Otto's defenses were shattered.
The Soul Steel body he had always relied on was utterly fragile before the thunder of conquest.
Could this be karma for constantly threatening a young girl with her father's fate?
If there was a next time...
He'd damn well do it again.
---o---
The roar of thunder was incessant. Otto's body smashed straight through a wall, flying out of the school building.
He wasn't seriously injured, however, as the Cecilia Stigmata had granted him a portion of her combat instincts. The moment he sensed the attack, he had braced for impact.
Still, as he looked back at the massive hole he'd created, he saw the Queen of Thunder standing there, the Seven Thunders of Retribution in hand. Vicious lightning snaked through her hair. Her flowing, ink-black locks were like the night itself, and her blood-moon crimson eyes were locked onto him.
It was as if she was about to deliver divine punishment upon this man who had disrespected a god.
Her skirt fluttered, revealing a graceful and tall figure. Her original uniform had been burned and tattered by the lightning.
The Queen of Thunder raised the Key of Thunder high.
A bolt of lightning tore across the sky, and with it, the entire school building.
This was no Musou no Hitotachi; it was a casual strike.
With a single, careless slash, the Queen of Thunder had obliterated the academy that held so many bad memories for Mei.
A deafening explosion erupted as the building collapsed, a cacophony of screams mixed within. Most students had no idea what was happening; the building had suddenly given way, and disaster had struck.
Otto landed, rolled several times across the ground, and finally came to a stop.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of white in the distance. The little white-haired fluffball was grabbing a black-haired girl, dodging falling debris, and dashing towards safety.
He breathed a small sigh of relief.
Otto wasn't overly concerned with the lives of the others.
When he was safe, he could afford to consider the lives of millions. But with danger right in his face, he had no capacity to worry about anyone else.
Besides, a few hundred was a pitifully small number compared to a few million.
"System! What's going on!? Why... why did the Herrscher of Thunder awaken!?" Otto gasped, catching his breath.
The birth of the Herrscher of Thunder should still be months away!
Cocolia hadn't even triggered the artificial Honkai Eruption yet. The ambient Honkai energy in Nagazora City wasn't nearly enough to create a Herrscher. Mei's awakening was completely beyond his expectations.
In other words, he had screwed up spectacularly.
[Divine Keys are forged from the Herrscher Cores of the Previous Era. The Seven Thunders of Retribution was made using the core of the Previous Era's Herrscher of Thunder.]
[Although the Gem of Conquest within Raiden Mei had not yet awakened, her contact with the Seven Thunders of Retribution caused the two Herrscher cores of the same origin to resonate, forcibly activating the Gem inside her.]
[Thus, the Herrscher of Thunder has temporarily descended.]
[Host, please try not to die. A Herrscher wielding a Divine Key of the same origin is an exceptionally difficult opponent.]
With the System's explanation, Otto understood. It was a perfectly logical conclusion.
Damn it, this was a scenario he'd never encountered in any timeline!
He had personally handed Mei the key to Pandora's Box.
He had created his own daddy.
Why did I have to act so damn cool back there!?
Before he could wallow in self-pity, a flash of lightning heralded the Queen of Thunder's arrival. She had transformed into a bolt of lightning, streaking from the half-collapsed school building.
With her awakening, the one in control was no longer Raiden Mei, but Mei's Herrscher personality.
In a mere instant, Miss Herrscher of Thunder stood before Otto.
She didn't raise her sword—perhaps because Otto wasn't worthy of it. Instead, she lifted her leg, her foot, still clad in an indoor school slipper, kicking straight for Otto's chest.
Reacting almost on instinct, Otto raised his left arm to block. He caught the Herrscher's kick, but her foot remained pressed against his palm, allowing him to hold it fast.
An arc of electricity flared. The stocking and slipper disintegrated into ash, revealing a delicate, alabaster foot that began to exert immense pressure. A violent current surged from her small foot directly into Otto's body.
Even Otto felt a piercing, numbing pain.
"Human. This is the price for your disrespect."
Seeing Otto's brow furrow, a pleased smirk graced the Herrscher's lips. She was merely toying with him. She would grind this man under her heel.
How dare a mere insect touch her sacred body.
And her other half was not someone to be trifled with.
Once I've had my fun tormenting him, I'll crush this little bug.
The world is doomed to perish anyway. To die beneath my foot is a mercy I grant him.
The light from the Seven Thunders of Retribution in her hand grew brighter, dazzling even amidst the dust and smoke from the collapsed building.
She could do anything now!
However, Otto also smiled.
And his smile sent a sudden chill through Miss Herrscher of Thunder.
His smile seemed to say, You think you have me cornered? No. I have you right where I want you.
This was a dangerous man.
But, a man worth conquering.
I will make him kneel and weep before me. And when he bows his head to kiss my toes, I will crush that once-arrogant head of his.
Miss Herrscher of Thunder was getting a little full of herself. Perhaps recycled Herrscher cores were just inherently toxic.
At that moment, however, a voice suddenly echoed in her ear.
[Kill. Him.]
The voice appeared abruptly, manifesting directly inside her mind. Miss Herrscher of Thunder's eyes trembled violently.
This... was the voice of "God."
Why?
Didn't I sever the connection to "God" with an electromagnetic shield long ago?
Mei's Herrscher personality had actually been born quite some time ago. But back then, she couldn't control Mei's body and could only watch the world through her eyes.
Shortly after her birth, she had used her authority as the Herrscher of Thunder to block the transmissions from the Will of the Honkai, an act quite similar to how Fu Hua had once knocked the Will of the Honkai offline from the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin, with a single strike.
The difference was, this Herrscher had pulled the plug herself.
Because, though she might not realize it, the Herrscher of Thunder doted on the girl named Mei like a mother.
And it is only natural for a mother to protect her child.
But now, that plug had been reconnected.
Miss Herrscher of Thunder glanced at the Seven Thunders of Retribution in her hand. She had found the cause. The electromagnetic field of the Divine Key was interfering with the one she used to block the Will of the Honkai.
No matter. I just need to recalibrate and pull the plug again.
Mei will have nightmares if she hears that Honkai gibberish.
But in the next instant, she discovered she could no longer control her own body. And it wasn't Mei who had taken back control.
It was...
Otto, still gripping Miss Herrscher of Thunder's foot, wasn't panicking. There was a way to fix this situation.
But he suddenly noticed that the atmosphere around the Herrscher had changed.
Her crimson eyes, once filled with violent rage, were now as still as stagnant water.
Something was very wrong.
Otto stared into those crimson depths and found he could not discern a single emotion. It was as if they had never contained a shred of humanity to begin with.
No joy, no anger, no sorrow. Not even hatred or disgust. There was only a profound emptiness.
This was wrong.
Even Herrscher personalities possessed human emotions. In fact, due to the Herrscher transformation, their negative emotions were usually amplified to an extreme degree.
"Who... are you?"
It spoke.
[Traveler, your journey ends here.]
[The Will of the Honkai shall now end the transgression of this Son of Man.]