"Mmmph—!"
Otto let out a muffled grunt. With his own hand, a brand new Soulium body was forcibly pulled out of his mouth.
Then, his body, as if with a mind of its own, fell into an endless cycle.
Over and over again, his hand reached into his throat, accompanied by the crisp sound of muscle tissue tearing and Soulium ripping, pulling out a new Soulium body from within.
The Cognition Ghost stood behind Otto.
Kallen tilted her head, her azure eyes dimming, becoming vacant.
She placed a finger on her lips, observing Otto with great curiosity.
She knew very well that the person before her was not the real Otto. Although a little of his consciousness was attached to it, it was far from his true self.
The judgment seemed to be constantly in progress. Only when Otto's perceived self was pulled out would the next step of the judgment proceed.
In the gloomy, desolate snowy plains, the Bizarre Kiana was dazed, hugging herself, kneeling weakly on the snow.
This place held many unforgettable, indelible memories for her.
Some painful, some joyful, some sad, some happy...
The Bizarre Kiana instinctively resisted, but her memories and habits from when she was alive had long been twisted into a rule.
"A-Mo..."
The Bizarre Kiana struggled to lift her head. In the vast, boundless snowy plains, there seemed to be a thin figure being buffeted by the wind and frost.
The figure was gaunt. Gradually, the muscle tissue tore, and fresh red blood merged with the white snow on the ground, then fluttered into the air, falling onto her.
The biting cold wind tore Li Mo to pieces in the snowstorm.
His fragile body was like a withered leaf, torn and crushed.
A thick smell of blood enveloped the Bizarre Kiana.
"Here..."
"Not here..."
The Bizarre Kiana's eyes were getting hard to open. She wanted to sleep, to escape reality.
Li Mo did exist in this world, but that was before. Now, besides the blood-stained snow, she could no longer sense a single trace of the familiar aura.
So disappointed...
So disappointed...
The Bizarre Kiana's hands drooped, falling softly onto the snow.
Her pale palms were frozen stiff, her still-human hands swelling red.
Expectation was dashed once again.
So tired...
I want to go home...
The Bizarre Kiana closed her eyes, collapsing onto the snow, and like her blurry past, she no longer struggled.
He will come to save me, just like before.
"..."
"..."
Time passed, minute by minute. The dome of the snowy plains seemed to never welcome the dawn, the dark, oppressive sky sealing off the space.
Here, it was as if even the concept of time had been stripped away.
The Bizarre Kiana was buried by the frost and snow.
She fell into a silence. When she would wake up next, what would happen.
She didn't know, and she didn't care.
After an unknown amount of time, the thick frost and snow suddenly trembled. A frozen, swollen hand emerged from the snow, its five fingers gripping the ground despite the severe cold, supporting the body as it rose.
"Hah!"
"Suc-success?"
Kira Shigure struggled out of the snow, having almost been buried alive.
No, according to the normal laws of physics, she should have died in the snow long ago.
The power of the Bizarre constantly healed her wounds. Even when the air was cut off, her heartbeat stopped, her blood no longer flowed, her body temperature plummeted, and all signs of life were lost.
The Bizarre still unreasonably continued her consciousness, letting her thoughts remain in the world.
Kira Shigure took out her phone, looking at her pale, sickly self with some hesitation.
Li Mo walked into the blizzard, seemingly triggering some kind of rule.
He had killed himself in exchange for the ghost's silence.
A ghost had descended upon her. Although she couldn't glimpse the ghost's memories, Kira Shigure was still shocked by that fiery emotion.
Incredibly twisted, yet incredibly pure.
But after confirming Li Mo's death, this emotion quickly dissipated. This ghost simply gave up control of the body, abandoning the world.
Perhaps to her, Li Mo alone was the entire world.
Li Mo died, and her world was buried.
Kira Shigure shook her head, the snowflakes on her head falling off. She quickly walked towards Schicksal HQ.
The top priority now was to confirm the situation outside. The chance Li Mo had exchanged his life for must not be wasted.
After confirming there were no revived ghosts in this world, she would go get the auxiliary instrument for walking in a straight line and go to the haunted manor.
"No time to lose, let's go."
"But... walk back?"
Kira Shigure fell into deep thought. She had no idea what this ghost's abilities were. Li Mo hadn't told her.
