Time continued to flow. Rin took her sister back to the hometown of her memories, while Otto remained by Fu Hua's side.
And then, Otto felt a sense of frustration, like hating iron for not becoming steel.
Despite becoming one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, and one of its more powerful members at that, Fu Hua still lived like a common grunt. Apart from the missions assigned by the organization, she spent every day training, and every night sleeping in Otto's arms.
His Fu Hua was far too zen, completely lacking in ambition.
She didn't contend for power, nor did she form cliques.
But perhaps it was precisely because of this that Dr. MEI and Mobius trusted her, entrusting many tasks to her.
And this was also why Otto liked to use Fu Hua.
Otto watched Fu Hua's daily training with a calm expression. The atmosphere in the base was grim, filled with a deathly stillness.
The Twelfth Herrscher had annihilated humanity's future.
The Thirteenth Herrscher had broken humanity's spine.
The Thirteen Flame-Chasers of MOTH had lost their core.
Many had grown numb, because next to descend was the Herrscher of the End.
Only Dr. MEI and a handful of others continued to work tirelessly, but even Dr. MEI maintained a pessimistic outlook, preparing to leave behind a spark for humanity's next era.
Following beside Fu Hua, Otto looked at the busy Dr. MEI. Her spirit was feverish, but it was more like the final burst of radiance before death.
In truth, Otto was a little curious.
Many people had managed to survive from the Previous Era, so why did MEI die?
Even if her body had been eroded by Honkai energy, even if her body was in tatters from using the Keys of Blankness, she was fully capable of saving herself.
With the Black Orchid and White Lily, with all sorts of mature experimental data, MEI should not have died.
After all, even the Otto of the next era managed to live on for so long.
This scientist who stood at the pinnacle of humanity should not have died.
Could it be that time was too tight, that there wasn't enough of it?
That shouldn't be right, because Dr. MEI had left behind several plans.
Otto was puzzled.
He wanted to uncover Dr. MEI's secret, but the illusion was constructed from Fu Hua's memories. This was a blind spot in her knowledge. And it was even more impossible for Rin to know, as she had been sealed away long before this time.
Still, Otto was thankful that Dr. MEI hadn't survived. Because MEI, like Mobius, was a mad scientist.
Not long after the Thirteenth Herrscher, eight MANTISes, led by Kevin, went to the moon to await the arrival of the End.
Otto watched their receding figures, watching Fu Hua standing there, her fists clenched. Her heart was not as calm as her expression suggested.
For countless nights, she had lain in his arms, using him as a sacred tree to vent her frustrations. Otto knew many of her true thoughts.
The Celestial was very frank. After all, no one would be reserved with a fantasy. She vented all her emotions to the "imaginary" Otto, and then he would hold her as she fell asleep.
Soon, the End descended.
Otto gazed at the Kiana in the starry sky, at the tragic and heroic figures of the MANTISes. Just five minutes into the battle, two of them had already fallen.
But in his heart, there was not a single ripple.
Although not even a day had passed in the real world, Otto had already spent many years in this illusion.
And yet, he had always been an observer, quietly watching everything unfold, as if watching a play.
A sudden realization dawned on Otto.
Perhaps this was how the Will of the Honkai had watched humanity all along.
Tsk, it seems I'm drifting further and further from being a normal human.
Otto watched the battle between the MANTISes and the Herrscher of the End with cold indifference. He was recording useful information for his own future.
"Weaker attacks can't even break through her defenses?"
Otto recorded it in his mind.
It seemed that human-wave tactics would not be effective against the Herrscher of the End.
Schicksal needs to accelerate the development of high-end combat power. Three S-rank Valkyries really aren't enough.
Soon, as the MANTISes bought time with their lives, the Moonlight Throne overloaded, attacking the Herrscher of the End and shaving off 30% of her Honkai energy before being destroyed.
Then, Kevin used a full-power strike to buy humanity another ten hours.
The last ten hours to preserve the spark of humanity.
The surviving MANTISes returned to Earth. Otto did not go with them, instead remaining to gaze at the Herrscher of the End, whose eyes were now closed.
He looked at the girl who seemed to be sleeping.
Otto raised his hand and gently caressed her cheek.
This face looked so much like Kiana.
But the Herrscher of the End of his era... would it be Kiana, or... K423?
Next, Otto's gaze turned to the wreckage of the Moonlight Throne in the starry sky, but he shook his head.
The Honkai would not be caught off guard a second time.
Still, Otto was satisfied. Witnessing the final battle firsthand had allowed him to gather a great deal of useful information. He didn't linger, instead returning to the MOTH base.
He walked beside the exhausted Fu Hua. Even on her face, there was a trace of despair between her brows.
Humanity had been defeated.
Ever since the birth of the Twelfth Herrscher, humanity had lost all hope.
Otto reached out and gently took Fu Hua's hand.
Fu Hua didn't look up, but she squeezed his hand tightly, as if searching for something to lean on.
