Players discussed and pondered.
Putting themselves in others' shoes—
Would they really care...
Whether Honkai Impact 3rd gave each Puppet a different name and backstory?
Maybe some people would.
But most would probably just be surprised, then forget about it soon after.
And yet, miHoYo still did it.
According to Kiana, it wasn't even a perfunctory task.
They organized it seriously, all just to improve the player's experience.
That sense of recognition players felt toward miHoYo suddenly strengthened.
Their attachment increased significantly.
Though Hokuto had simply led Kiana and the others in doing something that seemed trivial—
Judging by player reactions, it reaped an unexpectedly great return.
Sometimes, hard work is rewarded.
And that kind of development was wonderful, too.
"It's really great that you were the ones who developed Honkai Impact 3rd, Kiana~~"
Elysia operated Hyperion's cannons while speaking from the heart.
"I think so too. Being able to make Honkai Impact 3rd under the boss's guidance—it's amazing."
Kiana sometimes still felt like the miHoYo from more than a year ago was just a dream.
If they hadn't met Hokuto...
It would've been a completely different story, wouldn't it?
If that had happened—
Ah! Enough with the random thoughts, she was drifting off again.
She pulled herself back, focused, and continued watching Elysia play Honkai Impact 3rd.
Under Hyperion's bombardment, hundreds of Puppets were destroyed.
Finally, only one Puppet remained before Kiana.
"This is the end! You're the last one left."
"Hahaha~~"
The Puppet began again: "Yes, yes, it's the same again. Just me left—just like back in Arc City."
"Arc City?" Kiana's expression changed.
The Puppet kept talking to itself:
"Kiana, do you even know why all this happened? When you wiped us out, there wasn't a hint of hesitation...
Like we're emotionless monsters."
"Think about it, Kiana... is that really true?
We had conviction, we had will, we had companions..."
"And yet you killed us without remorse—for the sake of those clueless, hopeless humans.
Was it worth it?"
"Hehehe... Think about it, Kiana... really think about it..."
Kiana listened, expressionless.
She simply raised her gun and shot—eliminating the last Puppet.
[The last Puppet didn't lie.]
[That scared me for a second—I thought Kiana might actually be swayed.]
[Saying all that self-righteous stuff, when they were the ones wrecking society and turning everyone against each other.]
[When the Puppets were hurting others, did they think those people had conviction, will, or companions too? That line could've been thrown right back at them.]
——
The Puppet segment ended, and everyone sighed in relief.
Even the ordinary people at the Anti-Entropy base changed their attitude toward Kiana, the so-called "Herrscher of the Void."
They began talking to her—no longer fearful or cold.
Kiana, too, became more cheerful.
Her appetite returned, and she was eating four meals a day!
Everything seemed to be moving in a better direction.
Watching all this, Elysia was genuinely happy for Kiana from the bottom of her heart.
See?
Such a cute girl was bound to get along with everyone~♪
"The Herrscher of Food has finally regained her appetite, huh? Four meals a day—
I'm kind of jealous of you, Kiana~~"
"To enjoy delicious food without worrying about gaining weight."
Sitting next to her, Kiana blinked in surprise:
"Elysia, I didn't know you worried about that kind of thing."
"..."
Elysia suddenly went quiet.
A comment floated by:
"Did you ever use that scale I gave you?"
But nobody seemed to notice it.
"Maybe... it's just one of those little worries every girl has?"
"Hmm..."
Kiana nodded thoughtfully.
"True. A few days ago I realized I was almost up to 49kg... it was a bit of a concern."
Elysia: "..."
If she remembered correctly, weren't she and Kiana about the same height...?
"Aiya, let's get back to playing Honkai Impact 3rd."
In truth, Miss Pink Elf wasn't fat at all—
Every bit of her weight was exactly where it should be.
It's just that she personally cared about this kind of thing.
So much so that she once said:
"No rounding allowed."
——
In the main story,
Einstein was also pleased to hear Kiana was doing better.
She shared an update on the Herrscher of Dominance:
There had been no further signs of it globally for the past two weeks.
Although the effects it left behind lingered, the situation had, for now, come to a close.
After explaining this,
Einstein mentioned they were planning to make up for the missed 60th anniversary banquet of Anti-Entropy tonight,
and invited Kiana and the others to attend.
Soon,
the banquet took place as scheduled.
The atmosphere in the game lifted completely—becoming lively and festive.
Even the players were influenced by it.
