At that moment, Leo Ash looked at his colleagues collapsed on the floor, his thoughts also on Himeko and Isla Ash, who had been teleported elsewhere.
As a transmigrator, he knew better than anyone where Himeko and his daughter had been sent.
The Theater of Domination.
From the moment Otto suddenly vanished before his eyes, he knew that they would next have to face the most troublesome Herrscher of Domination.
Unlike the disorganized mob from the original story, while Otto saw himself as a 'failure', the gap between one failure and another can sometimes be greater than the gap between a human and a dog.
Coupled with the fact that Otto could already use his Soulium Body for swarm tactics, the current setup of a Soulium Body Otto army plus elite Schicksal members was bound to cause massive problems when things escalated.
Furthermore, within the Theater of Domination, the Herrscher of Domination possessed an incredibly tyrannical authority.
This era had far too many traitorous Herrschers, so the Herrschers of Domination in the original story could directly seize the authorities of Herrschers whose power levels weren't drastically different from their own.
Victim number one, Bronya, and victim number two, Kiana, were thus forced to fight their enemies while their core authorities were stolen, even having to help bear the burden of the cores.
Under these circumstances, Leo Ash's daughter, Isla Ash, would inevitably be in danger.
Forcing himself to calm down with Mind Like Still Water, Leo Ash found that the rage in his heart was now so intense that even this technique could barely suppress it.
*Calm down, I must calm down...*
It's human instinct to unleash one's anger.
But it takes skill to rein that anger in and handle the situation properly.
If I let myself be ruled by instinct, I'll fall right into the trap Otto has set for us.
Only by using every skill at my disposal can I break this deadlock.
Looking at his fallen colleagues on the ground, Leo Ash walked over to one without a word and plunged his hand into their body.
But after doing so, his expression changed instantly.
He wasn't doing this to enact some Great Western King Project and slaughter his innocent colleagues.
For Leo Ash, if he could obtain the Herrscher of Domination's core, he could use it to find a solution.
A certain not-so-great predecessor...
Alright, it was Otto. Though he wasn't a predecessor yet, Leo Ash would make sure to beat him into one sooner or later.
In the original story, Otto had explicitly told the main characters that he once entered the Theater of Domination using the power of the Second Divine Key.
And right now, the Key of the Void had just been handed over by Kiana to Su, the veteran ace pilot of the Thousand Worlds.
If Leo Ash could get a Herrscher Core, he could immediately find Su and figure out a way into the Theater of Domination.
Once he got there, many things would become much less troublesome.
But now, a difficult problem had emerged for Leo Ash.
He couldn't find the Herrscher of Domination's core that should have been inside this unlucky colleague's body.
This reminded him of another piece of information Otto had mentioned in the original story.
[The Herrscher of Domination perished, but the whereabouts of the other Herrscher of Domination cores were unknown at the time.]
[Due to their special structure, some of the Herrscher of Domination's cores are hidden in Imaginary Space, seeking new hosts, new opportunities.]
Leo Ash had originally thought that even if the cores fled, they wouldn't be *that* fast.
But now...
*Damn it, did you all get scared and run because the Herrscher of Binding showed up?*
Over the next ten seconds or so, Leo Ash used the quickest methods to have some heart-to-heart, or rather, heart-ripping-out, exchanges with his unfortunate colleagues.
Unfortunately, the Herrscher of Domination cores inside these poor souls had fled faster than Otto when he saw Leo Ash.
Left with no other choice, after finishing his work, Leo Ash could only use a Powerful Healing Spell to heal their relatively minor external wounds.
"...Leo Ash, it really is you."
Seeing the man before him, Mike, an ace pilot, clutched his throbbing head and asked Leo Ash.
"We... we haven't all been compromised, have we?"
"...It's alright now, Mike."
Looking at his colleague, Leo Ash said to Mike.
"Rest easy. You're not combat personnel. Leave what comes next to me."
"...Hah, you're right."
"But..."
At that moment, Leo Ash saw a hint of unconcealable exhaustion in the eyes of Mike, now a familiar acquaintance.
"The opponent is Lord Ott— that old bastard, Otto Apocalypse."
"Can you really win?"
"I can."
At this moment, Leo Ash seemed to be speaking to himself, as if in a self-suggestion, muttering.
"I'd win"
"Because I'm the strongest."
"Alright then. I'll rest easy."
In the next instant, every Schicksal member, including Mike, landed a heavy punch on themselves.
Already weakened, they decisively knocked themselves out to prevent their now 'fallen' selves from causing more trouble for the strongest knight.
Watching their actions, Leo Ash felt the rage in his heart was truly on the verge of exploding.
