Shun looked at Otto, who was spreading his hands toward him, and suddenly felt a wave of goosebumps all over his body. He slapped Otto's hand away to the side.
"Go away. Be normal. I said I can help you as long as it doesn't touch my bottom line. Also, what exactly is my power?"
Otto's hand was slapped away by Shun, but he didn't get angry. Or rather, this action was deliberately done by him.
Because as Shun's close friend, he knew exactly what PTSD his old friend had. Although it wasn't serious, it was still quite fun to make his old friend lose composure like this.
"Alright then, I'll tell you directly. Old friend, what do you think time is to you?"
Shun didn't understand why Otto was asking this, but considering Otto had mentioned earlier that he could return to the past, it meant that time was not something that could only move forward for him.
Shun didn't answer, but this was also within Otto's expectations. He continued:
"Old friend, time is not irreversible for you. The long-cherished wish I have spent my entire life trying to fulfill—reversing time and causality—is an innate instinct for you…"
"Sure enough, a fool is still a fool… Then, old friend, why do you think that is?"
Why… Shun felt somewhat conflicted, because he didn't know how much Otto actually understood about him or how much he had revealed to Otto at that time.
After thinking for a moment, Shun slowly said, "Otto, can I trust you now?"
Otto nodded without hesitation. "Of course! The friendship between us is profoundly deep, just like the solid road beneath our feet, always guiding us forward together. No matter what lies ahead, we are each other's most reliable partners, advancing hand in hand, never to be separated. Because we are like-minded close friends who share the same goal!"
"The more you say that, the less I believe you…" After all, how much of what came out of Otto's mouth could actually be trusted?
"If you're still doubting me, old friend… Old friend, your favorite character is 'Elysia', right?"
"I actually told you even that?" Shun was somewhat surprised. Had his future self really trusted Otto that much? Elysia… According to the original plot, in this world, the number of people who knew about Elysia right now could be counted on one hand. Otto definitely shouldn't know.
And now, Otto had clearly spoken the name Elysia from his mouth… What that meant was self-evident.
"Probably because I don't belong to this world—neither on the Tree nor in the Sea…"
That was probably it. Because Shun did not belong to this world. Although he didn't know how he had arrived on the Tree, one thing was very clear: he himself did not come from the Imaginary Tree and Sea of Quanta worldview.
"Smart! Of course, there's one more point. That mark on you that looks like a Stigmata but isn't actually a Stigmata. One could say that Schicksal's artificial Stigmata technology is nothing more than a crude imitation of the mark on you, old friend. Perhaps even the natural Stigmata of the Previous Era are the same?"
"Your Stigmata is essentially an authority—a permission to manipulate imaginary authority within the imaginary world. Unfortunately, even at that time, we had not developed its true capabilities… But you can indeed borrow the uniqueness of the Imaginary Tree across various spacetimes and return to the time recorded by a strongly imprinted object from a certain period through that object. And you, old friend, call this process—Consciousness Mapping."
After listening to Otto's explanation, Shun roughly understood the principle behind his suspected time-travel ability. Although the name was clearly copied from the Captain's storyline in the game, Otto had explained the principle quite clearly.
At this moment, he recalled the Herrscher of the Void core fragment that Otto had just shown him. That meant—
"You want me to go to the Second Eruption timeline? But what's the point? Can I really change history? Everything in the past has already happened, right?"
Otto smiled without saying anything, simply pushing the core fragment toward Shun.
"You…" Shun glared at Otto, but the other party's "dead pig not afraid of boiling water" attitude left him with no way to respond.
Was the decision in his own hands?
At this moment, Shun remembered the MiHoYo character he seemed to know—Theresa had some connection with Cecilia. Perhaps he could go to that time to understand her secret.
Moreover, the fact that he had been to the Second Eruption was already set in stone, so…
"Alright, I'll try." Shun ultimately compromised. Considering that his future self had called this ability "Consciousness Mapping," it definitely had some connection with the Consciousness Mapping in the Captain's storyline.
