History TearJerker / HonkaiImpact3rd

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*** Kalpas's primary goal is to prove Sakura's innonence from being suspected as Elysia's killer. By the end of Chapter 30, he's proven right as he managed to expose the identity of the true culprit - the Herrscher of Corruption. Moments before he disappears, Kalpas asks for some validation from Aponia, and the latter assures he finally managed to protect something. In Chapter 31, Raiden Mei even retroactively and posthumously acknowledges Kalpas's accomplishment; for someone who's mostly known for [[BloodKnight violence]], he ended up being vital against the Herrscher of Corruption.

*** Kosma needed himself to be drawn as one of Griseo's paintings so that a version of him could fully utilize his over-Meta-Morph form and stall the Herrscher of Corruption. During the "painting" process, [[ContinuityNod he recalls the tragedy of the Project Ark]]; a one-person spaceship sent to find a new home for humanity (as the Earth is still dealing with the Honkai), but communications with that ship were lost and it never managed to find its way back home.

---> '''For the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. Elysian Realms Wraps Up.'''

*** Eden is the last Flame-Chaser sim to disappear, and thus all of their portraits in the menu's interface are replaced by shattered glass. Near the end of Chapter 31 Part 1, you can inspect the now-empty table with a wine glass on it, but the text implies that the wine is still waiting for someone to return.

*** Kosma needed himself to be drawn as one of Griseo's paintings so that a version of him could fully utilize his over-Meta-Morph form and stall the Herrscher of Corruption. During the "painting" process, [[ContinuityNod he recalls the tragedy of the Project Ark]]; a one-person spaceship sent to find a new home for humanity (as the Earth is still dealing with the Honkai), but communications with that ship was lost and it never managed to find its way back home.

*** Pardo guides Su to Kevin inside the illusion city of Nagazora, despite apparently losing her memory and connection with the two. She's also having doubts about her given task of creating an opening for a secret attack, but accomplishes it anyway because deep inside, she's still remembers she's a Flame-Chaser.

*** Eden is the last Flame-Chaser sim to disappear, and thus all of their portraits in the menu's interface are replaced by shattered glass. You can inspect the now-empty table with a wine glass on it, but the text implies that the wine is still waiting for someone to return.

* One of the overarching plot points of chapters 29 and 30 is that someone or something is deleting the sims in the Elysian Realm. Elysia is the first to be removed, just as she was on the verge of giving Mei vital information about her past and becoming the 13th Herrscher. Later on, the tally of fallen sims increases to include Kevin, Mobius, Pardofelis, Kalpas, and Vill-V. Of these, Pardo's is the most heartbreaking. She is attacked by Vill-V's evil side after unlocking one of Vill-V's memories, and, with Mei holding her in her arms, fearfully pleads that she doesn't want to die before her sim, already fading and glitching due to what was done to her, shatters and vanishes.
* In the "exploration" parts of Elysium Everlasting, Pardo will occasionally make enthusiastic comments when you find a treasure chest or chastise you when you fall into a pit. After she dies in Chapter 30, this funny chatter is replaced by crushing silence and a mere "…" from Mei as a form of GameplayAndStoryIntegration. When this new dialogue is triggered for the first time, Mei even comments on the sadness of not being able to hear Pardo's voice anymore.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ch_15_act_1.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''Nothing I can do at all... nothing...'']]

* One of the overarching plot points of chapters 29 and 30 is that someone or something is deleting the sims in the Elysian Realm. Elysia is the first to be removed, just as she was on the verge of giving Mei vital information about her past and becoming the 13th Herrscher. Later on, the tally of fallen sims increases to include Kevin, Mobius, Pardofelis, Kalpas, and Vill-V. Of these, Pardo's is the most heartbreaking. She is fatally stricken by the Herrscher of Corruption after unlocking one of Vill-V's memories, and, with Mei holding her in her arms, fearfully pleads that she doesn't want to die before her sim, already fading and glitching due to what was done to her, shatters and vanishes.

Though it may seem like a cutesy game at first, ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' has many a moment that pulls on your heartstrings. If you happen to come from ''Guns [=GirlZ=]'', you may know that miHoYo is no slouch at writing tragedies, up to world-scale ones, akin to their biggest inspiration, ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.

** Mihoyo also had uploaded Himeko's final voice recording, which acts as her goodbye to the Captain, i.e., the players themselves. May you rest in peace, Himeko...

** Chapter 28 then reveals that the original Kiana never died but instead lost her memories and was reshaped into ''Durandal''. What should be a massive turn towards the optimistic is made sad with the gift of hindsight. Currently, Durandal remains completely unaware of her true identity and the fact that she's been interacting with her "sister" the entire time. Even when there's hope, [[BittersweetEnding there's always got to be a catch]].

* Despite the sheer amount of ''crap'' Otto was behind, his death in "Thus Spoke Apocalypse" is oddly [[AlasPoorVillain pitiable]]. In the end, unlike what was originally assumed, he didn't even [[EntitledToHaveYou want to have Kallen for himself]]. In reality, he was so wracked with guilt over her death that he didn't even value his own life beyond how it could be sacrificed to save hers. And he winds up going through with it without a hint of hesitation. To hammer just how trapped in the past he's been, the short ends with a childhood memory of him resting next to Kallen, implying that his memories with her might've been the only happy memories of his entire life.

