Chapter 238: Time Is Defined by Me
"Welcome, everyone, to your arrival."
After Otto finished that single line, he simply hung up the communicator, leaving behind a group of people with troubled looks on their faces. It wasn't that they had any objection to Otto's invitation itself.
They were simply quite uncomfortable with the shameless way Otto had just behaved. Mei pinched the bridge of her nose, an expression of pained exasperation on her face as she looked over at Einstein and Tesla.
"Was Otto always this shameless in the past?" Mei looked at the two of them. How should she put it — back when she was still in school, everyone had always said Otto was the Grand Overseer of light.
Even after he became an enemy, in Mei's eyes Otto had still only been an enemy. She had never imagined that Otto could actually be this shameless.
"Now you understand why none of us have any kind face to show him, right?" Tesla spread her hands. "He was always exactly this kind of shameless person to begin with."
"But the situation right now seems a little strange."
Although Tesla really didn't like the groveling display Otto had just put on, she had also sensed that something was a bit off. Yes, Otto was shameless, but he wasn't to the point of being this brazen and out in the open about it.
That fellow's behavior just now — rather than calling it groveling, it would be more accurate to call it throwing out taunts. But why? Otto, in their eyes, was already at a point where he didn't need to throw any more taunts at all; his aggro had already been pulled to the maximum.
In this kind of situation, what was the use of throwing out taunts at them? Put it this way — if this were an RPG, then to them, the Immortal Blades squad actually counted as neutral right now.
There was only one red-name monster, and that was Otto. To them, where the aggro was supposed to be pointed — wasn't that something they could see at a single glance?
In this kind of situation, was there any need for Otto to come over wearing that smug, shameless face and throw out taunts at every single one of them? Could it be that Otto didn't know that in everyone's eyes right now, he was the one and only red-name monster?
Tesla just had an explosive temper, but in the end she was still one of the Doctors — a top-tier scientist, a top-tier intellect. Such strange behavior from Otto, naturally, she had noticed.
Beside her, Einstein also nodded, the same strange expression on her face: "Tesla is right. Otto's behavior just now really was a bit off."
"But we have no choice but to go." Joyce folded his arms across his chest, his brows knit deeply together. He, too, couldn't tell what exactly Otto was up to this time.
"So are we actually going or not?" Kiana scratched her head. "Judging from the way he's been acting, Otto really, really wants us to come and see him."
It wasn't that Kiana had suddenly become smart. It was just that the behavior Otto had just shown was, in a way, somewhat familiar to her — whenever she made some mistake, Auntie and the others would coax her back home in exactly the same way.
It was just that Otto's method was to throw out taunts at them and send them an invitation they could hardly refuse, whereas Auntie and the others usually used temptation instead.
"But we have no choice but to go." Welt folded his arms and offered his own opinion. "No matter what, Otto is the only clear threat we have in this place."
"He's finally about to step out into the open. If we avoid him this time, who knows whether there'll even be a next time."
"And moreover, from my own personal perspective..." Welt pushed up his glasses, and the reflection on the lenses revealed a faint, cold glint. "If we don't see Otto, then how exactly are we supposed to repay him for those words he just said?"
Although they had picked up on the fact that something was off, they had to admit it — Otto's taunting just now had been extremely effective. So effective that right now they wanted nothing more than to plant a slap straight across Otto's face.
That matter was an everlasting pain in their hearts. And Otto wanted to use that smug, hypocritical posturing of his to brush it aside in his speech? How could that possibly be allowed to pass?
"Wait for me to come over, then someone bring me along — I don't know the way." Joyce looked at the others as he spoke. Everyone nodded. As for the time spent waiting, they might as well just leave Otto hanging.
"Speaking of which, should we call Fu Hua back?" Theresa turned her head and looked outside. Fu Hua and Little Senti had left some time ago and still hadn't come back. No one knew where they had gone.
"Class Monitor said he had something he needed to handle." Kiana raised her hand. "Little Senti went along with him too. I wonder how things are going on their end?"
The moment Kiana's voice fell, everyone heard an enormous boom coming from the suburbs outside. They immediately ran over to the windowsill to look out, wondering if Otto was up to some new mischief again — only to see a soaring Fire Phoenix shoot up into the sky.
"Hm, that's the Class Monitor, right?" Kiana pointed at the Fire Phoenix that had shot into the sky. "Should we go help?"
