If Anti-Entropy were gone, it would certainly be a good thing for Otto.
In fact, from the moment the organization was founded, Anti-Entropy had been a major thorn in Otto's side.
In the battle back then, after failing to defeat Welt Joyce, Otto chose to use an extremely precious Honkai Fission Missile to bombard the city where Joyce was located.
He didn't know if the move would kill him, but in any case, for the Otto of that time, the moment Joyce was heavily injured was absolutely his best opportunity to eliminate him.
Of course, in the following years, because 'Welt Joyce' reappeared in the public eye, Otto could only regretfully conclude that the fission missile he had spent a fortune on had failed to kill his damn rival.
In the days that followed, the organization of Anti-Entropy continued to develop.
Over these decades, it wasn't that Otto hadn't thought about eliminating this major threat.
But the people in Anti-Entropy weren't fools. Why would they resort to a head-on confrontation when Schicksal's power was far greater than theirs?
At that time, apart from Welt, the Sovereign, and a few other leaders, most Anti-Entropy branches were unaware of each other's existence. Some branches didn't even know that their higher-ups were Anti-Entropy.
These branches operated as independent functional groups, carrying out specific missions.
It was precisely because of this organizational structure that Schicksal was unable to uproot Anti-Entropy.
Even if one branch was exposed, it wouldn't cause too much loss or leak too many secrets, and it certainly wouldn't endanger the core of the Anti-Entropy organization.
A typical example was E.T. Studio, an entertainment company under Anti-Entropy.
At that time, E.T. Studio had successively developed two mecha anime series, which achieved great success in America and Europe.
And Otto himself, who at the time was unaware of the powerful mechs Anti-Entropy had developed, was even engrossed in these anime for a period.
When Otto saw the famous line, "Tyrant of the heavens! Witness the sight of the stars shattering!" his heart skipped a beat.
After all, those were the words Joyce had said while beating him up, and it was impossible for him to completely forget them.
Yet even so, Otto never suspected the entertainment company E.T. Studio.
After all, 'E' and 'T' were the first initials of the names of those two traitors, Einstein and Tesla.
Those two shorty ex-subordinates of his were just bad at management, not complete idiots. Why would they be so arrogant as to put their names on the company and tell Otto, 'Come and get me'—that's what Otto himself thought at the time.
But as it turned out, they were indeed playing their cards openly.
In short, under these awkward circumstances, Otto couldn't eliminate Anti-Entropy and could only continue to research Soulium Body technology.
It wasn't until fourteen years ago, after realizing that the current Welt was not Joyce, that Otto, who had perfected his Soulium Body, judged that he could 'stomp the First Herrscher under his foot'.
Originally, after the Second Eruption, Anti-Entropy's Sovereign was dead and a large number of their mechs were destroyed. They were at their absolute weakest.
If things had gone normally, Otto would have had the opportunity to eliminate Anti-Entropy in the decade following the Second Eruption.
But a small mishap occurred during the Second Eruption.
Otto's plan at the time was to first let the Herrscher of the Void go, deal with the damned Herrscher of Reason, and then proceed slowly.
But that iron-headed kid Siegfried wouldn't listen. Otto felt that getting rid of a powerful fighter like Siegfried wasn't worth it, so he had no choice but to spare Welt's life.
As a result, after Sirin flew off, the God of Honkai directly gave her four cores, turning her into a five-core Herrscher of the Void.
And after forcing Welt to fight her, Sirin even seized Welt's core, becoming a six-core Herrscher of the Void.
Under these terrible circumstances, Otto was forced to empty his coffers in the subsequent Second Eruption war.
All of his stored modern weaponry was expended to deal with the massive number of Honkai Beasts.
Schicksal's regular forces of five hundred Valkyries also suffered heavy casualties.
And his four top powerhouses all experienced varying degrees of decline in their strength due to the Second Eruption.
Fu Hua paid a price for using a powerful technique, burning a large amount of her memory and leaving her already battered body in an even more dilapidated state.
Theresa, due to using the Divine Grace Field for the first time, suffered physical damage and was unable to recover her peak strength for a short period.
As for Cecilia and Siegfried...
Well, that was another incident.
In short, while Anti-Entropy's strength was greatly diminished, Schicksal wasn't having an easy time either.
And among his four top fighters, Cecilia was dead, Fu Hua was seriously injured and her strength had further declined, Theresa, although brainwashed by Otto with Fenghuang Down, still bore a grudge against him for Cecilia's death, and Siegfried wished for nothing more than to cut down his wife's killer.
