"Risa Schariac!!!"
"It's me, your dear sister Risa."
Risa smiled sweetly. "No need to grit your teeth like that. It's true I bully you from time to time, but that's just the normal affection between a brother and sister!"
The bewitching, golden-haired nun with a formidable reputation spread her hands with an innocent look on her face. "What siblings don't grow up fighting? At least compared to those brutish older brothers who would bully you and break your favorite toys, your big sister Risa has always taken good care of you, hasn't she?"
"Indeed," Otto sneered.
In the near future, you'll use this 'kindness' to trick me into releasing the Honkai Beasts imprisoned in the lowest level of Schicksal to attack the execution ground and kill Kallen.
When I confront you, you'll even have the gall to say, 'You may have lost Kallen, but you still have me! I can be the Saintess in your heart, the motivation that keeps you going, can't I?'
And after that, you'll poison all the elders and high-ranking members of Schicksal, install the brainless Marcel as the Overseer, and rule from behind the curtain for fourteen years!
An open attack is easy to dodge, but a hidden blade is hard to defend against.
Compared to the brothers against whom he had built up sufficient mental defenses through countless daily squabbles, a venomous snake like Risa, who struck fatally when she finally decided to strike, was far more difficult to guard against.
Of course, at this point in time, none of that had happened yet.
Otto's handsome face was filled with scorn, directed both at her and at the naive, younger self who had so easily fallen for her tricks.
He looked Risa straight in the eye, his gaze placid. "You specifically teleported me to your little kingdom. So? Is there something you wanted to say?"
Her dear brother's calm demeanor made Risa frown. "Did killing Father give you a bit of courage?"
"I just don't see the need to get angry with an NPC."
Otto brushed the light snow from his shoulder, completely at ease. "If you would, please let me leave. Kallen and the others are waiting for me, and it's not good to keep people waiting."
"Waiting?" Risa laughed, finding it absurd. "The Second Heaven, Mercury, is guarded by two of the Four Grand Division Commanders. The Third Heaven, Venus, is eternally protected by hundreds of Kaslana ancestors. And you expect to get through with Kallen Kaslana's cursed, dying body? And that unknown Shenzhou boy who's only A-Rank?"
"That's right, with us!"
The barrier on the town's outskirts was torn apart by a longsword wreathed in ideal fluid. The hero, holding the silver-haired Saintess in his arms, made a shining debut, stepping on lotuses of condensed void-energy as he flash-stepped through the air.
Fuli set Kallen down and completely ignored Risa, who was not far away, staring intently at Otto.
The man felt inexplicably guilty under his gaze.
"The password!" Fuli shouted. "Name the four ways to tell a wolf from a dog!"
Recalling what they had discussed earlier, Otto answered quickly, "First, the bark. A long, drawn-out howl is a wolf. A short, sharp bark is a dog. Second, their reaction to hunger. A wolf will bite when it's hungry. A dog will whine when it's hungry. Third, their fur. A superior coat is a wolf, an Israeli is a dog!"
[T/N: This is a direct, if nonsensical, translation of an untranslatable pun in the original text.]
"You're missing one!"
"Didn't we only agree on three?"
"I just added it!" the boy declared, full of unearned confidence.
Otto's eyes lit up with understanding.
Glancing at his sister, he turned back with a gentle smile. "I see. Otto and Fuli are wolves. Risa Schariac is a dog."
"Perfect!"
SMACK!
They high-fived.
The boy spun around, the longsword in his hand pointed directly at the manipulative sister across from them.
A black swan was also a bird, and he was about to use his Black Swan to do some "stitching" of his own.
"Sigh." Kallen facepalmed. Those two... men will be boys, even unto death.
"Hmph! You refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!" Risa, who had originally intended to say more, turned cold.
With a wave of her hand, the eyes of every resident in the streets and alleys, including the children, went blank.
A cacophony of tearing sounds filled the air as ferocious armor ripped through their clothes from the inside out, enveloping them like a living creature and transforming them into upright monsters several meters tall.
A cold light, like burning ice, flickered in their eyes. Their claws, sharp as blades, easily tore through the air, creating a hair-raising whistle.
"Research into the human body didn't begin in Schicksal in the 20th century. A corresponding department was secretly established long ago," Otto said in a low voice. "The church was relatively restrained in this area at first, until they were utterly defeated by Azure Empyrea in the Kipchak Campaign. After that, the direction of the research took a sharp turn, shifting from its lukewarm state to focusing on the MANTIS creation technology extracted from the Divine Key Box."
"Risa has always been in charge of this research, and the First Heaven, the Moon, at the very bottom of the headquarters, is the testing ground the higher-ups gave her."
