บท 172: Kouro the Variable
At the same time at Schicksal's main headquarters.
Otto was standing alone on a large green grass field.
He was currently staring at two small children who were playing chase.
One of the children was a boy who had long blond hair with a look similar to Otto, no, the boy was indeed Otto as a child.
While the other child was a little girl with long white hair in braids, the little girl was Kallen as a child.
What Otto is seeing right now is just a projection of his memories that he made using the Void Archives' ability.
Staring at Kallen who was playing chase, Otto unconsciously stuck out his hand before a communication screen suddenly appeared.
The screen displayed his secretary, Amber.
["Overseer Otto, Siegfried sent you an important message"] Amber said in a calm voice.
Looking at the communication screen, Otto quickly lowered his hand and turned to stare at the screen before asking, "Has he given any news about the Babylonia Lab investigation?"
["Apparently not, Overseer Otto. The message Siegfried relayed was about his meeting with Anti Entropy's leader, the first Herrscher, Welt."]
Hearing the name 'Welt', Otto's expression seemed to suddenly change.
'Welt?! His appearance must have a purpose... Since he is near the tower of Babylonia... Is it because of the second Herrscher's birth?'' Otto thought with a serious expression.
Actually, the birth of the second Herrscher had been expected by him, so he had made important plans involving the birth of the Herrscher, so he didn't want the Welt who was a variable to get in the way of his plans.
Thinking of this, Otto then gave an order, "Anti-Entropy is our greatest enemy... Order Siegfried to protect the tower of Babylon from any interference!"
[Siegfried] "Understood, Overseer Otto. It's a pity Siegfried didn't fight Herrscher first, he said that Welt would help our investigation at Babylon Lab."]
Amber then showed Siegfried shaking hands with a man accompanied by two girls with red and blue hair from the communication screen before saying.
["Siegfried also accepted Anti Entropy's offer. He tried to keep an eye on the AE's movements and let them into the tower."]
'What? So they're already inside?' Otto wore an annoyed expression before sighing to calm himself down.
As someone who had lived for over 500 years, he had experienced the ups and downs of life, so rather than scolding Siegfried, he currently had to formulate a new plan.
He looked at the man who was shaking hands with Siegfried before her expression visibly changed.
'Mhn? Who is this person? Welt? No, this person is not him! The real Welt must be hiding. But as for the people beside him, it is certain that they are Einstein and Tesla.'
'The energy detector also tells us that there is a signal from the ninth Divine key, Star Eden. Then... We only have three options.'
After thinking, Otto then said, "Tell Siegfried that I have received his message and thank him for his correct choice. Fighting them is a waste of time."
["Understood, Overseer Otto."]
But when Otto was about to turn off the screen, Amber then added, ["That's... Overseer Otto, yesterday near the Lab tower, abnormal space fluctuations were detected... Would you like to check"]
"No need, there is a possibility that it came from the second Herrscher." Otto replied calmly.
["Understood, then, I'll close."] Amber said before closing the communication screen.
The vast field of green grass suddenly turned into a vast empty place, with in the center of the place there was a giant pink crystal chunk, inside the chunk there was another Otto.
Otto looked at the crystal chunk with a faint smile, 'Once this Avatar is ready... I will have the power to destroy all Herrschers.'
Thinking of his friend having the power of Herrscher, Otto's smile involuntarily widened.
However, little did he know that there was already a major variable that had begun to slowly change the future.
__
Kouro two days ago had actually without much thought wanted to go straight to the Lab tower to ensure his mother's safety.
But fortunately due to a certain possibility that suddenly came to his mind, he finally stopped and then calmed himself down while thinking of a clear plan.
He stopped his plan to go straight to the Lab tower, but went to villages or places with people to find out the current situation.
After all, he didn't know whether he was going to the past which history matched the original plot, or the past of his world.
If he went in a hurry, this would only backfire on him.
While searching, Kouro did find remote villages but unfortunately they were all unpopulated, empty, as if they had been abandoned, whereas, he still found traces of humans from some of the remote villages.
Seeing this, Kouro finally confirmed one thing, that the Lab tower was likely using the residents of these remote villages as test subjects.
In the end, not finding any villages with people, Kouro created clones using Xuanyuan's sword ability.
He sent his 5 clones to a nearby town to gather information as well as to protect the residents from the Honkai Beast hordes that might be approaching.
This caused Kouro to focus his mind on controlling all his clones and at the same time he also shared his vision with all his clones.
This is why Kouro was floating in the air right now, as he is focusing on his clones.
