The television continued playing.
"Wait!"
Theresa watched Otto leave and hurriedly chased after him.
By the time she reached the outside of the church, Otto had already vanished.
She could only ask Amber, who had been waiting outside all along: "Amber, where did your Bishop go?"
Amber said: "I'm sorry, Lady Theresa… The Bishop has asked me to protect his privacy. However, since you have already obtained the Herrscher of Domination core, why not return it to the Hyperion for research?"
"…"
Seeing that the other party was unwilling to tell her, Theresa's tone became less polite: "I was planning to do that anyway. I don't need you to remind me."
She then turned to Durandal, who had followed her out: "Durandal, will you come with me?"
Durandal hesitated: "This… I'm not sure right now…"
Before she could finish, Rita interrupted: "Of course we will return to the Hyperion with you, Lady Theresa."
Eh?
Durandal looked at Rita in surprise.
Theresa was also a bit taken aback: "Even you are coming along?"
Rita answered: "Of course. You can consider… that our period of service to His Excellency Otto has now come to an end. In the foreseeable future, we will instead serve you, Lady Theresa."
Amber confirmed: "This has also been approved by His Excellency Otto."
Durandal still felt some concern about Rita having killed that kind Otto: "But Rita… you returned from World Serpent without a word, and you even…"
Rita said: "Ah. I'm very sorry, Lady Durandal. Previously, His Excellency the Bishop required me to maintain strict confidentiality, so I was unable to contact you immediately."
"In fact, he spoke with me about some rather unexpected circumstances at the time—shall we talk about it on the way?"
"…Alright." Theresa agreed.
The group began heading back toward the Hyperion.
Rita also said: "Lady Theresa, Lady Durandal… what happened earlier must have startled you."
Theresa shook her head: "You were only following orders. It's understandable."
Durandal asked: "Rita, you only set out yesterday for World Serpent Headquarters to carry out the regular communication mission… Could it be that the Bishop forcibly recalled you midway?"
Rita nodded: "Indeed. The Bishop said that the matter could be handled by the accompanying clerical staff."
"That's strange…"
Durandal thought for a moment and said: "If it was only to destroy his own soulium body, there shouldn't have been any need to go to such lengths."
Rita said: "Lady Theresa, Lady Durandal, do you remember that His Excellency the Bishop just mentioned his journey?"
Durandal nodded: "Yes, he said he was going to find Kallen Kaslana."
Rita said: "When he recalled me, he also told me about this separately. He said that based on his long-term research into the Herrscher of the Void and the Second Divine Key, combined with the recent world bubble experiments—"
"He has already mastered the only method that can revive the dead."
Theresa said: "Nagamitsu also mentioned this to me. She said the reason Grandpa is resigning is because he wants to go back to the past and reunite with Saint Kallen."
Rita said: "Lady Nagamitsu has been the executor of many of His Excellency the Bishop's experimental plans, so it's not surprising that she deduced this information. It's just that…"
"If His Excellency the Bishop truly can accomplish the great feat of reversing time on his own, then his current actions seem excessively grand and ostentatious."
"Whether it's publicly announcing his resignation, choosing this old headquarters to retrieve the Herrscher core, or ordering me to assassinate the soulium replica—"
"Compared to His Excellency the Bishop's usual plans, everything happening now has a rather flashy and impractical sense of dissonance."
"Moreover, when he ordered me to prepare for the assassination… this is what he told me—"
"'After Theresa retrieves the Herrscher core, you may tell her everything we just discussed.'"
Durandal said: "And it was precisely because of this that you grew even more suspicious."
"Yes!" Rita also sounded somewhat worried: "This is not His Excellency the Bishop's usual way of doing things. If retrieving the Herrscher core and his journey are indeed two separate matters, then for him, it would mean investing far too much effort and desire for display into something relatively unimportant."
Theresa also agreed: "…Indeed. Although Grandpa can be flamboyant, when it comes to key matters, he actually places great importance on cost and efficiency."
Durandal now understood: "So, Rita, what you mean is… the event of retrieving the Herrscher core and the Bishop's upcoming journey—there is actually some hidden, close connection between the two? Close enough… that it forces him to act this way?"
Rita said: "I believe maintaining such reasonable suspicion is the safest approach."
"After all, no one can know at present… what exactly His Excellency the Bishop's journey will cost him."
"If finding Kallen Kaslana truly is the core driving force of his life… then we must also take into account many of the things he has planned before."
