Facing Otto?'s explanation—
Looking at that all-too-familiar, unmistakable blind devotion to Kallen—
Tesla practically bristled on reflex!
"And then you cleverly used all of that, turning them into stepping stones for your succession to the Overseer's seat?!"
"…Why would you approach it from that angle?"
"Huh? Just looking at that face of yours makes it feel like something you'd definitely do, doesn't it?"
Tesla still had her fists clenched tightly,
Her eyes locked onto that face identical to Otto's,
Her mind flooded with memories of the past.
"It was with that very face that you framed the inventor of the Moonlight Throne,逼死了 Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, and murdered the First Herrscher who fought for humanity!"
"It was with that very face that you played God knows what elaborate schemes—blocking the First Herrscher's successor, letting the Second Herrscher escape, and ultimately causing countless innocent civilians to die!"
"Calm down, Dr. Tesla! The person you're accusing has no direct connection to the one standing in front of you."
Theresa stepped in, stopping the emotionally charged Tesla.
And the latter, having vented some of her anger,
Gradually regained her composure amid heavy breaths.
"…Tch. You're right. You're you. He's him."
"He's a despicable, shameless villain beyond redemption—but that doesn't mean you must be the same."
"I shouldn't judge by appearances. But I do want you to understand this—within our understanding, the man named Otto Apocalypse carries countless labels… and 'good person' isn't one of them."
[Tesla: This… future me is really good with words?!]
[March 7th: Full emotional output!]
[Kiana: But… this Otto feels really innocent…]
[Honkai·Himeko: Logically speaking, they really aren't the same Otto.]
[Furina: To him, it's like being scolded out of nowhere, without even knowing why.]
But what no one expected was this—
In the footage,
After hearing Tesla's furious accusations and baseless condemnation,
Even though he knew none of it truly had anything to do with him,
Even though he was, in every sense, innocent—
Otto?'s face showed not a trace of anger.
Instead, he fell into deep thought, then looked up and spoke with solemn sincerity.
"Thank you. Your words have helped me confront myself, Doctor—from the future."
"There truly is a void deep within my heart, one that even time itself cannot fill."
"The more I chase after the Saint's light, the more that void drags my soul into painful darkness. It is, indeed, a lethal poison with no cure."
"I have conducted human experiments. I have killed companions who admired me. As you said, I carry the terrifying potential to fall into boundless darkness."
"For me, trying to become someone as compassionate as the Saint is merely an ascetic practice—a discipline, a form of self-restraint."
"Everyone—if, after this strange encounter, I am able to return to my own world, I will relinquish my primary right of succession to Schicksal's Overseer."
"Haha… perhaps only a Schicksal that can continue to function without its Overseer is truly closer to the Saint's ideal."
In an instant!
As Otto finished this grave declaration—
The chat fell completely silent!
And across from him, Theresa and the others stared in shock,
Looking as if they'd seen a ghost!
This humble, elegant nobleman before them…
Was this really Otto?!
After learning of the monstrous deeds his future self would commit,
He chose to warn himself in advance—
Even to the point of abandoning his right to inherit Schicksal?!
What an astonishing quality of character!
"Such self-reflection is deeply admirable, Mr. Otto—from another world,"
Durandal said solemnly.
Beside her, Theresa and Tesla couldn't help but nod.
This Otto from five hundred years ago—
Truly seemed nothing like the hypocritical schemer they knew.
Could it be…
That five centuries of time had completely transformed him?
That it was those five hundred years that turned a gentle, courteous man—
Someone who once fought for the people and overthrew Old Schicksal—
Into the figure etched in their memories?
[Tesla: This… is this really Otto…]
[Tesla: Chicken-head, do you think I went a bit too far just now…?]
[Einstein: Dr. Tesla actually feeling guilty for once? That's rare.]
[Tesla: You—!]
[Honkai·Himeko: But honestly… this Otto Overseer really is just too… upright.]
[March 7th: Upright doesn't even begin to cover it—gentle, kind, humble, polite, with a hint of melancholy! It's unreal!!]
[Kiana: If the current Overseer Otto were like this, wouldn't the world be so much better?!]
[Furina: But… what turned Otto into what he is now???]
[Hu Tao: It wasn't just time… there were other things shaping him.]
[Fu Xuan: Obsession.]
[Xianyun: Exactly. Guilt and obsession over Kallen tortured Otto for five hundred years, pushing his mind further and further to extremes!]
[Star Rail·Himeko: If Kallen hadn't died… would Otto have become what he is today?]
[Fu Hua: Sadly, there are no 'ifs' in this world.]
Reality.
Inside Schicksal Headquarters.
Otto watched the image on the screen—the version of himself from five hundred years ago, likely from a parallel world—
A trace of nostalgia and reflection surfaced on his face.
Back then,
He too had been trapped in Kallen's death—
But he had still preserved the light of humanity within him.
Unlike his present self.
Tempered by the long river of time, branded by countless failed obsessions—
Now he was nothing more than a despicable man driven by pure reason alone.
But—
As his old friend had said,
There are no "ifs" in this world.
All he could do was move forward—
Step by step, unwavering, without pause—
Toward the end.
He would reach it.
That world where Kallen existed.
And he would sleep there forever.
Soon,
The conversation in the footage was interrupted by the endless emergence of monsters.
After dealing with them,
Durandal suddenly proposed a hypothesis.
"—Dr. Tesla, could you check whether Mr. Otto has any kind of linear spatial anomaly attached to him?"
"?"
"Oh—I see it now! That's actually quite possible. Definitely worth trying!"
Tesla immediately understood Durandal's idea.
Before long—
"I've calibrated the parameters. Here—put on these glasses and take a look."
"These are—puppet strings?! No wonder that earlier 'accident' was also related to the Herrscher of Domination!"
