Regarding the question of whether one thousand lives are enough to beat Honkai Impact 3rd.

but……

Otto watched as the pseudo-black hole, whose energy level was enough to harm a Herrscher, was casually flicked away by the Crimson Kite Immortal and sent soaring into the sky, impossible to trace back.

But if that were all, it would be fine.

But the next frame showed the bizarre scene of the First Herrscher being held by the back of his collar and already unconscious, which made the bishop fall silent. He began to wonder if there was something wrong with his plan.

Although it was expected that the sword aimed at the opponent would break, he never imagined it would end in such an absurd way.

From the moment they met, the battle began, to the end of the battle, the total time lasted no more than thirty seconds, or even less.

Then the problem is coming.

His original plan was to make the First Herrscher and the Crimson Lotus Sage both suffer heavy losses, or at the very least, have the former inflict some damage on the latter. He would then use Leona's Soul Steel Body to participate in the battle, twisting the tide of the war in the direction he intended. Afterward, he would use the Honkai Fission Bomb as a finishing blow, and then finish the battle off with Schicksal's armed forces.

As for the planning and scheduling in the middle, it depends entirely on how much of the opponent's strength limit can be tested, and then several backup plans can be switched accordingly.

In the original plan, the worst outcome was that the Crimson Iris Immortal would be severely injured and would not be able to return to his peak strength for a long time, thus posing little threat and allowing the trajectory of destiny and his own long-cherished wish to proceed without obstruction.

The First Herrscher will inevitably die in this gladiatorial combat, and the Star of Eden will be recovered during the subsequent battlefield cleanup.

But in retrospect, the probe did reveal some things, but they far exceeded the initial expectations.

Judging from the brief video footage, the entire building bound by Honkai energy, and the unharmed civilians, the methods used against Akane Sage this time failed to push her to her limit, and even failed to make her take it seriously.

Even when slowed down fifty times, her movements were still completely undetectable by the equipment. Throughout the entire process, except for a change in her gaze and expression when looking at the corpse in Joyce's arms, she maintained a calm demeanor.

Even the process of breaking through the opponent's offensive and knocking out the First Herrscher can hardly be classified as a battle. To put it bluntly, it was more like a patient and polite adult playing a game with a child.

But if even the First Herrscher, who possesses the Star of Eden, is so easily defeated in front of the Crimson Lotus Sage, then Otto himself, who is not much stronger than Joyce, obviously has no reason to appear.

The intelligence gathered so far proves that ordinary individual Herrschers have no strategic value to them.

In other words, apart from the Honkai Fission Bomb with unknown effects, Schicksal has few other assets that can threaten the enemy.

Otto had to admit that his cunning schemes, aside from barely proving that the opponent's combat strength was far greater than expected, had done nothing else.

If the Divine Key that just left my hand and departed on its own is also related to the other party, it seems unlikely that it can be retrieved in the short term.

The blond man put his mask back on, glanced at the already halted catastrophe at Shard Tower, and calmly walked in the opposite direction.

Since things are beyond our control, we should leave as soon as possible.

Otto felt no shame whatsoever, nor was his non-existent self-esteem damaged. Almost the instant he finished watching the video, he began to redirect the consciousness residing in this Soul Steel body back to the other side.

Since her old friend had asked her to leave Leanna's body, she would grant her wish.

Thus, the writhing, deforming body of soul steel transformed into the appearance of a blonde beauty as the main consciousness changed.

The strongest Valkyrie of Destiny stood still, feeling a momentary dizziness.

Her emerald eyes lowered as she glanced at the empty space in her hands, and she murmured in confusion:

"Where is this? Where is the Black Abyss?"

There was a clear blank and gap in Leanna's consciousness.

Although Otto's voluntary withdrawal allowed her to regain control of the body, the bishop's choice to override her will to avoid any accidents was shameless; he deliberately chose to do so when the warrior was asleep.

So, from Leanna's perspective, it's like falling asleep and waking up to find herself walking in the middle of the road. It's really hard to process what happened.

