My Target... Has Always Been You!

"...Mm." Cecilia's beautiful eyes blinked lightly as she moved closer, becoming more serious.

"I will be your strongest support, but I do not need you to become the next me."

"You have the right to retain your own thoughts, but while upholding the ideals of beauty, these children also have the right to know the truth of the world."

"And what education should do is guide those you teach so that, after learning how cruel the road ahead is, they can still love this imperfect world with hope in their hearts. Beauty is a human feeling, so it also lies hidden within human hearts."

"Cecilia understands." The white-haired woman nodded and bowed.

"Of course, if it's you—I hope you can be a little selfish."

Otto suddenly glanced toward the bushes beside them and said with a smile,

"Just as you do not want Little Goose to inherit the Kaslana name—I also do not want to see your name on the casualty list someday."

Smiling, he raised a finger and touched the woman's soft forehead.

"Do not love this world blindly. You are not allowed to risk your life."

"But I am a Valkyrie, Lord Bishop."

Cecilia's eyes flickered, but she did not agree.

"To fight for all that is beautiful in the world—if even an S-rank Valkyrie cannot live up to Schicksal's slogan, then who else will believe in it?"

"Do not worry. With me here, you will not come to harm, nor will you be forced into the dilemma of saving others or protecting yourself."

Otto replied,

"But I want you to have at least one obsession with surviving in your heart—you are yourself first, and only then someone else's whatever."

"I want you to remember," the blond man said as he met Cecilia's gaze, "that for a long time now, you have also been an anchor for me and this world. A very important anchor."

They stood very close. Cecilia could smell the faint scent of perfume on him. Looking into those serious deep emerald eyes, her delicate body could not help trembling, and her mind went blank.

"You know,"

he said seriously,

"Otto Apocalypse has never had much affection for this world. The reason he has occupied the position of Schicksal's Bishop for five hundred years was for Kallen Kaslana, for Theresa Apocalypse, and for the people he cared about—now, that includes you too, my dear little sister."

For some reason, hearing Kallen's name this time made Cecilia feel a strange discomfort. Her snowy cheeks puffed out slightly.

"The world has never been gentle with me. My future will be a war filled with smoke and flames, with calculated coincidences, planned destinies, mad attempts to usurp the rules, and lies that provoke the wrath of gods."

"I sincerely hope that, when that time comes, you can be by my side."

They gazed at each other for a long time, their eyes once more reflecting one another.

"Of course." Cecilia suddenly smiled brilliantly, breathtakingly beautiful. "I am your Black Abyss White Flower, after all."

"I also look forward to my most beloved little lance fighting alongside me."

Otto nodded in satisfaction, brushing her hair behind her ear. Cecilia, too, straightened the man's collar. The atmosphere was warm and intimate.

"Ah!!!!"

The bushes suddenly burst into flames, and a red-eyed man leaped out with a furious roar, brandishing a greatsword!

Hearing the commotion, Cecilia swiftly pushed Otto away and turned around—then saw the man's face—

"Siegfried?!"

"Unfortunately, you missed one thing—that we are allies."

"My dear boy in his teens or twenties, are you being a little too exclusionary?"

--

No matter how wise Otto was now, his methods only went this far. After testing his limits, she would next cooperate as much as possible and help him completely resolve the problems of his past—while naturally making a few adjustments, such as to his recent plans—and then...

--

"What a wonderful coincidence—that you would stop here."

"The world is merely a chessboard in the war between you and me."

--

Stories might unfold in a straightforward line, but life always developed along multiple paths.

He was controlling his own stage, gathering everything into the palm of his hand.

And she... was she not also secretly preparing a surprise for him?

—At least, a surprise in her own eyes.

"After all your calculations, you still missed one thing—we are allies."

Void Archives' voice was soft, yet carried an indescribable cruelty.

"If you can solve your problems without me, then our alliance will cease to exist..."

"You are mine."

She spoke to the empty room as though looking down from above at that blond, green-eyed man.

"You need me. Your defenses should never have existed. Until I confirm that person's death, all you deserve is to tremble in fear, to put on a fierce front while weak inside, to threaten death every time, to live at Schicksal Headquarters in fear of being exposed, and outside Schicksal Headquarters in fear that I will take over your body."

"You think dragging out a clone will completely solve your problems? Heh."

"This is... my only opportunity in five hundred years."

"You will always be mine, little Otto."

Void Archives repeated herself, then looked toward Siegfried Kaslana sleeping on the bed. Her wine-red eyes were stained with madness no different from Otto's before.

"The human body has its limits, but the great power of that lord dwelling within the Kaslana stigmata... is enough to overturn everything, to destroy everything."

She raised a hand, golden light glowing at her fingertips.

"I grant you arms, that machinery may protect your body and blazing flames shall not destroy you."

An unknown metal attached itself to Siegfried's body, wrapping around his remaining arm before extending a metal arm from his other empty sleeve.

"I grant you will, that your spirit may be renewed and you may be reborn."

The lance lightly tapped Siegfried's forehead. At once, his breathing became steady, and many of the wrinkles on his face faded.

—Of course, this was not resurrection, but the forced extraction of his potential.

A chess player had no need to consider the physical or mental condition of a chess piece after it had been placed.

