A Hundred Years of Solitude

Theresa and Kallen could still joke around, but compared to the truly carefree Theresa, Kallen couldn't help but sigh silently.

After seeing Otto's memories, Kallen understood how deeply he loved her. It was a powerful, intense feeling, like a burning fire that only burned for her.

How could she not be moved?

Their first meeting had changed everything. It was like they had rewritten their own destinies, setting everything in motion and making their story even more complicated.

They had been through so much together, facing countless challenges and obstacles. They had both vowed to save the world, but now they were drifting apart.

Each step they took, each moment they shared, seemed to bring them closer to a tragic end.

-----

"Let's continue watching. There are still plenty of opportunities for us to critique,"

"After all... in front of her, I'm often just a fool in every sense of the word."

Otto sighed softly and continued walking forward along the clouds.

The mist was thick, the path long.

There were no paths ahead, no other scenery. They were simply strolling, critiquing their memories.

Just like that.

The night air was cold, so they huddled around a small bonfire for warmth. The flames danced in the darkness, casting an orange glow across their faces.

Otto's emerald eyes and Kallen's blue eyes stared into the fire.

The fire was bright, but their hearts were cold.

They both stretched out their hands, seeking warmth from the flames.

Otto had gotten his coat soaked while crossing the river. The cold wind made him shiver, and he couldn't stop it.

They had lost the battle, and there wasn't much food or supplies left for their journey back.

And to make matters worse, there weren't any extra coats.

"You can't sleep with wet clothes in this weather, Otto!" Kallen said firmly. "You'll get frostbite!"

She told him to take off his wet coat and put on hers.

He looked worried and tried to say something, but Kallen wouldn't let him.

"The strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal wouldn't be defeated by a little cold!" she said, her voice stubborn.

As the words left her mouth, a gust of wind whipped around her. She opened her mouth wide, and her throat tickled. It was so cold!

"Ach... Achoo!" Kallen sneezed, covering her mouth with her hand. She hugged herself tightly, but didn't even look at Otto as he tried to give her his coat back.

She simply moved closer to the fire for warmth.

"But... aren't you sneezing too?" Otto asked, watching her from a distance. His voice sounded helpless.

Her cheeks were red from the cold, and she rubbed her hands together quickly, trying to get warm. But even though she was shivering, her eyes still held a determined glint.

Otto's heart felt warm as he watched her trying so hard to help him. He couldn't help but feel a little touched by her stubbornness.

They sat in silence, listening to the crackling of the fire.

The cool night wind blew around them, gently brushing their white hair and their flushed cheeks.

The worst part was that the army had lost a lot of soldiers during the retreat from the Eastern Expedition. They hadn't achieved their goals, and it wasn't a good situation for Schicksal.

The people at headquarters were probably not happy.

Coupled with the Immortal's words, Kallen's perspective on war had shifted.

She thought about it for a moment.

Kallen had been thinking about the Immortal's words, and it had changed how she saw war.

She took a moment to think before asking, "Otto…"

"We lost this battle… will your father lose a lot of money?"

Otto seemed a little confused by her question. He replied softly, "Probably. But I don't think we need to worry about that. Those rich guys always find a way to fix things, right?"

He poked the fire with a stick, making it burn brighter.

"Maybe you're right," Kallen said slowly. "But… I still think Schicksal is doing things wrong."

She quietly gathered some firewood and added it to the fire. The flames leaped higher, casting a warm glow across her face.

The firelight illuminated her face as she fell into deep thought.

Kallen fell into deep thought. She wished she had someone to talk to, someone who understood her, someone who could help her figure out how to save Schicksal.

But the only person there was Otto, the boy who had always followed her lead. He would do whatever she asked, but he wouldn't really talk to her about it.

Was it because of his father? Or did he actually agree with Schicksal? Kallen didn't know, and she didn't want to guess. (YOU HAVE TO!!)

"Like the question I just asked without thinking," Kallen said softly, "should Schicksal really be so focused on money?"

She felt that Schicksal had lost its way, that it had forgotten its original purpose.

"Or maybe... maybe it shouldn't," she continued, thinking out loud. "But money is important. You can't do much without it."

Otto quickly changed the subject. "Alright, let's not talk about these big questions anymore. It's getting late... are you hungry?" He tried to sound concerned.

In his eyes, she had just randomly thought of those questions and asked them out loud. After all, they were too complex and complicated, what did they have to do with the two of them?

He didn't notice that Kallen looked even more confused. Her blue eyes, usually so clear, were clouded with doubt.

She clenched her fist, wanting to fight back against something, but she didn't know where to start.

