Honkai Impact 3rd: Don't Die For Me/ Book 1: Promise

Chapter 3 Decision

<Otto's Lab>

Otto sat in his lab. The lab capsule containing Eleanor's corpse stood in the center glowing ominously.

'How are you going to save her if you can't come to a decision?.'

"I don't want to hear it from you."

'I've been by your side for years boy, at least let me impart some wisdom to you, the process you wish for has been explored before.'

"I wish I could forget you existed."

'Hmph, you are still a child, learn to not refuse goodwill when it's offered to you. I speak rather sparingly-'

"Yet somehow everytime you speak I feel like shoving-"

'There's no need to get all riled up, I sympathize with your blight youngin I do.'

"Nothing good ever comes when you speak."

'You wish to mend your relationship with Kallen, while I haven't fancied a relationship for thousands of years I believe you would find my advice useful.'

"That's not important, stop using Kallen to obtain my body."

'But it is important to you, after all you haven't given up on her at making her happy.'

Otto paused and the voice inwardly smiled. Otto had been troubled ever since Kallen saved the playwright. Even Otto didn't know that his recent conflict didn't stem from Kallen discovering his experiments. They stemmed from watching Kallen smile after the playwright gave Kallen a mask. Kallen hadn't smiled like that for years and that's what was really bothering Otto. Has his friend been suffering all this time? What was he doing to make her unhappy? Kallen had told him many times before but due to his lack of compassion for everyone besides Kallen he couldn't understand it. The actions of Shicksal had slowly eroded Kallen's joy in life. She felt that she wasn't helping people by being part of Shicksal. For someone who derives joy from being on the side of justice Kallen was suffering from slowly realizing that she was indirectly making the lives of people worse. To Otto there were far more important matters to attend to than the common folk, eradicating Honkai to keep Kallen safe and making her happy.

'I won't ask for your body Otto, I'll give you this information free of charge.'

Otto immediately broke from his stupor.

"Nothing is free in this world."

The voice continued to speak but Otto ignored it. He turned his attention to his notes on his lab desk. There were two sets of notes representing two choices Otto could pursue in experimenting with Eleanor's body. He could research her transformation and learn to create Valkyries who could wield and resist Honkai. A path that would lead to the creation of powerful warriors that could rival the Kaslanas and eradicate Honkai. The other option he could take was to restore Eleanor's body to its previous state. The notes regarding this path included his cure for the Black Death, a disease spread and caused by Honkai. Both options had their own benefits to the common people and it was difficult to measure their value based on said benefits. But Otto was measuring the paths by an arguably more difficult standard, Kallen's life or her happiness. Humans don't live forever, neither would Kallen a short and happy life might be better for her. On the other hand, Kallen's life may be so short due to her savior complex that she would not enjoy it. Not to mention that she was most happy when she was fighting for the sake of people. Otto considered progressing down both paths at the same time after all they could coincide and weren't completely incompatible. but it would be inefficient and it was only a matter of time before Kallen charged into battle and risked her life once more. Otto needed others that could think like him but due to oppression by Shicksal science rarely ventured into the study of Honkai. It was only after Otto cured the Black Death that Shicksal became looser when dealing with Honkai. But it was impossible to erase centuries worth of superstition and reservations towards the study of Honkai. As a result, Otto was the only researcher in his field and frankly the only mind capable of keeping up in the field. Due to baring entry from commoners, the pool of intellectuals was small, so Otto had even less help to draw from. He wished his library was full of Honkai research from various prominent minds but what it was really full of was various novels, common scientific diagrams, history books regarding Honkai, and other miscellaneous things that would make Kallen see Otto in a very different light. Pioneers often suffered from a lack of colleagues and relevant material regarding their topic of study.