Chapter 40

Flame Bullets, symbols of destruction and burning, slammed directly into the ground from the air. The instant they struck, a firestorm erupted, melting through the metal flooring under the scorching heat.

Welt manipulated gravity to float into the air. Then dozens, even hundreds, of compressed gravity spheres appeared around him.

"Finished with your last words?"

The space behind Otto rippled, and dozens of golden Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgments emerged.

The First Herrscher's ability was to reproduce laws and concepts, allowing him to copy weapons and items whose construction principles he understood.

The First Divine Key possessed the same ability.

Being able to copy weapons whose construction principles he understood did not mean he could not make them in large quantities.

"First Divine Key, Seventh Composite Mimicry—Rain of Heavenly Flowers."

Dozens, hundreds, densely packed golden Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgments appeared behind Otto, then fired at Welt all at once.

"An attack like this is useless against me."

Hundreds of gravity spheres no larger than ping-pong balls distorted the surrounding space, and every Flame Bullet was deflected by the warped gravity.

The harbor was caught in the crossfire once again. Some staff members and Valkyries who had failed to escape in time were swallowed by the flames.

In the blink of an eye, the entire area became a sea of fire. Only Welt and Otto remained unaffected as they continued attacking each other.

Welt hurled dozens of gravity lances at Otto, but every one of them passed straight through his body.

There was no doubt that what remained in place was merely an afterimage.

This time, a barrage from Simulated Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgments came at Welt from another direction. Fortunately, Welt had arranged gravity spheres around himself, and the distorted gravity once again deflected the Flame Bullets' trajectories.

But this time, he did not block them all. More than a dozen scorching Flame Bullets flew straight through the warped gravity, and Welt manipulated gravity to evade them.

Flame Bullets, symbols of destruction and burning, could incinerate even the warped gravity created by the Ninth Divine Key.

The moment Welt evaded the attack, he launched a counterattack toward the direction from which the Simulated Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgments had fired.

Gravity spheres condensed around his floating body once more, then transformed one by one into gravity lances and plunged toward the ground.

The metal floor was smashed open with crater after crater, each revealing the space below.

Yet Welt's attacks still failed to hit Otto, while vast numbers of Simulated Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgments launched attacks again and again from different directions.

Welt looked at Otto, who appeared with a smile on his face and Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgments floating behind him.

Welt knew this was another afterimage. The real attack was coming from behind.

He immediately turned around and used a gravity lance to clash head-on with the Flame Bullets.

"Not bad, not bad."

Otto's figure vanished again. As though toying with him, he controlled a large number of Simulated Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgments to attack.

Clearly, Otto had already discovered the upper limit of how many attacks the spherical gravity fields could deflect.

Otto's fighting style was extremely strange, like an illusion or a fleeting mirage. It was impossible to tell what was real and what was false.

It reminded Welt of the "clown" he had encountered during the Second Eruption War.

The blond man in the clown mask had appeared and evaded both Welt's and Siegfried's attacks in a manner Welt could not comprehend. Then, with methods they could not even see, he had heavily injured them.

Afterward, Welt and his companions investigated, but they found no information whatsoever on that clown.

"So it was you back then."

If not for this conflict, Welt would never have imagined that Otto had interfered with him during the Second Eruption War.

Back then, the Second Herrscher, who had not understood the terror of human civilization, had completely lost her ability to fight after being baptized by humanity's ultimate weapon, the atomic bomb.

At the time, Welt had been only a step away from defeating the Second Herrscher.

If that blond clown had not appeared, the Second Eruption War would never have claimed so many lives. The Second Herrscher would not have escaped to the moon and obtained the Herrscher Energy left behind by the previous era, becoming powerful enough to nearly drive humanity to extinction.

Of course, because the Second Herrscher had suddenly gained such immense power while still being only a child, she had inevitably become overconfident. That was what gave him and Siegfried the chance to turn the tables.

But in the end, it was Bishop Otto's decision to let the Second Herrscher go that caused the Second Eruption War to continue.

"You bastard!!"

Welt let out a furious roar.

Crimson light gathered in his brown eyes, forming the shape of gears.

He had always known Otto was a bastard, but he had never imagined the man could be such a bastard.

Countless people had died directly because of the Second Eruption War. How many families had been destroyed? How many had been torn apart from their loved ones?

After the disaster, the shortage of resources caused equally horrifying numbers of people to die on the roads as they fled famine.

But—

The world only knew that Schicksal had ended the Second Eruption War.

Cecilia Schariac, who had perished together with the Second Herrscher, was hailed as the hero of the Second Eruption War.

Meanwhile, Schicksal conducted charity work after the disaster, established welfare facilities everywhere, took in batch after batch of orphans and widows, and earned astonishing prestige across the world.

"Die here, Otto!!"

The Ninth Divine Key, Eden Star, created through the First Herrscher's power, unleashed its full strength.

Welt directly created a Simulated Black Hole in the harbor of Schicksal Headquarters.

