-3rd POV-
"Yeah, let's stop here." Otto's evil smirk suddenly disappeared.
"Huh?" Kevin was confused. Was he not going to torture him? Play with Mei in front of him as he watched helplessly?
Where did the super villain go?
"I wasn't going to do anything like that; I was just having some fun while trying to bring out your potential. In simple words, it was a prank~" Otto smiled as he pointed at Kevin's balance breaker sword.
Kevin realized that he was right. If he had never threatened to have his way with Mei or had pushed him this far, Kevin would have never obtained his balance breaker; he didn't like to admit it, but it was thanks to Otto, for whatever sick reason he decided to help, that he achieved this without having to face a true threat of Otto's level.
Also, did he say prank?! Kevin didn't think that a prank would include 2 dragons and sexually harassing another person.
Otto snapped his fingers as everyone was freed from their restraints.
"Now that this matter is over, follow me." Otto didn't look back as he walked into a purple mist that Rita had made. She, of course, followed along, leaving behind the thirteen in worry.
"Wahoooo~!" Elysia didn't have the same concerns as her friend; she merely ran into the fog in a ball of excitement and disappeared.
Aponia also followed along as she wanted to see what the mysterious man would show her friend.
Otto had already helped unlock Kevin's balance breaker, which he should have unlocked WAY more into the future. Things were already looking more favorable than before.
"Let's go," Said Kevin as the other followed.
He didn't know where the fog would take them; hell, he didn't even know what the fog was to begin with, but he did know one thing.
Otto was a prick, but he didn't mean harm...for now.
-Scene Change-
As they entered the fog, they soon reappeared in some sort of Victorian-style office. The room was filled with books on wooden shelves, and the carpet and drapes were of a golden hue.
There was also a window to the side that showed the night sky.
[Image]
"Whoa, this place is nice!" The moment Pardofelis saw the things in this room, she noticed that they were immensely valuable and crazy expensive.
She wanted to sneak some of the ornaments into her pocket, but Otto's voice rang out.
"I will turn you into dust if you take something, Pardofelis. Now then, sit down so we can talk." There he was, Otto, sitting behind his birch desk, which was filled with papers.
He didn't have paperwork or anything right now, just papers with random info to make it look like he was a busy man.
The others nodded as they got comfortable on the couches; even Elysia, Aponia, and Eden were already eating some of the tea and cooking Rita had served.
"Here," Otto threw them each a sort of black bracelet that looked pretty ordinary.
"What does this do?" Asked Kevin with suspicion
Otto rolled his eyes. "Just put it on."
Kevin and the other nodded as each of them wore the bracelet.
A sudden light came out of the bracelet as a hologram appeared midair.
[Data is booting...]
[Welcome user "Kevin" to {Schicksal} servers]
Kevin and the others were amazed by this spectacle.
Especially Mobius, Vill-V, and Mei. In the group, they were the brains and inventors. Yes, Vill-V was the one who produced their concealment rings, but their concept and creation were a work of the three.
"Incredible! I thought the creation of practical holograms was years ahead of our age!" Said Mei with amazement. She reached out to them in curiosity, and to her surprise, she could feel them, touch them, and manipulate them with her bare hands.
"Hard light too?!" Said Mobius in excitement.
"Cool, right? It's something I made with my friend," Otto casually replied as he took a sip of his tea.
The other stared at the holograms that their bracelet made in amazement.
"How advanced are you? I don't think I've seen any country have this sort of advanced technology," said Vill-V as she marveled at the technology that was now in her hands.
"As I said, it's something that my friend made. Your bracelets are quite the handy thing; they have an implanted language translator, an analysis scanner, a unique search engine, and above all, it has access to the Schicksal database."
"What's this Schicksal database? Is it the name of your organization?" Asked Kevin.
"Yup, it's my very own organization that I made with my buddies, and some unique recruits," He replied casually.
Kevin grunted in acknowledgment.
"I've just unlocked a level 1 clearance for you all. You should look at the information available to you," Otto recommended.
The other nodded as they surfed through their new gadgets' uses.
-A Few Hours Later-
"Gods, angels, dragons, devils, sacred gears. Why the hell are there so many problems in the world?" Kevin sighed. The base information alone that he received from his level one clearance was enough to send his blood pressure spiking.
He knew that there were devils in town, but he just thought that it was a scary name they gave to the monster.
But they didn't think that there would be so many dangers beyond demons.
Looking at his watch, he saw multiple numbers with locks in front of him, signifying his low clearance level.
There were about 8 levels and a final level which read 'Top Secret'.
He didn't know why, but he felt that each level would get worse and worse.
"Happy~?" said Otto with a teasing tone. He could already see the vein in Kevin's head throbbing from the stress.
"Yes, I'm happy, but there's still one matter we haven't talked about. Why? Why give us all this information and go through all the trouble for that villain play earlier?" He asked as his suspicions of Otto rose in every passing second. If it weren't for Elysia and Aponia, he would not even be here in the first place.
"Well, to invite you to my group, of course~."
"We decline", Kevin bluntly replied.
"Is that so? Then good luck with the demons that will be hunting you down for your abilities, and also with the Honkai- oops, I said too much~."
Kevin didn't know why, but the moment the word 'Honkai' left Otto's mouth, an immense chill went down his spine, and every cell in his body jolted with fear. It's as if his senses were telling him that whatever this 'Honkai' was, it was very dangerous.
Maybe even more dangerous than Otto himself.
"What's this Honkai?" He asked in a serious tone.
"Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy~" Otto just couldn't help himself.
"I'm being serious!" Kevin snapped at Otto.
His instincts have always been right, and right now, he needs to know what this great threat is.
Otto's eyes turned deadly at Kevin; his mere stare sent fear into his heart. It was as if Otto's stare alone would kill him.
"I'm being kind right now, Kevin. I've helped you unlock your sacred gear, and I've given you information that others would find hard to search, especially you, but I won't allow you to come into my home and talk to me in such a tone, understood?" Otto's tone was deep; his threatening tone made all of the flame chasers freeze, including Elysia.
Kevin gulped as he felt his life in danger.
"Yes," although he did find Otto annoying, he did realize that he had been rude this whole time, so he apologized.
"Good, now I will tell you that the information is classified...unless you join Shicksal~" Once again, Otto pitched his offer.
Kevin was about to refuse once again, but Aponia suddenly intervened, "Accept Otto's offer, this danger that you will face is nothing like you will see in your entire lives. If we want even a slim chance for all of us to survive, then we must join him," Aponia spoke, her eyes were a deep hollow, as if she had seen horrors beyond human comprehension, things that would make one's soul empty.
Her statement surprised them, even Elysia.
Kevin felt torn now, as Aponia had never been wrong, but at the same time, he didn't want to become someone's lackey.
"Don't worry, my organization is mostly for self-defense, research, and fun. We're not some super villain group that will order you to kill children." As if reading Kevin's mind, Otto reassured him that they weren't bad people.
Kevin's face went through a series of emotions as he tried to decide what to do. With a final sigh, he looked at his friend and said, "What do you guys want to do?"
"We'll join," they all spoke in unison
Aponia and Elysia were already on board, and Eden didn't mind since Elysia didn't mind.
Kosma, Fu Hua, and Griseo also didn't mind, as Aponia seemed to trust him.
Kalpas just wanted to fight him.
Mei, Mobius, and Vill-V wanted access to his technology.
And Pardofelis wanted time so that she could sneak out some stuff from this room.
The reason they didn't voice their opinions earlier was that they were waiting for Kevin's decision.
"Welcome to Schicksal," said Otto with a bright smile.
"Now then, to the topic of Herrscher's-"