"Over the years, she has used her position to bring in commoners with potential through various means, brainwashing them into slaves completely loyal to her. Then she transforms them into these monsters fused with Honkai Beast genes. In the future, it is with this army of chimeras that she maintains her terrifying fourteen-year dictatorship over Schicksal!"
"...You monster!" Kallen's face was completely cold. She had just seen several adorable children, barely up to her knees, transform into terrifying monsters several meters tall.
Risa, however, was unfazed. "I merely gave these wretches who couldn't survive a way out. Compared to dying a miserable death outside, isn't becoming my slave and gaining power a better path?"
Fuli raised an eyebrow. "And the success rate?"
Risa adjusted her skirt and stood up. "Around seven percent, I'd say. If you want power, you have to pay a price."
Judah's chains spread out in an instant, scouting the entire area. Kallen said, "Thirteen A-Rank signatures, 242 B-Rank, and 6,450 C-Rank and below. Divide that by seven percent."
Knowing her math wasn't great, Otto added in a low voice, "A conservative estimate would be a total of 95,857 test subjects."
Fuli's mouth twitched. The number didn't seem that large at first glance, but that was from a modern perspective.
Europe in this era had just been through the Black Death. Even including the British Isles, the total population was only around 25 to 35 million.
She had "consumed" one-three-hundredth of the entire population of Europe in one go. And that was just the data compiled from those who had undergone the experiment. It didn't include the private consumption, those who died on the road, or those who were discarded after being deemed unsuitable.
Such sins were truly too numerous to count!
"You woman... you're quite beautiful, but your heart is as black as they come."
Fuli flash-stepped behind Risa and swung his sword, wreathed in ideal fluid, easily cleaving her in two at the waist.
Instant Blade: Asura's Wrath!
But the feel was off!
"Really, now. Did you honestly think I would be foolish enough to chat with you in my real body?"
Fuli instantly flash-stepped back, just in time to see the severed upper half of Risa's body sneer at him.
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
Seeing their master attacked, the army of chimeras, powerful enough to sweep across half of Europe, let out ferocious roars and surged toward the three in the center of the street like a tsunami.
The Risa of history did indeed need Otto alive, because at that time, Nicholas was still the Overseer.
She needed Otto to release the imprisoned Honkai Beasts to stir up trouble for Schicksal and the Castle Council, paving the way for her future assassinations.
But now, with Nicholas dead at Fuli's hand and Marcel certain to become the next Overseer, Otto's worthless life was of no use.
The cursed Kallen could only use thirty to fifty percent of her strength for a very limited time. She wouldn't last long against the surging army of chimeras.
Risa had also investigated Fuli's Sovereign's Descent, the technique he'd used to shatter the Sacred Barrier. The lowest level of Schicksal was a bubble universe independent of the main world. Even if he once again chanted the incantation for 'A World of Peace' that targeted the powerful, the strength of those commoners couldn't penetrate the barrier between worlds.
Even so, to be safe, Risa had chosen not to appear in person, instead creating a clone to talk to the three.
The only regrettable thing was that the chimera army she had worked so hard to build would surely suffer heavy casualties after this battle.
But it didn't matter.
Once I become the shadow ruler of Schicksal, I can capture as many commoners as I want—
"Hmm?"
As Risa was silently lamenting her hard work and fantasizing about her bright future, she suddenly saw Fuli pull out a square-shaped object from nowhere.
Although she didn't know what it was called, the word "camera" immediately popped into her mind.
"What is that? A camera?"
It wasn't just Risa. Kallen, who was using Judah to hold back the army's assault, was also confused.
They couldn't have known that this "camera" was, in essence, an incredibly crude, handmade firearm. In the future, it and its first owner would become infamous for an assassination that would go down in history.
Otto, having read the data on the "Famed Gun: Abe-kiri Tetsuya" via Void Archives, raised his hand and pushed down the barrel of the gun Fuli was about to fire.
"There's no need to waste such a good thing on her, brother."
A golden, mimicked version of the Abe-kiri appeared in his palm, courtesy of Void Archives. He pressed it against the chest of Risa's clone at his feet.
"What are you doing, my foolish brother?" the woman mocked, even at death's door. "This is just a clone. Even if you cut her into a thousand pieces, my real body won't be harmed in the slightest."
"Is that so?"
Otto pulled the trigger.
Once.
BANG!
Twice.
BANG!
"Not a single misfire. It seems heaven is on my side this time. Killing you is divine punishment."
He tossed aside the disintegrated mimicked Abe-kiri, stood up, turned around, and straightened his clothes.
"One last piece of advice before you die. Never think you're superior to others. Illusory appearances are meaningless. Even the soul of Schicksal's Overseer is no nobler than that of a beggar."
