I Admit I Was a Little Loud Just Now

"What is it, Lord Bishop?"

"Nothing, Rita." Otto shook his head. "All right, go complete the second task. Remember to stay in contact with Amber at all times."

"Yes, Lord Bishop."

"Wait."

Rita's swiftly departing figure trembled. She pressed her legs together and asked, somewhat flustered, "Is there anything else you require, Lord Bishop?"

"No matter how elegant you act, you can't change the outcome."

Otto held out his hand.

"Hand over the terminal."

"...Yes, Lord Bishop."

Her cheeks flushed red, and Rita reluctantly and bashfully took out her terminal. Only after the man deleted every photo she had taken that day and cleared the backups did she leave with steps that were no longer so light.

"What a naughty child..."

Once Rita's departing figure vanished, the dissatisfaction in Otto's eyes abruptly disappeared. With a teasing hint in his voice, as though speaking to himself, he said,

"Wouldn't you agree, Void Archives?"

"Yes, truly naughty." The blond boy's body suddenly moved—without Otto controlling it. "If she hadn't been patting my head and rubbing my face, I would have already set up your death trap here—though I don't think it was necessary."

"Oh? A death trap?" Otto tilted his head. "For... me?"

"Of course." A smile appeared on the blond boy's lips. "And of course, it isn't too late even now."

"So, have you betrayed me as well, Void Archives?" Otto put on a surprised expression.

"When was there ever such a thing as betrayal between us, little Otto?"

The blond boy laughed, her green eyes turning crimson like blazing flames.

"We have been enemies for five hundred years, haven't we?"

She brushed back her hair, changing her short golden hair into grayish-white twin Roman curls. Then she lightly stomped her foot. Golden light flashed, and a white skirt extended from her top, forming down to her knees.

"Welcome to my original form, Otto Apocalypse."

Void Archives slowly rose into the air. She grinned, looking somewhat beside herself with pride.

"This opportunity is far too rare. Do you know that the original you never left Schicksal Headquarters in the flesh? Every time, you sent Soul Steel bodies outside. Even when facing the Honkai God directly, you never took a single step beyond its walls."

"And this time, not only did you leave the headquarters, where you had countless contingencies in place, but you also put one of the Soul Steel bodies you carried into my spatial library. That did let you escape the Third Divine Key's attack, but—this is the first time you've trusted me so much! Hahaha!"

She laughed happily, as though she intended to vent all the grievances she had accumulated over five hundred years.

But she soon calmed down, constructed a stool, and handed it to Otto.

"Any last words, little Otto? Here, sit down. Don't hit your head when you fall later. I'll still need it in the future."

"...All right."

Otto looked at Void Archives with a complicated expression, yet he showed none of the anxiety one ought to have when about to be possessed.

Faintly... there was even a trace of barely perceptible pity.

He accepted Void Archives's stool and sat down before asking,

"It seems your shielding ability is quite powerful?"

"Yes, though only in that regard—but it's enough." Void Archives smiled. "I can kill you at any time. Then, before the headquarters reacts and uploads your memories, I can simulate your thought model, inherit all your memories, slip into that transmission device, and from then on, I will be Otto."

The two fell silent in mutual understanding for a while. In the end, the man broke the silence with a teasing reply.

"Should I congratulate you on dreaming so beautifully?"

"Dreaming beautifully? Hahaha, little Otto, I see you simply don't understand."

Void Archives sneered.

"You don't understand how Divine Keys operate, nor do you understand what the Herrscher of Reason truly means. Perhaps you possess some memories of that being, but in the end, you're just a brat in your teens or twenties who can flirt with a Cecilia clone. Compared to an existence like me, one that has lived for fifty thousand years, you're simply not worth mentioning."

"It's perfectly understandable for you to make a small, childish mistake under my watchful gaze—though the price was a little steep—isn't that right?"

She spread her arms as though her entire Soul Steel body were expanding.

"In five hundred years—well, at least four hundred years—I have never been closer to success than I am today."

"My dear little Otto, self-righteous fools like you..."

"Were born to be devoured by me. Hehehehe~"

Amid Void Archives's strange laughter, Otto's voice rang out. His tone remained unhurried, as though none of what she had said concerned him.

"Oh? Miss Void Archives, do you really think you have me in the bag?"

I Admit I Was a Little Loud Just Now

Void Archives stopped laughing and looked at Otto with disdain.

What else could you possibly do?

"I knew three days ago," the man said without a trace of surprise on his face, "that there were quite a few little rats looking to cause trouble."

"You have no right to call me a little rat." Void Archives froze for a moment, then gave a cold smile. Her red pupils brimmed with arrogance and triumph. "Little Otto."

"Isn't it just possession?" Otto tapped the stool idly. "My, my. After taking root and sprouting, the feedback you gave me still isn't quite enough."

A large part of why he had left Schicksal Headquarters was precisely to prepare for this situation.

Void Archives wanted Otto's body, while Otto needed to regain complete control over Void Archives. A battle between him and her was inevitable.

And their first contest could determine their future offensive and defensive positions, as well as their "first impression" of each other.

