Dusk, sunset, a chilling evening breeze sending shivers down one's spine. Crows, in groups of three or five, swooped through the buildings, or perched on rooftops and flagpoles, looking down at the human ants below, cawing mockingly.
Dirty alleyways and clean, wide streets coexisted, a city with a rural feel enclosed by a sturdy wall, clearly a medieval European city-state.
Nearly the entire population of the city had gathered in the central plaza, a frenzied mob, everyone waiting for what was to come.
Waiting for the execution that would take place that evening,
The judgment of the Schicksal Saintess, "Kallen Kaslana"!
...
Deep within Schicksal's data space, Otto used his administrative privileges to conceal his form, blending in with the crowd, waiting for the "execution."
Even after five hundred years, even after witnessing this scene countless times, Otto still felt a fiery poison burning within his hollow core, along with an unexplainable sense of "pleasure" and "clarity."
Otto knew this was morbid, but he didn't care.
He was just an observer, just another face in the crowd, waiting for the play to begin.
Everyone here was part of a grand farce. Otto was the only true audience member.
Or rather, he himself was an actor in an even grander farce.
He knew that as well, but he didn't care.
But for now, it was better for him, as the audience member, not to interfere with the protagonist's performance, right?
Otto's lips curved into a sardonic smile, yet nobody knew whom he was mocking.
"Overseer," Amber contacted him, her form appearing as a projection, bowing respectfully, "The final adjustments on the fourth-generation Valkyrie armor, codenamed 'Shadow Knight: Moonlight,' are nearly complete. Research Lab 1503 requests your presence to oversee the final stages."
"…Heh, that Elisabeth is always looking for praise," Otto said, his internal monologue interrupted, causing a surge of displeasure. He quickly composed himself, hiding his sardonic smile behind his usual calm demeanor. "Tell her I appreciate the offer, Amber. Tell her that I believe in her abilities."
The Elisabeth that Otto was referring to was the head of Research Lab 1503, full name "Elisabeth MacSmith." At some point, thanks to an unknown slip of the tongue from Durandal, she was increasingly being referred to as "Nagamitsu."
Interestingly, even she seemed to have grown used to the nickname.
"Understood, Overseer," Amber replied, bowing and ending the transmission, leaving Otto alone to enjoy the rest of the "play."
"Ah, it's an armor for Bianka. I'm sure Nagamitsu will show her true potential. Heh, it's better for me, the amateur, to stay away." Otto chuckled, his hands clasped behind his back.
He wasn't trying to make excuses for not doing his work!
Recalling the talented Durandal, Otto always felt a complex mixture of helplessness and pride. He wasn't sure which emotion outweighed the other.
But it didn't matter. Durandal was his masterpiece!
Even Kallen would praise her.
Ah… Kallen.
A sigh escaped Otto's lips.
The noise of the crowd grew louder. The murmurs of gossip transitioned into an increasingly excited roar.
Such simpletons! They were just data and code. How could they act like they were alive?
Otto smirked.
He checked his watch. It was almost time for the heroine to take the stage.
As he lowered his arm, the bustling crowd before him parted, forming a pathway that led from outside the city to the gallows.
Otto, who remained rooted, found himself at the front, with a perfect view of what was to come.
He had, of course, planned it that way.
Otto's mocking smile disappeared as his expression became cold.
He closed his eyes, and began counting silently.
1, 2, 3…
He opened his eyes at "1453," seeing a white-haired girl walking past him with a serene expression, calmly embracing her inevitable death.
"Heh, even after experiencing so many cycles, you're still so composed, so calm, without any resentment or bitterness. You truly are a perfect phantom of Kallen," Otto murmured, his icy gaze following "Kallen," inspecting and admiring her with a malicious glee, as if she were a precious toy.
Or rather, she had become his toy the moment she broke free from her programming and awakened a separate consciousness, a vessel for his malevolence!
This was, after all, Schicksal's data space, where Otto had complete control over all its functions. How could he possibly miss any changes occurring within it?
He clearly remembered how ecstatic he had been when he had first discovered her capacity for emotion, and her beautiful blue eyes, filled with deep sorrow!
