Honkai, Traversing Otto, The Path to Godhood

In the darkness, a pair of blood-red pupils were faintly visible, filled with desire and greed.

"You are mine, boy."

The silhouette murmured, chuckling foolishly.

"So you absolutely cannot disappoint me..."

Chapter 48: Durandal is Kiana, right?

"Cecilia, playing games online on a flying vehicle is dangerous."

"Looking down at the screen like that will strain your eyes."

"Alright, playing games isn't impossible—just don't play Kallen Fantasy!"

The corners of the blonde man's mouth twitched as he watched Cecilia's slender, nimble hands fly across the terminal, controlling the white-haired Kallen. She hummed rhythmically with the screen's glow, appearing utterly at ease.

One red and one white silhouette flashed. Before long, Cecilia put down the terminal, having effortlessly cleared the final stage, "Cherry Blossom Demon," without taking any damage in the shortest time possible, shattering his high score in minutes.

Otto: "..."

Even so, no matter how out of character he acted, as the Bishop, holding the top spot in Kallen Fantasy should be part of his basic persona.

Moreover, after playing seriously for so many days, he had developed some affection for the game—driven by the typical gamer's interest in optimizing scores.

However... this person before him...

I couldn't beat her even if I used the Void Archives to cheat!

Perhaps only by using the power of Corruption could one defeat such a natural-born player, as the Herrscher of Corruption was naturally designed to counter mechanical beings...

But then using a crying girl to fight a crying girl, what kind of absurd strategy would that be?!

"Human strength ultimately has its limits,"

Otto sighed mournfully, causing the white-haired woman to stop and look up at him curiously.

"I've learned one thing in my long life—the more you cheat, the more you realize that cheating after the fact has limitations... unless, you transcend the game itself!"

"Amber—" the man raised his right hand, full of imposing energy, "Ban! Account!"

"Huh?..."

The girl wearing orange goggles beside him blinked in surprise and looked at Otto blankly, wanting to say something, but then glanced at Cecilia.

Seeing the woman give her a sly smile, as if agreeing, Amber turned around somewhat dazed and tapped on her own terminal.

"Understood, Lord Bishop."

Otto nodded with satisfaction, looking at Cecilia like a child, while the white-haired woman simply smiled gently, her eyes soft and lively.

"I'll ban you for twenty-four hours," the man said triumphantly, reaching for his pocket, "and now, I'll punish you by making you watch me play... Huh? Where's my terminal?"

He looked up in bewilderment, seeing the woman's delicate hand beckon, her fingertips swaying the black metal.

"So..."

Otto had a bad feeling about this.

"The account you were just playing... was mine?"

The white-haired woman widened her beautiful eyes, her clear gaze seeming innocent and guileless.

"...Amber, can you unban it?"

"Of course... not," the woman wearing goggles replied with an appearance of honesty, "Lord Otto, an account ban must remain until the designated time to be lifted. This is a rule you set in previous generations."

"The rule you set when you banned me," Cecilia added at the opportune moment.

Otto: "..."

The opening of the cabin door alleviated the comical situation. The man stood up with a blank expression, pretending nothing had happened, and walked off the flying vehicle.

He paused for a moment after stepping off the ramp, then finally turned around and extended his right arm to Cecilia.

"Pfft."

Seeing the Bishop's stiff expression, the white-haired woman couldn't help but chuckle. Under his sidelong glance, she placed her left hand on his and slowly descended the stairs.

The snow in late December fell suddenly. Although the floating island had a climate control system, a few flakes of silver-white still drifted in.

Cecilia linked arms with Otto as they walked out of the second port and through the Schicksal headquarters. A breeze blew through their hair, causing their light gold and snow-white strands to intertwine quietly.

The Schicksal headquarters was even quieter than before; even those training here didn't have time to wander outside. It was precisely the period Otto had temporarily added for the Schicksal S-rank Valkyrie exams, so all the Valkyries at headquarters would be watching the thrilling duels.

"Actually, most people," Otto continued after explaining to Cecilia the reason for the lack of people, "are here to see Durandal's heroic display—just like they used to watch you. You are both natural idols among Valkyries."

"Durandal..." Cecilia murmured.

She bit her lip, as if recalling something.

"She's the girl who reported the situation to me a few days ago—she possesses Schicksal's strongest talent and potential," Otto said. "She's probably fighting a simulated Honkai Beast in the simulation room right now."

The white-haired woman nodded, her eyes flickering with an unreadable emotion.

She wasn't a fool.

"If I'm not mistaken, in a few days, Durandal will become Schicksal's S-rank Valkyrie, just like you—Ha, Schicksal's only S-rank Valkyrie on the surface—as long as you don't announce your return."

"Schicksal's strongest talent... That shouldn't be her, Kiana— Wait, the only one?" Cecilia's beautiful eyes narrowed. "Then—what about Theresa Apocalypse? What happened to her?"

"She retired—don't worry, Theresa is fine, eating well and living comfortably," Otto said. "She just inherited your will and built St. Freya Academy."

The white-haired woman heard him clearly. Otto paused, then let out a dismissive snort.

"I'll take you to see that St. Freya in a few days."

"No, she..." Cecilia suddenly thought of something, her face filled with confusion. "She chose to retire after the Second Honkai Outbreak? Didn't Schicksal have enough people then?"

"Of course we were short-handed—that was a difficult time," Otto sighed feignedly, making the past seem even more arduous. "You were presumed dead, Theresa insisted on retiring, Siegfried was moping around all day because of your departure, and sometimes I even had to send people to clean up for little Kiana and make food for her."

"Fortunately, there weren't any Emperor-class Honkai Beasts during that period. Otherwise, I would have had to fight on the front lines with my old bones."

