The course schedule at Tachikawa Academy, located in the Far East, was not as high-pressure as the other high schools Hua Yi was familiar with. Students only needed to arrive at school before classes began at seven-thirty.
For most, this was not considered too early; even the swiftest slackers could manage if they rolled out of bed at seven. Hua Yi, naturally, was not one to indulge in oversleeping. After finishing his morning routine, he prepared to head to the academy.
Although most of the knowledge taught at Tachikawa Academy held little appeal for someone who was not attending high school for the first time, it wasn't a complete waste of time. Perhaps due to the existence of the Honkai in this world,
certain aspects of physics and chemistry had changed, and history, in particular, was vastly different. Now that he had ceased his past routine of extreme physical training, Hua Yi found he had the energy to stay attentive during lectures, finding it rather pleasant to listen to the coursework.
Heading downstairs, Hua Yi paused as he passed Kiana's dormitory. Through the gaps in the damaged door, he could see the general state of the room. Just as he suspected, Kiana had not yet risen; she was still fast asleep.
Hua Yi had no intention of waking her. He pulled out a note he had prepared earlier containing the contact information he had forgotten to give her the previous day along with some cash. As he leaned down to place them by the door, he suddenly noticed a thin silk thread tied to the bottom of the door frame, connected to a small bell.
He hadn't expected the seemingly boisterous Kiana to use such subtle methods to ensure her safety. It was quite impressive, though he wondered if the sound produced by such a tiny bell would actually be enough to wake her.
Hua Yi felt a fleeting urge to reach out and jingle the bell just to satisfy his curiosity, but then he recalled the exhausted look Kiana had tried and failed to hide the day before. He decided to let her sleep in peace.
Turning on his heel, he departed.
Time flowed on. Three hours later, it was ten in the morning.
Kiana, having slept for over ten hours, pulled out her phone to check the time. She felt no regret for the hours that had slipped away; instead, she felt incredibly refreshed. She let out a long, satisfied stretch.
"That was a great sleep..."
Moving slowly, Kiana rose and prepared to head to the washroom. As she pushed open the broken door, she spotted the note and the cash on the floor. There was no doubt that Hua Yi had left them.
When did he come by? she wondered. If he had only come to leave these things, it likely wasn't in the middle of the night. If he had other intentions, she surely would have heard the bell the moment the door was touched.
Must have been this morning, then...
Kiana paused for a moment before picking up the note. Beyond leaving his phone number for contact, Hua Yi had written a brief message.
"I've headed to Tachikawa Academy for classes and won't be back until evening. Feel free to do as you wish. Please handle your own meals; the money on the floor is for your living expenses for the week. Don't spend it all at once."
The message was brief pitiably so, one might say.
Hua Yi had simply stated his whereabouts and left her money. Beyond that, there was nothing else; at the very least, he hadn't demanded that Kiana do anything to compensate him for the care and assistance he was providing.
The sheer, overwhelming kindness of the note left Kiana dazed for a long while. Eventually, she tilted her head and murmured to herself.
"Does this mean I can finally live a life of just eating and waiting to die? That actually sounds pretty nice."
In Europe, within a courtyard whose architectural style clashed with the current era, bearing the hallmarks of several centuries past, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man who appeared to be in his twenties sat back in his chair. He gazed at the familiar surroundings etched into his mind and took a silent sip of red wine.
Otto Apocalypse, the Overseer of Schicksal, had held that position for over five hundred years.
He was the youngest son of the Apocalypse family in the fifteenth century. Although possessive of a brilliant mind, he was disdained by his family for lacking combat ability. As the youngest son, it was assumed he would never inherit the position of Overseer. Without question, his childhood was far from wonderful.
Then there was Kallen. The kind-hearted girl who had accidentally stumbled into the only courtyard where the young Otto could play in peace had become the single ray of sunlight in his shadow-filled years.
Though Otto was not valued by his clan, he still possessed the right to enter the study of his father, the Overseer. It was there that Otto learned of the Honkai and began his research.
During that process perhaps due to the influence of something he had acquired by chance, or perhaps because Otto was destined to change he began to grow indifferent to human emotion, and his values drifted away from common sense.
However, his feelings for Kallen did not fade with time; on the contrary, they only grew more resolute. Kallen remained special.
Unfortunately, while Otto's heart was filled with Kallen, Kallen's heart was filled only with the world. Or rather, it was filled only with the world until that final flight.
For various reasons, Kallen, the strongest Valkyrie of that era, betrayed Schicksal and fled to the Far East. Those days were brief, but Otto seized that time to relentlessly accumulate power.
He sought to climb to the true heights of Schicksal's leadership, even aiming to seize the position of Overseer that belonged to his father. He believed that if he held that power, Kallen would no longer need to be a fugitive.
Naturally, Otto had not managed to consolidate absolute power in that short span of time. Unexpectedly, in that same brief period, Kallen had found true love in a remote place called Yae Village.
When the news reached him, Otto was plunged into despair. But that despair did not last long, for things changed far too quickly.
Kallen was brought back by Schicksal. Before the Council of Fate, she declared that she had fallen in love with the Pseudo-Herrscher, Yae Sakura.
For a Valkyrie standing against the Honkai to fall in love with a Herrscher a harbinger of ruin and an emissary of the Honkai was a cosmic joke, even if it was only a Pseudo-Herrscher.
The members of the Council felt that this former strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal had fallen to the absolute depths of depravity. They decided to sentence her to death by hanging.
Otto employed many means to stop it, but in the end, Kallen still died. She did not die at the end of a rope, but was killed by a Honkai Beast that Otto himself had released to create a distraction at the execution ground. Otto knew he had to bear the responsibility for Kallen's death, and he did so.
He hated the past version of himself that had allowed family ties to prevent him from maximizing his power. He did not believe Kallen was in the wrong, nor did he believe his desire to save her was wrong. What was wrong was that damnable thing called humanity.
If not for the obstacles of humanity, he could have seized power faster, become the Overseer, and disbanded the Council. Kallen would still be the strongest Valkyrie that Schicksal took pride in even if she had fallen in love with a Pseudo-Herrscher.
Otto transformed. Or rather, he went mad.
He killed his father and his brother, becoming the Overseer of Schicksal and ruling for over five hundred years. He had personally orchestrated countless tragedies and conspiracies,
looking on with indifference at the corpses of the innocent. Throughout it all, he had only one purpose: to resurrect Kallen.
He had made many attempts, yet Kallen remained dead. And now, it was time for a new attempt.
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