harleyscars Page 257
Page 257
The blonde girl smiled and gradually 'melted,' replaced by a mature and handsome face—a kind of hypocritical and pretentious temperament that concealed the gloom and glamour in her bones, making her look so glamorous.
“Hehe, nice to meet you, K423... Hmm, I think it would be more appropriate to call you 'Kiana' now?” Otto said, resting his chin on his hand, scrutinizing the former, and shaking his head: “We should be about the same... But no matter how I look at you, you look just like the real thing.”
Otto had been observing Kiana's growth for his own purposes. Of course, because he had left her to her own devices, his observations weren't very clear. However, his intuition told him that the 'Kiana' in front of him should be a monster disguised as himself, just like the one who was using the alias 'Susana'. But whether from the perspective of vision, demeanor, or even the analysis system built into the Soul Steel, the 'Kiana' in front of him was undoubtedly the 'k423' that he had created.
"Do you care about this kind of thing?"
"Ha, sorry, I was just curious." Otto shook his head with a smile.
In fact, this was not a concern for him. For Otto Apocalypse, there was only one thing he truly cared about—returning the saint who was 'not meant to die'.
Everything else is merely a derivative of achieving this goal.
"I have no interest in satisfying your curiosity."
The girl's tone was indifferent—admittedly, she respected the man's certain obsessions and acknowledged some of his achievements, but in reality, they were 'enemies' who needed no reason to deny their relationship.
This is especially true for this body; just by having this body stand next to the other person, one can feel Kiana's anger towards the man before her.
"You have achieved your goal."
Jiang Qiao knew perfectly well that the man in front of her was definitely behind the collapse that occurred in London; otherwise, Dr. Machi, who was in Austria, would not have been driven to the British Isles.
It should be noted that Europe is the main sphere of influence of Schicksal. If Otto is willing, then before Kevin returns, even the World Serpent cannot compete with Schicksal in this region.
Dr. Maki's defection must have been a consensus reached between the man before us and the World Serpent.
The World Serpent needs the Tranquility Gem and a densely populated, suitable city to experiment with the Stigmata Project.
The man before them, Otto Apocalypse—he did all this for one purpose only, and that was... to force out 'Kiana'.
In order to achieve his 'selfish' goal, Otto will inevitably need the assistance of a 'human herald'.
Joyce could have met his needs, but unfortunately, they were not on the same page.
Unable to achieve his long-cherished wish with the help of the Herrscher of Reason, Otto turned his attention to Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void who possessed six cores during the Second Honkai Impact.
The Second Herrscher Resurrection Experiment was born out of this—all of this was solely for the purpose of finding a Herrscher with human will.
Furthermore, she must be the Herrscher of the Void.
Only the Herrscher of the Void can fulfill Otto's schemes to 'save' the saintess.
Through the plot, Jiang Qiao clearly understood the man's journey—after the Second Honkai Impact, he pinned all his hopes on the resurrection of the Herrschers, all for the sake of making 'k423' the Herrscher of the Void, embodying the will of humanity. Once he mastered it, he could use it to do what Krosten did later—project the past from five hundred years ago into the present.
What Thousand Realms One Vehicle can do, the Herrscher of the Void, as its source material, certainly cannot be unable to do.
However, during this process, Otto unexpectedly obtained the Thousand Realms Vehicle. The appearance of the Thousand Realms Vehicle and the data it contained further confirmed the feasibility of Otto's original plan, and also made the man more determined about the plan.
He no longer needs the Herrscher of the Void to help him complete the work of 'projecting' from 500 years ago.
However, the subsequent plans still require a real, living Herrscher of the Void to complete.
In this respect, whether it was Otto's plan to sacrifice an entire era or his later plan to create a false god, the existence of the Herrscher of the Void was a necessary condition for the plan to succeed.
And now, this necessary condition has been officially met!
Otto stared at Kiana with intense intensity—as if he could see the end of a five-hundred-year-old dream.
The Herrscher of the Void, possessing the power of a human Herrscher, has not only been born, but has also surpassed all previous Herrschers in terms of maturity.
"Miss Kiana, as the Archbishop of Schicksal, I sincerely invite you to join Schicksal."
Ignoring the cold attitude, Otto smiled and explained his purpose.
Although for Otto, as long as the Herrscher of the Void exists, it doesn't matter whether she is his enemy or not—he isn't even worried that she will turn against him in advance, because as the Bishop of Schicksal, he is of absolute importance to this world.
Once he starts causing trouble, Schicksal, as the first line of defense against the Honkai, will be in trouble.
Therefore, if one is concerned about the overall situation, it is impossible to overturn the table with Otto in advance—the right to overturn the table is entirely in this man's hands, and even Kevin has some headaches about this.
Otto has not yet verified the feasibility of the Thousand Realms One Journey plan, and he does indeed have a certain need for the Herrscher of the Void.
Therefore, he can offer his absolute sincerity.
