The Self-Sacrificing Otto!

From ancient times to the present, the more truly skilled and powerful a person is, the more cautious and careful they will be when facing a major confrontation.

In martial arts novels, there will always be scenes like this in all high-level duels:

Two peerless masters stand at a distance that is neither too far nor too close, each finding the most comfortable posture and standing still, not saying much, just staring at each other with big eyes.

They can stand like this for hours, and the crowd of onlookers gets tired of waiting, but the two of them are still standing there calmly and motionless…

Whether it is a novelist or a film and television screenwriter, the depiction of a duel between masters generally follows this line of thought. The more silent, the more like a master.

In contrast, if it is a confrontation between two Jianghu rookies, there will be no twists and turns. Their style is likely to be like this:

Due to some accidental factor, a quarrel arises, and then quickly escalates to physical conflict.

The process is roughly as follows – first, face to face, face to face, staring at each other fiercely; then they each kindly greet the other's family, and they are all angered by the other party; finally, their anger rises, their minds heat up, they roll up their sleeves and rush up to fight, a flurry of clanging and banging, unmatched under heaven, the more lively the better.

Finally, after the two rookies pecked at each other for a long time, there was probably no clear winner or loser. They each covered their injured arms and pulled away, agreeing to fight again another day…

Tsk, this is the most cliched standard routine.

The reason why such a "routine" has formed is because the more qualified a person is to become a "master," they usually have several common characteristics: long-term vision, extraordinary wisdom, firm will, vigorous energy, keen intuition, etc…

And precisely because they have these common characteristics, they often appear extremely cautious and careful when facing their peers – because the more true a duel between masters is, the victory or defeat is often in the slightest.

In order to ensure that they, rather than the other party, can grasp this subtle "slightness," they will invariably be cautious, restrain their sharpness, and at the same time look for loopholes and weaknesses in the other party…

Therefore, usually, in martial arts novels, in order not to let the scene continue to be so awkward, some unexpected factors usually appear in these stalemates between martial arts masters –

Such as a gust of wind blowing past, slightly squinting one person's eyes; then the opponent seizes the opportunity, draws his sword and attacks, and the two sides officially start fighting…

.........

The fantasy world is always based on the foundation of reality, so some basic laws, no matter in which world, will always appear to be different paths to the same goal.

For example, Otto and Lin Wei at this moment.

In their view, the opponent they are facing at this moment is a dangerous person worthy of their caution, so necessary restraint is essential.

Otto's view of Lin Wei needs no explanation; as for Jackal's view of Otto…

After all, Otto had never met her before, but in his opinion, he was tricked by her in the underground facilities of the biological research institute at that university, which left a deep impression on him, so he absolutely did not dare to underestimate her.

As for Jackal, her situation was slightly different from Lin Wei and Otto.

As the most self-confident of the three people present, she never put anyone else in her eyes from beginning to end.

However, Jackal, as the most staunch member and most devout believer of World Serpent, had great respect for the meaning of the four words "MANTIS warrior." Therefore, although "Yuno", this special MANTIS warrior, looked like a comatose girl with no resistance at this moment, Jackal still did not dare to be careless, and had to add an extra layer of insurance to be at ease.

Therefore, because of these coincidental yet reasonable misunderstandings, the scene once fell into a subtle awkwardness – a breeze rolled up leaves, swirling in this mess of dust, but the several people present were all suspicious, maintaining restraint, and no one dared to act rashly.

And since the story has already become so cliché, there will naturally be a cliché unexpected factor to break this awkwardness…

.........

In the sky, between the sky and the sea, on the bridge of the Schicksal transport ship EOS.

"Senior! Senior! Jell-senpai!"

Because the two captains were collectively absent, Alvitr, who was temporarily acting as the acting commander, kept calling out loudly into the communicator after firing the attack.

"Please answer if you hear me! Senior!"

But the response was always silence with a rustling sound of snow. Alvitr's calls gradually fell silent.

"Wuu, Senior…"

She realized what this would mean.

Because she had seen similar things too many times.

Since joining Schicksal and becoming a Valkyrie, she has seen too many seniors, peers, and juniors leave the ranks of Valkyries for various reasons. Among them, there were very few who could actually retire safely, and the vast majority of the rest…

As Jell's former student, she knew her former instructor very well. She knew that the other party would definitely fight to the last moment, which also meant…

"Perhaps, this is destined to be our future…"

Alvitr bit her lip and thought sadly.

