Ten minutes later.
After using the Herrscher of Corruption's power to infiltrate Schicksal's computers, Leo Ash and Rin helplessly deactivated their powers ten minutes later.
Even though Rin's current power was far from her peak state with Honkai's support, Schicksal's technology was still built on leftovers from the Fire Moth.
It really wasn't a difficult task for her to use her power to search for a program and complete the intrusion.
But this easy task had one very important prerequisite.
That is—the "Rebirth" program was still in the Schicksal HQ computers.
Originally, for Otto, leaving the "Rebirth" program at Schicksal HQ was the safest bet.
In this world, the number of people who could completely breach Schicksal's firewall could be counted on one hand, and those who could bypass the firewall to find the Rebirth Program were practically nonexistent.
Moreover, if the Rebirth Program was at Schicksal HQ, with the HQ computers being independent from the outside world, infiltrating the core of Schicksal's computers to dig out the Rebirth Program required not only skill, but also the physical presence of the hacker at HQ.
But now, because Otto himself was not at Schicksal HQ, he had cowardly moved the Rebirth Program and left behind a fake that was convincing enough to be real.
If the expert in charge of infiltrating the computer this time wasn't the [Herrscher of Corruption], and it had just been Leo Ash himself with Jizō Mitama, he wouldn't even have been able to discover that the thing Otto had hidden was a fake.
I really can't underestimate him.
When it comes to causing trouble and staying alive, this old dog has always been top-tier.
"So, what now?"
Casually letting go of Leo's hand, Rin slowly walked from behind him to his side.
"Not only is this Rebirth Program a fake, but that green-haired turtle has also deleted all records of the program's transfer."
"If you want to get rid of him completely, the only way is to find a way to corrode his Soulium Body itself and make him spit out the program's location."
"What a pain..."
Putting away Jizō Mitama and the Blank Key, Leo Ash said helplessly.
"So in the end, I still have to lure this guy out..."
"Tch, he will definitely show up, but it's hard to say what he'll bring with him next time."
"I say, why are you so worried about these things?"
Seeing the visible frustration on Leo's face, Rin said, puzzled.
"With your power, forget that green-haired turtle, even Kevin can't beat you anymore, right?"
"Since he can't beat you, shouldn't he be the one afraid of you? Why does it seem like you're afraid of him?"
Yeah, why is that?
Damn it, that bastard is an old dog. Being able to beat him is useless.
I definitely won't be killed by a Honkai Fission Missile like Joyce was, but Otto will one hundred percent throw fission missiles when he's cornered.
He didn't use them during the Fool's Twilight in the original story because his plan had already reached its final stage.
But in this timeline...
The Key of the Void is in Kiana's hands.
Although Kiana has suppressed her Herrscher Personality with Leo's help, she clearly hasn't grown to her late-game stage.
And Otto still doesn't know if he has obtained the beacon.
Otto hasn't reached any of these key nodes. The current Otto definitely doesn't have as much leeway as he did before he died in the original story.
In fact, in Otto's eyes, Leo is probably a super-enhanced version of Siegfried. If Leo shows even a hint of weakness in battle, giving Otto the feeling that 'Leo is weakened,' then what Leo would have to face probably wouldn't be just two Honkai Fission Missiles.
And that's not even the worst part.
If a Honkai Fission Missile comes his way, as long as there aren't a large number of innocent unlucky people where Leo is, he, with his clear consciousness, can use the Quantum Teleportation System, Kiana's abilities, and the Divine Keys to teleport instantly.
But if Otto realizes that bombing Leo is useless and turns his attention to ordinary innocent people in other regions, forcing Leo and the others to rescue those innocent people and thus expose a weakness...
That's definitely something he would do.
And this old dog has a history of collaborating with the Honkai.
Honkai causing trouble, Otto causing trouble... while Kevin might not cause trouble at a time like this, if the first two team up, who knows what kind of chemical reaction will occur.
"Ah, I think I've figured it out."
With a hypothesis in mind, a meaningful smile suddenly appeared on Rin's face.
"You don't still think this is the illusion created by that guy Su, do you?"
"In Su's illusion, you knew what happened fifty thousand years ago in advance, so you had countermeasures and managed to minimize the disaster."
"And because of that, you've always thought, 'If it's Leo Ash, he should be able to do the same thing,' right?"
"What an arrogant fellow. In our era, no one tried to release a sealed Herrscher, and there wasn't such a troublesome guy standing on the opposite side of humanity."
"Under these circumstances, you still think you can do everything perfectly?"
Staring at Leo Ash, Rin suddenly snorted coldly, and her figure began to slowly dissipate.
"I'll just keep watching. If you can't see your own strength and the enemy's clearly, and blindly try to achieve things you're incapable of, you'll sooner or later drive yourself to death."
Listening to Rin's parting words, Leo knew that she wasn't wrong at all.
Although Otto was far inferior to Leo in personal strength, he hadn't been idle for the past five hundred years.
Otto, who had always been preparing for a battle with the Honkai, had secretly developed countless modern weapons.
Of course, during the Second Eruption, those conventional weapons were all thrown onto the front lines because of the powerful Herrscher Otto had created through his personal mistake.
But fourteen years have passed since that great war.
In these fourteen years, Schicksal's military technology has developed rapidly.
Otto not only used the Blank Key to develop Valkyrie battlesuits, thus phasing out the protective suits Valkyries were still using from the Second Eruption to 2010, but also, in just a few short years, pushed the Valkyrie battlesuits to the fourth generation by climbing the technology tree.
Not only that, but in these ten-plus years, Schicksal also developed the Schicksal's Mechanized Units, added the Nexus System to the Hyperion's weapon systems that could link with Valkyries to drain their life force, and created a large number of Pantheon-class weapons using Soulium.