It was like a gift from the heavens. Otto had believed, for a moment, that he had achieved his lifelong wish to resurrect Kallen.
When he felt a long-dormant stirring within his heart, he desperately tried to suppress his overwhelming joy as he ran a series of diagnostics.
He finally realized that his hope was an illusion. She was not Kallen, it was not the same person.
She was still just a program, albeit one with an anomaly, perhaps a misplaced decimal point, or a changed symbol, that led her to an independent sentience.
She was just a program. Not Kallen. Never would be.
Even if they were nearly identical, it wasn't the same.
Otto's gaze hardened as he watched the girl approach the gallows, the fire of maliciousness burning in the depths of his empty soul.
Yes, he thought. Because that emptiness, that void, has to feed on light.
"Heh, if you are so similar to Kallen, then let me see just how similar you truly are!" Like all his human experiments, Otto looked forward to the spectacle.
It was a new experiment, a game.
A game in which he would unleash all the malice that he had accumulated over the past five hundred years –
A cycle of suffering.
Endless loops, judgment, execution, and death. Rebirth.
It was hell.
And yet, he always looked so calm and collected when he was in front of others. His true self was here, his eyes always so cold and vicious.
He watched as "Kallen" endured the eternal torment, even experiencing a mental breakdown, but every time the scene transitioned to the "Honkai Beast chaos at the execution," she would throw herself into the fray, trying to protect the townspeople.
Again and again.
Even though she knew everyone was just a program. She still fulfilled her duty.
"This light is just like the real Kallen…" Otto watched on, his heart filled with a perverted form of reverence, a form of devotion that even demons would find abhorrent.
But that was Otto's form of devotion.
Each time the simulation performed its duty, Otto felt a little more certain of his decision to resurrect Kallen.
Because that was Kallen, and she deserved so much more than that pitiful demise.
An endless torture, an endless cycle of death and rebirth. They served as fuel for Otto, feeding his desire to resurrect Kallen.
That was the worth of this "Kallen".
"You're twisted," the Void Archives couldn't help but comment.
"Heh, my old friend, it's not like this is the first time you've witnessed this," Otto replied, laughing, his eyes fixed on the noose around "Kallen's" neck.
He was about to witness his favorite act.
"That Kallen is quite pitiful. I expected her to become another Theresa." The Void Archives continued to tease Otto.
"Heh, there is already a human who bears Kallen's will, and I do not need a second one to carry my sentiments for Kallen," Otto replied with a cold, calm voice.
"Oh! So that's why you make that cyborg, Amber, wear a bulky eyeshield?" the Void Archives mocked. Otto had modified Amber, making her features resemble Kallen's, but he was bothered by her blue eyes, so he made her wear the bulky, orange visor.
What a ridiculous man, the Void Archives thought, inwardly laughing.
"Yes, Kallen's light was blinding. Someone like me, who is full of sin, wouldn't dare to stand beside her," Otto said, mocking himself.
"The human you are referring to is Theresa?" the Void Archives asked, changing the topic.
"Not only my beloved granddaughter, old friend." Otto's gaze shifted from the figure on the platform and said something unexpected, "It's Bianca."
"Oh right, I forgot about her," The Void Archives chuckled. "After all, she is another unfortunate person that you modified, how could I forget her?"
Otto shook his head, glancing at the girl on the platform, wryly smiling at himself. Was he seeing too many "Kallen-like" figures lately?
Theresa was his beloved granddaughter, he had always seen Kallen's kindness within her.
And Bianca…
Otto sighed, What a mess.
Kiana Kaslana, her real name, a name she had long forgotten.
He had paired Siegfried and Cecilia together with the hope that their powerful bloodlines would create a super warrior, an unstoppable weapon.
And so, Bianca, or rather, Kiana, was born, and everything proceeded according to plan.
Then, things changed.
The infant Kiana, while similar to all the other babies, began to display certain familiar traits. When Kiana was two or three, her eyes and features evoked a memory, the same as when he had first met Kallen.
How could someone be so similar? She was not a clone from a laboratory!
