"Forget it, let Theresa handle it as usual. As long as K423 and her two little partners don't fall into Anti-Entropy's hands, that's enough."
"Lord Overseer, is that really okay?"
Amber couldn't help but raise a question.
Although Otto never shared the details of his plans with anyone, Amber, as his secretary, naturally knew more than others. That was why she had doubts now.
"Of course it's fine. From the events involving the Herrscher of the Void and the Herrscher of Thunder, it's already clear that as long as a Herrscher has strong enough bonds with others, human will can ultimately overcome the will of the Honkai."
"Before K423 awakens as the second Herrscher of the Void, I must ensure she builds strong bonds with her companions, so that after awakening, she can overcome the will of the Honkai."
"And since bonds need to be cultivated, hehe, there's no better place than the St. Freya Academy Theresa founded. Not only can K423 grow stronger there, it's also a perfect place for them to play house."
"I must thank my dear granddaughter Theresa for this. After all, the style of the Schicksal organization is too rigid and serious—it's far from warm."
Otto picked up a glass of red wine again, swirling the liquid within, his eyes full of deep calculation.
As for how to snatch Kiana away from St. Freya Academy when the time comes, Otto wasn't worried at all. He had plenty of cards to play.
Even though St. Freya Academy was stronger than in the original plotline...
It was still only to that extent.
"St. Freya Academy only has a mere 20 or so A-rank Valkyries. If I get a few old friends who still owe me favors to step in, there's no way anything could go wrong."
Although still heavily weakened, Fu Hua wasn't injured during the Second Eruption.
While her strength had continued to decline over the years, just 20 or so A-rank Valkyries weren't enough to stop the Immortal Phoenix at all.
And besides Fu Hua, over the years Otto had found two new S-rank Valkyries. Even if he had to take Kiana by force when the time came, he was confident he could do it!
Schicksal was still the strongest of the three organizations.
Even without considering combat strength, this remained true.
After all, the most terrifying thing about Otto Apocalypse had always been his intellect. This had been vividly displayed during the Second Eruption.
To him, power was merely decoration—his terrifying mastery over human nature was what made him truly dangerous.
"K423, don't let me down. But don't worry, my expectations aren't too high. As long as... you can match even half of what the original Herrscher of the Void was, I believe that will be enough for you to overcome the Herrscher persona."
After giving some more instructions, Otto waved his hand, signaling for Amber to leave.
Then he shut off the virtual projection in front of him and switched the screen to the game interface of Kallen Fantasy IV.
Otto: "Alright, Amber, no disturbances for the next two days. I refuse to believe I can't grind this score higher!"
Amber: "...As long as you're enjoying yourself."
...
Within Nagazora City—
"Done. I believe this score will keep that bastard Otto busy for a couple of days. Tsk tsk, and I only used 80% of my strength."
Elias effortlessly raised his game score by another tier, grinning mischievously to himself.
(Once Otto spends two full days finally beating my score, I'll immediately surpass him again. Heh, next time I'll change to an ID that'll really piss him off.)
Thinking this, he glanced at his current ID again, and Elias immediately showed a satisfied smile.
Otto isn't the only one who can read people's hearts. Captain Elias knows this very well—this single-minded Kallen fan is always especially obsessive when it comes to anything related to Kallen.
Even though he knows it's pointless, Otto won't ban his account again. After all, fighting for the top of the leaderboard is meaningless to begin with.
No matter how high he scores, Kallen Kaslana won't be resurrected because of it.
It's just the stubbornness of a fool.
"Too bad that guy's body is made of soulium, so he can't die of exhaustion. Otherwise, I'd wish him an early death by overgrinding!"
As they say in Honkai Impact 3rd, the best Otto Apocalypse is a dead Otto Apocalypse.
But to be fair, for his unwavering love toward Kallen Kaslana lasting over 500 years, he does deserve the title of Pure Love War God.
When the day comes for him to finish Thus Spoke Apocalypse, Elias wouldn't mind bringing a bottle of red wine to visit his grave. But! The empty bottle has to be saved—just in case he comes back from the dead, it can be used to smack him back down!
And honestly, Elias was a little jealous.
He also wanted to be a Pure Love War God!
He wanted to wield that Pure Love/Cleaver of Shamash!
He wanted to encounter a girl he could love so deeply—a passionate, spectacular romance that even after 500 years—no, even 50,000 years—would never fade!
Unfortunately, there were too many candidates.
He really couldn't make up his mind!
(Sigh~ If I had to choose, who should it be? Elysia? Lunar Vow: Crimson Love Theresa? Durandal? Mei? Or maybe go bold—Mobius? Or... Griseo? Hiss hiss hiss, the last one's way too criminal... Uh, the latest version seems to be grown-up now—then I'm not interested. Tsk! Guess I'll take them all!)
Even though he hadn't drawn a chance to travel through time yet, it didn't stop him from fantasizing a bit.
However, just as Elias was immersed in his daydreams—
[Ding!]
"What the hell, what was that sound?"
[Dear Host, a new system mode has been unlocked.]
"...Tch, that's it? You startled me."
Elias looked at the system interface with grievance.
He had just been fantasizing about walking down the aisle with a pink elf in a wedding dress, singing a duet with Eden, confessing sins with Aponia, going to an amusement park with Luna, playing games with Big Duck... only to be interrupted.
So now, he was in a foul mood.
[Your imagination is truly strong, that was just a few seconds...]
"Hmph, just tell me—what's this new mode?"
[Yes, dear Host. You can now designate a target for time travel. As long as a character has established a favorable impression with you, you can travel to her past. Although this mode doesn't allow for keyword selection and has a time limit, you can still earn rewards afterward.]
"Oh? That's kind of interesting. So which characters can I travel to right now? Kiana and Mei for sure, but are there others?"
[Bronya Zaychik, whom you met today, is also within the travel range. Note: While characters like Sirin have sufficient bonds, since you haven't met them in this timeline yet, they can't be selected.]
"Mm, I see, understood."
Elias nodded while rubbing his chin. Now that he understood the mechanics of the new mode, it basically meant the randomness was greatly reduced, giving him more freedom in choosing his targets.
To be fair, the difficulty of the original time travel to the 'Second Eruption' timeline was just too high.
The fact that Elias managed to clear it in one go with a perfect ending where everyone survived was already a miracle. But now, he could finally choose a dungeon that matched his current strength.
"Tomorrow I need to completely resolve the issue of Mei's Herrscher transformation. Although I'm not weak right now, if I could become stronger, the success rate of the plan would be even higher."
"Then there's no time to waste. Let's pick one to try. At the moment, only the original trio is available. From a reward perspective... hmm, Bronya is the most suitable."
After thinking it through for a while, Elias chose to travel into Bronya's past. After all, if he picked Kiana or Mei, he could pretty much guess how things would turn out.
The former would most likely be a world-traveling adventure with the paramecium, and as for the latter... he'd probably just end up being a classmate, or at best, a childhood friend who grew up with her.
Actually, aside from those reasons, there was another major one—Bronya's past was arguably the most tragic among the original trio, and Elias wanted to change that!
"System, I choose to travel to Bronya's past. Let's go."
[Selection confirmed. Note! Due to special circumstances involving Bronya Zaychik, this time travel will also be bound to the past of an additional character. Please be aware, dear Host.]
"Huh? Damn system, what kind of nonsense are you pulling now?!" Elias was shocked.
[System prompt: Secondary character confirmed—Seele Vollerei.]
"Nice! That's what I'm talking about! Good job, my system! A buy-one-get-one deal, huh?!" Elias was overjoyed.
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