chsdbacks Page 108
Page 108
Without a doubt, even a professional army would be instantly torn to shreds if an apostle approached. Steel armor is barely thicker than paper, and even the most advanced weapons humanity has ever possessed cannot compare to a single sword or punch.
It was as if a scene from a myth was unfolding before my eyes.
A battle between gods and heroes.
Only in the realm of legends can it be revealed.
Even the light coming through the window was split by the blade, the golden hue that spilled onto the earth was cut and torn apart by the extremely sharp blade, turning into the afterglow left by the swing of the sword.
Jiang Cheng saw the gentle halo of light. Inside the office, white petals of all shapes and sizes faced the sunlight. The dew that had not yet dissipated had traveled an unknown distance and finally reached the end. Like a diver, it bounced and, after the petals trembled again, leaped gracefully into the soil.
Not a single drop of water was splashed, and its posture in the air was so graceful. When it returned to the starting position after a 360-degree spin, it was as perfect as if it had never moved at all... It's a pity there are no judges here, and no one will score it.
Without giving him a chance to look further, Jiang Cheng swung his sword again. In his hands, the Dizang Soul was like a meat grinder, deadly. With his extreme reflexes, one could even vaguely see four or five slashes coming at the same time.
There was no chance of confrontation.
They lack the ability to fight back.
Nowadays, even skills have been forcibly added to the curriculum.
Otto could no longer contend with the Stigmata Awakeners who were even willing to bear the side effects and push their bodies to their limits.
The twin blades gleamed in the sunlight, their light soaring skyward, each refraction a shimmering silver glow. Otto's blood and body were also silver, the blood-stained blades transforming into silver halos of light.
The unparalleled speed and domineering power of the blade were so great that even the Soul Steel was severed on the edge. It was as if one were facing an endless meat grinder. Every inch of air was filled with killing intent, and the despair was so great that even the most arrogant bishop regretted why he had underestimated it so much.
It doesn't make sense anymore.
—It is light!
Light shines from the circular arc drawn by that single hand.
It is the crimson tip reflecting the sunlight, it is the blood of others trampled underfoot being shattered in the air and refracting light.
No one, no matter how foolish, would engage in close combat with a melee-specialized character like this—in fact, Otto did consider keeping the distance and then crafting weapons from Soul Steel.
Unfortunately, this is of no use.
There are no melee-only characters in the Honkai Impact world.
Jiang Cheng simply sheathed the Jizo Mitsuki, raising his left hand with his thumb lightly pressing against the hilt.
Draw your sword half an inch!
In the instant the long spikes of soul steel struck, the energy that erupted from the boy's palm surged into the crimson blade.
"Pfft pfft pfft pfft!"
Tens of thousands of crimson arc-shaped blade lights erupted from the half-inch blade of the Earthly Prison Soul, spreading wildly across hundreds of kilometers with unimaginable speed, and instantly wreaking havoc on Otto's body as he raised his hands. Liquid soul steel and building debris flew together.
A thousand slashes in an instant, blood/silver light soaring into the sky.
In a physical sense, it means tearing everything apart.
The bishop's office was made of some unknown material, but at this moment it was nothing more than a pile of torn-up scraps.
Beneath the surface, a dense network of pipes and other things that are enough to make one's scalp crawl just by looking at them are also visible.
Otto has made a lot of preparations; he doesn't even know how to completely resolve the issue of so many bodies.
But—he has more.
Everything that has happened so far has been exactly as Jiang Cheng had predicted—the power of erosion is specifically designed to combat technology.
If the special attack-type Herrscher authority can't deal with Otto, then he might as well commit suicide and be done with it.
In reality, the difficulty in fighting Otto lies in three aspects: first, his intelligence; second, his ability to strike first and his five hundred years of accumulated experience; and third, the existence of numerous physical bodies, requiring the destruction of all of them to completely kill him.
