"Welt was a partner, after all."
"Stupid Dad, I wasn't asking you!" Sirin gritted her teeth.
"Uh..." Ziegfried was completely baffled. Unable to understand why Sirin was angry, he simply stopped thinking about it and continued watching the movie.
Watching the father and daughter communicate, Cecilia smiled gently.
Just as Sirin gained the upper hand and began to grow overconfident, the god-slaying weapon developed by Anti-Entropy's Einstein silently arrived above her. Her instincts told her that the weapon was dangerous.
But with only three seconds left before it struck, she had no time to teleport herself somewhere safe, nor could she transfer the weapon away.
Sirin desperately tried to teleport the weapon deep into the earth, using the ground as a shield. Under the violent explosion, smoke rose in the shape of a mushroom cloud, and Sirin was badly injured and collapsed to the ground.
Walter Yang arrived at Sirin's side. With Star of Eden in hand, he used the last of his strength to unleash the Zeroth Rated Power: Pseudo Black Hole, intending to kill Sirin in one blow.
Just as Sirin was about to die, Walter Yang felt a heavy blow strike his chest. Having just gone through a fierce battle, he powerlessly dropped to his knees. The white clown appeared from nowhere and crushed Star of Eden with his bare hand.
"So this is merely a counterfeit replica as well." The clown said this, though no one knew whether he was referring to Walter or Star of Eden.
Taking the opportunity, Benares caught Sirin and spread her wings, flying into the sky.
Watching Benares and Sirin grow farther and farther away, Walter did not even have the strength to stand. He could only stretch out a trembling hand.
"Don't... don't go."
The clown viciously stomped on Walter's hand.
"Damn you, Otto!" Walter Yang roared.
"This part of the plot was definitely written by Anti-Entropy profanity Otto." Tesla began sending cryptic messages again.
Einstein sighed helplessly. "Why are you taking the movie's plot so seriously? If the young director of Schicksal can portray Walter as a hero fighting for humanity, can't he let Schicksal's president humiliate him a little?"
If people kept singing Walter's praises as a hero, Einstein would feel uneasy. But once Otto appeared and ruthlessly humiliated Walter, that felt normal to her.
"Chicken Nest, whose side are you on?"
"Me? I stand with truth."
The two began arguing again, leaving Welt Joyce utterly helpless.
"Wonderful! President Otto, I'll never insult you again!"
Everyone was cursing the clown, Otto, except Sirin, who was praising Otto.
Otto had stabbed Walter in the back and instead spared her life.
"But Sirin, you ended up like this because of Schicksal too!" Bella suddenly spoke up.
"Bella, no one will think you're mute if you keep quiet." Sirin's gratitude toward Otto instantly vanished.
Ziegfried suddenly had a bad feeling. He remembered that in the following plot, he seemed to...
The clown raised his blade, intending to use this opportunity to kill Walter, but a sudden shot shattered the weapon. The clown turned around and saw Ziegfried, who had arrived just in time, along with Judgement of Shamash in his hand.
Ziegfried held up his gun. Before he could finish his tough talk, he failed to notice a golden-red feather slowly falling beside him. In an instant, the clown appeared behind Ziegfried, with Judgement of Shamash now in his hand, and fired at his abdomen.
"What?"
Ziegfried dropped to his knees.
The clown—or rather, Otto—did not wish to kill Ziegfried yet. He merely wanted him to back down in the face of difficulty and stop obstructing him.
Walter was angered by Ziegfried's talk of dying together. Walter believed that he himself could no longer hold on, but Ziegfried was different. He had family, friends, and could still protect this world.
"Close your eyes, leave this place, and live on. Go protect this world, Ziegfried!"
"He is right. He is the First Herrscher, an enemy of humanity. That alone makes him unforgivable." The clown fully agreed. "And you, sir, bear the duty of protecting the world."
With both ally and enemy urging him to leave, Ziegfried neither agreed nor disagreed. He knew that if he fought the man in the clown mask, there was a ninety percent chance he would lose. But he would not run!
Enduring the agonizing pain in his abdomen, Ziegfried punched the clown's mask.
That blow stunned not only the clown, but Walter as well.
The clown raised Judgement of Shamash.
Ziegfried likewise raised another Judgement of Shamash.
"I've hated all that grand talk since I was a kid!"
"I've never believed in grand ideals like protecting the world or sacrificing the small self for the greater self. I only do what I believe is right."
"If I stood by and watched someone who had helped me twice die, my conscience would never rest easy. Even my cooking would start tasting terrible."
Ziegfried closed his eyes, Cecilia's beautiful figure appearing in his mind.
"And most importantly—if I did something so ungrateful and my wife found out when I got home..."
Ziegfried suddenly opened his eyes.
"I'd have to kneel on a washboard!"
"Hahaha!" Kiana burst into laughter. "Why... why can Stupid Dad say something so hilarious with such a serious face? Hahahaha!"
Kiana laughed so hard that she rolled around on the ground. Pulling out her phone, she tagged Cecilia in the family group chat. "Mom, did you really make Dad kneel on a washboard?"
Cecilia quickly replied, "No~, Mommy only made Daddy kneel on a keyboard."
"Dear, don't talk about these things in front of the children." Ziegfried sent a message.
"⊙﹏⊙" Kiana.
"⊙▽⊙" Sirin.
"What are Otto's thoughts?" Kallen asked.
"Well, once the New Year is over, Ziegfried should return to work, right? The work in the second division has fallen behind by quite a lot. I should make him work some overtime—at least sixteen hours a day." Otto said with a smile that was not a smile.
