Author notes:
Next chapter is up! I am truly sorry for the delay though :( Took mom to a clinic for a check up (She cut her palm), her wound is fine, no need for stitching, but doc said to keep it clean as the cut was a bit large. Got her some meds too in case things worsen but I expect it not to be.
Now, it's nearly the end of the month, and boy do I dread the next one. Not gonna lie, I would rather not have a long holidays in Nam, like at all. Holidays' the time when everything went haywire in my life. I just noticed my monthly income went down too, from 614 to 592 per month. It doesn't seem much but when you exchange it to Vietnamese Dong... Yeah, it's a noticeable different.
That said, I just wish I actually received the bank delivers everything on time. Other than that, I am expecting to release one more chapter before ending the month, so stay tune for that. Have an enjoyable day, everyone!
Album is updated, 4 pics this time!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9
P.S: This chapter though, I wanted to make a villian, but got a Yandere instead.
-------------------------------------------
Ottile Apocalypse is anxious, scared, but most of all frustrated. The sudden predicament that has befallen Auschwitz has forced her to do the unthinkable. Abandoning her foothold, her years of research. Ottile may be desperate, tunnel-visioned, and obsessed, but she is not stupid nor has a death wish. She knows a lost cause when she sees one and Ottile is not one to hang around to be captured and tried for her inhuman works.
Though she's ordered to go secure the research on the lower floor of the castle, Ottile has a different plan in mind. Utilizing the chaos that has befallen the castle, Ottille slips into her personal workspace, the floor that is dedicated to the cloning of Kallen Kaslana. Once inside, she locks the reinforced steel door behind her, preventing any intrusion into the otherwise devoided life chamber. Ottile then turns around, seeing the many vats filled with fluid and the bodies suspended in them. They're all clones of Kallen, the woman Ottile has always kept close to her heart.
Ottile takes a breather, stepping closer to marvel at the result of a technology far beyond their time. It's flawed, yes, making it so that the clones have only months in life expectancy. Nevertheless, the clones' growth is artificially induced and their combat instinct is engraved on a genetic level to make the perfect disposable soldiers. While some would have disturbed by the sight of so many Kallen clones, Ottile doesn't mind gazing at the sight. After all, they're not her Kallen, but rather tools to make Kallen into the best she can ever be.
On the surface, these clones are born to be powerful soldiers that are easily controlled. But the actual reason for this project is for them to be the perfect lab rats for Ottile to experiment on. Being that they're the biological clones of Kallen, Ottile can test out ways to further Kallen's individual power without risking the Crusader's actual body. Kallen may not need such a thing but Ottile doesn't need her acceptance to carry on.
One may ask, why does Ottile seem to be so obsessed over Kallen, that she would push countless to their death? That's because Kallen already died, once. It was a clinical death, induced upon her by a rare disease that had tormented her from a young age. Yet, back then, that sick, young girl, has been everything Ottile ever needed. In pursuit of a way to cure her light, Ottile absorbs medical knowledge, some bordering on madness and fringe science, like a sponge. Though others praised Ottile Apocalypse as a rare medical prodigy, the woman still failed to defeat the strange disease, with Kallen's blood circulation and breathing ground to a halt. Even if Ottile resuscitates Kallen, it would only lengthen her torment.
That would have been the case if it were not for the appearance of a figure, Lady Lyssa. Coming in right at the time Ottile needed her the most, Lady Lyssa made her a deal to cure Kallen of her ailment. It's quite literally a deal with the Devil, consigning hundreds of thousands to a fate worse than death, but did Ottile care about that? No. She only cared whether Kallen would be safe and sound or not.
As such, Ottile accepted, in exchange for her aid in making the Crusaders' program a reality, Kallen would be treated, and even enhanced far beyond any mortal. From that moment onwards, Ottile cared not for the lives of the innocent, she would do everything to support Kallen from the shadow. That thought soon evolved, however, twisted into an obsession as a result of a deep-seated fear of losing her light once again. For Kallen's greater good, whether she accepts it or not, Ottile will do everything in her power to make Kallen have a long, and prosperous life. Even if Ottile has to be the antithesis of Kallen's existence.