He had a plan and was prepared when he invited her into the trap. From the level of thought and cognition, he could control and master this artificial intelligence—and such invisible scheming was something a mere artificial intelligence could never detect, let alone resist.

So...

Though there are many ways to deal with you, Miss Void Archives, I will make our first time linger in your memory by using the method with the strongest aftereffects.

Otto slightly raised his chin and looked at her with an unserious air. "From the moment I stepped out of Schicksal Headquarters, I had been wondering when you would break our agreement—ha, and already you can't bear the loneliness any longer."

Void Archives responded with a disdainful curl of her lips.

"Agreement? What agreement? For beings at our level, verbal contracts—aren't those less valuable than waste paper?"

She thought for a moment, then added, "Of course, you could also follow the Otto of five hundred years ago and wager your will against mine in a contest of spiritual fusion. Come to think of it, five hundred years ago, we seemed to share memories for a time. After all, back then, you lacked a mature mind and will, and you had no other devices to assist you."

Void Archives lowered her head, the greed in her eyes completely undisguised.

"I'm actually quite curious just how 'legendary' the past of the little fellow who fused with Otto truly is."

Otto narrowed his eyes, and his tapping fingers stopped.

Good.

He loved this kind of thrill he had anticipated in advance.

That was also why he had enjoyed extreme sports in the past.

The feeling that his life was no longer entirely in his own hands, planning everything out and then taking a risk, was simply too interesting!

This was all about the rush!

"So... are you sure you want to do this?" The man crossed one leg over the other and asked.

Void Archives curled her lips, her words dripping with mockery.

"Little Otto, power is not borrowed authority or empty bluster. Only by possessing strength can you gain weight in the scales. And now, all you can do is pray that your will is strong enough to preserve yourself in our contest."

"I've actually wanted to test myself against you," Otto replied with a sigh. "Testing my will against an artificial intelligence—that sounds like an entertaining challenge."

"It's just a pity that I don't want you rifling through my memories."

"I enjoy taking risks, but I do not take risks without preparation."

"Ah, poor and helpless little Otto." Void Archives's gaze seemed almost pitying. "Many times, humans do not have the right to choose. They only have the fate of being chosen."

"No matter what, your memories and mine will become entangled now, and then we will share them."

"Oh, really?"

The corners of Otto's lips slowly rose.

"No choice? Inevitable? Sharing?"

Void Archives's expression suddenly changed. From the man before her, she sensed an inexplicable familiarity.

That feeling that she was about to be schemed against again—but why again?

"But... Miss Void Archives, may I ask something? Before we left... didn't we forget something?"

Otto tapped his temple with a finger, wearing a troubled expression as though he were thinking—or merely putting on an act.

"For example..."

The man suddenly sat upright and let out a low cry as though struck by realization, using an exaggerated tone.

"Wow, right. The backups belonging to Otto Apocalypse in the instruments for Soul Steel bodies at Schicksal Headquarters..."

"Did we... forget to completely erase or overwrite them?"

For one moment, the air fell completely silent. Void Archives's expression froze, while Otto began to laugh softly, his smile carrying an almost exhilarated satisfaction.

"Hahaha, in other words..."

"That Otto might reappear if I die, if Amber receives the news that I voluntarily died~"

"At this point, you have no right to threaten me. On the contrary, you must do everything possible to keep me alive."

"What do you mean?!"

Void Archives raised her voice considerably, but Otto merely tilted his head, the smile on his lips growing more brazen.

Then he raised a hand, the metal at his fingertips gleaming in reflection.

"Arteries run through both the left and right hands. They're where you usually feel for a pulse, beating with the contractions of the heart."

The man spoke slowly, turning his right hand and touching the wrist of his left.

"But that is only a tiny bit at the end. I can only feel that little bit. If I want to experience that sensation, a shallow layer is absolutely not enough."

"At least one-third beneath the skin."

Otto's smile remained unchanged, but his every movement seemed already crazed.

Yet his eyes did not ripple in the slightest from pain. Their coldness was terrifying, as though none of his actions had anything to do with him, even if the one being hurt was himself.

—or perhaps every step had been rehearsed hundreds or thousands of times in his mind, making him seem calm and practiced.

"This is not easy, because the piercing, bone-deep pain comes quickly. In that instant, the fluid in the body begins to flow out—I feel warmth, then cold, and pain that reaches deep into the marrow."

"But it still isn't fatal. It has to go deeper."

The man described it sentence by sentence. At last, he shakily raised his hand, his smile unrestrained.

"There, now that's enough, my dear little Void Archives."

"Oh, Kallen above, I swear this isn't beautiful at all. It doesn't suit my elegance in the slightest."

His vision had already begun to blur, yet his diction remained clear, his cadence rising and falling like the sweeping arm of a conductor guiding a piece he had mastered perfectly.

"But I absolutely cannot give up, or everything will have been for nothing. At any moment during this process, if I were to—"

"Enough!!!"

Void Archives let out a low growl of tightly suppressed fury. Golden light flashed, and Otto's wrist was restored to normal.

The man raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"I admit I was a little loud just now."

Void Archives's tone softened as he had hoped.

"But put that thing down first, and then we can begin negotiating."