So, I'm assuming I'm reading the epilogue for The Epilogue, so I'll write a short review for the story chapter.
IMO it's weaker than the first half.
Vivian feels like she's at her best when she's fawning over Phaethon, that part was entertaining to watch, but her actual sub-plot felt a bit forced.
It was basically a loop of
>"muh dark past"
followed by a lengthy exposition.
I have to commend that part of the story, though, for making the culmination properly emotional and believable.
But then again, the events leading up to the said culmination felt forced and honestly stupid.
>le irredeemable villain
>le noble sacrifice to redeem le irredeemable villain
>le irredeemable villain refuses to be redeemed be le noble sacrifice to redeem le irredeemable villain
Excuse me, what?
Also, the whole serum thing felt... poorly executed, I guess?
I mean, the idea of partial mutation/corruption/whatever being momentarily used to provide an outburst of power is a common trope indeed. But I don't believe we had a precedent of that in ZZZ?
Having no precedent of such a thing ever happening - even one being mentioned in passing - makes the whole sequence feel like an ass pull.
So far, the symptoms of late-term Corruption were weakness, fading consciousness, loss of will, followed by rapid and violent mutation.
And if the great demise of Phaethon was some silly Ethereal beam, a suicidal one-off nuke that was shown in passing feels like an overreaction?
There should've at least been some sort of a setup with
>Phaethon-sama, please do not come to the Hollow!!!
or something, given silly Ethereal beams seem to be a fairly localized threat.
So, basically, I get WHY did the writers went there, but I'm no jazzed with the execution of the whole thing.
They did pull off a successful (IMO) emotional culmination, but they've stumbled over everything they could've in the process.
Hugo's part of the story was shorter and more concise.
The whole pregnancy delirium sequence was pretty nice, I enjoyed it.
"Redeeming" him (i.e. stating he's a dindu) is understandable, I guess.
It's good they at least had him imply he DID try to kill his daddy, just failed.
Him being OK with killing innocent civilians wouldn't be "morally grey" that'd be just unnecessarily edgy.
Yixuan's introduction scene was a highlight.
Insane mommy energy.
The fight itself felt properly executed for someone "Void Hunter level".
Overall, the general plot of the story was fine, the execution was poor.
There were some nice moments.
I do think a late-stage rewrite took place, which might explain some of the issues the story had.