And because she was the one who gave the order to fire, her sadness was even stronger, mixed with some guilt and self-blame.

Although she always seemed heartless and innocent, as the most well-informed person in Schicksal, how could Alvitr really be a fool?

After all, most people in this world are just pretending to be confused. How many people can be like Susannah, truly and sincerely heartless?

Alvitr was the same. She chose to become a heartless person. Let yourself focus on work. Such a life is simpler and less tiring, at least mentally.

She only needed to be a tool person who focused on executing orders, without making any choices and without bearing any consequences.

But now, she was still forced to make this very cruel choice.

Although, this was a combat plan that Jell had stubbornly forced her to execute, and her objections, though strong, were ineffective.

"Alvitr, everyone has their own mission, and so do I."

Jell smiled in the communicator and said very cruel words in a gentle tone.

"People always have to die, it's just a matter of sooner or later, it's the same for me…"

"How can it be the same?!"

Alvitr protested loudly.

"Alvitr is still as naive and cute as ever, hehe, keep it up."

Jell gently sent a blessing, and then said with a smile,

"You're right, every life is precious. But, in order to prevent the millions of residents of this city under my feet from following in the footsteps of Nagazora, what is a Jell Misty?"

"Just an ordinary Valkyrie, Schicksal has plenty…"

"…"

The sound was still in her ears, seemingly gentle, but actually extremely heavy, making Alvitr couldn't help but mutter and complain,

"Jell-senpai, you are as excessive as ever…"

No matter how sad she was, but since this was Jell-senpai's wish, she must complete this entrustment!

Alvitr shook her head and ordered in a deep voice,

"EOS full speed ahead, target: Manila! We are going to support the Snow Lotus Squad!"

"Alvitr-group leader, our battleship is too far away from Manila, it is estimated that it will take about twenty minutes to arrive."

Another Valkyrie who was acting as a pilot in the distance reminded,

"It may be too late."

"This…"

After all, Alvitr was a temporary replacement, and she was used to executing orders for a long time and had not used her brain for too long. She was at a loss for a while in the face of this problem. After thinking for a while, she asked,

"Then, what about the main cannon?"

Her thinking was quite unique: My ship can't arrive in a short time, but the artillery fire can always arrive, right?

"The main cannon system is all normal, the energy injection is smooth, and it is charging."

The Valkyrie in charge of the cannon skillfully checked the system, looked at the screen, and reported seriously,

"Main cannon charging progress: 33.2%; remaining time required to complete charging: 5 minutes and 12 seconds…"

"A little low, too slow…"

Alvitr was somewhat dissatisfied with these two numbers, but she couldn't think of other ways for a while, so she gritted her teeth.

"Forget it, whatever the charge is, it is! EOS main cannon, fire!"

"Yes… Yes!"

Although a little surprised, the gunner still strictly executed the order, checked the parameters, and pressed the button.

At the top of the bow, the fierce cannon muzzle, still emitting residual heat, re-gathered a flicker of light. After a moment of silence, it roared once more, shooting out a dazzling, bright stream of light that tore through the sky.

It's just that compared to the fully charged release last time, this second shot seemed a little lacking in momentum.

Nevertheless, this was deadly enough for the unshielded Jackal!

.........

"Huh, what's that?"

Far away, in Manila.

Being in the "high ground," Lin Wei was the first to notice a bright spot suddenly appearing on the horizon. Before he could wonder, he was shocked to find that this thing was rapidly enlarging in his vision, and it was clearly approaching this direction.

What it was didn't need to be asked.

"Damn it, are the people of Schicksal crazy!"

Lin Wei couldn't help but complain.

"That's your dear Overseer, and you're firing the main cannon repeatedly. How much hatred is there?"

"Could it be that Theresa has been dormant for many years and is taking this opportunity to kill with a borrowed knife?"

Lin Wei's thoughts began to develop in an outrageous direction.

"It's almost time, should we dodge?"

Yae Sakura reminded urgently.

"No need, let's wait and see."

Lin Wei was quite calm.

If the main cannon was aimed at him, then unless he used his trump card in advance, it was already too late to run. And if he needed to use his trump card, there was no difference between using it now and using it the instant the energy arrived.

