Stephen / Postwar Inventory

And now, with her memories restored, Cecilia had officially returned.

Before the vast battlefield and the bountiful harvest, he said the best thing was that she could go home.

Welcome home.

The Saintess's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Stephan

The old man gazed at the crystal before him.

It was a translucent distorted triangular dodecahedron, refracting dazzling golden light. Looking at that crystal, he seriously considered a question:

Why was he looking at this crystal?

Even the old man himself did not know. Yet he stared fixedly at that incomprehensible thing, utterly motionless.

Finally, when he realized something, the crystal suddenly trembled. Its mirror-smooth surface began to crack, and countless old men appeared within it. The fragments reflected his stunned expression from different angles.

The crystal was no longer transparent, he thought.

As though confirming his thoughts, the object before him gradually became something that could no longer be called a "crystal." Black cracks slowly spread. When it stopped trembling, the object itself emitted golden light, while countless facets became densely wrapped in black lines, as though outlining something.

—No! They were outlining something!

The old man's eyes widened, but his consciousness suddenly blurred, and his eyelids closed against his will.

At the final moment before his vision fell into darkness, the old man suddenly saw a pair of black wings slowly unfurling behind the "crystal." Within the fragments surrounded by cracks, a pair of blazing eyes, split into three petals, appeared in unison.

Countless eyes were staring at him. Like countless souls.

"This is... Him?"

The old man murmured, and then everything went black.

Stephan William abruptly sprang up from his wheelchair, gasping for breath.

He did not understand why he was gasping, as though he had been frightened by a dream. What could be more like a nightmare than reality? Although his optimistic and open-minded nature had left him fairly content with his current life, no matter what, a change in a crystal could not be more terrifying than ALS—wait, what???

Stephan suddenly raised both hands, his eyes filled with disbelief.

What was going on?

What about the ALS that had accompanied him for nearly his entire life? What about the ventilator he had only gotten installed a few years ago?

Rather than the wild joy one would expect from someone freed of chronic illness, the old man turned around in confusion and looked at the person who had suddenly appeared in his room.

He was not overly surprised, as though this person had come at his invitation.

"Hello, Lord Stephan," the blond, green-eyed man said with a bow. "I am Otto Apocalypse. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"...Hah... who...?"

Stephan spoke haltingly, struggling to control the speech center he had been unable to use for so long.

"To meet someone like you, who studies the cosmos above us, brings me heartfelt joy," Otto said with the corner of his mouth raised, yet Stephan could not sense any joy matching his words.

This was a politician. At the very least, his purpose in coming was not pure.

Having been famous for a long time and dealt with all sorts of visitors, the old man swiftly reached that conclusion.

Yet he did not dislike that lack of purity. After all, as he grew older, he had begun viewing those around him with greater kindness. Just as the great nation he had visited several years ago had put it, having passed seventy, he had long since become "easygoing," able to tolerate almost anything.

What was more, this man seemed to have cured the illness that had plagued him his entire life, granting him the ability to move and speak again.

He had not hated his previously paralyzed life, but if things could become better, why should he not be grateful?

Yet the old man also knew that everything had a price. The man before him had not cured him on a whim, nor out of admiration.

He quietly watched the smiling man before him. Those emerald eyes felt familiar.

As though... he had seen them somewhere just moments ago.

"I imagine you have already felt it," Otto said. "I used a special power to heal your body, granting you a healthier body with which to explore the unknowns of this world."

Stephan nodded, his pupils fixed on Otto's abyssal green eyes.

Then what was the price?

He asked with his gaze.

"Yes," Otto saw his question. "I did not come here merely to express my respect, nor did I do this on a sudden whim."

The man raised a hand, his tone rising slightly.

"I came here to show you the truth of a world."

He was standing before the window. Outside, only a few lights shone, and the sky remained empty, yet behind wisps of thin cloud, the stars of the universe were emerging.

The old man's pupils contracted. For some reason, he felt as though a pair of black wings were slowly unfurling behind the man.

Like the shadow cast by a guide during a solemn, magnificent farewell ceremony when an era began.

"So... your idea is to invite me, along with the scientists I can contact, to join this organization fighting for survival?"

Stephan quickly recovered his linguistic ability with his extraordinary intellect and asked Otto in his native tongue.

He paced back and forth through the room, not to think, but to indulge his motor system. A long-lost sense of comfort spread through his entire body, yet that double joy did not make the old man lose his composure.

"Yes." The man did not deny it.

"However, my field of research does not have much to do with this," Stephan said in a somewhat low voice. "And because my theories never incorporated Honkai, they can only barely serve as discarded scaffolding in the grand edifice of physics."

But Otto looked at him, his eyes seeming to see through everything.

"You merely believe that you cannot shoulder such an important responsibility," he said. "Yet your eyes are obsessed with and yearn for that novel world. Not even the ravages of time can conceal it."

"...You are perceptive."

"But what I want is for the world in your heart, and in the hearts of your friends, to collide with the real world."

Otto shook his head and said,

"The universe is mysterious, and Honkai is mysterious as well. We know nothing about the universe, and very little about Honkai. But the scientific way of thinking is the same. I need your keen minds to explore the truth of Honkai and the universe."

"If I recall correctly, several decades ago, your research concerned quantum field theory in curved spacetime and quantum gravity, did it not?"

Stephan's eyes lit up before dimming again. He thought for a long time, then asked, "In other words... what you need is a miracle?"

