Murdering Almost Everyone in the World

The conversation between the two was far from over.

They quickly switched gears to talk about the Stigmata Project. Otto made it clear he wasn't a fan of it.

But it was too late to turn back now. They had already put way too much effort into it. Maybe if they had stepped in 500 years ago, things would have been different.

Even though Otto knew the STIGMA Project was risky and could hurt the Saint in the long run, he chose the plan that had the best chance of success.

Durandal couldn't hold back her anger any longer, and she roared,

"You dislike the STIGMA Project, yet you're willing to make the entire world pay a price even heavier than the Stigmata Project itself?"

"You're practically murdering almost everyone in the world, Overseer!"

Her rebuke was powerful, but the person she was facing didn't care.

Otto looked at her rage, didn't deny her words, and calmly said,

"Well... that's correct. But, humanity will still be humanity."

"But what's the point of that?" Durandal shouted. "We protect real people, not just some abstract idea! We protect those who can make their own choices!" She couldn't understand how Otto could think this way.

"There won't be any real people left, just a word. How is that better than the Stigmata Project?" she asked, confused and angry.

"You're wrong, Durandal," Otto said. "I'm actually trying to save a real person, someone with free will, from this empty idea of 'humanity.'"

"You know her name," Otto said, looking at her.

Otto sighed and a rare softness appeared in his eyes when he spoke her name. 

His voice softened, and he said each word carefully,

"...Kallen Kaslana."

"..." Durandal didn't say anything. She just stared at Otto. He didn't seem to be lying. 

As if she were only getting to know him today, he destroyed the present, returned to the past, killed countless people, all for the sake of that former Saint?

But... it wasn't unexpected either?

Only, Durandal's eyes added a touch of anxiety and unease.

"You finally mentioned her, Overseer."

"Yes," Otto said, "We've come full circle. We're back to the very beginning of everything."

Otto rarely showed his feelings, but he was speaking from his heart now: "Kallen Kaslana shouldn't have died the way she did. It wasn't just my fault, it was the fault of all humanity."

But only he, not all of humanity, could resurrect her.

Sure enough, the world was full of absurdity and mistakes.

"...This isn't a reason to try to murder everyone in the world. Besides, that era is long gone, and you're the only one left who was there."

"Well, every normal human would think that."

Otto nodded in agreement. Of course, normal people wouldn't do this.

Over the past five hundred years, those heroes, those epic figures etched into the annals of history, haven't they lost loved ones? Of course they have, countless like stars in the sky.

But only he stands here now, and that says it all.

And, he's not exactly a normal person.

He's a madman, a dictator, a fanatic, a fool, but he's never been associated with the term "normal."

"So, as a representative of normal humanity—"

Otto looked at the golden-haired knight. Her spear was gripped tightly, her lips were pressed together, refusing to relax, but she still hadn't chosen to attack immediately.

Perhaps it was out of past affection, perhaps out of reluctance and respect, but this wasn't what Otto wanted.

"Durandal, I'll give you a chance."

Otto said calmly, a smile curving his lips.

"——Kill me, and all my plans will vanish into thin air."

"The person standing before you is nothing more than a pile of sin and desire,"

"He knows morality, yet he doesn't abide by it. He knows ethics, yet he tramples on them."

"He craves wisdom, but only to achieve personal satisfaction. He worships beauty, but only to deny the existence of ugliness."

Facing Durandal's increasingly ugly expression, her eyes almost spitting fire,

Otto still smiled calmly, spreading his arms as if embracing something.

He spoke his heart, the words he had long wanted to reveal:

"He thinks the world is filled with superfluous people, so much so that the value of life is wasted by them."

"Only when his own life is marked with an end... will Otto Apocalypse look up at the pure sky and enjoy the moment of divine tremor that the soul receives."

Otto looked peacefully at the sky, where a few points of light were showing through the dark clouds.

He was enjoying this moment, letting down all his guards.

He almost gave Durandal a reason to attack.

[This passage is written so well, it portrays Otto perfectly!]

[Superfluous people, maybe in his eyes, those Schicksal higher-ups, Lisa, Marcel, even himself, are all superfluous people...]

[He doesn't care about being hated by Kallen, he just wants her alive, just alive!]

[How can someone who makes such a plan be normal! This guy is not normal at all! He is MADMAN]

[Brilliant analysis, Otto's life is a complete record of sins, but if he dies, his merits and demerits would cancel each other out]

[Comment…]

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"Knowing morality yet not abiding by it, knowing ethics yet trampling on them... a rational villain, huh? Otto..."

