The Battle Takes a Sudden Turn for the Worse / A Beautiful Illusion

In the end, only Cheng Lixue's receding figure remained.

"I'll hold back the Second Herrscher."

The Battle Took a Sharp Turn for the Worse

Otto carried the unconscious Fu Hua behind a ruined wall, avoiding the Honkai Beasts' line of sight. He first briefly checked Fu Hua's condition. Most of Feather of the Wind's feathers had already vanished, and both her body and consciousness had reached their limits. Even if she woke up, she probably would not be able to keep fighting.

Otto himself was not doing much better. After coming into contact with the Second Herrscher, Void Archives had become unusable. He remembered only one image, and that image was important, yet he still could not understand why "God" had stabbed a sword into his chest?!

"This feeling of being powerless except to run away... it's truly infuriating."

The camera shifted elsewhere. Cheng Lixue, who had stayed behind to buy Otto and Fu Hua time to retreat, had already fallen to her knees, devoid of life. Sirin looked at the golden feather in her palm.

"Next, let me try out this new toy. Let's see... who should I use it on?☆"

"Lixue just got written out like that?" Theresa said in shock. She had thought Yaqing would use a whole barrage of special effects to portray Cheng Lixue's heroic sacrifice. Instead, she was gone after a single cut. Simple and brutal.

Cheng Lixue's exit did not come as a surprise. After all, no one believed an A-Rank Valkyrie could defeat a six-core Herrscher.

But this was far too brutal!

She died after one cut, without even showing the fight!

The camera moved to the southern battlefield of the Siberian Snowfield, using four separate shots to depict Cecilia's valiant combat. Shigure Kira noticed the black hole behind Cecilia, from which two enormous white hands stretched out.

"Lady Cecilia! Watch out!"

Even with Shigure Kira's warning, Cecilia was still seized by the giant hands and dragged into the black hole under Feather of the Wind's mental control. Only Abyss Flower was left lying on the ground.

The camera moved to the northern battlefield of the Siberian Snowfield. The staggering Benares coughed up blue blood, her wings behind her burned and mangled.

Ziegfried, having used the activator, had already begun turning into a Honkai Beast. After unleashing Judgement of Shamash, he exhausted all his strength and dropped to his knees. Behind him, a large white hand reached out from the void and grabbed his cape, while Judgement of Shamash fell to the ground and reverted into twin pistols.

"We're done for. Stinky Dad and Mom were both captured by Sirin," Kiana said. The two main carries had been locked down hard. Who could they rely on now? Theresa?

"Not surprising at all." Bronya was not the least bit shocked. Judging by how the plot had gone so far, Sirin would most likely get cocky again, then Ziegfried and Cecilia would seize the chance to catch her, after which she would go crying to God about how wronged she had been.

"Why is Kirara always with Director Cecilia whenever she shows up?!" Shub protested indignantly.

"Come on, Shub. At least you're still alive. The rest of us have already been written out," Patrick said irritably.

Among the members of Director Cecilia's group, only Shub and Shigure Kira were still alive in the current story. Yet after this movie, only Shigure Kira would remain alive.

"Is that really it for Lixue?" Salome asked in confusion. "Wasn't there still another part? I remember there was a scene where her dialogue reached an emotional climax. Why was it cut?"

When Cheng Lixue had been pierced through by the Spear of the Void, Patrick and the others had spent a long time discussing it before pulling an all-nighter to make it. It was rare for a single line to be recorded over a hundred times, but Cheng Lixue's line had been recorded hundreds of times, until even the people supervising them were moved.

Yet that scene did not appear in the movie. Even they had no idea why.

"Oh no, if they don't show this part now..." The women felt a vague sense of dread. They did not believe Yaqing would simply cut such a tearjerking scene.

"Isn't he afraid the audience will come after him with knives?" Thinking of what came later, Shub ground her teeth in anger. Even she wanted to sneak up on Yaqing and stab him.

"How do you know he'll put his own name in the screenwriter credits?"

