Tesla: Welt, You Son of a ***!

He raised his hand. Purple ripples lit up, finally condensing into a...

Slingshot?

"...All right."

Otto raised his brows, somewhat surprised by the weapon's willfulness. In the end, he smiled and gripped the slingshot.

"There is one thing you got right," he continued. "When someone is truly targeted by Schicksal..."

The man aimed the slingshot at the mass of flesh. As if sensing danger, it began to writhe uneasily.

"What he should consider is not resistance, but hiding himself away and doing everything he can to cling to life!"

A purple sphere lit up atop the utterly unremarkable weapon. Without the slightest impurity, it looked like a crystalline agate when still.

Yet no one dared underestimate it. The aura it radiated upon appearing made everyone present frown.

It solidified and grew. With a flick of Otto's wrist, it shot forward at high speed and landed on that mass of flesh—

The purple agate exploded upon the bloody body, like a blooming flower of death. Dazzling, magnificent light erupted from the crater, rivaling even the Tai Xu Sword God from moments ago!

The microscopic particles within the flesh underwent violent changes. Electromagnetic interaction vanished completely, and Welt's body turned into atoms at an unimaginable speed, dispersing into the air. In the blink of an eye, only that crystalline blue Herrscher Core remained in the crater!

This was the true power of the Third Divine Key. With one move, all things were judged!

"Otto!"

A fierce wind surged through the air, and Welt Yang's furious roar faintly echoed from the crater. Otto could not help clicking his tongue.

"My, my. You could still make a sound while being decomposed. I truly wonder how you would escape if I gave you enough time by saying a few more words."

The man grinned and said softly,

"But no matter what, the master of Anti-Entropy, the one who resisted his erroneous fate, ends here."

Strategically, one should despise the enemy; tactically, one should take the enemy seriously. Though Otto did not hold Anti-Entropy in high regard verbally, he still placed immense importance—or rather, murderous intent—upon its leader.

He did not dare underestimate Welt in the slightest.

Not even now.

After all, the Welt of the future had trapped Kevin Kaslana, the strongest Fusion Warrior of the Previous Era, in Sea Abyss City for two years.

Welt, having opened the Path to Godhood, was even said to be capable of facing Finality head-on.

Thus, Otto had laid out his scheme step by step. In the final ambush, Oath of Judah restricted his movements, Staff of the Underworld severed his core, God-Slaying Spear disrupted his bodily functions, Tai Xu Sword God slew his physical body, and finally, Seven Thunders of Repose decomposed his body.

Furthermore, Black Abyss Hundred Flowers, Key of Domination, and a series of other Divine Keys stood ready at any moment within Void Archives' space. It could be said that every force Schicksal could mobilize aside from the Saintess had been deployed, with no means left unused.

Just as Otto had said, before carrying out the assassination, he had already made preparations to ensure success.

The mockery in his words was merely the confidence born from having prepared everything.

Of course, even though Otto had exhausted every means and reduced Welt to nothing but a core, he still did not dare guarantee that he had truly killed him.

Welt's knack for getting back up was no joke. He had punched Sirin, kicked Kevin—though he had not beaten either of them—and forcibly survived from Honkai Impact 3rd to Honkai: Star Rail. His tenacity was obvious.

But regardless, after Otto's attack, which offered no chance of survival, Welt Yang would be unable to pose a threat to him in terms of strength from now until Finality descended in the future.

For a long time to come, the Herrscher of Reason Core would remain within Otto's grasp.

"That is enough."

Otto accepted the Honkai Energy Isolation Box handed over by Fu Hua, placed the blue Herrscher Core inside, then picked up the shattered Star of Eden at his feet and put both it and the box into Void Archives' space.

"From now on, there will no longer be any actor on this Earth capable of stepping beyond my stage."

—A certain Fusion Warrior was still riding over from Earth.

He put away his weapons and took several steps toward Rita.

By then, the tall maid in black stockings had already soothed everyone. Seeing Otto arrive, she consciously stepped aside and allowed him to become the center of attention.

"Greetings, Valkyries of St. Freya."

The blond man smiled and greeted the people before him.

"I am Otto Apocalypse, Archbishop of Schicksal. I am delighted to have come here and met such youthful, promising, high-spirited Valkyries."

"So this is our Archbishop of Schicksal?"

"Wow, Lord Bishop is so handsome. Hehe..."

"What are you thinking? Didn't you see what he just—"

"Shh, idiot. Do you want to be silenced?"

"I know what you just witnessed."

Otto let out a long sigh and put on a slightly melancholy expression.

"Yes, I am sorry. I gave you such a terrible impression the moment I arrived."

The man's voice was soft, yet everyone heard him clearly.

"I killed your history teacher, Welt Yang."

"What?"

"That really was Teacher Welt?"

"So this is Bishop Otto? What did Teacher Welt do to make Lord Bishop personally eliminate him?"

"The bishop must have had his reasons..."

The crowd grew noisy. Most of them looked at the man before them with hesitation, questioning him with their eyes.

What exactly had happened?