In those ten years, the most obedient and capable warrior under Otto's command was actually Ragna, who was only an A-rank at the time.
Under these circumstances, Otto, having received a divine oracle, could only cautiously guard against Anti-Entropy's schemes while carefully advancing his own plans.
As for why he could catch a break in recent years, it was due to two accidents.
The first accident was the Schicksal scientist Murata Ryusuke, who betrayed Otto. He had somehow managed to deceive Otto's Fenghuang Down interrogation and defected to Anti-Entropy.
However, not long after Ryusuke went to Anti-Entropy, his daughter, Murata Himeko, received news of her father's death.
Although Otto knew Ryusuke didn't have long to live, his death was too sudden.
In Otto's judgment, for his traitorous subordinate to die at the hands of the people in Anti-Entropy...
—It was obvious that Ryusuke had done something outrageous.
Otto was annoyed by those meddling traitors, but that didn't mean he would slander their character.
Welt, Tesla, and Einstein were all fighters who would risk their lives against Herrschers to save the world. For them to get angry enough to kill Ryusuke meant that whatever he did must have been a huge deal.
The second accident was the Anti-Entropy Executor, Cocolia, who had suddenly gained immense power in recent years.
Originally, the Far East was Schicksal's territory, but under the manipulations of the Anti-Entropy Executor [The Entrepreneur] Raiden Ryoma, the Far East could be said to have been thoroughly seeded with his contingency plans.
But, for reasons unknown, whether due to a lapse in judgment or something else, Cocolia found an opportunity to frame Raiden Ryoma and seize control of ME Corp.
Of course, when Cocolia later fled, she could only transfer a portion of the assets. The rest was all taken by Otto.
If it weren't for Ryusuke and Cocolia's troublemaking, Otto wouldn't be living so comfortably now.
*Sigh, although one is a traitor and the other is a dead man from a hostile organization, if they weren't already dead, I might have actually found the time to award them a couple of medals.*
But, even so, the people of Anti-Entropy were still not to be underestimated.
Over these five hundred years, I've basically silenced everyone who figured out my true intentions.
Only this group from Anti-Entropy... heh, I guess they're just lucky.
For Otto, his dream was to resurrect Kallen.
And this group from Anti-Entropy, who truly had the power to threaten the 'Honkai,' was previously a primary target for Otto.
Now that Gray Serpent was proposing this deal, he must have ulterior motives.
But this deal has no downsides for me, so if he has ulterior motives, so be it.
Getting rid of Anti-Entropy is a good thing for me. In that case, does it really matter what World Serpent is thinking?
"If it's about making a move against Anti-Entropy, I am of course interested."
As he said this, Otto paused for a moment.
Unfortunately, even if Otto was a master of reading people, he couldn't possibly see through the thoughts of a bioroid.
As for using Fenghuang Down on Gray Serpent now...
A bioroid is a person in name, but in reality, it's just a pile of mechanical parts.
Otto didn't know if the real Fenghuang Down would work on Gray Serpent, but he didn't want to complicate matters at this point by testing if the Mimic Fenghuang Down he possessed would be effective.
Regardless of whether it worked or not, doing so would just drive away the ally he had just managed to contact.
"Very good. In that case, Mr. Otto..."
At this moment, Gray Serpent paused slightly, then let out a displeasing laugh.
"The current Mr. Otto, how much force can you provide for this battle?"
"As far as I know, you are currently in a 'missing' state at Schicksal HQ."
"And the moment you appear at Schicksal HQ, Miss Fu Hua will probably rush to the scene to deal with you immediately."
*Damn it, this guy is using this information as a show of force, telling me he has a firm grasp on Schicksal's intelligence?*
*No, it's more than that. He's also telling me—we at World Serpent know you can't mobilize that many troops right now.*
*However, if he's underestimating me...*
*Heh, normally, being underestimated is a good thing. But right now, if World Serpent underestimates me, they will one hundred percent get some funny ideas after the battle ends.*
"Two Herrscher-level combatants. I think that should be enough."
Directly revealing his hand, Otto said to Gray Serpent nonchalantly.
"Although it's not convenient for me to contact headquarters right now, providing this level of force should be enough to prove my sincerity, shouldn't it?"
"...Naturally."