Kira Shigure tentatively ran and found the speed was frighteningly fast, her body completely exceeding the scope of a normal person.
She was very certain that even Schicksal's strongest S-rank Valkyrie, Durandal, couldn't reach this level even when wearing the best Valkyrie battlesuit.
With this speed, she could cross a city in just a few short seconds.
"...I'll run back."
Kira Shigure familiarized herself a little, then quickly ran towards Schicksal HQ.
On the other side, Otto was still constantly pulling new Soulium bodies from his throat.
At his feet, hundreds, even thousands of Soulium shells were piled up. Before long, when the last Soulium body was pulled out, his death would follow.
"Great inventor, where are you? Why are you hiding from me? You used to want to see me so much, and I wanted to see you too."
"Kallen" half-knelt on the ground, one hand supporting her chin, her innocent eyes blinking.
Otto knelt on the ground, his body hunched, enduring the sharp pain of his mouth being torn open again and again.
His teeth were squeezed out, his tongue crushed into a pulp, the corners of his mouth torn, his jaw dropped...
He couldn't speak.
Even so, Otto still looked up, first with longing at Kallen, then with hatred and disgust.
But the negative emotions didn't last long, his eyes were once again filled with tenderness and love.
When the last Soulium body was pulled out, Otto regained a brief moment of clarity, and a fleeting chance to speak.
However, a person's thoughts are very limited and narrow.
"Kallen?" Otto murmured with confusion. Why is she here?
Wait...
Otto glanced around and found that all his countless backup bodies had been destroyed. He looked up again. The beautiful and pure Kallen was still beautiful, but with a hint of a bizarre aura.
What happened?
She's not Kallen... I've lost some of my memories...
Otto quickly deduced what he had encountered, but it was too late.
This brief moment was enough for his cognition to be modified again.
Otto stood up, step by step, slowly walking towards Kallen.
"Otto, when I was locked in prison, you said to me from outside: you would never let me die, whether I accepted it or not, whether I agreed or not."
"Now, I'm so hungry..."
Kallen stretched out her hands, wanting to hug Otto.
At this moment, Kallen changed again, from pure to covered in wounds, as if she had returned to the day she was imprisoned by Schicksal five hundred years ago.
"Then eat me," Otto answered without thinking.
Nicholas and the council wanted to eliminate the prestige of the Kaslana family head, to kill the heir of this generation. Kallen was just a sacrifice.
Otto was willing to sacrifice his own happiness and the rest of his life to save her with a false marriage.
And now, he was naturally willing to feed his body to a ghost.
"Thank you, my great inventor..."
Just as Kallen's hands were about to wrap around Otto, her figure twisted uncontrollably, her hands trembling.
Otto also woke up from the hazy chaos.
"???"
"Void Archives, mimic Judgment of Shamash!"
Almost instantly, Otto immediately awakened the Void Archives, mimicking the dual-gun form of the Judgment of Shamash, and fired at the corpse that wanted to hug him.
Otto quickly pulled away, retreating rapidly.
The memories he had lost before returned bit by bit.
"Are you alright, Lord Overseer?"
"Next, leave this place to me."
Kira Shigure appeared behind Otto.
She had gone to headquarters to get the auxiliary instrument, and also to get a general understanding of the situation at St. Freya Academy, so she had rushed over without stopping.
As soon as she arrived, she saw Otto about to hug a rotting female corpse, their eyes meeting, full of affection...
"You're alone?" Otto looked at Kira Shigure suspiciously, maintaining his vigilance and keeping his distance.
Under normal circumstances, keeping a distance from a ghost could avoid most strange rules.
"No, there are two of us."
"He's here."
Kira Shigure pointed to her heart.
"This is the chance he exchanged his life for. I will not waste it."
While running, Kira Shigure gradually mastered the ability of time.
The Judgment of Shamash couldn't kill ghosts. Even if the high-concentration Honkai Energy fire burned them to a pile of dead ash, the ash would reignite, and the ghosts could restart indefinitely.
Kira Shigure stretched out her hand, took a deep breath, and immediately locked onto the Cognition Ghost at the moment it was about to restart.
Looking back, the situation was not optimistic.
Ghosts cannot be directly locked in time, because it is easy to lose control.
Although directly locking their time could effectively alleviate the grim situation, over time, as the contamination on the ghosts continued to deepen, they would sooner or later break free from the time lock.
