The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

He stopped in front of Otto, calmly observing him. "Since you knew we were looking for you, you still showed up in front of me, which means you were confident... In other words, have you finally accomplished what you were willing to do, risking exposure to steal a large amount of supplies?"

Otto's eyes instantly turned cold. "Steal? Ridiculous! I developed the entire Destiny from scratch. This time I've only taken back a small portion of what's mine. You're the real thieves."

"Isn't it you who's ridiculous?"

Su Qi retorted sharply, "The purpose of Destiny's founding is to unite all forces that can be united to fight against the Honkai. The reason it was able to be founded is not solely due to the efforts of your Apocalypse family ancestors. However, as time went on, the Apocalypse family began to usurp high positions, undermine the council, and suppress dissent. Destiny gradually ceased to be a righteous organization that fights against the Honkai, but rather a tool used by the Apocalypse family to seize profits."

"Then, when you became the Archbishop, you became even more selfish and utterly absurd. Under the guise of fighting the Honkai, you squandered a vast amount of humanity's manpower and resources, but in reality, you deliberately allowed the Honkai to develop for a vague and unrealistic goal, causing countless sacrifices. This completely contradicts the original intentions of the founders of Schicksal! And in these five hundred years, in order to firmly grasp the power of Schicksal, how many dissidents have you killed? How many people who were originally dedicated to fighting the Honkai have you betrayed, making all their efforts and sacrifices go to waste?"

"And you, who abused your power for personal gain, shamelessly killed countless living people and subordinates for the sake of a dead man, are ruthless and unforgivable. Now you have even stooped to the level of a thief. How dare you treat destiny as your own possession?"

Otto remained unmoved by Su Qi's rebuke, coldly replying, "Without my leadership, without my development of weapons like the Valkyrie Armor to combat the Honkai, do you think Schicksal could have progressed to this point?"

"Ha, perhaps you are indeed a genius, but human history has never lacked geniuses. With the technology of the previous generation of civilization as a foundation, plus five hundred years, if you put Tesla or Einstein in the same position as you, wouldn't they have developed technological achievements comparable to yours? And in these five hundred years, how many similar geniuses have been stifled before they could even shine because of your direct and indirect influence?"

"Those two innocent little girls? I admit, they are indeed outstanding geniuses, but at most they are only capable of being researchers. If destiny were handed to them, they might have already been buried in the dust of history."

"Then let them be in charge of scientific research, and find more professional people to lead Destiny, right? In terms of political ability, there are many people in human history who are equal to or even surpass you. As long as they don't do crazy things for your illusory fantasies like you do, Destiny may be even stronger than it is in your hands."

"Hmph, what are the chances of someone who isn't from the Apocalypse family becoming the Archbishop of Destiny? Besides, humans are inherently selfish creatures. Even without me, Destiny would still become a tool in someone else's hands."

"But you can't deny the possibility that there is a destiny and a better state of human civilization than it is now, so you are not an indispensable person."

In Su Qi's view, although Otto is the most intelligent human in miHoYo's setting, his performance in the storyline may be considered that of a top genius, but there is not a significant difference.

As he just said, in terms of scientific and technological research, if Tesla or Einstein were given five hundred years, along with the technological data of previous generations of civilizations and the vast treasures of the void as aids, would they not have been able to reach the level of Otto? Not necessarily.

"In the end, all you're trying to do is prove that my sins far outweigh my merits."

"Is not it?"

Su Qi said, “I don’t deny your contributions, but based on monopolizing almost all the relics of the previous generation of civilization, consuming a lot of resources, and sacrificing countless lives, that level of contribution is what you, as the Archbishop of Destiny for five hundred years, should have made, and it is far from enough. I just want to say that Destiny is not your private property, so don’t use the contributions of all members of Destiny as capital for you, Otto, to show off.”

"boring."

Otto remained expressionless, his legs still crossed, his right arm propping up his cheek, and said indifferently, "If that's what you want to think, then think that way. I don't care about this kind of thing at all."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly saw a figure flash before his eyes, and a violent force suddenly exploded in his chest.

boom! !

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he was kicked, chair and all, flying through the air. The chair then overturned, sending him hurtling backward like a cannonball. He crashed heavily into the wall, his features contorted, and he slid down the wall to the ground, his face pale.

Only then did he see that Su Qi had somehow appeared where he had been, still in a kicking stance with his right leg raised. Clearly, he had been attacked by the latter, and despite his reaction speed being far superior to that of an average human, he had failed to detect any warning signs.

"I'm sorry, although you don't care, I do care a little bit."

Su Qi then deliberately put his raised foot down, and then walked up to Otto while talking.