Kallen murmured, repeating his assessment of himself.

Even she could feel the tremor in Otto's heart.

His radical words undoubtedly revealed his dissatisfaction with humanity and the world.

Did he not understand? Of course he understood, and he was the one who understood the most over the past five hundred years, knowing a great deal about the philosophy of life and death, and his self-criticism never ceased.

But Otto wasn't happy with how things were.

He wanted her to be alive again.

He couldn't accept that she was gone.

He wanted to bring her back, even if it meant going against everything the world stood for.

He didn't care if it was impossible, or if everyone else thought he was crazy.

He didn't care if everyone in the world was against him.

It didn't matter.

He just wanted her back!

"...Whew, what a terrifying and somewhat... pitiful person. Durandal's ideals are completely in conflict with his, aren't they?"

Theresa frowned, watching the confrontation between the two in the game.

It has to be said, from the perspective of an outsider, the assessment of the other party was not at all pretentious, even a bit harsh, harsh enough to seem like he was actively giving his opponent a reason to attack.

If it wasn't Durandal, if it wasn't his student he had raised from childhood.

"Pitiful!? How could Otto be..."

The Herrscher of Sentience unconsciously raised her voice, but after a slight pause, looking at Otto's almost suicidal expression on the screen, she also nodded slowly.

Otto, at this moment, reminded her of the person she knew. The one who sat confidently on the Overseer's throne, so powerful and in control.

But now, he was different. He seemed more real, more human.

He was like a tragic hero, someone who had fallen from grace.

"Alright, he is a bit pitiful. He didn't achieve a good ending with Kallen, instead, he created her death with his own hands. He chased and waited for five hundred years, and in the end, Kallen definitely wouldn't accept him..."

"No wonder he said he and Otto envied each other... One was willing to do anything for the other, and the other had a deep spiritual connection with the other," the Herrscher of Sentience muttered, scratching her cheek.

"Well... there are gains and losses?"

"It's impressive that you saw this so clearly this time, Little Senti."

Fu Hua said calmly. She wasn't surprised, after all, the one who had the most contact with both of them was the Herrscher of Sentience.

"Speaking of which, did Kallen really not have a spiritual connection with Otto?" The Herrscher of Sentience asked, her eyes darting towards Kallen.

She wanted a straight answer, and who better to ask than the person involved?

What if Otto's self-proclaimed fool and clown weren't actually the case?

Of course, Otto was definitely being a bit dramatic when he said that. But she was still curious.

"Unfortunately... we broke up in the end, but until the moment of my death, I knew clearly that he was the only one who supported me spiritually."

Kallen said calmly, but her hands trembled slightly, unable to hide it.

Obviously, she was also shocked by Otto's frank and unreserved villainous monologue.

"Oh, like that?" Little Senti said, a playful smile spreading across her face. "I remember someone named Yae Sakura. Do you know her?"

After thinking for a second, her eyes rolled as she dug up a memory. The original Far East Fox boss game was pretty fun, she had played it a few times after getting into a fight with Old Antique.

The result? Humph, her account got banned for no reason. Probably because she was too good and the system thought she was cheating. (Otto...)

"Sakura?" Kallen frowned, looking at the Herrscher of Sentience.

Speaking of which, the game didn't have her shadow, so she didn't ask to Luo Mo.

But since she mentioned it, there must be something to it.

"Yeah, Yae Sakura, I think that's her name. Otto really didn't like her, and he even made her a bad guy in his game."

"But from a different point of view... he hates her so much, there must be some connection to you, right?" The Herrscher of Sentience chuckled, a soft, knowing sound.

She had a pretty good idea what Otto was thinking. For him, everything seemed to come back to Kallen. Everything else was just a side-show.

That person in the Far East who was rewritten as a Villain fox, compared to the ordinary records of the shrine maiden here, is a bit obvious.

"...After getting the Black Box, I went to China to find the immortals, but I didn't find them. Later, I went to the Far East, and I met her." Kallen's eyes moved slightly as she turned and got straight to the point.

"Then why does Otto hate her so much?" The Herrscher of Sentience asked, her voice full of curiosity.

It wasn't something she had ever thought about – the idea of two women being close was a little unusual, you know?

"Perhaps because I broke up with Otto at that time, and Sakura became a silent companion who supported me?"

"But I always knew that Sakura supported me, not necessarily because she understood my thoughts, but because she believed in me..."

Kallen said helplessly. She thought Otto was just being grumpy with her, but deep down, something felt off.

