Otto Encountered Lord Mara?!

"Kallen, tell me about the 'Otto Apocalypse' you know. As Otto's childhood friend, you should have an understanding of him that ordinary people can't match." After being pulled back to his room from the living room by Raiden Mei, Ren Amamiya sat on the edge of the guest room bed and proactively inquired of Persona Kallen, who resided within his heart.

Although Kallen and Otto were childhood friends, and Otto had been striving to resurrect Kallen, five hundred years, while not enough to turn oceans into mulberry fields, was certainly enough to twist and harden a human heart, even causing one to lose their original self.

It was like the old magus from that other universe, who, over long years, unknowingly turned longevity, a means, into his ultimate goal.

From Welt Yang, Ren learned that Otto Apocalypse still aimed to resurrect Kallen, the Schicksal Holy Maiden from five hundred years ago, as his ultimate goal. However, why Otto wanted to resurrect Kallen, and what he intended to do with her after her resurrection—these were the most crucial questions.

[Telling you about Otto, Ren, that's certainly no problem... However, five hundred years have passed since then. If Otto truly lived for five hundred years for my sake, and is still trying to resurrect Saint Kallen even now... Otto's personality has probably undergone a very significant change compared to five hundred years ago.]

Persona Kallen's voice, tinged with hesitation and conflict, echoed softly from within Ren's mental space.

Learning that her old friend Otto had lived from five hundred years ago to the present day and had been fixated on resurrecting her, Persona Kallen was clearly also under immense mental shock.

"It's alright. No matter how time flows, there are always things in a person's heart that never change. Since Otto still wants to resurrect Kallen even after five hundred years, it means the past still holds immense significance for him. Therefore, the Otto of the past still holds value for us to understand."

Ren made a gentle grasping motion in the empty air before him. The crimson-black Jizo Mitama katana silently materialized, held in his palm. Jizo Mitama's power to erode reality activated.

With a flash of crimson ethereal light, Persona Kallen, her slender and delicate figure clad in a purple form-fitting dress, a half-covering purple iris mask on her fair and exquisite face, her white, smooth long hair tied into a neat braided ponytail, materialized before Ren.

"That's true..." Persona Kallen had initially intended to just have an online conversation with Ren from within his mental space. However, Ren directly used Jizo Mitama's materialization power to project her into the real-world guest room, forcing Kallen into a face-to-face conversation.

"...However, I hope you'll only use what I'm about to say as a reference, Ren. Don't confuse the Otto from my memories of the past with the Otto of today, five hundred years later."

Her purple-booted feet stood firmly on the ground. Persona Kallen, seamlessly transitioned from the mental space to the real world, couldn't help but show a helpless smile on her exquisite face.

Raising her hand to remove the purple iris mask from her cheek, Persona Kallen revealed her true, beautiful features to Ren. After a few light steps, Kallen quickly sat down on the edge of the bed beside Ren, leaning intimately against him.

Watching Persona Kallen, her purple-gloved hands resting gently on her lap, sitting obediently beside Ren, Raiden Mei's eyebrow twitched slightly. Although she felt Persona Kallen was sitting too close to Ren, Kallen was, after all, Ren's Persona.

Her usual proximity to Ren was even closer—literally living in his heart—and she could also provide Ren with significant help as a source of power... Recalling this, Mei subtly adjusted her slightly stiff expression.

She silently sat down on Ren's other side, even closer to him than Kallen, her fair, firm thigh almost imperceptibly brushing against Ren's leg.

However, the only one who noticed Mei's subtle thoughts and actions was Bronya. Because both sides next to Ren were occupied, Bronya, holding a glass of iced milk she had casually grabbed from the kitchen, sat expressionlessly on the single armchair in the guest room, sipping slowly.

As for Persona Kallen, she had already lowered her head, lost in memories from five hundred years ago.

Although Bronya maintained an impassive, calm demeanor, Raiden Mei's face quickly flushed a rosy red. She swiftly averted her gaze from Bronya and focused on listening to the conversation between Persona Kallen and Ren.

"Otto and I knew each other since childhood. Back then, he was frail and sickly, but he had already developed an interest in invention and research... I found a small airplane he had thrown out, and that's how I climbed over the wall and met Otto for the first time."

"Because Otto was frail, sickly, and introverted, I was his only friend. So, we always played together when we were young."

"After we grew up, I became a Schicksal Valkyrie, fighting on the front lines, while Otto supported me from behind the scenes... This Phantom Thief Violet combat suit was actually provided to me by Otto." Kallen lowered her head, her gaze fixed on the purple iris mask cradled in her hands. Her initially cheerful tone gradually became subdued.

"It was only later that I realized, although Otto and I grew up together as childhood friends, I never truly understood him... At some point, unbeknownst to me, Otto, in order to research and better support me, had already delved into the forbidden realm of human experimentation."

"Even when I asked Otto to stop the experiments, he didn't. So, in the end, I could only steal the sealed Treasure from Schicksal and flee with that black box to Yae Village, enduring hardships along the way... You already know what I experienced in Yae Village, right, Ren?"

