After players had been amazed once by Vill-V's mode of movement, they were once again shocked by her method of attack.
The livestream chat in Elysia's stream filled with a flurry of clattering keystrokes.
Pardofelis, who had been occasionally chatting with Elysia, suddenly felt a strong sense of déjà vu upon seeing Vill-V stomping on that Gatling gun.
Wasn't this...
Exactly the same pose Vill-V had when she went wild with her Gatling Snowball Cannon during the snowball fight in front of the Golden Courtyard a while back?
It seemed that being ambushed and knocked down by Vill-V left a very deep impression on Hokuto.
Pardofelis muttered this to herself.
Meanwhile, Elysia had already wrapped up the battle quickly with Vill-V's help.
The story continued.
Mei pondered aloud, "These monsters… feel a lot like this amusement park."
"Well, it is Elysia's memory space," Vill-V shrugged. "Even the enemies here must have been affected by her—turned all pink and frilly?"
"Affected..."
Mei chewed on that word.
"If Elysia's will can influence even the monsters' appearance, then if her state changes… would this 'influence' also change?"
"For example… before I came here, I saw some strange enemies, almost like they were faded, and their forms resembled those monsters in Griseo's studio."
At that line, Elysia's hand paused slightly over the touchscreen.
If "Elysia" herself changed, would that also alter the "influence"?
Hmm...
Elysia remembered when she'd voiced the Faded Fairy before.
So in the coming story, will the Faded Fairy actually appear?
Linking all that together—
Maybe "Elysia" didn't know what had happened to her, transformed into the Faded Fairy, and that's why she vanished—and why those faded monsters started appearing?
Elysia felt like she was starting to "get it" again.
In-game, Vill-V, hearing Mei's question, didn't seem to be thinking quite so deeply as real-world Elysia.
She simply suggested Mei go ask Griseo directly about the faded monsters.
And the story promptly shifted to Griseo's perspective.
Griseo was fretting over what to paint today.
I_can't_draw_anything.jpg
So Kosma suggested they take a walk and investigate a bit while they were at it.
But they hadn't walked far when—
Griseo noticed a strange color, and upon closer inspection, found Honkai beasts.
The game entered battle phase.
"Huh? We get to control Griseo in battle?"
Elysia blinked: "Does that mean Griseo's ready? I wonder how she feels to play?"
She took the controls with a hint of excitement.
Of course, being her first time, she didn't figure out that holding down the branch button triggered two different attack types—and what conditions triggered each one...
But she did hear Griseo's ultimate line when she used her burst.
"Brush, submit to me!"
Elysia: "..."
She had suspected this moment would come eventually, but hearing it suddenly still felt surreal.
[Didn't think it would happen for real… 'Brush, submit to me.']
[Roar, Kosma!!]
[When it comes to memes, MiHoYo really knows what they're doing, 23333]
[If they're already this prepared, Griseo is definitely joining the Hyperion sooner or later—it's just a matter of when.]
[Maybe MiHoYo is waiting for a lucky date or something.]
...
Players began looking forward to Griseo boarding the Hyperion.
Seeing how enthusiastic everyone was about "Brush, submit to me," Pardofelis, ever business-minded, suddenly had an idea.
What if she got real-life Griseo to perform "Brush, submit to me," and recorded it?
Surely lots of people would be interested in that video, right?
Maybe… it's a path to serious cash?
Pardofelis started getting excited.
Though it was still just a thought in her head, so it didn't affect the others.
Elysia continued cheerfully controlling Griseo in combat.
After wiping out a wave of Honkai beasts—
The battle seemed to be over, and she was about to relax.
But new enemies (faded monsters) appeared soon after, emitting an unnervingly strange aura.
"Griseo, get behind me."
Kosma stepped forward immediately, shielding Griseo as he stared down the faded monsters. With one hand clenched, he prepared to strike.
BOOM——!!
Before he could move—
A bolt of red lightning crashed down from the sky, instantly wiping out all the beasts.