That was when the Otto from the present killed the Otto from the past.
What were those plans, those weapons?! He would not allow it.
Otto indulged the young Kiana in ways that he never had for anyone else.
He even allowed her to climb all over him, grabbing his hair and making a mess.
That was reserved only for her. The grace of Kallen did not extend to her parents.
He could be gentle and indulgent with Kiana while, at the same time, arranging for her parents to be sent to their doom.
In a way, Kiana had become a daughter to him.
Therefore, he had never intended for Kiana to fulfill any "mission." He would leave that decision to her, when she was old enough.
And to make sure her talents wouldn't be wasted, he decided on a compromise: extracting some of her DNA and using it to create her clone in his lab.
Just like he had done with Kallen's clones.
His love was twisted. He was a twisted man.
And because of his twisted love, he overlooked Siegfried's eventual betrayal, allowing him to take his daughter away.
But to Otto's fury, that worthless Siegfried went on to wreck his laboratory and stole the Herrscher of the Void's core, K423!
The Herrscher of the Void was tied to his dreams of resurrecting Kallen, and he had to pursue it, but…
That fool left his own daughter and took a walking time bomb?
Was he insane? Otto was livid.
Fine then. I'll take his daughter!
Otto searched through the wreckage, finally finding the critically wounded Kiana. He used all his knowledge, pouring in all of Schicksal's resources.
He had failed to save Kallen back then, but now he could save this other "Kallen"!
He saved her life, wiped her memories, and gave her a new identity.
When she decided to return to Schicksal as a Valkyrie, he accepted it wholeheartedly, because it was her choice, not something forced upon her.
Thus, Bianka Durandal, Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, was born.
...
Snapping out of his thoughts, Otto noticed the crowd had grown restless.
He glanced up at the girl now on the gallows, struggling against the noose. He felt pity for her. She was extraordinary, but born in the wrong time.
The good and gentle parts of his soul had been bestowed upon Theresa and Bianka.
And even though Otto knew that these were echoes of Kallen's will, there was no space for another one, no space for a third "Kallen."
My saintess is not that cheap.
So, she had to serve as his fuel, illuminating his own Kallen.
"Kallen" freed herself, rushing toward the crowd of people and the monsters.
No, not all of the parts of him were occupied.
He also recalled another copy of Kallen, K423, the girl who was now in St. Freya Academy.
He had been about to ignore her, waiting for her to leave, but he saw her face, so like Kallen's, and her willingness to fight for Kallen.
His twisted soul couldn't help but try to make things right, in his own way, with his own warped morality.
Ah, consider this to be a favor, he had thought, wondering whether he meant that to Kallen or K423.
He had then offered the White Knight: Moonlight, the fourth-generation Valkyrie armor he had intended for the Herrscher, to her, which was the most perfect replica of the Godkiller Armor he had created, one that also required Herrscher-level power to utilize fully.
And that was the moment that Otto became a monster.
Beep beep… Amber's communication came through.
"Overseer, the final adjustments on 'Bright Knight: Moonlight' are complete. Should we contact Durandal for the test run?"
Otto looked up. The chaos was slowly subsiding. The "Saintess Kallen" was back in a pool of her own blood. Waiting for the next loop.
"Yes, prepare for the test run. And since it's a test, let Bianca handle it against Honkai forces. I'm confident she'll be able to collect all the data," Otto said, his lips curving into a malicious grin, "Amber, compile a list of all Honkai outbreaks around the globe. I'll personally inform her of the test parameters."
He turned and walked out of the data space, his past actions completely ignored, leaving behind only chaos.
That was what made him, that's how he could continue forward.
His twisted soul made the Void Archives laugh out loud. "Hahahaha! A monster like you only comes once in a lifetime!"
...
In another corner of the world, deep beneath the ground,
Clang! The sound echoed loudly, as heavy iron doors slowly opened, revealing alternating flashes of orange and blue light within.
A young man slowly walked out, stepping into the dimly lit passageway.
He took a deep breath of the damp, stale air, and turned to look at the closing gate and the Elysian Realm beyond. "So, I'm finally gone…" he said.