As the omnipotent existence within the Elysian Realm, the Herrscher of Corruption quickly discovered the reason.
In that very moment, an enormous birdcage rose from the ground, trapping her along with another person inside it.
"So it was you…"
"Kosma, have you also made the same choice as Kalpas? Throwing everything away, just to stand against me?"
"You never accepted Vill-V's thought partitioning. Now that you've unleashed your Overload Hyper Mutation here, you… really won't have anything left."
The Herrscher of Corruption had browsed through Vill-V's data. Back then, Kosma had asked her to perform thought partitioning on him so that he could retain control when he unleashed his Overload Hyper Mutation.
She forced a smile back onto her face—the smile that belonged to Elysia—and stepped forward once again.
At least in her understanding, when she was not alone, Elysia would absolutely never allow herself to sink into grief.
And the scene before her unfolded exactly as she had imagined.
Kosma stood with his back to her.
He said: "Words are pointless, Herrscher… This place will not become your hunting ground."
The Herrscher of Corruption replied: "What a cold and heartless way to address me—have you already heard everything about me?"
"Including my—invincibility?"
Kosma: "…"
The Herrscher of Corruption said cheerfully: "From your expression, it seems you have."
"Since you know that confronting me head-on gives you no chance of victory… then, are you here to try and create an opportunity for Mei?"
Kosma said: "…It is not a 'try'."
"I'm afraid you will not advance any further, Herrscher of Corruption."
The Herrscher of Corruption finished his sentence for him: "Before you completely fall??"
Kosma nodded.
The Herrscher of Corruption genuinely felt a tired exasperation: "Again with this… It's fine with the others, but…"
"Kosma, from what I know of you… self-sacrifice is probably the one thing you find most unacceptable, isn't it?"
"And now you're the one doing it. Are you really okay with that?"
Kosma said: "Unacceptable?… I have never thought that way."
The Herrscher of Corruption immediately recounted the events on Mu Continent—how Griseo's father, Hen, had sacrificed himself to buy time for others. That incident had always been a wound in Kosma's heart and one of the reasons he continued to protect Griseo.
"No need for more words!"
Kosma interrupted her incessant talking.
The Herrscher of Corruption gave up: "Fine… Though ever since I came here, I already knew what I would face…"
"It's really ironic. I'm clearly supposed to be the villain, yet I have to force you all to keep living again and again."
"Of course that's how it is, Herrscher of Corruption…" Kosma slowly turned around. Blue flames enveloped his entire body as it rapidly transformed: "No matter what… I look far more like the villain… don't I?"
Overload Hyper Mutation—released!
Kosma fully transformed into a monster. The flames burned away his reason, driving him into complete madness as he relentlessly attacked the Herrscher of Corruption.
The Herrscher of Corruption casually blocked the assaults and sighed: "Why go this far… Kosma, look at yourself. In this state, you can't even speak anymore."
"Don't you want to leave the Elysian Realm and see the outside world?"
"The real Kevin and Griseo are both waiting for you out there."
Her words seemed gentle, but she had already begun eroding Kosma's body. Green energy enveloped him, and based on previous experience, she would soon fully corrode him.
Hm?
She noticed something was wrong.
"The efficiency of the erosion… has slowed down?"
"Kosma… is this your true purpose? Simply entering Overload Hyper Mutation to amplify your power—it truly means nothing in front of me…"
"But Vishnu's instinct to devour… it can also work against erosion?"
"In other words, from the very beginning, you have been… devouring yourself?"
"No, although it does slow things down, it cannot truly stop me. It's just that…"
Under the interference of this trait, the erosion process would become unbearably prolonged.
In her view, the time she originally had in abundance—even if multiplied a hundredfold—would still fall far short if wasted here.
This… was an absolutely unacceptable risk.
The Herrscher of Corruption couldn't help but ponder: Elysia… if it were you, what would you do?
But in the next instant, she stopped thinking that way.
There was indeed a gap between her and Elysia, and the decision she was about to make was one Elysia could never ignore or accept.
In a single moment, she had already decided.
"Kosma… forgive me."
"Everyone I love… has already obtained eternal and beautiful life within me."
"If I allow you to continue, it would be the same as pushing them toward death once again."
"Is this what it feels like to choose the lesser of two evils? At least now… I understand your feelings. If this is the path you have chosen…"
She finally decided to use that ability—one capable of resolving everything effortlessly, yet which she had only ever used once.
With the Elysian Realm's backup mechanism already eroded and completely destroyed, the result of doing this could only be one thing.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I never wanted this."
"But for everyone's sake, I can only… completely delete you."
The Herrscher of Corruption enveloped this ability onto her arrow feathers and instantly pierced through Kosma's body, erasing his data entirely.
After doing all this,
She still imitated Elysia's tone: "I'm sorry, Kosma. Once everything is over, I will definitely try to reconstruct you."
With that, she prepared to continue pursuing Mei.
ROAR!!
The Overload Hyper Mutation form of Kosma appeared once again in front of her, roaring mindlessly and charging at her again.
"Kosma?!" The Herrscher of Corruption was shocked.
"How is this possible… The deletion was completed, his data also…"
"Oh… is that how it is… The data has indeed disappeared, but perhaps not because of deletion??"
"As expected… it really is lifelike."
"It seems that during the time Sakura prevented me from being omniscient, I really did miss a lot of things…"
"So be careful now. I don't want to hurt anyone else."
The Herrscher of Corruption charged an arrow and fired it.
—Undoubtedly, even if the opponent were not in Overload Hyper Mutation, this arrow should have missed.
