Chapter 104

"..."

K422 was immediately speechless.

"The Schicksal has already reduced the influence of religion, so why not just abolish it completely, especially by getting rid of this outdated practice?"

Things like the Chamber of Judgment, the church-style Welfare Facility, and the Bible-like textbooks—in short, there are still many religious traces in Schicksal.

Especially the formal attire of the candidates, which is the so-called Nun's habit.

It is said that more than a decade ago, Valkyrie candidates from churches under the Schicksal banner would return to their respective churches to sing hymns on the Day of Gratitude.

There is no such requirement now, nor is it mandatory for Valkyrie to believe in any so-called god.

However, she still retains many of her habits. For example, Theresa's current formal attire is mainly white, decorated with gold thread, and she wears a tall crown on her head. She holds a scepter in her right hand and wears a brand-new admonition on her left hand.

This color is reserved for the robes worn by the highest bishop of the Schicksal, that is, the Grand Bishop.

For example, when the original Cardinal were transformed into the Senate, they all wore red robes and gold thread when holding Senate Meeting.

"Don't ask me anything. I'm a useless assistant now... I don't have much authority, I don't even know the secret passages in the office. Besides being a mascot, I'm just a fool..."

"Try to think positively. Maybe there's someone even more foolish than you?" K422 thought for a moment and decided to comfort the sulking young lady.

"Waaah, they didn't deny that I'm a fool..." Theresa almost burst into tears.

"This is troublesome. Can't we go find that bastard bishop first?"

K422 said somewhat angrily. In fact, she simply did not believe that Otto would abandon his position as Grand Bishop and run away.

"How could that bastard have gotten away?!"

"Wait for me!"

Seeing K422 quicken his pace, Theresa became anxious. Her clothes were extremely heavy, but the heaviness was secondary; the most important thing was that they were cumbersome, making it almost impossible for her to take large steps.

She had no other choice but to lift her skirt and frantically take small steps, her two feet in red boots peeking out from under the skirt becoming blurry images.

K422 and Theresa soon arrived at the secret room at the end of the passage.

Otto was indeed here.

But he isn't here.

After K422 pushed open the door to the secret room, he looked at Otto standing on the grass and was about to blurt out "damn bishop" when he saw that Otto's body on the grass was very illusory.

The other party was merely a holographic projection of this secret room.

"Grandpa? No, what's this?"

Perhaps sensing something, the image that had been facing away from them turned around.

"The one who would be here at this time is probably my lovely K422, and, well, my lovely Theresa should be here too... Since you're both here, then I'll formally entrust the Schicksal to the two of you here. You'd better do your best~"

With that, Otto's image vanished, accompanied by a triumphant, mischievous grin.

111. Even more vulgar than frog urine.

Seeing Otto's image disappear, both K422 and Theresa had to admit that Otto had run away.

"They really... ran away."

When the person he hated and was most hostile to suddenly disappeared, K422's first feeling was emptiness.

"What exactly is Grandpa's purpose in doing this?"

Theresa's eyes were blank.

Otto split the supreme authority of the Schicksal in two, and now it falls on a nine-year-old child and a child in his fifties.

K422 was very worried that Schicksal would be bankrupted by her and Theresa in a few days.

After Otto truly disappeared, she found herself feeling helpless.

Even with her eagerness to learn, she didn't believe she was capable of managing such a large organization.

In fact, given Otto's position, he was practically the emperor of this empire called Schicksal.

"Have no idea..."

Even K422 could only give this answer at this point.

Her mind was filled with chaotic thoughts; she couldn't believe Otto had given up the position of Grand Bishop, yet she also believed that Otto was indeed capable of doing such a thing.

"... Then what should we do?"

"Theresa, I'm still a child." K422, feeling a headache coming on, didn't want to answer her question.

After all, she was completely unprepared to accept that Otto had run away.

