The moment that chilling narrator line dropped—
"She paid the price she expected."
—millions of players felt something in their chest collapse.
Theresa had walked into this knowing the cost.
She had accepted death before she even acted.
But nobody wanted to hit "send" on the chat yet.
Because the story… wasn't quite over.
And as long as the screen wasn't showing a corpse, there was still a chance — however tiny — that she'd wake up.
After all, the Honkai story was entering its final act.
If one major character died now, more deaths might follow.
So rather than screaming at the screen, the audience held their breath, eyes glued to the final cutscene, clinging to whatever hope remained.
We shift into Theresa's point of view.
Wind roars past her ears — deafening, hollow, endless.
She was plummeting toward the ground, body limp, mind slipping.
No music.
Just the lonely howl of air — like the world mourning in silence.
Her broken consciousness clung to one last question:
Did it work?
Theresa forced her eyes open, gaze flicking upward toward the shattered remains of the Imaginary Seed.
"...It succeeded… that's… good…"
Only after confirming the victory did her body finally let go.
Her sight blurred.
Her breathing thinned.
Her awareness dimmed.
Then — impossibly — light.
Warm.
Pure.
Sacred.
A radiance descended from above, gentle and not at all threatening — almost tender.
It reminded her of someone.
A memory, soft as snow.
"...Cecilia…"
A white-haired woman, smiling in grace and sorrow.
Theresa reached toward that fading vision—
—and everything went black.
Fade out.
White text.
Chapter 28 — The Far Shore of Will
Will update in seven days.
Silence.
Then:
INSANITY.
The chat detonated into raw, primal chaos.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SEVEN DAYS?!"
"THIS IS A WAR CRIME!!"
"MIHOYO— NO, OTTO — BE A HUMAN BEING!"
"YOU CAN'T END IT THERE WTF"
"IS THERESA DEAD OR NOT??"
"WE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SEE RITA OR DURANDAL??"
"WHAT IS OTTO TRYING TO DO?? IS HE GOOD OR EVIL OR BOTH??"
"I NEED ANSWERS I NEED ANSWERS I NEED ANSWERS—"
"FAST FORWARD SEVEN DAYS RIGHT NOW!!!"
Everyone was suffering.
Too many unresolved threads.
Too many unanswered questions.
Otto's cryptic behavior.
Durandal's fate.
Theresa's survival.
Whether the girls would hunt Otto down.
Whether Otto wanted to be hunted down.
And none of it — NONE OF IT — would be resolved today.
Some of the more explosive viewers were aggressively clawing at the arms of their chairs.
Even Eden and Elysia looked miserable.
"Honestly… can't they update all at once?" Elysia pouted. "This is pure evil."
Eden exhaled slowly, stretching her stiff arms and legs.
They hadn't noticed the time passing — but they'd been streaming for over five hours straight.
"It's already dinner time," Elysia realized in horror. "I need to eat on schedule or I won't sleep well—"
She paused, gaze back toward the screen.
"…but I REALLY want to see what happens next."
Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
Then she turned to the camera.
"Fufu~ You all want to see the next chapter too, right?"
The chat surged back with unanimous desperation:
YES. YES. YES. YES. YES.
Elysia pressed a finger to her lips, smiling like a fox who had just discovered fire.
"In that case~ I'll go talk to Mo Li and ask him to unlock the new content early."
The chat went insane.
People were typing thank-yous like she'd just cured cancer.
Eden facepalmed softly.
There was no universe where Mo Li was going to say yes.
But she also didn't stop Elysia.
Because deep down — she wanted the new chapter just as much.
And honestly?
Sometimes miracles happened around Elysia.
Eden's gaze flicked to the viewer count.
She blinked.
Then stared.
"…twelve million?"
She wasn't shocked about her own popularity.
She was shocked the STREAM hadn't exploded.
What kind of god-tier infrastructure could support twelve million concurrent viewers without melting?!
Bilibili had to be sacrificing servers in the basement like ancient priests.
And she wasn't wrong.
The moment Elysia hit "start stream," the CEO of Bilibili had gone into DEFCON 1.
It was New Year's holiday.
Everyone was home.
Everyone was bored.
Everyone had time.
And Eden — a world-class superstar — was streaming Honkai 3rd gameplay live.
So the CEO:
called every engineer back with 5x holiday pay,
rented server clusters from half the country,
and prayed to every god he knew.
And thank heaven he did.
Because even with all that—
They were barely holding on.
Elysia laughed, utterly delighted.
"Fufu~ If Mo Li knows twelve million people are begging him to update, he won't refuse, right?"
"And even if he does—"
She winked.
"He can't resist my charm forever~"
Eden rubbed her temples — amused and helpless.
At first, she thought Elysia's plan smelled like emotional blackmail.
But then she realized—
From Mo Li's perspective, this was GOLD.
Twelve million people begging for content?
That wasn't pressure.
That was marketing.
No one would complain.
They'd be HAPPY.
And many would pay.
It wasn't emotional manipulation of players.
It was emotional manipulation of the developer.
Eden laughed softly.
"Is this… a form of psychological conditioning?"
She couldn't help admiring the tactic.
High emotional intelligence, masked as mischief.
That was just how Elysia operated.
Elysia waved cheerfully.
"Okay, everyone wait here for a bit~"
Grabbing Eden's wrist, she headed toward the studio cafeteria.
And when they entered—
They froze.
Everyone — literally everyone — was gathered around a long table.
The place was decked out with decorations, dishes, drinks — festive, chaotic, cozy.
Elysia let out an audible gasp.
This was the most lavish meal she'd ever seen in this studio.
Kiana spotted them and waved enthusiastically.
"Elysia~ Eden~ You guys done streaming?"
Eden smiled. "Sort of."
Elysia winked. "Only the first half. We'll be back later."
Then she lowered her voice, eyeing the room.
"Where's Mo Li?"
"In the kitchen with Rita and the others," Kiana said.
"They're cooking."
Eden blinked.
"She can cook?"
Kiana shrugged. "No clue. Rita suggested a feast since today's our last big dinner of the year, so everyone joined in."
Hu Tao popped up, waving her hands.
"We're all making a signature dish!"
Kiana nodded.
"Bronya, Himeko, Yae Miko… everyone's in there."
Hu Tao added cheerfully:
"One great dish each!"
Eden and Elysia exchanged a look.
This atmosphere—
warm, lively, chaotic, comforting—
was everything Eden never had.
She hesitated.
"Are you all going home for New Year?"
Kiana shook her head.
"Nope. Mei and I are staying here. Actually… almost everyone is, except Ayaka and Miko."
Then she paused — realizing something.
"Wait… this dinner might be for Ayaka and Miko."
Eden felt something flutter in her chest.
She and Elysia had always spent holidays alone together — two lonely souls orbiting each other.
But this—
This bustling family of oddballs—
this warmth—
this home—
was something she had never known she missed.
Different personalities.
Different backgrounds.
Different worlds.
Yet together, they created something gentle and healing.
A future worth protecting.
And her heart whispered:
Maybe… staying here for New Year wouldn't be so bad.
To read 90+ future chapters, head over to Patreon:
patreon.com/WhiteDevil7554