However, she didn't think much of it.

"Huh?" Luo Mo was a little stunned, looking at Kallen. It seemed that in her heart, Yae Sakura and Otto were in the same position as comrades in her heart.

That meant… Otto hadn't been, well, you know, "cuckolded"?

Okay, that was just a joke some players made who really didn't like Otto.

If the "pure love warrior" failed because his love ran off with a "vixen," even though he hated Otto, it wouldn't feel good, you know?

"What's wrong? Is there something strange about my answer?" Kallen noticed Luo Mo staring at her and asked, curious.

She didn't think there was anything wrong with what she said.

Luo Mo's brow twitched. He was lucky he hadn't finished the Yae Village side story or the Sakura Samsara quest. Otherwise, he might have spread some baseless rumors.

He was creative, so he put it in the game as "game elements are not real and not related to real people or events." but he still avoided slandering any important characters like... Kallen

You can't really know a person just from some text and pictures, which is why he sometimes did character interviews with real people to get a better understanding. Even then, it wasn't always accurate.

But for someone like Kallen, Luo Mo was a bit afraid to mess with her personal life. He was really careful when he made her character, asking Theresa and other students a lot of questions.

He definitely didn't want to be hung from a street lamp for slandering the overseer. After all, she was his biggest investor.

Still, he asked, "Overseer Kallen, do you really not have any special relationship with Sakura?"

"Please... add the two characters 'Yae', it feels weird if there's a name collision..."

SAKURA on the side had a slightly embarrassed expression, her usually cold face turning away, as if she didn't want anyone to see her.

Every time someone mentioned her name, she couldn't help but look towards the speaker.

"Uh... Yae Sakura, she's just a comrade to me. Besides, compared to Otto, there's less to worry about between the same gender. But there's no strange relationship, absolutely, none!"

Kallen looked at Luo Mo's strange gaze, and halfway through her sentence, she realized, her expression turned a bit black, with a feeling of gritting her teeth.

Did he think she was a lesbian?

She admitted that when she was seriously injured at the beginning, she did rely a bit on Yae Sakura, plus the situation of being an enemy of the world, and the rejection of the arranged marriage,

But as time went on, and as time went on even longer (500y), she only considered Yae as a friend, a very good friend.

Even if she added those ears, she sometimes wondered if Sakura had a bit of charm,

Of course, that was just a thought when she was bored.

At that time, Sakura was bound by the shrine and her hometown, like a puppet, and she felt guilty for the disaster she brought her, that's all.

But to be honest, it was the guilt and apology she felt towards Otto that overwhelmed her.

Otto didn't understand her thoughts, but how often did she consider Otto's feelings?

She was also at fault in this matter. If she had been willing to explain clearly, she could have helped Otto manage Schicksal better.

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 "…Nice villain speech, Overseer——"

Durandal looked at him, her expression unwavering.

The Overseer's words seemed genuine, but Durandal knew better. He was a master at weaving lies with threads of truth. Even if his words sounded convincing, the truth was hidden in a fog of ambiguity, requiring careful judgment.

"Perhaps at this moment, I do have some things I'm withholding. But does it really matter?" Otto countered, a hint of amusement in his voice.

The path was laid out before them, leaving them with no choice but to move forward.

Durandal spoke with solemn gravity, "It matters. Overseer... these past few years, you've treated me well. So... I need to know your true intentions."

"But I believe all you need to know right now is that if you don't stop me..." Otto chuckled, a cold and cruel smile twisting his lips. His words, stripped of any pretense, carried a chilling weight.

"I will murder almost everyone in the world."

"Overseer!!"

As expected, Durandal engaged him in combat.

Her spear, swift as lightning and heavy as a thousand pounds, forced him onto the defensive.

Compared to the strongest Valkyrie, Otto could only manage a stalemate in battle. Even with the Void Archives simulating the power of a divine Key, he was quickly thrown to the ground.

It was a welcome sight for the players, who finally saw Otto's health bar after a long absence. They eagerly rubbed their hands together, patiently chipping away at his health until it finally hit zero.

But then, it stalled. It was clear that Otto wouldn't be truly defeated here.

"This ends here, Overseer."

"Tell me everything. Spill the beans..."

Otto, struggling to stay upright, half-crouched on the ground, his hands weakly resting on his knees for support. Durandal's spear pointed at him, her expression icy, her voice cold.

Durandal-Otto.PNG

"...I told you, you should have aimed to kill me, not just hold back like this."

"That's a privilege reserved for Kiana or someone else. I'd rather you explain everything."

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