Kiana looked Otto in the eye and said, "I remember you never saw me as a daughter when you first saw me"

[Otto Apocalypse.]

[The Creator of K-423.]

[This is also the last Shackles she must overcome herself.]

"Creator?"

Xu Sanshi raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't they say before that he only created her body? How come he's now the final enemy?"

Bei Bei said in a deep voice, "Because the person who created her tried to decide her entire life."

"They gave her life, but wouldn't allow her to have her own." Tang Ya stared at the Light Screen, her voice filled with obvious dissatisfaction. "What's the difference between this kind of person and someone who destroyed her with their own hands?"

Ning Rongrong gently shook her head.

There are still differences.

Everyone looked at her.

Ning Rongrong stared at the smiling man on the Light Screen, her tone calm. "Destroying a life means robbing her of her future. What Otto did was pre-write her future and force her to live according to his script."

"But the result was just as bad," Ning Tian continued, "Being deprived of a choice is itself a form of destruction."

In the Light Screen, Otto raised his hand.

The Golden Core suddenly erupted.

The entire battlefield seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand, and space began to distort layer by layer. In the distance, Kiana's figure was forcefully pressed to the ground, her knee shattering the metal platform beneath her feet.

Her hands braced against the ground, and countless cracks appeared on the surface of her armor.

Kiana.

Otto's voice came from all directions.

"You should understand that so-called freedom is just another way of saying 'I haven't seen through my destiny.'"

Your body comes from me.

Your power comes from me.

"Even the fact that you're standing here is an opportunity I gave you."

Kiana slowly raised her head.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, but she didn't flinch.

"So what?"

Otto's smile deepened.

Therefore, you have no right to hate me.

The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere outside the Light Screen suddenly became heavy.

Tai Tan clenched his fist tightly.

"Fart!"

His angry roar shook the surrounding space, causing ripples to spread.

"Just because you gave someone a life, does that mean that life belongs to you? I'm the first to disagree with that kind of logic!"

Niu Tian coldly replied, "Life is not a gift, but a right inherent to life itself."

"Well said." Dai Hao's gaze was deep. "An army can train soldiers, but it cannot decide for them what they fight for. Otherwise, it's not an army, it's a cage."

The Xue Ye flicked his sleeve and snorted coldly.

"A Monarch tries to control even the thoughts of his subjects is nothing but a tyrant. How much more so a mere creator?"

Within the Light Screen, Kiana slowly stood up.

She did not immediately refute.

He was just looking at Otto.

There was no fear or confusion in his eyes.

There was only a flame that had been suppressed for far too long.

You're right.

Kiana clenched her fist.

"My body was created by you."

A hint of satisfaction flashed in Otto's eyes.

But the next sentence made his smile freeze.

That's why I've always remembered you.

"I remember you locking me in the Cultivation Pod, I remember you making me undergo training, I remember you calling me by a bunch of cold numbers, I remember you telling everyone that I was only alive to complete the mission."

Kiana raised her head, her blue eyes staring directly at the figure on the high platform.

"I also remember that when you first saw me, you didn't treat me like your daughter at all."

You're just looking at a work of art.

Otto's expression finally changed.

The change was extremely subtle, yet it was noticed by everyone present.

Huo Yuhao's eyes narrowed slightly.

She did not deny that Otto was the Creator.

"But she refuses to acknowledge that the Creator is equivalent to the father," Gu Yuena said calmly. "Blood ties, creation, and kinship are never the same concept."

Tang San nodded slightly.

"She is separating the part of cause and effect that belongs to Otto from the part that belongs to her."

"This step is difficult," Ye Yinzhu sighed, "Because if she completely rejects Otto, she must reject everything she ever received from him."

Purple looked at Kiana, her eyes flickering slightly.

But she didn't do that.

She acknowledges that she was created by Otto, but denies that she exists Otto.

On the Light Screen, Otto raised his hand and waved.

Dozens of Golden Light Blades fell from the sky.

Kiana dodged to the side, the platform beneath her feet being pierced through one after another. Just as she avoided the first wave of attacks, a second wave of Golden Chains emerged from the Void, binding her arms tightly.

Familiar characters appeared on the lock-and-connect-string list.

[K-423.]

[obey.]

[Return to position.]

[implement.]

Each character was like a command that had once been instilled into her consciousness.

For a fleeting moment, Kiana's pupils contracted slightly.

She felt as if she had returned to that cold Laboratory.

A narrow Cultivation Pod.

The lights were blinding.

An unnamed file.

Otto stood outside the glass, observing her appearance when she first awoke through the transparent cabin wall.

"Look."

Otto's voice rang in her ears.

No matter how far you go, you'll eventually come back here.

The chains tightened suddenly.

Kiana's body was dragged into the air.

"You can hate me, you can rebel against me, you can even kill me."

But you can never escape everything I've given you.

"Because you are K-423."

The golden characters around them spun wildly.

Kiana's power began to be forcibly suppressed, and the energy within her body surged through her veins like a torrent without an outlet.

Xiao Xiao couldn't help but clench the hem of her clothes.

How will she break free?

"This Binding isn't just about force," Tian Hen whispered, "It's a lock on the spirit and on causality."

"The more she denies it, the tighter the chains become," Rong Nianbing added, "Because the more she tries to prove she has nothing to do with Otto, the easier it is for Otto to define her."

Zhou Weiqing frowned.

"Isn't that an unsolvable problem?"

"There's a solution," Lei Xiang suddenly said.

Everyone looked at him.

Lei Xiang's gaze fell on the Light Screen, and he said in a deep voice, "She cannot prove that she is not something Otto created."

"What she wants to prove is... that even a body created by Otto can walk a path that Otto never designed."

The next moment, Kiana in the scene slowly closed her eyes.

There was no struggle.

There was no roaring.

They didn't rush to destroy the chains.

She simply let her consciousness sink into her body.

There, she saw a sword.

That sword did not come from Laboratory, nor was it a gift from any Gods.

It had accompanied her through countless battles, cutting down enemies, and had helped her rise from the ground when she was covered in wounds.

A crooked mark was engraved on the blade.

That was a wound she sustained during her first solo battle.

"This sword..."

He Caitou's eyes turned serious.

"It's not a divine artifact, but it's more important than one."

"Because it records the path she walked herself," Bei Bei said.

Amidst the flashing swords, Kiana saw many figures.

Someone pulled her back when she made a mistake.

Someone was there for her when she was scared.