Aside from the time he spent occupying the body a day in advance to wait for orders, Otto's actual time using this body was less than an hour. The traces and memories left inside the Soul Steel body were pitifully few, making it difficult to piece together accurate impressions and clues.

But soon, this honest and kind-hearted warrior noticed the anomaly in the Shards, and even the Honkai energy level that maintained this scene. She murmured:

"what happened?"

Leanna frowned as she looked into the distance.

At that moment, she ignored the lost Divine Key and the undiscovered problems within her body, prioritizing the potential calamity that might befall the city above all else, and ran headlong in that direction without hesitation.

……

……

A peninsula in southwestern Scotland.

At this very moment, inside a bar at a military base located outside the nuclear missile silo area, a palpable sense of unease permeates the dimly lit space.

The man downed the glass of red wine in one gulp, his emerald eyes lowered, and his slender fingers tapped lightly or heavily on the mahogany table, producing a slightly hurried sound in sync with the melody of the vinyl record.

This bishop, who has lived since the Middle Ages and holds the reins of world sovereignty, has encountered an unprecedented problem.

Eliminate dissidents and eradicate threats.

For centuries, this arrogant and conceited ruler, in order to control everything in the world, habitually destroyed anything beyond his control.

He was like a diligent gardener working in a garden, cultivating trees and flowers within a fixed area, and using his scissors to trim them into beautiful shapes, occasionally... and regularly clearing away some unruly weeds.

Otto Apocalypse was a true dictator.

Over the years, he has deliberately allowed the Honkai to develop unchecked, keeping Destiny Technology at a level that can suppress the Honkai.

However, due to his excellent disguise and methods, most of the members in the organization who were dissatisfied with him only opposed his disregard for life, but did not realize that the leader of the world's largest anti-Honkai organization actually had no intention of eliminating Honkai at all.

In the past, those who realized this fundamental problem were eliminated or simply killed by this bishop before they could fully discover the truth.

This madman, with an extremely clear self-awareness, is a complete villain; cold-bloodedness and ruthlessness are just one of the many labels attached to him.

But this man seems to have inherited the will and desire of Kallen Kaslana, using everything in the Void Treasury to protect this world from being completely swallowed up by the Honkai.

In the original timeline, regardless of merits or demerits, this Bishop of Destiny was an indispensable figure.

Yet these humans, who should have been as noble as saints, chose to drag the world into their own selfish desires for that vague and illusory obsession, committing countless heinous crimes and becoming stained with a filth that can never be washed away.

The contradictions are complex, and the situation is both abhorrent and hateful.

Since Karen's death, Otto Apocalypse has rarely had the opportunity to feel such emotions.

At this moment, he felt the anxiety and unease surging through his chest, and a self-deprecating sneer curled his lips.

The Crimson Iris Immortal.

Otto first heard the name shortly after Karen was defeated by the enemy.

He did not actually meet her in person until after Karen's death, when he traveled to China.

Otto was nearly fifty years old at that time. Although Black Abyss White Flower was born with defects, he was able to successfully simulate a near-original Key of Creation by using a large amount of data from the Void Treasury and Black Abyss, which was half of the Key of God, and found a way to keep his body in his youth.

After that, the man carried the white wooden coffin he had crafted himself, hoping to obtain from the immortal being a method to resurrect the person inside.

But before meeting him, he had a vague understanding that this journey might not yield much reward.

According to local rumors and an ancient book called "Biographies of Immortals," that immortal had held a grand wedding three hundred years ago.

But after a hundred years, whenever Chi Yuan emerged to slay demons, she could no longer find another immortal by her side.

People have been discussing this extensively, but it's difficult to draw a true conclusion.

For Otto, who initially hoped to bring his lover back to life, these rumors and news were undoubtedly not a good thing.

Once the Crimson Iris Immortal is proven not to be omnipotent, the distance between Yin and Yang seems to remain untraceable.

Even before actually meeting the other party, Otto still believed that it was worthwhile to meet the Crimson Kite Immortal.

As for the final outcome, it naturally came to nothing.

Although Otto did see the other party, it was of no significance other than knowing that this Crimson Kite Immortal was in a similar situation to himself.