Mulling that far and with the echoes of combat that can be heard from above, Ottile stops dawdling and moves to her office on this floor. In anticipation of mishaps like Auschwitz being invaded, Ottile has her most crucial research stored in a go-bag. Grabbing it from inside a safe, Ottile takes a moment, pondering whether to take the sidearm in the safe also. Finally, the Apocalypse decides to bring it together with her alongside the pistol holster and a few spare magazines. The pistol is a Beretta M1934, quite compact and suitable as a defensive weapon until Ottile can make it to safety.
Ottile equips everything, with the go-bag slings on her back, before setting off for the floor's control room. Though Ottile can take some of the more important stuff with her, what's left behind is her life's work she doesn't want it to fall into enemy hands. It's better for Ottile to destroy everything before she escapes.
Coming up on a console, Ottile is just about to activate a self-destruct mechanism that's installed on this floor before she suddenly has second thoughts about the matter. The explosives are small enough to not compromise the castle's integrity but strong enough to wipe this floor clean. But why stop there? Frankly speaking, Ottile is miffed about being forced to run away like this. Here, Ottile has access to everything she needs to do whatever she wants. Running away means giving up on that privilege, and it will be a pain for Ottile to start over in another country. Who knows how long would have to wait until Ottile can give her the life she deserves?
It seems to Ottile that some payback is in order. On such short notice, Ottile can't do much, but she can at least engineer a bit of trouble for the enemy to deal with. With luck, that trouble will spill over to other places, spreading further chaos to cover her escape.
So instead of setting a timer for the explosive charges, Ottile activates a feature of the cloning vats. In the birthing process of a clone, mana taken from human sacrifices and batteries created by Lady Lyssa are to be injected into the vat, diffusing the growing flesh with it. Now, Ottile takes it a step further. Knowing that there's a recent batch of live sacrifice being held in the room adjacent to the one she's in, Ottile decides to reverse the mana injection. Instead of pulling the mana and giving it to the clones, Ottile does the opposite, extracting the mana from the clones and flooding the captive sacrifices with it. The process makes it so that clones shrivel up at a visible pace before their bodies break down into undiscernible mass while the pipelines that lead from the vats and into the walls shine a dim light.
Though Ottile can't see the process, she knows for sure that at any moment now, the demonification process would start on the adjacent. Uncaring that she just doomed hundreds of lives for petty payback, Ottile activates a mechanism, thus revealing a hidden doorway in a nondescript corner of the floor. That's her express way of getting out of Auschwitz, one that is even unknown to Lady Lyssa, being that it was secretly constructed under Ottile's order and using forced labor. The laborers, understandably, are immediately turned into sacrifices when the project is done. Thus ensuring that aside from Ottile, none is the wiser.
Moving to the passage where a fully stocked 1935 Moto Guzzi Mototriciclo 32 is parked, Ottile boards the motor tricycle with the passage closing behind her with a flick of a switch. With the back carriage carrying all the necessities for her to start over, Ottile turns on the engine, revving it a few times before putting on the appropriate helmet, eye protection, and a bandana that covers her face. Then, she turns up the throttle, letting the Moto Guzzi take her wherever she needs.
The passage is a long one that should get her out of the hot zone. With the current geographical location of Auschwitz, the exit point would be in an abandoned mine which is a lucky break in Ottile's opinion. The mine will help mask her location for a period of time till she decides on a destination. Coincidentally, other exits include a forest area, a mountain range, and a lake,... depending on where Auschwitz superimposed itself on reality. It took a lot of effort for Ottile to get the passage dug right and she is immensely thankful for her foresight.
By the time she's out of the danger zone, things in Auschwitz would have been heated up nicely. Can't say Ottile is not curious about the result of this conflict. Though from the look of it, the city is hopelessly outmatched by a foe that's hellbent on its destruction.
One of Ottile's regrets though is her inability to go and visit Kallen. No doubt she would be well-guarded by not just the Crusaders but also Belka, now that the matter of Auschwitz has come to light. There's also the fact that Ottile dreads to see the reaction Kallen may have about her involvement. It will no doubt decimate their relationship as friends... best friends? But Ottile is fully prepared to sacrifice even herself if that means Kallen can live the life, of being the Saint that she has always wanted.
Now that Ottile thinks about it, Kallen may become an actual Saint if she's the one who struck down Ottile for the crimes the Apocalypse committed. It's poetic in a way, given their history, and should the need arise, Ottile would gladly be the one struck down by her. But it's still not the time, not yet. There are things to plan and experiments to do, all in the hope that Kallen will be unfettered by anything in life. That is Ottile Apocalypse's obsession, her very own self-imposed creed.