Given all this, Otto must have also restocked his originally empty armory.
If this guy imitates Lan Meng...
My head hurts so much.
And I still don't know if Otto will notice the operation I launched today.
There are still many things I need to do, but if I want Otto to let his guard down...
Thinking of this, Leo Ash suddenly felt that there was no need for him to busy himself unnecessarily.
What he could do, to put it bluntly, was either insert Jizō Mitama into the Schicksal HQ computers, or find Otto and then stick Jizō Mitama up Otto's ass.
Right now, Otto himself was nowhere to be found, and the computers here at Schicksal HQ had been searched by him and Rin. So, it was better to leave the rest to other professionals.
Schicksal was a huge team, and although Anti-Entropy was severely weakened by Cocolia, it was still a large organization.
Instead of worrying about it all by himself, he might as well hand over these problems he couldn't solve to his trusted companions.
He was now, for all intents and purposes, a member of the Apocalypse family.
And a member of the Apocalypse family should follow the ancestral precepts and be a good hands-off boss.
Alright, although the Apocalypse family didn't have this precept, both Otto and Theresa acted this way most of the time.
Putting aside his moral issues, Otto was actually quite good in certain aspects.
As a leader, for matters he didn't need to handle or couldn't handle himself, delegating them to his subordinates was a reasonable and smart move.
Killing ordinary Honkai Beasts didn't require him, so he let the ordinary Valkyries do it.
He couldn't come up with such complex plans on his own, so he had Nagamitsu plan several options for him, and then chose the one with the highest success rate.
As for when Otto himself needed to act... that's a story for another time, and usually not a good one.
If I want Otto to let his guard down now, the only thing I can probably do is...
Sigh, no more overthinking, it's time to act.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Schicksal, Yuna's communicator suddenly rang.
Then, taking out her communicator, Yuna looked at the text message from Leo Ash, and a speechless expression instantly appeared on her face.
[No funny business, date tomorrow. We'll decide on a meeting place later. —Leo Ash.]
Ah, honestly.
Yuna was speechless now, not because Leo had actively asked her out on a date.
For Yuna, she understood Leo's mentality all too well.
After Yuna returned to HQ this morning, she also went to the infirmary to visit Wraith, who had taught her makeup skills and some basic agent techniques.
Yuna had run into Leo on his way to the infirmary, and from the look on his face...
—Alright, just by looking at his calm expression, Yuna definitely couldn't tell what he was thinking.
But Yuna knew very well that the current Leo was definitely angry.
His teacher was injured, so it was normal for Leo to be angry.
So under these circumstances, it was not normal for an angry Leo to actively start asking people out.
It wasn't the first day she had known Leo Ash.
A person like Leo, who had nothing left but revenge in his heart, would not transfer the pressure and violence generated in his heart to those around him after a close one was harmed by the enemy.
He would probably just want to bear everything alone and then beat the enemy to a pulp on the spot.
Yuna didn't think that beating the enemy to a pulp to complete revenge was a bad thing, but the problem was...
—Can't you take a little break before doing these things (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
And about a minute later, Yuna suddenly received a text message from Mei.
[Yuna, Leo suddenly asked me out for tomorrow—what should I do?]
Oho, nice one.
If it were anyone else, I would have thought he was planning a double-fly with two girls.
But if it's Senior...
—If he really had such thoughts, I could probably go and complete that final matter with peace of mind.
Sigh, what an Avenger.
After sending a message to Mei saying [Don't worry, let's meet tonight and talk in detail], Yuna immediately sprang into action.
Senior returned to Nagazora City three days ago, then brought Kiana back to HQ three days later. He was missing for a day yesterday, and today he's back to work again.
He really doesn't plan to rest at all...
—If you don't plan to rest, then we can only find a way to make you a little tired by force.
Before, I thought many things could be taken slowly, but now, I must admit that the original strategy had a major flaw.
It was precisely because we dragged things on that Senior's inner pressure became too great, and he was gradually eroded by the Honkai's will and became a Herrscher.
Even if Senior withstood the Honkai's corrosion and successfully suppressed the 'whispers' in his ear and the erosion of his consciousness with his own willpower, it didn't mean the matter was over.
Mei and I can more or less hear voices from the Honkai from time to time, and for us Herrschers, a slight carelessness could very well lead to falling into the abyss created by the Honkai.
I thought Isla would become Senior's 'shackles,' but now it seems that while he dotes on his daughter, he will still act as an Avenger.
Familial love cannot stop his 'self-destruction,' so it seems only love can change him.
If one person's worth of love is not enough, then...
—We'll just have to have everyone step up!
....
That night, at Schicksal HQ, in Kiana's room.
After sending off her daughter, who seemed much more sensible than herself, Kiana lay on her bed, quietly waiting for the visitor she had arranged to meet.
And upon hearing the electronic doorbell, Kiana immediately used the voice control system to open the room's electronic door.
"Yuna, you're finally here."
"Yeah, well, we did agree to meet."
After walking into the room, Yuna looked at her companion lying on the bed and felt that Kiana really hadn't been able to return to her old self so quickly.
No... perhaps the Kiana who now knew the truth could never go back to being that innocent and vibrant girl she used to be.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing the expression on Yuna's face, Kiana smiled at her friend.
"You seem very unhappy all of a sudden. Did something happen to upset you?"
"...The intuition of the Kaslana family is truly worthy of its reputation."
Shaking her head lightly, Yuna found a chair to sit on and asked the question to which she already had a rough answer in her heart.
"Kiana, in these three days, you and Senior..."
"We did it."
Saying this, Kiana very naturally met Yuna's gaze.
"Just as you guessed, for these three days, Senior and I have been performing the ritual of love."
"Are you satisfied now that I've said it?"
....