Otto glanced at the Judgment of Shamash Siegfried had slapped onto the table and smiled.
"Long time no see, Siegfried."
"Is this a local specialty you brought for me?"
Originally, Otto had wanted to make a joke and call Siegfried "father-in-law," but he feared Siegfried would immediately pull out Judgment of Shamash and shoot him dead.
He was not tough enough to take a shot from Judgment of Shamash head-on.
So he should save that line for Raiden Ryoma next time.
"Bishop Otto, what do you want to do to my daughter?"
Unlike when he was young, Siegfried's face now bore the marks of hardship. His deep eyes fixed on Otto with the sharpness of a hawk.
His right hand rested on Judgment of Shamash.
If possible, he did not want to appear before Otto. But Otto had come into contact with his daughter, and with Otto's eye for such things, he had surely recognized that she was the girl Siegfried had taken from him all those years ago.
"Oh? Which daughter are you talking about?"
Otto summoned the system panel and equipped Judgment of Shamash. It appeared atop his thigh, hidden from Siegfried by the table.
Only after placing his hand on Judgment of Shamash did Otto feel a little safer.
"Which Kiana Kaslana would that be?"
At Otto's airy words, veins bulged on Siegfried's forehead.
His biological daughter, the real Kiana Kaslana, was in Otto's hands.
"What exactly are you plotting?"
Siegfried asked in a low voice. He did not dare speak loudly, afraid of drawing Kiana out of the restroom.
This was a conversation between adults. A child should not be dragged into it.
"I want K423 to join Schicksal."
Otto stated it bluntly. There was no point in hiding it.
"You want to create another Cecilia?"
Otto chuckled at Siegfried's question.
"No, no, no. She is one of a kind. She will not become the next Cecilia. She will be the first K... K423."
"It is a little hard to call her by that name. Actually, I have wanted to ask you something, Siegfried. Why did you name K423 Kiana?"
Otto was rather curious about Siegfried's thought process. His biological daughter was still alive, so why give her name to her clone?
At least, Otto could not do something like that.
The original Otto could not have done it either. Amber and Theresa's names proved as much.
Siegfried fell silent. Perhaps he truly was not a good father.
"Siegfried, perhaps you are a hero, but you are not a good father. At the very least, you are a clumsy one."
Otto said it with brutal frankness.
"You left K423 when she was still young and instead protected her from the shadows."
"I guess you wanted her to become independent. You wanted her to grow. You wanted her to forge bonds of her own."
"That way, even if she learned the truth in the future, the blow of realizing she was merely your daughter's clone would be softened."
If the future remained unchanged, K423 would indeed come to accept her identity.
Everything Otto was doing now was for that purpose as well.
So that Bronya would suffer a little less when she learned the truth.
"But I think you should be able to see it. All these years, Kiana has merely wandered around in confusion. You could say that finding you is the only goal in her life."
"She lives like a walking corpse."
"..." Siegfried fell silent, because Otto was right.
"So I want her to become a Valkyrie. As Kiana's clone, she also possesses the Herrscher of the Void's core. In the future, she will definitely become an outstanding Valkyrie. She may even surpass Cecilia."
"I can guarantee that Kiana will become a beloved Valkyrie someday."
"You know it too. No one understands Valkyries better than I do."
Otto spoke, though his mind remained highly focused. The only reason he could sit here and talk to Siegfried was because Siegfried did not know what Otto had done during the Second Honkai War.
In Siegfried's eyes, Bishop Otto might be ruthless, but he still stood on humanity's side and would do everything in his power to fight the Honkai.
Siegfried had betrayed Schicksal only because Otto's methods had crossed the line with someone he cherished.
"I cannot trust you."
Siegfried said it plainly. He could not place his trust in Otto.
"And you can trust those people from Anti-Entropy?"
"I know you have remained in contact with Anti-Entropy ever since the Second Honkai War. But are the people there any better?"
"Cocolia not only framed Raiden Ryoma, she also used his daughter for experiments. If the Herrscher of Thunder truly awakens, there will not be many survivors left in Changkong City."
"They all conduct experiments, so what gives Anti-Entropy the right to act so high and mighty?"
Although Otto had done quite a few things during the Second Honkai War, he did not bear the blame for the Third Honkai War that gave birth to the Herrscher of Thunder.
The only thing people could criticize him for was standing by and watching Cocolia's actions.
"Pass a message to Anti-Entropy for me. Tell them their days of playing both whore and saint are numbered."
Because of old grudges, Anti-Entropy hated Otto to the bone. Otto had no intention of letting Anti-Entropy run wild, or that would be disrespecting his own life.
Siegfried's expression changed. He had only learned of Cocolia's actions a few days ago, and it had been giving him a terrible headache.
With Anti-Entropy's leader Welt absent, most of its power was in the hands of Cocolia, leader of the Reformist Faction. For the sake of Anti-Entropy's stability, the Conservative Faction, made up of old hands like Tesla and Einstein, could only tolerate Cocolia.
