The players right now wanted nothing more than to take Vill-V and just—slice! Cut her down in one clean strike!
Clearly, Mei felt the same way.
"…I see."
She clenched her fists tightly. "Since you've brought up all your thoughts… do you know what I'm thinking at this very moment?"
"To me right now, there's only one thing on my mind."
Mei slowly closed her eyes, trying to focus and piece together those syllables slipping away in memory.
"It's simple… I want to be friends with Mei-san."
That was what Pardofelis had said to her.
"I still haven't… given her an answer…"
[That's a blade! Stop with the blades! We're going numb!]
[A cut worth billions.]
[Cat Cat once said, life is but an empty dream—arriving in haste, departing in haste. And she really did depart in haste… (expletive) (expletive)]
[Cat Cat! Even flashbacks now? MiHoYo, your sins are too great! And this chat is full of ghosts aiding the villain.]
[Mei-sama! Avenge Cat Cat!!]
Amid the audience's outrage—
The game cut to a dynamic CG.
BOOM!!
Thunder exploded through the area.
"And you… made my friend sacrifice herself for such an absurd reason…"
Her eyes remained closed. She already knew what surrounded her.
It was that seemingly endless lightning—and that equally endless fury.
The power of the Herrscher of Thunder surged within her once more.
"…Then you'd best be ready to pay the price."
(Power-saving mode: OFF)
With a burst of majestic, thunderous electronic sound—
Red lightning erupted.
Grasping the authority of conquest, the imposing and awe-inspiring Herrscher of Thunder stood before them once again.
Mei returned to her full-power Herrscher of Thunder state.
Vill-V the villain! Time to witness the strength of a hundred—wait, wrong line.
Anyway, after Mei's spectacular reappearance, she immediately summoned a crimson thunderbolt and struck it down upon the "the villain."
However…
The "the villain" suddenly vanished, and even Mei was displaced to a fragmented edge platform by an unknown force.
This was the "the villain's" mental realm, where she held absolute control.
To avoid being isolated, Mei had to keep moving—preventing the "the villain" from precisely cutting off her location.
The one in full control, Vill-V, didn't want to expend too much power either (even cutting empty space would consume her mental bandwidth), so she didn't go all-out.
But while she held back, she kept running her mouth non-stop.
This familiar verbal assault made the players' blood pressure skyrocket again.
Herrscher of Sentience 2.0—PULSE version, huh?
Vill-V the villain? Might as well rename her "Motor Mouth."
Hmm…
Though the players were fuming, Mei remained Mei—never one to lose her cool easily.
She quickly analyzed the "the villain's" reluctance to segment her thoughts excessively, and began her plan.
She baited Vill-V into cutting off her area, only to break through just in time to enter a new region.
That way—
The area just cut off became a discarded fragment.
If this continued…
With that idea in mind, Mei repeated the process.
After several times—
The "the villain" began to lose composure.
"…Did I talk too much just now?"
Mei replied calmly: "Perhaps it was the other you who talked too much. Vill-V once told me she only divided her consciousness into eight sectors."
"The reason being… if she went beyond that, each sector would fall below the standard of a genius."
"Your mind ultimately has a limit. And it's… quite valuable."
[Mei is brilliant! I hereby name her the real 'Herrscher of Reason.']
[There's always a grounded V2V bold enough to face heavenly thunder!]
[Aren't you being too optimistic? As much as I hate to admit it, Mei probably can't outmaneuver Vill-V in a strategic battle, right?]
[Yeah… I don't think things are looking that great either.]
…
Some viewers expressed concern over Mei's analysis, thinking things weren't so simple.
Sure enough—
Vill-V burst into mocking laughter.
With that familiar "sunny, confident" posture, she mocked:
"Hahahahaha… Surely you don't think… I wouldn't see through your intent?"
"That engaging me head-on is your only chance?"
The plot descended into a "thousand-layer mind game."
Is it that I saw through your prediction of my prediction, or that you saw through my counter to your counter of my counter?
Who would come out on top remained murky.
Of course, for Mei in the real-world livestream—it wasn't so unclear.
Obviously, Vill-V's id version had the upper hand.
"Ah, what a pity. I originally wanted to end this more fairly, but you didn't treasure that opportunity."
"Herrscher of Thunder, have you… ever had your limbs broken before?"
Ugh…
Feels like MiHoYo forgot Honkai Impact 3rd is a 12+ game.
They really dare write anything. Are you sure this is fine for kids?
Setting aside the players' inner complaints—
As the line ended—
The "the villain" Vill-V appeared before Mei.
Then, right in front of all the players, her HP bar popped up.
That scene instantly roused everyone's spirits.
"'the villain' Vill-V finally revealed her HP bar!!"
Now… there was nothing left to say.
The players eagerly controlled Mei to dive into battle.
Pardofelis' death. The deaths of the Flame-Chasers. Vill-V's arrogance. Her utter disregard for life. All of it had already driven players to the brink.
Those pent-up emotions surged forth with 120% combat power.
In this state—
The Armed Units summoned by Vill-V were quickly shredded.
But she remained calm.
"Oh! Not bad at all. However… you might need to try a little harder…"
She summoned even more Armed Units mid-battle.
Forcing players to destroy them one by one.
And just when they finally dismantled all the units and could face "the villain" Vill-V herself—
Just as they were ready to beat her down—
A strange green mist emerged around her, nullifying all incoming attacks.
She stood there like: "My HP is locked. Hit me all you want."
[She's cheating! Hacker! Report her!!]
[Someone can't take the heat!]
[Wait, she can lock her HP?!]
"…This is…"
Mei stopped attacking, frowning as she studied the mist. "My attacks don't seem to work."
"Looks like my friend is starting to show mercy."
Vill-V mocked herself for her own cheating.
"What a shame… now, when you die, your expression won't be one of helplessness—but one of resentment toward a cheating opponent…"
"How boring."
Mei stared her down. "Friend?"
"Yeah, that's right. Can't keep calling it 'it, it, it,' can we?"
Vill-V nodded, her voice flippant—and what she said next shattered everyone's minds:
"But it got back faster than I expected. Seems taking care of Kalpas… wasn't so hard."
Players: ???
What?!
Taking care of Kalpas? No way!!
There's no way our invincible Brother Kalpas just went down like that!!
As long as his battle record isn't shattered, they'd never believe the "the villain" Vill-V's nonsense.
Vill-V, you will NOT shake our resolve!!
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