…

Otto chuckled a little, his face flushed with a bit of embarrassment. "I was such a goofball back then," he admitted. "I thought I could solve all her problems with a little kindness and understanding. I was so naive."

He shook his head, remembering how lost he had been back then.

"She didn't need my help, not really," he said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "But I was blind to it."

"But generally speaking, that's actually quite important."

"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself back then," the Void Archive said in a flat voice. "You didn't understand her hero complex at all."

Otto sighed and looked into the distance. He felt a mix of emotions.

"Yeah..." he said quietly. "When she said 'save the world', she meant it. She never doubted it for a second."

People saw it as just a catchy phrase, a slogan on a banner. "Saving the world," they'd say, like it was just a fancy way of saying "let's make the world a better place."

But Kallen wasn't just playing around. She truly believed she was meant to save the world.

Otto had just brushed it off. He never imagined anyone could actually take the idea of saving the world seriously.

After all, the world was so big, how could one person possibly make a difference?

And from what, exactly? Who was she trying to save it from?

It seemed ridiculous, didn't it? 

Like something out of a fantasy book, a hero fighting against a demon who wants to destroy the world. If that was real, maybe Otto wouldn't have thought it was all just childish nonsense.

Sure, there were Honkai, those strange and powerful forces.

But they had always been around, just like wild animals. They were a part of the world, a threat human had learned to deal with.

We all lived our lives, divided by our cultures, religions, and borders. We never really took the Honkai seriously. But Kallen, she was different. She always took it seriously.

"See, those fatal flaws were misaligned from the very beginning."

Otto chuckled wryly. It was too late to understand everything now.

He had only focused on her safety, ignoring her will.

In his heart... her safety was always the most important thing.

"The memories that follow... will simply show how Otto Apocalypse became increasingly pathetic and ridiculous."

[Otto at this point is immature, often avoiding answering key points]

[Their separation is actually a shared responsibility]

[Compared to the protagonist team who have countless companions to rely on, they only had each other during their five hundred years of ignorance]

[Sigh, pitiful and tragic... the Otto we saw before always seemed so spirited, but we never thought...]

[Don't you feel like Otto and Kallen's roles should be switched? Otto seems so weak, like the submissive one, it's reversed, isn't it?]

[Comment…]

-----

"Uh... was Overseer Kallen already thinking about saving the world back then? Wow, she's so amazing."

"As expected of Overseer Kallen!"

Kiana scratched her cheek and sincerely praised her.

She was just thinking about becoming the strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal, and the slogan of fighting for a better world was established after Himeko's death in the game.

In that sense, Kallen, who had always chosen to save the world from the very beginning, was undeniably strong.

Her will was unwavering, it was just that the world at that time was beyond saving.

And now, all the Valkyries look up to Saint Kallen as an example.

"Heh, in the end, she didn't achieve anything, and she ended up sacrificing herself." Kallen said quietly

Kiana looked at Kallen and said softly. As a new generation Valkyrie and the main protagonist of the game, she had high hopes for her.

Kiana scratched the back of her head, leaned to the side, and smiled sheepishly.

"Back then, I was still young and naive. I didn't think things through, and society at the time didn't support what I was doing. Robbing the rich and helping the poor couldn't change the root cause of the disaster."

"So... sigh."

Kallen paused and finally sighed.

"Grandpa? Grandma?"

Theresa looked at Otto inside the scene, then at Kallen beside her, tilting her head.

She felt like the two by the bonfire were so close, the atmosphere was just right.

Too bad Otto didn't say anything to increase his favourability, he missed a step.

"Grandma… he should have shout 'Did you really choose to save the world from the very beginning? Savi..ugg" Kallen immediately covered Theresa's mouth.

"No, don't call that, Theresa..."

Kallen smiled and ruffled her white hair. It felt incredibly soft and smooth, she couldn't help but rub it again.

"Ugh..." Theresa shook her head, trying to escape from her grandmother's hand. After swaying several times, she finally dodged it and pouted,

"Grandma!"

"can finish the line? 'Saving the world and all that, I also... pfft, sorry, I said the wrong thing."

Theresa's eyes widened as she curiously looked at Kallen.

And Raiden Mei, who normally didn't feel anything about the phrase "saving the world," had a few black lines appear on her forehead when she heard the principal almost say the full sentence.

She took a few deep breaths, pushing down the strange emotions in her heart, then gave Luo Mo a glare.

It was all the boss's fault, now the whole world remembered those lines!

Luo Mo chuckled sheepishly, feeling completely innocent. It was the fault of his other-world self!

It had to be said, Mei's lines were quite catchy and easy to remember, they also had a certain spiritual power. Although they were becoming a meme...

