MGSFV?! Chapter 423. Klein's Epilogue; Did Kevin Just Black Out?
"Is this a side quest?"
"Mm. You can go back and take a look if you'd like."
"Hmm..."
Truthfully, Klein's situation did seem worth checking out.
After all, according to the Elysian Realm story, Mobius used the last moments of her life to create a so-called "Infinity" for Klein's future.
What happened after that?
What plans does Klein have now?
Just thinking about it made the urge to return even stronger.
"Then... I'll go take a look first?"
Now fully in "I'm curious" mode, Elysia decided to head back to the Moon Base to check out the side content.
However, to meet Klein on the Moon, Elysia would need to...
As Hokuto mentioned earlier, raise the Hub Level to five.
"Huh? How do you level up the Hub?"
With the game's producer sitting right next to her, Elysia turned to Hokuto for a walkthrough.
Hokuto replied—deliberately neutral:
"Do quests for Klein."
"?...Then how do I find Klein to give me quests?"
"Raise the Hub Level to five." Hokuto still sounded totally 'calm.'
"..."
Elysia went quiet.
'Mr. Otto,' do you even hear what you're saying?
The stream also fell into a strange silence.
"Ahem, ahem..."
Hokuto knew it was time to cut it out.
He coughed lightly, then offered some real advice:
"...There are plenty of ways to raise the Hub Level. Easiest one's opening treasure chests around the map."
He paused, then helpfully added:
"I know the routes. I can guide you."
"So you were just messing around again earlier, huh... fine, whatever..."
Elysia decided to let it slide.
Back to business.
She began wandering the Moon Base, looking for scattered treasure chests.
With Hokuto's guidance—and shortcut advice—the process didn't take too long.
Still, it left Elysia a little stunned...
"Mr. Otto, you're... way too good at playing Honkai Impact 3rd."
"Well, I did make it myself. Isn't that normal?"
"Hmm..."
Is it really? Not every game developer can play their own game this well.
Hokuto really was different from others.
With mixed thoughts, Elysia finished collecting the chests and raised the Hub Level to 5.
Immediately, several quest notifications popped up.
Her concerns vanished in an instant.
It's here! It's happening!
...
Not long after—
Elysia followed the quest markers and quickly found Klein wandering somewhere on the Moon Base.
That's right—Klein was... aimlessly wandering.
"You're the colleague Uncle Grey Serpent mentioned, right?"
Xiaokong looked down at the tiny Klein.
"...Are you a World Serpent executive too?" Seele studied her thoughtfully.
Yes, the side quest protagonists were Xiaokong and Seele.
In response to the girls' questions—
Klein shook her head:
"Executive? No, I'm just a systems administrator. I don't have that kind of combat ability."
Truly worthy of being Mobius's former assistant—the tone of speech matches.
Before players could start roasting her—
Klein's next line stunned them.
"Anyway, I'll introduce myself properly. Hello, I'm Klein, Dr. Mobius's assistant. I was mainly in charge of the Elysian Realm's..."
Then she paused—noticeably.
Because she remembered that the Elysian Realm she managed—
And that troublesome Dr. Mobius—
Were both... gone.
[Seriously? Even this is a knife?]
[A sudden stab to the heart.]
[It's all gone... no more Elysian Realm, no more Mobius (losing it)]
[Small knife ≠ not a knife. Small knife ≠ not a knife.]
Coincidentally, a certain producer agreed...
Small knife ≠ not a knife (smile).
Klein: "..."
Only after a long pause did she speak again—
Trying to continue.
"Hello, I'm Klein. I'm still Dr. Mobius's assistant."
Still...
"And now I'm mainly responsible for... um..."
She had no hesitation when stating she was still Mobius's assistant—
But stumbled when trying to describe her current duties.
Just as Dr. Mobius once sighed—
Freedom was both a terrifying and difficult concept for Klein.
Now that her five-thousand-year-long duty had ended, no one would assign her tasks anymore.
She had to find her own reason to continue living—
To face an uncertain future with her own will.
Compared to that, death might've been easier.
At least, for an ordinary mechanical lifeform.
Klein: "..."
[The future... is the last type of "Infinity" I will create for you. Farewell, my understanding one.]
[Sigh~~~]
At this point, even the chat gave up trying to call out the self-inflicted pain.
Anyone who knew the backstory couldn't help feeling... complicated.
But Seele and Xiaokong didn't know about the Elysian Realm.
They weren't supposed to notice Klein's inner confusion or sadness.
And yet—
"Hello, Klein. I'm Seele Vollerei. This is Xiaokong, and that's Mark Bunny.
It's nice to meet you."
Such a beautiful thing to say.
Proof that Seele really did have high emotional intelligence.
Thanks to her comforting tone—
Klein managed to temporarily suppress her swirling thoughts and began interacting with Seele.
What followed was a series of simple fetch quests.
But—
Each time Seele returned with materials and checked in with Klein, the two grew closer.
They had deeper conversations.
And Seele gradually noticed Klein's sorrow, taking the initiative to console her.
"Seele really is perfect for this."
"Definitely."
Seele was Honkai Impact 3rd's official comfort character.