Jizo Mitama can solve the third problem, and Rin also patted her chest to guarantee that Void Manzo absolutely cannot fight against it. Furthermore, by exploiting the information gap, the second problem can be blocked through assassination.
He had all three advantages: opportune timing, favorable location, and harmonious relationships. He used his precognitive abilities to prepare everything to the fullest extent possible at the last moment before the plot collapsed, all in order to kill Otto.
In reality, the real difficulty of this battle was never facing Otto directly, because all you needed to do was activate the Jizo Mitama and distract Otto a bit.
The real challenge lies in how to infiltrate the Destiny organization, how to get to the floating island, how to fight against the external defenses of Destiny, those elite Valkyries, how to get close to Otto without his knowledge, and how to obtain the Jizo Mitama, which theoretically shouldn't appear in the original story and has never been used by anyone in the story.
Once these steps are accomplished, the next step is akin to Emperor Jing of Han playing chess with someone.
With the help of World Serpent and Raiden Mei, Jiang Cheng actually accomplished these impossible things.
The Valkyrie and Schicksal's weapons were dealt with by Raiden Mei to prevent Otto from going down a path of mutual destruction. The chosen time was when the defenses were relatively lax. The entry was made possible by an undercover agent planted by World Serpent. The weapon was Jizo Mitama. In addition, Otto was too arrogant. The result of holding everything in his hands for a long time was that he could even actively reduce his own wings.
Unaware of the World Serpent, Otto believed he possessed all the rights in the world, had countless bodies, and the aid of the Divine Keys. This meant that as long as he didn't reveal that he possessed the Jizo Mitama—a Divine Key that could truly harm him—Otto would even wait for him to approach.
arrogant.
It led to Otto's arrogance.
Then let him die from his own arrogance and conceit, just like when he was brutally beaten by Joyce during the battle against the First Herrscher.
Intelligence-based characters are both the easiest and the hardest to defeat. The hardest part is getting into the game, while the easiest part is simply getting close to them.
of course.
We need to hurry.
We absolutely cannot let time drag on until Mei becomes suspicious, now that we've become aware of the situation.
Even with victory completely assured, Jiang Cheng still shouted as he unleashed his next sword strike, his mental energy already stretched to its limit—
"Otto, do you still remember Kallen, who five hundred years ago, carrying a broken airplane over the wall, smiling and reaching out her hand to you, inviting you to save the world together?"
Otto's body trembled violently, but the liquefaction of his body did not stop.
A simple "naturally" is not enough.
and so--
"Why did you participate in the Black Box's human experiments after you had already agreed to save the world with Kallen?"
"When you hear the pain of those people protected by Karen on the operating table, don't you feel even a little bit moved?!"
Yes……
I did agree to Karen's request.
Saving the world is so easy (Part 7) 4 Just like that... I did agree.
On the very day I was saved and affirmed for the first time in my life, I also accepted Karen's invitation.
The memories that are suddenly awakened may not be as beautiful as the original ones, but in terms of cruelty and the degree of attack on Otto, they far surpass the previous rescue.
If Kallen's previous skill had strengthened the bishop's resolve to live and resurrect Kallen, then this moment truly made him unconsciously begin to recall and reflect, and even the external battle was inevitably affected.
"How sad Karen must be."
Jiangcheng seized the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot.
"In the most desperate moment, after the Crusades, when his beliefs were being questioned, his childhood sweetheart, who had promised to save the world with him and was considered his closest companion, refused to repent or even leave him after the author pointed out his even uglier deeds."
"What betrayal could be greater than being betrayed by one's own beliefs, the organization one protects, the home one lives in, and then being betrayed by one's childhood sweetheart as well?"
"Am I right?"
He uttered that name with a sinister grin, and the power of Jizo's Soul was instantly stretched to its maximum, revealing its bewitching authority—especially in those cherry-colored pupils that reflected a moment of deep thought, as if recalling something, his smile was even more undisguised.
"—Otto!"
