On the screen before Otto played the sights and sounds perceived by his capable subordinate—Reanna Brigantia.
To bear the price of wielding the Sixth Divine Key, Black Abyss White Flower, Reanna had accepted Otto's proposal and completely transformed her body into a soulium body.
Naturally, Otto would never miss the opportunity to gain absolute control over Reanna's body. He implanted a backdoor into her body to ensure it would obediently carry out his commands, even if those commands directly contradicted Reanna's own will.
Otto had never considered Reanna an easily manipulated chess piece.
Reanna was the Valkyrie he relied on the most...
But Valkyries were still human, and humans could betray.
After all, hadn't Amone Ayette (H.A.) betrayed Schicksal and hidden away with information regarding the Yellowstone ruins and the Divine Key?
Only the strongest S-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal—one he could completely control—was truly a reassuring chess piece.
Otto raised an exquisite golden wine glass and poured in expensive wine.
Both the wine and the cup symbolized North America's flourishing development—the Gold Rush sparked by westward expansion, as well as the cultivation of vineyards brought by pioneering settlers.
Originally, these had been gifts Edison used to bribe the Schicksal Council. Now, however, they had fallen into Otto's hands.
The discovery of the Yellowstone ruins meant Otto would never permit the independence of the North American branch. The North American branch had no right to choose.
Otto did not merely wish to seize the Previous Era technology hidden within the Yellowstone ruins.
Every ruin of the Previous Era accelerated the overall advancement of human civilization, and that would only intensify the birth of Honkai.
Other organizations would merely continue developing technology endlessly to achieve their own goals, dragging humanity into ceaseless internal conflict.
"Humanity only needs one anti-Honkai organization, and that is Schicksal. Likewise, only one selfish individual is necessary—and that would be me."
"The Schicksal Council's indulgence toward the North American branch was merely casting a net. Since they have already found the Divine Key hidden by Amone, it is finally time to reel in the catch."
"It's time to bid farewell to your beautiful dream, Your Highness, the 'Princess' of North America. Thank you for your contribution toward the 'Revival of Europe.'"
(Edison had bribed the Schicksal Council under the banner of the "Revival of Europe," which was how she became the Director of Schicksal's North American branch.)
...
"Once the Honkai Reactor is successfully developed, whether it is my wish or Schicksal's wish, all of them will finally be fulfilled. It will absorb Honkai energy from every corner of the Earth. Disasters caused by Honkai will cease to exist."
Once upon a time, Edison had been filled with hope for this vision and named it the Moonlight Throne Project.
However, Edison had never expected that the Finn—Joachim's father—would betray her...
He concealed the truth about the Dead Sea Scrolls—the origin of the Honkai Reactor technology...
The fact that Archbishop Otto had tampered with them.
The Dead Sea Scrolls originally...
Edison's hands slowly drifted away from her dream... that epoch-making invention capable of changing humanity.
The Honkai Reactor emitted a piercing noise as Honkai fission reactions stirred layer upon layer of violet-red ripples. Honkai energy continuously surged outward.
Edison's heart trembled with unease. She could already imagine the consequences once this Honkai energy cluster sphere, with an explosive power exceeding twenty thousand tons of TNT, completely lost control and detonated.
The destruction would surpass even the Berlin disaster. New York and its surrounding regions would be wiped from existence, and countless Honkai Beasts might emerge to occupy the land.
With humanity's current methods, there was likely no way to deal with this cluster sphere.
But if it were that mysterious conductor, perhaps They possessed means beyond human technology to resolve the crisis. For example, tossing the Honkai energy into a spatial rift, or deploying some kind of field device to seal it away.
Perhaps They had even already created a genuine Honkai energy absorption device capable of converting Honkai into pure energy...
Just as Edison speculated how Vill-V would handle the Honkai energy cluster sphere, she watched Vill-V raise an armed Gatling gun toward it.
"Yahoo! When it comes to cleanup, this is still the most reliable tool! Clamor Armament Model-5!"
Then she unleashed a barrage of fire directly at the Honkai energy sphere.
How could the greatest Magician of the Anti-Entropy Era possibly allow a reactor explosion to conclude through some ordinary method that anyone could imagine?
That would be far too boring.
Only by making the performance more "lively" and "surprising" could it truly match the style of the Magician!
Witnessing this scene, terror filled Edison's eyes.
"This is your solution?!"
An overwhelming sense of regret surged from the depths of her heart.
Damn it, I've been tricked! This lunatic has been messing with me the whole time! How could a Gatling gun possibly eliminate Honkai energy?!
Before Edison could even stop Vill-V from making the situation worse, the Honkai energy cluster sphere transformed into a supernova under the Gatling gun's bombardment and exploded violently.
Blinding flames swallowed the train.
On the ground, the citizens of New York raised their heads toward the sky after hearing the explosion. They had no idea what was happening above them.
All they could see were rolling clouds of fire spreading across the heavens.
Watching the multicolored flames and shockwaves erupt in the distance, Tesla's heart sank.
The Honkai Reactor had exploded.
The worst possible outcome had occurred.
...
Far away at Schicksal Headquarters in Europe, Otto watched this scene through Reanna's eyes, a faint smile curling at the corners of his lips.
This way, the traitors of Schicksal would completely lose the trust of the people and collapse from within.
Just as Otto prepared to rise and head to North America under the identity of a great philanthropist to handle the aftermath, he noticed something abnormal about the reactor explosion.
Part of the data indicated signs of severe secondary Honkai contamination within the New York region.
Ordinarily, a Honkai Reactor explosion causing secondary Honkai contamination would be perfectly normal.
However, in reality, Otto had tampered with the reactor further using knowledge from the Previous Era contained within the Void Archives to make post-disaster cleanup easier. The secondary Honkai contamination should have been restricted.
After all, Otto had no desire to inherit a completely ruined North American branch.
There would never be a second "Edison" willing to fund Schicksal's North American branch for free.
Moreover, secondary Honkai contamination was often more troublesome than the direct destruction caused by Honkai itself. It would require the Fourth Divine Key and decades—perhaps centuries—of satellite restoration work before the wasteland could recover.
Vill-V knew nothing about any of this. So while creating false signals to confuse observers, she included every signal a reactor explosion should produce, including the electromagnetic waves associated with secondary Honkai contamination.
Vill-V had originally assumed Otto would carry things through to the bitter end.
In her memory, Otto was the kind of ruthless man who would launch Honkai fission bombs directly at New York.
But the current Otto had not yet been driven into desperation, so his methods remained relatively restrained.
After all, his goal was merely to destroy the North American traitor organization, not annihilate North America itself.
Of course, if that traitor organization continued to exist, Otto would not mind destroying North America anyway.
"Heh. Interesting. It seems that self-proclaimed 'future person' young lady has quite an intriguing story behind her."