—Otto didn't mention how long after the Second Honkai Outbreak Theresa retired. In reality, it was after someone took their eight-year-old daughter to the world's largest organization to snatch a bug larva (2005).

The cleaning and cooking for Kiana were also made up by Otto. Since little Kiana had no prior memories, Siegfried Kaslana couldn't disprove it.

More accurately, unless Otto deliberately arranged it, he wouldn't be able to reach Cecilia alive.

Mixing a few lies into the truth to achieve one's goals—this is the most basic and common tactic of humans.

"You've worked hard, Lord Bishop," the white-haired woman, without any suspicion, praised him sincerely. "You've been racking your brains for the future of humanity."

"Mmm—it's not too bad, I've gotten through all these years," Otto waved his hand, then used the same excuse he'd given Amber. "Now that you're back, and Durandal can improve, Schicksal has two more S-rank Valkyries, and my burden has been greatly reduced."

"Schicksal's strongest talent, and she became an S-rank Valkyrie..."

"Strongest... talent..."

"S-rank Valkyrie..."

Cecilia's eyes dimmed slightly. She hesitated, then finally looked up, gathering all her courage, and asked:

"So... Lord Bishop..."

"Bianca Durandal Atagina is Kiana Kaslana, right?"

Chapter 49: Thankfully, I Have You

"May 1, 2006. Siegfried Kaslana took Kiana Kaslana to the laboratory to seize Schicksal's experimental subject for the Herrscher of the Void, and then fled with her and the subject under Schicksal's pursuit forces."

"During the escape, Miss Kiana Kaslana fell from a height of ten thousand meters, headfirst into the snowfield. She was brought back by Valkyries dispatched by Otto Apocalypse. After several near-death treatments, she was reborn but lost her memories before the age of eight."

Cecilia stared blankly at the screen in her hands, her beautiful eyes unfocused.

What was going on...

By the time Otto transferred his consciousness into the body beside her, she still hadn't recovered. She murmured mechanically:

"Why did this happen... Why..."

"I told you long ago, Siegfried is the type of child who walks down the path he believes is right, stubbornly forging ahead without looking at the actual situation,"

Otto sat beside her, sighing along with her.

"When you stop expecting anything from Kaslana's brains, they always give you surprises beyond imagination."

"Surprises... Ha, yes, surprises..."

Cecilia shook her head, clenching her fists.

She seemed to remember something else and asked, "The experimental subject for the Herrscher of the Void... May I know about that, Lord Bishop?"

"Of course,"

Otto replied calmly.

"It's the Herrscher Gem and genetic code of the Second Herrscher, Sirin. I created many clones of Sirin, attempting to seize the authority of the Herrscher of the Void. Among them were creations that combined your genes with Kiana Kaslana's genes."

"...So, what they stole was a successful experimental subject?" Cecilia pursed her lips, trying to clear her thoughts.

"Yes, experimental subject K423. After successfully accepting the Herrscher Gem of the Void, Siegfried found out—and then, for reasons unknown, went to the Schicksal laboratory to steal it."

Otto stood up, his back to Cecilia, his voice turning cold:

"Cecilia Schariac, I regret Kiana Kaslana's fate, but I do not deny my actions in creating Herrschers. The clones themselves do not affect Kiana or Siegfried, and stealing the authority of a god is also Schicksal's duty."

"Just as I told Theresa the day after you woke up, this is the apocalypse, the end of civilization. Any action taken to help civilization survive the apocalypse can be carried out. You may not understand it, but it is logical, even if it violates human ethics."

He raised his head high, his expression proud and resolute.

"I am sorry, if you hate me, I will not repent."

Cecilia's churning thoughts suddenly stopped. For a moment, she felt Otto was both familiar and strange, causing her heart to ache.

—Familiar because she understood his methods and reasons, and strange because this was the first time since waking up that he had been so indifferent to her.

Do you think I would blame you?

The woman gave a bitter smile and said, "This is not your fault, Lord Bishop."

She was no longer a maiden lost in candy and honey. As the Valkyrie closest to Schicksal's center of power, Cecilia understood the world's imperfections.

Just as the Bishop said, the blade of destruction had already cut across civilization's throat. They had no peace with Honkai, only war.

Cecilia had her bottom line, but using unconscious clones to seize divine authority was still much better than that incident... wasn't it?

The woman thought this and softly asked, "Are you still experimenting on children?"

Otto had just sat back down and pondered for a moment before resuming his normal tone. "Last time, you almost left me." — In reality, it was because there was no longer any need.

That's enough. Cecilia said silently, and a sliver of warmth finally flowed into her heart, which had been frozen by pain.

It hadn't caused any harm to Little Kiana's body or mind, and he had abandoned experiments on children because he almost lost her. For Cecilia, such a leader was sufficient.

She knew how severe the Honkai's trials were. A large part of her desperate pleas back then was also because Siegfried's outburst had shown her hope in fighting Herrschers.

The Bishop and she were pursuing the same goal.

Cecilia did not measure or condemn him by her own moral standards.

Besides, he had raised Little Kiana. The other day, she saw her, so youthful and beautiful, as valiant and heroic as Cecilia had been in her prime.

The Bishop's affection for Little Kiana was also evident. The fact that she could speak with him so directly clearly showed that there were no barriers between them usually.

Cecilia should be grateful and even more devout towards him.

As for the other character in this story...

The woman pursed her lips and asked with a complex expression, "That child... does she have a name?"

Otto looked at her intently. For a moment, Cecilia saw pity in his eyes.

He seemed to be asking with his gaze, Do you really want to know?

"...Fine, you'll know sooner or later," Otto sighed eventually. "Her name is Kiana Kaslana. Mr. Siegfried Kaslana gave her that name."

???

"Kiana... Kiana?!"