Otto Apocalypse was a man of intellect.
The so-called wise are those who continuously piece together intelligence, mobilize the forces at their disposal, subtly influence the situation, and then tilt victory in their favor.
Long before the battle began, he had already used the knowledge within the Void Archives and the Divine Key—Black Abyss White Flower—to estimate the power of the so-called Pseudo-Herrscher of Death.
Her Honkai energy reserves were lower than Welt Joyce's.
Her Authority was Decay—and Regeneration.
—An Authority that could cause a struck target to decompose chaotically, as well as reconstruct things according to a blueprint.
The power she could wield was not immense, her Authority was highly dangerous, and her combat experience was unknown, but it was highly unlikely to be greater than his own.
Theoretically, I should be able to win quite easily by just going in and attacking directly, the man, whose own strength was not inferior to Welt's, thought as he looked at the seemingly unhappy girl.
However—
Why solve a problem with force when it can be solved with intellect?
Silently, the man who had the Void Archives mimic Fenghuang Down looked at the girl, whose original self was apparently the Second Herrscher's companion in the laboratory, and smiled faintly.
Let me get along with her for a bit.
Lower the target's vigilance with a friendly attitude, then use Fenghuang Down to invade the target's mental world.
This move was tacky and simple, with no technical skill involved whatsoever.
But, in many situations, this move was unexpectedly effective.
Durandal looked at the handsome man, around whom golden-red feathers seemed to drift, and another figure inexplicably flashed through her mind.
A young man around whom black-and-red feathers would always dance.
A bastard who, after she left, not only didn't chase after her to apologize but went straight to Sirin to play video games!!
Infuriating.
Genuinely infuriating.
The Dull Goose felt she was finding it a bit difficult to control herself.
However, she had come here with a serious matter to ask her teacher.
The girl, whose main purpose here was to question her teacher about what kind of mentality allowed the Babylon Laboratory—which was practically a concentration camp—to exist, took a deep breath to calm herself.
"I was just wondering, with what kind of mindset did you allow the existence of the Babylon Laboratory, which completely violates the basic ethics of human experimentation?"
Without any hesitation, Durandal, appearing as the Pseudo-Herrscher of Death, stared at her teacher. She fixed her gaze, sharp as a falcon's, on the man who had always acted as a guide in her life.
"You should know that using children who lack the ability to make informed judgments as participants in human experiments is extremely unethical."
Oh?
The Pseudo-Herrscher of Death is unexpectedly intellectual?
Otto, who had assumed the Pseudo-Herrscher would be an arrogant type similar to the Second Herrscher, thought to himself.
So, how should I answer her?
Should I try to twist the facts with flowery words and confuse her?
That would be meaningless.
The Pseudo-Herrscher of Death came from the Babylon Laboratory; she had experienced all the inhumane experiments. Using flowery words at this time would not only fail to confuse her but would instead make her more vigilant.
In that case, I'll just have to make her lose her guard in another way.
Anger can make people lose their reason, can it not?
A somewhat cruel smile appeared on the man's face.
"Of course, it's because doing so has the highest cost-performance ratio."
Highest cost-performance ratio?
That answer made Durandal's eyes widen.
Cost-performance ratio. A quantitative measure reflecting the purchase-worthiness of an item.
To use such a term to describe human experiment subjects who were sacrificing themselves for humanity?
Unfathomable.
It is simply unfathomable.
Like a sea churned by a violent storm, rage surged in Durandal's heart.
She looked at the person she had once respected most in her life, and for the first time, her gaze held killing intent.
She's getting angry this easily?
Feeling the gaze from his future student, a smile involuntarily bloomed on Otto's face.
Excellent. When her anger reaches its peak, that will be the moment for Fenghuang Down to fully activate.
So, let me add a little more fuel to the fire.
"The value of different people is not the same."
As if he were stating a fundamental truth, the man named Otto began to speak.
"Compared to spending a great deal of effort to get a group of adults to sign experimental consent forms, children who lack judgment are obviously much easier to get signatures from, aren't they?"
"Especially those who are orphans. They have no judgment to begin with, and no friends or family to look after them. For a very small price, we can bring them into the laboratory."
So this is...
The other side of my teacher?
The girl, who was well aware that darkness existed within the organization known as Schicksal but had never imagined said darkness would be so utterly vile, felt an unprecedented fire burning in her heart.
Simply because it was cheap, he let children suffer hardships they never should have had to endure?
It seems she is thoroughly enraged.
The man, who had deliberately revealed the filthiest side of the Babylon Laboratory, looked at the girl who had hatred practically written on her face, and he smiled.
Like a shower of golden-red rain, countless golden-red feathers drifted before Durandal.
Void Archives—Mimicry: Fenghuang Down.
A little girl whose mind has been completely overwhelmed by anger cannot possibly resist the power of Fenghuang Down.
Otto, who had used this mimicry countless times, knew this well.
So, the question is...
What if the key character in the plan was swapped out for someone else?
For example, what if the Pseudo-Herrscher of Death, whose combat power was no higher than a Herrscher's, was replaced by the Dull Goose who had beaten the Herrscher Queen so badly Cecilia wouldn't recognize her, and who could take a hit from Kevin Aotian?
"My Cap—... My Master was right. While you are a great man in this world, you are also the world's top scumbag."
Amidst the golden feathers, the girl lifted her head, her icy gaze landing squarely on the Lord Bishop's face.
This girl... she was not affected by Fenghuang Down!!
An unprecedented sense of dread, like a tsunami, crashed into Otto's heart.
Without a moment's hesitation, he made the decision to retreat immediately and re-evaluate the situation.
But, would that really work?
The air let out a tormented scream as if being savaged.
Before Otto could even realize what was happening, a small fist had already landed viciously on the man's extraordinarily handsome face.
BOOM—!
Without any suspense, swatted away like a fly, the man's body slammed violently into a distant, abandoned building.
"Suffering is often something people bring upon themselves. This is a lesson my teacher taught me."
Durandal's voice was colder than ever before.
"Therefore, it is only natural for you, who committed the error, to bear the suffering it brings, right?"