Luo Mo handled the controls with ease. From the beginning, the game development system he used seemed to include enhancements to gaming skill. Maybe the system thought that a higher gaming proficiency would help in the trial process?
He didn't quite understand it, but one thing was certain—his gaming skill was improving much faster than he remembered in the past. He was now one of the few people in the dorm who could go toe-to-toe with gaming fanatics like Bronya and Bronie. Passing this level wasn't that hard for him.
After choosing a suitable character from the available selection, he took control of one of the characters in the Elysian Realm and fully concentrated. Through agile dodges and escapes, with one final strike, he easily took down the Herrscher of Corruption.
Of course, Elysia's encouraging voice beside him was also a major reason for his performance.
"Go, Luo Mo! Hurry up and knock that girl down ♪"
This playful commentary stirred the audience and filled them with envy:
----
[Damn it, I want to beat up Corruption too. Ellie, can you cheer for me too?]
[I'm a disciple of the Church of Love! I must fight for our beloved leader!]
[I didn't expect the boss of a game company to be this skilled. Tell me, are you secretly gaming all day? Is that why the main story keeps getting delayed? Just make an event and be done with it!]
----
Luo Mo just glanced at the screen without responding. After wrapping up the battle in a clean, decisive fashion, he smoothly handed back the controls to the player, letting them proceed with the next mixed challenge.
After all, one person's effort had its limits. His goal was to bring out more individual initiative in the group. Managing the entire situation was his responsibility. Of course, supporting Ellie was also extremely important—otherwise, how else would he prove he was the most faithful disciple of the Church of Love?
Humans were born for love.
...
Inside the game, the Corruption Herrscher slowly collapsed. The Elysian Realm crumbled. Among the rising points of light, Elysia touched a fragment—under a burning backdrop, a white-haired, high-ponytailed girl raised a greatsword. It was a fragment of the Herrscher of Flamescion.
Sure enough, upon examining it, one of the chains on the Flamescion's interface had broken—moreover, it applied server-wide.
Three more successful fragment releases meant that all players could use the character in combat, without needing to fumble for proper builds or direction.
Elysia had really good luck; the key progression hit right on her stage.
Luo Mo stepped back a bit, watching her interact with the fans—her cheeks glowing, eyes sparkling with light. This experience brought her a fresh excitement.
Noticing Luo Mo's gaze, she turned to smile at him, radiant as the first time they met.
---
Meanwhile, over at Fu Hua's side...
It was total chaos from the start.
Although Fu Hua herself didn't want to appear, Luo Mo figured there were at least three of her, so he didn't say much. Besides, the "little Fu Hua" Senti seemed very eager to take her place.
Still, when the younger version Hu appeared, the original Fu Hua couldn't help but worry. In the end, the two decided to proceed with the little version in the lead.
Fu Hua stood by to help—serving tea, bringing water—and Senti was very pleased with herself.
"So, you're really that thirsty?" Fu Hua asked helplessly, arranging things behind her.
"Of course! I've been dreaming of this moment forever. Besides, didn't I finish the drink already? Do you think I'd lie to you?"
Little Senti rubbed her belly, slightly smug, and handed the tea cup back to her counterpart. She winked and said:
"Now go! Don't keep the audience waiting."
Fu Hua took the cup silently. She couldn't help but feel a little regret. Had she known things would get this weird, she would've just done it herself.
---
[What did I just walk into? Reverse Tenketsu?!]
[I have no idea what's going on. Is this post-trauma compensation after getting tricked by Honkai mom?]
[Little Senti, take your time. Slaying the Seven Swords of the Void was super satisfying just now.]
---
The previous stage Little Senti played was related to the Seven Swords of the Void. Through some chaotic operation, she successfully pissed off all seven and turned them into enemies. What followed was a thrilling rescue battle.
You had to admit, the storyline took some unexpected intelligent turns. Even characters that were originally written to become friends could now turn hostile. She was very satisfied with this—she only wished the characters didn't glow green so much.
"Anyway, Honkai Impact 3 is starting to feel way more interesting now," she said with a pleased nod.
She didn't forget to glare at Fu Hua, pressuring her to keep making tea. After all, she was saving the world right now.
"Looks like the next stage won't be so easy," Fu Hua said calmly, pointing to the screen. She didn't seem too bothered by being ordered around. If the girl could drink all that, she didn't mind continuing to serve.
"What's there to be afraid of? Hmph! My gaming skills are legendary. Even Luo Mo said it himself: 'Where there's a Fu Hua, there's victory!' My name is literally in the word 'Fu Hua!'"
Herrscher of Sentience spoke proudly.
Luo Mo absolutely did not say that. At least not in those words.
"Hmm, this stage is kind of interesting." She rubbed her chin, analyzing seriously.
