Disclaimer: 'Honkai impact 3rd' is the property of Hoyoverse, Singapore. I do not own any characters in this story except the minor OCs here and there.

Extra- 4: A Warrior's memory 4

ELYSIAN REALM – 2018(Current Era)

Raiden Mei woke up slowly to the lights hanging above her head. She realized that she was in the main lobby of the realm. She had been hearing someone's voice continuously since she had gotten that pendant, calling her to the deep end. She had fainted soon after and when she woke up, she found herself back in the lobby area. And looking at her was none other than him, the strongest of all in the previous era who commanded the respect and trust of all present here.

She giggled a little as she realized that this was how things were in this era as well. Everyone in St. Freya, World serpent and even Welt-san from Anti-Entropy trusted him to some degree. He was respected by his allies and enemies as well for being a competent leader. Even that bastard of an overseer was cautious of this man and would not dare provoke him unnecessarily.

She had heard that there was some sort of agreement between the two, but as to what it was none were the wiser. Even Grey Serpent who seemed to know the most among the World Serpent members was in the dark. As usual, he was tight-lipped about his doings and his goals; but somehow, he was able to win the trust of all of them present here. She too trusted him to do the right thing in the end, even if his ways seemed more extreme. The opinions and behaviour of the other Flame chasers around here just cemented her thought.

"…" Kevin's sim was simply observing Mei as she was thinking such things with a slight smile on her face. Seeing him observing her with a blank face made Mei Self-conscious and she coughed into her hand to regain her demeanour

"Ahem… is there something you want to say, Kevin?"

"…"

"You do know that you have to speak to get your thoughts across to other persons, right?"

"Pardofelis said that you fainted in front of her."

"So you came to check on me?"

"…"

At this Mei was touched, because even if his heart was frozen solid, he still cared in his own way. Thus, she said with her voice getting softer:

"Thank you for your concern. But as you can see, I'm totally fine now."

"…" he said nothing and started to walk away. Seeing this Mei tried to stop him:

"Wait!"

Kevin's sim stopped in mid-step and turned around back slowly. Once he fully turned around, he looked at Mei with those cold, hard eyes and asked in his usual ice-cold voice:

"What is it?"

"Well, it's about Mobius. I have met her."

At this Kevin's sim was silent for a while. Mei internally patted herself as she had managed to stay with him a little longer. Ideally, she would've liked it if he talked a little more, but she will take whatever little she gets.

"You don't have to report your itinerary to me, Raiden Mei. It's pointless." he said after a while of silence.

"But some questions can only be answered by you, the leader of the Flame-chasers."

"What do you want to know?"

"It's about Mobius… the craziness and maliciousness she has shown makes it hard to believe she's a member of the Flame-chasers." Mei said and continued:

"Is it because she created the Elysian realm? Or… because she's a survivor of the tragedy of binding?"

"Your suspicions are unfounded, Raiden Mei. Before coming here, you should have known the purpose of the Elysian realm." Kevin replied.

"The Flame-chasers here, no matter which path they take, are only focused on defeating Honkai- there's no doubt about that."

'Only focused on defeating the Honkai? If only you knew.' Mei thought as she recalled what many of the women both in the real world and here felt about the silver-white haired man in front of her. Of course, she was no exception.

"And that goes for Mobius-san too." Kevin's sim continued "It's just that very few people can understand the path she took."

'Of course, she did. Even I tried to do something extreme to ensure that the one I love is safe.' Mei thought again as she recalled her fight (if it could be called as one) against him after she defeated Kiana-chan that day in Nagazora. To say she was defeated would be an understatement. She was sure that the only reason she was able to walk afterwards was because he let her. He truly was on another level that she couldn't currently reach even with her Herrscher powers.

"…" Mei was silent as she thought about how much powerless she still was currently. She had to grow stronger if she wanted to save him. And she knew that she didn't have much time left, as only three Herrschers remained until the 14th.

Mei then decided to bring up a topic that she had been curious about since she talked with Mobius but had put off until now.

"Then what about Elysia?" she asked slowly. The effect was instantaneous. The hall's temperature dropped down suddenly as his face hardened into a stone.

