Chapter 7: Nearly Descending into the Genocide Route

Within the Kalpas' livestream room, the only sound was the game's BGM, but outside the livestream room, the chat room was bustling.

In the Elysian Realm, including Klein, there were only sixteen individuals in total, and if we count the other personas of Vil-Vi it would be twenty-four individuals.

owever, today, the number of viewers in the livestream room reached as high as thirteen!

It must be said that everyone in the Elysian Realm was rather idle. After witnessing another aspect of Kalpas, they all wanted to join in the excitement.

Within the tranquil livestream room, the familiar game screen was displayed.

Upon reaching the naming stage, Kalpas obediently inscribed his name on it.

[Miss Pink Elf : I didn't expect Kalpas to opt for his own name at the outset instead of "Annihilation." Have you encountered this type of game before, Kalpas?

Hypnotic Butterfly: I'm not sure.

Napping Cat: Who is Hypnotic Butterfly?

Napping Cat: I'm sorry!! I've offended you!

Napping Cat: Also, why is my username like this!?

Furry Fox: I recall encountering a game console on Twilight Street once and thought it would be a good idea to experience it with my sister after completing the mission.

Miss Pink Elf: Speaking of which, will the protagonist provoke the first little flower he encounters?]

Suddenly, Elysia raised this question, and a small flower appeared on the screen.

Aponia fell silent immediately.

Such a storyline might genuinely provoke Kalpas.

But now, it's too late to say anything.

On the screen, Kalpas, controlling the little Red Heart, indeed went to collide with the bullets created by the small flower!

[You idiot! In this world, it's kill or BE killed. Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this?

DIE!]

The moment Little Red Heart touched the bullet, HP dropped to zero.

Although everyone had anticipated it, the reaction of Kalpas was what everyone cared about.

And Kalpas?

Kalpas' hand, flipping through the text paused for a moment, seemingly ignited by anger from the small flower.

The small flower prepared to make a follow-up attack, creating countless bullets again, surrounding the protagonist on the screen.

But then, a warm light surrounded the red heart, and white flames directly blasted the small flower away, Ciaoara appeared on the screen.

She spoke with a gentle tone.

[What a terrible creaturel, torturing such a poor and innocent youth...]

"Self-righteous, hypocritical... She's just like that guy!"

[Miss Pink Elf: Oh, it seems... to have struck a nerve?

Hypnotic Butterfly: This is a little unpleasant incident that occurred between him and me. Although I want to help Kalpas, he has always been unwilling to communicate with me.]

Next, Kalpas led the protagonist to a training dummy to demonstrate the option of kindness and dialogue.

Then Kalpas chose to attack without hesitation.

[Ah! The dummies are not for fighting! They are for talking!! We don't want to hurt anybody do we? Come now.]

The reaction of Toriel, along with her dialogue, seemed to further anger Kalpas.

On the other end of the livestream, the hearty laughter of Kalpas could be heard.

It seemed like she's mocking the opponent. As a monster, she actually said he didn't want to harm anyone?

What about that small flower?

At the beginning, what about the animosity left over from the war between monsters and humans?

Fighting is in line with Kalpas' style. Along the way, encountering monsters, Kalpas would exterminate them all without leaving a single one behind. The protagonist's primary goal is to leave this underground world, but Kalpas chooses to break through directly.

[Miss Pink Elf: No! What did Kalpas do! These adorable little monsters, how can Kalpas bear to kill them!

Napping Cat: It's... very much in Kalpas' style... But I think except for the small flower at the beginning, other monsters don't seem to harbor any hostility, right? Isn't it a bit too harsh to kill them directly?

Frozen Ice Cubes: Actually, Eden's intuition at the beginning was not wrong. Kalpas is indeed someone who never ceases to fight.]

Although it feels a bit like hindsight, Kevin's understanding of Kalpas is indeed like this.

He would doubt, and then use battle to test things thru.

If the other party is completely harmless, Kalpas doesn't mind showing a bit of kindness.

But it's limited to sparing their lives.

Even when Cioara came to the Elysian Realm, she was torn apart by Kalpas time and time again, and the monsters in this game were definitely unable to escape Kalpas' grasp.

Even if it's just a different form entirely, and not Kalpas personally confirming whether the monster is good or not.

[Listen to me, small one... If you go beyond this door,

Keep walking as far as you can. Eventually, you will reach the exit... Asgore.... Do not let Asgore take your soul..... His plan cannot allow to succeed..... Be good, wont you? ...My child.]

Kalpas briefly paused the screen at this moment, and the cheerful laughter disappeared without a trace. He seemed to be pondering the plot's question, then the mouse started moving again.

[Shining Melody: Where there is light, there is inevitably darkness. The ability to be kind also entails the ability to slaughter. However, Kalpas ultimately showed mercy, so the path wasn't opened in that way.