So before locking them, they needed to be kept in a silent state.
With hundreds, even thousands of ghosts now, Kira Shigure was powerless to deal with them. Her use of Bizarre power was far less proficient than Li Mo's.
"Lord Overseer, leave here first. I'm preparing to lock St. Freya's time."
Otto was stunned for a moment, then glanced thoughtfully at Kira Shigure. "After you're done, come find me at Schicksal HQ directly."
Kira Shigure shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't. I can't do that, because there are more important things, and more important people waiting for me."
The crisis of the haunted manor was not resolved. According to Li Mo, the ritual of the haunted manor needed to be strictly followed, one floor a day.
When she went to the haunted manor, she would also have to pass through one floor a day.
The longer it was delayed, the more dangerous Li Mo would be.
Otto was silent for a moment, meeting Kira Shigure's gaze, and said no more.
The look in her eyes clearly told him, Anyway, I'm not going. Punish me as you please.
Otto wasn't in a hurry either. At least he knew that Li Mo really had the ability of time, and it was suspected that it could be transferred to others.
If it were given to him... maybe he could go back five hundred years, change that tragedy, and twist fate.
Kallen...
Otto clenched his fists. He hated that extremely hypocritical and weak self. Therefore, he desperately wanted to go back to the past, and then, from the perspective of a prophet, reverse all tragedies and turn the world into what he and Kallen had hoped for.
Otto Apocalypse couldn't do it, but the Schicksal Overseer Otto Apocalypse from five hundred years later could.
"Alright, be safe."
Otto agreed. As long as Kira Shigure returned to Schicksal alive.
He had a premonition that the day his long-cherished wish was truly realized was not far off.
Otto quickly left the scene and ordered all soldiers to retreat.
The order was absolute. After receiving the order, the soldiers stationed at St. Freya Academy quickly left.
Only Kira Shigure was left in the academy, with a group of reviving ghosts.
They crawled out of the boundless, dark space-time. Kira Shigure couldn't send them back, so she could only choose to temporarily restrain them in this space-time.
"I didn't expect it to be so simple."
Kira Shigure locked all the ghosts in St. Freya Academy, and the price she paid was just her body turning cold.
But it was all within her expectations. As the contamination deepened, a living person's body would gradually approach that of a corpse.
"These ghosts will wake up from the time freeze sooner or later, maybe not long. I have to find Li Mo as soon as possible."
Kira Shigure knew her own limits. After dealing with the ghosts in St. Freya Academy, she immediately rushed to the bizarre cave.
Unfamiliar, and bizarre.
Seven o'clock was the best time to enter the bizarre cave.
Kira Shigure checked her equipment, but then clicked her tongue and smiled wryly.
"The best weapons are for dealing with people, they're useless against ghosts."
Even Otto, due to lack of intelligence, almost died in the academy, let alone others.
Only a rule can deal with a rule.
"I don't need to bring any equipment at all, because I am a ghost now."
"Hmm... that's not right either. Ghost possession? Oh well, whatever."
Kira Shigure took a deep breath, walked into the cave at the most suitable time, turned on the balance instrument, and ensured she wouldn't deviate from the route.
Drip... drip...
A strange sound echoed in her mind, very crisp.
Like a drop of water falling to the ground, also like the ticking of a second hand.
Kira Shigure didn't know what it meant. She remembered Li Mo's reminder, controlled her anxiety and fear, and walked forward step by step, her feet firmly on the ground.
There was no concept of time in the cave. Kira Shigure didn't know how long she had been walking. Maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours, or even days.
Her feet felt like they were stepping on bumps, uneven.
With every step, she could hear a clear sound similar to bones grating.
Several times, Kira Shigure clearly felt something grab her ankle, leaving a bone-chillingly cold touch on her ankle.
It was a good thing she had listened to Li Mo and hadn't been impatient.
Otherwise, she might have been tripped. The price of falling was self-evident.
"Phew..."
Kira Shigure remained calm. With the help of the balance instrument, she walked a straight line in the dark.
Strange gazes would occasionally appear in the darkness for a moment, trying to lure the person walking forward to approach them.
Finally, not far away, Kira Shigure saw a faint light. That was the exit.
Kira Shigure walked out of the cave. Before her was only a dark path, surrounded by a dense forest.
According to Li Mo, the path led to the haunted manor. Walking for about five minutes, she would see the manor.