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"Kallen… I've guarded your world for five hundred years now…"
Otto smiled, a trace of bitterness tugging at the corners of his lips.
He looked at the promise on the screen—
the innocent pact made when they were children.
They had agreed to save the world together.
Yet Otto himself had never truly cared about saving the world.
Aside from the people he cared about,
there was nothing in this world he wished to protect.
Those five hundred years were nothing more
than the fulfillment of a promise to Kallen.
At his side,
Amber quietly lowered her gaze.
Every time she saw the people in the chat misinterpret and condemn the Archbishop,
an impulse would rise in her heart—to speak up for him.
Though she had never been one for such complicated emotions.
After all,
the one who had led Schicksal to protect this world was Otto.
The one who had defended humanity against the Honkai for five hundred years—was Otto.
And in the chat group,
watching the innocent promise between Otto and Kallen as children—
[Keqing]: Otto as a child… so naïve and adorable…
[Hu Tao]: Yeah! How did he end up becoming like that later?!
[Hu Tao]: Scheming and cold!! What did Otto go through all these years??
[March 7th]: Didn't he promise to save the world? Then why did he hurt so many people…
[Furina]: Because… the one who promised to protect the world with him… is gone?
[Paimon]: If only little Otto could stay a kid forever!
[Robin]: Even as a child, Kallen already had the aura of a saint—like an angel that makes people feel at ease.
Midway through the discussion,
the story suddenly took a sharp turn.
Just as little Otto and Kallen became best friends and grew up happily—
Kallen's father died in an accident.
He had used a forbidden technique of the Kaslana family—
or rather, of the wielder of the Judgment of Shamash.
Zero-Output Power: Shamash Unsealed.
As a result, he perished.
Seeing Kallen devastated by grief,
Otto felt panic and helplessness for the first time in his life.
Without hesitation, he ran to the family cathedral.
(Father once told me… that the Apocalypse family cathedral houses a sacred relic.)
(It was obtained by the first ancestor in Asia—a relic of boundless wisdom…)
(The Void Archives.)
(But only one with the greatest wisdom can unseal it.)
(If I can unseal it, it must surely have a way to bring Kallen's father back.)
As little Otto's most genuine thoughts echoed—
inside the cathedral,
a radiant golden cube floated above the altar.
And as Otto touched it,
the golden chains binding the Void Archives came undone.
[After two thousand years… the one to unseal me again is… a child?]
Facing the Void Archives,
Otto—still just a child—asked without reservation:
"Kallen's father died. Can you bring him back? She's very sad… I don't want to see her like that…"
But the Void Archives' reply
left both young Otto and everyone watching in shock.
"Reviving him is easy—
you only need to offer up your life."
Even as a child,
Otto understood the weight of life and death.
[Sangonomiya Kokomi]: He just… unsealed something no one had managed in two thousand years?
[Jean]: It seems Otto's intelligence has been acknowledged.
[Ruan Mei]: Offer up his life?
[Lisa]: Reviving Kallen's father requires a life? That's tricking a child!
[Sparkle]: Hah. A low-grade entity.
[Honkai · Himeko]: This First Divine Key… it feels disturbingly cult-like…
[Silver Wolf]: Otto… he wouldn't agree to that, right??
[Xiangling]: That's death! Anyone would be afraid—especially a child!
Yet before the eyes of everyone in the chat—
little Otto merely lowered his head.
"As long as it's for Kallen…"
"I'm willing."
[After two thousand years… I can finally obtain a body again…]
!!
Instantly,
everyone froze.
Otto had agreed—without hesitation—to trade his life.
Just for Kallen…
even his own life could be given up without a second thought?
For a moment,
the chat fell silent.
Had they… underestimated Otto's feelings for Kallen?
The next day, before Kallen's father's coffin—
Otto stepped forward with his head lowered and said quietly,
"Kallen… your father will come back to life…"
As Kallen stared at him in confusion—
[Pseudo-form · Abyss Flower]
The liquid-like Void Archives slowly condensed in Otto's hand,
forming a long spear.
Otto's face still bore the traces of youth,
yet the resolve in his eyes was unmistakable.
"Someone told me… that as long as I trade my life…"
"As long as you don't feel sad anymore… I—"
Before Otto could finish—
Kallen slapped the spear out of his hands.
Her voice trembled with tears.
"What are you thinking?! My father protected people—not so you could do something like this!"
"Otto…"
"I don't want to see anyone die ever again."
In that instant,
seeing Kallen even more heartbroken,
Otto's body trembled.
He seemed to understand something.
"I'm sorry… I won't do this again…"
[…Very well. I'll take over this body next time.]
Otto's decision to give up
finally allowed the chat to breathe a sigh of relief.
Though they clenched their teeth at the Otto of later years—
faced with such pure, innocent young Otto,
no one could truly hate him.
[Furina]: Otto's feelings for Kallen… he wasn't even afraid of death…
[Robin]: And all of it… just so Kallen wouldn't be sad…
[Keqing]: Just how important is Kallen to him…?
[March 7th]: This Void Archives thing… it's definitely not something good!! Way too dangerous!!
[Diluc]: A heretical object that manipulates the heart—always plotting to seize another's body.
[Sparkle]: Power always comes with great risk, after all~
[Hu Tao]: Huh? Wait—Otto still controls the Void Archives even five hundred years later, right??
[Kafka]: Which also means Otto controlled the Void Archives in return for five hundred years.
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