"Old friend, the laboratory beneath the St. Freya church suddenly opened today. Do you have any clues about that?"
"Tomorrow you can hold a press conference and announce that the former strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal, Cecilia Schariac, has returned to the real world after drifting in the Sea of Quanta for fourteen years."
"No… some private matters in her family haven't been settled yet. Let me handle some of their family's private affairs first!"
Thinking about the four people — Siegfried, Durandal, Kiana, and Cecilia — gave Shun a headache. Siegfried could be kept in the dark for now, but the relationships between Kiana, Durandal, and Cecilia were the real problem.
It was already late today. Cecilia would probably stay at Theresa's house for the next few days. He would find an opportunity to discuss it with her then…
"It's fine. I'll listen to you, old friend. Though with this move of yours, you might end up sidelining me, the Archbishop of Schicksal. Now I only have Amber left under me…"
Otto pressed his temples while complaining. It seemed he really did want to pass the position to Shun.
Shun thought about it and realized it was indeed the case. Once the matter with Durandal was resolved, her little sister, mother, and father would all be on Shun's side. Durandal herself would also need Shun's Cosmic Juggernaut to stabilize the World Bubble inside her body. Rita was Durandal's number one supporter.
Compared to loyalty toward Otto, she would definitely prefer to follow Durandal. With both Durandal and Cecilia — the two most popular Valkyries of Schicksal across two generations — following Shun, quite a few Schicksal Valkyries would probably want to defect on the spot…
Waking up one day to find that I myself am the Archbishop of Schicksal.
"However, don't you still have one more person on your side? Li Sushang, right?" Shun suddenly remembered there was still such a person and had almost forgotten about her.
"Miss Sushang… Old friend, do you think she is someone on my side?" Otto looked at Shun with his signature smile.
"No way… she's also on my side?" Shun found it hard to believe. If that was the case, then in the timeline five hundred years ago he had arrived quite late. Was it during the period of Records of the Divine Land's Broken Sword?
No wonder Fu Hua was still betrayed by her seven disciples. Even though from a long-term perspective the seven disciples killing their master was a good thing for Fu Hua, if Shun had been there, he definitely wouldn't have let things happen for that kind of reason.
There were many ways to break the sword heart. There was no need for Fu Hua to escape the control of the Divine Voice through betrayal by the people closest to her.
"If I remember correctly, during our journey through Shenzhou back then… every morning when Miss Sushang woke up, her catchphrase was 'Little Martial Uncle, Little Martial Uncle.' How nostalgic."
Otto took a sip of the red wine on the wooden tray in front of him as he spoke. It didn't seem like he was lying. Perhaps he really did still miss the self who had once been called the Rakshasa.
"Little Martial Uncle? Me?" Shun pointed at himself. Hey, come to think of it, he really was her little martial uncle.
"Would you like me to unseal Miss Sushang right now? The day we agreed upon with her isn't far away anyway. Letting her out early to adapt to modern life would be good too."
"No, no, no. I'm getting married soon. Don't give me so many extra things to deal with right now." Shun felt like there had been too many things happening lately.
Getting married had been dragged from Volume 2 all the way to Volume 6. In between, there had been the Third Honkai Impact, the Second Honkai Impact, and now he still had to deal with Cecilia's matters.
He'd better not cause any more complications before the wedding was over. He would wait until after the honeymoon. He had said back then that they would go to Tokyo, but they still hadn't gone yet!
"Ah, I forgot. Old friend, you're getting married soon. Don't worry, the wedding will definitely be handled beautifully. I'm quite the professional when it comes to this."
"Yes, yes, yes. The professional guest-emcee Archbishop of Schicksal, Lord Otto. I'll leave it to you!"
"Is there anything else you want to say? If not, I'm leaving." Shun wasn't from the north and hadn't bathed much before. Although soaking here was still comfortable, he wasn't quite used to it, especially with Otto right beside him.
"No, old friend. There is one thing I want to ask you. Do you think it is possible for a person to be completely revived?"
Sure enough, he still came to discuss this question with him. Ever since Shun knew he had a good relationship with Otto, he had mentally prepared himself for this.
"If I create a person who has the exact same appearance, the exact same memories, the exact same consciousness, and the exact same emotions, would she be the person in your memories?"
"If it were Kallen, my answer would be no."
"If something looks like wine, tastes like wine, and feels like wine, then it is wine."
"My Kallen is the only one." Otto answered expressionlessly.
"See, your answer is already very clear. Since you already have the answer in your heart, why ask me?"
In this world, the person with the most resolute and strict definition of resurrection was Otto. No one could change his mind.
"Life feeds on negative entropy. Life exists by resisting entropy increase. The meaning of life's existence is the continuous process of fighting against entropy increase."
"The result of this process is death. To revive a person, one can only reverse this process, but that is impossible. The universe cannot resist the law of entropy increase. Heat death is the end of the universe. How could insignificant life possibly do so?"
"How many evil deeds must a person commit before they can bring her back from the depths of hell to the dawn? How far must a person walk before they can catch up to their original self at the end of time?"
As Shun spoke, he walked up the steps to the shore and re-tied the towel around his waist. He turned back to look at Otto, who was still swirling his wine glass, and said,
"See you in a few days." The sound of footsteps gradually faded away, leaving only Otto in the bath, staring at the red liquid in his wine glass.
"So, to save the only her, I can only create new possibilities in the past." Otto knew that even the current Shun already knew the answer to this question.
"Heh… otherwise, why would they say I am the most gravitational?" Otto smiled self-mockingly. Whether it was unrequited love or mutual affection, this was the most selfish thing he could do.
(Otto has never opened the box Kallen left for him, so he doesn't know that Kallen placed that airplane and two roses inside the box.)
The meaning of the two roses is: In this world, there is only you and me. It could be said that in the early stages of Honkai Impact 3rd, Kallen and Yae Sakura might indeed have been in a yuri relationship. Later it was probably retconned into familial affection.
I have no objection to OttoKallen or SakuraKallen. After all, this is the fault of the imperfect early plot of Honkai Impact 3rd. Neither side is actually wrong. However, the Archbishop's personal charm is simply too strong.)