The Sustainer of Heavenly...
No! Wrong franchise!
The Queen from the Honkai set hasn't even clocked out yet!
Otto instinctively let go of Mei's foot. He stared at the girl before him; though it was still Mei's beautiful vessel, the entity within was a complete stranger.
It wasn't Mei, and it certainly wasn't Mei's Herrscher personality.
It was something far, far worse.
"You are... the Will of the Honkai?"
Otto faced it as if it were the greatest enemy imaginable, taking a difficult step back. He had heard its words clearly.
And it wasn't just the phrase "Will of the Honkai" that he'd noticed. He'd also noted what it had called him.
Traveler.
Was his cover as a transmigrator already blown?
Wasn't this supposed to be the easiest starting instance, Nagazora City? Why had the final boss, the Will of the Honkai, come all the way to the newbie village just to kill him?
"System, System!? Why does the Will of the Honkai know I'm a transmigrator!?" Otto screamed internally, but while the System's interface was still accessible, the System itself remained silent.
The dog System was playing dead.
Unbelievable. It goes all out against Raven but plays dead the moment the Will of the Honkai shows up. What a classic case of a system that bullies the weak and fears the strong.
"Will of the Honkai, are you here to kill this Overseer?"
"Are you here to kill me, the only one in this era of civilization who has a chance of defeating you?"
Otto clasped his hands behind his back, his face a mask of false confidence. He repeated a mantra in his mind: I am Overseer Otto. I am Otto Apocalypse.
No one understood the art of the bluff better than him.
The Will of the Honkai, wearing Mei's skin, simply watched him in silence. There was no joy, no anger, no sorrow, no hatred. It was like an emotionless machine.
[Honkai is a trial for the civilizations on the Tree.]
The Will stated it simply.
Otto suddenly understood. The Will of the Honkai had obviously discovered his identity as a transmigrator.
And its reason for wanting to eliminate him was simple: he was a foreign object in this world.
Even Fu Hua, a survivor from the Previous Era, had drawn the Will's attention. When she helped Shenzhou's civilization develop thousands of years ago, the Will of the Honkai had dropped the Judgement-class Honkai Beast, Chiyou, on them.
As someone who did not belong to this world, Otto's interference in the trial of civilization was tantamount to hiring a substitute to take an exam.
And the Will of the Honkai, the proctor, had come to personally kick the cheater out.
"I promise not to interfere in the affairs of this world. I'll find a place to hide and live as an ostrich, how does that sound?"
"If that's not good enough, you can turn me into a Herrscher! I'll destroy this civilization for you, I swear I won't be a turncoat, and I can even help you get the other Herrschers to fall in line."
Otto immediately threw his hands up in a French military salute.
He had no choice. The final boss he had planned to fight much later was here to capture him now. How could he possibly fight? He was completely unprepared. Even throwing the entirety of Schicksal into the fray would be useless.
Right now, Otto couldn't care about anything else. He would do many things to survive.
At this moment, nothing was more important than living.
To that end, he was even willing to become a running dog for the Honkai.
However, in response to Otto's words, the Will of the Honkai proved to be a being of few words and much action. It raised the Seven Thunders of Retribution and slashed at him.
Otto watched the blade, which had practically become a blur of pure lightning. He decided to risk it all on a single gamble, manipulating the System's interface.
He chose to unequip the Seven Thunders of Retribution.
Any item obtained from the System could be unequipped, causing the weapon to return to the System's inventory.
It was the same trick Otto had used to show off in front of Mei earlier.
But Otto had no idea if it would work on a weapon currently being held by the Will of the Honkai.
Dog System, you better not let me down!
"Disarm!"
Unequip: Seven Thunders of Retribution.
The Divine Key vanished from the Will of the Honkai's hand.
It looked at its now-empty right hand, then raised its head to look at Otto.
It said nothing. There was no flicker of emotion in its eyes.
With the Divine Key gone, the electromagnetic field the Herrscher personality had used to shield herself from the Will of the Honkai was no longer being disrupted. The Will began to lose its control over this body.
The Third Herrscher...
Although the Third Herrscher had not yet turned against the Honkai, after being treated this way, the Will felt that she was not far from betrayal.
In this era, it seemed only the Second Herrscher had actually done her job properly.
"What's wrong? Aren't you going to kill me?"
"I, Otto, am standing right here for you to kill."
"Please~"
Otto taunted the Will of the Honkai, which now stood frozen in place. After he recalled the Divine Key to his inventory, it had stopped moving, like a robot without batteries.
He was going to get in as much trash talk as he could while he was still alive.
The Will of the Honkai stared at him with its hollow eyes.
It opened its mouth.
But no words came out.
The madness crept back into the crimson eyes. The Will of the Honkai disconnected, and the Queen of Thunder was back online.
Faint arcs of electricity danced around her long hair. Miss Herrscher of Thunder stared at Otto, the Stigmata on her waist glowing beneath her tattered clothes.
"Heh. Interesting."
The Queen of Thunder crossed her arms, leaning back slightly. As a divine apostle, no one understood the concept of the Will of the Honkai better than her.
And this mere mortal in her eyes had dared to defy that god.
Truly interesting.
He was becoming more and more worthy of being conquered.
Seeing this, Otto breathed a sigh of relief. The Will of the Honkai had logged off just like that?
So its appearance was tied to the Seven Thunders of Retribution?
It seemed he couldn't let Mei get her hands on that sword ever again.
But the days ahead would be anything but peaceful. The Will of the Honkai had clearly marked him. As long as he remained in this world, Otto felt it would not let him go.
Then again, if he did nothing, he would die when the Herrscher of the End descended and destroyed the world anyway.
Death was waiting for him down every path, so he might as well choose the one that offered a sliver of hope.
And that was to beat the Honkai down.
"I applaud your courage. You did well. After all, the only one who can take your life... is me."
Although Miss Herrscher of Thunder had been unable to control her body, she had witnessed the entire process. Lacking crucial information, however, she had no idea that the man before her was a transmigrator.
She raised her right hand, lightning crackling around it, and tilted Otto's chin up.
"Come now. Raise your hands to me, just as you did a moment ago."
But Otto just frowned. Having survived a near-death experience, his mind was razor-sharp. He noticed that even though the Herrscher's hand was sparking with electricity, it only tickled. The unbearable, piercing pain from before was gone.
And the electricity coursing around her body was noticeably weaker.
Could it be... it's not the Herrscher of Thunder that's strong, but the Seven Thunders of Retribution?
Otto seized the Herrscher's hand. She frowned, and a brilliant purple light flared around her as a bolt of lightning struck Otto directly.
"That kind of tickles."
Otto took the attack head-on, but his defenses weren't breached.
Hmph. A lightning-element, single-sword user. All she can do is scrape.
Without the Seven Thunders of Retribution and without sufficient ambient Honkai energy, the Herrscher of Thunder's attacks were this feeble.
Even Kevin, without Honkai energy, was just a super soldier.
The Herrscher's eyes widened. She had realized the problem as well. Otto gripped both her hands, lowered his head slightly, and whispered in her ear.
"You mischievous little Herrscher."
His lips were almost touching the tip of her nose.
It was as if they were about to kiss.
"Now... the roles have been reversed."
"Heh..."
But before Otto could have the last laugh, Miss Herrscher of Thunder's eyes rolled back, and her soft body collapsed into his arms.
The clever girl had chosen the pull-the-plug escape.
The rest is up to you...
...you silly girl.