Otto was starting to have some fun.
He was in a leisurely mood, the gloom that had long weighed on his heart having vanished long ago. After all, even the Will of the Honkai had been briefly bested at his hands.
He wasn't in a hurry to see Mei or Kiana either.
He had just died a violent death right in front of Mei; how could he possibly go back to see her right away?
This was a rare, poignant life-and-death parting.
Otto needed to wait for the seeds he had planted to take root and sprout.
He had already succeeded at the most difficult part—dying. What reason did he have to be impatient during the subsequent waiting period?
As for Kiana, he would go see her after some time. Let the little girl miss him a bit more; that way, their reunion would be all the more valuable.
Schicksal had probably learned of his death from Mei. Setting aside those who knew the Overseer could be resurrected, like Amber and Fu Hua, he might even be able to lure out some of the restless moles and spies within Schicksal.
As for how to explain to Amber that he had revived without using the resurrection procedure back at headquarters, Otto had already thought of a solution.
He wouldn't explain.
Throughout his life, why should he, the Bishop, ever have to explain his actions to another?
Saying too much would only make people suspicious.
---o---
Meanwhile, in the Stigmata memory, the pink-haired elf pressed a finger to her lips, pondering Otto's proposal.
"What is it about me that you admire?"
Her face.
Her chest.
Her waist.
Her hips.
Her legs.
Of course, Otto would never answer like that.
"Your beauty," Otto replied with a smile.
"But when it comes to beauty, isn't Eden more beautiful than I am?"
Elysia suddenly clapped her hands together.
"Could it be because Eden is your future wife, and I am not?"
So that's why the god from the future desires me.
"No. That girl... met an end that belonged to her alone."
Otto wasn't just a spoiler-hound; he was also a riddler.
After the defeat in the battle against the Herrscher of Finality, Eden had survived, only to take her own life afterward.
As for Elysia, based on the plot Otto knew so far, she should have died before the final battle.
As if sensing something, Elysia fell silent, no longer discussing the topic.
Elysia looked at her reflection in the mirror.
The young girl possessed a light and moving beauty.
"If... I become your wife right now, can you help humanity defeat the Honkai?" she asked.
Before Otto could answer, Elysia spoke again.
"If I become your wife, can you help me..."
Her words came to an abrupt halt. A dull ache pulsed through Otto's mind, and his consciousness grew muddled. The sensation was not unfamiliar.
It meant the Stigmata memory had reached its end.
The movie was over; it was time for the audience to leave.
The scene before him twisted and warped. Otto could no longer hear any sounds, but Elysia's words still echoed in his mind.
Her first request was for humanity, for her comrades.
That second, unfinished request, must have been for herself.
What was she going to ask for at that moment?
There was no way to know now.
Otto didn't dwell on it. To him, the Stigmata memory was merely a diversion. Rather than focusing on the bones in a dusty tomb of the past, he ought to be thinking about how to stride into the future.
In any case, she was just a pink-haired elf who had already died in the past. He would never meet her again.
He couldn't say he had any particular feelings for her, either.
---o---
When he opened his eyes again, Otto found himself still seated upon the divine throne, surrounded by the same strange space.
"System, did taking a portion of the Will of the Honkai's authorities cause a problem with the Stigmata memory?" Otto asked as soon as he returned.
[This System is at the host's service at all times. May I ask what happened?]
"In Elysia's Stigmata memory, she was actually able to detect me and even talk to me."
"Is there something wrong somewhere?" Otto briefly explained the situation.
[...]
[Check complete. There is nothing wrong with you.]
There's nothing wrong with me?
Then... the problem is with Elysia?
This was exactly why he hated dealing with people of advanced age.
Every single one of them had their own secrets. Someone with a one-track mind like Fu Hua was much easier to coax and deceive.
Otto pressed a hand to his face and sighed with a touch of resignation.
"So, System, have you finished upgrading?" Otto asked, a bit annoyed. Although he had spent several days in the Stigmata memory, only a few hours should have passed in reality.
Then again, in this space, Otto couldn't distinguish the passage of time.
[Ding!]
[The OTTO System has officially been upgraded to the OTTO 1.0 System!]
The trial version had finally been upgraded to the official release.
