Chapter 232: Otto's Moves
"Ow, ow, ow." Kiana shook out her hand, looking up at Fu Hua, who had assumed a stance in front of her. "Class Monitor, this stance of yours — why are you so hard to fight?"
It wasn't exactly an all-out brawl between them — but no one had ever told her Fu Hua could take that much punishment. She'd charged in straight through Fu Hua's flames, and yet Fu Hua somehow didn't even look like she'd taken any damage.
"I'm just testing my abilities a little." Fu Hua slowly lowered her stance. "How have you been getting along with your elder sister, by the way?"
"Mm, well enough to chat, I'd say." Kiana nodded. "Although, uh, we don't really have many common topics, but it's pleasant enough."
"Mm." Fu Hua nodded. They'd still need a little time to gradually find their rhythm, but clearly nothing problematic had come up — and that was enough.
"What about Sirin?"
"What do you want with me?" Sirin took over Kiana's body. "Don't tell me you're going to ask how Durandal and I are getting along."
"Mm."
"How do you think?" Sirin spread her hands. "The only thing the two of us have to talk about is Mama. Though the two of us do have one extra topic on the side — cats."
"Were you aware? Of all people, Durandal actually likes cats. She's even raising a cat-type Honkai Beast — and goodness knows where she found one that's especially well-behaved."
"A cat?" Fu Hua, too, wore a baffled expression. Generally speaking, how could a Honkai Beast possibly be obedient? "Really? How would a Honkai Beast ever be obedient?"
"Mm, who knows — she said she caught it back when she was in London." Sirin shrugged. "Although she did say she was going to head back too."
"Right now?" Fu Hua was briefly taken aback, but then simply nodded. After all, everyone basically understood — Durandal wouldn't defect that quickly.
And besides, if there were going to be any problem, it wouldn't fall to Sirin to drift the news out so leisurely at a moment like this.
"My, my, Raksha, the cities these days really are fun." Li Sushang sat on the balcony, swinging her feet. "You really should have let me out a long time ago."
"There was no need before, was there?" Otto sipped his red wine as he looked at Li Sushang on the balcony. "How did it feel, after a stroll around?"
"Super interesting." Li Sushang stuck a thumbs-up at Otto, then hopped down from the balcony. "Although there are some things modern people say that I really just can't make sense of."
Otto's hand paused slightly. He looked up at Li Sushang and shook his head. "There are plenty of things you say nowadays that lots of people can't understand either."
Otto didn't know exactly what kinds of things Li Sushang had heard, but going by his understanding of present-day society, it likely wasn't anything pleasant.
Even if he guessed wrong, it didn't matter — Li Sushang would stop caring about it soon enough.
"Mm, that's true. After all, it's been so long." Li Sushang nodded, and sure enough, she promptly stopped caring about that particular topic, turning her attention to other things instead. "But how are Grand Master and the others doing now?"
"Who knows?" Otto took a sip of red wine. "I imagine they're gathering their strength right about now."
"Gathering their strength, huh." Li Sushang turned and plopped herself onto Otto's table. "Speaking of which, that strongest S-Rank Valkyrie of yours from before still hasn't come back — has she been turned?"
"What if she has? What if she hasn't? It's all the same." Otto was utterly unconcerned about it. After all, it wouldn't be much longer before his plan reached its final stage — and by then, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy would no longer be distinguishable from each other.
Even if she did defect, it would only be a brief defection. And besides, he trusted that Durandal's personality wouldn't permit her to defect at all — at most, she was probably reuniting with her father and her little sister right now.
Even Otto knew that at a time like that, you simply didn't intrude. The poor woman was finally getting to enjoy the feeling of family reunion — to interrupt at such a moment would be unconscionably tone-deaf.
"Ha, Raksha, you really are easygoing." Li Sushang shook her head. To not care about a thing like that at all — truly worthy of a Raksha.
"Although the situation on Grand Master's side really is astonishing." Li Sushang casually grabbed a piece of dessert off Otto's table and stuffed it into her mouth. "Grand Master, of all people, becoming a Herrscher—"
"Does that count as the unpredictability of life?"
"It does indeed." Otto agreed wholeheartedly and nodded. You could say he had essentially predicted just about everything — except, that is, Fu Hua becoming a Herrscher. That one had honestly left him stunned for a while.