Risa opened her mouth, a tremor originating from her very soul suddenly spreading from the clone to her real body.
"You! You!"
She wanted to curse him, but no more sounds could escape her throat.
As a weapon, the Famed Gun: Abe-kiri Tetsuya had an especially large number of restrictions.
It was a one-time-use item, specialized against high-ranking individuals but ineffective against commoners, it couldn't harm innocents, each shot had an 80% chance of misfiring, and it had to be fired twice in a row to deal damage...
The list of conditions was absurdly long.
But for that very reason, once all the conditions were met, the power it unleashed was enough to make even the proxy of an evil god ruling over a nation in the Far East retreat!
However, raw power alone couldn't trace back to the source and harm Risa's real body, hidden away somewhere.
Fortunately, in addition to the above, the Abe-kiri had one more crucial property—
Instant Death.
An individual hit by two consecutive shots would die instantly.
No matter what impregnable fortress Risa was hiding in, as long as the clone triggered the instant death effect, the main body, which was essentially part of the same soul, would be no exception.
And without Risa's control, the once-mighty chimera army immediately slowed down.
They looked at each other blankly, and a moment later, they scattered like birds and beasts.
Fuli let out a sigh of relief and put away the original Abe-kiri he hadn't had a chance to use. He walked over and patted Otto's shoulder. "Void Archives is really useful. It feels so much better than the disobedient Jizo Mitama."
Noticing Otto staring blankly at Risa's corpse, he couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
Thinking of hitting it while it's still warm? Surely not?
"Just feeling a bit sentimental."
The man, completely unaware of his companion's inner slander, said in a low voice, "My sister Risa... she used to be a good person."
After all, Otto had been acknowledged by Void Archives before he was even ten years old.
To truly fool him into releasing the Honkai Beasts to attack the execution ground, even in his desperate, panicked state, would have been extremely difficult.
The only reason it had worked was because the Risa Apocalypse of the past had truly been a good person. She had genuinely been good to Otto, which was why he had followed her orders without a second thought in that critical moment, ultimately leading to that tragedy.
So when did she fall?
It was when she was adopted into the Schariac family and became its head, Risa Schariac.
It wasn't exactly an adoption; their mother was the daughter of the previous Schariac family head.
After that, Risa changed.
It wasn't that power had corrupted her, but pressure.
The expectant gazes of her clansmen, the constant pressure from her father and the higher-ups, the gossip and judgment of outsiders, the responsibility of revitalizing the Schariac clan.
When a person is about to become a savior, the pressure is no different from being sent to the guillotine.
To meet everyone's expectations, Risa lowered her bottom line again and again, convincing herself and justifying her actions with various reasons, just so she could feel at ease the next time she made a mistake.
"Brother, don't you think," Otto said softly, "that the Risa now is exactly the same as the 'me' from the real world?"
The only difference was the goal of their obsession. One was to resurrect Kallen, the other to revitalize the Schariac clan.
The white city grew ever purer. The blond youth stood in its center.
The air was cold, the snow danced, bringing a chill, but the sky was clear, making everything seem quiet and mysterious.
"But thankfully, unlike the 'Otto' from the real world, as a mere virtual character, I don't have the chance to make that mistake again."
He took a deep breath, turned around, and gave a relaxed smile to the complex-looking Fuli.
"The only thing I have to do now is to reach the lowest level, the Heaven of Saturn, with you, break the bloodboil curse on Kallen, and see you off as you return to the real world from this false data world. If I can do that, I can die with no regrets."
"I see..."
The boy felt a little disappointed.
He didn't know what the future Overseer was like, but he really clicked with this Otto.
But wasn't it the same for Otto?
A savior who descended from the heavens in a moment of despair. His entrance was a bit weird, but whether it was their banter, their style, or even being abandoned by their fiancée, they were kindred spirits.
The two looked at each other and sighed in unison.
"Good thing you're not a girl."
"Thank goodness you're not a girl."
Kallen: "Huh?"
Kallen: "Huh?!!"
Wait, what's going on with you two?
Her confused question was met with the boys' gazes turning to her at the same time.
They sized up the stunningly beautiful, silver-haired, ice-eyed Saintess, then sighed again with perfect synchronization.
Some things, even maxed-out looks couldn't hide.
"You two are being really rude, you know!"
Kallen exploded, grabbing one by the ear in each hand.
"Ow, ow, ow! Sis, I was wrong, I was wrong!"
"Kallen, let go! My small frame can't take a beating!"
"Besides, aren't you and that Yae Sakura person all tangled up too—"
"Shut up! That was the original Kallen Kaslana, not me!"
And so, the peak-beauty white-haired gorilla, one helpless chick in each hand, stormed furiously into the Fourth Heaven, the Sun.
...