It was another day for Otto Apocalypse, and having successfully recruited (or, rather, kidnapped) the mermaid-looking lady, Amamitsu. Otto brought her along to a highly classified and secure room.
Seeing the tightly closed metal walls and doors on the building, they approached. Amamitsu was having second thoughts about whether the man lied about the need for her voice, but going inside and seeing the layout of the recording studio changed her mind.
The main room was set up with microphones on stands, cables running neatly across the floor, and instruments either ready to play or stored along the walls.
On the other side was the control room, often separated by a glass window, which had a big mixing desk with rows of glowing buttons and sliders, plus a couple of large speakers for playback.
Computer screens with recording software, lighting to create a calm atmosphere, and soundproof panels or foam on the walls to absorb echoes.
Amamitsu started to geek out from the apparent expensive taste of the place and jumped into the main room.
"I didn't think HQ had a place like this? Why didn't I know anything about this?" She wondered.
"Well, you're lab specializes in weapon making, not video game design, unless your director wants to delve into sound-based, Nagamitsu won't be touching this place," Otto mentioned while getting into the mixing part of the room and sitting on one of the chairs.
She nodded her head and picked up one of the headphones from one of the large speakers.
"So what do you want me to do...I am getting straight shivers from how decked out this place is!"
Otto pressed one of the buttons on the control panel, turning the mic in front of Amamitsu on. Being the developer of Kallen Fantasy, Otto had a hand in making soundtracks, and since this was the only way of listening to her voice, it wouldn't be an issue of there being any damage.
"Simple, I want you to sing! Sing to your heart's content. Sing to devour the lust for music that you once had!" Otto screamed out at her.
"What?" The girl tilted her head in utter confusion at the mad ramblings of the man.
"Use your Stigma Ability. The singing that brought hundreds to their knees, the one that captured a village's heart into an unbreakable haze."
Amamitsu's eyes wavered until she asked, "Do you plan on weaponizing my voice?" She felt as if she were suddenly confined as a lab rat by her own making. Although she didn't know the Overseer personally but she heard rumors that this man was quite...Cold and twisted.
"There was once a girl who longed to sing into the sea, but as her voice reached the masses of her village, they turned into a frenzy of wild animals and devolved into a mass of flesh and blood. At such a sight, she ran away, locking her voice till the very bottom of the sea, but could she accept that? She yearned to sing once more...And as for the blonde man asking her to lend her voice, frankly, he didn't care."
"Huh."
"I don't particularly care about you're voice or its potential for mass murder, I only want to hear it because it interests me. It doesn't matter if you hate or despise me because of this; I'll still support you because you're one of my employees, and I cherish my chess pieces. So will you sing or not?"
Amamitsu gripped her hand, hearing his words, which were shameless and brash. Yes, she could sing normally, but her true voice was her realization of her love of music, and suppressing that notion would eventually lead such a lock to crack into a delving mess of distortions.
Singing by herself was reveling, but a song was meant to be shared, even if it was forced for the amusement of this wicked man. She wanted to refuse, but that aching lust in her voice overtook logic and reason.
"Alright, I'll sing, but don't blame me if something happens to you."
Otto nodded, "Before you sing...Whatever you do, do not approach me when I fall to the ground and start spazzing out."
"My singing doesn't do that..." Amamitsu readied herself as a mark on the back of her neck started to grow azure blue. The shape of the Stigma mark was a mermaid on a beach singing toward the blazing sun.
Her mouth opened wide as metaphoric locks chaining her voice started breaking into a liquid of musical water notes.
Before coming, Otto made sure to use Divination on the chance of this working, and it was a success. It didn't matter which Universe, a mermaid's voice would always bring out a chord of emotions.
Otto willed the prompet into being.
[Sequence 5 Marionettist of the Fool Pathway is ready. Would you like to advance?]
Ritual: Consume potion amidst the singing of mermaids 0/1]
"You are an ocean of waves, Weaving a dream Like thoughts, become a river stream Yet may the tide ever change Flowing like time To the path, yours to climb."
A deep, heavy oceanic voice started to linger and pierced into his ears. He felt his body heat up in the overwhelming sensation of lust and whispers of defiling everything, including that 'mermaid', but he pushed those thoughts away and accepted the potion.
As he did, Otto felt a somewhat bitter liquid guzzle down his throat that was completely black and had countless tiny worms that squirmed about.
"Thou seek the light With an outstretched hand A divine blade lies before you So command the wake of dreams To restore the world, cut 'way the seams."
Otto found himself unable to move, and his limbs were stuck in stiffness. It was as if he were slowly being turned into a puppet with strings. Each time he moved, it felt as if a weight crushed him down into complete stillness, and his entire being filled with lead.
His thoughts started to slow down as a sign that his body was slowly losing control of itself.
Looking at the booth where Otto was currently shaking on the floor, Amamitsu wanted to stop her song, but...
"If you don't keep on singing, I will haunt you forever, little Mermaid!" Otto screamed with a distorted voice.
She yelped at his words, but continued her melody.