"I am sorry, Valkyries." Otto's lips curled into a somewhat exaggerated smile as he spoke loudly. "I am not as wonderful as you imagined."

Amid the uproar, he smiled as if preparing to expose himself.

PS1: The Tai Xu Sword God essentially constructs and extends Honkai Energy—that is, it uses Honkai Energy in reality to launch magical attacks. That is why it could shatter Welt's bones.

PS2: Oath of Judah's restraint had already been withdrawn before Sushang drew her sword. You can see that Staff of the Underworld and God-Slaying Spear were withdrawn, so Oath of Judah must have returned as well.

Tesla: Welt, You **!

"What does that mean?"

Li Sushang, who stood closest to him, could not help blurting it out.

Even Fu Hua frowned.

What was Otto doing? Had he finally grown a conscience and decided to expose himself?

Or... was he plotting something else?

"The person we killed," the blond man said, raising an arm high, "was a Herrscher of Honkai. In the language of Sushang and the Far East, he was a great demon—well, a demon who had not yet committed evil."

"Do you remember the forbidden book you told me you had secretly read?" Otto looked at Li Sushang. "Journey to the West—if I were the Jade Emperor, then the man just now would be the Monkey King."

You still remember our conversation?! Li Sushang thought instinctively.

Five hundred years. You still remember a conversation from five hundred years ago?

So...

The young heroine's creamy cheeks puffed up, unconsciously flushing with a glistening pink.

"But, Lord Bishop," Rita immediately took over when she saw Li Sushang's wandering gaze, "what does this have to do with our topic?!"

"Right now," Otto answered, "Sun Wukong is in the same room as the Golden Crow."

"The Golden Crow— the Jade Emperor's son?" Sushang suddenly understood. "You mean your son is in the academy, and that Sun Wukong is also in the academy, so you eliminated him just in case?"

So you already have a son...

The girl's eyes dimmed slightly. The pink on her cheeks faded, her ahoge drooped, and an inexplicable sense of melancholy arose in her heart.

No wonder that attendant of yours named Amber has been taking me around these past few days. So... you were avoiding suspicion.

Then... have you succeeded already?

That is just wonderful.

Really, just wonderful. Truly. I am not lying.

She had already let it go. Really.

"A granddaughter," Otto corrected. "Theresa Apocalypse, my adopted granddaughter. She is also the principal of St. Freya Academy."

A granddaughter... right, after five hundred years, you should have children and grandchildren everywhere. Having a granddaughter is not surprising... wait?

Adopted?

An adopted granddaughter?

Li Sushang's ahoge perked back up.

At this point, the other two Valkyries also reacted. Fu Hua merely turned her head aside, offering no particular comment on his words.

Five hundred years of experience had taught her never to play word games with Otto under any circumstances.

Durandal, who had long since been thoroughly misled, naturally believed him and nodded.

"I understand, Bishop. You mean he infiltrated St. Freya with unknown intentions, but for Lady Theresa's safety, you killed him."

What a perfect straight man.

"So, I am not as wonderful as you imagined."

Otto smiled and nodded.

"Giving the order to besiege the leader of Anti-Entropy was, more than anything else, simply a grandfather's selfishness toward his granddaughter."

He glanced at Rita, who was already struggling not to laugh, and reached up to smooth his bangs. As he lowered his hand, his index finger casually brushed across his lips.

Shh. Do not give it away.

Rita restrained her smile and gave a slight bow to show that she understood.

"That is right, Valkyries of St. Freya." Otto turned around and spread his arms. "I just killed your history teacher, Welt Yang—because of my selfishness."

He was not at all surprised to see the students at a loss.

"Of course, personally, I do not necessarily think it counts as selfishness."

"In truth," Otto continued, "he was the leader of Anti-Entropy, the Herrscher of Reason, and the head of an organization opposed to Schicksal. Do you remember the First Honkai you learned about in history, the disaster that killed hundreds of thousands? The Herrscher who appeared amid those ruins afterward was the Herrscher of Reason, Welt."

He had not spoken a single lie, but often, lies did not need falsehood.

The essence of deception was giving people an incorrect understanding. Arranging truths into a particular form could just as easily lead people into the territory the deceiver desired.

"Schicksal once gave Welt an opportunity and allowed him to remain in America," the blond man continued. "For a time, I trusted him as well. I personally told him that if he wished, I was willing to entrust this beautiful world to him. He could ascend as Archbishop of Schicksal while I immersed myself in research."

"I do not know what he was thinking, but I believe you all know how things ended after Schicksal trusted him."

He controlled his expression into one of heaviness.

"The North American branch defected from Schicksal, established Anti-Entropy, and stood against me as an equal."

—Anyone who knew that period of history would find it absurd, yet after thinking it over, they could only fall silent.

There was not a single falsehood in Otto's words. He had merely... selected and arranged the truth.

History books were little girls anyone could dress up, were they not?

"Was that really how it happened?"

"It must have been—how could Lord Bishop possibly lie?!"

"Then it is fortunate Lord Bishop discovered it in time. Otherwise, St. Freya..."

"Forget St. Freya. Even the Far East might have been in danger!"