"Wow, I found a very interesting record, my little Mr. Clown—"
Void Archives' sarcastically toned voice kept chattering incessantly in the man's mind.
"Oh, oh! I know what you're thinking, my old friend. Don't be so quick to mute me. You'll definitely find this record interesting."
Seeing the scowling man's intentions, Void Archives temporarily stopped the blonde man's attempt to abuse his administrator privileges, offering him a firm guarantee.
"You'd better be serious, Void Archives."
The Schicksal Overseer, his train of thought interrupted, tapped his desk in dissatisfaction and decided to give Void Archives a chance.
"Oh, of course. Guess what I found in my most cluttered, unclassified database?"
The 1st Divine Key built the suspense to a breaking point, only to be muted by the Schicksal Overseer, Otto Apocalypse.
"/!;#&%=#=@
"You'd better not waste my time again. Otherwise, I'll send you to my daughter in the near future. Just imagine how she'll mess with you."
The man brought up his daughter, a small warning to Void Archives for its attempt to rebel.
"What an impatient fellow. Such a dull man. I found a private diary from my creator in the deepest layers of the database, something like a collection of random notes."
"The diary mentions that when the 12th Herrscher awakened in the Previous Era, a God known as the God of War, or the Lord of the Army, briefly appeared at the Fire Moth Headquarters."
"But as for what that God looked like or what she did, there are no records left in the database. It is only confirmed that a certain MANTIS and the Herrscher of Corruption vanished after her appearance. Of course, that Herrscher still caused massive casualties among the people."
"If you're not interested, you can just listen to this as another one of my stories to annoy you,"
"But I need to be clear with you, Otto. This being referred to in the records as the Lord of the Highest Heaven is the only God whose existence Fire Moth could possibly have verified."
"I don't know what you saw back in Siberia..."
"But when dealing with Gods, you'd best tread carefully. No one can know what those beings, who perhaps don't even possess physical forms, are thinking."
"After all, I've been coveting this body of yours for a very long time—Otto, oh Otto, you'd best not throw me into the mix when you strike a deal with those eldritch gods."
"Then I must thank you for the information, Void Archives... Do you think this God of War and the Will of Honkai are the same entity?"
"Two separate entities. According to the notes my creator left behind, while that God of War once enraged a certain MANTIS from the Previous Era... she never seemed to commit any actual hostile acts."
"As for the records of the Will of Honkai, they are sparse in the Previous Era's archives... I suspect they are not the same god. Of course, I've never encountered the so-called Will of Honkai myself, so I can't give you a definitive judgment."
"The one you should be asking is yourself. If you've communicated with 'Gods' before—all I know is that the God of War is consistently referred to as 'she' in the records. In other words, in the eyes of the chroniclers or survivors of that time, she was a female by human standards."
"At least, her appearance was. You're on your own now."
"This is probably the last piece of advice I'll give you, Otto Apocalypse. For those True Gods, as long as they are willing... whatever is spoken, will be known."
Before the man could respond, Void Archives fell silent. Regarding those unfathomably mysterious Gods, this creation from the Previous Era seemed unwilling to say more.
"Two Gods... The Lord of the Highest Heaven... Lord... What does it stand for exactly?"
"Lord of Hosts?"
The man's brow furrowed. The information revealed by the Divine Key caused his heart, which had been calm due to his already-fixed plan, to become restless.
The God he had originally intended to deal with had suddenly become Gods in this moment, filling the man with immeasurable anxiety.
Would this God who had only appeared in the records of the Previous Civilization be like the Will of Honkai? If the one I meet on this journey is that Lord, would He agree to my deal?
Anxious unease covered the heart of Schicksal Overseer Otto Apocalypse like a shadow. The force with which the man tapped the desk grew imperceptibly stronger.
"Phew... Otto Apocalypse, you have to look on the bright side. Yes, you have to look on the bright side. If you are rejected by one of the Gods, at least there is another choice."
"This isn't a 50% success rate; this is a 150% or even a 200% success rate! You already have a one hundred percent chance of making one of the Gods accept your deal. If you can also move the other God..."
"Then it's not the client choosing the contractor, but the contractor choosing the client!"
He was somewhat dizzy, rambling with words of comfort, or rather, hypnotizing himself...
"Lord of the Highest Heaven... Lord... Lord... If You truly are as Your name suggests, then let me go and save that noble Saintess and Warrior from five hundred years ago."
In the Overseer's Office, the man's solitary muttering was heard by no one, and known to no one. However... just as his Divine Key had said: For the Gods...
Whatever is spoken, will be known.
-
"After the death of Saintess Kallen Kaslana, the old Schicksal continued its absurd and tyrannical rule. Otto Apocalypse's nephew was installed as a puppet in the position of Schicksal Overseer."
"However, all brutal pleasures will eventually meet a brutal end as their finale."
"The people remembered that former Schicksal Saintess, Kallen Kaslana, who treated everyone equally."
"They also remembered that unjust Judgment. Their suppressed anger reached a breaking point under the tyranny."
"In this era, the greatest and most important revolution in European history broke out."
The young woman's voice paused, as if interrupted by something. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly. Meanwhile, Kallen, who seemed to be in a hurry, couldn't wait to ask...
"What about Otto? What was Otto doing while Schicksal was oppressing those people?"
"Otto... Back then, the youngest boy of the Apocalypse family fell into self-blame and grief over the death of his fiancée. He lost all his will to fight, left the core of Schicksal, and chose to become a teacher in a remote place to teach children."
"Uh... How could the Great Inventor be so depressed...?"
"Because for him, the light that once shone upon him had shattered at that very moment."
"Miss Kallen, have you ever truly understood that man, the man named Otto Apocalypse?"
"He was the youngest and frailest child of his generation in the Apocalypse family, gloomy and withdrawn, fond of tinkering with those little gadgets in his room that his older brothers sneered at..."
"And on that day, you, who climbed over the wall and ran into the Apocalypse family castle, you, who picked up that model airplane... you, who praised the boy who had never been praised before."
"You became the eternal light in his heart, and your place in his heart was beyond anyone's reach..."