It was quite a nice cheat. Otto inwardly marveled at how it could exploit such a huge loophole in the Imaginary Tree.
He just did not know where its limits lay.
Could he abduct a Heroine?
Preferably one who could beat Kevin up.
Herrschers might be worth trying too.
Honestly, if he could make deeper use of time... he might truly be able to reverse the timeline, even contend against the Tree and the Sea of Trees.
Of course, he could not pin the future on the assumption that his cheat had no limits.
What if, when he squared off against the Tree and the Sea of Trees, he discovered it was some Cat Brand cheat? Then he would be finished.
As everyone knew, transmigrators heading to the world of Honkai Impact 3rd mostly carried Cat Brand cheats. Getting a Point Brand would already be Amitabha, a blessing beyond measure; Donkey Brand cheats were rarer still, something seen once in a millennium.
Otto's thoughts raced as one plan after another surfaced in his mind and swiftly took shape.
"But now is not the time to put them into action. What I need to do now is gather every controllable force into my hands."
Still thinking, Otto walked out. Behind the door stood a white-haired girl wearing orange crystal goggles, quietly awaiting his orders.
Before stirring up the timeline, Otto had actually been unwilling to come into contact with Amber. After all, she knew far too much.
But now, Otto had gained quite a bit of confidence.
After all, he had spent twenty days as Bishop.
Aside from being a hundred million times too lenient with Cecilia, he had done his best to play Otto at all other times.
Though Amber knew him deeply, she was ultimately only a half-successful clone.
As long as he settled everything before the girl reacted to any of his unusual behavior, she could only accept it in a muddle.
No panic. It was not a big problem.
"Amber." Otto reached out, lifted her goggles, then set them back down. A nostalgic look appeared on his face. "Tsk, tsk. You really do look alike."
"No matter how much Lord Otto praises my resemblance to Lady Kallen, it does not change the fact that you spent the entire morning playing Kallen Fantasy instead of reviewing documents."
Amber's tone was calm, but the reproach in her words made Otto's expression stiffen. "Haha... well, isn't that why I have a secretary like you?"
The girl nodded calmly, as though she had no objection to Otto's words, then opened the document in her hands. "I have largely dealt with the other matters. Only one matter requires Lord Bishop's decision."
"What is it?"
"The Far East Branch's funding application. Lady Theresa is dissatisfied with last month's amount and has requested an additional one hundred billion dollars."
"How much?"
Otto blurted out his surprise, but upon recalling his identity, he quickly adjusted his tone into one of raised-brow interest.
"Lord Bishop, it is one hundred billion dollars. Including the base funding and your occasional subsidies, the total comes to two hundred billion dollars."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... my four-legged money-eating beast is truly impressive."
Otto found it rather amusing.
"Based on the Honkai situation at the Far East Branch, how much should I be paying, Amber?"
Amber hesitated slightly before answering, "Um... ten billion, Bishop."
"Ten billion..."
He walked to a window, recalling the plot surrounding the principal of St. Freya Academy.
Theresa the Fool, the rebellious granddaughter of Schicksal's Bishop. Genetically speaking, her "mother" was Kallen, and her "father" was the Honkai Beast Vishnu.
Yes, from the very beginning, she had been a symbol of Otto cuckolding himself.
So... why was he about to run into this rebellious granddaughter so soon?
The original owner had doted on that oversized loli because she, like Kallen, brimmed with a sense of justice. And with a casual use of Feather of Dust, he could turn the little girl into an idiot.
Under the original owner's nearly unrestrained indulgence, this loli in her forties used public funds to buy manga, withheld employee salaries, and sent A-rank Valkyrie students off for experiments...
After the original owner built St. Freya for her, the little brat had even complained that it was too lavish, saying it looked like some aristocratic school from five hundred years ago...
Of course, he had no place to criticize her.
Otto himself was no good person either.
But... that guy had been willing to spoil her. What did that have to do with him?
The current Otto did not harbor any particular dislike for Theresa. Scientifically speaking, hormones affected the brain, and Theresa's childlike body determined that her brain did not work properly—ignoring certain extraordinary beings here, such as the ivory-white jade chopsticks, Observant Stargazer, previously aboard his Hyperion.
She was just one Theresa. Could mighty Schicksal not afford to raise a human brat?
Of course, the current Otto did not like her enough to indulge her either.
He did want to use her to realize a few of his own ideas...
"Amber." Otto suddenly spoke.
"Bishop, I am here."
Hearing Otto call her, Amber hurriedly answered.
"Can we still determine Siegfried Kaslana's location?"
"We can roughly identify several Anti-Entropy strongholds he frequents, and each of those strongholds has Schicksal operatives planted within."
She thought for a moment, then finally could not help asking:
"Bishop... are you planning to capture him and bring him back?"
"Haha, no. Why capture him?"
Otto was smiling, but his eyes were filled with cold detachment.
Traitors could not be trusted.
Even if he needed a foundation, he had no desire to place his hopes on foolish white-haired idiots like Siegfried and Theresa.
Because when they went mad, even while endangering the entire world, they would still believe themselves to be right. They would believe they were fighting for something, and that if the world lacked such beautiful things, then people did not deserve to be called people.