"For example, the Herrscher of the Void, the Second Divine Key… and even that expedition undertaken by Lady Durandal and myself back in 2012."
Theresa said: "I will ask the doctors from Anti-Entropy to pay attention to these aspects while researching this Herrscher core…"
"But right now, the most important thing is to properly handle the Herrscher of Domination core; and if possible, make use of it."
Durandal said: "I remember that Fu Hua-senpai, Kiana Kaslana, and Bronya Zaychik, all of whom have possessed Herrscher cores, have been influenced by the Herrscher of Domination."
Theresa nodded: "Yes. No matter how the process went, we have finally captured its Herrscher core in full—now is the time to officially witness the end of that whole chain of events."
The Archbishop of Schicksal's ostentatious and dissonant actions had prompted the originally divided Valkyries to begin exchanging far more intelligence with one another.
But at this moment, as they struggled diligently through the fog, they had yet to realize that everything they had perceived up to now—
was, in fact, entirely a performance deliberately staged for them by this Archbishop.
…The true crisis was lurking within these unsettling performances, and the final direction of it all would far exceed their expectations.
And at this time.
Otto Apocalypse, hidden from everyone's sight, could not help but recall a memory from the past…
It was precisely the memory after the replica had successfully taken power.
This segment of memory also appeared before the viewers across the country.
Otto Apocalypse stood alone in the grand hall of the Schicksal Bishop's church. Outside the church, crowds sang and danced, celebrating the victory that belonged to the people.
With the support of the masses, he had eliminated Lisa Schariac and her puppet Pope, Marcel Apocalypse.
He had ended the age of chaos and unified Schicksal.
Now everyone praised his great achievements, extolled him for inheriting Kallen's legacy, cleansing a century of corruption.
He had reshaped heaven and earth, rebuilt Schicksal.
In everyone's eyes, he was a success, a great man, a hero—
No one considered him weak anymore. No one considered him a clown anymore.
…Except for himself.
He knew he was merely chasing after the Saint's footsteps.
He knew he only wanted to transform this imperfect world into the one she had hoped for.
But… was that enough?
By doing this alone, could Otto Apocalypse's life be considered worthy of the already deceased Kallen Kaslana?
He remembered that day fourteen years ago.
He remembered her lonely back as she left.
She was a hero—a tragic, frail, ill-fated hero.
She had once become a phantom thief, robbing the rich to help the poor, yet she could only stand alone against the ugliness of the powerful.
She had desperately seized Pandora's Box, only to unwittingly spread disaster.
In the end, the resolute look in her eyes as she chose death carved an enormous void into his heart.
And at the other end of that void, fate seemed to have played a gigantic joke on her—
By a twist of fate, her final figure on the execution ground had become a spiritual totem that would be celebrated for generations.
He had personally witnessed how, in the more than ten years after her death, every person who attempted to change the world had, without exception, raised her banner.
At the very least, they claimed in words that they had risen bravely because of her.
In the end, those people received their rewards—they truly gained a better tomorrow, while their Saint could only die in despair toward the world.
The malice of fate, and his own detestable cowardice at the time…
Had deprived her of any chance to see the dawn after the darkness.
That day, she turned and left decisively. From then on, she never returned to being her true self.
The malice of the world had deeply persecuted her.
Forced her to flee far away.
Forced her to abandon life.
And it was precisely in this most tragic segment of fate… that he, a man pierced by the arrow of longing, had played the role of the clown he should never have played.
Yes, the original plan had not been what ultimately came to pass.
Yes, he had been panicked and flustered at the time, toyed with in the palm of his sister's hand.
But how could that change the cold fact—
It was the Honkai Beast he released that killed her.
It was his own years of arrogance and self-righteousness that had step by step caused her death.
No matter how he later turned the Saint into his own faith—
The human being named Kallen Kaslana would never awaken again from that cold coffin.
The impulsiveness he loved, the stubbornness, those perfectly thin lips… none of it would ever awaken again from that cold coffin.
Unless time could flow backward. Unless the dead could be revived.
Otto Apocalypse stood alone in the grand hall of the Schicksal Bishop's church.
Outside the church, crowds sang and danced, celebrating the victory that belonged to the people.
He closed his eyes, letting tears slide down both cheeks.
He knew that at this moment, he was the only failure among them.
A failure unworthy of anyone's sympathy, who deserved to go to hell.
Seeing this.
The viewers in front of their televisions fell silent as well.