"Holy crap, he looks pretty steady. He can't be that devious, can he?"

"Steady?" Rita laughed a few times. "That's a joke."

At the command center on the floating island of Schicksal, Amber received several reports from the front lines in quick succession.

After Cecilia disappeared, the Valkyrie forces on the southern front gradually collapsed.

After Ziegfried disappeared, Shub-Niggurath alone was holding back the enemy, and the battle situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse.

According to the plan, they should retreat. But judging from the current situation, they could not even guarantee the safety of the evacuation routes. They had even lost contact with Bishop Otto.

Amid the barrage of chaotic reports, Amber froze, fumbling helplessly without knowing what to do.

"Amber!"

Amber turned around.

"Hahahaha!" Theresa planted her hands on her hips and burst into exaggerated laughter. "Now it's time for the Headmistress to make her entrance!"

"Are we really relying on Aunt?"

"Kiana, do you have some problem with Aunt?"

"No, no!"

Bronya said, "Headmistress, has the version of you in the story already mastered Judah's Oath at rated output?"

"Uh, probably..." Theresa suddenly did not sound very confident.

Fu Hua abruptly spoke up. "Headmistress, she should be stronger than me, right?"

"Ah, ha... haha... O-of course!" If she had not seen Fu Hua's appearance, Theresa might have had some confidence. But after seeing Fu Hua nearly solo the Second Herrscher alone, asking her to say she was stronger than Fu Hua...

Theresa truly could not bring herself to say it.

"Next, my little Theresa will finally show off her might," Otto said with satisfaction.

"After so long into the movie, little Theresa is finally going to contribute." Kallen happily opened another bag of chips, only for Otto to confiscate it. She glared at him angrily.

"Kallen, that's already your fortieth bag..." Otto said helplessly. If he did not stop her, she could clear out the bedside mini-fridge's entire stock in one day.

Thinking that, Otto patted Kallen's flat stomach.

Kallen slapped Otto's hand away irritably.

"The situation took a sharp turn for the worse!" Pardo said. "Cecilia and Ziegfried were both captured by the final boss!"

"Not a moment of silence for Cecilia and Ziegfried." Su cracked a joke. "The next one to take the stage is Schicksal's default heir, Theresa."

"If Theresa fully masters Judah's Oath, can she fight Sirin?"

"No idea, but she definitely won't lose to Benares... probably."

A Beautiful Illusion

The camera shifted to the top of the Tower of Babylon. Sirin, who discovered that her connection to God had been severed, began to panic.

"God? Can you hear my voice? God? Where are you? Why won't you answer me?"

The scene shifted to another dimension. Ziegfried knew that if he did not use Judgement of Shamash, he had absolutely no chance of winning. He rolled up his sleeves as the twin pistols transformed into a blazing greatsword, then suddenly saw his left arm, which had already turned into that of a Honkai Beast, and jolted awake.

It had all been a dream.

But this world had become somewhat abnormal. After defeating the Second Herrscher, peace returned to the world. Honkai gradually vanished from the world, and Schicksal's warriors lost their jobs.

To make a living, Otto, Schicksal's bishop, led the Valkyries into a second startup venture and founded Schicksal Technology Entertainment. Meanwhile, Anti-Entropy, Schicksal's archrival, had also changed careers and become Anti-Entropy Entertainment. Its newly released game achieved enormous success, making President Otto worry himself bald by several strands.

The development was utterly bizarre, yet Ziegfried did not notice anything wrong. He even imagined Otto going bald and laughed at the thought.

"This is an illusion, right?" Pardo said uncertainly.

"It's exactly like reality. As expected of reality scouting people for character settings." Mobius had no idea what Yaqing was thinking, actually using real people as characters.

If a character named Mobius appeared later, she would not be surprised either.

Unless...

"I wasn't worried about those old friends," Otto said with a fake smile.

"Quack, quack, quack, quack." Kallen laughed like a goose. Patrick's bald Otto model was so hilarious that she kept laughing for a long while, making Otto worry she might laugh herself breathless.

