Otto, I'm Cutting Off Your Internet! / Let That Tyrant in the Heavens See the Stars Shatter

He spoke to the skateboard beneath his feet.

Though she did not know why, the Valkyrie complied.

A coin made of Soulium fell into Ming Yu's hand.

Ming Yu raised his head and aimed the Soulium coin in his hand at the ever-growing sphere of concentrated Honkai energy.

Gathering all his strength at his fingertips, he launched the Soulium coin.

"...Railgun!"

P.S:

Back when I read the Anti-Entropy visual novel, the plot involving Franklin, the money guy, was cryptic as hell.

But considering that Teacher Big V also used an interferometer in the 1.5 storyline, this "Franklin" was very likely a refugee from Venus.

Otto, I'm Cutting Off Your Internet

As the Railgun struck the ultra-high-yield sphere of concentrated Honkai energy, a magnificent firework exploded across the sky.

Fortunately, it had already risen high enough. Exploding at that altitude had a rather limited impact on the ground and the sea.

Against the backdrop of the fireworks, Ming Yu slowly descended from the sky on Reanna-brand skateboard, carrying the unconscious blue-haired girl in his arms.

"Edison!"

Tesla hurried over. Only after confirming that she was still breathing did she finally relax a little.

"She's suffering from severe Honkai energy corrosion. She needs emergency treatment now."

Ming Yu reminded them.

After being exposed to ultra-high-yield Honkai energy at close range for so long, her Honkai energy resistance simply could not withstand corrosion of that intensity.

Fortunately, there happened to be an expert in treating Honkai energy injuries among those present.

Reanna had already returned to human form and was about to pick up Abyss Flower to treat Edison with its Zeroth Power.

At that moment, a blond man appeared before them.

He wore glasses, and there was a hint of melancholy on his face.

Tesla recognized him and said in surprise:

"Isn't this the Finn? Are you all right?"

As an ancient literature scholar, he had helped them decipher quite a few ancient documents.

Whether it was the knowledge of the Moonlight Throne or the search for Star of Eden, they could not have done without his help.

The Finn said shamefully:

"I heard Miss Edison's broadcast too... I... This was all because of me! I was threatened by that person!"

Before anyone else could voice their confusion, he spilled everything himself:

"He used my child to threaten me! I didn't mean to do it! I didn't know the experiment's failure would have such serious consequences!

"The Overseer only said that he had altered the later data in the ancient scrolls beforehand, and that it would make Edison waste her time for nothing!

"He merely told me casually that he did not want Edison to claim the Moonlight Throne, this epoch-making invention, for herself!

"How was I supposed to know..."

—That the disaster in New York would be so severe, nearly costing countless people their lives.

His voice trembled, and he could barely continue.

Joyce had originally intended to say something, but Reanna moved with astonishing speed.

She... no, he picked up Abyss Flower and easily drove it through the Finn's chest before anyone could react.

"...You let far too much slip, idiot."

"Wait... Otto?!"

Tesla cried out in shock.

Before all of them, Reanna's original body kept transforming, gradually revealing half of Otto's appearance.

"...Mechanical hippocampus takeover rate: 99%. Soulium skin, fitting complete."

Reanna's Soulium body continued to transform, soon taking on the full appearance of a blond man.

"From a physical standpoint, I am the Valkyrie who traveled here with you, Reanna Brigantia."

"...?!"

The moment he said that, everyone present aside from Ming Yu wore shocked expressions.

"Though quite a few of you know me already... I suppose I should introduce myself nonetheless."

The blond man was quite pleased with their reactions. Gracefully raising a hand, he introduced himself:

"I am Otto Apocalypse, presently serving as Schicksal Overseer."

"Otto... What kind of trick are you pulling?!"

Joyce said anxiously.

Their experiences along the way had already led him to regard this Valkyrie as a friend.

Now, not only were the Pole and Edison seriously injured, but Reanna also seemed to have been controlled by Otto through some special method.

"Don't be so anxious, my dear pen pal..."

Otto said unhurriedly:

"I have merely appeared within one of my mechanical bodies. Surely that does not count as 'magic,' does it?"

Then he revealed a ghostly smile:

"Reanna Brigantia... the most powerful Valkyrie of the past century, and the one I have relied on most. What made her so powerful was not some intangible spiritual quality, but—

"This perfect immortal body, forged from countless relics of the Previous Era that I painstakingly selected!"

This fact struck everyone present like a blow.

Tesla's eyes widened as she asked in disbelief:

"You... What exactly are you talking about?"

