MGSFV?! Chapter 401. Grandpa, You're Too Strong; It's All Otto's Fault
[Commenter: Forget "Starburst Stream Slash"—call it "Starburst Abandon-Treatment Slash."]
Actually, if you look closely here,
You'll see Kevin using that single wing of his as a shield in front of him.
No wonder the Will of the Stigma couldn't break through and was forced into a "-1" damage lock.
"This meaningless battle… should end now!"
Kevin blocked all the Will's slashes, then slammed his wing outward,
Flipping the Will through the air in a parabolic arc before crashing down.
Then, he turned to deal with Theresa.
"Kaslana…"
The Will of the Stigma stood back up.
This surprised Kevin slightly,
But didn't change his decision.
"Stigma's overseer…"
Kevin ascended midair,
Raised Judgment of Shamash high, and with his ever-cold demeanor, prepared to deliver a fatal blow.
"It's time to end your mission."
The Will steadied himself and pursued Kevin.
They clashed in the sky, parted, and clashed again—
The entire Stigma Space became their battlefield…
Or to put it another way:
Two supreme beings battling to the edge of the cosmos, even the Dao itself obliterated. (bushi)
After offering players a sufficiently exhilarating combat experience,
Well, since Kevin said it should end…
The Will of the Stigma couldn't possibly keep going forever.
He's no sit-up spammer who survives through overtime like that guy next door.
"Obliteration!"
A full-power blow.
The Will was completely defeated.
In the end—
The Kaslana Stigma Will dissipated.
Its final trace of power flowed into Theresa Apocalypse.
[Theresa, you got buffed! Go get him!]
[Wait, has anyone considered whether Theresa can actually beat Kevin?]
[Is Theresa about to get wrecked? Kevin just killed his own Stigma Will—he's not gonna go easy on her!]
[Yeah, hard to say what Kevin's thinking now...]
[Please no...!!]
The more they thought about it,
The more dire Theresa's situation felt.
Was she about to die?
Theresa, now empowered, stood back up, leaning on Judah.
"Kevin… what did you just do?"
"It doesn't matter." Kevin replied indifferently.
"You'd better worry about yourself."
Theresa: "..."
The battle was far from over.
Theresa knew that.
And she also understood—
She wasn't close to Kevin.
He had no reason to hold back.
The last attack had already severely wounded her.
If not for the Will's power,
Even standing would have been difficult.
But…
Though Kevin was the strongest opponent she had ever faced—
This wasn't the first time she'd faced an unbeatable enemy.
Whether it was a 100:1 or 1000:10 odds,
The pressure of battle was always overwhelming.
Yet she never gave up before—
She wouldn't now.
If you look back at Theresa's life story,
She's constantly faced "illusory choices" where there was never really a choice.
Born of Otto's clone experiments…
First time fighting as a Valkyrie, she 'luckily' faced an unstoppable Emperor-class Honkai Beast—Pavanti…
Back then, she could've retreated and abandoned her comrades,
But she chose to go forward anyway.
Even knowing how terrible the consequences would be,
She never hesitated to risk her life
To uphold the vow in her heart.
So, in this moment,
Just like back then—
A person's fate is their character.
This moment echoed the choice she made at birth.
Because Theresa would always make this kind of choice.
In the past. And now.
Judah… activate…
Click…
Golden gears turned.
Her old friend—finally responded to her again.
...
Kevin looked at the reborn fire in Theresa's eyes.
Faced with her renewed charge,
He continued dodging effortlessly, voice as cold as ever.
"We once gave everything… to buy half a day's time before Finality."
"And in that short yet endless moment… the only thing we managed to protect—was you all."
Then, he raised Shamash, now surging with the power of Finality.
Clearly—
To face someone who dared challenge him again,
He decided to show her true respect.
Even more searing than when he fought the Will—
Kevin's flames erupted,
Nearly burning the entire Stigma Space to ashes.
Theresa, supporting herself on Judah,
Was barely hanging on beneath the collapsing heavens and earth.
[Kevin, you're so damn strong.]
[Grandpa, please show mercy! We can't take it!]
[???]×n
[You guys are so weird.]
[I'm flailing around with the controls. I don't even know what I'm playing anymore.]
Aside from a few skilled players,
Most were getting rolled by the flames, screaming, unable to land any real damage.
This battle—
Was clearly one-sided from the start.
No doubt, buffed Theresa was far from weak.
Even Kevin offered a rare compliment:
"Impressive performance.
If you'd been born fifty thousand years ago, you'd have had the strength to join the Final Battle."
This instantly reminded many of… Pardo.
After all, she went to the Moon, too.
So, Theresa = Pardo?
…They quickly shook that thought off.
That's definitely not what Kevin meant.
With Pardo's character,
No one thinks she went to the Moon to fight Finality, right?
Just imagine it.
That "when in doubt, call Mei-sama for help" catgirl
going toe-to-toe with Finality like some pro…
Her whole image would go from adorable cat to "The Dragon Has Returned" beast.
No way.
Far too cursed.
So obviously, Pardo's role in that battle
wasn't combat-related.
As for what it was…
They hadn't figured it out yet—or maybe they didn't dare to guess.
After all—
Who would've guessed the writers were so twisted?
What kind of cat dies three times because of a door?!
...
Back on track.
Though Kevin acknowledged Theresa's strength,
he had long since become a monster.
Not just the strongest MANTIS of the Previous Era,
Now, he also wielded Finality.
Theresa couldn't even keep up anymore.
After a few minutes—
Kevin knocked her away with one final strike.