Mei, wrapped in thunder, stood coldly by their charred remains with her blade in hand.
Her long-awaited stylish entrance slammed a massive wave of cool points.
[Mei's entrance this time is seriously badass!]
"Herrscher of Thunder…"
Kosma looked at Mei, his tone filled with curiosity—clearly confused about her sudden arrival.
Mei replied bluntly: "We had something to discuss with Griseo. So we came."
"…We?"
Kosma was still puzzled when—
"Of course, me too!"
It all happened in a flash—emerging from a puff of smoke behind Kosma was Vill-V, with a sharp claw resting lightly against her neck.
Vill-V stepped back half a pace: "What is this? Does everyone just have to press something lethal against my neck today?"
Kosma stared at her, analyzing the situation.
Since she came with Raiden Mei, she must also know what's going on.
He withdrew his claws. "Don't do that again. This isn't a time for 'performance.'"
Speaking of which, Vill-V and Kosma's relationship was rather… peculiar.
Vill-V sees Kosma as a blue-thread connection, but Kosma views her with a red thread.
Why?
It all relates to that so-called "performance" Kosma mentioned.
Once upon a time, Vill-V and Kosma did a magic show together.
Things like… sawing a person in half, sword-pierced barrel, water tank escape...
Hmm, by Vill-V's standards, those sound pretty normal, right?
But... what if Vill-V had intentionally used props with no safety mechanisms?
Let's just say, among all the complex ties between the Flame-Chasers, theirs is particularly real.
After being the one on the chopping block, it'd be strange if Kosma didn't glare at her now and then.
Still, Mei wasn't paying much attention to that right now. She asked Griseo about the faded monsters.
Griseo shook her head, saying those monsters had nothing to do with her.
So then… what in the paintbrush-world is going on?
Everyone seemed to have stumbled onto a major mystery.
And neither Mei nor the Flame-Chasers were the type to sit around—they decided to investigate actively.
Conveniently, Griseo could still trace remnants left by the faded monsters.
Under her guidance, they arrived at a plaza.
"It's here."
Just as Griseo spoke—
Dozens of bizarrely shaped monsters surged in from all sides.
"They've appeared… the [Faded] monsters."
"Hmm? That one…"
As everyone fought back the monsters, one particular figure at the rear caught Mei's attention.
She felt like she'd seen it somewhere before.
Though puzzled, she still helped take down all the monsters with the others.
After the battle, Griseo shared an important discovery.
"How strange… Why is this? Two kinds of strange colors…"
"Those faded monsters have my paint on them… but the other kind, it doesn't. It's just… just a [familiar feeling]."
[Paint, but the colors are weird? Only Griseo can perceive colors among the Flame-Chasers, right? I have a theory—could the culprit be someone who can copy abilities?]
[Copying powers? Does any Flame-Chaser have that kind of skill?]
[Familiar feeling? Don't say it's Grandma Mobius… (scared)]
"..."
"Doesn't Griseo's comment make you think of anything?"
Mobius suddenly spoke up for no apparent reason.
"Hmm?" Elysia made a soft questioning sound.
"One kind had her paint. The other didn't. Do you remember Griseo's final Remembrance?"
Mobius continued smoothly.
"Griseo once wanted to paint a portrait of Elysia to give her as a gift."
"But in the end, she couldn't bring herself to put even a single brushstroke on the canvas. So the painting remained completely blank."
She spoke like someone reciting a textbook—clearly, she remembered every detail of Griseo's Remembrance.
"Doesn't that tie in exactly with this idea of having 'no paint'?"
"…Mobius, are you saying these faded monsters are related to Elysia?" someone asked.
"I'm just offering my thoughts."
"..."
After listening to Mobius's analysis, Elysia wore a thoughtful expression.
This meant—
The possibility of a link between the faded monsters and the Faded Fairy had just risen dramatically.
But… what exactly was that link?
And what on earth was the Faded Fairy?
It couldn't be… Elysia got bored one day and dyed herself, right?
Hmm… although knowing Elysia, she really might do something like that…
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