Chapter 945

Yes, just as Bai Ge said.

The current Otto Apocalypse can do nothing.

Even though he knows that the plan he has meticulously prepared for so long will be snatched away, and that he will lose the only chance in five hundred years to save his beloved, he cannot make any struggle or remedy.

He could, of course, challenge Bai Ge right now; even without weapons, those soul-steel fists are lethal to an ordinary person.

However...

Standing before him at this moment is the Flame-Chaser who bears the title of 【Salvation】, who led humanity to slaughter through the Honkai even when its intensity was dozens of times greater than that of the current civilization!

Otto's win rate is so low it might as well be negative.

"Ha, hahaha, how truly pathetic. It seems the only path left for me is to kneel before you and beg you to show mercy so I may fulfill my long-cherished wish."

Otto covered his face with one hand and mocked himself sorrowfully.

"That seems to be the case. So, are you going to do it?"

Bai Ge nodded, then rested his head on his hand, observing Otto with interest, savoring the sight of this great villain in pain, unwilling, defeated, yet helpless.

To be honest, it was extremely satisfying and spectacular.

If Welt, Tesla, or Einstein could see this, they would surely be ecstatic to the point of ascending on the spot.

At this moment, Bai Ge undoubtedly held the lifeline of Otto Apocalypse.

This terrifying man who treated everyone as chess pieces had now become a fish on his chopping block.

He could make Otto do anything now; he could make him pay for every mistake he had committed in the past, one by one.

However, Bai Ge found that his own interest wasn't very high.

(Is it because the target isn't the Otto of the Eigenworld? Or is it that I don't want to become the same kind of existence as this guy?)

Bai Ge couldn't help but ponder the reason.

On the other side, Otto let out a deep sigh.

He had just re-evaluated all possibilities.

For example, tricking everyone in this era who could be called strong—Durandal, Welt, Kiana, Raiden Mei, and so on—into attacking together, but setting aside whether he could even do that...

Otto realized that even if he truly succeeded, Bai Ge could still crush them all head-on.

Even if he could advance his plan unnoticed and become a pseudo-god, he probably wouldn't be Bai Ge's match, though he wouldn't have had that chance anyway.

But...

"I truly have no means to defeat you, but I imagine you cannot do anything to me either, can you? Let me guess... do you not know how to reach the Imaginary Tree? Do you need me to tell you my entire plan?"

A spark of hope ignited in Otto's eyes.

"That explains it. The reason you haven't killed me until now is because of this. After all, if you knew everything, you could have killed me right now and started the plan directly."

Otto stared fixedly at Bai Ge, feeling he had found leverage for negotiation.

However, from behind the Savior's white mask came a cold, mocking laugh that chilled his heart.

"Regrettably, Otto Apocalypse, you guessed wrong this time. I know the details of your plan; the reason I haven't killed you yet is simply because I want to do things more perfectly, and at the same time... to enjoy the look of despair and fear on your face. That is all."

"... That is not something a good person should say, my lord Savior of the previous civilization."

"Because I truly loathe you. As for being a 'good person'? That is merely the result of my actions. I know better than anyone just how selfish a person I truly am."

Bai Ge spread his hands, indicating he had no interest in playing the role of a hero of justice, and his words chilled Otto's heart once more.

It was one thing to have no flaws in power, but if he was like this in spirit as well, then Otto truly had no way out.

Otto felt that he was truly going to face retribution; the chance to save the Saint, which he had waited five hundred years for, was about to turn into an illusory bubble.

Despair, unwillingness, and loneliness filled his entire being.

Although he certainly wouldn't give up just like that and would surely seek new ways to resurrect the Saint later.

But even so, the mood of Otto Apocalypse at this very moment could be described as just as dark and desperate as when he lost the Saint Kallen all those years ago.

"Alright, let's just leave it at that for now."

But suddenly, Bai Ge's tone changed.

"What?"

Otto looked at Bai Ge in a daze.

At this moment, he seemed to have returned to the clown from five hundred years ago, who, after reaching a dead end, was led by the nose by his sister Lisa Apocalypse and ultimately caused the Saint's death with his own hands.

"Because you are not the 'Otto' of my world, even if I take revenge on you a thousand times, it won't make me truly satisfied. And fighting for all the beauty in the world... that is also my creed."

Bai Ge walked up to Otto, looking down at this enemy of his who was undoubtedly his own.

Although what Otto did could still not be forgiven, that faith in the Saint—which hadn't faded for five hundred years and was like love—no, it should be said, that love which was like faith—

could indeed be called beautiful.

