"Well now, no need to look at me with such hostility, is there?"
As the smoke cleared, Otto's figure fully emerged within Lynelle and Durandal's line of sight.
However, judging by his pristine, brand-new uniform, this Otto was most likely a "fresh" one.
"This time, I haven't even had the chance to do anything bad yet."
"You'd better not. And if I recorded that and sent it to Lixue, I've got a feeling Schicksal Headquarters would probably end up crashing again."
"How could that be? Miss Cheng Lixue is a reasonable person. She knows debts have their debtors and grudges their targets. She shouldn't be one to take her anger out on the wrong party."
Otto spread his hands and said, "Still, it's best not to provoke her these days, because… well, when I made my exit earlier, I conveniently took my dear old friend with me too."
"Right now, Miss Lixue is probably crying in Cecilia's arms, saying 'I'm utterly useless,' wouldn't you agree?"
"? " x2.
Question marks seemed to pop up simultaneously above Lynelle and Durandal's heads.
"Your Excellency, didn't Teacher Lixue leave Schicksal Headquarters recently? And what's this about Cecilia? I remember this senior clearly already…"
"Ahem, Durandal, regarding these matters, I will give you a proper explanation once everything is over."
Otto didn't answer Durandal's question directly. "But for now, you need to head to the First Air Terminal to provide support—Cecilia broke through the First Air Terminal's defenses on her way to the Helheim Labs. I need you to go there now and assist with the defense."
"…Understood, Your Excellency."
After a moment of silence, Durandal nodded quietly, and her figure instantly vanished from the spot.
"Alright, now that Durandal has left, Miss Lynelle, we can finally have a frank and open discussion…"
"You've got some nerve. After setting up Lixue like that, aren't you afraid she might just spontaneously Herrscher-ize on the spot?"
Lynelle, who had been wanting to complain ever since hearing that particular "power-up password," couldn't help but ask.
"Me? Setting up Miss Lixue?"
Otto's voice held a note of confusion. "Wasn't Miss Lixue going to Helheim your doing?"
"Hah? Why would you think I'd do something so despicable?!"
"…"
Watching the two of them on the central floating island fall into silent stares, the two actual culprits hiding in the distance quietly shrank back a little further.
"It seems there's a third party stirring the pot…"
After a moment of silence, Otto quickly guessed the truth.
"But it's not a major issue. The current World Serpent doesn't yet have the qualifications to sit at the negotiating table."
"Oh? So it seems Bishop Otto believes I possess such qualifications."
Lynelle couldn't help but feel a bit curious. "But… I must say I'm surprised. For you to have 'died' and returned from under Cecilia's hand so quickly, Your Excellency, your acting skills must have been truly put to the test."
"Haha, you flatter me. Those who know me are aware that my desire for drama has always been quite strong."
Otto chuckled. "Although facing three S-Rank Valkyries at once did leave me rather disheveled—especially since one of them was a presence I never anticipated… Thankfully, none of those three were familiar with my Soulium body, so it was easy to bluff my way through."
"However, our progress here might need to speed up a little. If Miss Lixue realizes something's amiss… Heh, I've never been 'chased' by so many girls in the physical sense before."
"So, Miss Lynelle, let me be direct. At this point, if I said we could let go of our past grievances and cooperate anew… What would you think of that proposal?"
"Not a chance."
Lynelle refused without a moment's hesitation.
"So quick to refuse… While I expected this outcome, your decisiveness still wounds me somewhat, Miss Lynelle."
Otto let out a slight sigh. "However, if I guess correctly, the reason for your swift refusal ultimately lies with the people around you, such as… Sirin and the others, am I right?"
"After all, based on my observations and analysis of you, you should be quite similar to my old friend Fu Hua—rather indifferent to your own life and death."
"If we were to categorize your reasons for refusing me, your personal attitude likely accounts for less than 10%?"
"Your observations are quite accurate. So, since you've reached such a conclusion, you must also understand that whether you can persuade me or not won't fundamentally change my stance, correct?"
