Ignoring Fu Hua's suddenly wide eyes, Otto continued as if no one else was there.
"Actually, my old friend, you should have noticed already—there weren't any guards at Helheim Labs. And the reason is quite simple—"
"As a facility mass-producing the God-Slaying Spear, any ordinary Valkyrie who gets close will experience scorching pain and a dissipation of Honkai energy."
"Even a single test tube of the God-Slaying Spear, when diluted into gas filling an entire room, can temporarily incapacitate an S-rank Valkyrie. Under such conditions, stationing guards here clearly isn't a wise move."
"As for why massive amounts of Honkai energy are being directed to Helheim Lab in the end… Heh, Lynelle told you that, didn't she? My apologies, old friend, but you've all been deceived—by me, or more precisely, by the mechanism of Schicksal's floating island network."
"If you had observed more carefully, you would have noticed that as Honkai energy from each floating island reactor converges at the central island and is transmitted along the path Central Island → Weapons Lab → Helheim, the input and output energy levels aren't actually equal."
"The reason for this is simple: the output of one island—even the largest central one—can't possibly match the combined input from all the surrounding islands."
"So let's suppose the surrounding islands input ten units of Honkai energy per hour, but due to output limitations of the central island and weapons lab, only seven units can be transmitted… Where do the remaining three units, temporarily bottlenecked by transfer capacity, end up?"
"The answer is—I've been storing them away. Haha."
Otto offered an exceedingly polite smile.
"Although reducing the Honkai energy input for Kiana would slow her Herrscher transformation, misleading your assault direction makes it a worthwhile trade-off."
"As for why I want Kiana to become a Herrscher… I believe you've already guessed, old friend. After all, since the Third Herrscher, I've been validating this experiment—how to create a Herrscher with human emotions."
"The results have been quite promising."
"Whether it's the deceased Sirin, or Welt, Wendy, or Raiden Mei, they've all demonstrated that human emotion can indeed resist the will of the Honkai. And now—I wish for Kiana to accomplish this very feat."
"So then, my friend…"
Otto's smile faded as he looked seriously at Fu Hua.
"Your actions have exceeded my control, which is why I've chosen to tell you all this."
"Now it's your turn to choose—sacrifice a little life, and in return, gain a humane, ascended Herrscher. From humanity's perspective, my deal is nothing but profitable."
"Even so… do you still intend to resist me?"
"Hah… Hahahaha…"
Fu Hua suddenly burst into laughter.
"Friend? Otto… In your words, I sense not a shred of conscience—only bottomless selfishness and deceit."
"Trampling on feelings, toying with fate—Otto Apocalypse, you make me feel… pity and disgust from the depths of my soul."
As Fu Hua sneered, several crimson feathers materialized before her. Without a doubt, she intended to burn Fenghuang Down once more—as a final, desperate strike.
Yet, the moment the feathers appeared, several spiraling blood spikes burst forth from within Fu Hua's own body.
"Did you really think I wouldn't guard against Fenghuang Down under these circumstances? The Holy Blood was already implanted in you from the very start of our conversation."
Otto sighed softly, leveling the slowly rotating blood spike in his hand toward Fu Hua's head.
"But since you've made your choice… I'm sorry, old friend."
"Phoenix… I did not lie."
Thump—
With the sound of the blood spike piercing her skull, a lifeless body collapsed into a pool of blood.
And just then—unnoticed by either of them—two sets of footsteps seemed to approach from outside the lab door.
--+--
"That's the situation, Lynelle."
Just as Fu Hua "died," a feather floating before Lynelle in the Third Terminal spoke softly.
"For some reason, I didn't sense the emulated Fenghuang Down aura from Void Archives on him, so it gave me the chance to activate Fenghuang Down."
"While Otto thought I was making a dying counterattack, I transferred my consciousness into this feather I'd left with you earlier—and brought back critical intelligence."
"Lynelle, Otto has prepared for your abilities in advance. Kiana isn't in Helheim Labs. According to him, while large amounts of Honkai energy are transmitted to Helheim, a portion is being intercepted at the central island. Which means…"
"Which means Kiana is actually at the central island?"
Lynelle lowered her head, pondering.
"I see… Originally, I planned to go to Helheim and confront Otto myself. But now, it seems the plan needs to change."
"If the intel Wendy sent from the front lines is correct, then the Second Terminal's garrison only has one S-rank Valkyrie—Rita. The First Terminal is held by someone from the Schariac family named Ana. That means Durandal's location is most likely at the central island."
"Makes sense."
Fu Hua nodded. "The more complex the plan, the more fragile it becomes. Even if Otto predicted your moves, to prevent any accidents, he'd station Durandal to guard Kiana."
"So we can leave Helheim Lab for now and—"
But just then, the Fenghuang Down feather suddenly trembled violently.
Immediately after, Fu Hua's urgent voice rang out again.
"Damn it, Lynelle!"
"After I died, Otto collected several of my Fenghuang Down feathers. Since he doesn't know I'm still alive, I can sense some outside aura through those feathers…"
"What's happening?" Lynelle asked, tense.
"It's Lixue!"
Fu Hua's words came faster now. "Lixue's aura—she's at Helheim Labs too!"
"What?!"
If the miscalculation regarding Kiana's location was still within the margin of error in Lynelle's plan—after all, Otto was as cunning as a fox with multiple hideouts, and she never expected him to follow the original script exactly; having a backup plan was a given—
Then now, Lixue suddenly appearing at Helheim Lab completely shattered Lynelle's expectations.
In their earlier one-way communication to Lixue and Salome, they had explicitly instructed the two to stay on the periphery, ready to intercept any possible reinforcements from Otto's other branches, and to avoid entering Schicksal Headquarters if possible.
But… why was Lixue here now, right at the moment Fu Hua was killed?
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.