Starting from Chapter 33, i wouldn't be able to alter it manually due to my upcoming exam. But i will try to make it quality with idioms, pinyins. But i won't be able to change much. See ya:
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Despite his frail health, he could run surprisingly fast.
But he had no time to celebrate. He had already reached the site of the accident: the infirmary.
The floor was littered with wreckage. It was hard to tell whether the debris was from damaged buildings or twisted, charred human remains.
Around ten vibrant lives had been lost, all outstanding women, all outstanding logistics personnel.
The only survivor was a white-haired girl sitting amid the rubble, staring blankly at her hands.
Golden eyes radiated boundless authority. She grinned, and a battered halo appeared above her head.
Like an angel.
She wore a black combat uniform with gold accents, a crop top that accentuated her slender figure.
This was the uniform Cecilia used to wear.
Otto remembered that Kiana had worn this very outfit when she barged into his room that morning.
But now, ominous golden patterns adorned the uniform.
Otto had the feeling that the girl sitting there wasn't Kiana, who had smiled as she stabbed him, but some far more ancient entity.
Kiana's long white hair draped down her back, but golden light still shone through it from her back, illuminating the surroundings.
It was the golden light of destruction.
Otto stood frozen, not because he couldn't move, but because he couldn't bring himself to resist. The golden light paralyzed his will, making him feel like a mortal awaiting divine punishment.
"Oh ho." The Void Archives' voice shattered his immobility. "Though I don't know what's happening here, the situation is dire. If you don't want humanity to type 'GG' now, it's time to act, young Otto. Go create a miracle!"
*What's going on? Has it already come down to humanity's survival?*
Hearing the Void Archives' words, Otto felt utterly lost. He only knew that the situation was extremely critical.
"Void Archives, what do you mean?! What should I do?!"
Though he remained outwardly calm, Otto was screaming inwardly at the Void Archives. At heart, he was still just a teenager—not some Japanese high school hero destined to save the world.
"If I'm not mistaken..." Void Archives' solemn voice echoed in Otto's mind. Though she coveted his body, she didn't want to conquer him only to face a barren world. "She should be..."
Her words cut off abruptly.
A chill spread through Otto's body. Kiana, who had been sitting on the floor, turned to look at him.
Her golden eyes fixed on him, a sinister smile curling her lips.
"Are you two enjoying your little chat?"
Otto: *?!*
Void Archives: *?!*
Otto hadn't misheard. Kiana had said "you two," not "you."
At that moment, Kiana seemed to have discovered the mental conversation between Otto and Void Archives. Void Archives fell silent, whether feigning death or for some other reason.
*But what about me?* Otto thought. *If you're playing dead, Void Archives, I'm stuck alone now.*
Otto surveyed the charred infirmary. Not a single chair remained. Aside from himself and Kiana, there wasn't a third living soul in sight.
In the distance, Amber arrived with a group of Valkyries. Instinctively, Otto raised his right hand, signaling them to stay back.
Otto's hand moved instinctively, the gruesome corpses on the ground flashing through his mind.
*I can handle this myself. Even if I die, I can revive.*
The blankness on Otto's face was replaced by a faint smile. He gazed at the white-haired girl before him, as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
*How should I start?* Otto's thoughts raced. Finally, he said with a smile:
"Are you okay?"
The moment turned awkward.
But Kiana smiled back, not getting up. Instead, she raised her right hand and pressed her index finger to her temple.
"Of course I'm fine. I'm absolutely ecstatic."
She didn't actually dig at her temple, but as Otto listened to her calm words, he felt a chill run down his spine.
The girl before him was no longer the emotionally complex person he knew, but a monster.
No, a god would be more accurate.
"That's good," Otto said after a moment. He remained sitting on the dirty floor, uncaring about the filth or the fact that his clothes would be hard to wash later.
"What's got you so excited? Let me share in your excitement too," he added, sitting next to Kiana. He could see the golden patterns on her skin up close, radiating an ancient aura.
Not five hundred years, not five thousand, but a far more distant fifty thousand years.
Kiana didn't speak, just tilted her head and looked at Otto. He reached out and gently placed his hand on her back, pressing it beneath her long white hair.
Beneath his palm lay the Stigmata, glowing with an eerie light.