"After sealing Sakura and the demon in the box that corrupted her, I was arrested by Schicksal and taken back to headquarters for execution. Otto did many things to save me, but things went contrary to his wishes. His plan to sacrifice the lives of the populace to let me escape instead led to my sacrifice to protect them..."

"Experiencing such a devastating blow, Otto must have suffered greatly these past five hundred years, his personality likely drastically changed by the torment of regret." Kallen gently kneaded her slender fingers within her purple gloves, softly recounting her life's experiences to Ren.

"It sounds like this Otto Apocalypse was fond of you," Ren commented thoughtfully after listening to Persona Kallen's account, nodding his head.

Ren had initially thought Otto wanted to resurrect Kallen perhaps because he needed her existence to accomplish something he couldn't do himself, thereby achieving some grander, more mysterious ambition.

But based on Kallen's past experiences... this Schicksal Overseer, Otto Apocalypse, who had lived for five hundred years, might surprisingly be a pure love warrior?

"Fond of me... Perhaps. But I always saw Otto as my best friend. By the time I realized Otto saw me as more than just a friend, I had already met Sakura." A helpless, bitter smile appeared on Kallen's exquisite face. Clearly, actively recalling and narrating these cruel and painful past events was not a pleasant experience for her.

"Although you say you didn't notice Otto's changes... But, think carefully again, Kallen. You should have vaguely sensed Otto's transformation, right? During your time growing up together, did he come into contact with any special entities, or show any abnormal reactions?"

When combat was required, Kallen was as sharp and reliable as a Valkyrie galloping on the battlefield. However, during everyday life when fighting wasn't necessary, Kallen seemed to have entrusted her brain to Ren, exuding a sense of pure, innocent foolishness, almost completely insensitive to her surroundings.

That Otto must have experienced this heart-wearying feeling countless times too... Although Ren didn't have high hopes for Kallen's observation skills or memory, he still asked her leadingly, hoping Kallen might surprise him with some unexpected information.

"Special entities, abnormal reactions?" Kallen scratched her small white head, looking troubled. Watching her deep in thought, Raiden Mei felt as if she were seeing another Kiana in a daze. Could it be that the Kaslana lineage inherited not only that terrifying brute strength but also their pure, empty-headed intellect and thought processes...?

"—Ah, I remember now! Hearing you say that, Ren, it seems there really was something!!" After a period of intense thought, Kallen suddenly slapped her palm, her face lighting up with realization, as if she had genuinely recalled something.

"That was... that was after my father sacrificed himself on the battlefield. I was feeling down because of his death, and Otto, for my sake, found a treasure called a 'Śarīra' [Buddhist relic] from the Apocalypse family. He seemed to have made a deal with some entity within that Śarīra. As long as Otto offered his life, the entity in the Śarīra could resurrect my father." Kallen pressed her lips together tightly.

Looking back now, all the changes began from that moment. Because of her father's sacrifice, her heart transformed from that of a carefree child to that of a warrior. And Otto, by contacting the unknown entity within the Śarīra, began to have a hidden side unknown even to her.

"And you refused Otto's self-sacrifice, didn't you..." Ren nodded with understanding. "...That unknown entity in the Śarīra, claiming to be able to resurrect the dead—that's something only a god can do. Which means, it's the pseudo-god level deity behind Otto."

Given Kallen's personality, she would naturally never allow someone to sacrifice themselves for her and would undoubtedly stop Otto from offering himself. Questioning Kallen, a witness from five hundred years ago, was indeed meaningful.

That god hidden within the Śarīra was clearly the mastermind behind Otto surviving for five hundred years and mastering the method to rewrite the world. Although a Śarīra is formed from the cremated remains of eminent monks or even Buddhas, the possibility of an evil deity being sealed within it couldn't be ruled out.

Being continuously brainwashed by the evil god in the Śarīra for five hundred years, Ren was very worried about Otto Apocalypse's mental state.

Based on the current information, Overseer Otto's role in the game was clearly similar to Shido Masayoshi's. And the divine will residing in the Śarīra was an existence akin to the false god Yaldabaoth.

The term "Śarīra" originally referred to the pearl-like objects formed after the cremation of Shakyamuni Buddha's remains. If the Śarīra contained an evil god who was an enemy of Shakyamuni Buddha, then that evil god's identity would most likely be...

Ren thought using his limited knowledge of Buddhism, and then his eyes widened in astonishment. Shakyamuni Buddha's nemesis, the one who tried to obstruct his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree with various means, attempting to disturb his mind—wasn't that the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Papiyas (Mara)?!

And the so-called Demon King Papiyas, to put it in a way more familiar to Persona players, would be—

"Could it be that the evil god residing in Otto's Śarīra is actually Lord Mara?!" Thinking of this, the overly majestic image of Lord Mara involuntarily surfaced in Ren's mind. Then he abruptly shivered.

If Otto had truly been entangled with Lord Mara for five hundred years... then whether he was still a true "pure love warrior," and his real intentions for wanting to resurrect Kallen Kaslana, became deeply questionable.

"Lord Mara? What's that?" Hearing the unfamiliar name Ren subconsciously uttered, Kallen looked at him with a puzzled expression. After all, since residing in Ren's mental space, Kallen had never heard Ren address any entity as "Lord."