"Achoo." Ziegfried rubbed his nose and muttered, "Who's talking about me?"
At Golden Courtyard, the married Blanca and Wound were absent. Everyone's gaze fell upon the only couple. Kevin felt uncomfortable under their stares. "Why are you all looking at me?"
"Kevin?"
Hearing Elysia's sweet voice, Kevin immediately froze.
"If you made Mei unhappy, would you be punished by kneeling on a washboard?" Elysia asked curiously. It was also what everyone else wanted to know.
Kevin inconspicuously glanced at Mei and found that she was smiling at him as well.
Kevin shook his head like a rattle drum.
"O-Of course not."
Seeing Kevin's reaction, everyone understood.
The Moon's Far Side
When Ziegfried seriously said that he would kneel on a washboard, Walter was utterly dumbfounded.
"Huh?"
The clown covered his exposed emerald-green right eye, gritting his teeth beneath the mask. But for the sake of his plan, he could not kill Ziegfried yet. He could only abandon his attempt to kill Walter, pick up his hat, and vanish into scattering feathers.
Looking at Judgement of Shamash on the ground, Ziegfried helped the badly injured Walter back to the Tower of Babylon. Only after emergency treatment from Einstein and Tesla did he barely survive.
Ziegfried took it upon himself to let the Anti-Entropy group remain in the Tower of Babylon. During the days Walter was being treated, Ziegfried did not sit idle. He investigated that clown, but still found nothing.
More importantly, Schicksal's satellites showed that the dragon-type Honkai Beast Benares had already carried the Second Herrscher beyond the atmosphere, while Schicksal had no weapons capable of attacking outside the atmosphere.
The severely injured and unconscious Sirin lay atop Benares's head. When she woke, she heard a voice. That gentle voice made her mind want to believe in it.
"My child."
"If you wish to obtain true power..."
"Then come to me."
"Does someone really live on the moon?" Sakura asked doubtfully.
"Big Sister is so silly. Of course the moon can't support human life." Ling put on the air of a little adult. "We already learned that in our middle school textbooks."
"Oh, so you dare look down on your big sister now?" Sakura knew Ling's weakness was that she was ticklish, so she began tickling her underarms.
"Big Sister, hahahaha, Big Sister, I... hahaha, I was wrong."
"Cool." Kosma's eyes shone as he watched the incomparably imposing Benares.
At this moment, the movie began showing Ziegfried's childhood. At fifteen, an animated series called "Arahata" ignited the passion within him. He did not want to be bound by the Kaslana surname. He wanted to venture outside. He wanted to become a "hero."
Thus, the number of times a Kaslana heir had run away in history increased from two to three, making Bishop Otto furious. Fortunately, Ziegfried's mother pleaded for him, and only then was Ziegfried spared.
Afterward, Ziegfried spent four years traveling the entire world. To use his own eyes to confirm the meaning of his life, he one day arrived in a small town to eliminate Honkai Beasts, where he encountered Cecilia descending from the sky.
The gears of fate began to turn.
This part of the memories was practically a romance memoir for Ziegfried and Cecilia. Probably only Ziegfried's family watched it happily. Meanwhile, in different places, at different times, held by different people, every armrest was snapped apart.
"Oh my, Mr. Ziegfried and Miss Cecilia truly were so sweet!" Elysia clapped her hands.
"Hey, hey, Elysia!" Su stared in horror at Yaqing, whose entire body was already radiating dark energy. Even her usually narrowed eyes had opened.
"What's wrong?" Elysia asked in confusion. When she looked at Yaqing, she was instantly stunned. This was the first time the fairy lady had seen someone become so angry in real life that dark energy actually leaked from their body like in an anime.
Elysia curiously poked her.
Even Mobius could not resist.
Yaqing thought, Back then, I clearly told Patrick to shorten this part. Why did he recreate it exactly as it was, and even add extra material?
"Damn it!!! My Cecilia!!!" Theresa let out a miserable howl.
"Ziegfried, you deserve to die!!!" A crowd of Schicksal employees could not hold back either. Since the theater had been reserved by Schicksal anyway, only Durandal, sitting in the middle, felt uncomfortable all over.
Ziegfried and Cecilia's romantic experiences made the audience unconsciously smile like doting aunts, except for those connected to Schicksal. When Ziegfried and Cecilia's lips were about to meet, Otto also recalled Kallen's figure, and everyone wanted nothing more than to grind Ziegfried to dust.
The tone abruptly changed. The sleeping Ziegfried woke from the Tower of Babylon's control console and heard a report: massive Honkai energy reactions had been detected on the moon.
The unconscious Walter opened his eyes.
"The worst has happened..."
Amber's cool voice narrated once more.
"We can only see the side of the moon facing us. As for the far side, it was not until October 7, 1955, that the Soviet Luna 3 satellite transmitted a blurry photograph of it."
Otto appeared on screen, looking at the photograph before violently crushing it in his grip.
"Upon seeing the photograph, Bishop Otto immediately classified it as top-secret and devoted vast resources to lunar exploration."
"On the other side of Earth, Anti-Entropy, having noticed the bishop's strange actions, also began researching the moon. Over twelve years, both sides launched numerous lunar probes."
"Finally, after countless failures, three Schicksal astronauts successfully arrived on the moon's far side. There, they discovered Honkai energy, which they had believed existed only on Earth."
"And that, shrouded in Honkai energy..."
Before you continue