When Theresa saw the familiar domination threads connected to Otto, she gasped softly.
"Hmph. Once we've spotted this, that earlier incident is no longer an accident."
"No wonder we could never find that damned Herrscher core—you see? It's latched onto innocent people from other timelines now!"
"Yes, these look very similar to the puppet strings described in the reports. Doctor, if we trace this line directly, then—"
"Ah, it's not that simple. The target is likely not within the same dimensional baseline as us."
Tesla spoke with confidence.
"But don't worry! Thanks to those damned puppets constantly messing with us, Anti-Entropy is basically an expert at dealing with this trick now!"
"As long as we gather enough data, we can calculate the core's coordinates!"
And so—
To investigate the secrets behind those puppet strings,
To track down the Herrscher of Domination's core,
And to return this Otto from another timeline back to his rightful world—
They reported the situation to the Hyperion,
And began surveying several specific coordinates.
To everyone's surprise,
The Valkyries of Schicksal and the people aboard the Hyperion worked together far more smoothly than expected.
"Long time no see, Kiana Kaslana," Durandal said.
"Yeah. When I escaped from you guys back then, I never imagined we'd fight side by side like this someday."
"One could say that our shared mission against the Honkai has brought our paths together again."
"Exactly! Let bygones be bygones—the future Schicksal will belong to our generation!"
"Mr. Otto Apocalypse also found his true path before resigning."
"His future likely won't intersect with ours anymore."
At once,
Changguang's rapid-fire words left everyone stunned!
Changguang… seemed to know many of Otto's secrets?!
"Wha—?!" Tesla blurted out.
"What do you mean 'won't intersect'?" Theresa asked.
"Changguang, what exactly—"
"Ah, just to be clear, this is only a hypothesis. Though I believe it's a very reasonable one."
"I think Mr. Otto truly found a way… to return to the past during his earlier experiments!"
Instantly!
Changguang dropped a bombshell!
Even the viewers beyond the screen were left reeling!
Otto…
Found a way to return to the past?!
Wouldn't that mean—
Stopping everything before it ever happened?!
Wouldn't that mean—
Preventing Kallen's death?!
But wait—
Many immediately realized something was wrong.
Even if such a thing could happen—
Returning to the past was, in itself, an impossible feat!
In the footage, questions came at once.
Theresa: "Returning to the past? You mean… time travel?"
Tesla: "That's impossible! Any physics that allows this world to function simply can't support time travel!"
"Even this strange Otto we caught can't really be Otto from five hundred years ago!"
"You're right, Senior Tesla. Science-fiction-style 'time travel' that twists causality into a knot truly doesn't exist."
"But—from an ontological perspective, I believe Mr. Otto can still, in a certain sense, 'return to the past.'"
"You know as well as I do—our world isn't the so-called 'limit of existence.' Beyond it lie the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta, shaping our fate."
"This is one of the conclusions drawn from our experiments—from activating the Second Divine Key, to linking world bubbles back to the Imaginary Tree."
"We can conclude that beyond the world, time itself follows its own rules. It doesn't devolve into absolute chaos."
"More specifically… time there can be reversed freely. Time is not fixed in a single forward direction."
"To use a game analogy—"
"From the player's perspective, there's no going back on the journey. Every choice is made only once."
"…"
"… "
After a long explanation,
Changguang finally put Otto's method of 'returning to the past' into terms everyone present could understand.
Though, glancing at Kiana—who was visibly struggling to think—
Changguang instinctively excluded her from the group expected to fully grasp it.
"What truly matters to you all is the motive!"
"That is—Mr. Otto will never let go of any opportunity to 'return to the past'!"
Beside them,
That Otto from over five hundred years ago let out a quiet sigh.
"Ah… I see now."
"If someone really lived for five hundred years, such changes might indeed occur."
"If he endured such an immense span of time… then the obsession in his heart would surely be tenfold, even a hundredfold greater than mine."
"I don't believe he would ever question his actions because of outside opinions—like I just did."
As expected of another Otto,
His understanding of himself was razor-sharp.
Tesla couldn't help but agree.
"Yeah. There's no one more stubbornly self-willed than him—well, except maybe Kevin, who's lived for over fifty thousand years."
"But you're right. I can't imagine him changing because of anyone else's words."
Otto nodded, analyzing calmly.
"—Then the thing that compelled him to choose to change the present must have been something intrinsic to his own will."
"I don't consider myself someone who craves power. I joined the rebellion against Schicksal because they raised the Saint's banner."
"From a selfish standpoint, perhaps I simply didn't want the name 'Kallen' to suffer another failure."
"My motives may seem laughable or insignificant to you—but you must understand that when Kallen died, the part of me that could be called 'self' died with her."
"So, to be honest—selfishly speaking—I, too, have always longed to return to the past."
"To the days when Kallen was still alive."
"To the time when I still possessed a 'self.'"
"And I imagine… that man is even more so."
For a long moment,
As Otto from five hundred years ago laid bare his heart,
Everyone present fell silent.
Their emotions churned, unable to settle.
They were shaken to the core by Otto's words.
…For five hundred years, Otto had lived for Kallen.
And these were words the Otto of the present would never speak aloud.
Only through his past self—
Could everyone feel so directly, so deeply, so powerfully—
The love Otto poured out for her.
A love that encompassed his entire world.
⭐ Want to read the full book (all chapters)?
Visit Patreon → @patreon.com/plotwired
✅ The book is now COMPLETE.
All chapters are finished—what remains is unlocking bonus content.
🎁 BONUS CHAPTER SYSTEM
10 reviews → Bonus Chapter
100 Power Stones → Bonus Chapter
🔥 Your support still matters—the stronger it is, the more extra content and bonuses I can release. Thank you for being part of the journey