But this time, Cocolia had caught them completely off guard. Before Tesla and the others could react, Raiden Ryoma, an important source of income for the Conservative Faction, had been thrown directly into prison.
But how was Otto's intelligence so well-informed?
Could there be a mole within Anti-Entropy?
"Siegfried, pass along another few words to your people."
"I will handle the matter in Changkong City. The Far East is Schicksal territory, and Anti-Entropy will not be allowed to run wild here."
"Since Anti-Entropy cannot even handle its own household affairs, This Bishop will clean things up for you."
In the original history, because of their inaction, a Great Honkai erupted in Changkong City. Of the massive city with millions of residents, only a small number survived.
But now Otto could save those innocent people.
Since he could save them, he would.
Siegfried remained silent, then rose to his feet and nodded at Otto.
"I will pass your words on to them."
"However..."
A fierce glint appeared in Siegfried's eyes as his right hand seized Judgment of Shamash.
"Otto, if you dare hurt Kiana, I will become a vengeful demon and spend the rest of my life giving everything I have to take revenge on you."
It was a father's threat, made for his daughter.
But there was simply too little he could do for Kiana.
This father could feel his own powerlessness.
Yet before he could point his gun at Otto's head, Otto tapped his own forehead with a finger.
"You can try pointing that gun at my head and see what interesting things happen."
Otto looked at Siegfried with icy eyes.
The aggressive feared the reckless, and the reckless feared those with nothing to lose. Siegfried fell silent for a moment, then returned Judgment of Shamash to his waist.
Otto spoke calmly.
"Still, I have received your threat."
"I will take good care of K423 and Kiana."
Make Bronya Take His Shape
Perhaps sensing that Kiana was about to return from the restroom, Siegfried left behind his threat and departed decisively.
Unfortunately, he took Judgment of Shamash with him as well.
Otto could understand Siegfried's choice. Other than agreeing to let K423 join Schicksal, he had no other option.
Anti-Entropy was currently embroiled in severe internal factional struggles. If K423, who possessed the Second Herrscher's core, joined Anti-Entropy, she would only make the situation even more chaotic.
And now that K423, after being taken away by Siegfried, had appeared in Otto's sight once more, Siegfried knew Otto would not let go again. He did not want K423 to keep drifting from place to place and fleeing with him.
Every father hoped his daughter could live happily.
So he could only agree.
Otto let out a breath of relief. He had successfully bluffed his way past Siegfried. He had acted forcefully because he knew Schicksal was his source of leverage, while True Kiana at Schicksal Headquarters was the backing that kept Siegfried from acting rashly.
The feeling of using power to crush others was truly not bad.
Still, the reason they could get through this peacefully was that Otto and Siegfried did not currently have any irreconcilable conflict.
Although Otto had done plenty during the Second Honkai War, Cecilia had used Holy Blood Liberation through Black Abyss White Flower in order to save the Siberian plains, which had been contaminated by the rampaging Herrscher of Void core.
It was a death even Black Abyss White Flower could not reverse. Otherwise, Otto would not have told Cecilia that once she used Holy Blood Liberation, she would surely die.
Even before the Honkai Energy Fission Bomb fell, Cecilia's life had already been destined to wither away.
So Otto could not help but think.
If Cecilia were still alive, things might have improved considerably.
Because Saniyat was Otto's loyal hound.
The Saniyat family was loyal through and through.
Hearing approaching footsteps, Otto put away his grave expression and replaced it with a smile.
Kiana walked over. Otto turned to look at her and saw the resolute expression on her face.
She did not return to her seat.
Instead, she stopped before Otto.
She looked at Otto, while he remained leisurely seated in his chair, his emerald eyes watching her calmly.
"If I become an S-rank Valkyrie, will you help me find Dad?"
Kiana asked, and Otto nodded.
"Then this young lady chooses to join that Schicksal of yours."
Kiana held out her hand toward Otto. Otto stared at her delicate, jade-like fingers but did not reach out to shake her hand. Instead, he asked.
"Did you wash your hands?"
Kiana:?!
At those words, Kiana could not hold it together anymore. She had finally made a decision in the restroom that might change her entire life, only for Otto to ruin the moment with one sentence.
Hey! Was this really the time or mood for that?!
Seeing Kiana's expression, Otto merely smiled.
He rose to his feet. Rather than shaking Kiana's hand directly, he placed his left hand behind his back like a refined young nobleman, making Kiana sigh inwardly that he truly had a handsome face.
If he wore women's clothing, he would surely be a beauty capable of toppling nations.
Otto leaned forward slightly, lifted Kiana's outstretched hand with his right hand, and lowered his head.
Otto gently kissed Kiana's fingertips.
"Cute Little Kitten, welcome to Schicksal."
Before you continue