I Became a Saintess at Schicksal

Tesla, who had not left, calmly looked at Welt, whose face was filled with guilt.

"I was too impulsive..."

The moment he discovered that Otto was the culprit behind prolonging the Second Eruption War, he abandoned all the principles and convictions he had upheld for so long.

When the Second Eruption War had just begun, he and Siegfried had confronted the Second Herrscher on the Siberian Snowfield.

Faced with the modern weapons he replicated using the First Herrscher's abilities and a nuclear bomb launched by Anti-Entropy, the still-childlike Second Herrscher had been driven to the brink of death.

Yet it was precisely because Bishop Otto appeared and let the Second Herrscher escape that she obtained four Herrscher Cores on the moon. Her strength surged, and the Second Eruption War was prolonged.

The Second Herrscher manipulated four small meteorites to launch an attack on Earth from the moon, triggering unprecedented tsunamis and devastating coastal cities across the world.

Cities directly struck by the meteorites were simply vaporized. Global deaths exceeded tens of millions, and the four Simulated Herrschers later created by the Second Herrscher further increased casualties across the world. Then there was the famine following the disaster.

The Second Eruption War had caused at least hundreds of millions of deaths.

Those were bloody, brutal numbers.

As a participant in the Second Eruption War, Welt's Anti-Entropy organization had also carried out relief efforts after the disaster and had indeed saved many people.

But those casualties should never have happened.

If not for that blond clown who had suddenly appeared, the Second Eruption War would never have escalated.

Welt had searched almost the entire world for that blond clown.

But he had found no trace of him.

Welt regarded the needless casualties and tragedies of the Second Eruption War as his own fault.

If only he had been stronger then.

If only he had not let the Second Herrscher escape.

If only he had guarded against that blond clown.

Perhaps there would not have been so many tragedies, nor so many deaths and injuries.

So, the instant he discovered that the blond clown was Otto, Welt found that his so-called principles and convictions were utterly fragile.

If Otto had not produced the new version of Holy Blood, he might have let the Simulated Black Hole devour the Nine Floating Islands of Schicksal Headquarters.

"Don't overthink it, Joachim. You're the best."

Tesla knew Welt's personality.

She also understood his unwillingness to accept this.

Welt was extremely vulnerable at this moment. So rather than the heroic name Welt, perhaps what he wanted to hear more was his real name.

Tesla knew that, so she softly called out to him.

"Tesla, if you had to kill an enemy who must be killed, would you abandon the beliefs you've always upheld?"

Faced with his question, Tesla fell silent for a moment before answering with a smile.

"If the person you want to kill is worth abandoning the beliefs you've always upheld, then do it. I support you. No matter what kind of great villain you become afterward, I'll stay by your side."

Tesla crouched beside Welt and took his hands.

"Although I don't know what you experienced at Schicksal Headquarters, I believe you were right."

"No, I really was too impulsive this time."

Welt closed his eyes and slowly exhaled.

In 1955, he inherited from the first First Herrscher, Welt Joyce, the heroic name Welt, the Herrscher Core, and the mission of protecting this world.

Welt did not need guilt or regret.

Joachim could show his vulnerable side before Tesla, but Welt did not need to.

"Thank you, Tesla."

Welt pulled his hands from Tesla's grasp, then placed one atop her head.

"...Can you tell me what happened to you?"

"Of course. But we need to gather Einstein and the others. Siegfried must know about this as well, especially what we found at the Far East Branch. We can't hide it from him."

After patting her head a few times, Welt used Tesla for support as he stood up.

Tesla nodded, but her expression suddenly turned strange.

"Um, he still wants to punch you later."

"..."

Come to think of it, that did seem to be a thing.

Welt inexplicably felt a toothache.

Afterward, Welt and Tesla headed to the Floating Battleship's control room and greeted the Anti-Entropy members inside.

"The Homu self-destruct robots have already been released from the transport ship docked at another port. They should buy us some time."

Einstein glanced at the two of them, sighed, and then reported on the evacuation.

Schicksal was preparing to close the net early, so the Floating Battleships carrying seventy percent of Schicksal Headquarters' Valkyries, along with forces from Schicksal's various branches, would converge on Schicksal Headquarters.

Many Floating Battleships had already returned to Schicksal Headquarters and would soon form a pursuit fleet.

Schicksal's Floating Battleships outperformed theirs. Once their ship was locked onto, they would inevitably be surrounded. Given Bishop Otto's style, he certainly would not mind digging out Anti-Entropy's secret base.

Their retreat would therefore be full of difficulties.

As for those organizations eyeing Schicksal's technology and Cecilia's daughter, Otto had likely already wiped them all out.

"It's a pity that ancient organization didn't show itself."

Welt was also concerned about that ancient organization.

Yet it remained hidden in the shadows, like a snake lying in wait. Its name truly was World Serpent.

Outside the medical room, Siegfried waited anxiously for the results, constantly feeling that he had overlooked something.