"Perhaps a miracle. I hope to find some breakthrough technology," Otto said with a shrug. "Of course, our current technology has not been fully utilized either. If properly used, it may be enough to fight Honkai. It is just that—Chariot of a Thousand Worlds involves matters that are far too important. I want to invite you and many scientists to pool your wisdom and fully utilize it without exploring its interior."

"You mean your organization possesses a weapon. You want to use it, but for now, you cannot research its internal workings," Stephan said, nodding thoughtfully. "So you are preparing to gather more scientists to organize research on this problem."

"That is part of the reason," Otto said with a nod. "Of course, it is only the tip of the iceberg."

"I understand." The old man was intelligent and did not intend to keep asking. "When do we leave? Or should I first invite a few of my friends?"

"Any time," Otto said. "It makes no difference on my end. Once you have handled your affairs, you may come over."

"Very well."

The two fell silent for a while, then nodded their farewells.

The sun had set long ago. Stars glittered in the dark blue sky. Watching Otto's departing back, Stephan hesitated before finally asking:

"Then what is your purpose?"

The man stopped. His eyes narrowed slightly, then he turned around with a smile in his gaze.

"What is the purpose of the universe?"

"..."

Stephan froze. The light gradually faded from his eyes as his gray orbs looked toward the ceiling. In an exceedingly dejected tone, he murmured,

"I don't know..."

Otto had already opened the door. He turned back with a smile that seemed apologetic.

"I do not know either."

From the window, the old man watched the blond man reach the ground floor without obstruction. No one had noticed his arrival. He did not vanish in an instant like a god, as Stephan had imagined, nor did he transform into a streak of white light and depart. Instead, he waved, and an invisible private helicopter appeared. Otto paused at its door for a while, seeming to wave goodbye to him once more before entering. A few seconds later, the helicopter turned invisible and vanished from the spot.

At that moment, the stars were brilliant, like pairs of mysterious eyes.

Hawking stood there silently for a while, then slowly turned around and sat back down in his wheelchair.

He looked at the sky. The night was beautiful, but his field of vision had an end.

Post-Battle Inventory

"As for Chariot of a Thousand Worlds... it has no role in the recent plans. Besides, according to the plot, that man is still inside Chariot of a Thousand Worlds."

"For now, it can only be studied from the outside. We will not explore it."

Otto sat at the table, lightly tapping his fingers against the wooden surface as he considered how to absorb World Serpent.

First was the Second Divine Key the original owner had dreamed of obtaining: Chariot of a Thousand Worlds, a tool that could reach the Imaginary Tree once one had the coordinates.

But he did not intend to develop and use it immediately.

Inside Chariot of a Thousand Worlds was Su, that Fusion Warrior from fifty thousand years ago. In the "Inheritance" arc of the manga, Durandal entered the World Bubble within Chariot of a Thousand Worlds, endured Su's test, and obtained a method to stabilize World Bubbles. Thus, the Unbreakable Star Anchor armor was born.

However, in that manga arc, his own Kiana had nearly been replaced by a proxy created by Su—according to Su, this was to control the number of "singularities" and personally guide this world into converging toward one that could defeat Honkai.

To put it more bluntly, it was another idea of "manipulating humanity into defeating Honkai, with the strong ruling the weak."

Of course, judging by the story's development and Su's personality, he had only said that to scare Kiana. But who knew whether he might suddenly get the urge and actually do it.

After all, having endured countless partings of life and death, observed the world for fifty thousand years, and personally sent his close friend Kevin into the Sea of Quantum, Otto could not guarantee whether Su had always remained tolerant and benevolent, or whether he had merely come to terms with things by 2015 after previously continuing his obsessive search.

Besides, sacrificing someone willing to be sacrificed to save the world—if the price was not one of the people around him, Otto might even be interested.

So it was best to keep Chariot of a Thousand Worlds away from Kiana.

He would leave it in Britain for a few weeks. Once he possessed greater strength, he would speak with Su.

Of course, preliminary research was possible. Therefore, Otto planned to let these exceptionally intelligent scientists, whose work would not greatly affect the application of existing technology, investigate it and make a speculative move.

As for the rest, he would leave it to miracles.

It would be best if that speculative move bore fruit. If it did not, it did not matter.

"As for Seven Thunders of Repose... that weapon is rather troublesome..."

Otto considered another Divine Key. Unlike Chariot of a Thousand Worlds, whenever he thought of this weapon, he could not help but frown.

He disliked disobedient weapons, even if they contained a Herrscher's authority.

"It possesses a certain degree of self-awareness..."

The man's expression cooled slightly.

"But in the end, a Divine Key is merely a fusion of Soul Steel and a Herrscher Core."

If necessary, he would smash that consciousness apart once and make it understand who was boss.

It was only a Divine Key. It was not as though it could not be destroyed. The damage to Star of Eden had been his work fifty years ago.

"Void Archives."

"Say what you want." The Divine Key's lazy voice rang through the room, though she did not take shape.

"Can a Divine Key's consciousness be erased?"

"Little Otto," Void Archives said in surprise, "you are asking me, a Divine Key, how to erase a Divine Key's consciousness? Is that not like asking a god how to slay a god?"

"You mean it can be erased, but you will not tell me how."

Otto mocked her high opinion of herself in his heart and said,

"I swear by Kallen... Why has your IQ suddenly become so much higher these past two days..." Void Archives said in a grumbling tone, then fell silent.

His IQ had become higher?

Otto's brows lifted, his expression half-smiling.