But before we parted, Chi Yuan's whispers would still linger in my mind from time to time.

I will awaken him one day.

And you, Otto Apocalypse, if that day ever comes, wouldn't you think that returning to the countryside with Karen and becoming a peaceful priest wouldn't be a bad future?

The man murmured:

"A boring question."

If Kallen hadn't died, he would probably have experienced birth, aging, sickness, and death like any other mortal, turning into dust.

The reason they would plot against that Crimson Kelp Immortal is simply because they know that the other party will one day go against their plan to revive Kallen.

If there were no such fundamental conflict between the two, he would not have carried out the previous plan.

Even though the plan had almost failed, Otto knew even more clearly that this would be his only chance.

Over the years, Destiny has exercised restraint in its technological development to prevent the collapse from becoming excessive.

However, the organization called "Chaoxian," which is confined to the land of Shenzhou, is also climbing the technology tree at the same pace, and is almost on par with the current technological level of Destiny.

This is not surprising.

Even though she inherited the Void Treasury, Chi Yuan, as a sage from the previous era, could obviously master the same technology and knowledge.

In other words, once the enemy returns to China's territory, the Honkai Fission Bomb, this deadly weapon, is very likely to be intercepted directly in the airspace.

However, Otto has now shown his murderous intent towards Red Fern, and through planting layers of explosives in the Shards and killing Lisser, he has completely exposed the madness and danger of his personality.

Under these circumstances, what will the other party do?

The personality of the Crimson Iris Immortal can be gleaned from his willingness to personally protect the Divine Land for thousands of years. Combined with the ancient books and numerous deeds within the Divine Land, it is easy to use artificial intelligence to analyze his personality model.

In short, he was a guardian who seemed detached from worldly affairs.

But for a guardian, Otto's traits were precisely the kind that were so dangerous they couldn't be ignored, and that he even needed to be eliminated.

Therefore, Otto Apocalypse has no room or need to back down now. Rather than waiting for Chi Yuan to catch up and let Joyce live, allowing these two to come and hold him accountable later, it is better to take advantage of the fact that the other party has not yet prepared for the Honkai Fission Bullet and deliver a fatal blow.

However, if some gains are achieved, there is still room to salvage the situation.

Therefore, the Honkai Fission Bomb was prepared for launch as originally planned, and even the launch time was brought forward.

At this moment, in the center of the nearby mountain, the heavy nuclear missile silo is being gradually opened. The control room, located on the eighteenth underground level, is being operated by artificial intelligence. This strategic weapon, which can be called the foundation of destiny, is connecting various circuits, analyzing coordinate data, and advancing step by step in preparation for launch.

After the short countdown ended, the over forty-meter-long Honkai Impact Explosive, containing enough tons to raze the entire city of London, was poised to be unleashed like a fully drawn bowstring. In the next instant, it unleashed terrifying kinetic energy, accompanied by a deafening earthquake, soaring into the sky and hurtling toward its predetermined target.

Otto stared silently at the missile launch in the video, then glanced at Leanna, who seemed to be evacuating the nearby crowd, and the Crimson Sage carrying the remains of the First Herrscher and Lisser, walking to the side. The palpitations and unease in his chest grew stronger.

It's strange that, due to the incompleteness of the Black Abyss White Flower and the limits of the pseudo-divine key, he abandoned his flesh and blood body a long time ago in order to maintain immortality and peak combat power, replacing it with a body forged from soul steel, and has lived to this day.

More than a hundred years ago, in order to improve his combat power, he selected from the legacies of countless pre-civilizations and performed surgery on the chief Valkyrie of the time. Over the long years, he gradually replaced the parts in her body with Soul Steel, creating a mechanical body that he had personally crafted for himself.

In theory, Otto would not experience any extra emotions due to hormones and other factors in the human body, let alone premonitions transmitted by organs that do not exist in the first place.

"The soul?"

The man patiently chewed on the filthy, rotten emotions between the souls, but suddenly he was plunged into an even greater wave of confusion, and instead put aside this strange premonition that came from his instincts.