"I grant you killing intent, that you may break through your limits and become capable of anything."

A golden feather drifted down and melted into the man's mind.

"Cough, cough..."

Void Archives' figure became far more illusory. She stepped back, watching Siegfried "gradually recover," the corners of her lips curling upward.

"So be it. For the next few days, I can only entrust my authority to you."

She muttered to herself in the room where no one else was awake, as if arranging a foolish play.

"But... you will remember the terror of burning flames for the rest of your life."

"Mr. Chess Piece, after hearing that Cecilia had appeared, as well as news of the Cecilia clone beneath St. Freya Academy, you came near Schicksal Headquarters in search of the truth."

"Here, you encountered a relative who used what little authority she had to forge a custom suit of armor for you, telling you that only by going to St. Freya could you find the answer. Then..."

As she spoke, she walked to the bedside, lowered her head, and whispered into Siegfried's ear:

"Then, the heartless prospered in the world, while those who sought love were reduced to ashes."

The man suddenly woke from his dream, veins bulging as blood flooded his eyes.

Cecilia looked at Siegfried. The man's face was twisted, killing intent spilling from him.

He was like an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, radiating an aura that made people tremble as he charged at the unprepared Valkyrie with a howl.

She froze for a moment, then narrowly avoided the attack with a Valkyrie's agility. Yet he swiftly twisted his body and continued swinging his greatsword.

"What is wrong with him?"

Otto's puzzled voice came from beside her. He leaped to Cecilia's side and handed her a lance.

"I do not know either."

Cecilia was equally confused. At that moment, Siegfried roared, seemingly provoked by the sight of them standing side by side. Like a falling meteor, he crashed down and blasted a burning crater into the ground.

Otto and Cecilia jumped away in opposite directions. The woman lightly twisted her ankle, and the wound from four days ago seemed to split open beneath her skin, throbbing with pain.

But that movement slowed her by half a beat. When she looked up again, Siegfried had already charged before her once more. Cecilia could only thrust out her lance, preparing to use the force to retreat.

However, she had forgotten what his weapon was—that was Fehu Rune, the Divine Key with the greatest destructive power in human history!

Crack!

The blade formed from searing flames descended, instantly burning the lance to ashes!

"Ha!"

The enraged man did not miss the opportunity. The crimson greatsword rose over his head, stirring up a blazing storm like molten gold!

"Fehu Rune—Unseal!"

This time, amid countless coincidences and under the pull of a man-made destiny, the greatsword of Fehu Rune, said to be wielded for the one its bearer loved, was ultimately swung at the person its wielder loved.

Perhaps in the real world, there were never so many things that were fated. The so-called greatsword of pure love, the inevitable death of heterosexual couples, the cursed Black Abyss White Flower—perhaps they were merely extraordinarily coincidental combinations produced by the machinery of civilization, recorded and believed by those who yearned for patterns, passed from mouth to mouth until they became romantic and beautiful legends.

And coincidences... were the easiest things to weave by human hands.

Cecilia stumbled from the destruction of her weapon. When she looked up again, the greatsword's terrifying force was already before her, and the vast Honkai Energy nearly nailed her in place.

Knowing its power, the woman closed her eyes with a bitter smile and waited for death to descend.

So it was over after all... How laughable. The one to end her in the end was the man she had once traded her life to save on the Siberian snowfields.

Heh.

Cecilia could not help recalling her elder brother's helpless amusement thirteen years ago, when she told Otto why she had saved Siegfried.

How... self-indulgent.

It was just a pity... she had not yet had the chance to repay her elder brother for saving her life and raising her daughter.

Cecilia tightly pressed her lips together to stop herself from losing composure within the blazing fire. Her silver hair flew through the air, drifting like the ending of despair.

"Fehu Rune... is not easy to take head-on."

At that moment, a sigh suddenly sounded beside her. Then a powerful force shoved her backward. Cecilia opened her eyes to see Otto push her behind him, facing the crimson greatsword that reached heaven and earth.

Just as he had during the Second Honkai Outbreak, raising Black Abyss Hundred Flowers high for her beneath the northern sky.

My Target... Has Always Been You! (4.5k, Please Subscribe!)

Otto reached out toward Fehu Rune, emerald light flickering in his eyes.

"Oath."

"Star."

"Fire."

"Sword."

His voice was short and forceful, and he reduced the names of those weapons to a single word each, because the greatsword of Fehu Rune was less than fifty centimeters away from him.

Cecilia saw that each time the man spoke a word, his body swayed once, and his golden hair became a little more transparent.

By the end, the hanging strands had completely turned translucent gold-white. His body trembled slightly, as though he had to exert all his strength merely to remain standing.

Yet he still stood before her, facing the mighty Fehu Rune.

All the mimetic weapons were swiftly constructed—far smaller than usual. The holy cross restrained the Honkai Energy, the blackish-red sphere increased the gravity Siegfried's body endured, sword qi from ancient immortals clashed head-on with Fehu Rune, while the golden greatsword was hurled from a pale arm, streaking toward the beastlike madman wrapped in flames.

For a moment, golden light crisscrossed the air, seemingly intimidating even the scarlet blaze that filled the sky.

"As expected of the Key of Destruction..."