How on earth could Fu Hua, of all people, turn into a Herrscher? But once the shock had worn off, Otto had also rapidly chosen to accept it. After all, it had already happened — getting hung up on why it had turned out this way would have been pointless.
That said, for Li Sushang, this matter held a different kind of significance.
Otto didn't pick up on Li Sushang's words. In his view, he had already known about all those things long ago. And besides, it wasn't a matter he ought to be intervening in.
A lot of things were simply happenstance, and some things just couldn't be spelled out in detail.
Had anyone been wrong? Had anyone been right? Yes — and yes. But who was right and who was wrong?
Even Otto couldn't say clearly. Everyone had been wrong, and everyone had been right. They all had their own reasons. So the best course at this moment was silence.
Li Sushang seemed to understand that principle too, so she didn't actually press Otto for anything.
After a long while, Li Sushang finally spoke up to ask, "Speaking of which, Raksha, what exactly did you wake me up for this time?"
"It can't just be to fill in for the S-Rank Valkyrie position, can it?"
"Of course it's nothing that simple." Otto shook his head, stood up, and walked over to the window.
By this point, they were no longer at Schicksal HQ at all — they were in a small town that seemed to have only just begun being rebuilt.
"It's to settle a few matters. And besides me, it seems no one else knows where you are anymore."
Otto set down the red wine and turned back to look at Li Sushang seated on the table. "I obviously can't just leave you in cryogenic storage indefinitely — no way out, with someone only finding you who-knows-when before you finally get discovered, right?"
"Would you actually do that?"
"Of course not. You're an old friend of mine too." Otto shook his head, but his gaze remained fixed on the small town below. In his eyes was an expression that might have been nostalgia, or perhaps sentiment.
[Sigh. The place where the nightmare began, isn't it? For you, all that's left here is nightmares now, isn't it?]
Void Archives' voice rose up beside Otto's ear. Otto braced himself against the balcony, gazed down, and replied flatly: [It can't quite be called purely a nightmare. There are still a few attachments here too, after all.]
[Attachments, huh. That's a well-chosen word.]Void Archives seemed unwilling to let the question drop, pressing on relentlessly. [So then — are these attachments good ones, or bad ones?]
[Both.]Otto looked out at that small town, and as he gazed, his eyes drifted slightly, settling on a particular street and alleyway. By now, reconstruction there had long been completed — the buildings were so brand-new that not a trace of the weathering of years could be seen on them anymore.
But in this moment, in Otto's eyes, those buildings had long since collapsed and crumbled. And across several blocks of buildings that obscured his line of sight, it was as if he could see straight through the walls to everything that had once happened in that small alley.
In Otto's eyes, those brick walls grew steadily decayed, hung with moss; and a white-haired silhouette gradually being sketched out among the ruins — all of it slowly took form before Otto's eyes.
[At this stage of things, you've turned a touch sentimental. That isn't like you at all.]
Otto gradually came back to himself. In front of him were once again those brand-new brick walls. [Yes. By this point in time, standing here — there are bound to be a few feelings stirred up by the sight of it all.]
[But it doesn't matter... this is the last time.]Otto withdrew his gaze. He hadn't come here to be moved by the scenery. This place was, just as Void Archives had said, his beginning.
Here, he had taken his first steps down the path toward becoming the Grand Overseer he was today. But at the same time, this place was also his nightmare — because here, he had forever lost his own light.
But it didn't matter. It didn't matter. He had already prepared everything.
Miss Irene — that story of Kallen really did make him envious beyond measure. If he truly could have saved Kallen's life back in the past, then that Otto had died too well indeed.
Some people die too early, others too late. But it didn't matter — he would soon correct this mistake.
"Lord Overseer." Just then, Amber knocked on the door and walked in. She glanced over and frowned slightly at the sight of Li Sushang sitting on the table, but turned her head first to Otto.
"What is it, Amber?" Otto turned back to look at Amber. "Is the cleanup not yet complete? Or does Rita have some request?"
It had to be said — with Durandal away, certain things were actually more convenient. For instance, sending Rita to clean up a few of the troublemakers. He could keep these people in check, and under certain circumstances they were useful — but for Theresa, they were an unstable factor.
So it really was better to clear them out. Next up, he'd need to go look for Kallen — those people wouldn't be able to keep causing any more trouble for his granddaughter, would they?
"That's not it." Amber shook her head. "Lady Rita's side is going very smoothly — she should be able to finish soon. It's that Lady Durandal has returned."