He had also learned that he seemed to have quite a few experiences traveling through time, which meant that going to the Second Eruption timeline most likely posed no life-threatening danger.
However…
"So this is the reason you're making me do this before my wedding?" Shun seemed to understand the deeper meaning behind Otto calling him here today.
Family is the grave of adventure. If he had married Ana first and Otto had come to him afterward, he would most likely have given up adventure for Ana's sake.
This was an open scheme, but Shun had to make a choice in an extremely short time.
…In the end, Shun still reached out and placed his hand on that Herrscher of the Void core fragment.
"Tell me, how should I do it?" It sounded quite ridiculous to have to ask an outsider about his own ability.
"…" Otto didn't speak. He probably didn't know either and had only learned of the existence of this ability from the future Shun.
"Never mind, I'll try it myself." Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that the abilities of his Stigmata had all been taught to him by others… It was like that with Theresa, and it was like that with Otto. Was this the so-called "effect preceding cause"? This was truly too much.
Shun instinctively activated the Stigmata on the back of his neck. Imaginary energy overflowed from his fingertips and wrapped around the Herrscher core fragment that had lost its ability to communicate with imaginary space.
Immediately afterward, some memory fragments flashed through Shun's mind, but they flashed by too quickly for him to see clearly. Anyway, he had caught a glimpse of the shadow of a certain purple-haired pufferfish.
Then Shun felt a suction force coming from imaginary space. This was probably the Consciousness Mapping ability Otto had mentioned.
Thinking of this, Shun did not actively resist the attraction. He turned his head to look at Otto. "Success—"
Only to see a brilliant and dazzling golden flame, like a roaring fire dragon, carrying heart-palpitating high temperature and powerful energy, suddenly slash out from his side! Its speed was as fast as lightning streaking across the night sky.
A dull, heavy sound rang out. This golden flame instantly collided violently with his body. In an instant, sparks flew everywhere, and the light was blindingly bright. His body was sliced in half as if cut by an incomparably sharp giant sword, splitting apart without any resistance!
Blood gushed out like a fountain, dyeing the surrounding ground red. Shattered internal organs and broken bones scattered across the floor. The scene was extremely bloody and horrifying.
However, at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out: "Of course, old friend… I saw everything!"
Suddenly, Shun's right hand erupted with intense white light. Abyss Flower began rapidly repairing his wounds, while countless plant vines appeared out of thin air, intending to strangle Otto on the spot.
Otto seemed to have been prepared long ago. The simulated Judgment of Shamash in his hand transformed into a golden cross.
At this critical moment, countless thick and tough vines swiftly wrapped around Otto's body like spirit snakes. However, almost at the same instant, thirteen mysterious light spears shining with brilliant golden light suddenly descended from the sky! These light spears shot straight toward Shun at astonishing speed, their sharp tips aimed precisely at Shun's right hand.
With a crisp "crack" sound, Shun's right hand was instantly severed by this powerful force, blood splattering everywhere. Yet the thirteen golden light spears did not stop there. They continued with fierce momentum and deeply stabbed into the wall, firmly nailing Shun's severed right hand to it.
"Abyss Flower, behave yourself!" It seemed Otto had known long ago that Abyss Flower would automatically protect its owner.
"Otto, what the hell are you trying to do?!" This sudden backstab left Shun completely unprepared.
"Rest assured, old friend. This is part of the plan. I couldn't possibly let you go to that time in a completely intact state. Mm, this was also deliberately instructed by your future self."
"The future that has already been decided cannot be changed. Those who toy with fate will ultimately be toyed with by fate. The challenges we must face can only come from the future."
Shun no longer wanted to listen to what Otto was saying. The healing ability from the Holy Lance's Welwitschia mirabilis was still continuously repairing his body.
However, the loading bar for Consciousness Mapping was clearly approaching its end. Shun, who had not wanted to resist earlier but was now powerless to resist, was sucked into the imaginary rift that appeared out of thin air and fell into the river of time.
(Volume 4: St. Freya Arc — End.)