She fell silent.
Save her father...
That truly was an offer she found hard to refuse.
"Then step out of your everyday life and become my subordinate."
"Be my sword and help me sweep away the enemies standing in my path."
Mei was actually easy to talk to.
As long as someone peeled away her lonely shell and entered her heart, she would constantly compromise, even change herself for the other person.
Healing her wounded heart from the past, pulling her back from her isolation—Otto had not considered any of that for now. Those things would take time.
Right now, he only needed to give her a goal and an offer she could not refuse, just as he had done with Kiana.
She and Kiana were both people who had lost their way.
And Mei was actually much like the young Otto, locking away her heart and never being acknowledged by others.
But all it took was someone giving her a hand, and she would remember their kindness.
So Otto wanted to become Mei's Kallen.
Otto forcefully grabbed Mei's hand and pulled her from outside the door into the room.
Mei staggered slightly, but she eventually regained her footing.
Otto raised his right hand, and the katana-like Judgement of Shamash appeared in his grasp.
"God bestowed a crown upon me, drew lightning into my bow, shattered all things—the King of Conquest."
Otto spoke solemnly as he placed the hilt of Judgement of Shamash against Mei's chest.
Mei couldn't do it.JPG
He lifted Mei's other hand in his palm. Her fingers trembled, but she did not resist.
Mei's hand closed around the hilt, while Otto's hand closed around hers.
His voice softened.
"The first time you encountered fate, it caught you off guard, and so you suffered a crushing defeat before it. But the second time..."
Emerald eyes met violet eyes.
"You now hold a blade in your hand."
Go teach Cocolia a lesson, save your father, then fight for me.
Otto had already written the hero's script. All that remained was for the puppet to step onto the stage and perform it.
However.
Otto suddenly noticed the hilt in his hand trembling slightly. At first, he thought Mei's hand was shaking, but then he realized her entire body was trembling.
The person trembled, and the blade shook.
The Lightning Herrscher and the Key of Thunder.
They seemed to have resonated with one another.
Lightning crawled through the girl's violet hair.
Otto instinctively released Mei's hand and took half a step back.
Oh ho?
It was the system's voice.
There was a note of gloating in it.
A pair of scarlet eyes suddenly flew open.
"Human."
Her voice brimmed with majesty, like an empress looking down upon all living things.
She stared at Otto as if he were some insignificant insect.
The Lightning Queen gripped the Key of Thunder. Lightning flashed, thunder erupted, and with a simple punch, Otto's body was sent flying.
"You just now..."
Lightning coursed over her palm. The Lightning Queen placed her left hand against her own chest and looked at Otto with icy eyes.
"Pressed here, didn't you?"
Outsider, Your Journey Ends Here
Otto's defenses were shattered.
The Soul Steel body he had always relied on was utterly vulnerable before Conquering Thunder.
Was this the retribution for repeatedly threatening a girl with her father?
If there was a next time...
He would still dare.
Thunder roared without end. Otto's body smashed through the wall and flew out of the Teaching Building.
However, he was not badly hurt, because the Cecilia Stigmata had granted him some combat instincts.
The moment he sensed the attack, Otto had already prepared to defend against the blow.
But as he looked through the hole he had smashed into the wall while airborne, he saw the Lightning Queen standing there with Judgement of Shamash in hand. Savage lightning crawled through her hair, her flowing black locks like the night itself, while her blood-moon scarlet eyes fixed firmly on Otto.
As though she were about to deliver divine punishment upon one who had offended a god.
Her skirt fluttered, her graceful body was slender and tall, and her uniform had been burnt into tatters by lightning.
The Lightning Queen raised the Key of Thunder high.
Lightning tore through the sky—and through the entire Teaching Building.
This was not a blade of no thought. It was merely a casual strike.
With one casual slash, the Lightning Queen destroyed the academy that had left Mei with such painful memories.
A thunderous crash erupted as the Teaching Building collapsed outright, mixed with countless cries of anguish. Many students had no idea what had happened. The building had suddenly collapsed, and disaster had descended.
Otto fell from the air, rolling several times across the ground before coming to a stop.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of white in the distance. A white-haired girl scooped up a black-haired girl to avoid the falling rubble, then darted toward safety.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
Otto did not care much about the lives of the others.
When he was safe, he would consider the lives and deaths of millions. But danger was right in his face now, and he had no mind to think about anything else.