All along, under Hessian's deliberate concealment and guidance, the audience had not understood Otto very well, only knowing him as a pure villain.
But as this episode began airing, his past gradually came to light, his purpose gradually revealed.
It made the viewers' feelings extremely complicated.
In the official chat group:
"So… Kallen actually died indirectly at Otto's hands?"
"Fate really played a huge joke on him— the Honkai Beast he released killed the woman he loved most."
"No wonder these fourteen years were Otto's most despairing time. No wonder the Herrscher of Domination core fragment was lured into his body."
"This damn Otto's past is way too tragic, right? I used to think Kallen was just executed by hanging."
"I even feel like being killed by hanging would have been less painful for Otto."
"He wanted to release the Honkai Beast to create chaos and save Kallen, but instead the Honkai Beast killed Kallen—and even Otto's storyline is stabbing me in the heart?"
"Damn director, don't think I'll sympathize with damn Otto just because of this—he must die today!"
"I absolutely won't sympathize, but his story still leaves me sighing."
"…"
Meanwhile, in the drama.
Otto had already come back from that memory.
"Yo, old friend. Long time no see, huh?"
Upon seeing the golden box ahead, he once again showed his usual smile, burying that memory deep in his heart once more.
Half a year ago, he had handed over the Void Archives to Kevin Kaslana in exchange for the beacon he absolutely needed.
"Heh, wasn't it because he saw through your little trick that he kicked me out?"
The Void Archives spoke in Otto's mind. For some reason, this artificial intelligence that had lived through fifty thousand years sounded younger than Otto, who was only five hundred years old.
Otto said: "Trick? Are you referring to the half-joking remark I made to him—that he could secretly replace me and become the Archbishop of Schicksal?"
"You're joking, old friend. He's Kevin Kaslana—"
"How could he not know what your true value really is? Inside your belly is—all the knowledge he needs to understand the world of the past fifteen hundred years."
"Sigh, I really worry about what World Serpent will do to this world once they obtain your knowledge after I leave."
"After all, think about it—the only reason the Imaginary intrusion hasn't descended upon everyone right now is because my plan objectively consumed all that Honkai energy."
The Void Archives would never believe it: "Heh, if you really wanted what was best for this world, you should have announced your resignation as Archbishop of Schicksal sixty years ago."
"What a pity… In your heart, the status of this era's First Herrscher isn't even as high as that of a copy who will never grow up."
Otto half-joked: "But aren't you also the First Herrscher who fought for humanity? After I leave, how about you assist Theresa?"
The Void Archives refused decisively: "Come on. Over these five hundred years, I've been completely stained with your color and scent. Do you really think they'd be willing to cooperate with me? To obey me unquestioningly?"
Otto said: "I don't believe it. Anyway, you wouldn't truly care about them either, would you?"
The Void Archives frankly admitted: "That's right. I only serve the concept of humanity. In that sense, I'm actually quite similar to that bunch from World Serpent."
Otto said: "Perhaps. But not Kevin Kaslana—that's also why he let you return and tacitly allowed you to assist in my plan."
The Void Archives said: "Indeed. He even threw me out on his own initiative."
As it said this, it still seemed a bit puzzled: "Perhaps I really have lost my value as a tool to be used—but what good does this do him?"
Otto said: "It's simple. Because he envies me, he is willing to help fulfill my wish. Though relatively speaking… actually, I'm the one who envies him more."
The Void Archives grew even more confused: "Huh?? Have you forgotten how he despised you the last time you met?"
To help Otto recall, it even imitated: "Submit or perish. Choose."
"It's easy to understand why you envy him, but why would he envy you?"
Otto said: "No, no, Void Archives, you seem to have completely misunderstood. The envy between us has nothing to do with power—it's simply because I can do something he cannot."
"And he, fifty thousand years ago, accomplished something I could never do in my lifetime."
The Void Archives was completely lost: "Drop the riddles already. What exactly are you talking about?"
Otto said: "Don't rush, don't rush, my old friend. You know, going back fifty thousand years from today is absolutely impossible. But fifty thousand years ago, in an era when technology was even more advanced than today—"
"He did not choose to do something similar to the choice I am making now… Otherwise, he and I would not be appearing in the same world."
The Void Archives asked: "Are you trying to say that he's actually someone who values his own life too much?"
"Hahahaha!"
Otto laughed loudly: "How could that be? Quite the opposite, Void Archives—"
"It's precisely because that man places such an extremely low value on himself… that he envies me, and I, in turn, envy him even more."