A sharp pain, like being branded with a red-hot iron, shot through his chest. Otto, sitting on the floor against the wall, frowned slightly and his face paled a little, but that was all.

He quickly ignored the pain in his body with his strong willpower, looked up at Su Qi, and said casually, "According to my observation, your power has been growing rapidly over the years, and has now completely surpassed the scope of the human species. Even the most powerful Honkai Beasts are far inferior to you, and even the Herrscher cannot withstand a casual blow from you... Is this also the power of magic?"

Su Qi slightly raised his chin, his face aloof, and said, "It's none of your business."

"what?"

I said it's none of your business.

Otto paused slightly, then said coldly, "No, of course it's related to me. If it weren't for you, if your power growth rate hadn't completely exceeded common sense, I wouldn't have needed to gamble everything on this final choice."

"Oh, what kind of choice is it?"

"Everything is ready, and you will find out soon."

"Soon? Then why did you stay here specifically to wait for me? How about giving me a spoiler first?"

"Why?" he sneered. "Of course, it's to thank you for your help last time, and to return the favor with a generous gift."

Having said that, he slowly closed his eyes, awaiting that moment. This was his final probing attack. If he could successfully eliminate Su Qi this time, he wouldn't have to gamble on that final choice that even he himself wasn't sure about.

Then, with a loud bang, the ground beneath them suddenly trembled.

Time is running out... The annihilation bomb I placed in the core vault of this laboratory has enough power to level the entire Boston area and surrounding region in a fraction of a second. Unless he can locate the annihilation bomb within two seconds, breach the three gates and safe made of soul steel inside the vault, and then dismantle or destroy the annihilation bomb, it's impossible to stop him... And even at his highest speed, which he once demonstrated, he won't be able to escape the blast radius before the explosion...

Otto's mind raced, anticipating the destruction of this body, but after that, apart from another explosion of a scale completely different from what he expected, and a gust of wind blowing from nearby, there was nothing else unusual.

This body is still alive...

His heart sank. He opened his eyes and saw Su Qi still standing calmly in front of him, but behind him, the alloy-cast floor had been broken open, revealing an exaggerated hole that went straight down.

"Where is the annihilation bomb I placed?" Otto asked, staring into Su Qi's eyes, without any hope.

“Oh, that thing…” Su Qi looked up at the large hole in the ceiling and the blue sky inside, and said, “It’s probably already exploded in outer space.”

How did you do that?

"Heh, it's not just my strength that's been enhanced, but also my senses. Even though you specially added soundproofing to that safe, it still sounds just like banging drums and gongs to my ears."

Otto was silent for a moment, then sighed softly, "What a monster."

"Thank you for the compliment."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gungnir, which was wrapped around Su Qi's wrist, shot out and instantly pierced through Otto's head.

"Consciousness fluctuations recorded. We can begin hunting Otto, but before that..."

With a thought, Su Qi recalled Gungnir and then contacted Rozell.

"How about it?"

"It was indeed a trap, but it doesn't matter. Otto's consciousness fluctuation record has been completed. It just seems that we are still a step too late."

"Otto has already finished that?"

“Very likely. I suspect he'll make headlines soon. Tell everyone to be prepared and monitor the situation. Call me immediately if anything happens.”

"So, are you going to go and clean up Otto's parts now?"

"Yeah, whatever he's up to, let's cut off his escape route first... I don't want to get entangled with him any longer."

"Understood, I'll have others keep an eye out."

"Then I'll hang up."

After saying that, Su Qi cut off the communication, glanced at Otto's wildly imaginative corpse, and then disappeared into the messy cold storage.

……

Soon after, in Antarctica, fate intervened.

Accompanied by a series of cracking, falling, and shattering sounds, and with a large number of crystal fragments flying everywhere and clanging, the giant crystal tree towering in the center of the columnar space collapsed and crumbled section by section, breaking off with an astonishing force and smashing into a pile of crystal fragments of all sizes on the ground.

Against this backdrop, a handsome man, completely naked, with blood-red holy marks covering his body and long, flowing golden hair, stepped out like a god, walking slowly through the void.

Huwuwuwuwu...

Suddenly, a fierce wind swept through the previously enclosed space, its eye resting on the man who floated in mid-air without touching anything. But the wind was merely a facade; the sudden rapid flow of air was simply because all the destructive energy permeating the space was instantly absorbed by it.

"Not enough..."

Otto slowly clenched his fist, feeling the immense hunger and superhuman strength emanating from within his body, fully appreciating just how powerful this finally fully optimized body was. However, he knew even more clearly that even if this body absorbed enough Honkai energy and grew to its limit, it still wouldn't be a match for that monster.

