87 With Love, Kill the Herrscher!

As a bishop, Otto's art of language was perfected.

In three words, he seized the dominance of the discourse.

While using the grace of granting Sirin a second life, he moved with love, and at the same time, he gathered a cone of holy blood in his hand and pointed it at the Herrscher.

"Could you please be merciful to her?" he implored the Second Herrscher, his smile belying the threat in his words.

In the face-off that ensued, the invincible Second Herrscher, Sirin, did something unexpected. For the first time, she chose to retreat. But not before leaving Otto with a parting shot, "It's really sad that humans have a king like you."

With those words hanging in the air, she turned her back on Otto and pursued Theresa and the others, leaving the bishop and Fu Hua alone.

[Having a leader like Otto... Indeed, he has guts. I was about to fight to the death, so why did your majesty surrender first?]

[But he still saved Fu Hua, didn't he? Although I don't understand why he didn't let the two S-class Valkyries fight.]

[Yay, Fu Hua, you don't have to die!]

Otto had saved Fu Hua from certain death, but his motives were not as noble as one might expect.

Fu Hua felt no gratitude towards Otto, only anger and frustration. She confronted him and demanded to know why he had let the Herrscher of the Void escape, knowing the havoc and destruction she would cause.

Otto calmly explained his plan to her, revealing his twisted logic and ambition.

He had deliberately allowed K423, the clone of Kiana Kaslana, to join St. Freya's Academy. He had hoped that his granddaughter, Theresa Apocalypse, would teach K423 the value of love and beauty, and awaken her human emotions.

He believed that only with this love, which would become K423's strength, could she challenge and destroy the Heart of the Herrscher.

And now, he concluded, when St. Freya and his granddaughter became the target of the Herrscher's wrath, K423's consciousness would resurface and overcome the Sirin influence.

Otto was nearing the end of his plan, and he wanted to get rid of any potential threats.

Even his old friend of 500 years was not spared from his ruthless scheme.

"My friend," he said, his voice grave and solemn, "Your actions have gone beyond the limits of my tolerance. Therefore, I decide to reveal everything to you."

As he spoke, Otto looked at Fu Hua with a steady gaze, his eyes hiding a storm of emotions. "Even after knowing all this, do you still plan to stand against me?"

Fu Hua stopped laughing, and her expression turned into one of scorn as she understood the true motives of the man next to her. "Friend?" she sneered, "Your words have no trace of remorse or compassion. They are full of nothing but endless greed and lies."

"You disregard the feelings of others, manipulate their fates, and yet, you never see yourself as the villain," she went on, her voice filled with disdain.

"Otto Apocalypse, you make me feel a deep sense of disgust and pity," she said, her words reflecting her long-held contempt for him.

The sky was torn apart by thunder and lightning, casting a gloomy shadow over the world. In the midst of this sinister scene, Otto slowly lifted his right hand. A bright golden light gathered in his palm, forming a pistol that shone like a star.

"Red kite Immortal… I assure you, I'm not lying…" Otto's voice was soft, but firm. His body had already made the choice for him, even before his mind had fully accepted it.

It was a choice that had been brewing for five hundred years, yet it happened in a split second. Otto Apocalypse had triggered his plan. With a loud bang, the end of an era began.

...

"What? Kill the Herrscher with love?" Kallen gasped. Her first reaction was one of disbelief, almost convinced that Otto had gone mad.

She remembered the time when Otto had used human subjects in a desperate attempt to find a cure for the Black Death five centuries ago. The memory filled her with anger. Yet, as she rose to power over the course of those 500 years, she found herself increasingly understanding Otto's dilemma, defending his actions after his death.

But now, Otto was repeating history, forcing his innocent granddaughter and other young girls to face the danger. He was risking the lives of countless people, using them as chess pieces in his quest for a miracle he strongly believed in.

"If you value love so much, why do you ignore feelings? Why go to such extremes to push Theresa into the abyss?" Kallen asked, her voice full of sadness.