“If you agree, Destiny will forgive your sins and those of your father, and compensate you for all the losses you have suffered over the years. At the same time, Destiny will also immediately cease its measures against Anti-Entropy.”
"And all you need to do is assist Destiny in carrying out some small 'experiments' at certain times."
As he spoke, Otto extended a hand—"Hold this hand, and you'll be my friend, Otto's friend!"
In his view, with such generous terms, the girl in front of him had no reason to refuse.
At least from a rational point of view, there is no harm in it.
Schicksal is undoubtedly a righteous organization, and joining Schicksal is to contribute to the fight against the Honkai.
Life will get better without the manhunt from fate.
From the perspective of anti-entropy—although things have improved recently, the days of hiding and running away under the suppression of destiny are really unbearable. If it can end and we can join hands to fight against the Honkai, it would be a good thing for humanity.
As for the most crucial grudge, to be honest, at least for now, Otto doesn't think he has any deep-seated hatred for Kiana... As for Cecilia—she died in the line of duty as an S-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal, what does that have to do with me, Otto? Even if you lost your mother, don't you still have your father?
To put it in a more unconventional way—for the products of the K-series experiments, Otto can be called a 'mother'.
Cecilia is the one with whom there is little connection, so you could say—I did kill Cecilia, but can't I also be the one to act as your mother?
To this-
"I reject."
"What did you say?"
Otto blinked. He didn't think the girl had any reason to refuse his invitation; in fact, it wouldn't do her any harm.
"Regretfully, I refuse."
"...Why?"
"My favorite thing is saying 'No' to those arrogant guys!"
Are you kidding me? Being Otto's friend is as dangerous as riding in a convertible with Kennedy.
certainly--
In a more practical sense, Jiang Qiao's reasoning might be simpler.
That is-
"I don't trust you, Otto."
No matter how eloquently Otto spoke or how tempting his promises were, Jiang Qiao would not give this man even the slightest bit of trust.
His will is admirable, his emotions are worthy of praise, but his reputation... is not worth mentioning!
"Oh dear... if you put it that way, I'm really quite sad. I've always believed my reputation is pretty solid." Otto seemed to have figured out the situation, and a slightly troubled and regretful expression appeared on his face.
"Do you really believe such a thing yourself? Or do you think that your actions so far have earned you the trust of others?"
The girl's cold voice struck Otto's heart like a wooden hammer.
The latter gave a slightly helpless smile—
"Okay, I admit it—I did miscalculate a few things. You seem to know me surprisingly well."
Without a doubt, the man named Otto Apocalypse was an absolute villain. He toyed with other people's feelings without remorse, betrayed his like-minded comrades, and stole and usurped the fruits of their blood and tears.
Even Otto himself wouldn't deny this.
As for being trustworthy—although Otto often says his reputation is quite good.
As Jiang Qiao said, even Otto himself didn't believe this statement.
If necessary, this man would even betray himself.
And in this world, besides the saint Karen, who else would believe in such a villain?
"It's a real shame that you made the same choice as that First Herrscher."
The blond man sighed, the gloom in his eyes turning into ruthlessness—the air seemed to freeze for a moment.
Flames of fiery red feathers fell from the sky, and in his hand, a dark gold pistol burst into flames.
'Boom~'
A sharp, piercing sound filled the air; it wasn't the sound of air being torn apart, but rather a shriek that seemed to tear through space itself.
"Yu Duchen...?!"
Otto instantly realized what was happening, somewhat surprised, and instinctively dodged. But in the next instant, he was pierced by six Void Spears. With a crisp snap of his fingers, the six Void Spears that bound his Soul Steel body turned into ribbons that wrapped around him, pressed him down in an instant, and then 'crushed' him.
Kiana slowly lowered her fair hand, remaining calm as ever, and shook her head.
"A pointless test."
Even if negotiations break down, he still wants to take the opportunity to test his 'strength' with a body. That cunning old man is really shrewd.
The Herrscher's crown robes gradually faded, revealing his original relaxed vacation attire. He raised his hand to put a straw-woven sun hat on his hair and slowly walked in a certain direction.
—For Durandal, this trip to London was far from pleasant. It started off well, like a normal vacation, but she was taken away by the police for disturbing the peace while just wandering the streets. Fortunately, since Britain is within Schicksal's sphere of influence, Durandal was able to use her identity as the Valkyrie of Schicksal to quickly end the interrogation.
She had planned to wander around London after she got out, hoping to run into the girl she had met before, but as soon as she left the police station, a major collapse occurred in London.
Well, her vacation was abruptly cut short, and she was immediately put back on duty... But what really bothered her was that she clearly sensed a very dangerous Honkai energy reaction in a certain direction. According to Schicksal's usual practice, it would definitely be an S-rank Valkyrie like herself who would handle the situation. However, the Bishop directly ordered her to go and oversee the retrieval of the second Divine Key, Thousand Worlds, which had appeared in the middle of the Thames.
Although she had no idea what was going on, as the Valkyrie of Destiny, she could only obey orders.