After catching her breath, Kallen asked curiously, "Otto, do you lose hair? Quack, quack, quack, quack..."

The moment she asked, Kallen could not help laughing again.

Otto grabbed at his hair in confusion, then stared in shock at a golden strand in his palm. His heart churned violently. Though he was not particularly concerned with his appearance, he could not go bald!

"Quack, quack, quack, quack." A certain lobster-headed doctor likewise laughed like a goose, perhaps delighted by Otto being mocked, or perhaps happy to have someone else joining her as a comedic character.

"I never expected our existence to bring that president so much extra trouble." Einstein's lips curled slightly.

"He deserves it." Walter Yang laughed heartily, even saying that it had been his suggestion. Originally, there was only supposed to be a chibi version occupying a small corner of the screen, but due to his strong insistence, they made a 3D model that took up the entire screen.

"By the way, how did that young director agree to this?"

"Huh?!" Walter Yang thought carefully. It seemed that when he had made his forceful request, Yaqing had not appeared at all. "He seemed to... not agree, but also seemed to... tacitly accept it."

"What an unfathomable man." Einstein sighed.

With both hands in his pockets and a roguish air about him, Ziegfried arrived at the headquarters building. On his way to the president's office, he saw receptionist Patrick, programmers Salome and Shub, secretary Cheng Lixue—both the dead and the living were all within this beautiful illusion.

In the conference room, Ziegfried presented his new game proposal to President Otto. Ziegfried's concept won Otto's appreciation and was successfully approved as a project. This made Ziegfried very happy, and he remembered that today was Kiana's birthday.

"You're planning to develop another game?" Mobius glanced at Yaqing. Why say another? Because Otto had once filmed an anime called "Saintess Fantasy." It performed terribly in ratings, so publicly, they claimed it had been created by Yaqing.

To keep "Saintess Fantasy," an IP that Schicksal had poured massive funds into, from disappearing entirely, Yaqing drastically altered its plot and adapted it into a game. But even as a game, it was difficult to recoup the initial investment.

At present, the games with the highest global publicity were only Schicksal's "Saintess Fantasy" and Anti-Entropy's "Houm's Great Adventure."

So in Mobius's eyes, Yaqing had once made a badly ended anime, then turned it into a game, which still remained neither popular nor successful.

"We'll see. It's only a concept for now." Yaqing knew that if this movie failed to make money, he would probably have no choice but to return to the Schariac family and inherit the family business.

"Hmph, I hate people like you who dig holes and never fill them," Mobius snorted coldly.

"Senior Mobius, being tsundere isn't one of your traits."

"You!!!"

The camera shifted elsewhere. Cecilia, dressed casually, kept glancing toward the fitting room. When the curtain opened, Kiana shyly stepped out in a Princess of Winter dress. The skirt was very short, and her long legs were wrapped in white stockings.

"Mom, you're too impatient. This outfit is so hard to put on."

Cecilia smiled and explained that this dress had already been made when Kiana was born. Cecilia had always secretly wondered what Kiana would look like once she grew up, and now she could finally see her wearing it.

"Ich liebe dich, Kiana."

"This skirt is way too short." Kiana's face flushed red. From behind, the model's skirt even showed a little...

"Uh, I don't think Cecilia would prepare clothes like this in reality... right?" Theresa suddenly remembered that Cecilia really had once prepared a formal dress for Bianka.

"Mei, why are you facing away from us?" Bronya smiled mischievously.

Little Knowledge ran over with a patter and cried out, "Mei, why do you have a nosebleed?!"

"Huh?!" Kiana hurried over as well.

Bronya pulled out several tissues and handed them over.

After Raiden Mei took the tissues, she silently turned in another direction.

"Mom, is there really a dress like that?" Sirin asked curiously.

"No." Cecilia thought for a moment. "I once prepared a formal dress for your eldest sister, but it was a black, long mermaid gown. Your eldest sister seemed unwilling to wear it."

"Hmph, how irritating."

"Originally, I wanted to create a terrifying nightmare for them."