Emerald eyes widened as a sudden chill shot up his spine.
Danger!
Lightning blotted out the sky and the sun, threatening to swallow Otto whole.
Jump plus Attack button—Lightning Reversal!
But it was absolutely useless.
There was no Sword Saint here to parry the blade for him, and the existence before him was nothing like Genichiro, whose lightning could be easily reversed.
The Seven Thunders of Retribution appeared in Otto's hands. He raised the divine weapon with both hands to block the strike that carried the scent of destruction, but the overwhelming force crushed down upon him.
Otto's left hand twisted grotesquely. The Seven Thunders of Retribution was knocked from his grip and sent flying, while his body was blasted backward.
His left hand, composed of Soul Steel, no longer looked human; it resembled a freshly fried dough twist—one that had been slathered in ketchup.
But the Will of the Honkai's gaze remained calm. Its body vanished from its original spot and instantly reappeared above Otto. It reached out with its right hand, and a sudden, violent gravitational force dragged Otto's body up toward its palm, while its left hand brought the lightning down once more.
It said nothing. Its only purpose was to kill the anomaly that did not belong in this world. Nothing more.
As the lethal lightning slashed down toward his head, Otto stared at the approaching blade of light, his eyes nearly splitting with strain.
Move!
My body!
The Cecilia Stigmata on his body flashed wildly. A surge of power transferred into Otto, allowing him to struggle just enough against the attraction force to twist his body in mid-air.
The lightning slashed into Otto's left shoulder. It was destruction incarnate; Otto's entire left arm disintegrated within the thunderous glare.
Even Soul Steel could not withstand such berserk lightning.
"F*ck."
Otto landed wretchedly on the ground. Although his left arm had been sliced clean off, no blood gushed from the wound—after all, his entire body was made of Soul Steel.
The pain receptors had been cut off, but compared to the physical pressure, the mental pressure was suffocating him.
"I have to hold out for three minutes...?"
Facing the Will of the Honkai alone, Otto felt a trace of despair.
This was not an opponent a human could fight.
Even if he called upon Durandal and the others, they would be powerless against an existence of this magnitude during these despairing three minutes.
The Will of the Honkai floated in mid-air, looking down at Otto. Its long, tea-purple hair flowed behind it, resembling a pitch-black feathered robe draped over its form.
It raised its right hand.
Otto felt the ground tremble. He looked around in horror as a small portion of Nagazora City began to crack and crumble.
Asphalt roads, vehicles, streetlights, glass, buildings—everything shattered like foam. All matter surged toward the front of the Will of the Honkai, converging into a massive sphere.
And Otto felt a powerful suction force pulling at his own body.
Otto gritted his teeth and stomped down hard. His shoes burst apart as his feet sank deep into the earth, yet even this could not stop the suction.
It was as if two poles of a magnet were attracting each other.
After the three-minute Ultraman timer and the Milky-Scented Slash, is it now time for Planetary Devastation (Chibaku Tensei)?
Bastard! This isn't a crossover fanfic!
Otto knew that once he was sucked in, everything would be over. It would be impossible to break free from inside; he would completely lose his ability to move and then be crushed to dust.
Actually, Otto had a way to escape this situation, but he was unwilling to waste his one and only chance like this.
He hadn't completely lost yet.
The massive sphere condensed in the sky, blocking out the sun and casting Otto entirely in shadow.
Otto looked up at the sphere in the sky. The suction force was becoming increasingly terrifying. Obscured by the sphere, Otto could no longer see the Will of the Honkai.
The ground shattered as Otto's remaining arm formed a fist and punched into the earth, carving a path deeper underground.
He needed to drill deeper. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to resist the strengthening suction or the power of the sphere if it was smashed directly down upon him.
The Will of the Honkai didn't want to create a second moon; It just wanted to kill him.
If he wanted to turn the tables, he had to touch the Will of the Honkai.
But in this situation, the Will of the Honkai would never let him get close, as It had surely noticed his previous attempts to make physical contact.
Otto could not breach the electromagnetic field surrounding the Will of the Honkai.
Crazy thoughts flashed through his mind. Before the Will of the Honkai had even descended, Otto had formulated a desperate, burn-the-boats plan.
