MGSFV?! Chapter 453. Everyone's a Naming Genius; Techies Save the World
Regarding the miHoYo dev team's social media account names—
Some are pretty easy to recognize...
For example: Passing Art Designer from miHoYo, Russian Executive from miHoYo, Theresa is not Theresilly...
Others are not quite so obvious at first glance and carry a bit more "hidden meaning"...
Like: Smart and Clever, Why Birds Fly, Taixu Mountain Really Convinces With Reason...
Names that, just from reading, already feel "interesting."
In fact, after Hokuto figured out who exactly each of those usernames belonged to...
He found it even more amusing.
No surprise there—every one of them is a naming genius.
Hahahahaha.jpg
...
Back to the main story.
As Bronya fans joyfully exchanged thoughts in the livestream and Hokuto's mind began to drift slightly—
The plot continued moving forward.
PROMETHEUS spoke with her usual robotic tone, describing Bronya's current predicament:
Due to the unique nature of the Herrscher of Reason's core, it unfortunately fell into a disadvantaged position in the conflict against Project STIGMA.
And to avoid sounding too harsh, PROMETHEUS used lots of phrasing like:
"I don't mean to sound disrespectful...", "unfortunately in a lesser position..."—
Basically the kind of "armor-stacking" phrasing commonly seen online.
Makes you wonder: Was the network culture of the Previous Era just as "chaotic" as today's? PROMETHEUS sure seemed well-versed in it...
She must have a lot of that kind of "knowledge" in her database.
Almost makes you want to investigate further.
Purely to research the Social Ecology of the Previous Era, of course.
"..."
Still, the point isn't that.
What matters is: now that they understand the problem, they need to find a solution.
To that end, PROMETHEUS offered a suggestion—
Simulated Transcendence.
"As an AI capable of interfacing with Herrscher Cores to form Keys of God—I can assist Bronya in partially reconfiguring the Herrscher of Reason's core structure."
[Two Ducks of the Same Type... syncing up!]
[I hereby fuse Bronya Zaychik, the Herrscher of Reason, with PROMETHEUS...]
Ahem.
PROMETHEUS's suggestion actually sounded pretty reliable.
However...
"Although we've shared quite in-depth discussions, Bronya still doesn't understand—"
Bronya remained a little doubtful. "PROMETHEUS, what position are you acting from in helping us?"
Well obviously it's because they share the same model!
That's not obvious? They're both "Duckie" types—of course they support each other. (SeriousFace.jpg)
...
On second thought—
PROMETHEUS definitely isn't helping just because of that.
She probably doesn't even think she looks like Bronya.
Despite the character models being at least 80% similar (if not identical), the in-game lore never explicitly states they resemble one another.
It's entirely possible that, to them, the difference is quite significant.
...
PROMETHEUS's reasoning for helping Bronya is simple:
She's acting based on her interpretation of Dr. MEI's ideals.
Meaning—if Dr. MEI wanted to help the main trio, then PROMETHEUS intends to continue that mission.
And it's very clear:
Because of what MEI did before, PROMETHEUS seems to have developed something different inside herself.
Otherwise, considering her previously stiff, deadpan character who once said things like "I can replace my limbs easily" with a straight face—how could she do something so spontaneous?
So, this counts as a small setup for PROMETHEUS's later "shocking action."
Even if—currently—not a single player seems to notice...
This was something Hokuto had inserted as a foreshadowing beat.
He originally wanted players to pick up on it early—but oh well.
The looks of surprise on their faces later might actually be even more satisfying... Ahem, not that he has any malicious intent.
"..."
Whether or not Hokuto has evil thoughts—
In the story, Bronya listened carefully to PROMETHEUS's explanation. Though she didn't fully understand her motives, she could tell PROMETHEUS meant no harm.
Seeing this, PROMETHEUS continued:
"Bronya, to the Herrscher of Reason, Project STIGMA is an external hacker. It hijacked the 300,000 thoughts within your core and turned them into slaves of the Plan."
"And since Project STIGMA is a dream—then the simplest fix is to wake them up."
Wake them up?
Which raises the question: how exactly?
The players all shared the same thought.
"No way... Is Duckie gonna use the Herrscher of Reason's power to build a giant loudspeaker... then shout inside fragments of consciousness?"
Even Elysia mumbled this half-jokingly.
Hokuto: "...?"
"But currently, Duckie doesn't seem able to use the Herrscher of Reason's power... uh, I'm just stating facts—not roasting Duckie or anything..."
Bronya: "...?"
Truly, only she could leave two others speechless with just two lines.
However, the plot moved on quickly—
PROMETHEUS's explanation followed right on cue.
"Of course, that doesn't mean you literally need to take a loudspeaker and shout inside the memory fragments."
Elysia: "...?"
[Hahahahahaha, Miss Pink Elf literally just said that.]
[Loudspeaker: The one who knocked Mobius flat is back—Raiden Mei-sama returns!]
[I can already see Duckie holding a megaphone and yelling in my head.]
[Honestly, aside from Elysia, only Senti would actually do something like that.]
[She'd yell "Long live the great Herrscher of Sentience!" into the speaker.]
...
Amidst laughter—
The next scene began.