----
[Role Objective: Make everyone firmly believe you are Fu Hua]
[From the moment of birth, unify your self, super-ego, and ego with the goal of mimicking Fu Hua's behavior and mannerisms]
[First, facing this injured blond man approaching you, you will…]
[Spit directly on his smug face]
[Smash his thick face with a heavy fist]
[Force him to recall the six matching outfits from your past together]
---
"Yikes~ Old Timer, what would you do in this situation?"
Herrscher of Sentience took a sharp breath in. Her originally overflowing confidence instantly dropped by 50%. She felt like this behavior… well, sure, she could pull it off. But the whole idea was to imitate Fu Hua.
But wait—who is really being imitated here!?
"..." Fu Hua stayed silent.
"Herrscher of Corruption probably corroded the logic of the script, so don't think too hard about it," Luo Mo said from the side, interrupting the moment.
---
["Hmph, Otto, if you change into that outfit, let's call the past between us even. How about it?"]
[The 'Red Flame Immortal' said this with some bitterness. Otto furrowed his brows, feeling her behavior was a bit odd.]
[Still, it's just an outfit. He laughed freely and agreed.]
---
"Phew… hard to say if I picked the right choice just now. But I guess holding your head high in confidence might not work out after all," Herrscher of Sentience sighed, continuing to focus on the game.
Fu Hua had a black line appear on her forehead. She couldn't shake the feeling that the word "imitation" was blinding. Who was really being imitated here?
---
[Otto somewhat regretted it. Couldn't blame the Red Flame Immortal—he just had to change an outfit, but still… the decision had already been made.]
[So he went to change clothes, his expression calm, showing no awkwardness at wearing women's clothing. He even added with some thought:]
"Next, I need you to go to Sky Dome for me. Something unexpected might happen there."
You choose ——
1. Who are you to order me around?
2. Alright, just the chance I needed to get close to Kiana and tell her she's alive.
3. Hmm… I want to go back to St. Freya. I owe them an apology.
---
For a moment… Herrscher of Sentience instinctively leaned toward the first two options. Good thing they both sounded like something she might actually say—so she wasn't completely thrown off by the choices.
"Hmm, well… the third one doesn't really fit the scene. Alright, short kings rise up—it's option two," she muttered.
Fu Hua rubbed her temples behind her. Watching herself be misrepresented so thoroughly was giving her a headache.
Luo Mo only shrugged and quietly walked away. It was already clear this "Fu Hua imitation mini-game" was doomed to fail—visible to the naked eye.
----
Meanwhile, on Bronya and Mei's side, their mission had a similar theme.
They were both thrust into a stage related to post-Honkai content. The enemies? Flying monsters—skeletal wings twisting mid-air, black as pitch, teeth bared.
"…Are they seriously using that cheap trick?" Bronya frowned.
To include post-collapse monsters without any corresponding characters? That's just blatant cheating.
Actually—no. The enemy was just one step ahead, claiming "air superiority" early.
"Bronya… What do we do now?" Mei asked nervously.
Although Mei wasn't that into the game, she was the voice actress for her character. And with Kiana and Bronya always dragging her in to play, she'd gotten at least a little familiar. But the problem now was… only Bronya's character had any ability to fight back at range.
The others were totally unarmed. What were they supposed to do?
"Same as that guy earlier—just hack the game," Bronya sneered, utterly unfazed.
She flipped to another controller and began manipulating a different console. Pale blue lights lit up across the virtual "keyboard," and cascading symbols flew down the screen like a waterfall—powerful-looking, mysterious runes.
In the game, her and Mei's characters started to become blurry…
"Ah~" Bronya let out a surprised sound, like she'd discovered something strange.
"Turns out the characters were locked by the enemy with an additional layer of encryption. It'll take some time to break it."
"Mei, want to try this untested prototype character model?"
"Untested?" Mei looked confused, unsure what Bronya meant.
"Yeah. Just try one—it doesn't work, pick another. This prototype must've been secretly held back by the boss. He always likes to prepare for everything."
"...Bronya, I'm standing right next to you," Luo Mo helplessly walked over to stand beside Bronya. After glancing at the screen, he could tell that the flying enemies were truly tough to deal with.
Still, why did it feel like he'd been robbed by the Herrscher of Corruption or something? And besides, he was the boss—why was Bronya using the term "sneakily"?
"Aha, perfect timing. Let's take a look at what you've got in your stash. You don't mind, right?" Bronya smiled playfully, her eyes teasing him.
"Well, I can only hope your luck holds out," Luo Mo replied with a sideways glance.
"You'll be dealing with more of those flying mobs soon, and they're not exactly easy to take down."
Honestly, there wasn't much else he could say—especially when she'd just used a half-finished test model of Seele in the previous challenge and pushed it out in front of the public.