He just hadn't expected that he would have to use it so soon, before he even had a chance to properly maneuver against It.
But no matter how deep Otto tried to flee into the earth, the terrifying suction latched onto him, eventually ripping him forcefully out of the ground.
Losing his balance, Otto was dragged toward the sphere in the sky. The Cecilia Stigmata flashed frantically. Otto clenched his fist; he wanted to shatter the entire sphere.
However, in the next instant, a pair of indifferent eyes appeared before him.
The Will of the Honkai had materialized right in front of Otto.
Otto, whose vision had been blocked by the massive sphere, hadn't been able to detect Its position. He hadn't noticed how It had approached at all.
The Will of the Honkai did not speak.
It simply gazed blandly at Otto.
In Its left hand, a lightning blade formed from the Gem of Conquest stabbed into Otto's abdomen. Thunder flashed. The Will of the Honkai swept its hand horizontally, using the abdomen as the dividing line, and sliced Otto's lower body cleanly off.
Lightning swallowed Otto's lower half, disintegrating it into atoms that could never reassemble.
It was over.
The Will of the Honkai looked at Otto. The lightning blade pierced through Otto's chest once more. Otto's eyes lost their focus. Unstoppable electromagnetic force invaded his body, and his Soul Steel form began to break down.
Lightning overflowed. In just a few blinks of an eye, the BUG of this world would completely dissipate.
Otto died.
With the death of the 'Cheater,' the discipline of the examination hall was maintained.
Everything would return to the right track.
The Will of the Honkai slightly loosened its grip on the lightning blade.
Otto was dead; It had no reason to continue its actions.
But then, the Will of the Honkai sensed something wrong.
The Otto before It should have had no life left.
So why were the corners of his mouth curling up?
"I..."
A voice rang out.
Emerald eyes revealed a trace of madness.
Otto stared at the face that was inches away from his own.
Reduced to only an upper body, he used his single remaining arm to pull the maiden before him into an embrace.
"Caught you..."
His gaze was ferocious.
Otto had used his own life as bait, solely to touch the Will of the Honkai—who otherwise had no need to move—in the split second before death completely descended.
He was gambling that his destiny did not end here.
And the result was... his destiny did not end here.
"Damn System!!!!"
He felt his body disintegrating. Perhaps in the next instant, he would disappear forever.
[Host, I am here.]
The System responded, still using the Bronya voice pack.
[Please leave the rest to me. You may proceed to usurp the authority of God.]
The System's voice came to an abrupt halt.
Because Otto could no longer hear anything.
When he came to his senses, he was standing in a pure white world.
Above, below, everything around him was white.
The pure white world stripped away his perception of space. Being in it made him feel as if his very brain was turning blank.
Where is this?
Otto lowered his head in confusion and found that his body was completely intact.
He was wearing his white and gold Overseer uniform.
How strange.
Suddenly, he felt the sensation of being watched.
He pressed his right hand to his chest. His heart was beating—a long-lost sensation.
He snapped his head up and looked forward.
In the pure white space of nothingness, a being composed entirely of whiteness stood there.
It was Him, gazing at Otto.
And Otto was gazing at Him.
Although everything about Him was pure white, Otto could see that His face was exactly the same as his own.
This was not, of course, because He shared any blood relation with Otto.
Rather, whoever entered this space of nothingness, He would take on that person's appearance.
But seeing "himself" standing in front of him was truly a strange feeling.
Otto did not smile. Instead, he placed his left hand behind his back, like a gentleman.
The human and the existence that transcended humanity stared at each other.
Thirteen years ago, a man had come here as well. At that time, the man treated Him as an omniscient and omnipotent God, kneeling and kowtowing, begging for a way to resurrect a certain girl.
But, seventeen years later, that man saw through the existence before him.
He was not omniscient, nor was he omnipotent. He merely knew a little more than humans did.
When the man who had seized the Core of the Herrscher of Domination came to this space again, facing the existence that transcended humanity once more, he was neither humble nor arrogant.
Just like the current Otto.
Otto and the Will of the Honkai locked eyes, and silence descended upon the space.
The first one to speak was the human.
"Respected Will of the Honkai, may I ask if this place is a public toilet?"
"It's so easy to get in."
His tone was respectful, but his words held not a shred of reverence for the divine.