Therefore...

"Otto Apocalypse, I will now give you a chance, a chance that will allow you to reach a beautiful ending you wouldn't even dare to dream of, one that even the Imaginary Tree could not realize for you... the only chance in this life!"

Bai Ge reached out, grabbed Otto by the collar, dragged the fool up from the ground, and spoke.

"I can completely save Kallen Kaslana."

"What did you say?!"

At this moment, Otto seemed to have been resurrected.

His previous unwillingness and despair were replaced by shock; he stared straight at the pair of golden eyes revealed on the white mask, trying to see if what he had just said was true or false.

However, the Bai Ge of now was different from the period of the Second Honkai of the current civilization; even Otto Apocalypse could not see through whether he was lying.

But there was no doubt that Bai Ge's words gave him a feeling of ashes reigniting; even if it was a hope as thin as a spider's thread, Otto had no choice but to grasp it now.

"Explaining things is a bit troublesome, but anyway, there is plenty of time tonight, and with your intelligence, I shouldn't need to provide additional explanations, right?"

Bai Ge said, telling Otto that he was from the Eigenworld. After hearing this, even this high-intelligence villain of the current civilization felt his worldview shattering.

But his eyes grew brighter and brighter, because Bai Ge had truly presented a chance that he hadn't even dared to imagine in the past, one that couldn't even be described by miracles or perfection.

"You really should kneel down and thank me, because your methods of using the Imaginary Tree to save the Saint are all imperfect, and one of them is even a complete dead end."

Bai Ge said coldly.

There are two ways Otto uses the Imaginary Tree to save Kallen: the first is at the cost of the 【Present】, rewinding time by five hundred years to before Kallen's death, and then he would deal with the Honkai beast that killed the Saint.

The second is using the Imaginary Tree to create a parallel world where Kallen survives.

"First, let's talk about the first method. It's a dead end."

"Why?"

Otto opened his eyes wide in astonishment.

"Because of fate. Fate has decreed that Kallen Kaslana must die at the hands of that Honkai beast on that day. Even if you returned to the past and succeeded once, fate's correction would still try to kill Kallen Kaslana."

Bai Ge spoke the ethereal word 'fate', but this was a factual problem; the only person in this world capable of resisting fate's correction was himself, a traveler.

As a person of this world, Otto Apocalypse could not defy fate; even if he saved the Saint once by returning to the past, the other party would ultimately be unable to escape the ending of death.

"…………"

Otto swallowed, cold sweat pouring down.

If someone else had told him about fate, he would have scoffed, but standing before him now was the Savior who had saved an era.

Bai Ge's words carried great weight... In fact, if the target were a person from the previous civilization, his words would be no different from truth.

Imagining the scene where the Saint was saved by him, only to be killed by the so-called correction of fate, even Otto felt his whole body trembling, thinking he might go insane if that happened.

Bai Ge continued.

"As for the second method, it is probably feasible. If it is a parallel world with the purpose of 【letting the Saint live】, then perhaps it could ignore fate and give you the result you want, but in my opinion... it is not perfect. After all, the person who ultimately survives is just living in a parallel world."

"My great Savior, please tell me, what should I do?"

Otto controlled his expectant and excited mood, immediately adopting a very humble posture, feeling he had finally found hope in the true sense!

"That is not simple. Through the Imaginary Tree, let me return to my era, and then I will return to the past five hundred years ago to sever the fate that Kallen Kaslana must die."

Bai Ge made a motion of raising and swinging down his hand, as sharp as if he could truly sever the threads of fate.

But Otto frowned.

"How is this different from my first method? Are you saying you can ignore the so-called correction of fate? Savior, I need definitive proof."

Otto maintained a humble attitude in other matters, but when it came to saving the Saint, he needed absolute proof that he could definitively believe in.

However, Bai Ge had plenty of such proof.

Even without mentioning the cases of Kiana, Mei, Bronya, Sirin, Himeko, and others, there were no small number of ordinary people whose fates he had changed during the previous civilization.

Aponia, who possessed the ability to see the threads of fate but lacked the power to change them, had once turned herself into eyes that allowed Bai Ge to see fate.

Aponia told Bai Ge of the tragedies she saw but could not prevent, and then, using his hands that could ignore correction and grasp fate by the throat, the tragedies were changed.

Many of these records were preserved in the Void Archives.

Bai Ge even transmitted his memories as a traveler into Otto's mind using the Herrscher of Sentience's authority.