"Precisely. So I simply feel a bit of regret."
Otto spread his hands. "If you hadn't been discovered first by the Babylon Labs back then, perhaps now… you might have been Schicksal's designated next Bishop."
"Who wants that lousy position anyway…"
Thinking of a certain white-haired loli's battlesuit released after the main story concluded, Lynelle shuddered violently.
In a way, Theresa's life didn't seem much better than her own harem ending after the first playthrough, where she was worked to the bone.
"Indeed, it's not an easy seat to occupy."
Otto nodded in shared feeling, then glanced down at the time.
"Good, the timing is about right… Well then, thank you for chatting with me for so long, Miss Lynelle. Shall we now get down to business?"
"What a coincidence, were you stalling for time too?"
A knowing smile appeared on Lynelle's lips. "I was doing the same…"
"Let me guess… Kiana isn't actually on the central floating island right now, but in the Weapons Laboratory?"
"Correct, Miss Lynelle."
Otto clapped his hands approvingly. "K-423 and Sirin were indeed never in Helheim or the central floating island to begin with. They are on the small, inconspicuous floating island housing the Weapons Laboratory, located along the connecting path between the two."
"Now that we've reached this point, why don't you try guessing why I placed her there?"
"To delay me from finding Kiana?"
"I'll have to keep you in suspense about that part."
Otto smiled slightly, not denying Lynelle's answer. "However, as a courtesy in return, allow me to join you in this guessing game, Miss Lynelle."
"For instance, I suspect your true trump card, and the reason you were willing to stall for time with me, is… that Miss Sirin has long since been revived, and is currently residing within Kiana—specifically, the 'second personality' I previously observed in Kiana. Am I right?"
"Correct."
Lynelle nodded without any attempt to conceal it. "When did you figure it out?"
"I had my suspicions for a while, but it wasn't until I saw Cecilia alive and kicking that I confirmed my conjecture."
A trace of a wry smile appeared on Otto's face. "No wonder you've always been so confident, Miss Lynelle."
"With a trump card like that, anyone would view my plans as nothing more than a clown's performance."
"Fortunately, though… my plan isn't quite that simple either."
As he spoke, a set of "Valkyrie Armor" that Lynelle had never seen before, yet somehow looked familiar, began to emerge from beneath Otto's clothes, quickly assembling itself upon his body.
"When Rita's investigation yielded no results, I already anticipated that the situation with K-423 was probably more complicated than I imagined. So, when I brought her back to Schicksal Headquarters, I specifically left a contingency measure."
"To be precise, this is also the first reason I placed her in the Weapons Laboratory…"
A fluctuation of energy, intensely familiar to Lynelle, suddenly appeared in Otto's hand.
Then, without hesitation, he pressed the black and white orb of light against his own chest.
"I did not implant the Gem of Serenity into K-423. I merely injected her with a massive amount of Honkai energy, and a 'simulated Core of Death' I recorded during the Second Honkai Eruption."
"Such procedures could easily be completed outside of the Helheim Labs or the central floating island. As for the true Serenity Gem…"
Black mist, identical to that released when the Black Abyss White Flower was unleashed, swirled around Otto's hand.
"As you can see, I have been carrying it with me all along, ready at any moment to be loaded into the Blank Key's core."
"Your trump card… is just this?"
Lynelle didn't attempt to stop Otto's "transformation," merely tilting her head and scoffing.
"Don't say I didn't warn you. Just earlier, Durandal fought me for over ten minutes and still couldn't manage to defeat me."
"Ah, I'm well aware of that."
Otto unhesitatingly acknowledged his own "inferiority." "After all, even with all my methods deployed, I can only manage a fifty-fifty fight against Durandal in her Dea Anchora form, let alone now that most of my Holy Blood was depleted by Cecilia…"
"However, Lynelle, have you considered that my current goal isn't to kill you, but to delay you?"