Green Snake: So, do you have to kill all the monsters to unlock new routes? To be honest, I'm starting to look forward to the scene after all the monsters are killed. It's a pity that it's not the adorable Miss Raven presenting us with such a scene~]

Kalpas' progression was swift, surpassing Raven's pace, but because of Toriel's incident, Kalpas' attitude toward those monsters began to change.

Encountering a little puppy on the way, Kalpas petted it over and over again. Each stroke caused the puppy's neck to elongate, even breaking through the sky. Such a scene wasn't shown by Ciaoara to everyone, so they were all amused by this adorable puppy.

However, Kalpas showed no mercy to the dog couple later on, after all, they were trying to capture humans, what more could be said?

They were swiftly annihilated, which saddened Elysia.

Following that, Kalpas controlled the protagonist through the town, briefly interacting with Papyrus before setting out on the road again. At the end of Snowdin, amidst the vast expanse of white snow, Papyrus was waiting there.

["Halt! Human!"]

But the protagonist continued to advance two steps.

["Hey! Quit' moving while I'm talking to you! I, the great Papyrus, have some things to say. First, you're a freakin weirdo, not only do you not like puzzles, but way you shamble about fron place to place, the way your hands are always covered with dusty powde, It feels...

Like your life is going down a dangerous path! However! I, Papyrus! See great potential within you! Everyino can be a great person if they try! determination, anyone can become great! And me, I hardly have to try at all, Nyeh Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh]

Although Papyrus' attitude toward the protagonist was cautious, Elysia knew about his unwary innocence, which was consistent with his attitude of loving everyone.

But now, the protagonist took two more steps forward. Elysia's heart was tense. Although Kalpas occasionally showed mercy to some monsters, he mostly killed them directly.

So perhaps in the eyes of the monsters, Kalpas was a very dangerous monster?

["Hey! Quit moving! This is exactly what I'm talking about! Human! I think you are in need of guidance now! Someone needs to keep you on the straight and narrow! But worry not! I, Papyrus, will gladly be your friend and tutor! I will turn your life right around!"]

Actually, Kalpas might have misunderstood the word "friend".

At least Kalpas' address to Aponia was indeed that of a friend, and the kind who wanted to tear them apart completely.

If there were no rules, Kalpas would probably have to confront Aponia every day for fifty thousand years. At this point, the protagonist began to stride forward again, causing Elysia to worry.

"Bronie, will something really bad happen next?"

"As long as they are not too unlucky, killing all the monsters along the way, even actively seeking out monsters to kill then on the map, will usually end up a neutral route.

If you want to take the genocide route, you have to deliberately seek out monsters to kill on every map until there's a prompt."

Bronie actually felt quite awkward about Kalpas taking this route. It wasn't a genocide, but he killed a lot. It could only be said that he attackef in self-defense, to some extent, could indeed be forgiven. Strange places, unfamiliar environments, and countless monsters. Sans won't pass final judgment on the protagonist, at least not in this set route.

However, to hint at the existence of the genocide route to players, some parts of the genocide route's storyline paths have been adjusted by Bronie to trigger at certain levels. And Papyrus, currently in front of them, worries about the protagonist, aiming to prevent players from taking actions too extreme.

This consideration is made for players who may not pay attention to the plot, and it seems that Kalpas has selectively ignored some of the text, resulting in a partial understanding of the overall game.

[I see you are appoaching,. Are you offering a hug of acceptance? Wowie, my lessons are working! I, Papyrus, welcome you with open arms!!]

Although it was said so, the screen now enters the battle interface. Kalpas is also not polite at all, directly initiating an attack, but as the blade passes through Papyrus' body, it shows a "miss"!

[Papyrus is forgiving you.]

"He's not even willing to attack the protagonist!" Elysia figured out that Papyrus is also trying to forgive the protagonist, even attempting to communicate with them.

This time, however, Kalpas changed somewhat. He hesitated between attacking and forgiving for a long time, ultimately choosing mercy.

Because during their previous interaction, Kalpas realized that Papyrus truly harbored no hostility towards him. It didn't align with Kalpas' own style to resort to violence against someone who showed no intention of harm.

Kalpas' thinking is sometimes very simple. If someone attacks him, he fights back. And Papyrus didn't even raise a hand, so Kalpas chose to spare him.

His goal has always been one thing: to leave this so-called underground, not to slaughter people indiscriminately.

[Wowie! You did it!!! You didn't do a violence! To be honest, I was a little afraid... But you're already becoming a great person! I'm so proud I could cry

...Wait, wasn''t I supposed to be capturing you? Well forget it! I just want you to be the best person you can be. So lets let be bybones be bybones. I'll even tell you how to leave the underground! Just keep going east! Eventually you will reach the king's castle. Then you can leave.]