Thankfully, Griseo hadn't shouted out any of her weird lines like "Paintbrush, submit to me!" Luo Mo silently glanced at Griseo, thinking to himself.

"Schicksal back then did have a lot of problems. After interfering in the affairs of European countries, people's hearts had changed. It was no longer an organization that protected the people..."

Kallen explained.

"As for saving the world,"

She smiled.

"Maybe. But it was a process. At first, I just wanted to help others, but slowly, slowly, more and more people needed help, and Schicksal turned a blind eye..."

"So, saving the world was no longer just a childhood fantasy."

-----

The story then jumped to a time when a terrible plague, known as the Black Death, swept through the Europe land.

Otto, desperate to help, worked hard to create medicine that could fight the disease.

However, this powerful medicine came with a heavy price - many people who took it suffered terrible side effects.

Thankfully, Eleanor, who had been brought along by Kallen, was one of the few who were lucky enough to survive without any harmful effects.

Of course, Otto wouldn't tell her that the price of the side effects was equivalent to death.

This further highlighted Eleanor's extraordinary nature.

As a sign of his respect and admiration, Otto gave Eleanor a new last name - Schariac, which was the same as his own mother's family name.

Kallen's visit that evening was all about planning their heist - a daring mission to steal from the wealthy and give to the poor, right under the noses of the powerful old men who controlled the city.

Otto, worried for her safety, urged her to be cautious and avoid getting caught.

Kallen grasped the doorframe as she was about to leave, pausing and replying seriously,

"Otto, I'll be careful. I won't go out of my way to cause a stir... After all, it's still too early to guide everyone to resist the social order established by the old men."

"Kallen... the way society operates, it's not something that can be changed just because someone says so." Otto hesitated, trying to advise Kallen.

He didn't want her to do something so dangerous, she was bound to get into trouble... He could only try to showcase his own value and cover up her mistakes.

"Yeah. So we can only do what we can and wait for the opportunity."

"If we don't even try hard on the path we believe in... how can we convince others in the future?"

The girl who ventured out into the night flashed a confident smile before disappearing into the vast darkness.

...

"I just don't get how you could have been so clumsy back then."

If Void Archives had a body, it would have shaken its head vigorously, rejecting Otto's actions.

It was unbelievable that Otto had turned out this way.

"Why didn't you just tell her all your thoughts? Maybe the whole course of history would have changed."

"Maybe. But what exactly do you think I should have told her back then?"

Otto's smiling lips curled into a hint of mockery and self-deprecation. His voice even carried a note of sorrow as he asked a series of questions.

He really... had no idea what to do back then.

"Tell her that I'm researching new drugs using human experimentation?"

"Or maybe I should have quoted some fancy political and economic theories from centuries later and told her that 'robbing the rich and helping the poor isn't going to fix the Root problem'?"

"If it's not those... even if I told her straight up why I did all that, what good would it do?"

"Would she change because of it, or would I change because of it?"

"But the truth is," Void Archives stated, "neither of you changed the other."

"I know," Otto admitted, a hint of regret in his voice. "Back then, I foolishly thought that I, the way I was, could protect her better in secret."

"Hah! She's the strongest Valkyrie in Schicksal, and you were already thinking about protecting her with your own strength?" Void Archives teased him.

"I thought we were a good team," Otto explained. "I thought my abilities would be really helpful to her."

"It's strange," Void Archives said bluntly, "how a little kid like you could be so arrogant back then."

"History has proven that you couldn't do anything back then."

"You even accelerated her break from her original environment - and the price, ultimately, was her own life."

Otto didn't argue. The other's words were true.

"...Yeah. That day, she finally discovered the true darkness of Schicksal."

"Our life paths lost control from that point on."

He closed his eyes and sighed sadly.

s mocked.

[As expected of the Key of Revelation! It has revealed the password to becoming stronger! - You can't do anything!]

[No Mei-bashing, Mei-bashing is prohibited]

[Wouldn't she be the first Schariac?]

[Otto was so arrogant back then, Kallen needed to protect him]

[Comment…]

-----

"Schariac? Human experimentation?" Theresa asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

In fact, not just her, many familiar faces frowned as well.

Kallen was slightly surprised as she watched the scene in the game.

Human experimentation was a problem that had been solved. Although historical records had deviated, somehow becoming Kallen's solution, the outcome hadn't disappeared.

Due to the confusion in her memories, this was the first time she learned where the first Schariac came from.

The so-called side effects, perhaps, referred to the unique talent of Schariac? A miracle born from the Black Death and the medicine, impossible to replicate.