"There was no other choice..."

Otto once again recalled his meeting with "God". At that time, he asked it how to revive Kallen, and he only understood the hints it gave much later. However, because there was no turning back once a choice was made, he kept delaying. But now... if he didn't do that, there would be no way to defeat that man, and naturally, he would be unable to carry out the experiments related to reviving Kallen.

"So... the only way is to kill yourself and be reborn..."

He muttered to himself as he stretched out his hand. Countless golden streams of light converged from the void and slowly condensed into a golden cube above his palm. That was the true form of the "Void Treasury".

Chapter Sixty-Seven: The End - The Green Ones Descend?

The First Key to God, "The Void Treasury," was once enshrined in the Sanctuary by the Apocalypse family as an ancestral relic. In their understanding, the golden cube was a treasure of infinite wisdom obtained in Asia by the first ancestor of the Apocalypse family, which they called "Relic."

Before his death, the first ancestor sealed the relics, leaving a will that only the wisest among humankind could break the seal and control them. Thus, since the first ancestor, the relics have been kept in the family shrine in Apocalypse, unused by anyone.

More than 500 years ago, when young Otto saw Kallen heartbroken over the loss of her father and wanting to resurrect him, he secretly sneaked into the sanctuary and successfully broke the seal on the relic.

Then, a voice echoed in his mind.

"After more than two thousand years, the one who broke the seal again is actually a child...?"

Otto was surprised that the "relic" had self-awareness, but he quickly put it aside and asked the relic, who was said to be infinitely wise and omniscient in family legend, how to revive Kallen's father.

The other party replied, "It's very simple. Just give me your life, and I can resurrect that person."

In order to see Karen's smiling face again, Otto remained silent for a moment before agreeing.

"Very good. After more than two thousand years, we can finally regain our physical bodies."

As the voice spoke, it transformed into a golden stream of light and entered his body.

Afterwards, Otto immediately rushed back to the funeral site and, with the help of Void Repository, conjured the Black Abyss White Flower, intending to resurrect Kallen's father at the cost of his own life. However, upon hearing that his life would be sacrificed, Kallen immediately gave him a friendly punch, stopping his reckless act.

Perhaps due to some rule, Void Treasury could only lay low and wait for the next opportunity when the deal failed, but it never truly gave up on taking Otto's body.

So for the past five hundred years, whenever the opportunity arose, the consciousness within the Void Treasury would tempt Otto to seize his body; but the latter would only lose his intelligence when it came to matters related to Kallen, and had never revealed any flaws.

Of course, this is also why Void Archives was unable to fulfill his true wish of resurrecting Kallen; otherwise, he would have actually given up his body.

Over five hundred years of mutual exploitation, Otto had essentially figured out the true nature of the Void Treasury. It was the most unique of all the Divine Keys, and the only one besides the unfinished Jizo Mitama that possessed self-awareness. This might be because it was the first Divine Key, and the previous generation of civilizations hadn't yet developed the necessary technology to create it, thus imbuing it with consciousness.

For this reason, it is also the most dangerous of all the Divine Keys; otherwise, the first ancestor of the Apocalypse family would not have sealed it away before his death and left such a will.

As the saying goes, "One thought can make you a Buddha, and another can make you a demon." Otto knew very well that making a deal with the Void Treasury and relying too much on its power would inevitably lead to hell; but now, he was going to deliberately step into hell, because only in this way could he bring Kallen out of hell.

"Are you there?"

He looked down at the golden cube in his hand and spoke first.

The next moment, a hoarse, magnetic male voice, seemingly possessing a certain eerie charm that made people want to listen, emanated from the cube: "Of course, where else can I go besides staying here without a body?"

Otto said coldly, "I want to make a deal with you."

"Oh, so you finally have something you're willing to give up your body for? Very well, then let me hear what your wish is."

"I need power, immense power."

"No problem. As long as you give me your body, I will definitely give you the power to fulfill your wish."

"Moro, don't treat me like that little kid from five hundred years ago. Even in your complete form, you were just the first Herrscher of the previous generation. Now, you only have the Herrscher core left, and you're still bound by the shell and rules of the Divine Body. Even if I give you my body, what can you possibly do?"

"Heh, what a pity. The foolish boy who was willing to risk his life for a few tears from a girl has lived for over five hundred years and has become a cunning old fox who won't listen to reason. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have helped you change your soul form and become an immortal."

Otto said calmly, "Don't make it sound like you're helping someone. If I hadn't threatened to seal you away permanently, if I hadn't been afraid that I would never have a chance to regain my freedom after I die, why would you have helped me?"