The direction it pointed was far too casual, carrying a sense of self-abandonment.
Yet this seemingly meaningless attack drew a knowing chuckle from her.
"Alright, come out—I never agreed to be your model, you know."
—At the arrow's landing point, as though a single spark had fallen onto paper, the world in her eyes was torn open at the corner just as she had anticipated.
Griseo's figure was revealed.
"No wonder Griseo's personality changed so drastically. No wonder his data had already vanished from the beginning, yet he could still fight me…"
"So Kosma… had already become one of your paintings long ago."
"Isn't that right, Griseo?"
Griseo did not answer her.
The Herrscher of Corruption could only use her own ability to access the data and review what had happened.
When Sakura stopped the Herrscher of Corruption, Fu Hua had informed Griseo and Kosma of the situation. Kosma chose to become a hero, asking Griseo to paint all of his data into a picture—so that even in Overload Hyper Mutation, he would still possess the heart of a hero.
But such an act undoubtedly meant Griseo personally killing him. Yet to delay the Herrscher of Corruption, this was something he had to do. For that reason, he begged Fu Hua to use Fenghuang Down to conceal it from Griseo.
In the end, Fu Hua did not do so. Although Griseo was a child, she was also a Flame-Chaser. She had the right to know everything. In her heart, Kosma had always been a hero, and everything in the painting was drawn exactly as Kosma truly was.
Due to television runtime constraints,
This segment was still described simply; the truly complete plot would be released during the livestream.
The Herrscher of Corruption sighed: "So that's how it was…"
"Therefore, even though it looked strange, the Kosma from earlier… was his true self."
"And he still claimed he wasn't someone who says one thing and means another…"
Although she hadn't anticipated Griseo's stubbornness, Kosma's plan had not failed.
The reason this fortunate coincidence occurred was precisely because Kosma did not truly understand himself.
The resolve he claimed he had never grasped had, in fact, long been quietly engraved deep within his heart…
The boy who yearned to become a hero had already become a true hero long ago.
The Herrscher of Corruption looked up at Griseo in the sky: "But Griseo, since you already knew everything… why did you still appear before me?"
"Aren't you afraid of wasting his intentions? Kosma… stayed behind precisely so that you wouldn't have to sacrifice yourself."
Griseo said: "Because I… cannot leave."
The Herrscher of Corruption replied: "That's true. I shouldn't have asked—the reason is far too obvious."
"If Kosma could see the current scene, he would probably feel very relieved."
"The Daybreak he received from Hen… has already been passed down, hasn't it?"
"Alright then… little Griseo."
"I will take his place… and take good care of you."
She stepped toward Griseo one step at a time.
The power of erosion instantly fell upon Griseo. For a Flame-Chaser like her, with her current strength, it would be easy to fully erode the data.
But… that was not the case.
"Strange…"
"This feeling is…"
Only at this moment did she finally understand: when Griseo said she could not leave earlier, it was not because she had to maintain Kosma's painting. The meaning was far simpler.
Without a doubt, she lacked Kosma's special trait. She should have been fully eroded with just a slight touch.
But why?
Why was there none of that exceptionally clear sense of acquisition that normally followed erosion?
The Herrscher of Corruption's eyes widened in disbelief: "Griseo, you…"
"You… painted yourself into that picture as well?"
Griseo said: "In the end, someone else made the choice in his place. That's what Kosma himself said… right?"
"So of course, there should also be another person in this painting…"
"Since everyone says I'm a blank canvas… then using myself as the canvas—Kosma probably wouldn't mind, would he?"
"…"
The Herrscher of Corruption let out an angry sound.
The originally abundant time had been almost entirely spent eroding a single painting.
She had gained not a shred of any Flame-Chaser's memory data, and even the power contained within had been personally extinguished by her in the earlier battle.
How could she not feel furious?
The Herrscher of Corruption asked with anger: "Then… what about Griseo?"
Griseo answered: "Of course… the same as Kosma…"
The Herrscher of Corruption no longer had the mood to imitate Elysia. With fury, she asked: "Griseo, since you already painted him out…"
"Then, was this your own decision?"
"Merely to prevent me from continuing the pursuit, you were willing to waste your own life in vain?"
Griseo asked in confusion: "Pursuit?"
"What does that mean?"
"Kosma… although he never said it, he was afraid of being alone."
"I just… didn't want him to be alone… even in the painting…"
At this moment, the anger the Herrscher had been desperately suppressing finally erupted, nearly shattering the shell of Elysia she wore.
With near-violent force, she completely annihilated Griseo's already fading form along with the gradually discoloring painting.
With this,
Griseo and Kosma were thoroughly dead.
Inside the company,
After watching this segment of the plot, Kosma's heart was extremely conflicted. He had always dreamed of becoming a hero like Kevin, which was why he had specifically come to the company.
Back then, Hessian had also promised him that he would become a true hero.
At this moment!
He had undoubtedly achieved it. The countless people in the group chat shouting that Kosma was a hero already proved it.
He should be happy, right?
His wish had come true.
But…
Why?
Why did Griseo also have to sacrifice herself? She was clearly just a little girl. Such a small child—facing Honkai, facing a Herrscher—did she really have to sacrifice herself too?
She didn't even know what she was sacrificing for. Merely because she was worried he was afraid of the dark and afraid of being alone, she chose to become the canvas to carry him and keep him company.
Haa~
Kosma took a deep breath.
His mood grew heavier and heavier.
Finally, he said bitterly: "I never imagined that becoming a hero would feel… this painful."