And today, Kouro saw Higokumaru and Sakura who he did not expect to be involved in this matter.
This also made his guess correct that he was currently in the 'past' of his original world.
Even so he currently felt a little confused about the whereabouts of Higokumaru and Sakura, because if they were here, it meant that they had been involved in the Second Eruption.
So shouldn't they have met Theresa or at least gotten to know her?
But why during his first meeting with them, they did not recognize Theresa?
Did they pretend not to know her, or... They didn't go to the Lab tower in their original history?
Kouro felt the latter possibility was more likely.
Given that Higokumaru had a very strong detection ability, it was possible that the two of them felt the abnormal space fluctuations caused by him.
This caused him to come to the conclusion that... Even if he did nothing, just by his arrival, the future slowly began to change.
Thinking of this, Kouro then raised his head to stare at the sky or rather at the faintly visible moon.
The Will of Honkai must know of his current existence, who knows what the Will of Honkai would do now.
After all, according to the original plot, the Will of Honkai would give Sirin new abilities and knowledge from the previous era.
But now that the future has changed since the beginning... Even more so with his current existence affecting this past...
What changes will occur?
Kouro massaged his temples while sighing when thinking about very complicated things like this.
He stopped thinking about complicated things like this now, the first thing he should do now was to meet Higokumaru and Sakura.
For his original goal of ensuring his mother's safety.... He had already sent one of his clones to monitor his mother closely under the guise of staff conducting investigations.
After glancing at Welt and Siegfried who were heading towards the Lab tower, the hovering Kouro flew towards Higokumaru and Sakura who were about 7 kilometers away from him.
In less than five minutes, Kouro arrived in front of them.
__
On the other hand, Siegfried and Welt had agreed that Dr. Tesla's mecha Titan would stand guard at a distance of 30 Kilometers from the tower.
"Achoo!" Although Tesla was dressed in thick clothing, she still felt cold, she was currently standing outside in the snow alone while accompanied by her red Titan mecha.
"This isn't fair! Why did Mophead get into the tower!" Tesla said in an annoyed tone.
...
Meanwhile inside the Lab tower.
"Good news! The Overseer agrees about our alliance. " Siegfried said in a happy tone to Welt and Einstein in front of him with Theresa beside him.
Welt seemed to narrow his eyes slightly when he heard this, he knew how dangerous Otto was, if Otto easily accepted his alliance with Siegfried, there was a possibility that he had planned something.
Einstein who was beside him said to Siegfried, "Anti Entropy thanks Overseer Schicksal for granting us access. Our investigation will begin in the room where the reactor is located, but before that..."
She looked at Siegfried and Theresa with a serious expression, "There is something you should be aware of, the secret prison holding the human test subjects, is on that floor and is well hidden."
__
A few minutes earlier, on the snowy plain in addition to the heavy snowfall, Sakura and Higokumaru were walking steadily as if not caring about the cold from the snow.
Sakura turned to look at Higokumaru before asking, "Hey, Higokumaru I know that we're here because of the second Herrscher, but why do we have to hurry? Didn't you say earlier that your strength hasn't fully recovered and we should be careful?"
Previously they were in the city away from the Lab tower, as their only purpose here was to protect the population from the Second Herrscher Eruption.
They knew that Anti Entropy or Schicksal would take care of the problem of the second Herrscher birth.
But suddenly, last night, Higokumaru detected a very abnormal space fluctuation which... felt familiar.
As a Herrscher she was very sensitive to the other Herrscher's power, so apart from feeling the aura of the first and second Herrscher, she did not feel the aura of the other Herrscher anymore.
But the problem was that abnormal space fluctuation, it reminded Higokumaru of the aura of someone that she missed very much.
The aura of the Herrscher of Shadow.
That's why she woke Sakura from her sleep and resolutely headed to the tower to investigate the aura.
And sure enough...
Higokumaru and Sakura with alert expressions were currently staring at the white-haired man with a black mask before them.
Higokumaru's expression changed when she saw the mask that the man was wearing, she recognized that mask very well, the mask that had been worn by the Herrscher of Shadow.
Sakura beside her seemed to be holding the handle of her katana with a serious expression, she could feel that the man in front of her was very strong.
Higokumaru gulped her saliva with a blank expression, thousands of questions had appeared in her mind, she opened her mouth before finally saying.
"...Who are you?"
The cold wind blew Kouro's hair, he raised his head and looked at the two of them with his purple eyes shining brightly before slowly removing his mask.
Higokumaru's pupil shrunk when she saw Kouro's face.
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