Chapter 193 – Congratulations to the Strongest Valkyrie for Getting Kiana!
Hokuto's tone was 'sincere.'
Yet no one could quite put into words how they felt right now.It was as if something deep inside was rolling and churning—Until finally!The emotions boiled over and erupted, and all of it was directed at Otto.
["He may have lost his father, but he still has me"? Just for that line, damn Otto must die!!]
[I actually hesitated about whether to pop champagne earlier—hell, I almost lost my mind! Right now I just want to smash Otto's sousteel skull with a bottle!!]
[Otto, is your consciousness transfer glitching? Or did your sousteel brain get its circuits crossed? Are you even speaking human language?]...
The viewers fired off particularly 'passionate' comments.
Elysia's expression froze as well.
That fleeting thought she had earlier returned once more—And this time, she couldn't help but ask.
"'Otto,' you're not deliberately trying to make people hate Otto, are you? Are you up to something?"
"?"
Wow—since when did Elysia's brain turn this fast?Could it be she'd developed antibodies from being tricked by him too much? Cough cough cough.
Hokuto paused for a moment, then quickly recovered and replied.
"Do you think there's anything wrong with what I said just now?"
"Not… really?" Elysia hesitated. "It's just…"
"Then that's that."
Hokuto promptly cut her off. "Go on, Elysia. Don't keep the audience waiting."
"…Alright."
Elysia shot him a few suspicious glances, but with his face hidden behind the mask, she couldn't read anything from him.
She clicked the screen, and the story continued.
Bianca was clearly shocked by Otto's earlier 'inhuman' statement.
Bianca: "..."
"Oh my, how did I get so carried away mid-sentence?"
Otto even started chiding himself: "That's not good, not good at all."
"In short, when it comes to matters involving the First Herrscher, I'm a prime example of what not to do—Durandal, you'd do well to take that as a warning."
He said that, yet looked like he had no intention of changing—If anything, there was a faint air of "I know it's wrong, but I'd still do it again".
The players felt their blood pressure climbing again.
And Otto continued:
"A true savior must be able to cast aside all emotions when necessary…"
He paused for a moment, then said the latter half in a wistful tone:"And Otto Apocalypse has been incapable of that from the very beginning."
With those words, everyone was reminded—Everything Otto had done was for one thing: to revive Kallen.
And nothing more.
The hands typing furiously on keyboards froze for a moment.
Otto was that self-aware?
They suddenly didn't know how to roast him anymore.
And with Durandal's growing suspicion of Otto's true purpose, the story only deepened that strange, conflicted feeling—As Li Sushang had once said, no one would believe Otto went to such lengths just to bring back one Kallen.
But…
He really had gone to such lengths just to bring back one Kallen.
There was no way to define Otto in a single word.
The chat slowed down considerably.
Elysia guided Durandal to another memory fragment.
This one contained Siegfried and Cecilia's sweet moment, along with Tesla urging Siegfried to be good to K423.
After viewing the string of memories, Durandal was a little dazed:"All these memories, just what are they…"
A mysterious voice suddenly rang out:"These are the memories of one who could not become a hero."
"Who?" Durandal immediately became wary.
The voice went on, ignoring her question.
He called himself the consciousness of this space, the arbiter of Durandal's trial.
But the trial had been interrupted by some power within Durandal.
Now that she had collected enough memories, his power could finally act upon her.
The self-proclaimed space consciousness drew Durandal up from the deep sea of memories—
And in the process, she recalled a chance conversation she once had with Shigure Kira.
They spoke of Cecilia's child, and at the end, Shigure Kira asked curiously:"By the way, the name Kiana Kaslana… you really haven't heard it at all?"
With all the earlier hints in the story, the seeds of suspicion had already begun to sprout.
Elysia could feel it—the moment of truth was near.
It could very well be in the next scene.
But seeing Bianca, after being hinted at so many times, still not making the connection to herself—Even she was at a loss for words.
So this was what they meant by "hard to see the forest from within the trees"?
The space consciousness returned Durandal to the Bloodsoil.
"Your appearance is… unexpected."
Durandal eyed the giant black Homu beside her.
"That's not a detail you need to concern yourself with… just as for you, Stigmata are nothing more than a kind of destiny inscribed into DNA fifty thousand years ago."