Fu Hua was thinking about how to coax Shibao.
Comments scrolled by:
"This is a mom worrying about her daughter."
Theresa complained about the banquet not serving bitter melon juice.
Comments rolled in:
"Defeat Theresa! Take back Mei's lunch!"
(Because previously, miHoYo had changed Mei's daily stamina bonus to "Theresa's Nutritious Set Meal" after she joined World Serpent.)
When Kiana passed by Seele, the comments erupted:
"Quick! Let Veliona jump on the table and shout 'I'm Seele!' while doing the Cossack dance!"
Rozaliya and Liliya performed on stage.
Kiana snuck food from the banquet again—though she admitted it herself.
Einstein accidentally spiked Tesla's coffee with too much alcohol,
causing Tesla to get drunk on the spot.
——
Elysia gleefully controlled Kiana, circling the banquet hall again and again.
Because Seele's interaction prompt was too subtle, she ended up skipping her three times.
Only after talking with everyone else did she suddenly realize—
Wait, doesn't Seele have something to say too?
Holding onto that hope, she went back specifically to find her.
Miss Pink Elf really never forgets about any of the adorable girls.
Not only did she manage to trigger a conversation with Seele,
she even discovered—surprisingly—that the tables had dialogue too.
That made her circle the banquet hall several more times.
Like a classic RPG hero rummaging through every room for loot.
Triple-checked. Nothing left behind.
Elysia wore a full-on auntie smile as she finished this banquet scene, utterly satisfied.
——
Afterward, Kiana left the banquet and returned to her room—
only for Bronya to unexpectedly show up.
The two shared a heart-to-heart.
Bronya hoped Kiana wouldn't be affected by what that last Puppet said.
Kiana said she understood.
She would look forward, and create a brighter future.
The mood inside the game grew increasingly warm and healing.
But just then, the tone abruptly shifted.
From a pile of countless Puppet corpses,
a single Puppet stood up.
The Herrscher of Dominance... was not dead.
Under its influence, Kiana had a dream.
And in that dream, the players witnessed the pain Sirin once endured—
Sirin had been imprisoned in the Babylon Tower,
subjected to inhumane torture.
In utter despair,
she ultimately gave up her humanity and became the Herrscher of the Void to exact revenge.
Her revenge was indiscriminate.
More and more people came to stop her—to kill her.
But there were also those who wanted to reach her.
Like Kiana's mother—Cecilia.
If Otto hadn't interfered,
Sirin might truly have been swayed by Cecilia.
The warmth and peace Cecilia offered
was exactly what Sirin had longed for the most.
Even in her final moments, Sirin thought—
If only I could go back to being a normal girl...
Could I have lived happily with her?
If I had one more chance...
I'd want to hear her voice again—
[Ich liebe dich.]
After witnessing Kiana's dream,
the players were left with complicated feelings.
Those who'd read the manga knew the full context.
It hit harder.
Even those who hadn't—just from a few lines—could sense Sirin's despair,
and her yearning for warmth.
The Second Eruption—called the greatest disaster in history—
had such a root cause.
Sirin was just a little girl
desperately yearning for love.
[They even dared to stab us with Sirin? Damn you, miHoYo!!]
[Just when everything was happy, and now this? Every piece of candy in Honkai Impact 3rd comes with a price!]
[Honestly, the manga was even more emotional. I recommend everyone read it—it's free anyway. Even a few pages.]
[You just want us to suffer, don't you?]
As seasoned Honkai Impact 3rd players,
they were well-aware that when someone says,
"This part's so sweet, let's keep going!" or "This game is so healing!"
It's best to be wary.
Because...
They would always give in to curiosity in the end.
Even knowing there was pain ahead,
they'd still walk into it.
That's just the magic of Honkai Impact 3rd.
Some players spiraled into speculation.
Others discussed Sirin—and their beloved Queen.
[So this is the Queen's past...]
[I admit it—I softened. I want Sirin to have a good ending.]
[I wonder what kind of ending the writers will give her. I just hope it's not rushed.]
——
"What do you think of Sirin, Kiana?"
Elysia asked, her heart moved after seeing what Sirin had gone through.
"I... what do I think?" Kiana echoed quietly.
"Yeah, since in the game you and Sirin are enemies, right?"
Elysia explained.
"Enemies, huh?"
Kiana's expression grew especially complex.
After a long pause, she finally said:
"If Sirin had grown up like a normal person, under the love of family...
Maybe... she would've turned out like me."