[Furina: He was always serious about it.]
[Furina: I'm in tears, QAQ—Otto never once treated this "impossible" goal as a joke…!]
[Ningguang: If what Lady Li Sushang said is true… has Otto really finished preparing his final plan?!]
[Tesla: That guy didn't actually find a way, did he??]
[Jing Yuan: Otherwise, Otto wouldn't have awakened Li Sushang, would he?]
[Keqing: Otto really never lied to Li Sushang, did he?]
[Sushang: And… you can tell… Li Sushang really wants to witness that moment too, right?]
[Durandal: But surely there are reasons why we must stop the Overseer, aren't there?]
[Einstein: Just as Ms. Li Sushang said—innocent people will be dragged in, like during the Herrscher of the Void incident…]
[Theresa: Will many people suffer unjustly again…]
As Li Sushang spoke,
the atmosphere in the chat grew visibly tense.
On-screen, Durandal and Rita also fell into deep thought.
For them—
although they were Valkyries of Schicksal, accustomed to executing Otto's orders with precision—
if Otto truly intended to implicate countless innocents for the sake of this mad plan,
then they, too, would have every reason to stop him.
Meanwhile, in the town, Amber spotted Theresa and bowed respectfully.
"Ah, Lady Theresa, you came at just the right time. I was just looking for you."
"You were looking for me? What is it?"
"Actually… there's something I'd like to ask of you."
"…Is it about my grandfather again? What does he want to do this time?"
Theresa sighed, looking a little helpless.
But Amber shook her head.
"No, Lady Theresa. This is my personal request."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yes. I'd like to ask you to help me find something."
"That's no problem… I happen to have some free time right now anyway. But… Amber, could you stop calling me 'Lady' all the time?"
"Eh? But… you've already been designated by Lord Otto as the next Overseer, and—"
"Sigh… I know how it looks officially, but in private, I really wish you wouldn't be so formal."
Theresa said a little awkwardly, then looked at Amber with a hint of nostalgia.
"Did you forget? Back when everyone was still at headquarters, I used to pester you to take me out to play all the time!"
"And whenever I was upset, weren't you the one who stayed by my side the most?"
Amber fell silent for a moment.
Her voice softened.
"I remember… You were the one who defied Lord Otto's orders and insisted that I be allowed to live during that experiment."
"Yeah… I never agreed with Grandpa's methods, and I'd never hurt someone for such a ridiculous reason."
Amber nodded.
"A-303… A-310… Back then, we had no names and had never seen the outside world."
"Right! When you think about it, we've really changed a lot. Oh—by serial number, wouldn't that mean you're technically my older sister, Amber?"
Theresa smiled brightly, her tone genuinely warm.
Amber felt a faint warmth rise in her chest, though she still instinctively reminded her,
"Lady Theresa, androids don't really have the concept of birthdays."
"Hey, I told you not to call me that! Even though I hate Grandpa's methods and plan to reform Schicksal's system in the future—"
"Amber, I hope we can still be like before, without so much distance between us."
Faced with Theresa's sincerity, Amber replied softly,
"…I understand. But please give me a little more time. I'm… still not quite used to it…"
"Mm… that kind of thing does take time. But after all that—what exactly is it you want me to help find?"
"It's an item once belonging to Saint Kallen Kaslana."
"…Kallen Kaslana?"
Theresa froze.
"Yes. The Kallen Lord Otto often speaks of—the Kallen who is also the genetic source of our bodies."
"In Schicksal's early archives, I once read a record about the Saint."
"That record stated that before her execution by hanging, she left behind a personal item, intending to entrust it to Lord Otto."
"But at the time, Schicksal's regime was unstable, with multiple factions fighting openly and covertly. That item changed hands many times…"
"And in the end, its whereabouts were lost."
In letters written to the first Welt,
in conversations with others,
in countless experiments,
and every time the Honkai descended—
no matter when or where,
people could always hear Otto murmuring the name Kallen Kaslana.
And yet…
Kallen herself had occupied so little space in Otto's actual life.
It was impossible not to feel a sense of sorrow.
"Back to the matter at hand—the last historical record of the Saint's relic places it at an auction held in 1478 at the Edelweiss Tavern."
"The old site of the Edelweiss Tavern… if I remember correctly, it's right here in this town."
"If you can't spare the time right now, Amber, I can come back to you once I've found some leads."
"Thank you very much, Lady Theresa."
Not long after,
Theresa found some clues through the town's spatial distortions.
The Saint's relic
had been purchased at the time by a newly ennobled aristocrat—Baron Bassler.
Unsure of the details, Theresa called Amber back,
and learned that the Baron's estate lay on a nearby mountainside.
Immediately, the two of them set out.
At last—
amid everyone's anticipation—
they found, among the lost assets of that fallen noble,
a neglected chest.
A simple yet exquisite wooden chest.
Could this…
be the Saint's relic?!
As Theresa opened the chest with her own hands,
all eyes were drawn to it.
Inside,
lay two distinct items, resting quietly among a few miscellaneous objects.
"It looks like… a letter, and a… model airplane?"