These were all people who had risked their lives to fight the Honkai. That's why, during this internal strife, they chose to knock themselves out, to prevent the possibility of 'hindering Leo Ash'.
And the reason these people despaired was...
*—Otto Apocalypse, I will never forgive you, you traitor who played with the emotions of everyone in Schicksal!*
"Mm, not bad. Quite the spirit."
Just as his colleagues knocked themselves out, a woman slowly walked out from the corridor and appeared before them.
"Ash, it seems you took what I said at the bar that day to heart."
Seeing his teacher appear before him, Leo Ash didn't respond.
Faced with Leo Ash's disrespectful silence, Wraith said with a blank expression.
"Now, do you know what you must do?"
Theresa, completely clueless about their conversation, could clearly feel the atmosphere in the room had become even worse than before.
Cioara and Rita, who seemed to have sensed something, both chose to remain silent, leaving the stage to the master and disciple, Leo Ash and Wraith.
"Teacher Wraith, you... have despaired."
"I have."
Admitting it frankly, Wraith said to Leo Ash.
"To fight the Honkai, all of us in Schicksal have worked for so long, some comrades even sacrificing their lives."
"And then, today, Otto tells us all that he has been letting the Honkai grow unchecked since five hundred years ago."
"The missions we risked our lives to complete might have very well been part of his plan to let the Honkai grow—when I think about that, do you think I can still look at everything as calmly and objectively as before?"
"...It's difficult."
Leo Ash faced Wraith, who was slowly walking towards him. After a moment's hesitation...
—He drove a fist straight through Wraith's body.
With this move, just before the core could escape from his sight, he forcefully tore it from Wraith's body and used the authority of the Herrscher of Binding to temporarily deactivate it.
At the same time, not daring to be careless for even a second, Leo Ash immediately used a Powerful Healing Spell to heal Wraith's body.
However, there were still some things he wanted to ask her.
So, as he completed the healing, Leo Ash activated Phantasmagoria, pulling both his and Wraith's consciousness into an illusion.
Within the illusion, Wraith, having regained her self-awareness, was visibly more relaxed than before.
"Ha, Ash, you little brat. So you were hiding such a strange ability."
Looking at the grim-faced Leo Ash, Wraith chuckled and said.
"Keeping so many secrets from your teacher. You've been naughty."
"Yes, I'm sorry, Teacher Wraith."
"Alright, no need to apologize. You did well."
As the smile vanished from her face, a complex expression appeared on Wraith's face.
"Honestly, back then, I just thought you were a talented kid with some issues, so I wanted to take you on as a student to straighten out the twists in your heart."
"But looking at it now... I'm an unqualified teacher."
"Not only did I fail to notice that the problems in your heart had grown worse, but I was also fooled by you, and now..."
"—I have to let my disciple shoulder responsibilities he was never meant to bear."
"...These are responsibilities I chose to bear myself."
Faced with his teacher's words, a mixture of comfort and remorse, Leo Ash replied calmly.
"I am currently the strongest in Schicksal, and a member of the Apocalypse family, bearing the title of 'Bishop'."
"As the strongest in Schicksal and a member of the Bishop's family, it is only natural that I bear the responsibilities of Schicksal's strongest and the 'Bishop' family."
"Otto is a piece of trash who abandoned his responsibilities as Bishop. So now, I will eliminate this trash and return Schicksal to the right path."
"But right now, more than that, I'm more curious—Teacher, when did you first get the idea to deceive the Honkai?"
Just as Leo Ash said, from his perspective, Wraith's previous actions were a clear attempt to deceive the Honkai.
Otherwise, if Wraith had truly become the Herrscher of Domination, with her intelligence network and her inherent authority over Schicksal's intelligence, she could have caused far more terrifying turmoil than anyone else.
Yet, after becoming the Herrscher of Domination, the 'despairing' her had immediately come to the vicinity of Theresa's office, preparing to make a move that was tantamount to surrendering.
This was clearly not the action of someone whose body and mind were truly controlled by the Honkai.
"Ah, let me think... It probably started the day Otto failed in his sneak attack on me."
Recalling the events of that day, Wraith said with a touch of emotion.
"Actually, before you saved me, I really did feel a bit of despair."
"The superior I once trusted betrayed me and everyone else, and we were just pawns in his hands to realize his ambitions."
"At that time, I kept asking myself—did the efforts and sacrifices of my comrades truly have any meaning?"
Listening to Wraith's words, Leo Ash had no intention of interrupting.
Even he, a transmigrator who knew Otto's true nature, had nearly turned into a Herrscher out of despair after seeing the reality of the situation in Nagazora City.
So for Valkyries like Wraith and other Schicksal colleagues who had been working under Otto, despair was only a natural reaction after realizing what kind of person he was and learning the cruel truth.
