"Amber."
"Your Eminence?"
A delighted voice came through the comms: "Thank goodness! You've been out of contact for so long, I thought... If it weren't for the 24-hour missing period you yourself established not being up yet, I would have already activated your backup body!"
"It was just signal interference earlier, it's fine. The reason I'm contacting you now is to have you activate my backup body."
Otto's voice was unusually calm. "I will now upload and update my memories. This current body will be voluntarily discarded, and my consciousness will transfer to the combat-spec Soulium body codenamed 'Jester.' Additionally, the item I previously requested—you've already prepared it on that body in advance, correct?"
"Of course. But, Your Eminence, are you truly going to use that? The reverse inducer synthesized from the Saint's blood... If anything goes even slightly wrong, the entirety of Siberia could..."
"Just execute the order. The scenario you mentioned will not occur. I have my judgment."
Otto cut her off. "Also, prepare a new Soulium body for me at headquarters. I've set a countdown for the consciousness transfer here; I'll sync the data with you shortly. Remember to configure it."
"Understood."
"Good, that's all... Oh, how is Theresa doing?"
"She has successfully mastered the Zeroeth Power of the Oath of Judah. She's currently insisting on rushing to the battlefield..."
"Delay her as planned. In two hours at most, this battle will be over. Under no circumstances is she to go to Siberia during this time."
"But you previously said that as long as she mastered it..."
Amber sounded confused.
Otto offered no further explanation, speaking plainly. "Her attachment to Cecilia runs too deep. Therefore, just execute the order."
"...I understand."
Having followed Otto for so many years, Amber was far from socially inept. Connecting the purpose of the Divine Benediction field with Otto's recent hints, she had already roughly guessed why Otto claimed 'contamination would not occur.'
If her guess was correct, then Theresa truly must not come to Siberia. After all, if it were Theresa, she would probably activate the Elysion Pedion without a second thought, to complete the 'purification' for Cecilia.
"The golden cicada has shed its shell successfully, and the answer has been obtained. Next... it's time to execute the remainder of the plan."
The corner of Otto's mouth lifted slightly.
"First, to deal with those few Pseudo-Herrschers."
--+--
"Huh? So this is the battlefield they were on before... But why..."
At Sirin's location, two uninvited guests, one large and one small, had appeared.
"Looks like they should all be trapped in an illusion right now."
Lynelle stepped forward and gently poked Sirin's cheek. Seeing the girl completely unresponsive, she turned back to Welt.
"My guess is Sirin got hold of the Fenghuang Down but doesn't know how to use it properly, so she ended up trapping herself in the illusion as well."
"You know about that too?"
Welt was taken aback. He started to step forward but was stopped by Lynelle.
"Stay right there. Just because she didn't react to me getting close doesn't mean she won't react to you. Don't risk waking her up."
"Ah, my apologies."
Perhaps because his recent actions in operations involving Lynelle had been somewhat rash, Welt apologized almost instinctively.
"But, why not wake her? Judging by the situation, Otto seems to be missing now. If we wake Sirin and then search for Otto..."
"Whether Otto would even show up if we wake Sirin now is debatable."
Lynelle spread her hands. "Besides, this illusion Sirin is in... might be pretty important to her. So, if possible, I'd prefer to let her wake up naturally."
"Then I'll follow your lead. According to our prior agreement, I'm under your command anyway."
Since Lynelle had her reasons, Welt wasn't one to stubbornly insist. He readily gave up on overthinking it.
"Oh, right, Lynelle, how did you know the content of the illusion? And you actually recognize the Fenghuang Down?"
"Actually, if it's related to the Previous Era, there's a high probability I know about it."
Lynelle glanced at Welt and, seeing the thoughtful expression she expected cross his face, a flicker of 'plan successful' amusement passed through her eyes.
"Let's go. We need to find Otto. Also, Mr. Welt, during this, I need you to stay hidden. With the Herrscher of Reason's abilities, that shouldn't be too difficult, right?"
"Of course... Wait, you mean you're going alone?"
Welt suddenly realized what she meant. "That's not acceptable! It's too dangerous! Even if you can resurrect, it's still..."
"Don't worry, I have some other abilities. They might not last long, but they're more than enough to keep me safe until you can provide backup."
"But, even if you can hold out until I arrive..."
Welt paused. "You might not know this, but the person who attacked you earlier was most likely Otto. And if he's carrying the God-Killing Spear... even the two of us together probably couldn't..."
"Then it's even less of a problem."
Lynelle offered a mysterious smile. "On one hand, the true source of the God-Killer Spear is right here on this very battlefield."
"On the other hand, since the God-Slayer Spear targets Honkai energy..."
"What if I just don't use any Honkai energy?"
--+--
"The third one..."
Otto expressionlessly pulled his hand from the chest of this red-haired Pseudo-Herrscher. By now, the Pseudo-Herrscher had completely lost all signs of life, and in Otto's hand was a 'Pseudo-Core' composed of one, no, several crystalline shards.
In theory, Pseudo-Herrschers shouldn't possess such strange cores.
However, when Sirin created these Pseudo-Herrschers, she specifically separated a portion of her authority from her own core and bestowed it upon them, while also condensing a considerable amount of the Honkai energy within her own body into crystals to serve as their power source.
This constituted these peculiar cores for the Pseudo-Herrschers.
"Counting the Pseudo-Herrscher of Death I killed at the very beginning, all the Pseudo-Herrschers on the battlefield have now been eliminated. Two members of the Snowwolf Squad seem to be missing, and the remaining members have suffered a severe drop in combat effectiveness, likely heavily injured... Not that it matters much; they weren't the main combatants to begin with."
"However, what's somewhat unexpected..."
Observing the feed from the Schicksal surveillance drones, Otto fell into thought.
"Lynelle has already resurrected... Then why is she operating alone? Or is it... Is Welt nearby, and she's trying to bait me?"
"Still, her importance has indeed reached a level where even if I know it's a trap, I must take the bait..."
After a moment of consideration, Otto called in several medical transport craft to first retrieve the remaining Snowwolf Squad members, along with the unconscious Fu Hua and Cheng Lixue.
"Regardless, it's best if Lynelle doesn't appear on the final battlefield. Although my plan does have sufficient redundancy built in for her presence, it's better to avoid unnecessary complications."
"While Sirin hasn't appeared yet, I'll deal with Lynelle first."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.