The third Herrschers are eliminated.
At least, explicitly.
Kevin Kaslana, after rushing to the vicinity of Harvey, with a bit of doubt and a slight unease in his heart, searched and examined the neighborhood for a long time, and finally—
Complete.
During the whole process, he only briefly collided with Mei Raiden.
Looking back, it turned out that this great Honkai outbreak had erupted in the Kingdom of Tianzhu.
"So it turned out to be man-made damage—far greater damage than what the Herrschers caused!"
The time shifts to that night.
Location: in some isolated village in Europe, inside a lit chapel.
Otto, just after putting Delisa to sleep, leaves the bedroom of what he considers his good granddaughter, together with Rita, who is in charge of the latter's daily routine.
At that time, in this remote village, near the rear mountain, there was an open space… inside it was the Second Divine Key—"A Thousand Realms' Vehicle" covered with canvas.
The villagers did not approach that place.
Not even… not even this small church was approached.
The reason was that Otto, who for the moment no longer carried "Void Archives" with him, used a special power he had just acquired… the strange white clown mask, to slightly interfere with the consciousness of the inhabitants of the small village.
This thing, when used… was almost the same as before… he was quite familiar with it.
Thus, understanding the situation in the village, he planted psychological suggestions in all the local residents.
On one hand, he implied that he had a high status and was highly respected and trusted by others.
On the other hand, he implied that he had been living in the village, not as an outsider.
In this way, he created a perfect hiding place.
And hiding places like this, Otto had prepared more than one in the past few months.
Among them, there were even some special ones.
Not in the "intrinsic world."
Right now—
"I didn't expect Mrs. Fu Hua to actually hold nothing back."
Inside the church's small room, Yolande Le stands by a window and looks at the other three inside.
Her gaze finally fell on the blond man.
"Bishop Otto, can we really preserve two eras at the same time if we do this?"
Recalling everything she saw today after the battle—the slums of Dahavi filled with corpses.
She had completed well the task Otto gave her.
But that price…
"At that time (the previous civilization), you were evil!"
In her mind, she seemed to see that person again (Ling Ke), mocking her and saying this sarcastic line.
This time—
"My old friend has always had an extremely firm will."
Instead of answering Yolande Le's question directly, Otto chuckled to himself: "Before, what she lacked was a clear goal, so many times she acted like a headless fly."
"After all, from beginning to end, not even the goal of 'protecting China' was something she truly wanted to do."
"It was something someone else imposed on her."
"That person…"
The corners of Otto's mouth lifted slightly. "Now it's different."
"The Immortal Red Comet… or: Fu Hua… she already has her own truly clear purpose."
At that moment, he tilted his head and looked at you, Yolande. "With this foundation, she will no longer be confused nor hesitate in anything she does, but will be very decisive."
"Today, in her eyes, using all her strength to defeat you as much as possible… even to kill, is what she considers her primary objective."
"After all, Yolande… my best student."
"Right now, you are the strongest combat force on our side."
"If you fall, then the people of this era will believe their chances of victory are infinitely greater."
Hearing him explain—
"But we don't want to destroy this era, we just want to…"
"Pointless."
Otto shook his head. "To be honest: if I could find a way to get our time back on track, and it had a huge success rate, I wouldn't choose to coexist with the other side either."
"This…"
"What did you mean, Bishop?"
"Listen to me and let me finish, don't be impatient."
Otto raised a finger and pointed out the window. "It's already night, and the last thing we lack now is time."
He looked directly at Yolande. "And you—the thing you lack the most is patience."
"…"
Yolande was silent for a moment.
In the end, a nod.
Seeing this, Otto smiled and then continued: "Let's talk about our current situation."
He raised his right hand and lifted his index finger. "First of all, by domination… no, now it can almost be called 'God.'"
"In short, because Ling Ke completed his revenge plan, our time has been reduced to nothing."
"It didn't even 'begin.'"
Otto's right hand continued. "Under this general premise, including you and me, there are about ten 'survivors' who came to the current era with their own memories and experiences."