Anyone who had ever spoken with Seele—truly spoken—ended up liking her.
"With Seele around, I guess we don't have to worry about Klein anymore."
Elysia watched as, under Seele's gentle guidance, Klein finally made a new decision.
[Though this task took a long time... every job has an end.]
[While it was a mission given by the real doctor—
it's also the real doctor who ended it.]
Back in the Elysian Realm arc—
Klein once questioned the difference between a memory clone of Mobius and the real Mobius.
Now, she seemed to have her answer.
Mobius is Mobius.
She was the same person, from beginning to end.
[I heard her final words—so I no longer believe I'm just doing a job.]
She did hear Mobius's last message?
That's... truly wonderful.
Of course, if Mobius were still alive, she'd probably refuse to admit it.
She'd definitely act all tsundere and sulk about it.
...Just imagining it was already funny.
Too bad that chance would never come again.
[I'm... processing a gift.
Since I can't return it, I'll do my best not to waste it.]
"That's good enough."
Elysia felt relieved at last.
She wrapped up Klein's side quest and returned to the main storyline.
Previously:
Kiana and the others set off under Prometheus's plan to locate the Imaginary Husk within the world bubble.
The three split up again.
Kiana headed toward her target location—it was still quite far.
She bounced and leapt her way through the terrain until reaching a massive, ancient-looking hall.
There, she discovered mysterious floating remains.
"So... this is the 'Imaginary Husk,' huh..."
As Kiana examined the Husk—
Some observant entities picked up on the signal and, following that thin connection across the edge of the world, projected their voice through.
"Kiana... Kiana?"
"Can you hear me, Kiana!"
[Huh?! It's Dudu!!!]
[Is Durandal's voice always this soft when calling Kiana now? Sounds so sweet. Perfectly voiced.]
[Well, Dudu already knows she and Kiana are sisters.]
[Dudu and Buggy—those nicknames do match.]
Actually, Durandal just returned to her normal tone when calling Kiana.
It wasn't intentionally softened.
...
Meanwhile—
Dr. Mei looked at the mechanical girl in front of her.
"Looks like they've found you, Unit 17.
But... is the situation going so well that you don't need to follow up yourself?"
"Not quite," Prometheus shook her head.
"But given the circumstances, I thought returning here was necessary."
"There are things I can't explain with just knowledge."
"Or, you could say I'm experiencing what humans call... frustration."
Can robots even feel frustration?
From how Prometheus ran away from the others earlier...
And now...
She clearly wasn't emotionless. Quite the opposite—
Her emotional range was... rich.
Surprisingly humanlike.
[Classic archetype—stoic outside, emotional inside robot girl.]
[I love this trope, but I hope miHoYo dares to give Prometheus an even more surprising arc.]
Hmm...
Whether it'll be surprising or not, who knows—
But Kevin definitely just blacked out (not really).
You don't realize...
How much psychological damage one little girl can deal to a 50,000-year-old man.
Ahem.
Back to the point.
Prometheus was "frustrated" because she suspected Mei had lied to Kiana and the others.
Mei's plan might be far more complex than just:
"Return the world bubble to the Imaginary Tree."
To that accusation, Mei responded calmly:
"...That's a bit too serious, isn't it?
You know as well as I do—since this world bubble was activated,
its destruction has been an irreversible process."
[So... Mei never intended to save the bubble in the first place?]
[I was hoping Mei and Kevin would meet again.]
[Wait, so everything Mei said earlier was fake? It all sounded so reasonable! Even actionable!]
[Mei's scary... we really don't know what she's planning. Is this "absolute rationality"?]
"Elysia, what do you think?"
Hokuto, rarely, asked Elysia's opinion.
"I think..."
Elysia paused thoughtfully.
"Maybe it's just a tiny, insignificant calculation—
that only matters to her, and no one else."
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
"Because Mei is still human.
She has feelings.
So at the very end... she'd still have a wish of her own."
"...Is that so?"
Hokuto was silent for a beat.
Then said to himself:
"Maybe.
Sometimes, it's idealists who end up saving the world."
After all—
A realist, when faced with the unbeatable collapse, might just give up.
Realism means you don't waste effort on the impossible.
If you do... you're probably not a realist anymore.
...
As Elysia and Hokuto chatted—
The screen changed again.
Upon a desolate land, a man sat alone in silence.
A man who, under any circumstance, could never be ignored.
The power that once swept the world away like dust—
Now knelt quietly at his feet, subdued and obedient.
And yet, apart from that power—
Could he be called... empty?
Kevin.
At first glance, everyone immediately knew that name.
Behind him—
Fuhua stood, quietly watching him.
Fuhua: "..."
Kevin: "..."
[Old comrades reunited.jpg]
[What are they doing? Roleplaying as Kos-mos?]
[Shhh! Be serious—something big's about to happen!]
[What big thing? Kevin gonna one-shot the class rep? (dog emoji)]
[You don't really think that won't happen... right?]
[...]*n
The tension began to rise.
Like this story Leave a review ; it would really help me out a lot.
Want to Read Ahead in Advance?
Join my Patreon!
+75 Chapters
Support me in
Patreon.com/BestElysium