NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 103: Sakura is Innocent!
Although Elysia initially suspected Kalpas, hearing his words now made her doubts vanish entirely.
It had taken her a lot of effort to slip that pink skirt into Mobius wardrobe, yet the next day, she had looked completely oblivious.
So that's where the problem lay...
"Why are you Flame-Chasers so peculiar? You're not even prioritizing fighting external enemies, and now Vill-V is obsessed with trying to take down Kevin? Did Kevin wrong you or something?" Kiana asked, throwing a bewildered glance at the eccentric magician.
In some ways, someone who constantly proclaimed their intent to eliminate the leader yet managed to live peacefully proved their capability in an unconventional sense.
"Would you call it a past crime? Or perhaps a tradition?" Luo Mo mused with a blink, attempting to explain.
"This is clearly just Vill-V's personal bad habit, isn't it?~"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't keep talking about me like that. Maybe I just think... if I can defeat Kevin, then defeating Honkai might also be within reach. Yes, that's exactly how I see it!"
As she spoke, Vill-V became increasingly confident, even managing to convince herself of her justification.
Striving to defeat Honkai, a convenient excuse indeed.
"So, did you succeed in the end? Do you have a device that can defeat Kevin?" Bronya inquired.
"Of course I have results… but only for dealing with the Kevin within the Elysian Realm. Look, it's right here, model 666," Vill-V said, pointing to the screen.
On the screen, Mei was presented with a choice: to challenge the final armor prototype.
(TL: 666? Why does this number sound familiar)
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As expected, all of Vill-V's Kevin-targeted weapons failed one by one.
Mei began seriously doubting whether the prototypes Vill-V presented were just to humor her. At the very least, when she last pointed her blade at Kevin, the oppressive sensation wasn't fabricated, she had been unable to deliver the strike cleanly.
Every Flame-Chaser was formidable in their own way.
When Mei attempted to challenge the final prototype, Vill-V stopped her.
"Model 666, the ultimate Kevin-countermeasure… unfortunately, it can't be activated. Although, if there's one thing that could guarantee success against Kevin, it would be this," Vill-V declared.
"Guaranteed success? That's not something you hear often. Earlier, you said no armor could defeat Kevin." Mei sheathed her blade, no longer suspicious of Vill-V.
Compared to the other Flame-Chasers, she knew far too little about Vill-V. From everything she had just witnessed, she gained a deeper understanding of both her madness… and her lack of restraint.
"Kevin in reality is indeed invincible. But his memory construct isn't. For example, this Elysian Realm Universal Irreversible Big Surprise Cleanup Tool, otherwise known as Model 666. It can't defeat Kevin, but it can erase the Elysian Realm," Vill-V explained with a playful laugh.
"E-erase… the Elysian Realm?" Mei's eyes widened in shock as Vill-V watched her reaction with amusement.
Mei muttered the word under her breath, her gaze narrowing as she stared at Vill-V.
Was Vill-V's "solution" what she thought it meant?
Unable to stop herself, Mei focused intently on Vill-V's hands. Though they appeared empty, hadn't her earlier devices also materialized out of thin air? Mei was wary, afraid Vill-V might do something irrational.
"Hehe, it's just a device to delete the Elysian Realm with one click. But it's already decommissioned. Let's not even mention that it would have taken me down along with it, just the fact that its activation conditions no longer exist is enough to render it useless. In short, you can safely ignore it."
Vill-V's tone rose sharply, her gray eyes glinting with amusement as she watched Mei's expression shift like a performance of sleight of hand, pale, to ashen, then back to a healthy flush.
It played out exactly as Vill-V anticipated, bringing an even more satisfied curve to her smile.
Mei relaxed slightly. If the device couldn't be activated, that was undoubtedly for the best.
If the Elysian Realm were deleted, she, being within it, likely wouldn't survive either.
"So, can you confidently eliminate me from your list of suspects? Clearly, the culprit isn't any of us."
Vill-V blinked playfully, her smile unrelenting.
Indeed, even she, who spent her days thinking about how to kill Kevin, hadn't managed to do it. For the other Flame-Chasers to accomplish such a thing without a trace? Impossible.
The hazy twilight of the Elysian Realm shrouded the desolate amusement park. With Elysia missing, the world she had envisioned seemed to be wrapped in a thin layer of sorrow. Mei understood this was just an illusion, a side effect of Elysia's absence and the current unsettling circumstances.
Time ticked by, yet Mei and the others failed to uncover any meaningful clues.