He paced back and forth outside the medical room. Through the battleship's window, he saw the many Floating Battleships returning to Schicksal Headquarters in the distance, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart.

Siegfried did not understand the feeling, then began worrying about the pursuit battle Schicksal Headquarters was about to launch.

Theresa contacted him at that moment as well.

Perhaps because he had acted on his own without listening to Theresa's advice, and had even acted together with Anti-Entropy, Siegfried did not answer Theresa's call.

Watching several Floating Battleships draw ever closer to Schicksal Headquarters, Siegfried kept feeling that something he would regret was happening...

It Was Simply Bad Taste

The Valkyries and Floating Battleships under Schicksal Headquarters returned one after another. Several larger models of Floating Battleships hovered above the Floating Islands.

The falling Floating Islands were pulled by the Floating Battleships, halting their descent. Then, one after another, the backup anti-gravity engines beneath the Floating Islands activated. In the end, the islands came to rest several hundred meters above the Mediterranean Sea.

Although this attack had caused varying degrees of damage to the Nine Floating Islands, Asgard, which had suffered the worst damage, had merely sustained hull damage, destruction to several transport-route ports, and several hundred casualties.

Otto naturally felt regret that he had failed to obtain the new version of Holy Blood's experimental data and lure out the hidden ancient organization, World Serpent.

After arranging the deployment for the coming pursuit battle, he hurried to that secret room.

Otto had not expected K422 to enter that room.

While he had obtained data on her use of Black Abyss White Flower, allowing her to obtain Black Abyss White Flower had clearly been a mistaken decision.

Unlike K422, who had found the secret room only after breaking through a wall and discovering the hidden passage, Otto returned to his own room, opened the concealed passage within, and easily entered that secret corridor.

K422 sat to one side in the room, watching the boy and girl playing on the grass.

She felt as if she had been force-fed an entire stomachful of lovey-dovey nonsense.

The white-haired girl was especially good at flirting, teasing the blond boy until his whole face turned red.

Yes, that was right. The white-haired girl was flirting with the guy.

Seeing this, K422 felt that she was completely beyond saving.

Bishop Otto would definitely choose to silence her to conceal this embarrassing history.

In truth, neither the grass nor the blue sky and white clouds were real. They were all holographic projections. The boy was fake, the girl was fake, the grass was fake, and the blue sky and white clouds were fake.

But the information they recorded might not be fake.

"Kallen Kaslana..."

What K422 knew about her came from the game.

Not many people knew about her.

She simply happened to know something about her.

After all, Kallen looked so much like her. And after Aunt Theresa had tied her hair into a thick braid as well, they resembled each other even more. How could she not be curious about this person?

She had indeed learned quite a bit from Aunt Theresa.

Apparently, Kallen had been the captain of Schicksal's Valkyrie force five hundred years ago, and the strongest Valkyrie in Schicksal at the time.

Well, that was not surprising.

There were many women in Schicksal who wanted to become the strongest Valkyrie.

But only one person in each era could become the strongest Valkyrie.

K422 believed that she would be the next person to become the strongest Valkyrie.

Kallen Kaslana possessed the Kaslana Family's characteristic white hair and blue eyes.

The Schariac Family passed down apricot-colored hair, and only a small number of its members had white hair.

It was said that when the ancestors of the Schariac Family used Divine Keys, the tips of their hair would turn white. Perhaps that was a manifestation of their talent for manipulating Honkai Energy.

Of course, her white hair and blue eyes were not inherited from the Schariac Family, but rather leaned toward the Kaslana Family's inheritance.

Kallen Kaslana, the strongest Valkyrie in Schicksal at the time, had surprisingly few records within Schicksal. She had also died young, living only into her twenties.

K422's knowledge of her was limited to that.

But Kallen Kaslana had lived five hundred years ago.

Bishop Otto's age had always been a secret, but now it seemed that he was also someone from five hundred years ago. No, he must have lived from five hundred years ago until the modern era.

Old turtle, cough cough.

"..."

This secret might not have been all that shocking.

But there was a secret room like this within Schicksal Headquarters.

Anyone could tell with their feet that it belonged to Bishop Otto.

And the happy moments of the boy and girl playing together were likely the days Bishop Otto missed most.

He loved Kallen deeply.

Then K422 thought of how Amber, whose entire body had been converted into a prosthetic body, looked like what Theresa would look like when she grew up, while Theresa's appearance resembled the white-haired girl before her even more...

So... why was she making these connections?

She was beyond saving.

Just wait for death.

Served you right for thinking such random bullshit. There wasn't even any dick in this nonsense.

At that point, even her desire to find True Kiana had faded.

After all, according to the conclusions of her wild speculation, Bishop Otto's goal should be to resurrect Kallen.

Although she did not remember much about the technological system of her previous life, this world clearly possessed black technology far beyond it.

At the very least, she had never heard of an energy source like Honkai Energy.

Yet Schicksal already possessed mature Honkai Energy Reactor technology.

And since Bishop Otto could live for five hundred years, perhaps he truly could resurrect Kallen Kaslana.