For Otto to have taken a liking to the young man Leo Ash simply because of the abilities he had displayed...
That was obviously impossible.
Leo Ash's actions this time were indeed praiseworthy, but to Otto, who had lived for five hundred years, this action was only worth a single word of praise.
The great bishop who had commanded Schicksal for five hundred years, Otto, had seen far too many geniuses in those five centuries.
Over these five hundred years, these geniuses had, more or less, all contributed to the world.
However, some were too clever for their own good and discovered things they shouldn't have.
And for these geniuses, Otto had no choice but to ask them to leave the stage for the sake of his plan.
Otto indeed had a habit of letting young talents join the Apocalypse family.
But for Otto, Leo Ash's greatest value at this moment was that he was someone who 'could potentially come into contact with K423 and not die'.
In Otto's plan, he needed a perfect Herrscher of the Void who could overcome the agitation of the Herrscher Personality.
And based on the results of past actions, Otto judged that the current K423 was not yet sufficient to become such a Herrscher, one who could use the Herrscher's powers while maintaining her own personality.
Several years ago, the Ragna Assault Squad he had dispatched found the whereabouts of K423 and Siegfried.
And K423, who at that time had lived with Siegfried for many years and was treated as his own daughter, directly attacked everything around her after her Herrscher Personality was forced out.
The Ragna Assault Squad was wiped out, and the remains of Siegfried's severed arm were left at the scene.
Even Siegfried, who had been with her for so many years, met such an end. Otto naturally wouldn't believe that the resentment within Sirin had dissipated.
And now, according to the reactions of those previous agents, K423 was living well at Senba High School, and Leo Ash and Raiden Ryoma's daughter, Raiden Mei, had also come into contact with K423.
Now that the Third Eruption was approaching, if Nagazora City became a city of the dead due to the Third Eruption, then if K423 and Leo Ash were to meet in this land of death, it was highly likely that the suspension bridge effect would cause her to develop feelings for Leo Ash.
Although Siegfried was also an important person to K423, a father and a peer of the opposite sex were ultimately different.
If Otto's plan went smoothly, and K423 gained an important friend in Raiden Mei and a male she had feelings for in Leo Ash, then in the future...
—These two people would become the best nourishment for her growth.
In Otto's view, for a person's consciousness to suppress a Herrscher's consciousness, it ultimately relied on intense positive emotional fluctuations.
To put it simply, Otto believed in the emotion of 'love'.
Whether it was the love between friends or the love between lovers, it would become the finest nourishment for K423 to overcome the Herrscher Personality and master the power of the Herrscher.
Therefore...
"I hope you can survive this turmoil, Leo Ash."
Otto, who had already cut off communications, now wore a different expression.
He knew this was very unfair to his loyal subordinate, Rita. After all, using her cherished adoptive brother to do these things would certainly not make Rita happy.
But, so what?
Otto had betrayed comrades with shared ideals and abandoned everything to push his plan to this stage.
Now, it was impossible for him to stop the plan he had striven for over these hundreds of years because of a few insignificant factors.
Nagazora City. ME Corp
Inside ME Corp, Cocolia looked at the expressionless Bronya and let out a huge sigh of relief.
Just before, she had received a message from other staff members.
The staff who had been monitoring Nagazora City's surveillance systems reported that Bronya had summoned that Quantum Mech within the city.
Although Bronya had made the Quantum Mech conceal itself immediately, and the staff had erased this footage from Nagazora's surveillance system at the first opportunity, people in the vicinity had still seen it.
Cocolia knew that her daughter was a very capable fighter.
For her very capable daughter to be forced to bring out her mech clearly meant that she had encountered danger.
Although Cocolia had once made Bronya prepare to participate in the X-10 Experiment, this didn't mean she didn't care about her adopted daughter.
What made her feel even more uneasy was that although the surveillance system could see Bronya moving towards ME Corp, Bronya hadn't contacted Cocolia immediately.
For the incredibly calm Silver Wolf of the Urals to give up contacting headquarters after suffering a defeat, truthfully, this made Cocolia feel a bit anxious.
But now, after seeing her adopted daughter, Cocolia knew her worries were unnecessary.
Some minor injuries were visible on Bronya, but this was not a major issue for Anti-Entropy.
Anti-Entropy's research in biology was inferior to Schicksal's, but treating a few injuries was still well within their capabilities.
"Mother."
Upon seeing Cocolia, Bronya felt an inexplicable pang of guilt.
"I'm sorry, Bronya has failed this mission."
"No, that's not a big problem."
Having confirmed that Bronya was not seriously injured, Cocolia walked to Bronya's side, completely at ease.
"However, was this opponent so tough? Even you couldn't handle him?"
"That man..."
Thinking of Leo Ash's figure, Bronya paused for a moment, then shook her head.
"Bronya is not his match."
"At first, Bronya thought he was just a rookie, but after we fought, Bronya knew she was wrong."
"In less than a minute of fighting, Bronya was easily defeated by him."
"If Bronya hadn't seized the opportunity to jump from the tall building and escape the battlefield with Project Bunny, Bronya might not have made it back."
Listening to Bronya's account, Cocolia let out a cold snort and said in an icy tone.
"It doesn't matter. I will make that man pay the price later."
As for why Bronya didn't bombard him with Project Bunny, Cocolia didn't ask.
In her eyes, her daughter was very smart and knew that causing a scene with the mech at that time could have made the situation even more chaotic.
And choosing to retreat at that time didn't really have a major impact on Cocolia's side.
Schicksal already knew that Anti-Entropy was planning something here anyway. Bronya showing up only let Leo Ash know that he had been exposed, that's all.
In any case, Raiden Mei was about to awaken, and after that...
Heh, if that man could survive the Third Eruption, only then would Cocolia consider helping her daughter get revenge.
....