It was understandable that players began to realize they knew almost nothing about Otto.
As the story unfolded, they were stunned to see Otto appear entirely different in the eyes of different people.
Bianka's mentor in life.
Ragna's guide.
Fu Hua's old "friend" who shot her in the head.
A ruthless villain who would do anything to achieve his goals...
These personas weren't just varied—they were contradictory.
You could argue Otto was a master of deception who simply fooled Bianka and Ragna, but somehow... it didn't feel that simple.
Some things can't be said so sincerely and fluently unless you've truly thought them through—and believed them.
The more they understood Otto, the more complicated their feelings became.
Even though they still wanted to shout "Otto, show us your HP bar already!", the emotion behind it had become... nuanced.
"Otto."
Kalpas repeated the name coldly.
"Heh... Regardless of what he did, his sins won't vanish."
"Someday, he'll be consumed in this burning rage—scorched in its merciless blaze!"
"This is the end Otto deserves."
Kalpas' voice snapped everyone out of their reverie.
Their spirits lifted at once.
Honestly, yeah.
If Otto really did show his HP bar, they'd go at him full force without hesitation.
They might even pop open some champagne to celebrate after.
No matter what kind of person Otto was, his sins were real.
No question about that.
Once everyone recovered from the Otto shock, Kalpas resumed the story.
Bianka had improved her self-developed anti-Honkai disease serum under Otto's guidance.
But one day, an eruption of Honkai struck Arc City.
Rushing to a shelter, Bianka encountered a Honkai Beast along the way.
Players grew tense—Bianka here wasn't a Valkyrie.
Even a regular Charger-class Honkai Beast could end her life easily.
And in this hyper-realistic illusion, no one knew what dying would mean.
The Honkai Beast burst into view, causing destruction everywhere.
Bianka, despite knowing she should escape, risked herself to save a girl infected by Honkai disease.
She injected the girl with her improved serum, successfully suppressing the Honkai corruption.
But the delay left her trapped in a corner.
On one side, the emperor of heaven's flames and the three Herrschers.
On the other, a Charger-class blocking the only exit.
It was a desperate situation.
Unarmed, Bianka held the infected girl close and closed her eyes, preparing for the end—
(which caused her to become infected as well).
At that moment, Otto appeared.
He praised Bianka for using the serum to suppress the Honkai energy.
Though Otto seemed all high-and-mighty right now, Bianka still wanted to remind him:
There's a Honkai Beast right behind you.
It'll crush you in seconds.
"Don't worry, Doctor Bianka."
"Rita, it's your turn."
As the words fell, Rita descended from the sky—wielding a flaming greatsword and clad in Kevin-style armor.
With a single swing, she cleaved the Honkai Beast in two.
Meanwhile, Hokuto quietly congratulated Bianka for passing the first trial.
Relieved to see the threat neutralized, players immediately began chattering:
[Wait—is Rita replacing Kevin in this world? Rita Kaslana?]
[It feels like she's about to say "Humanity will surely defeat the Honkai!"]
[Kevin: Can you people write your own lines?!]
...
"This Rita! Why's she wearing Boss Kevin's outfit?"
Pardofelis was just as surprised. "And she's got Boss Kevin's weapon too?"
"She feels totally different from the Rita we knew before."
She paused, scratched her head, and added softly:
"Also... Hokuto placing Rita and Bianka into Kevin and Su's roles—it gives me a weird feeling."
"Weird feeling?" Kalpas asked.
"It's just... nothing."
Pardofelis changed the subject herself, then suddenly looked concerned:
"Bianka just got infected by Honkai energy. Who knows what's going to happen next?"
"But since she's the main character here, I guess she'll be... okay?"
[There's still Otto. As shady as he is, he's somehow reassuring when he's on your side.]
[Didn't Bianka's serum work? Besides, she's playing Su's role here—and Su lived till the current era. She's probably safe.]
[Rita = Kevin, Bianka = Su... plot armor secured. As long as those two are fine, I've got nothing to worry about.]
[Exactly. No matter what happens, no way they'll hit me with emotional damage now.]
Everyone felt safe.
Cut to the next scene—
Bianka dreamed of Ragna.
When she woke up, her Honkai disease had been cured.