"Alright, perhaps... we should hold a meeting and announce that His Holiness the Archbishop has secretly gone to his place of recuperation. The two of us will take over the Schicksal, and then we will exercise the authority of the Acting Grand Bishop. I think we should form a team of advisors... After all, Theresa isn't very bright, and I'm so young..."

"..."

Theresa felt like she had been stabbed in the heart several times.

"Should we assemble a staff team?"

"Yeah, does Theresa really think the two of us can manage this Schicksal?"

K422 sighed.

She did consider managing the Schicksal herself, but after thinking about it, she felt that doing so would only ruin Schicksal.

For True Kiana and K423's safety, a stable social environment and a secure Schicksal are obviously of paramount importance.

"Theresa, do you have the same ability to understand people as His Holiness the Bishop?"

"...No, no." Under K422's gaze, Theresa shook her head.

"So, Theresa, you seem to have experience managing a branch. Do you have any unique insights into managing the entire Schicksal? Or are you capable of maintaining stability like His Holiness the Bishop?"

K422 asked again.

At this point, she could only try her best to recruit useful people for herself.

Theresa, with her experience managing a Far East Branch, is not without merit.

K422 just hoped the other party wouldn't make a rash decision at a crucial moment, but compared to someone like herself who knew nothing and understood nothing, Theresa was definitely more capable and knowledgeable in management than she was...

To her surprise, Theresa shook her head again.

"I manage the Far East Branch with the help of friends. If I were to manage just one branch, it would be a huge challenge. As for managing the entire Schicksal... I couldn't do it."

Theresa gave a very frank answer.

But this answer clearly did not satisfy K422.

"By the way, since that's the case, let your people come from the Far East Branch. We can use Theresa's friends to form a staff team. Does Theresa have anyone she would recommend?"

K422 will never talk nonsense about things she's not good at.

Just as she realized that the information in the database was too dangerous after gaining access to the Acting Grand Bishop, she instinctively chose to lock her communicator.

To explain how to defeat Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

K422 means that you can use your hands, your feet, you can use Takizawa Laura, you can use Muda Muda Ora Ora, you can completely freeze from the inside out, you can completely burn from the outside in, and you can throw half of the opponent's body into the Imaginary Space...

However, K422 doesn't really think she has the ability to dictate the operation of an organization.

Compared to the Schicksal Saintess, who is merely a figurehead, the Acting Grand Bishop, who wields real power, is not someone you can simply assume you're capable of.

After Otto ran away, K422 realized that he couldn't think of anyone more suitable Otto.

She had considered calling Welt, the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy, to help manage the Schicksal at this time.

However, the Schicksal is completely different from the Anti-Entropy Organization, both in terms of organizational structure and their style of operation.

However, seeking help from Welt is indeed one possible direction.

"Theresa, you should call your people over first. As for what to do with the Far East Branch, that depends on whether your management team can manage both headquarters and the branch simultaneously..."

K422 let out a helpless sigh.

She is now very worried about the public's reaction after they learn that Otto is taking a break.

It's impossible to say that countries don't covet the technological power of the Mandate of Schicksal, but they haven't taken any action yet.

It's less that Schicksal was suppressing them and more that Otto was suppressing them.

"Okay, okay, I'll go get someone."

As Theresa lifted her skirt and ran away, her footsteps blurring into a blur, the image that had disappeared reappeared.

"???"

"Now, you should be all alone, my lovely K422. How about it? The trap I set for you~"

"..."

Upon seeing Otto appear before him, K422 instinctively threw a punch.

The other person's smug smile finally pushed her to her limit, but after her fist passed through the holographic image, K422 remembered that the other person had already run away.

"You gotta keep your head high!! Just be smug. The smug you are now, the more brutal I'll be when I beat you half to death later."

At this point, all K422 could do was make threats.

She didn't know if Otto could hear her, but she wouldn't back down even if she lost. Even if she chose to surrender, Otto would have to fight her half to death!

Just like the principle that a team can lose, but XX must die.

