MGSFV?! Chapter 517. The Advantage Is Mine; Could It Be Elysia?!
These inner thoughts—Mei ultimately didn't speak them out loud.
So, the discussion about whether Gray Serpent had built-in audio ends here.
Theoretically, Mobius wouldn't be so bored as to add such a function, which she herself would deem meaningless.
But it couldn't be ruled out that Gray Serpent, having nothing better to do in the fifty thousand years that followed, might have modified himself.
Also, considering that the bio-mechanical materials Mobius used to create [Klein] were specially ordered from Vill-V—
One also couldn't fully dismiss the possibility that Vill-V secretly "added something," since that sort of behavior fits her "surprise" aesthetic quite well.
On this point, the Fire Moth of the Previous Era should be deeply experienced.
Every divine key they commissioned from Vill-V had some odd "issue."
For example, the Fourth Divine Key, made into an artificial satellite (which initially could only orbit in space periodically)...
For example, the Third Divine Key with seven forms (equipped with a "jackpot" system that changed the weapon's structure based on the user and environment)...
So, anyone who's ever placed an order with Vill-V should scientifically and rigorously inspect the final product.
To avoid... avoid what exactly, let's not go into detail. Those who know, know.
As for why this is mentioned now?
Didn't we say earlier—someone recently placed a massive order with Vill-V, and it was just delivered.
Hokuto: ...
...
Back to the main topic.
Returning to when Mei wiped out all the Imaginary constructs Gold Serpent had summoned and pointed her blade at him—he clapped for her in a rather strange manner.
"Clap clap..."
A few claps landed, and Gold Serpent's voice came again.
"Seems I did miscalculate."
"The so-called Herrscher is a pure concept—and pure things will inevitably destroy everything."
"This has nothing to do with the good or evil that you all care about... it's merely natural law."
Hm? What's Gold Serpent trying to say now?
Players were slightly confused, but they likely couldn't predict how "heavy" Gold Serpent's next words would be.
"Even if Elysia sacrificed herself, and Prometheus became the embodiment of the Will of the Honkai... the Imaginary channel is still occupied by the Cocoon."
[???] *N
A flood of question marks flooded the stream.
Because—wasn't Gold Serpent basically saying...
[...Is Gold Serpent suggesting Elysia's sacrifice changed nothing?]
[At this point, I'm sure he really doesn't get Kevin's intentions—how else could he say something like this?]
[Bringing humanity to the Herrschers was the biggest change. The fact that Gold Serpent doesn't understand that—truly, he lacks humanity.]
By this point, Gold Serpent's words were making people frown hard.
Yet he still showed no self-awareness—or perhaps, even if he knew, he had no intention of correcting himself?
"Do you understand now? Just like your behavior just now—you will always be the conquerors of humanity. And in representing humanity... perhaps even less so than us."
"..."
Which made Mei sarcastically mutter: "What, planning to change tactics now? Stall with words?"
"So, you do agree with what I said."
Gold Serpent replied instantly—and this instantly triggered the players' need to complain.
[I saw zero signs of Mei agreeing.]
[Gold Serpent's bizarre confidence is... impossible to handle.]
In the game, Mei had exactly the same thought as the players.
"Heh... then you're far too overconfident."
After a short pause, she suddenly asked: "Even if I kill you here, another Gray Serpent will appear out of nowhere, right?"
Judging from Gold Serpent's previous behavior, he'd likely answer honestly.
It really felt like training an AI chatbot.
"A rational assessment."
See? Gold Serpent was very honest.
"All right then..."
After getting the answer she wanted, Mei smiled.
"Then let's see who benefits more from stalling for time."
Gold Serpent: "...?"
Gold Serpent clearly had no idea where Mei's inexplicable confidence came from.
From the looks of it... he still had the advantage.
Advantage is mine!.jpg
So naturally, he dismissively said four words:
"Empty bluffing."
...
"Gray Serpent, have you ever heard an Eastern story?"
Mei didn't care about his dismissiveness. In fact, she even had the mood to tell him a story.
But an Eastern story...
Which one was she planning to tell?
Players were curious. In-game, Gold Serpent was curious too, so they both took a listening posture.
And Mei's voice finally came, calm and unhurried.
"Long ago, there was an old man. South of his house stood two great mountains, blocking his way out the door."
Players: ...?
Isn't this... "The Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains"?
Indeed, the story Mei was about to tell was Yu Gong Moves Mountains.
Everyone should be familiar with the story's content, so there's no need to elaborate.
What mattered was Gold Serpent's reaction after hearing it... unsurprisingly, he responded with clear disdain.
He'd never believe such tales of collective strength, sunshine optimism, or positive resolve.
"...Is your wisdom only at elementary school textbook level?"
[Bull—this was in middle school classical Chinese.]
[Which elementary school teaches Yu Gong Moves Mountains? Gold Serpent, did you even go to school? (points fingers)]
The players' sarcastic jabs were still as sharp as ever.
But Gold Serpent said he wasn't finished.
"Let me remind you—the old man you mentioned didn't succeed with his own power, but by moving the heavens."
"Isn't that... the perfect irony?"
[Wait, is Yu Gong Moves Mountains really like that?]
[Just searched... 'The Serpent-Taming God heard it, feared he wouldn't stop, and reported to the Emperor.' Then, the Emperor sent Kua'e's two sons to move the mountains—one to the east of Shuo, the other to the south of Yong.]