"Mm." But just as everyone was getting ready to go and lend Fu Hua a hand, their communicators rang, and Little Senti's voice came through.
"The commotion Old Antique just made over there was way too big. Don't come — this is something Old Antique has to handle himself." There was a slight note of helplessness in Little Senti's voice. "You could call it a leftover historical issue, so don't worry about it."
Looking at their respective communication terminals, the few of them exchanged glances and then sat back down. So it was apparently Fu Hua's own personal business over there, in which case it really wasn't appropriate for them to butt in.
"So then we...?"
"We can set off — I've arrived." Joyce pushed open the door, looked at the keys that had just been constructed by Authority on everyone's hands, and with a single wave dispersed them.
Cathedral.
The group arrived at the cathedral. At this moment, Otto was standing in the high seat, and within the entire cathedral there were also two other people present — none other than Rita and Durandal.
"Sis....." Kiana looked at Durandal and furrowed her brow. They were here too? But then she suddenly remembered something, and the latter syllable she swallowed back down her throat.
"Hahaha, just go ahead and call her. A reunion between sisters is a wonderful thing." Otto stood up on the high seat, looking at Kiana with a smile. "Sigh, I know — I'm the one who kept the two of you sisters apart for so many years."
"So it's perfectly fine. Just go ahead and call her, that's all."
As Otto spoke, he shook his head with regret: "I know that the matter of launching that missile back then was something I did, but I was acting for the greater good as well."
Hearing Otto's words, both Durandal and Kiana twitched the corners of their mouths at the same time. What was wrong with this guy? Wasn't this taunt being thrown out a little too over the top?
"Grandpa, would you please just say what exactly it is that you want to do?" Theresa stared at Otto with cold eyes. "You called us all here just to have me inherit Schicksal — really?"
"Why not?" Otto smiled at Theresa, putting his hands behind his back as he stood up. "After all, where in the world is there a Crown Prince already in his fifties? I've been at this for so many years now; it's time I abdicated."
Hearing Otto's words, Theresa twitched the corner of her mouth. How was it that this sounded so similar to what Irene had said?
"Of course, I know all of you still have some doubts." Otto looked at everyone and continued, "So I should also speak about some serious matters."
"Just as I said, I believe that under Theresa's leadership Schicksal will definitely be able to successfully defeat the Honkai — but not necessarily right now."
The crowd was momentarily stunned. Did this mean Otto was about to go back on his word? Theresa furrowed her brows and looked at Otto: "Grandpa, do you mean to go back on your word, or...?"
"When Grandpa gives his word, a single promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold — how could it possibly be taken back?" Otto smiled, and then, as if changing the subject, continued, "As is well known, upon the Imaginary Tree there are countless branches, and each branch represents a single world."
The crowd listened to Otto's words with furrowed brows. What was he trying to get at by bringing this up now? Otto continued.
"On these branches, time itself is merely a single, simple attribute. And the direction of time as we define it is, in fact, the product of the competitive mechanism between the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta."
"From our perspective, time cannot flow backward. But from the tree's perspective, time is nothing more than the growth of these branches."
"The continuous growth of the branches represents the continuous passage of time and the continuous evolution of the world."
"You bastard, what on earth are you trying to say? What's the point of dishing out some science lecture at a time like this?" Tesla looked at Otto. "What exactly are you trying to say?"
"What I'm trying to say is — I can give all of you more time." Otto spread his hands in front of everyone, like some sort of saint come to save the world. "As of now, we are very nearly at the end."
"I don't know whether we'll truly be able to defeat Finality. According to the records of the Previous Era, Finality was powerful enough that not even Mr. Kevin could defeat it."
"So I am extremely worried about whether, with our current strength and preparation, we even have enough time. I also want to give all of you a chance to change those past tragedies."
"Are you still going to be talking in riddles even now, you bastard?" Tesla looked at Otto. "Just come out and say exactly what you want to do. What do you mean by 'give us a chance to change'?"
"Literally what it sounds like, Dr. Tesla — to give all of us more time." Otto looked at the group. "We have no way to delay the moment that is about to come, but we can move our own time forward."
"We can return to the past, gain more time, gain more accumulation. There, none of your tragedies will have happened yet; you'll be able to change the regrets you once carried. Isn't that good?"