A subtle hint, perhaps?
The newly awakened Bianka rushed to change clothes and sought out Otto.
Otto was standing in front of the corpse of the very girl Bianka had tried to save.
He explained that while Bianka's serum did delay the symptoms, and he'd performed surgery in time, the girl's body just wasn't strong enough.
She hadn't survived the procedure.
Bianka objected—she had also been infected, but she recovered.
Didn't Flame-Chasers have a cure for Honkai disease?
Otto didn't hide anything.
He frankly admitted there was a special cure.
They just hadn't used it—because it was too "expensive."
Players frowned.
No matter how rational, using money to measure a life always felt... wrong.
But Otto wasn't talking about currency.
He was talking about something else entirely.
Facing Bianka's anger, Otto quietly revealed what "expensive" really meant—
a weight so suffocating that even the audience could feel it through the screen.
"Let me tell you how we make that serum."
"Though Flame-Chasers have studied Honkai disease extensively, we've never figured out its core mechanism. We can only create serum from infected corpses."
"Statistically, to extract enough to save one person, we need a thousand corpses."
The players felt their throats dry.
One thousand dead to save a single life.
So this was the price?
This wasn't medicine.
And it wasn't even the worst part. Otto followed up with a shocking detail:
"One of the donors who saved you... was someone very dear to you—Ragna."
"After she died, her body was donated to Flame-Chasers. The antibodies in her system made this serum possible."
Bianka: "..."
The livestream viewers: "..."
[I was so focused on Bianka and Rita, I forgot the writer can still stab us with dead characters.]
[I let my guard down... forgot how Honkai Impact 3rd loves to stab you repeatedly with the same corpse.]
[So heavy... after receiving that serum, it's like you're carrying a thousand lives on your shoulders—including Ragna. I can't even imagine how that feels.]
[Alive, she cared for Bianka. Dead, she saved her again. Truly worthy of being Himeko-sensei's mentor.]
...
The audience was shaken by the brutal development.
Pardofelis trembled.
Whether as one of the thousand dead, or the one injected—
she couldn't bear either fate.
She definitely didn't want to die.
But to live while carrying the sorrow of a thousand lives, including a treasured friend...
That was no easier.
Living in the Previous Era... was simply too hard.
Only people like Mobius, Vill-V, Kevin...
could shine in a world like that.
As for a pitiful, helpless, weak girl like her...
One Honkai outbreak and she'd be gone.
Unless her luck was really good.
But odds were, she wouldn't last long in a doomsday world.
Honestly, if she were born in the Previous Era, she'd probably be doomed.
Thankfully...
Pardofelis patted her chest.
She had nothing to do with that disaster-filled world—
...wait. Didn't she agree to join Hokuto's Elysian Realm?
Wasn't that something left over from the Previous Era?
"No choice... Hokuto offered too much."
But clearly, Elysia and Mei were the main characters of Elysian Realm.
As a side character, she probably wouldn't get much screentime.
Shouldn't be a problem.
Even if there was a problem, it'd be over quickly anyway.
Pardofelis tried to soothe her fluttering little heart.
Kalpas continued advancing the story.
This was an illusion—but everything in it had really happened.
Su had lived through it all.
He now understood a little more about why Su turned into that "cult-like guru" at the start of this arc.
After learning the truth, Bianka chose to carry this burden and move forward.
She vowed: she would defeat the Honkai.
And having passed Otto's trial, Bianka was formally invited to join Flame-Chasers.
In the following interactions, she learned that the former Rita had become Flame-Chasers' strongest warrior.
Otto then brought Bianka back to the Flame-Chasers base.
Thanks to Hokuto's extra arrangements, Bianka had plenty of chances to talk with Otto and Rita, and even met a few side characters.
Through their conversations, players learned more about the Previous Era.
It was a period of relative calm and daily life—
but it didn't last long.
The 8th Herrscher appeared.
A Herrscher who could corrupt language itself and use it to launch memetic attacks.
She could trap humans in their dreams.
And in those dreams, people lived out their ideal lives—
until they died in their sleep.
"The 8th Herrscher? That's the Herrscher of Sentience, right?"
"Wait—wasn't the Herrscher of Sentience supposed to fight with fists?!"