Honkai Impact 3rd: Catching the Herrscher of Sentience at the Start

Mei, like the mysterious man, rubbed her temples as she read about their 'sweet' interactions. She cast a glance at Elysia, who was now casually sitting in a chair with her legs crossed.

"It's real~ But that wasn't me, that was the original~?"

Elysia propped her chin on her hand, conveniently shifting the blame onto her original self. No, this really was her original self's doing, so what did it have to do with memory-self Elysia...?

So it's not really shifting blame. Yes, that's right~

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Training Room.

Elysia, "Alright, alright, let's challenge a higher intensity today!"

Mysterious Man, "Whatever makes you happy."

After entering the training pod, Elysia looked at the simulated Honkai Beast of the flying-class, then smiled at the mysterious man observing through the glass.

Elysia, "So, a flying monster first. Then today, I'll use... a bow!"

Elysia nocked her bow and fired arrows. Before long, the simulated Honkai Beast in the training pod was completely eliminated. Soon after, three Tank-class Honkai Beasts refreshed.

Elysia laughed like a silver bell and said, "Next up... the heavy ones. How nostalgic, I just saw you guys in 'Skyward' not long ago."

"But those ones were 20 meters tall. If they were replicated at a 1:1 scale, they wouldn't even fit in here, would they?"

After defeating the Tank-class Honkai Beasts, Elysia put away her bow and walked out of the training pod.

Elysia, "All done, easy peasy."

She then placed her hands on her hips and looked at the mysterious man, "For this training report, just mark it as 'Very Easy'!"

"You still dare to write 'Very Easy'?"

Elysia and the mysterious man turned around to see a gray-blue-haired man leaning against the doorway.

"You've already been taken for 'education' once, and you still haven't learned your lesson?"

Elysia chuckled, "Morning, Scar."

"What can I do? This is my true opinion. Isn't the Flame-Chasers' organizational value about 'speaking honestly'? I'm just following it properly."

Scar laughed instead of getting angry, "At least others copy what they wrote two weeks ago. Your report always has the same two words. Even if someone wanted to vouch for you, they couldn't."

"But... since you have this guy by your side, and you're also the star of the squad now, the higher-ups will just nag a little and won't do much to you."

Scar then sighed, "Who would have thought that the little girl who returned with the soldiers from 'Vostok' would one day become their 'role model'?"

Elysia put one hand on her hip, unconvinced, "That's a different matter, isn't it? I joined the Flame-Chasers through official recruitment, purely by my own efforts~ Unlike someone who was dragged back."

"And I wouldn't say I'm a 'role model' yet. Otherwise, I would've already changed the Flame-Chasers' emblem to pink!"

Mysterious Man, "Just to clarify, I wasn't 'dragged' back, I was 'invited' back."

Elysia stared blankly at the stubborn mysterious man with dead-fish eyes, "Oh sure, sure, you were 'invited' back—tied up by a bunch of people. At the time, I even thought the Flame-Chasers had kidnapped you, so I went through the trouble of joining the organization through proper recruitment just to rescue you."

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"So, Elysia, you joined the Flame-Chasers just for a man?"

Mei blinked. Was Elysia's decision to join really that frivolous?

Elysia stroked her chin and slowly said, "Not entirely. At first, I did join because of him. But after realizing he was fine, I wholeheartedly devoted myself to the Flame-Chasers."

"Seeing so many people fighting hard against the Honkai afterward, I made up my mind to fight for humanity too."

"Does that make sense to you, Mei?"

Mei nodded, then asked, "Alright, and what about that man in the training room?"

Elysia reminded, "It's 'Scar.' You should have seen him before."

Mei, "Scar... I've seen that name in Kevin and Kosma's memories. If I'm not mistaken, he later became a MANTIS soldier."

"He seemed to have... unintentionally mentioned your 'origins.'"

"Ah... That's a past even I don't know much about. I was just a little girl back then."

"'Vostok-51'... That was the name, right? It seems to be where I was born, but I don't feel any attachment to it."

"It's not that I don't miss my homeland, but I was really young at the time."

Elysia shook her head without explaining further, as if she truly didn't remember. She simply smiled at Mei.

After a brief silence, Mei picked up another document: "Let's continue reading. I'm getting more and more curious about the identity of this mysterious man."

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Scar, "Spare me. A pink emblem? Are you trying to make me defect?"

Elysia, "If you're not convinced, you can try surpassing me?"

"That probably won't be necessary. Look, your 'competitor' has already appeared."

Scar swiped in the air, pulling up the training pod records. For the first time, the number "2" was written next to Elysia's name.

Elysia blinked, a trace of surprise flashing in her eyes, "The one ranked first is... a name I've never seen before. A newcomer?"