In the pure white space,
Kallen stared at the chest on the screen.
At the familiar items within,
her expression wavered.
As if…
she had written that letter only yesterday.
Everything felt so recent.
But Kallen knew—
for Otto, it had been five hundred years.
Five hundred years of pursuit.
Five hundred years of waiting.
And now—
Otto stood before the final door.
Closer to her than ever before.
On-screen,
as Theresa opened the envelope, only two thin sheets of paper lay inside.
She handed the letter to Amber.
The moment Amber unfolded it, she realized—
this was no ordinary farewell letter.
Thank you for coming to see me today, and thank you for the red wine you brought.
But… I'm sorry. I can't accept the choice you're offering me.
I tried, Otto. I tried many paths—tried to twist this unreasonable reality, to uphold the justice in my heart.
But Otto… we were ultimately too naive, too weak.
Naive enough to be used as chess pieces by cunning old men without even realizing it.
Weak enough that, even giving everything we had, we couldn't change this rotten world.
Otto, do you remember our first phantom-thief escapade?
Back then, we were so satisfied with ourselves, as if we could solve every problem in the world.
That was the happiest period of Kallen Kaslana's life.
But soon after, we ran headlong into a wall.
A wall built of desire, bound together by interests—rising from hell itself, tearing the world of ordinary people apart.
In the cracks of that wall, we eventually went our separate ways.
I left my original world, yet still failed to find a new continent where everything could be changed.
Even in the distant East, by a cruel twist of fate, I too—like you—ended up causing an irreparable tragedy.
Otto, I know you've always seen me as the only hero in your heart.
But I have my weaknesses, my shortsightedness, my mistakes, my confusion.
I'm not as great as you imagine… I'm just a clumsy person who refuses to betray her original intent.
I know that in your eyes, I'm foolish and stubborn. But even in the face of death, I still can't betray that first spark in my heart.
As long as this heart keeps beating… my body and my will can never become a bloodless chess piece.
Tell me—viewed from another angle, isn't that also a kind of selfishness?
Even so… I still hope you can forgive me.
Because if I am to continue being myself, then this is the only path left before me.
I know this will make you unbearably sad.
But Otto—if the heroic Kallen in your heart still exists at this very moment—
then she should be able to tell you why she would rather die than agree to conditions that turn living people into political chess pieces.
So… farewell, my great inventor.
In your heart, perhaps I really can remain an eternal hero.
The letter was short—
only two pages.
Yet its weight was immense.
Before the screen,
countless viewers were deeply moved.
From its contents, it was not hard to infer
that this letter had been written on that very night—
after Otto and Kallen had faced each other across iron bars.
Everyone knew what came next.
After writing this letter,
Kallen would face the gallows the following day.
And even so,
she calmly accepted her fate.
With the resolve to die, she rejected Otto's plea,
rejected the political bargains and power games of the old guard.
From beginning to end,
she held fast to her original intent, refusing to change.
[Ningguang: Kallen keeps saying she's not a hero—but that very mindset is what makes her so precious.]
[Fu Hua: Indeed. Persisting without betraying one's original intent—that is Kallen's greatest virtue.]
[March 7th: Lady Kallen… truly worthy of being called a Saint!]
[Hu Tao: To accept death so calmly… it's incredible…]
[Himeko (Star Rail): Regarding Kallen… Otto wasn't lying. She truly is a hero worthy of respect.]
As emotions swelled,
on-screen, Amber looked much the same.
"She truly walked her own path so unwaveringly…"
"Amber?"
Theresa looked at her with concern.
Amber snapped back to herself, placed the letter back into the chest, and handed it to Theresa.
"Eh? Are you sure you want to give this to me? Grandpa… he might want these things too."
"No. It should be entrusted to you, Lady Theresa."
Amber shook her head firmly.
"Lord Otto… I know he no longer needs these items. And as for me—I've found my own answers here."
"So instead, I hope you will safeguard them."
"Why me?"
"I won't judge Lord Otto's actions. But that doesn't mean history won't."
"I hope that, in the near future, Lady Theresa, you will personally place these items into your Schicksal Museum."
"Then, when people look upon the many exhibits within that museum, they can form their own conclusions about Otto Apocalypse's merits and faults throughout his life."
"That, perhaps, is my own form of resolve—as his secretary."
Theresa nodded quietly, saying nothing more.
She couldn't yet fully grasp everything Amber meant—
but seeing that Amber had her own convictions and principles filled Theresa with quiet reassurance.
Many viewers were likewise surprised—
and deeply moved by Amber's dedication.
Who would have thought—
that Amber, who seemed like nothing more than an android executing Otto's orders,
would possess such resolve and judgment of her own?
For the sake of future generations judging Otto more fully and fairly,
she chose to preserve and present all sides of him to history.
Reality.
Within Schicksal Headquarters,
Otto looked at his ever-dutiful secretary—now wearing an uncharacteristically unsettled expression.
With a faint smile, he said,
"Amber… no matter what, I'm grateful."
"P-Please don't say that, Lord Otto! This is merely my duty!"
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