NOVEL WEB Chapter 312: The Cruel Implication in Acheron's PV? What Exactly Did She Go Through?!
"Sparkle 's PV revealed the Path of Joy."
"As for the Acheron PV, I'm even more excited."
"This equally mysterious woman is about to reveal her hidden side to us too!"
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"The Path of Nihility is the Path of Nothingness."
"It's still a Path we currently know very little about."
Rion rubbed her hands expectantly: "Everyone can type your thoughts about Acheron and about Nihility in the comments. Then let's watch this PV and see if it matches our expectations."
The audience in the bullet comments started interacting enthusiastically~
...
: For me, Nihility is basically the final boss-tier Path.
: IX is without a doubt the king of slacking off, but is the strongest healer.
: I'm really curious what Nihility thinks about its own Emanator wanting to kill it.
: True, so far there's been no Pathstrider on any other Path who wants to kill their Path's Aeon. Acheron is the only one so far.
: Besides Nihility, aren't you guys curious about Acheron's backstory? She must've been through a lot!
...
"Everyone is really enthusiastic."
Looking at the bullet comments, Miss Yun smiled and said: "Then let's jump right into it."
Rion also nodded, and then played the first PV.
It was Acheron's character PV.
Unlike in the game, many PVs are heavy on spoilers, which could affect the shock value in the show.
For example, the sword-drawing scene in Acheron's PV, if viewers already witness her overwhelming power before the episode, then the mystery in the show would be much diminished, and the sense of urgency would be lost.
So in order to preserve the impact of Acheron's first sword-draw, the production team deliberately placed the PV after the main plot of Penacony.
After all, the MiHoYo here isn't trying to sell gacha pulls here, viewer experience takes priority.
And compared to watching the PV beforehand, watching it afterward has a charm of its own.Viewers were full of anticipation.
Given how powerful Acheron was in the show, what kind of display would she have in the PV?
On screen, the BGM structured with electronic music paired with traditional percussion immediately set the tone.
In the wind and rain, Acheron fought against the Stellaron Hunters, excluding Firefly, one versus three, with ease and grace.
And when the electronic music reached its peak, the glorious 2.5D animation returned!
The moment Acheron opened her umbrella, a voiceover with deep emotional resonance played:
"Either way, dusk's rain..."
"it too shall fall."
Acheron, holding the umbrella with one hand, leaned back slightly.
To her left, her blood-red name faded slightly with the falling raindrops.
Beneath the name, a smaller line of text, obscured by rain, was difficult to make out.
...
: What an amazing transformation! This 2.5D effect looks incredible!
: The way her name is washed away by rain looks like peeling paint! Totally fits Acheron's identity!
: There's a poetic beauty to it!
: That Japanese-style drumbeat and soundtrack are seriously powerful!
: Compared to Sparkle's PV, this gives me a whole different thrill!
...
After showcasing a few stills, in the PV, a cut struck through the screen.
A crimson tide surged forward.
And wrapped in that red tide was Acheron, now reduced to only red and white hues.
The camera flashed through several frames.
Among a sea of red spider lilies, Acheron hugged herself, or hid her face in red waves.
Much like the previous abstract expressions, these scenes seemed to reflect Acheron's inner world.
The background music became more intense and chaotic.
"Restore this lost memory..."
"Apply, your color."
With a soft whisper, the broken visuals returned to normal.
On the streets of Penacony, Acheron stood silently in the rain.
A stunning moment appeared.
Despite being a realistic scene, rain, Acheron, the road, her body began to glow with white lines.
These lines outlined her form, just like the draft lines a sketch artist would draw.
One moment she looked like a 2D sketch of Acheron, then the lines faded with the wind and rain, only to reappear again.
When a 3D world adopts the methods and expressions of 2D, viewers didn't feel it was out of place, instead, it felt like the perfect fit.
...
: The color symbolizes the self. Right after breaking free from her chaotic mental world, white sketch lines appeared on Acheron's body, could it be a sign of a shattered self?