Since Project STIGMA "hacked" the Reason Core, they could just reverse-hack it—
Fake defense against a hacker? Locate and eliminate intrusions.
Real defense against a hacker?
Out-hack the hacker. Go full black-hat. Blow up the endpoint and end the problem.
Under PROMETHEUS's highly realistic-sounding plan—
Bronya quickly reached a consensus with her.
"Then, Bronya Zaychik—prepare yourself. I will now display all the low-level code I can comprehend."
"...Code?"
"The origin of Project STIGMA is genetic engineering. Besides—'code' itself is humanity's most powerful narrative tool."
[Techies Save the World (not clickbait)]
[Everything ends with programmers.]
miHoYo really never forgets its roots.
[And to be fair, there are theories about encoding data into DNA.]
[Yeah, like how everyone's DNA contains this line: 'Bro, I've learned Instant Dodge.' (doge)]
[Stop trying to force that meme!]
One joke sparked a ripple effect:
[I'm telling you~~]
Of course, they weren't literally going to display lines of raw code for players to debug.
Even if some Honkai players could do that—
It's not something you can expect from everyone.
Whether or not you can do it—I definitely can't.
Therefore—
The next sequence aligned better with gameplay.
PROMETHEUS first brought Bronya to a strange space.
Then she projected the "code" related to Project STIGMA's intrusion into the Reason Core as monsters.
All Bronya had to do was destroy them.
With every battle, she'd reclaim a piece of the 300,000 stolen thoughts—and perhaps even become the complete Herrscher of Reason.
If code dares move on its own—then beat it until it stops.
Yep. This AI from the Previous Era is quite easy to understand. Makes you really curious what else is in her database...
Another thing to note—
As Bronya fought those monsters, with PROMETHEUS's help, she once again manifested the full Herrscher of Reason form.
Which means—during this arc, every Duckie battlesuit got screen time.
Probably intentional?
Who knows.
...
Back to the "reclamation battle."
No need for full-scale search—just find the key nodes.
The Herrscher of Reason's power can collapse under fiction—but recover when grounded in truth.
So the next place PROMETHEUS led her to—was one such key node.
This was the Ural Mountains, in Bronya's memory. Back then, she was still called "The Silver Wolf of the Urals."
Here—there was someone tightly bound to her fate.
As for who...
"This space was found within the Reason Core. It was deliberately implanted as a foreign element to destabilize the core—and contains part of her memory."
PROMETHEUS's statement made it very clear.
Basically gave the answer away.
[I think I already figured it out... this one's not hard.]
[Yeah. Pretty obvious.]
"So, going deeper can only be done by someone tightly tied to Project STIGMA—or someone who's natively a Herrscher of Reason."
Bronya frowned. "...What will Bronya encounter ahead?"
"A twisted heart," PROMETHEUS answered.
"You could say... she is the complete opposite of Welt Joyce."
"She feared the Herrscher of Reason because of Project STIGMA—and as an individual, she once envied the Herrscher of Reason."
Bronya: "...?"
Bronya's expression shifted subtly.
Seeing this, PROMETHEUS added a clarification.
"Please don't misunderstand. She's not your enemy, not intentionally."
"No matter what—both of you are daughters of Siberia... children of the Ural Mountains."
[Why does this feel like a knife incoming? Scared.jpg]
[Begone evil spirits!!]
"Jealous... of Welt Joyce... Project STIGMA..."
Elysia murmured as she moved Bronya forward.
After walking a short way—
They arrived at their destination.
Which meant...
Bronya was now moments away from facing "her."
"Uh..."
Elysia hesitated, but kept going.
The game screen opened up completely.
On a desolate field littered with ruined tanks and wreckage—an expected figure appeared in a wholly unexpected state.
"No..."
"It wasn't because of me..."
"I... I'm not..."
Hare knelt on the ground, looking to the sky, mumbling words heavy with pain.
So confused. So full of sorrow.
Gone was all trace of the composure she'd shown on the moon.
[???]
[Wait, wasn't it said before that Hare was the crystallization of the Shaniat Stigma? I thought... But now it seems maybe she came directly from Cecilia's consciousness?]
The chat quickly filled with reactions.
Some players immediately proposed theories.
Of course, others had different views.
[To me, Hare doesn't seem like she came from Cecilia's mind. More like—like Joyce, formed from the collective will of Second Eruption victims.]
[So—is this the victims of 2nd Eruption blaming Hare? Or blaming Cecilia for not killing Sirin? Blaming her for letting them all die?]
This chapter gave a lot of information—
So players could pick out many useful insights.
Still, aside from all the serious analysis, there were always... those kinds of comments that may arrive late but never fail to appear:
[Think about it—Hare is a collective of Siberian thoughts. Herrscher of Reason is a collective of Berlin thoughts. So if they fight... is this the Soviet-German War?!]
[Eastern Front arc, huh? (doge)]
[Is it possible Soviet ideology came from Germany?]
[Well... something did happen after this, but to avoid trouble, I'll just say: fate's a weird thing.]
[Is it possible Soviet thought originated from a man named Karl...]
[You mean the guy who wrote The ×× Manifesto? (doge) Foreshadowing—it's all foreshadowing!]
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