"My lovely K422 must be furious right now. You must be struggling with how to manage this Schicksal. After all, you're so smart, you must have realized that neither you nor Theresa can control others' greed for Schicksal— "

"You knew this would be the outcome, so why did you disappear!"

K422 was indeed trembling with anger.

"I know you've locked your communicator, but I've prepared a special terminal for you. That terminal uses iris recognition technology and will only authenticate your iris. There's a dedicated communication window inside, through which you can command the 'cleaners'... Of course, you definitely won't use it, and you don't want to."

"..."

Only the holographic image of Otto showed a smile.

It was as if they knew exactly how she would react.

"But the 'cleaner' is very suitable for dealing with people you're not suited to handle yourself. Sometimes, eliminating the leader through assassination can end a war quickly."

"I wonder if my lovely K422 ever considered ending the Day of the Honkai, and the war waged against Schicksal by human kingdoms that covet Schicksal's technological power? They would use gunpowder weapons that the Valkyrie have little chance of resisting to slaughter Valkyrie, and some would even go so far as to vent their bestial lust on the Valkyrie..."

"After all, in their eyes, Valkyrie who fight against Honkai as biological individuals are not the same kind, but a different kind of monster from Honkai Beast. My lovely K422, I have always told you about the ugliness of this world and the ugliness of human nature. Don't entrust your safety to others, because you will be close to losing your life."

"You, who are eager to learn, probably don't know what performance art is. After all, the knowledge you can access is the knowledge I want you to access. A performance artist, in order to explore the good and evil of human nature, imagines what would happen if you entrusted your safety to someone else. The performance invited dozens of participants, including men and women, and prepared more than 70 different tools."

"There were seemingly safe roses and brightly colored flavors, but there were also dangerous items such as awls and scissors, and even a loaded gun. These were all tools used in the performance. The performance artist signed a legal agreement before the performance, which stated that no matter what the participants did to her, or even tried to kill her, they could not be held legally responsible."

"Then, the performance artist used a drug to paralyze her body. She could only remain conscious, but couldn't move or feel pain. My lovely K422, guess what happened next?"

"Although a legal agreement was signed, the participants were initially hesitant to touch her. It wasn't until the first person tried to touch her and found that nothing was wrong that the others joined in the performance."

"And she just watched without moving, unable to resist."

"At first, people just touched her and drew on her with lipstick. Later, they got bolder and started cutting her clothes with scissors and slashing her body with knives."

"The performance reached its climax shortly after it began. The participants were like a raging torrent of wild beasts. Long-term repression had prevented them from truly being themselves. But now, they could do whatever they wanted without being punished."

"The ugliness of human nature, like Pandora's box, suddenly burst forth."

"The artist who initiated the performance could only silently endure all of this. As the performance escalated, she was left battered and bruised. Some of the participants calmed down and stopped their harmful behavior, but no one intervened."

"During the six hours she was paralyzed, no one comforted or hugged her; all she received was relentless torment until someone pointed a gun at her head, which was stopped by staff. This ironic and absurd performance finally came to an end."

"You're so clever, you must understand what I'm trying to say, my lovely K422. Kiana possesses the Honkai Antibody, which can create the best artificial Stigmata. Once the outside world finds out about this, what do you think will happen? Will you do nothing and leave Kiana's safety to the mercy of others, or will you take up the weapon I gave you to protect Kiana?"

"You filthy creature, even more vulgar than frog pee!!"

K422 gritted his teeth and cursed angrily, glaring at Otto who had thrown him the choice he had no choice in return.

112. You're finished. Don't let me find you.

At this moment, K422 could only think of an adjective that was more vulgar than frog pee to describe Otto, that bastard.

She was certain that if she hadn't used the secret forces, Otto would have secretly spread the word that Kiana possessed the Honkai Antibody.

Regardless of what exactly the Honkai Antibody are, countries around the world are certainly very interested in them.