Honkai: Strijder
Chapter 432: You've Messed Up Again, Idiot Otto
Wearing a flowing white robe embroidered with flame patterns symbolizing burning heat and purity, Fu Hua stood in front of Otto, who had his eyes closed. Her jade-like index finger rested lightly on his forehead, while golden and crimson light shimmered within her eyes.
A few minutes later, Fu Hua withdrew her finger, frowned, and shook her head.
"I didn't find any problems. If your consciousness and memories were really tampered with, then the other party's methods may be far beyond mine."
"No. From a practical standpoint, that's almost impossible. You should have more confidence, my old friend. It's possible the traces remained in the original consciousness, while the current me has already been copied many times as backup consciousness. Those traces probably weren't preserved."
Otto opened his eyes and spoke calmly, smiling at Fu Hua.
Then he turned to Su, who had also been called here.
"As another expert in the field of spiritual consciousness, Mr. Su, did you discover anything?"
"Just call me Su. Hua's abilities have already surpassed mine by quite a bit. If she couldn't find anything, then naturally I couldn't either."
"Is that so? I understand. It seems the problem really is quite serious."
Otto interlaced his fingers and moved them casually, appearing relaxed. Then he turned his gaze toward Sigurd across from him.
At that moment, Sigurd had just obtained access to Otto's secret database and was rapidly browsing the records related to Durandal.
"It's blank. Your records about Durandal's earlier history are also blank. So all these years, you never realized that Durandal's origin was a mystery?"
"You might not believe it, but I truly never noticed the issue. Doesn't it feel very similar? Just like how little Theresa and Siegfried once ignored the fact that the real Kiana Kaslana was still within Schicksal."
"You're saying it's that young lady again?"
"At the moment, she's the only one who might possess that kind of ability. She's the only existence even you and I can't fully comprehend. Other than her—even my dear old friend here—I don't believe anyone has the ability to do something like this to me."
Otto smiled and looked at Fu Hua.
Fu Hua nodded and said to both Otto and Sigurd:
"Indeed. Even with my current power, together with Senti, we still wouldn't be able to freely influence the thoughts and memories of a special existence like Otto. That's simply the truth."
Thus, the three of them fell into deep thought at the same time, contemplating the implications of the situation.
Just then, Su slowly raised one hand and asked somewhat awkwardly:
"Um… may I ask who exactly this 'young lady' you're talking about is? And… isn't Durandal supposed to be the so-called real Kiana Kaslana—the biological daughter of Siegfried and Cecilia? Back then, Otto, didn't you save that child's life and personally raise and train her to become what she is today?"
"!!!" ×3
Three pairs of eyes—each with varying degrees of emotional fluctuation but all filled with astonishment—turned simultaneously toward Su.
Su scratched his cheek, maintaining his usual gentle smile.
"Ahem. Is there something wrong with what I said?"
There was a very big problem—Su could clearly read that answer from the silence of the three.
After a moment of quiet, Sigurd crossed his legs again and asked:
"You… observed this part of history from outside the world?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"Then the credibility is quite high. Observing history in the Sea of Quanta with the Cosmic Juggernaut' vessel—it's hard to imagine any force that could deceive you. Let me confirm something: you don't know about that young lady? Vira's adoptive sister, Otto's collaborator, the one we once believed to be the real Kiana Kaslana, the person who half a year ago during the Schicksal headquarters incident took Siegfried, Theresa, and my Kiana into outer space—you didn't observe her existence at all?"
Sigurd pressed further, his expression more serious than usual.
Su fell into thought at the questioning. After a moment of contemplation, he shook his head.
"I truly never observed such a person. However, my observations aren't so detailed that I capture every single event. For example, the incident at Schicksal headquarters you mentioned—I only looked at the general situation. I didn't fully grasp all the details, nor did I notice the 'young lady' you described. Perhaps… she just happened to appear during the gaps in my observations…"
Su's voice gradually grew quieter. Clearly, he himself had realized how unreasonable it would be to repeatedly miss such a presence.
And if it were truly a figure as influential as Sigurd described, the probability of him overlooking her during observation would be even smaller.
Sigurd shook his head and touched a golden-thread sphere hanging at his waist—the crystallized power of that young lady, given to him by Vira. From it he extracted a cluster of golden light and handed it to Su.