"Does Overseer Otto mean to say that you intend to build some kind of time machine?" Einstein looked at Otto. "And then send us back to the past — this is not a novel we're writing here."
"Of course, directly reversing time is indeed something that even I cannot do." Otto nodded. "Time is a phenomenon of the Imaginary Tree; it naturally cannot be altered."
"Then..."
Before Einstein could finish her sentence, Otto opened his mouth and cut her off, continuing, "So — since we are unable to act upon time itself, what if we directly act upon the branches of the Imaginary Tree, redefining the world? What then?"
"Redefining... the world?" Durandal murmured to herself. She had just recalled that experiment Otto had once taken her through — the experiment of returning to her the Bubble Universe within her own body.
But even after recalling it, Durandal still could not understand what Otto actually wanted to do. Could the world really be defined?
"That's right. As long as we can manipulate the Imaginary Tree itself, then re-selecting the point at which [the world] grows from is hardly a difficult matter."
"In that case, we can have the world roll back to the time point of five hundred years ago, cast aside these already-realized predetermined futures, and let it evolve anew."
"Cast aside, evolve anew..." Durandal suddenly raised her head. She hadn't understood the earlier parts, but this one line, she had understood. "Then what would become of our current world?"
"Actually, nothing would happen. In terms of the result, this kind of casting-aside is mutual — your existences will not vanish, nor will your environment undergo any change at all."
"Although there will, of course, be a certain price to be paid — but those costs have nothing to do with you."
The crowd looked at Otto and couldn't help but fall into silence. And Otto seemed to be quite enjoying that silence. It was a long while before he finally looked at Theresa and the others again.
"This is what I want to do. How about it — quite a good deal, isn't it? As long as all of this can begin again, as long as you go back to the past, you'll be able to undo your tragedies."
"And on top of that, you'll have more time — five hundred years. Enough for you to master more ways of using your Authority, enough for you to grow into something even stronger."
"And I also believe that Theresa managing the world would certainly be more harmonious and loving than I have been. Wouldn't it?"
"And even, according to my speculation, once all of you arrive there, you might even be able to directly take the place of the Herrschers that were originally supposed to descend in that world."
"Which is to say, during those five hundred years, you can develop however you please, and none of the original Herrschers will descend — because you will have already taken their places."
At this moment, Otto looked just like a savior taking pity on the people of the world, recounting to the crowd that brand-new, beautiful world.
"Even if my speculation turns out to be wrong, with more than five hundred years of development time, I believe your strength should be more than enough to kill those descending Herrschers in a single strike. And by that point, you'll even gain an additional set of Herrscher Cores, which for all of you should also be a major boost."
Then Otto pointed outside again: "So Theresa, do you understand now why I ordered the entire Immortal Blades squad transferred over? The Immortal Blades squad is currently the most top-tier Valkyrie combat squad in the world."
"Every single one of them has at least the combat power of an A-Rank Valkyrie. By the time you head back five hundred years into the past, their combat power there will be enough to sweep aside every faction of that era."
"And the most top-tier scientists, too." Otto pointed at Einstein and Tesla, who stood beside Theresa, then turned his hand and pointed at Rita and Durandal. "And the most top-tier secretaries, and the most top-tier combatants."
"These are the inner circle I'm leaving behind for you — the team that will let you sweep away everything in the era of five hundred years ago and establish a new Schicksal."
"Grandpa, you've gone through all this just..." As Theresa listened to Otto's words, hearing him speak of five hundred years' time, all of a sudden a particular person came to her mind.
The moment she thought of that person, she also suddenly understood — what Irene had said before, about how everything Grandpa had done was just to save a single person, that single person was who?
"You've done all this — could it really be that it was all just for Saint Kallen?"
Otto stiffened slightly, but then a smile spread across his face, and he looked at Theresa and nodded.
"Was it Irene who told you? You're right — I do have a bit of selfishness in this, but my lovely granddaughter, you can't demand that I have absolutely no selfishness at all, now can you?"
"After all, I really am giving you all five hundred years of time, in exchange for nothing more than one insignificant little matter. Isn't that good?"
"If it were real, then perhaps it really would be very good. But Otto — you've said so much, and the one thing you've left out is the success rate of this affair."
Einstein furrowed her brows deeply as she looked at Otto. "If it doesn't succeed, then what?"
"And what exactly is that so-called 'price' that you've been trying so hard to hide this whole time?"
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