Originally, he had been concerned about the innocent Valkyries and trainees at headquarters, as well as the staff and researchers who knew nothing about Otto's actions.

But now, even if it cost innocent lives, he would kill Otto completely.

Space began collapsing toward the Simulated Black Hole Welt had created. Whether air or fire, everything was swallowed by that ultimate darkness.

The Flame Bullets fired from every direction were also consumed by the Simulated Black Hole.

Even light could not escape that ultimate darkness.

Space continued to collapse, and the entire Floating Island began drawing closer to the Simulated Black Hole.

The transport ship loaded with supply crates was torn apart by the Simulated Black Hole's terrifying pull. The supply crates, crew members, and shattered remains of the vessel were all completely devoured.

"Get out here!!"

Even so, the Simulated Black Hole still failed to capture Otto's figure.

The Otto standing before Welt also dispersed like a bubble-like illusion.

But in the next instant.

The distorted gravity around him vanished completely, and even the Herrscher Core within his body produced an uncomfortable sensation.

Otto appeared at that very moment.

But he held a strange injection gun in his hand, its syringe filled with a red liquid that swayed like blood.

The instant he saw that red liquid, Welt felt fear.

"Then die here, Welt II."

Possible Silencing by Bishop Otto

With that, Otto charged at Welt.

But not long after he rushed forward, his new body stopped obeying him, and Welt took the opportunity to widen the distance between them.

Watching Welt retreat, Otto let out a sigh.

He had just made such a smug declaration, only to fail at the crucial moment.

It felt a little embarrassing.

Tch.

After the Anti-Honkai Blood had neutralized even the power of the Simulated Feather of Dust, he had lost his chance to ambush Welt.

Otto truly wanted to test whether the Holy Blood extracted from K422 could affect Welt.

Though Welt had only become the First Herrscher by inheriting a Herrscher Core, he was still one of the only Herrscher-level enemies in existence today.

With such a rare test subject before him, Otto naturally wanted to try.

But Welt gave him no such opportunity.

After pulling away, Welt dispelled the Simulated Black Hole.

In truth, when Otto approached with the injection gun in hand, the Simulated Black Hole had begun showing signs of going out of control.

If he continued maintaining it, the final outcome would either be his death, or the Simulated Black Hole devouring the Nine Floating Islands before expanding without end.

"What exactly is that?"

"How should I put it? Consider it a secret weapon."

As a researcher, Otto did not dislike letting others know about his research results.

It was simply that most people were too ignorant. But Welt before him was indeed an excellent person to confide in.

Just as Otto possessed the First Divine Key, Welt had inherited the First Herrscher's Core.

"...It is a substance capable of erasing Honkai Energy."

"Schariac Holy Blood?"

The moment Otto finished speaking, Welt blurted it out.

"Oh? You actually know about it? Then... you found the laboratory in the Far East? It seems your infiltration of Schicksal Headquarters was not merely for Kiana and K422."

The surroundings were in ruins. A massive hole had been torn through the entire harbor, and even this Floating Island had been pushed away from its original position. The aftershocks of the battle had already crippled most of the island's functions, and it was now beginning to descend.

It might even fall straight into the Mediterranean Sea.

Yet even under such circumstances, Otto still looked completely confident of victory.

Tesla's urgent voice came through Welt's earpiece.

"You big idiot, it's time to retreat. That Floating Island will crash into the Mediterranean in half an hour."

But Welt pretended not to hear her, his gaze still fixed on Otto.

"It is not strange that I know about Schariac Holy Blood. Anti-Entropy once obtained Cecilia Schariac's blood. As for the term itself, I merely happened to find it in that secret laboratory in the Far East."

"So that place was exposed after all."

Otto found it deeply regrettable.

That place had been where he had continuously extracted Schariac Holy Blood before.

But now, he had a superior substitute.

Cecilia's version of Holy Blood could theoretically harm Herrschers.

K422's Holy Blood could theoretically kill Herrschers outright.

If the anti-Honkai wave had not dispelled the Simulated Feather of Dust, perhaps he could have obtained a precious First Herrscher corpse.

"Perhaps I should modify the syringe," Otto mused.

Welt narrowed his eyes. Even at a distance, the blood swaying within the syringe still put immense pressure on him.

It was a terrifying power capable of completely erasing Honkai Energy.

"So that really is Schariac Holy Blood? Whose is it? Kiana's, the one you hid away? No... it belongs to that Substitute Little Princess!"

After questioning and answering himself, Welt quickly locked onto the target.

"No wonder you found a substitute for that Little Princess. Her importance must have long surpassed that of the previous Schariac Saintess."

"Yes, that adorable Little Princess is indeed very important. She is even more important than the original."

Otto admitted it with complete frankness.

Equipment damaged by the aftershocks of their battle exploded.

The explosions did not drown out Otto's voice.

Seeing Otto take a small step forward, Welt quietly increased the distance between them as well.

Before that new Holy Blood, a Herrscher like him was less capable of fighting than even a petite and adorable researcher like Tesla.

"Siegfried will take her away."