This was a Stigmata, incomplete and even broken.
Just like the broken halo above Kiana's head.
Otto knew what Stigmata were. After all, they were crucial to Schicksal, so he had studied them.
Stigmata were precious legacies from the Previous Era. In this era, future versions of himself had developed artificial Stigmata. Though their power couldn't compare to natural Stigmata, they had spurred the mass creation of Valkyries.
"What is this?" Otto asked softly. He didn't remember seeing this during their last encounter, but his intuition told him that this Stigmata was the cause of Kiana's strange state.
"This is..." Kiana's voice split into two, one filled with guilt, the other sounding like divine decree, as if two people were speaking simultaneously.
"Finale."
*Finale?!* Otto's heart skipped a beat. He never expected to hear that word. From his limited understanding, the Previous Era Civilization had been destroyed by the Herrscher of Finality.
*Could it be...?* Otto immediately formed a suspicion, and it blurted out:
"The Herrscher of Finality Stigma?!"
Otto understood now. Kiana before him wasn't just acting strange—she had become a ticking time bomb.
Though this was merely the Herrscher of Finality's Stigma, not the Herrscher itself, and its power couldn't compare to the Herrscher's, if he handled this poorly, it could still bring catastrophic destruction to humanity.
The weight on Otto's shoulders grew heavier. He suddenly realized a problem: did his future self know that Kiana possessed the Herrscher of Finality Stigma?
If his future self knew and still kept Kiana close, did that mean she was controllable?
Based on his future self's decision during the Second Eruption to kill Siegfried, he wouldn't have kept someone around if he couldn't control them.
"What's happening?" Otto asked, trying to remove his right hand from Kiana's back. But he suddenly discovered that the golden patterns had coiled around his hand like ropes, preventing him from moving it.
*This is bad. I'm trapped.*
Otto realized he could only keep his hand on Kiana's back. He tried to move it, but it wouldn't budge. Resigned, he decided to enjoy the smooth feel of her hair, since he couldn't resist.
"I miss my mom," Kiana said, looking down at her clothes. The outfit was a little big for her slender frame, unable to fully showcase its sensual charm.
Otto noticed this wasn't Kiana's usual attire. The loose fit suggested it might have belonged to her mother.
*If you miss your mom, why wear clothes like this?!*
*Shouldn't these be kept in a display case?*
*So missing her mom caused this? If the world's destruction hinges on a girl missing her mom, that's way too melodramatic.*
But then Otto realized there was an easy solution.
*Cecilia isn't actually dead!*
*There's no problem to solve, because the problem doesn't exist.*
He acted without hesitation. His future self had kept Cecilia's survival hidden from Kiana for over a decade, presumably for his own reasons, but what did that have to do with him?
*First, let's deal with the immediate situation.*
"Actually, Cecilia is still alive."
Otto said, "Cecilia is still alive," but Kiana only smiled.
"You're comforting me again. I'm not a child anymore."
Kiana had grown up, losing the innocence of her childhood. Due to her family circumstances, she had to mature faster than her peers.
"It's true," Otto insisted. He even considered taking Kiana to see Cecilia, still unconscious.
But Kiana turned slightly, forcing them into a face-to-face sitting position, with Otto's right arm still wrapped around her waist.
"I'm sorry," Kiana murmured, lowering her head.
*Sorry? What are you apologizing for?*
Otto followed her gaze downward, to her snow-white chest.
Because Kiana had been sitting sideways, he hadn't seen her chest clearly before. Now he noticed a green gem embedded in the center of her pale, full breasts.
It was the Gem of Desire.
"It attached itself to me," Kiana said, her voice heavy, like a child who had made a mistake.
Otto stared at the Gem of Desire on Kiana's chest, surrounded by golden veins.
If he was right, this gem was the reason Kiana looked like this.
He couldn't help but chuckle. He'd prepared a whole speech, planning to start with Cecilia, to reason with her and appeal to her emotions, hoping to soften the girl's heart and prevent her from going to extremes.
But he never expected that Kiana's mutation was caused by such a small Gem of Desire.
And judging by Kiana's attitude, she was like a cat that had knocked over the display cabinet, looking utterly innocent as she stared at Otto.
He'd worried so much for nothing!