"Otto, you don't have the conveniences I do. Therefore, if you wish to revive Kallen, there is only one path for you: to seek and reach that eternal moment, the origin of Finality, the birthplace of all truth and law—the Imaginary Tree!"
"As for how to get there, you can figure that out yourself."
"Otto, perhaps you should understand yourself better. You are just a pitiful and detestable man. A clown wearing a mask upon the stage, a fool both headstrong and insecure."
"To achieve the goal in your heart, you wouldn't hesitate to forge countless tragedies with your own hands..."
"And today, I'm going to play a little joke on you. To let you taste what it's like to be made a fool of."
"Did you know? I have witnessed your future. You will succeed in reviving Kallen."
Hearing this, Otto, sitting in front of the screen, couldn't help but lean forward.
Although he still had no idea if Chen Li's words were true, or where he even came from, that sentence alone made Otto want to befriend him.
However, as everyone knew, being friends with Otto generally didn't end well. Especially if you were a pen pal—that was a high-risk profession.
But for some reason, Chen Li's words—"play a little joke on you"—filled Otto with a sense of dread.
"After fooling your friends, fooling your enemies, and fooling the world and its rules, you will successfully touch the Imaginary Tree. You will then travel back 500 years, to the moment Kallen died at the hands of a Honkai Beast while saving an innocent bystander, and you will successfully avert that tragedy. You will make a branch of the Imaginary Tree flow to a different node at that moment, creating a parallel world where Kallen still exists. Even if it comes at the cost of your own life, I imagine you won't mind."
That's right, I don't mind! Otto screamed in his heart.
"As I narrate this method to you now, your future method will still work. In fact, with my hint, you might even be able to achieve it faster."
Wonderful! Otto's joy was palpable.
"But do you remember what I said earlier? As payment for the countless tragedies you have personally forged, I am going to play a little joke on you."
What kind of joke? A terrible premonition began to grow in Otto's heart.
"At this very moment, I will completely sever time. I will sever the world of the Previous Era from this one, all so that I can return to the Previous Era and freely change its outcome, turning the two civilizations from a causal relationship into a parallel one. Do you know what that means?"
What does it mean? Otto's eyes slowly widened.
"It means that your only method of saving Kallen—reversing time to go back 500 years—will be utterly hopeless. Because now will become the starting point of this civilization. Any time before it will become nothing more than a historical backdrop, something to be viewed from afar but never touched."
That's tantamount to murdering my future! You can't do this!
"And do you know what's even more despairing?" Chen Li asked slowly, tossing the die in his hand.
What?
"After I finish saying all this and sever the connection between the Previous and Current Eras, as payment, all of my Causal Anchors from the Second Eruption will be erased. This means that everything I have done and said will be forgotten by all of you."
??!
"You will forget what I have done, and you will foolishly orchestrate everything, only to discover when you finally touch the Imaginary Tree to reverse time that all your efforts were in vain. Even with Kallen's revival within your grasp, it will be a destination you can never reach!"
"You will once again experience the same despair you feel right now."
"I look forward to seeing the expression on your face then!" A look of elation spread across Chen Li's face.
However, that elation came to an abrupt halt when he saw the die land on a [1].
Chen Li kicked the Elation Die in annoyance. His 10 Elation points instantly dropped to zero, and the die rerolled, revealing a new number: [11].
Something was wrong with this die. Chen Li's luck was fantastic when using it to solve minor problems, but it always failed him at critical moments.
Does this die have the surname Tohsaka or something?
Fortunately, Chen Li had developed a habit of never using the die for major events until he had saved up at least 10 Elation points. He eagerly awaited the change this die would bring him.
Because in order to use [Myriad Phenomena Severance] to sever the connection between the two eras, he needed one more thing: he needed to be able to see "time" itself.
Luckily, this was not beyond the die's capabilities.
"It's you! I remember now! You're the one who severed time! You're the one who extinguished my hope! You ruined everything!" A hysterical voice reached Chen Li's ears.
Chen Li turned his head and saw another Otto, dragging his exhausted body, wielding the greatsword of the Judgment of Shamash. The look of hope and joy that had been on his face instantly twisted into despair and fury upon seeing Chen Li.
"So this is how it gets solved? The Elation Die is amazing!" Chen Li burst out laughing when he saw this man.
Well, well, if it isn't Otto? It's only been a few days, how'd you get so pathetic?
"Aaargh!" Otto charged at Chen Li, swinging the greatsword like a madman, only to be effortlessly blocked by the [Friends Circle].