"After all, looked at this way, the Herrscher of Death's authority allowing infinite resurrection, combined with a Soulium body and Holy Blood used to seal abilities, seems rather fitting, doesn't it?"
"Delay me?"
Lynelle frowned slightly. A "Punklordian Regards" materialized in her hand and, carried by a crystalline arrow, shot unhesitatingly towards Otto.
"Miss Lynelle, times have changed. Now, even if you destroy my Soulium bodies on a large scale again, I won't feel that much heartache over it."
Otto casually blocked the arrow Lynelle shot, allowing the Punklordian Regards' ability to rapidly corrode several deeply hidden Soulium bodies.
"Moreover, I wonder if you've noticed something."
"From the moment you invaded Schicksal until now, one key member of Schicksal has been conspicuously absent, and I… have also refrained from using a certain customary power."
"Miss Lynelle, why don't you guess… what her mission is?"
--+--
[Honkai energy injection in progress. Current reaction furnace Honkai energy reserve: 23%.]
[Miss Amber, the Honkai energy injection rate has dropped below the critical point. Calculations indicate K-423 will awaken in three minutes.]
"Understood. I see."
Amber nodded, her expression impassive. "Is there still no word from the Bishop?"
[None yet. According to Otto's original plan, if he sends no message, you are to proceed with the next phase only after confirming that K-423's second personality is indeed Sirin.]
[Wait…]
Just then, the small golden cube floating beside Amber suddenly paused.
[A message has come from Otto. Confirmed: the true identity of the other personality within K-423 is indeed Sirin, deceased in the Second Honkai Eruption… Miss Amber, you may proceed immediately.]
"Good."
Amber pulled a syringe from her pocket.
Though called a reagent, the fluid flowing within the syringe wasn't medicinal at all, but a tube of shimmering, brilliant silver liquid—more accurately, a substance similar in nature to Soulium.
After retrieving the syringe, Amber unhesitatingly injected it into her own neck, pushing the plunger firmly.
Instantly, the girl's entire body trembled violently, and her eyes, hidden behind her visor, turned a radiant silver.
"Reagent—GNIUS fully absorbed. Void Archives, begin deploying armor onto me."
[Understood.]
The golden cube flickered slightly. A set of Valkyrie Armor, quite suited to Amber's demeanor, spread upwards from the girl's ankles, eventually covering all of her exposed skin.
Yes, this was Otto's true trump card.
By replicating and extracting from Durandal's GNIUS, Otto had requested Nagamitsu to create the reagent [GNIUS].
Its function was simple: by parasitizing a large number of nano-beacons, it temporarily granted the subject spatial perception abilities.
The armor Amber now wore was the [Shadow Knight: Eclipse], a fourth-generation Valkyrie Armor from the same batch as Argent Knight, Bright Knight, and Knight Moonbeam.
Originally, before finding a way to resurrect Kallen, Otto had prepared this all-terrain combat armor for her post-resurrection.
However, after later obtaining the true method of resurrection, Otto had this pre-designed armor manufactured and left for Amber's use.
As for the armor's purpose at this moment… it was simple: just to keep Amber alive.
After all, in what was to come, Amber would need to rely on the temporary spatial perception granted by [GNIUS] to simultaneously operate both the Divine Key [Cosmic Juggernaut] and the [Void Archives] transformed into a simulated Star of Eden, using them to spatially isolate Sirin.
This was Otto's true plan.
Since Kiana hadn't followed his expectation of gaining core dominance through mutual suppression, but instead obtained full core control through the clever trick of symbiosis, Otto naturally had to test whether this symbiotic Herrscher of the Void could meet his requirements.
After all, up to this point, even Schicksal hadn't made significant progress in researching Herrscher Cores.
Whether this "two-in-one" Kiana and Sirin could unleash the Herrscher of the Void's original abilities was something Otto himself had no confidence in.
Similarly, this was also one of the important reasons why Otto placed Kiana in the Weapons Laboratory—because the Cosmic Juggernaut retrieved from London had always been stored there.
--+--
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.