Listening to Otto's words, Gray Serpent felt that he had underestimated Otto in the past.
He knew Otto had many cards up his sleeve, but he truly hadn't expected the current Otto to be able to pull out a trump card of this magnitude.
"In that case, please return first, Mr. Otto, and await good news."
"When the time is right, we will inform you of when to strike."
After saying this, Gray Serpent suddenly vanished from before Otto's eyes.
Seeing this, Otto didn't say anything more and left the shop.
*This teleportation technology, although not as good as Thousand Worlds, is indeed a god-like skill.*
*The World Serpent organization, even with its sphere of influence suppressed by me, still has a foundation that cannot be underestimated.*
*But, none of that matters.*
*Compared to World Serpent, the people of Anti-Entropy are more worthy of my attention.*
*If nothing else, if Leo Ash's strength is too far apart from Kiana's, then I will have to consider a different sacrifice.*
*Besides Leo Ash, the only other suitable candidate for a backup sacrifice is Siegfried, who is mixed up with Anti-Entropy.*
*This time, after we raid Anti-Entropy and wipe them out, I'll secure Siegfried first.*
....
Next day. Shenzhou
Upon arriving at Jiuyou, Leo Ash immediately sought out the person in charge to find out the current state of Chiyou's corpse.
But after learning about Chiyou's condition, he just felt a massive headache coming on.
Even though Chiyou's core had been shattered by the successive attacks from the Divine Key, the incredibly powerful Judgment-class Honkai Beast was still not completely 'dead'.
This didn't mean Chiyou could get up and cause havoc again at any moment after its core was destroyed by Leo Ash. The main issue was that its body still maintained a certain degree of activity.
Schicksal and Shenzhou, the two major powers that had originally planned to divide Chiyou's remains, naturally didn't dare to act recklessly after noticing this abnormality.
After a brief discussion, the two powers decided to dispatch some of their top scientists to stay in the area near Jiuyou to analyze Chiyou's current state.
Of course, according to the plan of both organizations, after confirming that Chiyou was 'harmless,' the researchers would use its body to create weapons for their warriors to fight against the Honkai.
However, it had only been about fifty days since Chiyou was defeated.
For some, fifty days might seem like a long time.
But for researchers, fifty days...
*Fifty days is nothing!*
It took several days just for Schicksal and Shenzhou to discuss the testing and research protocols. And for the weapon designers, it had only been about forty days since they first saw the data on Chiyou's remains and started designing weapons.
For people who needed a long time to design and manufacture weapons, Leo Ash's arrival was very sudden.
And now, seeing Chiyou's corpse again, Leo Ash felt that he had been overthinking things.
Previously, his idea was to break Chiyou into pieces, so that even if Kevin found one piece, he wouldn't recover much power.
But now, given Chiyou's current state, just dismantling it would take him forever.
*This is not going to be easy.*
*Instead of the troublesome task of hiding Chiyou, I'd be better off thinking of a way to contact the Anti-Entropy group.*
...
*I'm such an idiot.*
*I can just go back to headquarters and contact Su.*
*And thinking about it carefully now, Su needs to be wary of Otto. But after being beaten by Fu Hua, Otto doesn't dare to return to Schicksal for the time being.*
*In other words, as long as Su creates a clone to stay in Thousand Worlds, his main body can go to Abyssal City to help Anti-Entropy defend their home.*
*As long as Kevin doesn't get out, many things will be easier to handle later.*
*The Honkai is still accelerating. Honestly, I have a premonition.*
*Even if Kevin does get out, the Stigmata Project as a last resort might be too late to implement.*
*My heart is clearly resisting this. Since things have already come to this...*
*—Instead of leaving a so-called backup plan, it's better to directly block the possibility of Kevin returning to this world.*
*Although Siegfried and Welt have been fully restored, who knows what variables the future holds.*
*Plus, Otto is still in hiding. He will definitely cause trouble.*
*With Otto scheming in the shadows, if Kevin also returns in the future, the pressure from the Honkai will only be greater.*
*If the pressure from the Honkai increases, the pace of its troublemaking will also quicken.*
*In just three months, three Herrschers—Thunder, Death, and Sentience—have already appeared.*
*And if the speed continues to increase, then when Kevin finally emerges...*
*—At that point, to suppress Kevin, the Honkai might just unleash all the Herrschers at once.*
*For the sake of this world, Kevin...*
*—Maybe... it's better if you just don't come out.*