Otto looked at the updated system panel. The previously frozen 'Missions' tab could now be opened.
[Daily Mission]
[Call any Valkyrie "wife" to her face. Mission Reward: 100 Crystals. Mission Status: Incomplete.]
The daily mission still seemed a bit ridiculous.
And the main missions...
[Main Mission (Must be completed within 180 days of activation, otherwise considered failed)]
[Capture one core member of Anti-Entropy or World Serpent. Mission Reward: Core design schematic for the second-generation Schicksal God-Mech. Failure Penalty: Technological breakthrough for Anti-Entropy's Titans.]
[Assassinate Cocolia. Mission Reward: A method to open the gate to the Sea of Quanta. Failure Penalty: Schicksal will randomly lose one Herrscher Gem.]
The first two main missions remained unchanged.
However, the third main mission, which Otto had already completed, had been updated.
[Seize the Second Divine Key, Cosmic Juggernaut. Mission Reward: A gift from the Previous Era. Failure Penalty: All data from Project Hengsha will be erased.]
Damn it!
Seeing this newly updated main mission, Otto gritted his teeth.
Why did he have to deal with the old fossils from the Previous Era again?
The master of the Second Divine Key, Cosmic Juggernaut, was the Previous Era MANTIS, SU. Project Hengsha was a plan Dr. MEI had tasked SU with, having him use Cosmic Juggernaut to observe parallel worlds and find a path to victory against the Honkai.
And that data was extremely precious.
Even the original Otto had benefited immensely after obtaining the data from Project Hengsha.
Losing this data would be a tremendous loss for humanity.
However, Otto had already been planning to go after Cosmic Juggernaut anyway. It was a very special Divine Key, and he needed it to help Bronya find Seele.
This just moved his original plan forward.
The mission panel didn't seem to have changed much else. Otto closed it and noticed a new option on the system panel.
[Honkai]
The name of the option was very direct.
It looked like a place for doing bad things.
After clicking on it, Otto saw several names listed inside.
[Herrscher of Reason] [Herrscher of Thunder] [Herrscher of Wind] [Herrscher of Flame] [Herrscher of Ice] [Herrscher of Binding]
The name under the [Herrscher of Reason] tab was Welt Yang, and the name under [Herrscher of Thunder] was Raiden Mei.
There were 14 Herrschers in total, and he had six of them. In the words of a Xuanhuan novel, he was probably something like a "Half-Step Will of the Honkai."
"How do I use this thing? Is there an instruction manual or a beginner's tutorial?"
"Or do I just fill in a name, and that person will become the corresponding Herrscher? What if their name is the same as someone else's?"
[Does the host require a beginner's guide?]
A beginner's guide?
Otto hesitated for a moment, worried the System was trying to trick him.
"What kind of guide?"
Otto was afraid the System would just drop a tutorial on how to control these Herrschers to destroy the world.
[Please select the name of a Herrscher.]
Otto chose Welt Yang. He had no choice; the only Herrschers under his control right now were Old Yang and Mei, and there was no way he would use Mei as a guinea pig.
Besides, if Old Yang ended up dying from his experimentation, Otto would just apologize to him. The position he vacated could then be conveniently filled by Bronya.
[After making a selection, you may convey words to the target.]
[These words possess a certain power. The host is encouraged to explore this on his own.]
[As for the deeper uses of this authority, the host is also encouraged to explore them independently.]
Convey words?
Oh, so it's like the whispers of the Will of the Honkai.
However, Otto was a little puzzled.
"But didn't the First Herrscher break free from the Will of the Honkai's control long ago?"
Ever since Joyce's generation, the First Herrscher had been beyond the Will's control. Their network cable had been unplugged long ago; the Will of the Honkai had no way to interfere with the Honkai's number one turncoat.
[Because the Will of the Honkai is a being that follows rules. You, however, do not need to.]
When the Will of the Honkai had its network cable unplugged, It didn't interfere, because It considered that one method of overcoming the Honkai.
But Otto didn't have to play by the rules. He could just weld the network cable directly onto his Herrschers' faces.
With a rough idea in mind, Otto looked at Welt Yang's name and tentatively spoke the first words of his new tenure.
"First Herrscher, have you gone to the bathroom today?"