"Come on, let's get a picture." Chen Li shamelessly took out a camera and snapped a photo with his back to Otto.
He didn't know if this was the actual future Otto or just a future possibility brought forth by the Elation Die. But either way, this was just too much fun!
The power was real, the expression was inimitable, and the hysterical despair was simply unsurpassable!
After recognizing that the figure futilely attacking the seemingly invincible Chen Li in the distance was indeed himself, the present-day Otto felt as if all his strength had been drained, and he collapsed into his chair.
"Alright, alright, stop messing around. Go back to where you belong. And, seeing as you've contributed to the coexistence of the Previous and Current Eras, I might just give you another chance to revive Kallen. How about it?" Chen Li said to the hysterical Otto with great interest.
"..."
[Otto] stopped attacking. He was exhausted.
Breaking through the barrier of the Imaginary Tree was an act that defied heaven itself. The continuous assault on Chen Li was Otto's final ripple, fueled by the hatred in his heart. Chen Li's last sentence both gave him hope and drained the last of his strength and will.
"You... write it down," [Otto] said slowly.
"Ha, did I hear that right? You want me to write a formal pledge? On what grounds?"
"I will give you everything I can, in exchange for one chance," Otto said, leaning against the materialized shield of the [Friends Circle].
Hang in there, my other self! No matter the promise, no matter the price, it's better than having your hope crushed just as you're about to grasp it after exhausting everything. Even if I deserve this.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, the current-timeline Otto pressed his hands against the screen, staring intently at the scene.
"Not interested. You may not understand, but for me, all the wealth in the world is within easy reach."
"Then what do you want?" Otto asked, his head bowed.
"Then write me a letter," Chen Li said, suddenly struck by a brilliant idea.
"A letter?"
"That's right. A letter that will make the next Otto I meet believe that time has been severed by me. A letter that will make him despair."
"Why?" If this was the price, Otto didn't mind. But he wanted to understand the man's logic, to judge if his words could be trusted.
"Because... because... because... I just really want to see the look on your face when I tell you, in your moment of utter despair: 'Otto, even though you don't have Kallen anymore, you still have me!'" Chen Li said excitedly.
"..." Is this man a demon?
Cecilia, sitting on a patch of grass covered in countless "Cecilia" flowers and holding Sirin, whose eyes had not yet closed, felt a chill run down her spine after hearing the conversation between Chen Li and Otto. She completely erased her impression of Chen Li from the dreamscape—the gentle, kind, considerate, and funny one—and replaced it with a single, indelible thought: Never, ever cross this person.
"...Alright." Otto readily accepted the olive branch Chen Li offered.
He had no other choice.
Let this Otto suffer; the blame will be his to bear. Everything was for the sake of reviving Kallen. Otto believed that his past or future self, upon learning the truth, would choose to forgive him.
He then slammed the Judgment of Shamash in his hand—which was formed of Imaginary power and on the verge of dissipating—onto the paper Chen Li handed him, forming sets of secret text that only Otto himself could read.
"How about it, Your Majesty? Feeling a little happier now?" After finishing his business, Chen Li put the letter away and turned to look at Sirin.
He, for one, was very happy right now. He felt Sirin could be happy too.
Sirin no longer had the strength to answer him, but the look she gave him felt a little strange to Chen Li.
"Next, it is time for you to depart, and time for me to sever the link between the eras. It is also time for me to clip out this 'historical fragment' known as the Second Eruption."
"We haven't known each other long, but after seeing everything you went through at the Tower of Babylon, it's really hard to say something like, 'Your Majesty, if you want to live, you'll have to die once first'." Chen Li shrugged helplessly.
It was all his fault for coveting the [Second Eruption] Entry, insisting on seeing Sirin's experiences leading up to it. And it was all Sirin's fault for dumping every single one of her experiences into that dream bubble.
Tsk, tsk. Chen Li found it hard to imagine what Sirin must have felt after being tortured day and night, watching her companions die one by one, and then being forced by the researchers to personally bury their bodies in the snow.
Otto, you little bastard, you're a fucking genius! Letting you despair only twice is getting off way too easy! I need to cook up some more fun for you!
The Otto who had appeared before Chen Li due to the Elation Die began to fade away, and Chen Li could almost see the path he had taken to get here.
History and time manifested before him.
And Chen Li slammed the two blades of [Myriad Phenomena Severance] back together, reforming them into a pair of scissors.
DING!
The crisp sound echoed across the snowfield, and for a moment, the world fell silent!
It was as if spacetime itself had been torn asunder.
---o---