And if it was still aimed at Otto's location, he would at most need to lie down to prevent being blown into the sky by the shock wave from the rooftop…

Therefore, Lin Wei was even looking forward to what was about to happen.

"Hit! Hit hard! It's best to directly blast Otto away!"

Of course, he also knew that the possibility of this happening was not high.

On the other side, Jackal and Otto were at the very center of the bombardment point. As a flesh and blood body, Jackal had absolutely no chance of survival.

Of course, she would probably die painlessly – because Jackal's eyes were only on "Yuno" at this moment, and she had no idea that danger was coming. She was still directing the constructs to "contain" "Yuno".

But Otto was completely the opposite of her.

His Soulium body was a special type with specially adjusted sensory systems. Therefore, although his perspective was not good, he also noticed the danger coming in the first place, and instantly identified the direction from which this danger came.

How should this feeling be described?

It's like a person fishing by the water, from morning to night, the big fish is finally hooked. After some hard pulling, when the big fish is about to enter the net, he sees his own mischievous child holding scissors, coming over to the fishing line and "snip".

Otto was instantly unhappy!

With this shot, can the people of World Serpent still live? Wouldn't he have come all this way for nothing?

At this moment, Otto really couldn't act anymore, and he couldn't care less about whether the people of World Serpent were still hiding some conspiracy. He only had one thought – "First save her life!"

Therefore, the self-sacrificing Overseer Otto stepped forward and jumped up from the ground. The instant before the energy torrent was about to arrive, he waved his hand and erected a huge golden protective shield.

Looking closely, it turned out to be several layers of protective shields composed of hundreds of Mimic Judah!

"Void Archives – Seventh Mimicry – Ame-no-Shakahoko!"

Otto, who was pitted by his own Valkyrie, went all out, starting with a big move. [Ame-no-Shakahoko - Referencing Japanese Mythology, "Heavenly Jeweled Spear."]

"Boom!"

The main cannon, which was already undercharged, hit this protective shield made of Mimic Judah, only slightly dented it, and was blocked.

The energy that could not be released was cut into pieces by the gaps between the crosses, divided into countless energy beams of various sizes, and scattered in all directions.

"I @#$% your mother!"

One of the energy beams happened to fly towards the rooftop where Lin Wei was. Lin Wei cursed and flew away.

After all, Otto could use the Divine Key, but he couldn't use it now!

"Damn it, it's not fair!"

Lin Wei cursed and looked back, and a full quarter of the rooftop behind him had been wiped away.

On the other side, in the underground, separated by a "land," Stan, who had mastered the essence of "non-violent non-cooperation" without a teacher, was still confronting Durandal.

Suddenly, his fur bristled, and he instinctively sensed the danger coming.

"Meow!"

It jumped up suddenly, transformed into a giant cat-type Honkai beast form, and pounced towards Durandal.

"Phew, are you finally going to make a move?"

Durandal, who felt that she had finally returned to her comfort zone, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

She just raised her fist, and before she could swing it out, her heart suddenly moved, and she stopped her movements.

Durandal's combat intuition was so keen, she quickly realized that the trajectory of the cat-type Honkai beast's pounce could not attack her at all.

Something's not right…

Durandal was thinking when Stan, who had transformed into a Honkai beast, suddenly pounced over and covered her under his huge cat belly.

"Boom!"

A rather thick energy beam pierced through the originally not very thick floor and hit Stan's back heavily.

"Aow!"

Stan cried out in pain.

"Rumble…"

Mud, gravel, and rubble collapsed, almost burying this person and cat in the soil, but Stan did not move, protecting Durandal tightly under him, not affected at all.

It liked this little girl and didn't want her to get hurt.

"…"

Durandal was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but smile wryly.

This little cat is really quite cute, she couldn't help but think.

.........

Meanwhile.

"…What happened?"

The change was too sudden, and Jackal didn't have time to react at all. Everything had already begun, and then, everything suddenly ended.

It was just that everything seemed to have undergone earth-shaking changes.

"Phew, I'm glad I made it…"

Otto put away the sky full of golden crosses, secretly wiped his cold sweat, almost lost everything…

But on the surface, he quickly showed a confident smile.

"Nice to meet you, lady of World Serpent…"

"Yuno's" body flowed with liquid, quickly turning into a golden-haired man with a gentle and confident smile. He bowed slightly and said politely,

"I am Otto Apocalypse, the current Overseer of Schicksal, and I pay my respects to you…"