Otto Spread His Arms to Welcome Two Blazing Fires: At Last, You're Attacking Me with Everything You Have

"He raised them... raised them until, in the end, only those two could still stand. This wasn't a coincidence. He adjusted everyone's life and death, strength, and awakening to the same mark. Now, that mark was full. He no longer needed to hide anything."

On the screen, Otto stood at the center of the pillar of light. Streams of golden data coiled around his body, his robes billowing as his blond hair seemed to burn amid the Light Flame. Slowly, he raised his head and looked toward the unseen shadow of a tree at the pillar's end. His lips moved slightly, as if he were speaking to some impossibly distant presence.

"The Imaginary Tree has responded," he said.

"What... does that mean?" Xiao Xiao asked, her voice so soft it was nearly inaudible.

"It means the world has acknowledged this passage," Huo Yuhao said. "From now on, Otto can follow this pillar to the root of the world. He no longer needs Kiana and Durandal to open the door for him. What he needs is for them to follow him. To stand behind him, before the tree. Their fury and power will become the most stable Anchor Point for him to rewrite reality."

"But aren't they trying to stop him?" A'Dai asked in a muffled voice. "Why would going up there help him instead?"

"Because they still have hatred in their hearts, and love, and people they want to protect," Gu Yuena said softly. "Emotions intense enough to resist the Will of Honkai are precisely what the tree recognizes. Otto himself is already empty, with nothing left but obsession. The tree will not heed him. But if Kiana and Durandal burn at his side, that pillar will be filled with their emotions. The more they hate him, the more desperately