Honkai Impact 3rd: Don't Die For Me Book 2 Purgatory

Chapter 71 Moonlight

Otto woke up stiffer than a board. A constant pounding reverberated in his skull and his green eyes were baked like the grass on a cloudless meadow. Instinctively he knew there was a day left until Kallen's execution. The final stretch was before him and he needn't rush his plan now. His body was covered in scars and neon Honkai veins that flashed dangerously. From within his coat, a tablet syringe was procured. He took the tasteless pill. The effects were immediate, Honkai slowly dispersed from his body evaporating into a light pink mist that disappeared in the sunlight. The neon veins on his body faded with the smoke. The entire process took only a minute.

'It's about time, boy.'

"Where were you?" Otto asked, raising the syringe to the base of his neck.

'I made sure the power couldn't escape but it seems you've gone and tamed the 12th Herscher of the previous era. Perhaps if you were alive then the tragedy that wiped out the remaining human cities would not have occurred.'

"The darkest times bring out the worst in humanity. This isn't an accolade of mine. Even now based on the world scale humanity isn't in any danger. My predecessors had to fight gods. While I'm only-"

'Fighting your kind. Heh, boy I wouldn't underestimate humanity like that. Sometimes, humanity can be more terrifying than the gods themselves.'

"So the theory of a being that controls fate, Honkai, is it true?"

'How am I to know? I merely have a lot of data. I'm not omnipotent. I can only be certain that a world-ending disaster will forge a new humanity from its ashes.'

Otto glanced over his shoulder as if to look at the Void Archives. His eyes narrowed in suspicion but nothing could be discerned from thin air.

"Brought forth by Honkai?"

'No by humans.'

Otto scoffed at the answer. Sure the Void Archives was partly correct but the plans set for the future of the human race, at least in Europe, was as close to perfect as it could be. Everything had been accounted for.

"You're just another senile old man," Otto replied. With a little pressure, the syringe plunger injected the liquid into Otto's body. The Archives no longer spoke, Otto had shut it up. A faint purple glow merged with his body and suddenly his strength returned to him. The crest stigma of the Apocalypse family reappeared at the base of his neck, the characteristics a bit different from the standard. A closed eye and geared ends replaced the lacquered code.

Otto scanned his surroundings with the scanner of the second key. The three-dimensional interspace showed him every spec of detail. The sundried tips of the grass blades were untouched, families of mice hide in their burrows bored and playing with pebbles too small for humans to hold, and the shrine, with its rotting wood and faded Tori red gates, whistled quietly in the wind. There were no threats in ten kilometers. The only potential threat was the sword sheathed by Sakura's side. Speaking of Sakura she smelled awful, her scent was similar to raw meat that had been left out on cold winter nights. The blanket Otto had laid her on had turned a gray and sour color.

Otto focused in on his memories, he fished a few toiletries from his supplies and confirmed that the hot springs behind the Shrine were still functional. Despite having a strong body Yae wasn't waking up, two months of being sealed in the ice had put too much strain on her stigma-enhanced body.

"Still stronger than me," Otto muttered. He gently wrapped her up, not caring for the stench. He lifted her in a princess carry and headed off to the springs. She was in stable condition to be transported. Based on the movements her head made to snuggle closer to his chest, she would be up soon. "But she's like lamb."