……
……
yes……
me……
Why do I need to conduct black-box experiments?
Why didn't I leave with Karen back then?
She was clearly very sad back then, clearly back then... For the first time in her memory, her face, which had always been sunny and cheerful, was so sad, and her angry eyes, which seemed to be blaming herself, had pupils clearer than the bluest sky and the clearest lake, that seemed to be gently swirling.
Ahhh...
Those look like tears.
Only now were his memories finally awakened, and he finally recognized from those memories that should have been blurred that the face of Karen, whom he had once only cared about with anger and worried about whether she would be disliked...
With tears in my eyes.
……
PS: From this moment on, Jiangcheng becomes the top-tier (T0) character in this version.
Chapter 98 Otto—Death!
Karen was never a strong person forever.
It is not steel that cannot bend.
Even heroes are human, and even saints are essentially human. Any myths created later are merely the result of imagination.
So the problem has always been with me?
Did I think of her as too strong and too capable?
I never paid attention to her thoughts and feelings; I only ever gave and made demands.
It's like a marriage proposal made in prison... I should have known before I even asked the question that Karen would never agree to it.
But now it seemed pointless to think about it anymore; the flashing red light was already close at hand, and in those green pupils, one could even clearly see the sunlight reflecting off the scarlet blade.
Do not……
Absolutely unacceptable.
He—Otto—absolutely could not accept this outcome.
His body was being controlled to the fullest extent possible. Never before had his Soul Steel husk been so overloaded. Even when Joyce punched him hard in the face, the Archbishop of Macau had never fought so desperately.
Perhaps it was because it was only one failure back then, perhaps there was still destiny and countless resources at their disposal, perhaps they simply knew Joyce was a good person, so they could still manipulate her at will, or perhaps there were no such reasons at all, it was simply that Joyce didn't know about Karen and wouldn't say those things...
It doesn't matter anymore.
At this moment, right now, now.
Otto's will was forcibly pushed to its limit, and his Soul Steel body instantly dissolved. Like flowing liquid, the sword the boy swung missed its mark and instantly flowed to his side. In the surprise that flashed in his cherry-colored pupils, the liquid Soul Steel reformed his body, and the first thing that caught his eye was the sudden attack.
—The punch Otto is throwing now is no longer the desperate struggle he had before when his technology was blocked and he had nowhere to go, not even able to open the door, but rather…
Before reviving Kallen.
I--
They absolutely cannot die!
……
……
Ah……
"You don't actually think you still have a chance, do you?!"
After saying those words, Jiang Cheng had no intention of dragging it out any longer.
Having broken his own rule of absolute caution in exchange for a moment of Otto's distraction, he could not possibly allow such a thing to continue.
In any case, this is just a way to turn what might be a time-consuming battle into a decisive one.
Originally, the plan was to stall for time, but the poison applied to Otto had already reached its limit, so now it was necessary to act quickly.
The effects of the potion are limited. Even a Saint Awakener cannot endlessly squeeze out their potential without training. Even if they had enough terrifying potential, Jiang Cheng did not believe he could perform like the protagonists in those shonen manga. The more likely scenario was that his will would melt before he reached his limit and he would be unable to endure it.
and so--
Hurry! (The rest of the text appears to be random characters and symbols, possibly a corrupted or incomplete message.)
At the very least, Mei must not see through my disguise.
If the battle drags on for too long, the girl might come running over out of concern for herself. If Otto can't be defeated before then, even if only one hit is left, Raiden Mei will use those drugs—the same drugs that even she only used after seeing Otto.
Anyway, even if he takes a hit, he won't die. That way, even if Mei comes later, he can use the excuse that he was too heavily sealed off by Otto and didn't have time to call him.
As for the subsequent medication... just holding onto Mei will definitely make you forget about having to experience the same pain.
This thing is really painful and uncomfortable, so Mei absolutely cannot be made to endure this extreme physical strain.