"Have the candidates for the experiment been chosen?"
Otto asked the question casually, his fingers already moving on the keyboard to close Mount & Blade before Amber got close enough to see the screen.
The mighty Overseer had spent most of his playtime getting kidnapped by bandits and dragged across half of Calradia. He had nearly toured the entire continent that way. And somehow he still found it fun.
He had settled into a rhythm by now. Six hours of reports and files, then half an hour of games to decompress.
Only Amber and Otto were in the room. Bronya had been moved elsewhere by Amber, and Otto hadn't seen her for most of the day. Anna had come by once, but Otto had been reading Anti-Entropy's founding history at the time, so he'd sent her away. He didn't want her realizing that the great Overseer had no idea how Anti-Entropy had actually developed.
He'd already arranged for Anna to go learn training methods from Durandal, the strongest Valkyrie in Schicksal. Otto vaguely remembered that Anna had looked oddly happy when she heard the assignment. He wasn't sure why.
After sending Anna off, Otto had gone back to his reading. Both of the major issues he needed to handle next involved Anti-Entropy. One was the Anti-Entropy conservatives guiding K423 toward the Far East. The other was Cocolia, representative of the Anti-Entropy reformists, who had implanted the Gem of Conquest into Raiden Mei.
Because of that, Otto had set aside Schicksal's own history for now and started studying Anti-Entropy instead.
From what he'd read, future Otto had taken Anti-Entropy very seriously. The reason was simple. Anti-Entropy's leader was the First Herrscher, and that leader had caused future Otto a lot of trouble.
That was enough to make this Otto take Anti-Entropy seriously too, even though he'd only learned what a Herrscher was after arriving in this era. The photographs from the Second Eruption had already left a deep mark on him. He didn't need anyone to convince him.
Herrschers were nothing good. That was his conclusion.
From his current view, Schicksal was an organization protecting the world and destroying villains. Anti-Entropy was an organization led by villains, and now those villains were trying to create yet another villain.
He also reasoned that although future Otto had committed many evil acts, he had also done many things that were useful to humanity. One of those things was suppressing the development of technology, keeping civilization at a level where Honkai could still be restrained.
Honkai's intensity was tied to how far civilization had progressed. That was the conclusion Otto had drawn from the records. If Anti-Entropy ended up dominating the world and pushed technology forward at full speed, then in just a few years they could end up with Herrschers strong enough to wipe out a city in one blow.
Based on that reasoning, Otto decided. Raiden Mei needed to be brought under control, and the Gem of Conquest had to be removed from her body before a new Herrscher was born. The Herrscher core inside K423 should also be removed and stored somewhere safe.
He was just about to put those ideas into action when Amber arrived.
"Lord Overseer. The candidates for the experiment have been chosen."
That was how Otto's question had started. He pulled himself out of his thoughts and nodded. The experiment still needed to go forward. Its purpose was to use the Gem of Desire to develop weaponry capable of matching a Herrscher. If that succeeded, then Anti-Entropy's First Herrscher would no longer be such a threat.
Amber handed him the list. It was a roster of recommended candidates from various branches, complete with names, photographs, and brief personal profiles.
Otto skimmed through it. A few of the names were Valkyries Amber had already mentioned to him at some point. He flipped through the rest and handed the list back.
"You handle it. They all look equally outstanding to me. I can't really tell which one is better than the others."
It wasn't elegant delegation. He genuinely couldn't judge them, and admitting that to himself was easier than pretending.
Amber accepted the list with a small nod. She planned to test all of them and let compatibility with the Gem of Desire determine the order.
Now there were the other two matters. Otto opened his mouth to tell Amber his plan. He was going to order both Raiden Mei and K423 brought back to Schicksal so the Herrscher cores could be removed from each of them.
He didn't care why future Otto had left K423 alone before. That wasn't his concern. His concern was the present, and in the present, both of those cores were too dangerous to leave where they were.
He was actually a little pleased with himself for not deciding to go in person this time. A proper Overseer should stay somewhere safe and issue orders, letting his subordinates handle the dangerous work. With so many capable people under him, there was no reason for him to be the one out there.
Still, he had to admit he liked going out in person. When the next light mission came along, he wanted to take it himself.
He started giving the order.
His terminal vibrated sharply against the desk. A harsh alarm cut through the room.
Amber's terminal went off at the same moment.
Otto didn't even check his screen. He already knew something had gone wrong.
A roaring sound reached them from somewhere outside. Otto's head whipped toward it, and from that direction he felt something that made his heart seize.
Go. Go now, or something terrible is going to happen.
Void Archives' voice was urgent in his head.
Otto didn't stop to think. He didn't even change clothes. In his thin indoor wear, he bolted for the door and ran.
He still didn't know where the trouble was. But Void Archives was guiding him in his head, and Otto was running at a speed even he could barely believe.