"You believe your will is free, but that freedom is often just an illusion—a predestined impulse driving you toward inevitable results."
[And here we go again—what's miHoYo trying to say this time?]
[Mm… in simple terms, he's saying the reason the Kaslanas all choose to protect the world and humanity is because their Stigmata influence them, not purely out of personal will.]
[That sounds… like it's undermining a lot of people's efforts.]
Seeing the 'Honkai scholars' in the chat dissecting the line, many frowned.
And while the audience discussed, someone—whether genuinely clueless or just pretending—typed:[But what's the point of telling this to Durandal?]
Back to the game—
Faced with a space consciousness that seemed to have inherited the "riddler" trait from someone and never spoke plainly, Durandal chose the simplest form of communication—combat.
But before the fight began, she was shown a memory of Otto and Ragnar discussing Kiana.
The truth was finally about to surface.
Otto and Ragnar stood before a treatment pod.
"What a tough little monster, isn't she?"
"From thousands of meters up, struck in the head by debris from an aircraft, falling freely into the depths of a snowy mountain…"
"To go through all that and still have vital signs when you found her… she must have an extraordinary will to live…"
Clearly, Otto was talking about the real Kiana.
Durandal looked confused: "You're showing me… Senior Ragnar's memory?"
Arbiter: "No, that's not hers."
"If not Senior Ragnar's, then it must belong to Overseer Otto," Durandal pressed.
"Unfortunately, no."
Twice denied, Durandal thought for a moment, then asked a third time:"Then this memory comes from a third party?"
By saying "third party," she clearly still hadn't realized it was her own.
Watching the scene, Elysia's eyes widened slightly, brows knitted, lips pressed tight… her expressions shifted through several shades.
The answer was practically in her face, and yet Bianca still hadn't realized.
She truly didn't know what expression to make anymore.
As expected—there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong given names.
Ah, Silly Goose… Silly Goose indeed.
Many viewers finally put the pieces together.
Players who had refused to believe the theory until now visibly stiffened, as if an electric motor had been installed in them.
[The big one is coming!]
[The "big one" you kept talking about—don't tell me… it's real?!]
[Would we lie to you?]
"That memory came from the child receiving treatment from Otto."
"Think back—everything you've seen here: Dr. Mei's child, Kallen and her father, Theresa, Siegfried, and that child just now… they all share the same blood, and the same Stigmata lies dormant within them."
Durandal pondered aloud: "So I, in the Imaginary Space, have become entangled with this Stigmata space—with you?"
The Arbiter transformed into Rita: "A reasonable deduction."
"Though your memories didn't belong here before you arrived, your entanglement with this space is no coincidence… haven't you realized it yet, Miss Durandal?"
Durandal: "..."
[Is she deliberately avoiding it? I've already figured it out.]
[No, you're overthinking—she just doesn't remember, and she's a goof.]
[She's not pretending to be dumb. She is dumb. (dog head)]
Outside the streaming area—
Kiana, seeing the viewers calling Bianca a goof, couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked her sister:"Sis, what do you think of the nickname Silly Goose?"
Bianca blinked: "Who's Silly Goose? Is that you, Kiana?"
Kiana: "..."
"Pfft~~"
"Sis!" She felt she was being teased.
Bianca added, "I wouldn't say I like it, but since you're called 'Protozoan,' I can accept it."
"Huh? Why?" Kiana was puzzled.
"Because… you and a protozoan look so much like sisters…"
Back to the livestream—
"In your veins flows pure Kaslana blood. And the memory we just saw didn't come from Otto or Ragnar…"
"It came from your own truest senses—you are the owner of that memory, the third party."
The players focused entirely on the scene, stopped typing, and held their breath for the truth to be spoken.
In-game, Durandal's expression went full 0.0.
"In that memory, Otto addressed you as—"
Even Elysia, who already knew the truth, instinctively paused for a moment here.
She took a deep breath, then clicked.
"Kiana Kaslana."
The voice sounded, and the truth was finally revealed.
And although the viewers had been mentally prepared, they still jolted in shock.
The question of who the real Kiana was—a topic debated since launch—was now officially settled.
[The "Durandal = Real Kiana" theory is confirmed~!]
[Congrats to the strongest Valkyrie for getting Kiana! Kiana, your dream has come true!!]
[Bug: I was not prepared for this. Not prepared at all.]