In the period from late 2014 to early 2015, nothing major happened.
Perhaps the only notable events were the birthdays of a few individuals during that time.
Although Otto discovered some unusual things and had many doubts, his original plan was not disrupted, or rather, as long as the overall direction remained unchanged, he didn't care about the minor details.
Just like letting Anti-Entropy develop.
So, Durandal still received the God-slaying armor, Bright Knight: Excelsis, that Otto had prepared for her.
However, this set of armor didn't provide much improvement for Durandal. On Durandal, who had now completely surpassed the original timeline, the only notable aspects of this armor were its flying speed, which could traverse the Eurasian continent in several hours, and its two phantom spirits.
Durandal named them King and Queen, and consequently developed an interest in chess for a period. After playing with Takatsuki, a chess idiot, for several days, she ruthlessly abandoned him and went to play chess with Hestia.
It can only be said that she truly lives up to being a goddess who has lived for billions of years, being very skilled in such traditional entertainment.
In Hestia's words, she had long passed the time when she was interested in those commonplace entertainment activities.
As a goddess, what she wanted to experience were things she had never experienced before.
Like video games…
Hestia's gaming level was on par with Kiana's, and her interest level was similar.
But in the end, their talent was insufficient. Even though both of them were constantly beaten by Bronya, they maintained sufficient enthusiasm.
However, Bronya's daily return time was getting shorter and shorter, so much so that the household game console was monopolized by two equally matched novices, who even commercially flattered each other that they could defeat Bronya and redeem themselves.
Not long after acquiring Bright Knight: Excelsis, Durandal obtained the Abyss Flower.
This weapon of the previous Strongest Valkyrie was also her mother's weapon, a Divine Key.
Although she tried her best to keep a straight face and act as if nothing had changed in front of Otto, she was truly not good at concealing her emotions.
After all, many people in this world want to punch Otto in the face.
Durandal was among them…
Although those who wanted to hit Otto mostly wanted to kill him directly, Durandal, as Otto's student, naturally wouldn't forget Otto's teaching kindness and knew Otto's motives.
Although she wouldn't forgive him because of this, still…
A beating was inevitable.
And even she, straightforward as she was, knew that now was not the best time to beat Otto.
In fact, just as many people knew what kind of person Otto was yet still served him, Otto, though he could be called someone unworthy of being called a human, his contributions to resisting Honkai were very real.
Although she had tried her best to conceal her emotions, Otto still noticed them.
It could be said that Durandal was the most important part of Otto's plan.
And his raising of Durandal was not at all false, but while training her, he also paid close attention to Durandal's changes.
Otto remained calm upon discovering Durandal's changes after obtaining the Abyss Flower.
Only after she left did he speak to his secretary behind him.
"Amber, retrieve Durandal's activity records and surveillance from this period, and… pay attention for a while in the future."
"Yes, Lord Otto."
Although she didn't understand, Amber unhesitatingly carried out Otto's command.
Unfortunately, such investigations naturally yielded few results, because they couldn't imagine that Durandal possessed a means of traveling between the two places without leaving a trace.
As for discovering Durandal's different mode of action from before, and the situation where she and Rita often entered a room and didn't come out for a long time.
Otto narrowed his eyes.
"It seems I need to call Rita over and ask her."
…
In this world, no one is a fool; those who treat others as fools might be the real fools themselves.
Although 'starting late but arriving first' is common, 'pre-emptive strike' is a universal truth.
Under conditions of asymmetric information, a tiny suspicion is not enough to be the starting point for turning everything around.
But even so, once the chain of suspicion begins, it's like a mine cart starting down a track—it's hard to stop.
And all of this underwent a qualitative change in May 2015 as time progressed.
Two months before Takatsuki's arrangements were set to take place, a massive Honkai event occurred in Mǎnílā.
The Mǎnílā Honkai, an event that left a significant mark in the history of the Honkai.
In the original game, this Honkai was not mentioned in much detail because it had already passed within the main story.
However, from the reports of Schicksal, it can be seen that too many tragedies occurred during this Honkai.
Even without the birth of a Herrscher, the scope and casualties of this Honkai far exceeded other Great Honkai events where Herrschers were born.
After all, the birth of the First Herrscher only resulted in 300,000 deaths, and when the Second Herrscher was just born, the death toll was even lower, with more casualties resulting from subsequent battles.
But even though he foresaw this disaster, Takatsuki had no way to prevent this Honkai from happening.
Because this was not a human-induced Honkai like the one in Nagazora, but a naturally occurring one.
Honkai, by nature, is a periodically occurring disaster in this world, with unpredictable characteristics.
It just happens suddenly, considered a type of natural disaster, but unlike other natural disasters, the manifestations of Honkai are diverse and not suitable for public disclosure.
However, many who have experienced it know of its existence, and it has not been deliberately suppressed; instead, it's like an urban legend, recorded in another form.
So, those who want to save Mǎnílā either directly defeat the Honkai and resolve the cocoon of the end, or evacuate everyone there, but neither of these is something Takatsuki can do right now.
How many people will die in this Honkai?
In the original records, it was over a million people.
Should he find a way to save them? How to save them?
"Master, we are all ready."
The Commander walked up to Takatsuki, who was staring intently at the Earth on the large screen, and gently called out to him.
"Commander, do you think what I'm doing is really right?"
Takatsuki looked back at the beautiful woman behind him; there were some things he was unwilling to say to his close ones, but he was willing to say them to these androids.
Why?
Is it because he's afraid of being feared or reprimanded by others?
He could clearly try to save them, but he did nothing, instead sitting by and watching those people die.
To create momentum, for his own goals, he became the person he hated most.
Perhaps it wasn't the person he hated most, but rather, he was like this from the very beginning, only his original self had countless excuses: powerlessness, self-preservation, all sorts of reasons.
And now… these excuses are gone, and he can only face his true nature.
"Master, it was you who saved us from that spiral of self-destruction, and it was you who allowed us to fight the Honkai for the humans on this planet; these are all your achievements."
The Commander spoke softly: "Just like the former me, in your opinion, Master, was what I did correct?"
Unlike Takatsuki, the Commander's question was not a question, but an answer.
"Ultimately, our choices are all due to compromise with the world; the world has never given us many choices, and the so-called 'correct' is merely a result obtained from a certain perspective."