: The technical prowess here is insane, there's zero dissonance!
: How did Honkai: Star Rail think to use sketch lines to represent Acheron's unstable self! Genius!
: Now I suddenly get why the PV is called "Your Color."
: Acheron kept emphasizing "color" in the show. If color is the self... then she probably doesn't have much of a self left…
: QAQ
...
This is the unique charm of watching the PV afterward.
Thanks to the information in the show, viewers can now easily pick up on the brilliant hints embedded in the PV.
Gained a deeper impression of Acheron's character.
In the scene, Acheron also recovered from her inner instability.
Bathed in the light of an approaching vehicle, she raised her head and looked at the screen.
It was supposed to be a commercial shot by Robin.
Yet, as Acheron watched, it was as if she saw another "self."
"I've seen her before."
Acheron murmured softly, raising her head slightly.
The camera showed her perfect side profile, and within that profile, a faint figure appeared in the bloody background, facing away from the audience.
"Find me."
"Find me."
"Your end..."
"...my origin."
The woman in the advertisement suddenly spoke.
It was the same kind of cryptic chant.
But it was as if Acheron understood something, her thumb pushed the blade from the sheath, and with her right hand in a reverse grip, she drew the sword in an extremely difficult but explosively cool pose.
As she drew the sword, her appearance and hair color subtly changed.
A line of blood-tears slowly fell from her eye.
"All that is past..."
"...has returned to Nihility."
"Just like tears ...eventually disappear in the rain."
Just when the music should have reached its peak, it suddenly stalled, leaving only an increasingly prolonged drumbeat.
Facing the camera, Acheron held her sword in her right hand, ready to strike.
As the tip of the blade moved, the surroundings were suddenly engulfed by immense pressure.
And in the moment she prepared to strike,
All colors and images reverted to the most primitive black and white.
Without any transition.
A three-dimensional person instantly became a line-drawing outlined in black and white.
Even her facial features were smeared out by black lines, leaving only her form and hair to indicate it was Acheron.
The music vanished as well, all notes merged into indistinct sounds, drifting farther and farther away, until almost dissipated.
Just as Acheron seemed about to dissolve into this black and white void, a streak of red appeared unwillingly.
First at the sword's tip, then the whole blade, and finally, red rain swept across the entire black landscape!
The thunderous boom grew from a faint sound to an explosion,
In less than a second!
Boom!
Red lightning struck from thin air.
Color, sound, and her features all returned to clarity under the thunder.
The sword's tip split the ink-like rain curtain, staining it a blood-red hue.
That strike split the entire frame, as if shattering a mirror, making the whole scene resemble broken glass.
Electronic music resumed appropriately, accompanying this highly symbolic imagery, until it faded.
What burst forth in red was a massive explosion that swept across all of Penacony!
But just like the entire PV's atmosphere, the explosion's intense color and presence
Gradually turned pale again, like fading wind, growing longer, lighter, until the screen was left with nothing but a void white.
This was the only freeze-frame.
The white occupied the screen for about two seconds before it returned to its original tone.
She said nothing, simply faced the downpour, closed her eyes slightly, and let the rain soak her.
And above, the woman from the commercial softly said:
"Apply, your color."
"Find me."
The PV ended.
Only when the Honkai Star Rail logo appeared did Rion snap out of her immersion.
Before she could speak, Miss Yun beside her sighed deeply: "Such a heavy PV..."
"Huh?"
"Heavy?"
"Wasn't it an incredibly cool PV?" Rion was a bit confused.
The livestream audience also showed agreement.
...
: Yeah, this PV was so cool!
: Forget the 3D-turned-2D, that final slash, damn! Just as shocking as in an anime climax!
: She literally turned into a 2D sketch with one slash! That sense of art! That power! Absolutely stunning!
: The music was super intense too!
...
The comment barrage scrolled rapidly.