She sighed, thinking about the drastic change her late husband had gone through. To her surprise, she realized that Otto's plan, as crazy as it sounded, might actually work. Sirin was the living proof of its possible success.

Could this be another way of killing the Herrscher with love? Kallen wondered, her thoughts spinning in a vortex of confusion and disbelief. "Otto… What good can I possibly say about you?" she murmured, her voice breaking the silence.

...

"I… I can't believe what I'm hearing. Otto's plan is to… kill the Herrscher with love?" Elysia exclaimed, her face showing a mix of disbelief and horror. The shock of this revelation was so immense that she momentarily forgot about Fu Hua's actions in the game.

Elysia tried to make sense of how anyone could use such a beautiful feeling to achieve their own goals. The idea of using love, the most pure and sincere emotion, as a tool was beyond her comprehension. To her, anyone who could do such a thing was nothing but a lunatic!

Even Eden, who was calmly drinking her wine, stopped to digest the information. She looked at the lines of text, thinking about the game's depiction of Otto's life. After a moment of reflection, she sighed, "This Lord Bishop is quite selfish then! I don't know if he's lucky or unlucky."

"Definitely not lucky, my dear Eden," Elysia snapped, her voice tinged with annoyance. She valued human relationships highly and couldn't imagine the idea of someone violating such sacred bonds. The thought of love being used as a mere piece in someone's game was deeply disturbing to her.

"Ellie, when it comes to fighting the Honkai, a dictator is not always a bad thing," a voice argued. "He may not have used all his resources to combat the Honkai, but he did manage to unite all the surviving forces of humanity."

"I get that," Elysia replied, her voice sounding annoyed. "But I can't stand to watch the kindness and friendship among friends being crushed so cruelly."

With a worried look, Elysia turned to Luo Mo, hoping for his support. "So, Luo Mo, what do you think of him?"

Luo Mo didn't hesitate. "Just as Ellie said, he ignores human dignity and destroys the good. He claims to believe in the power of emotions, even going as far as to say that love can overcome the Herrscher. Yet, his actions show a selfishness that is almost ruthless."

Elysia's face brightened at Luo Mo's agreement. "So, you don't like him either?" she asked, a hint of victory in her voice.

Luo Mo, however, remained cautious. "Let's wait until we've seen his whole story. It's too soon to form an opinion," he suggested, his tone calm.

....

"Heh, it seems he and I have something in common!" Mobius remarked, her attention split between analyzing data related to the Stigma and following the unfolding story of the game.

Gray Snake had told her that the game was very similar to reality, so much so that it could almost be seen as a parallel world. However, Mobius had always found the previous stories to be rather dull and boring.

"Are these Valkyries, who praise love and beauty, really supposed to defeat the Honkai? Don't make me laugh. I can't believe in such a ridiculous idea."

Mobius, at her core, found this world to be utterly nonsensical. If the bonds of love and friendship shared by these young girls were indeed able to overcome the Honkai, it would be the ultimate joke for her, a scientist of brilliant mind.

However, she soon found a character who broke the mold of the predictable plot - Otto. He was a rare exception, a kindred spirit, much like herself.

"Ah, such a madman. Even I'm impressed!" Mobius exclaimed, a soft laugh escaping her lips. Yet, despite her amusement, her hands never stopped their steady motion, her research on the stigmata advancing without pause.

"Regrettably, only your era possesses the necessary 'soil' to conduct this experiment," she mused, her tone laced with a hint of envy.

Interestingly, she found herself more drawn to Otto's experiment than Elysia's stigmata. "It's quite surprising. Your experiment seems to have more appeal for me than Elysia's stigmata," she admitted, a note of curiosity in her voice.

"Well then, let's see where your experiments lead, shall we, Otto? The genius of a madman!" she declared, her words ringing in the silence.

The shadowy figure of the snake moved, a whisper coming from its lips. It was about to reveal itself. The anticipation was intense, the snake could barely wait.