"Oh, she's back?" Otto nodded. "Then have her come over here. I imagine Miss Irene's side has rested for quite a while now too — it's about time."
"While you're at it, arrange a plane for me. I need to head back to HQ. Conveniently, Rita's side should be just about done with the cleanup too."
"There really isn't a single peep out of them, is there." Theresa stood on the balcony, propping up her chin in her hand. "But Irene — are you sending Durandal back so soon?"
"Can't bear to part with that niece of yours?" Irene reached out and stroked Theresa. "Have you finished your paperwork? Just standing here lamenting?"
"Tch." Theresa shot Irene a fierce sidelong glance, but still said, "Of course it's all been handled. After you said all that, it's not as if I don't know what matters."
"Thanks for your hard work." Irene leaned down and kissed Theresa. Theresa let out a soft snort, then narrowed her eyes. Irene then continued.
"Relax. It won't be long before you can see each other again. Given how long it's been, Otto's side should be just about done with the cleanup too, no?"
"Eh? What thing?" Theresa raised her head to look at Irene. "Cleaning up what thing?"
"Mm, probably cleaning up some troublemakers — it's Little Senti's intel report." Irene raised her head and looked at Theresa's slightly reddened earlobes, her eyes narrowing slightly, full of laughter.
"You could say he's helping you clear out some people you'd find hard to handle yourself."
"Grandpa, what exactly is he trying to—" Before Theresa could finish her sentence, the communicator set off to one side suddenly emitted a sound. Theresa turned to look at the communicator.
It was Einstein calling.
Irene shrugged. "I was thinking it was about time too. Pick it up — and then you'll know what your grandpa is up to."
Theresa nodded, then reached out and answered. Einstein's voice came through: "Miss Theresa, the Schicksal news broadcaster just released a news bulletin addressed to the entire world."
"I think you very much need to see this."
Theresa nodded. The communication interface immediately switched on its projection mode, and on it stood Otto, dressed in his Overseer's vestments — and sporting a new hairstyle, on top of that — at a podium.
[Friends across the world, I am Otto Apocalypse, Overseer of the Schicksal organization. As I believe many of you already know, our world has been periodically subjected to the catastrophic attacks of a calamity known as the Honkai.]
Listening to Otto's speech, Theresa was a bit dumbfounded. Hadn't they been saying before that they were going to hide the Honkai? Why was Grandpa himself now starting to disclose it?
Theresa turned to look at Irene, but Irene said nothing either, only gestured for Theresa to keep watching.
Otto, too, paused for a moment, as if waiting for the reactions of those hearing the news. Then he continued: [Yes — in the past, for the sake of stability, we have always been ambiguous about it.]
[But regrettably, I now have no choice but to make this clear: the news you have heard is true. The Honkai is a calamity of civilization that can threaten our human civilization anytime and anywhere — born alongside human civilization, and growing stronger as our civilization advances.]
[But it doesn't matter at all. As of now, the Schicksal organization has achieved comprehensive suppression of the Honkai, and as you'll recall, some time ago we concluded a most profound partnership with the leaders of the Anti-Entropy organization.]
[So now, I hereby declare: an era in which humanity turns from defense to offense, and can completely overpower the Honkai, is upon us. And with the arrival of this new era, the Schicksal organization needs new blood as well.]
[In light of all the above, I, Otto Apocalypse, will be resigning from my position as Overseer of Schicksal effective today. My successor shall be the leader of the Far East Branch — Theresa Apocalypse — who will, starting tomorrow, inherit the position of Overseer of Schicksal. I believe that under her leadership, all of us will have a bright future.]
Watching the video before her, a look of utter bewilderment spread across Theresa's face. "Wait — what do you mean Grandpa is going to resign? You want me to inherit Schicksal right now?"
"Congratulations." Irene rubbed Theresa's cheeks. "Our fifty-year-old crown prince has finally inherited the throne — happy?"
"Not happy at all." Theresa shook her head vigorously. "Why is Grandpa doing this? What is he trying to do? What is he trying to do?"
"That's exactly what we want to know too." Einstein's voice came through from the communication terminal. "Otto definitely has some purpose in mind. We just don't know yet what he's actually trying to do."
"But that old fox absolutely doesn't have anything good lined up for us." Tesla's voice also came through from the terminal. "We just received a message from them as well."
"They've invited us to the old Schicksal HQ on the outskirts of Vienna for a ceremony — to formally take over the position of Overseer."
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