There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a long while. Mei started to worry if she had asked something that she shouldn't have. However, she decided to push it as she had already started this conversation.

'In for a penny, in for a pound.' she thought and said:

"You hesitated, Kevin. Why?"

"What are you getting at?" Kevin's sim asked, his voice colder than usual.

"Mobius called her a traitor. I don't find Mobius trustworthy, but your hesitation affirmed my suspicion. So…"

At this, both went silent for a while again. After some time, Kevin's sim finally said:

"Mobius-san was right. She was a traitor… but not in the way you are thinking."

"Till the end, her path never changed, and neither did her purpose."

"Before we met, she had carried her cross of suffering, but I only discovered the truth in the end." Then with a sad voice and an equally hint of sadness on his face, he said:

"I trusted her, and she…" Kevin went silent. Then he suddenly said:

"Enough. I don't want to continue this conversation further." Kevin's sim forcefully ended the conversation.

Hearing the tone of his voice and the expression of pain and regret on his face, Mei's heart hurt badly. But she couldn't comfort him, much to her sadness and frustration. Thus, she could only think as her own face morphed into a pained one:

'Kevin… what happened between you and Elysia?'

Deciding that he needed some space, Mei made her way out of the main hall to explore the realm again and to find a way to the deep end. Perhaps she will find her answers there.

For Kevin's sim, he just stood there, recalling that banquet, that evening that changed everything for him. Only he knows how he wished to change that evening desperately. To make sure that it was him who had to make that choice because it was her who should lead humanity, not him. She said that evening that he was their leader, their hero; but how could he ever be one as he failed to save anyone in the end? Seele, aneki, aniki and so many others were gone because of him. He killed them and that fact will never change.

As he was thinking these thoughts, he heard a very familiar voice:

"Hi~. What are you doing Kevin?"

"…"

"Brr. It's colder than usual. Did you use your powers again? You do know you shouldn't use it regularly, right?" Elysia's sim said in a concerned voice.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, that. I just wanted to hear what you said to Mei."

"I told her nothing of use."

"Hehe." she giggled and said: "Actually I heard it- "Enough. I don't want to continue this conversation further." You sounded so sad when you spoke of me. I knew you felt this way. What do you say?"

"You said you'd never trust me again and that made me sad for soooo long. How are you going to make up for it?"

"The two things are not contradictory." Kevin's sim said and went silent for a while. After some time, he said:

"I now know what your final decision meant, and I respect you for it."

"You are not being honest as usual, Kevin." Elysia's sim teased "But it's all right. I have the answer already. If possible, I'd love to meet the real you in the outside world again."

Then Kevin's sim said something that she had heard for the first time in all of these 50,000 years that they had been here and made her rooted at her spot.

"When you do, then I hope you will be able to understand why I did, what I did."

"Eh?"

"…"

"Kevin… what do you mean?" she asked in trepidation. The way he said that sentence, it was as if she would be able to-

"…" Kevin's sim as usual didn't answer anything and walked away before she could stop him. Elysia was in conflict because if he meant what he said, then she should be alive.

But how could that be, she made sure that all of her powers were released that evening, and no Herrscher can survive their cores being broken. However, she also knew that Kevin didn't speak what he didn't mean. Then how? She had a lot of questions but the one who held the answers was silent as usual.

'What are you trying to do Kevin?' Elysia's sim thought as she stood there looking in the direction where his sim disappeared to.

Hello everyone, welcome back to 'A Warrior's Destiny'.

There is nothing much to say for this extra, as it is completely spoiler territory and one of the major plot points of this story. The only thing I can say now is that a lot of your guys' wishes are going to come true but at a cost.

As for Kevin, his MANTIS powers are more broken here. However, as it should be, the consequences of using those powers are going to be heavy too. The same goes for the price that he has to pay for using the true power of Shamash.

Anyway, starting from the next chapter we are going to wind up the Cocoon arc and move on to the next one. So, prepare yourself as the next few chapters are going to be loaded.

As always if you enjoy the story please leave a follow, favourite and/or review.

Thank you for reading, until next time.