"This is that young lady's power. I only obtained it after we returned to the real world, so it wasn't within your observation. I want you to use it to locate the imaginary-space coordinates of that young lady. Can you do it?"
"This… I can only say I'll do my best."
"That's fine. Just try your best. I have other approaches as well—we'll find a way eventually."
"Also, there's something else I'm afraid I must tell you."
"Go ahead."
"In my observations, there is another existence I cannot see at all. It is originally the representative of the Honkai, so the Cosmic Juggernaut' Vessel, which was built using Herrscher cores, has no ability to observe it. You should know what I'm referring to."
As Su spoke, he took the golden light from Sigurd's hand. Feeling the incomparably pure energy within it, he opened his dark red eyes, his expression becoming solemn.
"The Herrscher of the End…"
Fu Hua murmured, voicing the existence Su had not explicitly named. Her mood instantly became heavy.
After that, the two MANTIS soldiers fell silent, leaving space for the other two—who were better at analysis and reasoning—to think.
After a moment of contemplation, Sigurd and Otto began to speak.
Otto raised three fingers.
"Three hypotheses."
"First: assume Durandal is the real Kiana Kaslana."
"Second: assume the young lady is the one who altered our memories and thoughts."
"Third: assume the young lady is the Herrscher of the End."
"Then several questions arise. Where did this young lady come from? What is her relationship with Kiana Kaslana? What is the purpose of her actions? What does she want to do in this era? And the most important question of all—"
"Is she an enemy or an ally?"
Otto had proposed three assumptions, each of which had a significant probability of being true. When connected together, the truth about the young lady became extremely unsettling.
Sigurd lightly tapped the armrest with his index finger, stroking his chin as he calmly replied:
"From Vira and Kiana's descriptions, the young lady herself also claims to be Kiana Kaslana. Either that's a lie, or… there's a problem with time. Perhaps she comes from another timeline?"
"I'm more inclined toward the latter. But it's only intuition, the possibility of deception cannot be ruled out."
Otto also stroked his chin. His eyes were deep and distant, a hint of helplessness appearing on his face.
There was simply too little information. And he had noticed the issue far too late. At this point, too many things could only be guessed at—there was no concrete evidence.
While continuing to think, Sigurd went on:
"As for interfering with the consciousness of the three of you—toward you, it might have been to stop you from digging too deeply into her secrets. As for Theresa and Siegfried… perhaps she was protecting them, preventing them from coming into conflict with you. And erasing Durandal's past entirely might have been done so she could accept your training and grow to the height she was meant to reach."
"You're analyzing it from a friendly perspective. But remember, it could also be a conspiracy we haven't yet seen through. The information she interfered with is directly related to the friendship between you and me. If something were to go wrong—if the two of us were to fall out—it would be a disaster for the entire civilization."
"You're right. Caution is necessary. As for the final question—her purpose and stance—I think speculation without any foundation is meaningless. I propose that we should find her and have a conversation."
As he spoke, Sigurd waved his hand, manifesting a tea set and pouring Otto a cup of black tea.
Otto sipped the tea, rubbing his temple as if he had a headache, then sighed deeply.
"My friend, you're right. It seems we've reached another agreement."
"Actually, the main problem is still you."
"…Why?"
"Because you always acted as if everything was under control. That made me think the situation wasn't serious and that when the time came, I could simply learn her secrets through you. If not for that, I would have investigated forcefully long ago—and we wouldn't only now be discovering the problem. You've messed up again, idiot Otto!"
Sigurd stared at Otto coldly, expressing his dissatisfaction.
It was precisely because Otto had always given the impression that the young lady was within his control that the issue had only been exposed now, making the situation far more troublesome.
Otto rubbed his nose, sipping tea before replying in a somewhat aggrieved tone:
"But my memories and thoughts were tampered with, can you really blame me for that?"
"Hmph!"
Sigurd snorted coldly and simply dismissed the tea set.
Otto scratched his cheek and smiled ingratiatingly, trying to soothe his friend's anger.
The two MANTIS soldiers who had been ignored exchanged glances and both smiled.
At the same time, they silently understood each other's resolve.
If that truly was the Herrscher of the End of this era, then their lives… would finally have their purpose.
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