Vill-V suggested accompanying Mei in the search. After all, if not as a magician, she didn't mind playing detective either. On the contrary, Mei could even serve as a witness.
Vill-V had missed quite a few meetings, leaving Mei unable to confirm her movements with certainty.
Still, for whatever reason, Vill-V chose to team up with Mei.
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In the hall
"Activation conditions? Why would there even be such a dangerous device?"
Kiana was astonished. No matter how she thought about it, such a mechanism didn't belong in the Elysian Realm.
What if someone accidentally triggered it? Or worse, if a rogue Flame-Chaser decided to use it for revenge?
It reminded her of the earlier suspicions surrounding Sakura. If she had betrayed them, activating such a device would have been catastrophic. Only a madman would create something like this.
It was like placing a bomb in a safe house—one so precise that it only destroyed the house itself.
"But doesn't it come in handy? If the mastermind behind Kevin and Elysia's deaths isn't a hidden Flame-Chaser, wouldn't this device allow us to strike first?"
Vill-V tilted her head proudly, as if to say her inventions always had a purpose, they just needed to be discovered.
"So, you foresaw this?" Kiana asked skeptically, examining Vill-V carefully.
"Well… yes!" Vill-V replied without hesitation, her sincerity exaggerated.
"Don't believe her nonsense. She just wanted to erase Kevin's memory construct. The entangled memories in the Elysian Realm made that difficult, so she took a more drastic approach," Mobius coldly exposed Vill-V's claims, clearly unimpressed.
"And the activation conditions? You all seem aware of this device, so what's so restrictive about its activation that you're okay with leaving it here?" Mei pondered aloud, her habit of dwelling on intricate details kicking in.
The story only mentioned that Model 666 couldn't be activated, not that it no longer existed.
"Well…" Vill-V stroked her chin, pretending to think deeply.
"Could it be unanimous consent from all Flame-Chasers? But as long as one of them is taken out, it can't be activated. Doesn't that make it somewhat useless?" Bronya tried to analyze.
"…That's not part of my performance lineup. Let's leave it as a surprise, shall we? Consider it a little Easter egg," Vill-V dismissed the question, her gaze drifting lazily until it briefly lingered on Elysia.
"Hmm~?" Elysia smiled knowingly in response.
---
At MiHoYo HQ,
"What's with this twisted sense of humor? This plot is starting to feel more and more like a murder mystery. Do we really need to have the Flame-Chasers accuse each other one by one?"
Su Lu sighed, balancing a stack of documents as she tirelessly worked, practically a model employee.
Whether it was thanks to the Herrscher of Dominance's influence or the side effects of her corrupted Stigmata, her overtime hours had recently skyrocketed.
"Well, they were never a united front to begin with. That's something I realized too late," Raven said, flipping a coin in her hand. It spun and gleamed as it reflected the light, making a crisp sound as it turned.
If only it didn't bear the engraving "Employee of the Month."
Raven liked to slack off, that much was true. But she had no choice when someone kept preventing her from doing so. Especially when they awarded her this title. She had to admit, their ability to put her in a tight spot was top-notch.
"Was it like this in reality too?"
"…In the Elysian Realm, yes. In reality, I've only met them once. Maybe distance brings people closer, or perhaps a peaceful environment lets them experience normal lives," Raven said cautiously, her tone thoughtful.
She hesitated, thinking of her former superiors. "Now, I'm not sure what their relationships are like."
"By the way, where are they? What about Kiana and the others? We're Herrschers too. Why don't we get to play?"
Anna groaned as she leaned back in her chair, desperate to escape the documents before her. She would rather do anything else than this.
"We…" Raven paused, looking around at the three of them.
Perhaps she shouldn't even be here.
Herrschers were becoming too common. If a banner reading Herrschers Are Humanity's Best Friends ever appeared at St. Freya, she wouldn't even be surprised.
"Because they're the protagonists…?"
Su Lu set down her pen, tilting her head as she offered a half-serious answer.
Anna: "…"
She sighed heavily and resigned herself to the task at hand.
If you think about it positively, doesn't this make her days extra fulfilling?
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Meanwhile, Mei was already combing through the amusement park, searching for clues while also verifying Vill-V as a rather dubious witness.
On the other hand, Su and Hua had set their plans into motion as well, they went to meet Kalpas.
The Sumeru pocket dimension wouldn't hold him for long. Besides, someone had to pull him back onto the right path.
Once again, Su foresaw the future, simulating possible outcomes.