"But I quickly realized I was starting to overthink it."
At this moment, Wraith's face was filled with determination.
"I wasn't fighting for Otto Apocalypse; I was fighting to resist the Honkai and save the world."
"He's a monster. He hindered us, betrayed us, so we should do everything in our power to defeat him—just as we try to defeat the Honkai."
"Our desire to fight the Honkai is not wrong. Since we are on the right path, we just need to keep moving forward."
"As long as we keep moving forward, the road will continue to extend. So until the Honkai is defeated..."
"—I will absolutely not stop."
After saying this, Wraith immediately put on a feigned relaxed expression and said to Leo Ash.
"Alright, don't be so serious. I don't know if you'll need it, but I'll quickly tell you how I got this core."
"After realizing Otto couldn't be trusted, I started thinking about where the next Herrscher might appear."
"And after thinking for a long time..."
"—Besides the Gem of Haste, the other three of the four gems already have owners."
"And I definitely don't have the aptitude to become the Herrscher of Flame, otherwise Otto would have used me for experiments long ago."
"My strength is insufficient, but I possess a lot of intelligence. If I became the Herrscher of Domination, I could use the intelligence I have, combined with quantum entanglement, to cause immense disaster to this world."
"Once I considered that I might have this qualification, I started using the kind of devices we have at Schicksal for reviewing old recordings to constantly watch footage that would make me feel uneasy."
"And then—I suppose I succeeded. After all, watching so much distressing material, I did indeed become more 'desperate'."
"And sensing my despair, perhaps because it valued my position as the head of intelligence, the Domination core attached itself to me immediately."
"Under those circumstances, constantly self-hypnotizing, I didn't know when I would truly fall into despair. That's why I had to use this method to trap the core while rushing to your side."
After hearing Wraith's account, Leo Ash fell into silence.
Using oneself as bait to lure the core of Domination was something Otto had also done in the original story.
But the Otto in the original story had gone through great lengths before coming up with that method.
Leo Ash truly hadn't expected that his own teacher, just by looking at the records left at Schicksal HQ, could devise a similar method to trap this core.
Because Wraith herself was in a state of despair, the core within her didn't flee before she lost consciousness.
But by the same token, because her despair was more of a pretense, she was able, even after 'despairing', to rely on self-hypnosis to force herself to make the most correct choice and come to Theresa's office.
Even if Leo Ash hadn't arrived in time, Theresa could have used the Key of Binding to instantly restrain a non-combative and clearly off-kilter Herrscher of Domination, thereby securing a non-fleeing core for Schicksal.
"As for what happens next... heh, I still haven't adjusted my mentality properly, which means I might still attract other cores out of despair."
A cold smirk appeared on Wraith's face as she spoke bluntly to Leo Ash.
"And this situation will continue to occur throughout Schicksal HQ. So, Ash, if you're going to clean up the mess Otto left behind, you need to hurry."
"Otherwise... perhaps Rita will have to act in your stead, doing things you would never want her to do."
"Yes, I know. Teacher, please rest easy."
Before using Phantasmagoria to put Wraith's spirit into a deep sleep, Leo Ash said softly to her.
"As I just said, I... will win."
"Because... I am the strongest."
....
As the conversation between Leo Ash and Wraith in the Phantasmagoria concluded, Leo Ash handed the now-slumbering Wraith in his arms to Cioara, the weakest fighter among them.
"Teacher Cioara, I'm leaving Teacher Wraith in your hands."
"Keep her safe, and after this is over—"
"Alright, that's enough."
Seeing Leo Ash about to make a promise, Cioara cut him off decisively.
"No need for promises. At this point, you and I are two grasshoppers on the same rope."
"You go deal with Otto, leave the rest to us. I'm just hoping for a peaceful retirement; I'm not asking for anything else."
"Mm, very well."
"Leo."
Watching Leo Ash gaze calmly at the Herrscher Core in his hand, Rita asked with a hint of unease.
"Could it be that you..."
"Sis, don't worry about me."
Amidst everyone's gasps, Leo Ash threw the core into his mouth and broke its seal.
"It's regrettable, but I have to face reality now."
"Perhaps I'm just this much of a softie. If I don't deal with the cores inside my colleagues at Schicksal HQ, I won't be able to fight with peace of mind."
"But you...!"
Seeing Leo Ash's action, which in her eyes was practically suicide, Rita didn't hesitate to draw Skadi of Celestial Frost and place the scythe against Leo Ash's neck.
"Leo, spit it out, now!"
"Alright, sis, a great scythe isn't exactly suited for surgery, and besides, now..."