"The current Stigma Plan has no need for added variables."
"And there's no point in continuing such a lopsided battle."
A CG played.
Kevin—his body wrapped in bandages—raised Shamash once more.
Cold, final words fell:
"Farewell, Theresa."
In the next instant—
The blade of judgment descended.
For World Serpent,
Saint Freya's headmaster would disappear at the end of time
just like her Herrscher students.
The players were stunned.
Players: ???
[Theresa… died? Kevin killed her??? No way???]
[I even backed out to check—this update was only supposed to be supplemental lore! And now the writer just deleted Theresa?!]
[THERESA!!!]×n
[I don't believe it! It has to be fake!!]
[Even if someone has to die later in the story, Theresa can't die to Kevin of all people!!]
[Yeah! Kevin's attitude during that fight felt… off. Almost like he wasn't serious.]
Players had long felt like something was up with Theresa's situation.
But now that it seemed real—
They couldn't accept it.
Theresa, dead?
Even though players had speculated that someone in the protagonist group might die by the finale…
Still, it shouldn't be Kevin who did it, right?!
Elysia sat stunned for a moment.
Then looked at the screen and murmured,
"Kevin… Theresa…"
"Elysia, are you… worried about Theresa?" Mei asked.
"I…"
Elysia shook her head.
"I think… the story won't head in the worst direction people are imagining…"
"Do you have faith in Theresa? Or Kevin?" Mei asked.
"Well…
Didn't 'Mr. Otto' always say
'Honkai Impact 3rd is a positive, wholesome game'?"
Mei: "..."
Even someone like her, a veteran of MiHoYo, couldn't believe that anymore.
"I think he was just bluffing…"
She paused,
Then added:
"That was years ago. He probably changed his mind.
Bringing it up now is just a meme…"
"Hmm…"
Elysia thought for a moment.
"Still… I want to believe…"
She paused again.
"In the possibility we're all afraid to imagine."
"…Yeah."
...
While Elysia and Mei quietly chatted,
The stream audience had time to absorb the shock.
Once Elysia returned focus to the game—
Everyone had slightly calmed down.
She clicked forward.
In the black screen, lines of text appeared:
The Authority of Finality had returned to the world.
And at last…
It granted meaning to a moment from 50,000 years ago.
Countdown… one minute.
After passing through a long, dark corridor,
A girl arrived at her final destination.
It didn't seem to be continuing the Kevin-Theresa scene.
Rather…
It had switched to that moment 50,000 years ago, when Finality was descending?
Then…
Who could this girl be?
"Hah… been a while, hasn't it?"
Before players could even guess,
A familiar voice rang out in-game.
[SNAKE SNAKE!!]
[Wait… is this the sequel to "Project Kharon"?!]
[Foreshadowing finally resolved!]
The dark screen lit up.
The collapsing form of Mobius raised her head,
Her foggy serpent pupils reflecting a glowing azure screen.
"Not gonna say hello… Prometheus?"
This scene had been part of the text in "Project Kharon"—
But that story had ended here, leaving a cliffhanger.
Now, it was picking up from that exact moment.
Time to close the loop.
"Based on current projections,
with Finality active, your life will terminate in approximately 30 minutes."
Prometheus stated the fact emotionlessly.
"Instead of worrying about my 'adventure,'
you should be more concerned with your own 'mission.'"
Even as her body slumped,
Mobius's tone was sharp as ever—unwilling to concede.
Even though she was here
to help.
To confirm…
That Prometheus could succeed.
"After all, you're about to follow the road Elysia paved—
to do something completely opposite,
but just as remarkable."
Some players:
"Remarkable feat"? What feat?!
Others:
Mobius just praised Elysia… I'm crying.
Same line, wildly different reactions.
That's the charm of Honkai Impact 3rd.
"You'll become the Trojan Horse humanity sends into the Imaginary Realm—
placing 'thought' as shackles on the Honkai,
forcing calamity onto a man-made path."
"Do you understand what this truly means?"
Honkai-ologists: "What does it mean?"
They could feel it—
Something big was coming.
Sure enough—
"You'll be able to lock down the rules of Honkai,
making Herrscher Authorities consistent across all manifestations."
"In other words—
you'll become the greatest contributor to the next era's fight against Honkai."
"Because, starting with the Herrscher of Reason,
they'll all resemble ours exactly."
Of course—there were unexpected deviations.
The Herrscher of Domination awakened abilities far beyond her predecessor.
And probably the Herrscher of Corruption too…
Fortunately,
Kiana, Elysia,
…and Otto, whose fake-out-death turned the Herrscher of Binding into a potential bugged god…
...
"But the cost…"
"Your own consciousness will become one of theirs,
and be devoured—
unless someone uses the only 'backdoor' and awakens you the right way."
With Mobius's final words,
Players began to understand everything.
[???]×n
At first: shock and confusion.
Then…
[I see now—Honkai Will is the biggest traitor!]
[I used to laugh at how it made traitor Herrschers, turns out IT'S the original traitor.]
[No wonder the Previous Era never referenced the Honkai Will. It didn't even exist yet!]
[And Otto… that time he met the Honkai Will again, he said:
'You and Kevin Kaslana must be old acquaintances by now, huh?'
…I GET IT ALL NOW. (brain explosion.gif)]
[Also, Otto got the Hengsha Plan from Su. And that plan succeeded.
WHY didn't he just give it to Kevin?!
That would've saved everyone!]
[I'm just gonna say it: IT'S ALL OTTO'S FAULT. (doge)]
[Maybe silence was actually the best strategy all along.]
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