"That's, that's great... Although I trust Kalpas a lot, I'm still worried about Papyrus~"

Elysia breathed a sigh of relief. Then, she saw Bronie's subtle expression.

"Although Kalpas wasn't easy to get along with at first, getting to know him more closely, you'll find that he's actually a very gentle person! See, he's not unreasonable, is he? Although, if you observe from the data of the previous era, Kalpas may seem a bit scary."

Elysia explained to Bronie, also hoping to leave a somewhat positive impression of Kalpas in Bronie's mind. "Stereotypes are really terrifying. Once a label is attached to someone, people tend to subconsciously think in that direction."

Bronie also had a broader view of Kalpas, but on second thought, while Kalpas usually acted crazy, he did have a record of voluntarily being tied to a pole and bled. Self-sacrifice, with a touch of self-awe, but who could do that to such an extent?

"So... should we meet him?"

"Meet him and then get beaten up for no reason? Although I'm not afraid of trouble, I won't easily provoke it either. I'm a hacker who doesn't release a hawk without seeing a rabbit in Arc City. This obviously has no benefit, so I won't do it."

"I see, because there's no benefit! How about this, let's make a deal. If we go there once, I'll prepare a surprise for you! And, going once won't hurt, I believe you have that ability!"

This couldn't be clearer. Elysia hopes to make Bronie challenge the Elysian Realm herself, to delve into those memories, and do something.

But this is Elysia's request! Seeing Bronie still hesitating, Elysia pretended to be surprised.

"Oh, am I being too hasty? If you keep being idle like this, you won't be able to create a future for yourself. Don't you want to see what kind of scenery lies in the depths of the Elysian Realm? It's a very beautiful and romantic place!"

"Those who remain idle in the Elysian Realm are not just me, right? You thirteen chose to stay here, while a new civilization has emerged outside, yet you've never ventured out to explore."

Upon hearing Bronie's words, Elysia was momentarily stunned.

Then, she caught a glimpse of the lively chat panel. Bronie's arrival had brought about many changes to the Elysian Realm, but she hadn't expected Bronie's intentions to be even more audacious.

It seemed she wanted everyone here to explore the outside world?

"Don't you want to see the new civilization emerging outside, and how beautiful it might be? Fu Hua planted the Project EMBER to the world, and then the seeds of civilization grew. Subsequently, the First Herrscher, stood to fight for humanity, continuously passing on their abilities. That is the hope to overcome Finality."

Elysia was shocked to hear this information; the First Herrscher were fighting for humanity! But before Elysia could cry tears of joy, a cold voice came from behind.

"But the technological barriers to achieve said feat is difficult to break. While the sims are indeed very real, excessive interaction and changes without regular cleaning of miscellaneous data may result in irreversible damage to the sims, which is unacceptable to everyone."

Bronie turned around to see Vill-Vi!

No one in this world knew more about the structure of the Elysian Realm's data than Vill-Vi. Over the course of fifty thousand years, people have been creating and deleting memories, constantly communicating and creating new memories, and then deleting them again.

"But they can indeed be broken. By studying the Herrscher of Corruptiion of the previous era, The leader of the organization fighting against Honkai, Schicksal, can continuously upload their consciousness into different Soulium bodies. They also constantly replace a person's body through Soulium, transforming it into a completely different life form."

As Bronie spoke, even the expert Vill-Vi widened her eyes.

"And, Herrscher of Corruption from the previous era are still alive, but they should be in a very weak state now, with little power left. We can use them as research material and find a completely new path."

Another bombshell.

But under the barrage of information, Vill-Vi's expression became increasingly serious.

"Visitor, how do you know all this, and how do you know such detailed information?"

Even World Serpent outside the world wouldn't have access to this kind of information.

But Bronie, perhaps feeling that each of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers was trustworthy, or perhaps gradually letting go of her guard through her interactions with Elysia, blurted it out.

"Because I'm a hacker. I can infiltrate any place. Schicksal, the largest organization fighting against Honkai in the world today, has the most legacies from Project EMBER. Even Fu Hua, who has lost her past memories, is among them."

"If you truly want to make such changes, you need to convince us, get to know everyone, and gain their approval. So you need to delve deep into Elysian Realm and have a wonderful encounter with everyone."

Elysia thought for a long time and scrutinized Bronie for a while.

Seeing Bronie's eager appearance, it seemed she knew a lot of secrets, just like how Aponia could see the threads of fate and wanted to change them.

But this matter couldn't be rushed after all. She didn't want to get to know everyone here and she wanted to directly reshape the Elysian Realm?

Without a foundation of trust from the beginning, it would be impossible to proceed with this. As everyone is involved after all.

So Elysia laid out a condition.

"I can explore into the secrets of the Elysian Realm but..."

"But?"

"Please don't let me encounter Ciaoara in there."