If he were still a Honkai Impact 3rd player, he might have sighed that the writing was very idealistic. But after becoming Otto of this world...
All he could say was that, from beginning to end, they were just like him: wanting to protect the people they cared about.
What Otto wanted were Valkyries who knew he was irredeemably vile, yet still stayed beside him to defend the light; people who, though they saw his darkness, could see hope for fighting Honkai in him and thus chose to stand by his side.
Kaslanas... Otto could fool them for a while, but he truly could not be bothered guarding against them for a lifetime.
When he needed those white-haired dumplings to prove their worth, he naturally had ways to make them fall into his script while believing it was their own choice, or happily "fight for all that is beautiful in the world."
For example, right now.
"Amber, notify Fu Hua and Rita. Have them lead a Valkyrie squad to St. Freya in Schicksal's name, claiming we require the Eleventh Divine Key. If they do not hand over the Oath of Judah, the Far East Branch's funding will not be increased."
"After obtaining the Oath of Judah, remove part of what is stored beneath St. Freya. Rita will lead the transport to Schicksal Headquarters—Fu Hua will remain there on standby."
"Only part of it. The important thing is to let Theresa find out by accident. Siegfried as well."
Otto gazed out at the endless night sky. When Amber accepted the order and then looked up in astonishment, she saw the smile filling his eyes.
She understood what this meant.
She also knew the consequences of this matter.
But...
"Yes."
Amber lowered her head. She did not want Otto to see the emotion that flashed through her eyes.
Lord Otto...
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Amber, What Are You Imagining?
December 23rd, 3:21 a.m.
Otto stepped into an uninhabited restricted zone.
It was a small church, and at its center stood a statue.
The original owner did not revere gods. But there was a god in his heart.
The statue depicted Kallen leaning against the Oath of Judah.
Of course, it was only a sculpture.
"Wow~ in honor of Otto's eternally beloved~ Kallen Kaslana?"
Clearly, the current Otto did not possess the slightest piety. He gave the statue of Kallen an extremely exaggerated bow, then pressed his right hand against the sculpture's chest and used his left hand to activate the mechanism, opening the hidden passage behind Kallen.
At first, the passage was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person. After turning left and winding around for dozens of steps, he finally saw a light.
He had reached the core of the secret chamber. In the glowing ice-blue coffin at its center slept Kallen, the goddess the original owner had longed for day and night.
She lay quietly in the custom-made coffin, looking like a princess asleep and waiting for a prince's kiss.
"Sadly, the one obsessed with her was a knight—and the villainous supporting character in this story."
Otto shook his head and looked around.
The security and defensive measures here were even more numerous than those at Schicksal Headquarters.
If something happened here, Schicksal would more or less be finished as well.
—Of course, bringing down Schicksal was not difficult.
He did not approach Kallen's body. Instead, he circled around it and headed left.
Just as he was willing to indulge Theresa from time to time, allowing this sleeping beauty to rest here peacefully was one of the few respects he could offer that love-struck fool from five hundred years ago.
Otto continued through the darkness. The surroundings were frighteningly silent, yet it felt as though something were watching him.
But he remained unhurried, strolling leisurely down the corridor as if taking a walk through his own backyard after a full meal.
They were merely lasers covering the walls. From detection to killing an intruder, it would not take very long, and the victim would not feel pain.
Besides, for Otto Apocalypse, Schicksal Headquarters truly was a perfectly secure backyard—at least until some brat smashed his Soul Steel face.
Otto walked slowly, but he was not deliberately stalling for time.
When he reached the end of the corridor, a trace of seriousness finally appeared in his casual eyes.
At the end of the corridor stood a great door, painted with a medieval clock.
At this moment, he would turn the hands of time.
"Schicksal's final Saintess, Cecilia Schariac, makes her entrance here."
His voice echoed through the corridor, solemn yet calm.
Otto raised his hand and lightly knocked on the door at the end.
The door rose like the curtain of an opera slowly opening. Otto clasped his hands behind his back and walked into the secret chamber at an unhurried pace.
The chamber was dark. Its sole light source was a cylindrical pod, where translucent nutrient fluid glimmered with faint fluorescence.
The nutrient fluid flowed slowly, outlining a holy and beautiful body.
By that dim light, Otto gazed at Schicksal's former Saintess, and his heartbeat unconsciously quickened.
The woman's face was exquisite, needless to say. Compared to the youthful charm that had enthralled both men and women when he first saw her, the Cecilia in her twenties possessed an added maternal tenderness and beauty.
Her figure was also perfection beyond mortal measure: a slender neck, rounded shoulders, full hips, and beneath delicate collarbones, a pair of snowy, creamy breasts stood proudly. Her snake-slender waist extended only slightly before flaring dramatically above and below, tracing breathtaking curves.
Yet none of this made her seem seductive. On the contrary, combined with the holy, beautiful aura surrounding her and the faint glow emitted by the pod, Cecilia truly seemed like a Saintess descended into the world, leaving no room for impure thoughts—only praise remained in one's heart.
Even though Otto swiftly came to his senses and regained his rationality after that brief shock, he still could not bear to shift his eyes from her lovely body in the slightest.
So what needed to be done... had to be done.
"Amber."
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