her.
But that wasn't the important thing.
Right now, she probably needed to say something.
Yet before she could speak, the topic in chat shifted again.
[You guys don't understand Fairy Miss' kindness! With the Flame-Chasers gone from the Realm, she's giving them one last "act."]
[What a prank (crying and laughing).]
[The hell is this double entendre (angry).]
[Can the Flame-Chasers even come back? Honestly… it feels impossible.]
Elysia, who had wanted to say something, suddenly lost the urge.
What could she say?
She simply couldn't keep up with the audience's wildly jumping train of thought this time.
So she gave up on speaking, and instead gently tapped the glowing game screen.
After all, it seemed the viewers had already adjusted their own emotions.
They could continue watching the story unfold.
——
As Vill-V quietly awaited her end,
a memory surfaced in her mind.
Her conversation with Elysia.
"After all, I'm a con artist."
"The first night you barged into my room, I noticed something… this young lady seemed to have a secret, or rather…"
Vill-V hesitated.
Until Elysia finished the thought for her.
"A lie?"
Vill-V shook her head. "No… I think it's just a secret."
"How mean! How can you call a beautiful maiden your elder sister?"
At the word secret, Elysia clumsily changed the topic.
Clearly, she didn't want to discuss it.
As for why… that had been mentioned earlier.
"We're basically the same age, maybe… I'm even a little younger?"
The shameless Elysia—
the one who called others "little girls" in the archives—
was now claiming she herself was younger.
"Well, since you rarely come out, I won't hold it against you."
"Still, look at this… Kevin Armed Model-666.
To think it can delete the entire Elysian Realm in one stroke…
what a terrifying invention."
When in-game Elysia said this,
the players' hearts clenched all over again.
[!!!]
[Wait—so the ending really is deleting the entire Realm?!]
[We were just joking, don't actually go that far! Can't we talk this out, writers?!]
[Don't tell me those crystal flowers are the keys to activating Model-666…]
[And what about our 500 Crystals per week? If you delete the Realm, what happens to those?]
[Maybe—just maybe—miHoYo will let the Realm stay?]
Hokuto, watching the stream, caught the chat and blinked.
Actually… his original plan was to delete both the Elysian Realm and the Eternal Realm.
As for the 500 Crystals?
He had planned to replace them with a 7-day login bonus.
In a sense, it even reduced player burden—wasn't that nice?
Of course, if he really did that, players finishing the story would feel extremely conflicted.
Unsure whether to feel happy… or sad.
But that was only his original plan.
Because of Kalpas…
in the end, Hokuto decided to preserve the Elysian Realm.
Kalpas… once again managed to protect something.
——
Back to the game.
After mentioning Model-666,
Elysia seriously reminded Vill-V:
"You should really think carefully about its activation conditions."
Vill-V nodded.
"Mm. Though it was designed by experts… in the end, I'll be the one to decide."
"This concerns all the Flame-Chasers left behind.
Whether it's unanimous consent or majority rule… neither feels right."
She pondered for a while, then made her decision.
"I think… Elysia.
Since it was you who let us leave behind this story…
then the one to bring it to a close… should be you."
"Your secret—I hope it opens in the grandest way… and ends in the best way."
Yes. Vill-V handed control of Model-666 to Elysia.
It was she who would decide the Realm's fate.
Since she had preserved the Flame-Chasers' story,
if one day it must end—
it should be her who writes the final line.
"A story that exists because of you, and begins and ends with me…"
Now, Elysia finally understood Hokuto's earlier words.
Maybe the Realm would have a suitably romantic ending.
Because if Elysia was the one to decide—
it was bound to be romantic.
——
Vill-V made her choice.
Elysia accepted, promising to craft an ending true to her style.
The memory faded.
The game returned once more to the archive interface.
Vill-V's card shattered with a sharp crack.
Even though the players had steeled themselves,
their faces twisted in pain again.
Especially seeing only seven Flame-Chasers left.
It was impossible to comfort themselves like before.
The story had reached this point.
What would happen next…
Only one thing was certain:
the writers' blade was raised high.
[Looking at the archives left, I don't even hope anymore. They'll all shatter. And the more I think about it, the more I know I'll keep watching immediately anyway.]
[So this is what they call a "hellish happy ending."]
[The knives are so huge, one chapter can't even contain them.]
[Tell me—what's so "blissful" about the Eternal Realm?]
One player asked the soul's question.
Someone answered immediately:
[What's blissful about the Eternal Realm? Writer: I'm blissful.]
[Does that count?]
[...]
The entire chat fell silent.
Because, honestly—
that line was far, far too reasonable.
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