As luck would have it (or misfortune), the two of them drew new characters: one got Rita in her Moon Knight armor wielding an ice-type scythe, and the other got Fischel, the electro-princess from another world.
"Raven of darkness, heed the call of the night—"
"Let the illusion of twilight descend!"
Under the night sky, violet arrows shot down like rain, piercing the flying monsters and dealing heavy critical damage. The numbers weren't bad at all—much more effective than Bronya's previous method of slowly chipping away with weapon skills.
Fischel used a bow, and as far as Honkai 3rd went, only Elysia and Raven had used bows before—though Raven's usability was... questionable.
Soon after, Bronya also swapped her Rita out for Fischel, and found the combat far smoother.
"As expected—out with the old, in with the new. But where did this character even come from? No prior announcement, no teaser." Bronya muttered in confusion.
"Uhm…" Mei could only smile awkwardly. This wasn't her strong suit, but at least she could keep up. Gaming had never been her forte.
Luo Mo, on the other hand, rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Wait... had he not yet implemented Rita's armor into the game? And how did a Genshin-style character sneak in here?
Surely the Herrscher of Corruption didn't infect their own internal data storage?
But… it was too late. The virus had already spread beyond their own systems. Trying to fix it now was pointless. Stopping the Erosion would not be an easy task.
As for Fischel… the upcoming collab event they had planned was now unintentionally revealed in advance.
---
[Fischl… Is she a future character? She hasn't shown up in any event so far!]
[Wait, did Bronya just say this was from the Herrscher of Corruption? Are we seriously roleplaying this now??]
[Update the game now! I want to pull for the new character! Also, release Wendy while you're at it. Give us what we saw in that VCR!]
---
The players were going wild.
But no matter how loudly they shouted, releasing a new character required the devs to first regain control of the game.
"We'll talk about new character drops after we finish this event. If we can't defeat the Herrscher of Corruption, then this game's development might come to a halt for real~" Bronya frowned as she addressed the others through the screen.
She remembered clearly: they still had a mission.
The number of infected data clusters was enormous—but so was the number of people fighting back. Bronya believed they still had a chance.
"Seele, still stuck at that one challenge?" After clearing a round, she exhaled lightly and turned to the quiet blue-haired girl beside her.
"N-No… I just moved on to the next stage, but… um… I'll handle it on my own!" Seele stammered, her face flushed red as she quickly hid her phone behind her back, not letting Bronya see.
Seele wasn't even part of the main plan. She was a shy girl to begin with, and her brief appearance in Bronya's scenes had already had a surprising impact.
Bronya gave Seele a suspicious look but didn't press further. Everyone had their own privacy, after all.
But on Seele's hidden phone screen, the current stage was clearly the one Bronya had lost in earlier—the one filled with a blushing, heart-pounding scene scripted to make young girls swoon...
---
Meanwhile, in a quiet corner of the St. Freya Academy lobby, far from the camera view—
Luo Mo had taken a break from watching the Valkyries and returned here. That stage was certainly interesting, but what mattered now was what came next.
Turning the Valkyries into idols was just one step in the plan. He had never expected that one single gesture would defeat the enemy. The true purpose of an idol… was to inspire emotion, to uplift the spirit, to stand tall in the face of adversity—and never give up.
There was still a lot to do.
"Schicksal has completed the pre-event preparations. Every government around the world has been notified and is ready with countermeasures... It's time for us to reveal the truth about Honkai and the game's reality," Kallen said with a sigh.
Who would've thought that after all their efforts to cover up Honkai's existence, it would be Schicksal itself that exposed everything?
But Kallen felt somewhat relieved.
If the truth had been exposed recklessly by the Honkai themselves, the consequences could have been far worse. Take this incident as an example—if the Herrscher of Corruption had infected everything, not just the game, they'd be facing a global network collapse. The only reason they had a chance now was because the infection started with the game.
If not for that, they wouldn't have had time to react, and the locked characters wouldn't have been their only loss.
"Yes… it's definitely time," Luo Mo said calmly.
He had anticipated this moment when they first made the game. It was only a matter of time.
---
[Official Schicksal Notice: The content of the game "Honkai Impact 3rd" is based on REAL events. Honkai, Herrschers, and Valkyries all exist in reality, though the storylines must be interpreted independently.]
[Due to the current attack of the Herrscher of Corruption, players are encouraged to participate in clearing the in-game stages as part of the real-world defense effort. Or in Honkai's own words: "For the beauty of our world, we shall fight!"]
[Valkyries Elysia, Kiana, Mei, Bronya, Fu Hua, and Sirin are all fighting bravely. Please follow in their footsteps and resist the wave of Corruption.]
[Statement verified by Schicksal HQ, Anti-Entropy Corporation, and the Divine State's official government authorities.]