["Finally seeing other Flame-Chasers... Su is here too, perfect, I'll ask him to [foresee] something."
With this thought, Mei approaches the Flame-Chasers, but their expressions are all grim. Kevin says coldly: "...This is impossible."
"I also thought it was impossible, so... I verified it repeatedly."
Su says this, but his expression remains troubled. Aponia suggests another possibility: "Perhaps... there's a blind spot in our vision."
"...Is it really that hard to understand?"
"Did you think she's hiding somewhere right now, watching our expressions while laughing hysterically?"
"She has never made this kind of [joke] before."
Mobius shatters their illusions. Mobius knows Elysia well. Just then, Mei approaches and joins the Flame-Chasers' conversation: "Um..."
"Excuse me."
"Has anyone seen Elysia?"
The speaker means no harm, but the listeners each have their own thoughts. Everyone present instantly falls silent. It happens in a moment... as if an invisible wall separates Mei from the four of them. On the other side of the wall, silence begins to creep in. Until the man who never speaks breaks it. "...What do you want with her?"
Kevin asks. "It's not [what I want with her]. She promised to meet me but never showed up, so I'm looking for her."
Kevin falls silent again. Knowing what Kevin's personality is like now, Mei says directly: "...If you don't know, you can just tell me."
Su answers for Kevin: "Sorry, visitor. Elysia... seems to have encountered some trouble."
"She's temporarily..."
After a brief pause, Mei receives three words: "[Has disappeared]."
"...Disappeared?"
Looking at the Flame-Chasers' varied expressions, Mei feels a sense of foreboding but still clings to hope: "...What does [disappeared] mean? Is she hiding, or..."
"Ah... looks like this little lab rat is still kept in the dark."
"Su's words are always hard to understand, let me translate for you—"
Mobius says coldly: "That woman you're looking for..."
"She's dead."
Just then, a light screen covering the entire universe appears, showing the crystal cards of the thirteen Flame-Chasers. The one depicting Elysia appears, and then—
The sound of shattering glass echoes across the universe as Elysia's crystal card file slowly breaks into pieces.] [
[Silver Wolf]: "Corruption, you really deserve to die!"
[Pardofelis]: "Wuwuwu, Sister Elysia..."
[Mobius]: "Very well, Herrscher of Corruption, is it? You're very well..."
[Stelle]: "What the hell is this damn file!? Elysia shattered?"
[]: "Sorry sorry, to let you experience the authentic Elysian Realm storyline, I specially added this feature. Just focus on the light screen before you, and you can pull up this file~~"
[March 7th]: "You're such a bad guy!"
[Qingque]: "This design... you're not planning to make all the cards shatter, are you!?"
[Aha]: "Woo-hoo~~ Aha likes this design~ So much fun~~"
[Shush]: "Very likely. The crystal cards shattering is 'sui sui ping an' - shattering brings peace, a homophone that's quite amusing."
[March 7th]: "Shush! If you're not telling bad puns, you're telling hell jokes now!?"
[Honkai: Star Rail - Void Archives]: "...I don't think I taught you this. Show some respect to the Flame-Chasers."
["If one day, all it took was pulling the trigger on me like this to save [the majority]..."
"Kevin, what would you do?"
For no reason, he remembered these words. Faced with this situation, what would the sages of ancient times who possessed great wisdom say? For a scenario that hasn't occurred in fifty thousand years, even Kevin doesn't know how to handle it.
Naturally, Mei doesn't believe that Elysia could die in the Elysian Realm, so she keeps pressing Kevin and Su for answers. Aponia tells Mei that Elysia's data has permanently disappeared from the Elysian Realm. Mei still refuses to give up and asks: "Has there never been a case of a memory disappearing in these fifty thousand years?"
Aponia confirms: "Yes, this is indeed the first time. [Unwilling to appear] and [vanishing without trace] are different after all, and..."
Halfway through, Aponia looks at Su and says: "Let's... wait for Su to give us results first."
Under Su's ability, the records of the Elysian Realm are laid bare, but they still can't find any trace of Elysia's existence. Mei's expression is also troubled, filled with uncontrollable worry. To better trace the truth, Su suspects the discarded data and invites Mei to help. For Elysia's sake, Mei naturally doesn't refuse. At the final moment, Kevin also appears to help. Looking at their expectant faces, Su says with forced calm: "I have searched all the data in the Elysian Realm..."
Su sighs deeply and shakes his head. "Not only did we find nothing, but Sakura's data has also shown discrepancies."
"The data constituting her main body has also disappeared without a trace; but some traces she left behind were accidentally preserved."
When they return to the Eternal Elysian Realm, Aponia and Mobius have been arguing about Elysia for an hour. After Kevin explains the situation to them, he asks them to keep it secret. This matter is too important - no sixth person in the Elysian Realm should learn of this news. At this moment, Kevin thinks of that typewriter, that Elysian Realm information output terminal.]
[Pardofelis]: "Help! Even Sister Sakura got hit!"
[Gallagher]: "In the eyes of the Flame-Chasers who don't know the truth, there aren't even many they can trust."
[Kafka]: "Clearly, the Flame-Chasers as a group were established through Elysia's connections. With Elysia gone and Corruption lurking, the trust among the Flame-Chasers is already precarious."
[March 7th]: "To be able to hide after Su searched all the Elysian Realm's data, silently assassinating Elysia and Sakura from the shadows... this guy is way too overpowered, isn't it?"
[Silver Wolf]: "Corrosive data virus, normal. If it were just a data virus, since they're also in the data space, the Flame-Chasers naturally wouldn't lose to it. But Corruption's authority is practically a natural enemy to data space."
[Mobius]: "If it couldn't do these things, I would doubt whether it's truly the Herrscher of Corruption."
[Sparkle]: "Look here, look there~ Elysian Realm Werewolf game, grand opening! Let's see when the Flame-Chasers will finally dig out Corruption hiding in the shadows~"