Feeling the negative emotions surging within him, Leo Ash let out a deep breath.
"It's too late. Even with surgery, I doubt you could get this thing out now."
"But sis, you don't have to worry that I'll fall into despair because of this."
"I am more certain than ever that I am walking on the right path."
"Wanting to defeat the Honkai, wanting to protect everyone, wanting to eliminate our enemies, wanting to achieve revenge, wanting to do all this without any sacrifices..."
"—These thoughts may be naive, but I don't think there's anything wrong with these naive thoughts!"
At this moment, Leo Ash could feel that although he hadn't figured out how to use the quantum entanglement ability, the other Herrschers of Domination were all using it against him simultaneously.
He could feel countless negative emotions pouring into his mind through quantum entanglement, trying to drive him into despair.
*Ha, I can feel it. Everyone's resentment, unwillingness, despair...*
Willingly choosing to fall from grace due to resentment, unwillingness, and despair is actually a very normal reaction.
Everyone is a warrior against the Honkai, but in the face of a Herrscher Core, even a strong will can sometimes fail to resist its almost cheat-like guidance and temptation.
This isn't anyone's fault, but at this point...
*—I don't have time to play games with you anymore, Core of Domination!*
As Leo Ash struggled to suppress the negative emotions within him, he began to activate another power.
The Wavering Scales, one of the 'Fragments of Taiji' in this world's context, the Sphere of the Zodiac that governs 'judgment'.
The will this Sphere seeks is one that cannot be broken even in the midst of hesitation.
In other words, to become its Sphere Holder, one needs 'a will unbreakable even in hesitation', which presupposes that the holder's heart must have hesitation.
Leo Ash was not without hesitant thoughts.
And an unbreakable will? He had that in spades.
Faced with a storm of negative emotions, Leo Ash, holder of [The Wavering Scales], did not feel his heart completely succumb to despair.
And as the Zodiac Sphere governing 'judgment', upon awakening to its second stage, it could transmit its powerful will of seeing through to the essence of things to others, guiding them onto the right path.
And now, Leo Ash's judgment was telling him...
*—What the hell is there to despair about? Why the hell would I fall?*
*Our enemy is the Honkai. Falling to the Honkai's side will only render the efforts of our Schicksal seniors meaningless and bring shame to their struggles.*
At this moment, the quantum entanglement ability that was meant to catalyze Leo Ash's despair instead became the perfect tool for him to spread his correct judgment.
*Otto betrayed Schicksal, so I will deal with this traitor.*
*The Honkai is still causing trouble, so we will deal with the Honkai.*
*The Bishop's betrayal is no reason for us to fall from grace. Only by clearly identifying our enemy can we continue to fight, correctly.*
*Listen up, everyone. Otto betrayed Schicksal. So now, I, Leo Ash, will lead you forward.*
*I swear upon the spirits of my parents...*
*—I, Leo Ash, will lead humanity to victory over the Honkai!*
With Leo Ash's unwavering conviction, the Sphere of the Scales within him erupted with a wave of Dimensional Energy far stronger than ever before.
He could feel it: the Sphere of the Scales was now just one step away from reaching its true third stage.
Meanwhile, the judgment he transmitted via quantum entanglement was genuinely guiding the already despairing people back to their senses.
Within the Schicksal base, the once-frenzied elites now realized just how rashly they had acted.
As this judgment continued to spread, even reaching the non-Herrscher personnel within Schicksal HQ, the once chaotic headquarters gradually returned to a state of calm.
Rita lowered her scythe, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
She didn't know how Leo Ash had done it, but for a big sister, as long as her little brother was unharmed after swallowing a Herrscher Core, then...
*—Does it really matter how he did it?*
After expending a great deal of Dimensional Energy to transmit his power, Leo Ash immediately spoke to Theresa and Rita beside him.
"Matriarch, I've managed to pull back all the Herrschers of Domination within the organization."
"I'll leave things here at headquarters to you."
"Alright, Leo Ash. Go, and don't worry."
At this moment, Theresa's complex expression suddenly hardened with determination.
"I will remain here as the Archbishop of Schicksal and carry out the duties of the Archbishop."
"In return..."
"—Regardless of success or failure, you must come back safely."
Listening to Theresa's worried words, Leo Ash nodded slightly.
Then, he looked over at Rita.
But before he could speak, Rita had already pulled him into an embrace.
"Leo, you have to come back alive."
"If anything happens to you..."
"—I'll never forgive you for the rest of my life, little brother."
Feeling the warmth of his adoptive sister's embrace, Leo Ash gently wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear.
"Mm, I know, sis."
"Just wait for me at Schicksal. Within today..."
"—I will definitely return with victory."
.....