Hand in hand, Fu Hua and the remnants of humanity entered an underground shelter. They would slumber here until they awoke again on some distant day.
Before Fu Hua entered her cryo-chamber, she saw a grief-stricken Kevin. This man who had always been so strong looked as if his spine had been broken, yet he still forced himself to stand tall.
Otto knew that Kevin had just learned of Dr. MEI's death.
But the man didn't know that Dr. MEI, before she died, had left SU with the Observer Project, to prevent Kevin from losing control in the future.
"The next time we meet will be tens of thousands of years from now, Hua," Kevin said with a grave expression.
Fu Hua nodded.
"Tens of thousands of years?"
"Mm," Kevin affirmed. "According to calculations, we MANTISes will awaken in about fifty thousand years."
"But no matter how long it takes, humanity will defeat the Honkai."
With that, Kevin walked into his own cryo-chamber.
Fu Hua watched his back and simply nodded.
Otto, standing to the side, was actually quite curious how Kevin's physique could be frozen and sent to the future. Unfortunately, this was another of Fu Hua's blind spots. Even if Otto entered the cryo-chamber with Kevin, he would only see a background texture.
Fu Hua said nothing, merely holding Otto's hand as the heavy alloy door slowly closed. In the decontamination area, she took off her clothes, leaving them behind in the cruel old world.
Outside the cryo-pod, the voice of the AI, Prometheus, echoed in her ears.
Prometheus recited the mission Dr. MEI had entrusted to Fu Hua. Upon awakening, she was to execute [Project Ark].
Each person had a different awakening time and mission, but they all believed in Dr. MEI, the person who had sacrificed everything to defeat the Honkai.
But, looking at the timer reflected on the cryo-pod, Fu Hua still had an hour to think about the past.
She turned the pages of her memory, thinking of her father, of the dojo back home, of the friends she had made in Sapphire. That had been the happiest time of her life.
She thought of her captain, and of the comrades she had fought alongside.
But... their faces were already blurry. Fu Hua couldn't remember them clearly.
And then, Fu Hua could think of nothing else.
In just a few minutes, she had sifted through all her past memories.
Fu Hua rested her head against the cryo-pod. A familiar face appeared in her mind.
"Otto... Big Brother."
She hadn't thought about her days with Otto just now, because "Otto" had always been with her. She had never forgotten him.
Fu Hua squeezed the imaginary hand.
When she was sad, when she was in pain, his embrace was always the harbor where she could pour out her heart.
And yet, even at the end of the world, she had never found the truth of Big Brother Otto's disappearance.
She raised her hand, entered a password on the cryo-pod's console, and then lay down inside.
The hatch slowly closed, and Fu Hua watched as the transparent glass separated her from the outside world.
"Fifty thousand years, huh..."
For some reason, Fu Hua remembered a joke from many, many years ago.
"Cryo-freeze beginning," Prometheus's voice announced.
Her consciousness began to fade, but Fu Hua smiled beautifully.
She left her final words in the old era.
"Alright. Fifty thousand years."
Otto stood outside the cryo-pod, watching as Fu Hua's eyes slowly closed, as she fell into a fifty-thousand-year slumber.
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers softly.
The world began to accelerate. Centuries passed in the blink of an eye. He had no intention of waiting here for fifty thousand years, so he had Rin speed up the illusion.
He could have had Rin jump directly to the part where Fu Hua woke up, but he didn't.
Otto watched the ever-changing world, his face devoid of expression.
Like a lofty god watching over the mortal realm.
Time flew.
The ravaged surface of the Earth gradually returned to normal. The ruins of the Previous Era were worn away by time.
The Herrscher of the End lay on the vast earth, unmoving. She stared with open eyes at the endless starry sky.
The Honkai energy belonging to the Herrscher of the End flowed out from her body, nourishing the land.
This was not a fragment of Fu Hua's memory.
This was a supplement provided to Otto by the Herrscher of Corruption.
The broken earth healed. Life was born anew. Countless lifeforms evolved, propagated, and flourished.
And humanity once again stood tall upon the land.
Otto watched the rebirth of all things with cold indifference.
Until fifty thousand years later, when the acceleration of time stopped.
Fu Hua awoke.
She staggered out of the cryo-pod.
After spanning fifty thousand years, the disorientation almost made her collapse.
And Otto reached out and gently took her hand.
The hand was cold.
Fu Hua steadied herself.
She looked at the hand that was being held. She saw only herself, gripping the air.
And then, a smile touched the corners of her lips.
"O..."
Her voice was hoarse.
"Otto... Big Brother, you've been here all along."
Fu Hua pressed a hand to her forehead. Her smile held a hint of helplessness, but also a sliver of relief.
She squeezed Otto's hand tightly, her body swaying as she looked at the words displayed on the cryo-pod.
[Project Ark]
Right, after waking up, she had to carry out the Project Ark that Dr. MEI had entrusted to her.
"Mm."
She hummed a soft affirmation.
Fu Hua walked towards the newborn world.
---o---