Elysia tapped the option: [Corrupt "Will of Honkai"].
The Herrscher of Corruption began to act.
For it, corruption was an instinct—like breathing, like feeding.
Naturally, its choice didn't lie in whether to act, only in who to act upon.
Everything unfolded as expected. It moved slowly toward its chosen target…
…and yet, nothing happened.
Of course not.
If the Corruption had actually succeeded, that would have been horrifying, right?
That's what the players were thinking.
However, to the Herrscher of Corruption, failure was still an unfamiliar concept.
Precisely because of that, it had no understanding of the situation it was now in.
It couldn't comprehend what was happening, and so…
It split itself in two, continuing its embrace, continuing to corrode...
Even if it couldn't succeed—
It wanted to stay with her.
Local backup count: 1; Remote backup count: 1
Current target: ???
The screen shifted.
By the ti it regained awareness, it had followed a red figure into an entirely new world.
It had arrived in this place called the Elysian Realm... paradise.
And within Klein, it left a second backup.
It was a rather subtle piece of foreshadowing.
Most players, still focused on the Corruption's journey through the Realm, didn't notice.
Except for Mobius.
She saw the Herrscher leave a backup in Klein and imdiately furrowed her brows.
Could it be planning to make a move on Klein?
Snake-sis narrowed her eyes slightly, a dangerous glint flickering within.
But she didn't say anything aloud, so Elysia continued progressing through the story undisturbed.
Elysia clicked forward at a steady pace.
The Corruption's journey through the Realm continued.
In Elysia, it felt joy—and left that joy behind in purple. (Backup x3)
From that joy, it felt expectation in Mobius—and left it behind in blue. (Backup x4)
From that expectation, it felt curiosity in Griseo—and left it behind in green. (Backup x5)
Then, upon hearing Aponia's intention to kill i in ten days, it felt fear.
And even then, it had no idea where that fear ca from.
Until…
In order to defy Aponia's prophecy, i provoked Kalpas with a "get over here," engaging him in battle—
—and nearly died.
"Too late. If you wanted to go easy, you shouldn't have co looking for .
To , everything needs a conclusion—and there's only one way."
At this mont, both the players and Elysia suddenly realized sothing.
Tying it together with what Gray Serpent had just said—
That if the Corruption developed a fear of death, it would beco completely unpredictable—
Could it be…?
Did Brother Kalpas scare the kid, causing the Corruption to go berserk?
If that were the case, then this plot developnt was both bizarre and surprisingly logical.
Of course, the truth was more complicated.
The Corruption did indeed develop a fear of death after Kalpas destroyed one of its backups.
Like a newborn, it had taken the first step toward forming a worldview.
But that was only part of the cause. More importantly...
At the sa ti, outside the Realm, the Nivale Industrial Lab entered its self-destruct protocol.
The siblings—brothers or sisters—of the Corruption that had descended outside the Realm lost contact one by one.
Like a catalyst dropped into a chemical reaction—
The fear within the Corruption was magnified to the extre.
A thought began to uncontrollably take root in its mind:
I don't want to die.
I don't want to vanish like this.
I want to live. I want to leave behind more traces of myself.
All of these confessions from the Corruption were, as players now realized—
the chat logs from that "chatroom."
The mystery was finally solved.
The anonymous chatroom users weren't the Fla-Chasers, nor Vill-V's personalities, but...
The various backups of the Herrscher of Corruption.
[Leave behind traces]
Thus, expectation beca the desire to live.
[To keep existing]
Thus, curiosity beca longing.
[Yes]
And then, joy poured in from all directions, enveloping her—
"Yes." "Yes." "Yes." N tis
I must not die… I absolutely must not…
I have to live…
Local backup count: 4; Remote backup count: 0
Current target: Survive
[Gray Serpent was right—it's developed the desire to survive.]
[So all the chatroom mbers were the Herrscher of Corruption's backups…]
[After seeing this scene, I kinda understand Corruption now. It's like writing a thesis in Word, almost done, and then your computer blue-screens—and you forgot to save.]
[...Don't say it. I'm already in pain.]
["It just ca into being, what sin has it committed? It just wants to live." (dog head) (dog head)]
[Cat Cat also just wanted to live!!]
…
The scrolling chat in Elysia's stream filled with chaotic emotion.
The story moved into its next phase—
The night of Elysia's incident.
Elysia found Sakura in the archives.
"Hi, Sakura. What a coincidence... the day we said goodbye looked like this too, didn't it? A moonlit night."
Hidden in the shadows, the Herrscher of Corruption silently thought to herself:
So this ti…
I must... make the right choice…!
…
......
The Corruption contemplated for a long ti.
But in the end, the players never found out what she chose—
Because the ga perspective suddenly shifted to Vill-V the villain.
By now—
The Vill-V who was corrupted first had already lost nearly all her personalities, leaving only the evil one in control.
Thus, she chose to imitate other personalities to deceive the other Fla-Chasers.
The alliance of the Corruption and Vill-V... well, maybe "alliance" wasn't quite right?
Now that the players had learned enough—
Their partnership felt more like two misfit children shunned by the rest of the kindergarten.
Kinda pitiful—but that didn't an they could be forgiven.
After all, if you forgive "problem children," does that an the ones hurt by them deserved it?
Their Cat Cat.
Their Elysia.
Their Snake-sis.
Their Brother Kalpas…
Even knowing everything that led to this—
The players' anger toward the Herrscher of Corruption had not diminished in the slightest.
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