As the Budhi, he understood that when every element of a situation is fixed, only one conclusion remains.
And at this moment, he was certain of one thing...
He was going to die.
The man stepping out of the sea of flames, ready to burn everything down, that man's final strike, the one Su had foreseen, could not be stopped by him and Hua alone.
All futures had been severed, yet he had no choice but to move forward.
Su sighed, a trace of hesitation in his breath. His predictions were not entirely accurate, but neither were they completely wrong.
That battle… was inevitable.
But when he finally found Kalpas, he saw something unexpected, the usually wild warrior stood silently, unmoving.
The stillness felt out of place, so much so that it left Su stunned.
To his surprise, Kalpas didn't impulsively start fighting. It was as if he had been waiting, prepared for this encounter.
With an unyielding tone, Kalpas revealed something, on the night of Sakura's disappearance, he had indeed received a signal meant for the Cocoon, a distress signal.
"As always, isn't it? Whether it's her sister or herself, you people always suspect the ones who need saving first."
Kalpas sneered coldly, his voice carrying an icy bitterness.
"So noble. So righteous! Watching you lot, I'd rather remain a beast!"
He made no attempt to hide his disdain for their hypocritical words.
Kalpas was determined to prove Sakura's innocence.
He took out Sakura's Forget-Me-Not mask. The white leather surface, adorned with two pink ghost flames, was covered in stains and cracks. It was the only thing he had found at the scene when he arrived.
Now, he intended for Su to examine the mask, believing it carried the killer's traces, not Sakura's.
Su leaned down and placed his hand on the mask. After a long silence, he let out a deep sigh.
For once, he wished he could lie.
He knew that the moment he spoke the truth, his vision of the future would solidify into reality.
But...
"The traces on this mask belong to… Elysia."
"What?!" Kalpas's hands clenched tightly, his furious glare shifting between Su and Hua.
"Hah—hahaha—"
Suddenly, he burst into laughter, clutching his mask. The temperature in the space rose sharply as flames erupted around him.
"So, in the end, the fool is me?"
This time, his laughter was directed at himself.
The evidence he had provided only dragged Sakura deeper into suspicion.
If that was the case...
Clearly, he shouldn't have relied on their methods to prove anything. He needed to use his own!
Fire tore through the ground, and Kalpas transformed into a devilish figure, as if climbing out of hell itself.
No one could stop him now.
He ignored Su's lectures and shrugged off futile attacks.
Just as he said from the beginning: the weak and desperate could never stand in his way.
The battle unfolded just as Su had foreseen.
Su activated his final countermeasures, and the two clashed violently.
But the outcome was not the one Su had predicted.
The last strike landed between them, carving a chasm into the ground. If one looked closely, they would see a stream of blue, chaotic data, a clue to the true nature of the Elysian Realm.
"This is the last time. You won't get another chance to stop me."
Leaving the irreparable chasm behind, Kalpas walked away.
It was only then that Su realized the true purpose of Kalpas's actions.
By using his enhanced vision and the rift created by their clash, Kalpas could follow the tear in the data stream, destroying everything he encountered along the way, even the entire Elysian Realm.
He wasn't trying to kill anyone. He wanted to obliterate everything outside of the Flame-Chasers.
Simply put, he intended to flip the table, forcing the mastermind to reveal themselves.
And Su and Hua… had been completely fooled. Kalpas's act of feigned rage wasn't a complicated ruse, but coming from him, it was convincing enough.
Of course, Kalpas's chances of defeating the one behind Kevin and Alicia's deaths were slim.
Still, Su hadn't expected Kalpas to go to such lengths just to clear the doubts surrounding Sakura.
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[Kalpas at it again! True MVP!]
[Basically doing Model 666's job for Kevin... wait, what if Vill-V's device was actually meant to release Kalpas?]
[Kalpas: I make one move, and all the sages collapse.]
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"That's a clever move," Mobius remarked, evaluating the situation with an amused smirk.
"Heh, what's wrong? Are you ashamed to see yourself making an appearance?"
Kalpas did not accept the other's compliment. After all, it was clear that a serpent's mouth could only spew venom, never offering warm words of blessing.
"No… I just think it's a bit of a waste to lose an Apoacalypse-Class to dispel suspicion about Sakura. I only feel that your impending sacrifice is meaningless, that's all. Kalpas, tell me... what kind of hideous expression will you show before you die?"
"Hah—hahaha! I'm more curious about yours, Moi-Bi-U-S!"