"Join in our prayer, in our song Of birthrights and love Come the sun, illuminate the sky Pray that we may quell the dark Light take the throne Lost in thoughts, all alone."
Hearing the notes of her voice and overwhelming desire bubble up from within, Otto regained some of his senses and fought against the sensation of his body being strung into an unmoving puppet.
A sudden gray fog reached into the sight of his eyes, and his ears heard the sounds of pounding murmurs.
"Space is Time and Time is Space. Space is Time and Time is Space. Space is Time and Time is Space."
These voices were stronger than before and itched into Otto's mind.
"You are an ocean of waves, Weaving a dream Like thoughts become a river stream Yet may the tide ever change Flowing like time To the path yours to claim."
Within his sight, Otto saw the appearance of his body slowly turning into a yellowish brown, and his flesh housing squirming tendrils that appeared like worms that spilt, fused, or combined in an endless cycle.
"Thou seek the dark With an unsheathed blade Now a white ivory throne beckons So obtain the fate you sow On this path be wary friend and foe."
As the chorus of the mermaid's song pounded into his Spirit Body and stirred his desires, Otto imagined a golden cube with distorted lines and reined in his focus with Cogitation.
"Join in the tale, in the blight of conquest and lies. Come the sun, to tarnish in the sky, Vow that we shall tear the light Dark seize the throne Lost in thoughts, all alone."
Otto didn't know how much time had passed, but with the onslaught of his body slowly losing its touch and its clash with the mermaid's singing, the man held on till his last breath.
After a while, he opened his eyes to the sensation of his body turning back to normal, his joints free from the rust, skin no longer oozing with fleshy tendrils, and within his sight were numerous illusory black lines.
On March 10, 2013, 6 Days after he transmigrated, Otto Apocalypse had now become a Sequence 5 Marionettist.
The lines in Otto's eyes were Spirit Body Threads, the main ability of a Marionettist, but before the man could even get to the function of his ability, a subtle breaking sensation filled his Soul, and a prompt that brought a smile to his face.
[Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer of the Fool Pathway is ready. Would you like to advance?]
Ritual: Relying on one's strength and strategy, orchestrate a grand performance before many spectators to kill any being, creature, or thing at the level of a demigod. Then, at the end of the performance, consume the potion. 0/1
He shifted away from the prompt and got up from the floor. The singing of Amamitsu lingered as her voice sang into the mic. Seeing Otto get into the singing booth, she stopped her singing and froze when his gaze lingered on her figure.
Amamitsu slowly backed away at the notion that Otto was enthralled by her singing, but her thoughts were stopped as his sudden hand was patting her head.
"Good girl." Those were the two words he muttered to her until he left the room.
After lingering in her thoughts with her flustered face, Amamitsu pointed to herself, "I am a good girl?"
...
Walking along a random metal path, Otto lingered on the crammed knowledge he had unlocked in his abilities.
Across the entire Schicksal HQ, from 200 meters of Otto's sight, black illusory lines were everywhere on the people he passed.
Spirit Body Threads directly influence the target's Soul Body, Astral Projection, Body of Heart and Mind, and Ether Body, and so by manipulating them...Otto, using the Ether Body as a bridge, can control their targets' bodies and cause them to die spiritually, thus turning his targets into marionettes.
It was the most wicked ability in Otto's arsenal because it did not matter how physically strong his opponent was, or whether they had the strongest defense; every living being had a Soul.
Even Aeons and Gods can be turned into marionettes, but the cost of it would be heavy.
The only problem was that the initial process of turning someone into a marionette would take 5 seconds, which is lengthy in combat, and then to fully convert them into a puppet would take minutes to slowly hollow out their soul.
The process can be interrupted by external stimuli, usually sharp and abrupt pain, both physical and mental. Which is why this Pathway is suited for extreme planning in battles...The Seer Pathway is fighting like a coward and being a dangerous one.
One prepares oneself to death until none oppose you.
Other than that, his Air Bullet was on the level of a steam rifle...Which was very weak. Unless he added rings of Mang (望), that would be enough to pierce through alloy steel and Honkai Beasts.
The man stopped his ramblings of power fantasy as he reached Amber's living quarters. Since he was going away for a long time, why not spend some time with his assistant, who was definitely a coping method for the Original Otto. Create a cyborg that looked like Kallen.
As for why he didn't do this to Rita...He didn't feel like it was appropriate.
Knocking on Amber's door, he proudly proclaimed, "Open up, Amber...I came here to bother you like a responsible adult."
Otto heard the sounds of hasten footsteps and glass breaking. He kept up his cheerfulness at the sight of a disheveled Amber without her visor.
"M-aster, Otto, do you need anything from me?" She shuttered.
He heard the sounds of magical girls fighting from the living room, but he ignored the sounds and brought up a medium-sized box hidden in his inner coat like a Magician.
"Yup...An ingenious idea, my dear Amber. Let's create some trinkets and charms I stole from Nagamitsu. You can keep your Magical Girl show on if you want to."
A/N: Fire Emblem Fates - "Lost in Thoughts All Alone"