"For us, this era belongs to the 'ancient history from more than 50,000 years ago.'"
"Here, we…"
"Today, the third Honkai broke out in Dahavi of the Kingdom of Tianzhu, and the Herrscher born there… is suspected to not be the Herrscher of Thunder."
"Just from this alone, it can be seen that the future historical direction is impossible to get back on track no matter what… or it can be said, it can't 'return to the old path.'"
"It's like a completely shattered microscopic three-dimensional puzzle."
"Do you have the confidence to put every single molecule back in its place?"
"No, that's something only 'God' can do."
"Therefore, when his revenge plan was completed, that person (Ling Ke) deliberately told each of us the rules… namely: 'If you want to save your own era that has completely disappeared, you must first destroy the current era and seize a new life.' This phrase is, in itself, a very misleading statement."
"But at the same time—"
Otto raised his second finger. "The hardest lie to deal with is one mixed with truths."
"What He (Ling Ke) said at that moment, 'Saving the world is destroying it,' is true."
"However, it cannot be understood together with the previous sentence."
"And that's what you should be thinking about…"
Otto spread his hands. "What we must focus on is not the two 'eras' before us, but the current 'timeline' and the new one from the other… no, strictly speaking, it should be a 're-recorded' timeline."
As he spoke, he straightened the index fingers of both hands and placed them side by side before him. "In this way, we save both worlds."
Yolande nodded thoughtfully.
Otto, for his part, continued smiling: "That's the case."
"If we were the 'branch breakers' who completed that kind of revenge plan, then we are instead the 'branch gatherers.'"
"Meaning: to pick it back up and connect it to the one He broke… the 'possible branch' of the Imaginary Tree."
At these words—
"So."
Yolande nodded again. "I understand, Bishop."
She seemed to have regained more confidence in this matter.
However—
"…"
Off to the side, Li Sushang, who couldn't understand at all the grand list of special, high-end professional terms… let's leave her aside for now.
Rita, on the other hand.
The "branch gatherer" corresponding to the "branch breaker"?
Apparently—
"!!!"
Rita looked up and saw Otto smiling at her.
In the latter's hand, the strange white clown mask had a faint beam of light flowing across its surface.
Rita lowered her head.
Indeed, there is no such thing as a "branch gatherer."
In the end, the "branch breaker" has now ascended to godhood, so even if a "branch gatherer" truly existed, it should be an existence of equivalent standing.
Whether a god or a demon, in the end, it could not be "human."
And I, this person—
Right?
Stop joking.
Long before Ling Ke ascended to godhood, the two sides were already not equal.
Now—
Even more hopeless than standing under an abyss and looking up.
Therefore, the obvious—
"Bishop Otto apparently has other plans."
At that moment, Rita, with her head lowered to hide her expression from the other person, couldn't help but think of a very important matter to her.
"Bishop Otto, did you really care about our time?"
If he doesn't care—
Then by continuing to follow him, can you really recover everything you've lost? Recover your own family, your own life?
Thinking of the current situation with Lord Theresa—
That is the Bishop Otto who truly cares… about the existence of his granddaughter.
Yet, even with that level of identity, Bishop Otto had let her go in recent years to found St. Freya Academy, which seemed like a theatrical play. Today—
"…"
In truth, in Rita's mind there was already a vague answer, but she didn't want to admit it that way.
"To fulfill 'that long-cherished wish' and welcome back the old Saint Kallen, the Bishop would wager everything without hesitation."
"Times, civilization, and even all of humanity are not important to him!"
"Lady Theresa, naturally."
In fact—
This should be Otto's true thinking.
Otherwise, when K-423 was previously captured at Destiny Headquarters, and the Bishop intended to use the power of 'love' to stimulate her and turn her into someone with the power of the Herrscher… when executing this overly special plan, he would not have counted Lady Theresa among the 'annoyances' who could truly be killed by the Herrscher of the Void.
All in all—
"Let's end the talk here for today."
Otto suddenly spoke: "Next, we have much to do."
"Everyone, go and rest first."