Otto: I Used Durandal as a Sword, but She Planted Herself in the Ground and Became a Wall

"So this was a combination of shield and fire," Chang Gongwei said gravely. "One used flesh and blood to break through a God's restraints, while the other used the fire of will to burn through a God's barrier. Without Durandal, Kiana's fire could never reach him. Without Kiana, even if Durandal held on until death, she would only be taking blows passively. Neither of them could do without the other."

"But that blonde girl... how much longer can she hold on?" Xiao Xiao's voice trembled.

On the screen, Durandal dropped to one knee. An enormous Binding Chain pressed down on her back, as though it meant to force her entire body into the floor of the divine hall. Her arms shook, and the veins in her neck stood out one by one. Yet she stubbornly refused to fall. That nonexistent "shield" was holding her up from within, beneath that chain.

"She was telling the world no," Lie Yan said softly, her voice seeming to rise from ashes. "Otto said, 'Don't move.' She said, 'I'll stand anyway.' This wasn't strength fighting strength. It was life fighting life. She had turned her own life into the road beneath Kiana's feet. A girl like that was never meant to be written into anyone's story as a Chess Piece."

"But what about Otto?" Ji Dong suddenly asked. "Was he just standing there watching?"

On the screen, Otto stood in the depths of white light. Binding Chains kept dropping down around him, like a thousand hands reaching from the heavens. He did not continue his pursuit. He did not even look at Kiana. With his eyes lowered, he stared at Durandal, half-kneeling on the ground yet still refusing to fall.

"He was watching," Tang San said. "Not her strength, but why she still hadn't fallen.