Besides, a few hundred people was far too insignificant compared to millions.
"System! What's going on!? Why... did the Lightning Herrscher awaken!?"
Otto said between breaths.
The Lightning Herrscher was not supposed to be born for several more months!
Cocolia had yet to trigger the artificial Honkai eruption. There was nowhere near enough Honkai Energy in Changkong City to give rise to the Lightning Herrscher. Mei's awakening had completely exceeded Otto's expectations.
In other words, he had screwed up.
Divine Keys were created from Herrscher Cores of the Previous Era, and Judgement of Shamash used the Herrscher Core of the Previous Era's Herrscher of Thunder.
Although the Conquest Gem within Raiden Mei had not yet awakened, her contact with Judgement of Shamash caused the two Herrscher Cores of the same origin to resonate, activating the Conquest Gem within her.
Thus, the Herrscher of Thunder temporarily descended.
Host, please do not die. A Herrscher possessing a Divine Key of the same origin is extremely difficult to deal with.
Only after the system explained it did Otto understand. The explanation was perfectly reasonable.
Damn it, he had never encountered a plot like this before!
He had personally handed the key to Pandora's box to Mei.
He had made himself a father.
Why the hell had he acted like such a badass back then!
Before he could wallow in self-pity, lightning flashed. The Lightning Queen had already transformed into a bolt of lightning and charged out of the mostly collapsed Teaching Building.
After awakening, the one controlling her body was no longer Raiden Mei, but Mei's Herrscher persona.
In the blink of an eye, Miss Lightning Herrscher arrived before Otto.
She did not draw her blade. Perhaps Otto was not worthy of making her use it. She raised her leg, and her foot, still wearing an academy indoor slipper, kicked straight toward Otto's chest.
Almost instinctively, Otto raised his left hand before his chest. He blocked the Herrscher of Thunder's kick, but Miss Lightning Herrscher did not pull her foot away from his palm, allowing Otto to hold it.
Arcs of electricity flickered out. Her stockings and shoe were reduced to ash by the electricity, revealing a fair, delicate bare foot that began to exert force. Violent currents surged from Miss Lightning Herrscher's little foot into Otto's body.
Even Otto felt a numbing sting.
"Human, this is the price of your disrespect toward me."
Seeing Otto frown, Miss Lightning Herrscher's lips curved into a delighted smile. She was merely toying with Otto. She wanted to trample this man beneath her feet.
A mere insect dared touch her divine body.
And no one could bully her other half.
Once she had toyed with this insect enough, she would crush it beneath her foot.
The world was destined for destruction. Letting him die beneath her feet was the mercy she granted him.
The lightning around Judgement of Shamash in her hand grew ever brighter, dazzling even amid the dust thrown up by the collapse of the Teaching Building.
She could do anything now!
Yet Otto smiled as well.
Otto's smile suddenly made Miss Lightning Herrscher's skin crawl.
His smile seemed to say, You think you have me cornered? No, I have you cornered.
He was a dangerous man.
But he was also a man worth conquering.
I will make him kneel before me in sorrow. When he bows at my feet and kisses my toes, I will crush that once-proud head of his.
Miss Lightning Herrscher was getting a little carried away. Perhaps the Herrscher Core used by that pufferfish was poisonous.
Then, a voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.
Kill him.
The voice appeared abruptly, directly inside Miss Lightning Herrscher's mind. Her eyes trembled violently.
This was... God's voice.
Why?
Had she not long ago blocked her connection with "God" through electromagnetic interference?
Mei's Herrscher persona had actually been born very early, but in the past, she could not control Mei's body and could only observe everything around her through Mei's eyes.
After she was born, she used the authority of the Herrscher of Thunder to block the Will of Honkai's transmissions, much like how Fu Hua had knocked the Will of Honkai offline from Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void, with a single strike.
The only difference was that the Lightning Herrscher's persona had unplugged the cable herself.
Because even Miss Lightning Herrscher did not realize just how much she doted on Mei, like a mother.
It was perfectly natural for a mother to protect her child.
But now, that cable had been plugged back in.
Miss Lightning Herrscher looked at Judgement of Shamash in her hand and discovered the reason. Because she was holding Judgement of Shamash, its electromagnetic force had interfered with the electromagnetic force she used to block the Will of Honkai's influence.
But it was fine. She would adjust it immediately and unplug that cable again.
If Mei heard those Honkai whispers, she would have nightmares.
Before you continue