* Despite the sheer amount of ''crap'' Otto was behind, his death in "Thus Spoke Apocalypse" is oddly [[AlasPoorVillain pitiable]]. In the end, unlike what was originally assumed, he didn't even [[EntitledToHaveYou want to have Kallen for himself]]. In reality, he was so wracked with guilt over her death that he didn't even value his own life beyond how it could be sacrificed to save hers. Despite the pleas of both Kiana and Durandel, two people he's horribly wronged, he goes through with sacrificing his life. To hammer just how trapped in the past he's been, the short ends with a childhood memory of him resting next to Kallen, implying that his memories with her might've been the only happy memories of his entire life.

* Despite the sheer amount of ''crap'' Otto was behind, his death in "Thus Spoke Apocalypse" is oddly [[AlasPoorVillain pitiable]]. In the end, unlike what was originally assumed, he didn't even [[EntitledToHaveYou want to have Kallen for himself]]. In reality, he was so wracked with guilt over her death that he values his own life ''only'' as a means to save hers. Despite the pleas of both Kiana and Durandel, two people he's horribly wronged, he goes through with sacrificing his life. To hammer just how trapped in the past he's been, the short ends with a childhood memory of him resting next to Kallen, implying that his memories with her might've been the only happy memories of his entire life.

* Despite the sheer amount of ''crap'' Otto was behind, his death in "Thus Spoke Apocalypse" is oddly [[AlasPoorVillain pitiable]]. In the end, unlike what was originally assumed, he didn't even [[EntitledToHaveYou want to have Kallen for himself]]. In reality, he was so wracked with guilt over her death that he values his own life ''only'' as a means to save hers. Despite the pleas of both Kiana and Durandel, two people he's horribly wronged, he goes through with sacrificing his life. To hammer just how trapped in the past he's been, the short ends with a childhood memory of him resting next to Kallen, implying that they might've been the only happy memories of his entire life.

* Despite the sheer amount of ''crap'' Otto was behind, his death in "Thus Spoke Apocalypse" is oddly [[AlasPoorVillain pitiable]]. In the end, unlike what was originally assumed, he didn't even [[EntitledToHaveYou want to have Kallen for himself]]. In reality, he was so wracked with guilt over her death that he values his own life ''only'' as a means to save hers. Despite the pleas of both Kiana and Durandel, two people he's horribly wronged, he goes through with sacrificing his life. The short in particular ends with a childhood memory of him resting next to Kallen, implying that they might've been the only happy memories of his entire life, which shows just how completely trapped in the past he's been for the past 500 years.

* Despite the sheer amount of ''crap'' Otto was behind, his death in "Thus Spoke Apocalypse" is oddly [[AlasPoorVillain pitiable]]. In the end, he didn't even want to have Kallen for himself. In reality, he was so wracked with guilt over her death that he values his own life ''only'' as a means to save hers. Despite the pleas of both Kiana and Durandel, two people he's horribly wronged, he goes through with sacrificing his life. The short in particular ends with a childhood memory of him resting next to Kallen, implying that they might've been the only happy memories of his entire life, which shows just how completely trapped in the past he's been for the past 500 years.

* Despite the sheer amount of ''crap'' Otto was behind, his death in "Thus Spoke Apocalypse" is oddly [[AlasPoorVillain pitiable]]. In the end, he didn't even want to have Kallen for himself. In reality, he was so wracked with guilt over her death that he only values his own life ''only'' as a means to save hers. Despite the pleas of both Kiana and Durandel, two people he's horribly wronged, he goes through with sacrificing his life. The short in particular ends with a childhood memory of him resting next to Kallen, implying that they might've been the only happy memories of his entire life, which shows just how completely trapped in the past he's been for the past 500 years.

* Despite the sheer amount of ''crap'' Otto was behind, his death in "Thus Spoke Apocalypse" is oddly [[AlasPoorVillain pitiable]]. In the end, he didn't even want to have Kallen for himself. He was so wracked with guilt over her death that he's completely set on ending his own life just to save hers, despite the pleas of both Kiana and Durandel, two people he's horribly wronged. The short in particular ends with a childhood memory of him resting next to Kallen, implying that they might've been the only happy memories of his entire life, which shows just how completely trapped in the past he's been for the past 500 years.

* Chapter 26's revelation about the real Kiana's whereabouts proves once again that no character is safe from [=miHoYo=]'s cruel designs. Specifically, a casual conversation between Theresa and Kiana ends up triggering memories the latter saw through her Herrscher Core; memories of the time Siegfried, K-423 and someone else (initially referred to as "her") escaped from Schicksal aboard a fighter jet, only for an incident to happen that eventually led to Siegfried bestowing the name of Kiana upon K-234 (as seen in the ''Anti-Entropy Invasion'' comic), all but stating that the real Kiana died during the escape.

--->''From Kiana's perspective, if it wasn't for that accident when they were escaping that year... she might be still wandering, but maybe she wouldn't be alone.''