"Dear Miss Tesla, clever as you are, you have already thought of the answer. You simply refuse to face reality. What stands before you is nothing more than a real-life... Ship of Theseus."

In the first century AD, a man named Plutarch once posed a question: if the wood on Theseus's ship was gradually replaced until none of it was the original wood, was it still the same ship?

"After more than a century and thousands of major and minor bodily modifications, do you think this body is a Valkyrie, or a machine?"

Thousands of experiments had been more than enough for him to leave the necessary backdoors within this body, allowing him to seize control with ease at a critical moment.

"My dear Herrscher pen pal, if you could live long enough, you would understand how important it is for an immortal to preserve his combat strength... Of course, you will not have that chance. After all, you will all die here today."

Otto said it lightly.

"You...!"

Joyce glared at Otto through gritted teeth.

"I have finished speaking. Frankly, you ought to feel honored."

Otto extended a hand and announced frivolously:

"—Not many enemies are worthy of being personally executed by Otto Apocalypse as he is now!"

As his words fell, golden light appeared behind him.

They were several God Keys constructed through an Authority identical to Joyce's.

"Joyce, I understand the First Herrscher's abilities far better than you do."

Otto looked at the deep-blue-haired man and spoke casually.

The Void Archives he possessed held Authority equal to Joyce's own.

With Reanna, the greatest threat, removed, his five hundred years of life experience and Void Archives' power were more than enough to deal with these fledglings.

A life-and-death battle seemed ready to erupt at any moment.

However, Ming Yu's calm voice rang out just then:

"Otto, are you done performing?"

"Hehe, at a time like this, what else could you possibly—"

Otto's voice came to an abrupt halt.

The golden constructs beside him also dissolved into motes of light almost at the same time.

"I can do this—for example, make you shut up."

Ming Yu extended his hand, continuously releasing a kind of electromagnetic pulse that battered the Schicksal Overseer before him.

Of all martial arts, this was EMP.

No matter what, Otto was currently controlling Reanna's body remotely. As long as Ming Yu severed the connection between Otto and this body, Otto would have no way to keep causing trouble.

At the very least, he would not be able to keep spouting that garbage.

By releasing a brief but powerful electromagnetic pulse, he could easily paralyze all kinds of machinery. Reanna's body was naturally no exception.

The ability to control electromagnetism was the absolute bane of mechanical constructs.

Otto and Reanna's body collapsed just like that, loosening its grip on Abyss Flower as it fell.

Joyce hurried forward and picked up Abyss Flower.

The instant he touched the twin God Keys, he immediately understood how to use them. The mysteries of life's Genesis unfolded before his eyes.

—Now, he needed to use it immediately to treat the Finn and Edison, who were both on the verge of death.

Joyce did not know where this knowledge came from, but the chanting of the spell, the manipulation of Honkai energy, the resetting of genes—everything felt so natural and harmonious.

"I am the black from the abyss. I am the white descending from the heavens. Born before creation, existing after annihilation; I shall freely grant the spring of life to the thirsty. God Key: Abyss Flower, Zeroth Power—Hundred-Year-Old Orchid of the Holy Lance!"

Holy light descended, shining upon Edison and the Finn as their life signs gradually stabilized.

"Ha... ha..."

Having unleashed that power, Joyce collapsed to the ground and gasped for breath.

Although the price of using Abyss Flower seemed completely different from Star of Eden's—apparently some kind of life-consuming cost—he did not care.

The past month, during which he had truly lived as a human, had already become an invaluable treasure to him.

Ming Yu came to Joyce's side, patted him on the shoulder, and offered him a hand, pulling the First Herrscher who fought for humanity to his feet.

Then, with a grave expression, he raised his head and looked toward a certain point in the sky.

The trouble Otto had brought was far from over.

Though Ming Yu had just cut off Otto's internet and made him disconnect, one final problem still remained.

It was also, historically, the final and most difficult crisis faced by the North American Branch.

—Out of humiliation and rage, Otto was about to fire a Honkai Fission Bomb at New York to erase them all. Its power was enough to flatten the entire city.

Let the Tyrant in the Sky Take a Good Look at How Stars Shatter

After driving Otto back, those who remained at the scene quickly learned through various means that Otto had launched some kind of missile at them.

According to the data displayed by a radar temporarily created by Joyce, the missile would strike their current location in ten minutes at most.

"This is... an intercontinental missile?"

Tesla asked doubtfully.

"No, it's a Honkai Fission Bomb."