Siegfried Kaslana.
Otto gazed coldly at the man before him, his hands clenching into fists out of sight.
What kind of cursed day was this? First Raven, now Siegfried.
He really needed to consult a fortune teller before going out next time. At this rate, Kevin might be next.
Still, Siegfried's appearance wasn't a complete shock. While unexpected, it was logical.
Although Siegfried had left Kiana's side, he had been secretly protecting her throughout her journey.
Otto's eyes flicked to the Judgement of Shamash that Siegfried had slammed onto the table. He let out a small laugh.
"It has been a while, Siegfried."
"Is this a local souvenir for me?"
For a moment, Otto was tempted to make a joke and call Siegfried "Father-in-law," but he feared the man would just whip out his Divine Key and blow his head off.
He wasn't durable enough to tank a direct hit from Shamash.
He'd save that particular line for Raiden Ryoma.
"Overseer Otto, what are your intentions for my daughter?"
Unlike the man he was in his youth, Siegfried's face was now etched with the lines of hardship. His deep-set eyes, sharp as a hawk's, were fixed on Otto.
His right hand rested on the Judgement of Shamash.
If possible, he never wanted to face Otto again. But Otto had made contact with his daughter, and with the Overseer's sharp eye, he had surely recognized her as the girl Siegfried had stolen from him all those years ago.
"Oh? Which daughter might that be?"
Otto summoned his system interface, invisible to Siegfried, and equipped the Seven Thunders of Retribution. The weapon materialized on his thigh, hidden by the table.
With his hand resting on the Divine Key, Otto finally felt a sliver of security.
"Which Kiana Kaslana are we talking about?"
Hearing Otto's light, dismissive tone, a vein pulsed on Siegfried's forehead.
His biological daughter, the real Kiana Kaslana, was in Otto's hands.
"What insidious plot are you hatching now?" Siegfried asked in a low, heavy voice, careful not to be loud enough for Kiana to hear from the restroom.
This was a conversation for adults; the child couldn't be involved.
"Me? I simply wish for K423 to join Schicksal," Otto stated plainly. There was no point in hiding it.
"Are you trying to create another Cecilia?"
At Siegfried's accusation, Otto chuckled softly.
"No, no, no. She is one of a kind. She will not be the next Cecilia. She will be the first Ki... K423."
"Her name doesn't quite roll off the tongue. Actually, I've been meaning to ask you, Siegfried. Why did you name K423 'Kiana'?"
Otto was genuinely curious about Siegfried's thought process. With his real daughter still alive, why would he give her name to her clone?
It was something he, at least, could never bring himself to do.
The original Otto couldn't either; the names Amber and Theresa were proof of that.
Siegfried remained silent. Perhaps... he truly wasn't a good father.
"Siegfried, you may be a hero, but you are not a good father. At the very least, you are a clumsy one," Otto said, his words blunt and direct.
"You left K423 when she was a child, choosing to protect her from the shadows."
"My guess is, you wanted her to become independent, to grow, to form her own bonds."
"That way, when she learns the truth in the future, the blow of discovering she is merely your daughter's clone would be softened."
If the future remained unchanged, the K423 of that timeline did indeed come to accept her identity.
Everything Otto was doing now was for a similar purpose.
To lessen the pain for the little Paramecium when she eventually learned the truth.
"However, you must have noticed that Kiana has spent these years wandering aimlessly. It's safe to say that finding you is her sole purpose in life."
"She is living like the walking dead."
"..." Siegfried was silent, because Otto was right.
"That is why I want her to become a Valkyrie. As Kiana's clone, possessing the Core of the Herrscher of the Void, she is destined to become an outstanding warrior—one who could even surpass Cecilia."
"I can guarantee you, Kiana will become a beloved Valkyrie in the future."
"And you know as well as I do," Otto added, "that no one understands Valkyries better than me."
His mind was on high alert. He could only sit here and talk to Siegfried like this because Siegfried was unaware of the original Otto's machinations during the Second Honkai War.
In Siegfried's eyes, Overseer Otto, while ruthless, was still on the side of humanity, fighting with all his might against the Honkai.
He only defected from Schicksal because Otto's methods had harmed the people he cherished.
"I cannot trust you," Siegfried said, his voice flat.
"And you can trust those people from Anti-Entropy?" Otto retorted.
"I know you've been in contact with them since the Second Honkai War. But are they any better?"
"Not only did Cocolia frame Raiden Ryoma, but she is also using his daughter for experiments. If the Herrscher of Thunder truly awakens, not many will survive in Nagazora City."
"They conduct experiments too. What right does Anti-Entropy have to act so high and mighty?"
Although the original Otto had pulled many strings during the Second Honkai War, he bore no blame for the Third Honkai Eruption, the birth of the Herrscher of Thunder.
The only thing he could be criticized for was standing by and watching Cocolia's schemes unfold.
"Relay a message to your friends in Anti-Entropy for me. Tell them... the days when they could be both the sinner and the saint are numbered."
Due to old grudges, Anti-Entropy hated Otto to the bone. He had no intention of letting them run rampant; that would be disrespectful to his own survival.
Siegfried's expression changed. He had only learned of Cocolia's actions a few days ago, and it had been weighing heavily on his mind.
With Anti-Entropy's Sovereign, Walter, missing, most of the power had fallen into the hands of Cocolia, the leader of the reformist faction. To maintain stability, the conservative faction, led by old guards like Tesla and Einstein, could only tolerate her.
But Cocolia's latest move had caught them completely off guard. Before Tesla and the others could react, their most important financial backer, Raiden Ryoma, had been thrown in prison.
But how is Otto's intelligence so accurate? Siegfried wondered. Could there be a mole inside Anti-Entropy?
"Siegfried, tell your people two more things from me."
"I will handle the situation in Nagazora City. The Far East is Schicksal's territory, and I will not tolerate Anti-Entropy's misbehavior."
"Since Anti-Entropy can't even manage its own house, the Overseer shall sweep it clean for them."
In the original timeline, their inaction led to the Great Honkai Eruption in Nagazora, a city of millions where only a handful survived.
But now, Otto could save those innocent people.
And if he could, he would.
Siegfried remained silent for a long moment before standing up and giving Otto a nod.
"I will relay your words."
"However..." Siegfried's face turned fierce as his right hand gripped the Judgement of Shamash.
"Otto, if you dare to harm Kiana, I will become a demon of vengeance and spend the rest of my life hunting you down."
It was a threat made by a father for his daughter.
But there was so little he could do for her.
This father felt his own powerlessness.
Before he could even raise the gun to Otto's head, Otto tapped his own forehead with a finger.
"You can try pointing that gun at my head. Let's see what interesting things might happen."
Otto's gaze was ice-cold as he stared at Siegfried.
The reckless fear the deranged, and the deranged fear those with a death wish. Siegfried hesitated, then holstered his weapon.
Otto spoke again, his tone flat.
"Nonetheless, I have received your threat."
"I will take good care of K423... and of Kiana."