After all, the special effects, music, and the sheer impact of Acheron's final move, even Rion, was fired up watching it, let alone the audience.
But Miss Yun shook her head, her eyes filled with contemplation.
"I don't know what you all think, but after watching this PV, I have only one feeling."
"Emptiness."
This time, Miss Yun took the mouse herself and rewound the screen to that moment.
That was when Acheron heard the mysterious chant.
And then, resolutely drew her sword.
"Acheron is the Emanator of Nihility."
"Of course, she is a warm person, someone without an overly strong sense of self, yet still able to make us feel completely safe."
"What this PV is trying to convey is essentially a silhouette of Acheron, she is trying to dye herself with her own colors, to fight against the Nihility."
Miss Yun dragged the mouse, pulling it to the end, to the scene that audiences love the most: the segment with the vines.
As it paused.
That excellent art design was displayed even more clearly before the audience.
"First, a black hole appears on the tip of the blade."
"Then the entire color of Acheron turns black and white."
"This is a metaphor for the omnipresent assimilation of the nihility."
"But at this moment, red appears. This bright red color is Acheron's self, she absolutely refuses to yield to the nihility."
"The eruption of red is the eruption of Acheron herself."
"This is a person's answer to the nihility, full of courage, defiance, and resilience. That's why when the blade strikes down, we feel an incredible thrill!"
Miss Yun paused here, seemingly a bit emotional.
...
"If it ended here, I think I would've been very happy."
"But at the very end, Mihoyo used an extremely cruel implication to tell us a truth."
She didn't say anything more.
Instead, she kept replaying the final scene for the audience, the violent explosion that burst forth from Acheron's color.
With her earlier explanation...
The audience, including Rion, had all focused their attention on the red.
The metaphor in this PV was even stronger. Every instance of red in the entire sequence was alluding to Acheron.
Red ignited the nihility, releasing an unprecedented intensity.
Just like Acheron's own will.
Powerful!
Unrivaled!
The resulting shockwave could effortlessly destroy everything in its path.
But amid these repeated viewings, everyone finally noticed the cruel implication Miss Yun was referring to.
And that is:
No matter how intense the red explosion is... It will ultimately turn into pale aftershocks.
And the violent sound (the emotion, the direct impact) caused by the explosion... Will in the end become indistinct, disappearing into the wind as noise.
And the only thing that remains unchanged is the 'white', empty and featureless, that stands alone in the frame after the explosion ends.
Color will eventually fade. Only the eternal white (nihility) remains.
...
: Damn!
: No matter how violently it erupts, no matter how brilliant it is, in the end only the nihility is left?
: There's no point in fighting the nihility, because the nihility never disappears. You can persist for ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, a million years, but to IX, it doesn't matter at all?
: Then what's the point of Acheron's persistence... Damn, the despair is overwhelming.
: Damn it, why did Mihoyo put such a cruel metaphor in Acheron's PV!
...
Once they realized the metaphor.
The audience couldn't hold it in anymore.
But it didn't stop there.
Miss Yun hit them with another emotional blow.
"Do you all feel it's meaningless, that even though Acheron is the Emanator of Nihility, her actions are heartbreaking, but ultimately futile?"
Miss Yun took a deep breath.
"But let me tell you, that's precisely where the brilliance lies."
"Everything in this world returns to the nihility."
"Like tears, which will eventually disappear in the rain."
"That's the line she said when she drew her blade."
"This proves that in her heart, she clearly knows what she's doing is meaningless to IX. In the long run, her struggle has no significance."
"But she still did it without hesitation, without the slightest doubt or wavering."
Miss Yun shook her head, her eyes full of respect for Acheron: "Her act of drawing the blade is more like a declaration."
"Remember, she is the Emanator of Nihility, the one she's declaring to is IX."
"I truly cannot imagine what Acheron went through to walk so deep, so far into Nihility, and still choose to persist, even knowing that it's all meaningless!"