[So in the end, it was the gods who got scared and had the mountains removed.]
This was one interpretation offered by some players—clearly different from Gold Serpent's.
Mei, too, had her own understanding.
She believed the deity who helped Yu Gong move the mountains was actually symbolic of humanity itself—that humans would one day gain the strength to move mountains on their own.
A hope and belief in a better future.
Looking at how far society has come, that seemed validated.
Many technologies ancient people would have called "divine power" were now widespread in everyday homes.
...
Their debate had clearly reached an impasse—neither could convince the other.
So, it was time to return to the most primitive form of persuasion:
Fight until someone yielded.
One side drew her blade and summoned Keraunos to assist. The other summoned a creature named "Imaginary God-Shell: Existentialism."
They clashed without mercy.
Every slash from Mei carried force and fury—her simmering frustration from their ideological clash now perfectly released.
As it turns out, the reason people get angry in debates is simply that they can't punch the other person.
Otherwise, you'd realize—what's the point in getting mad? Just roll up your sleeves and fight it out!
"Pathetic."
And right after the battle began, Mei easily gained the upper hand—she smashed Existentialism to bits in just a few moves.
Though Gold Serpent talked tough, his strength... was only so-so?
No, wait.
Mei realized—it wasn't that Gold Serpent was weak.
She had become stronger.
When?
Facing Gold Serpent earlier, she'd been dominating—she thought it was because he was weak.
But now, this Existentialism—according to Gold Serpent—
"It's an Imaginary God-Shell born from human dreams."
"As long as human dreams exist within the Stigmata space, it cannot be destroyed."
To fight such an immortal existence—while troublesome—honestly didn't even feel difficult.
Her body brimmed with power. She felt like she could fight this "Existentialism" forever.
This... the manifestation of humanity's collective dreams—she shouldn't be handling it this easily, right?
But in fact—she was. So...
Eliminate all impossibilities, and the remaining, however improbable, must be the truth.
She had grown stronger.
Mei: "..."
Mei was handling things effortlessly. She even had the mental bandwidth to think all this through mid-battle.
And after she spent a while thinking about her power-up—
"..."
"..."
She suddenly realized—she'd gone quiet for a while, but why had Gold Serpent gone quiet too?
Wasn't he quite the talker a minute ago?
"You..."
A strange feeling rose in her chest. She opened her mouth to speak.
But before she could say anything—
The Existentialism before her abruptly self-destructed.
"It's over?"
Gold Serpent: "..."
Mei muttered, while the Gold Serpent who had reappeared not far away fell silent.
"What? Nothing to say?"
"...Not you. Not you."
Gold Serpent muttered incoherently to himself.
Mei: ?
What? What's happening?
Gold Serpent's having a breakdown?
That was Mei's thought—and the players' too.
Everyone was confused. Question marks filled the chat.
And what happened next confused them even more.
"It was... you?!"
Gold Serpent's limbs suddenly twitched and spasmed.
If he were a normal human, this could be brushed off as some kind of neural disorder.
But with that cold, gleaming steel body, everything felt bizarre and grotesque.
Mei, alert, held her blade before her—yet Gray Serpent no longer moved. He just murmured to himself while static flickered through his mechanical eyes.
After swaying and twitching for several seconds, he suddenly froze.
And then—completely shut down.
Gold Serpent's body, like Existentialism before him, abruptly collapsed.
But... why?
Several seconds passed. Still nothing.
No other Gray Serpent appeared...
"Is this... really the end?"
Though she had thought dragging things out favored her—
She hadn't expected the victory to come this suddenly, this absurdly.
[General Mei, dumbfounded.jpg]
[Forget Mei—I'm confused. How did we win so suddenly? Or rather, how did Gold Serpent suddenly keel over? I was caught off guard.]
[Yeah, I thought the fight would go on a bit longer.]
...
"And now that Gold Serpent's dealt with, what's Mei going to do next? Try to return to St. Freya?"
Elysia, following the plot, mused aloud.
"No—wait!"
She quickly realized—
There was still a segment involving her and Mei that hadn't happened yet.
So what Mei was about to do... could it be...
"But how to connect...?"
Connect to what?
A CG popped up in the game to answer that.
At the same time, a line of text appeared onscreen.
Sensing something, the pointer on Mei's beacon began spinning rapidly again.
After Gold Serpent's death, it was like some major signal jammer had disappeared.
The signal generated by Mei's existence—within this Stigmata space closest to the Cocoon—suddenly became crystal clear.
Allowing a certain "existence" to finally receive Mei's signal—and rapidly approach her.
[What? What just happened?]
Before chat's questions could settle—
Crack~~
A sound like shattering glass echoed in everyone's ears.
And they saw—
In the spot where Mei had just fought Existentialism, a spatial rift appeared.
Of course, players had seen spatial rifts plenty of times—they weren't easily surprised.
It's just a spatial rift. Chill~~
But! What if this one radiated a very ambiguous, pink glow?
Could they stay calm then?
[???!!!]
[Up ahead—isn't that... Elysia?!]
[Really? REALLY??]
Clearly not.
Not only could they not stay calm—many were visibly excited.
Fidgeting, pupils dilated, eyes glued to the screen...
With only one thought left:
That glow—that pink glow—it must be, it has to be—
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