Author's note - MUST READ BEFORE YOU READ THIS CHAPTER :
This is more like a side story, being separated from the main story and has no important connection to the main one, which means you could just read this story for fun, or could skip this story and wait for the main one to continue.
And don't worry for the random details in this story that are used for the main story, I'll have a quick recap for these details in the next chapters, if there is.
Anyways enjoy the story.
Kolosten - The Church at the outskirts of the village - Where Otto resides.
Near the church, there's some empty lands that were used as farmlands by the locals back then, but due to the limited number of farmers that the town has, they had to reduce using farmlands. Otto bought these lands and set up his own farm on the said lands.
He is a simple man living a simple life now, he only wanted to raise cattles now. He started with chickens, oh sorry, you didn't like me using the word "chicken" at all? That's alright, we all know what you all liked so let's start it again. So Otto started his life as a farmer by raising hens and cocks. Lots of cocks at that.
He can be seen feeding the cocks and the hens, also another clone of him is reinforcing the fences, while some more are digging the holes around the area for some reason. All the Ottos are working now, like normal farmers... Aside from those who are working at the farm, there's also the Ottos helping the villagers, they repair the broken buildings, roads, and also some electrical devices of the townspeople.
It is really hard to say who is the real Otto around here, because all of them looked identical to each other. If there is something that made a single one standing out, it would be the possession of the Void Archive - The first God Key that played a critical role in his whole life.
On the farm, an Otto chopping down a tree to make space saw another Otto was talking to someone on his phone, he stopped and asked out of curiosity. "Hey, who called?"
"It's Ravenblood, he just said fuck you." - Otto said to Otto.
"Huh. Strange. Must have handled a failed mission or what." - Otto went back to chopping wood. "I hope that fucker won't be raging at Thersa..."
"Well, not our business. You know we can't keep interfering with Schicksal from now on, they need to walk by themselves, we've been there long enough." - Otto said.
"Anyways, where's the real Otto at? I think he needed to know this." - Otto said.
"Over there, feeding the cocks. But I don't think you really need to now."
"Yeah, if you say so..."
The real Otto was the one feeding the cocks and hens, only the clones of Otto himself could tell if the others were real or clones. He is enjoying feeding these descendants of dinosaurs. Among the hens, there was this one with beautiful white feathers all over. it doesn't seem to be as wild as the others, it was more patient and looked for food where the others don't group up much.
And the white hen is very chilling, she lets Otto pat her so easily and doesn't struggle when he picks her up. Although this seemed to be random, Otto decided to name these hens and cocks.
"I'll call you Karren." - Otto looked at the white hen in his hands. "You reminded me of her..."
The hen didn't understand, but it was very relaxing on his hands. The others finished eating and they were hanging around.
"Right, I have to name you too... I'll start with you..." - Otto looked at his cattles....
As he named the chickens, the sun slowly set, the others Otto from the forest and the town returned to the church; there were approximately 500 Ottos there, more than twice the town's population. They focused on cooking the dinner and serving it to the others Otto... Also they invited the townspeople, since it's more fun when it's more crowded.
It's so weird. It's just simple cooked food, no fancy ingredients, no masterchef cooking, no high-quality bowls or dishes, yet the dinner felt... so warm, so happy, so peaceful. Something that Otto had only experienced now for the very first time in his life. No, he had experienced this before... But it was too long ago that he forgot the feeling. He also reflected on himself, his actions before this moment of "peace". He regretted them, but there was nothing he could do to redeem himself.
The children's sounds while playing around the church was what pulled him from the thoughts he drowned himself in, he looked at them, the townspeople, the clear skies. He's right, there's nothing he could do to redeem himself. So let it be like that. He didn't need redemption.
"Hey Otto, nice cocks you raise there." - A fellow villager came and shared his drink with Otto. As he looked at the fences, he saw some of the chickens still hanging outside instead of going to sleep.
"Hahaha." - Otto laughed formally. "Yes, Indeed."
"So what made you return here...?" - The question from the man made the smile on Otto's face disappear. "I mean, you were at the top... Wealth, power, wisdom, all that... And you suddenly came back here with no reason at all?"
"... I didn't need a reason for that." - Although the question was not easy to answer, Otto himself has an answer already. "I just wanted to rest..." - He looked at the skies, he saw the moon.
On the Moon.
After Herrscher of the Void's "defeat", the strong faith that her countless cultists had in her waned, more than 90% of them had left to answer Kyle's invitation on Earth. This seriously damaged her power and her influence across the globe, as she is less of a threat now. Of course, the Void Queen herself wouldn't let this go so easily, she would have personally taught everyone on Earth what was the terror she had brought years ago.
But she was depressed. Because she felt Kevin's killing intentions, she was suffocated back then, could barely move if it wasn't for her having the ability to teleport back to the Moon, she might have given up there, in front of Schicksal. She has locked herself in the throne room since then, no one was allowed to enter, even her most trusted cult leaders... With Benares being the exception.
The throne room was empty, the ceilings were cracked and had big holes in it, which the light made their way in. The light shone on the throne made from stone, where we can see the Herrscher of the Void, hugging Benares. She's burying her face inside her hair while hugging her executioner from behind.
"Uhm..." - Benares finally said something, but it was fear that she lowered her voice. "My Queen?"
"..."
The Void Queen gave no response, and made the atmosphere quiet again.
"... My Queen. We seriously need to... destroy mankind instead of sitting here." - Benares said with a worried look on her face.
"Nu..." - The Queen finally responded with a weak, exhausted voice. "I dun wanna..."
"....."
"It'll be sad... I don't want you to be killed..."
"....... My Queen..."
"Who will cook for me if you're gone..."
"Ah right."
"Only your cooking fits me..."
"..." - Benares blushed for a bit, before she sensed something. "... My Queen." - Benares called for her Queen with a more confidential voice this time.
"Yeah... I sensed it. A ship is approaching the Moon..." - The Queen finally took her face out of Benares' hair. "... This presence..."
Indeed, as the Void Queen sensed, there was a ship, which left the Earth's orbit just moments ago, headed straight to the Moon. There were no Schicksal or Anti Entropy emblems on the ship, but it has the mark of the Serpent. The World Serpent is making its way to the Moon for some reason...
Back to Kolosten, after the dinner, the villagers went back to the homes, while the Ottos went to rest in some spare warehouses and in the church, while some others still stayed up because they had some jobs to do.
It was all chilling and peaceful... A normal life in a small town. Otto never desired a life like this, he also never thought about it, but he did not expect to have liked it... This life might not be so bad after all...
Some Ottos in the woods are observing the animals that are active at night. They want to study the surrounding natural inhabitants. One of them went to a river nearby, deep inside the forest to collect some fresh water.
Bang!
Otto collapsed to the ground, with a bullet hole on his head. The gunshot immediately startled the birds sleeping in the area, they all flew away in fear of the loud sound. The other Ottos in the woods heard it clearly. A gunshot. Sounded like it has a silencer, and the shot was so devastating that it killed a Soulium clone.
"Target down. Sending scouts to check..."
Two more Ottos have arrived, but they are hiding inside the bushes and observing, they see a fellow clone fallen down to the ground, bleeding from his head... They wanted to retrieve the body, but the sounds of someone walking through the bushes from the other side of the river.
Schicksal soldiers, or at least, soldiers wearing Schicksal infantry equipment showed themselves and approached the clone by swimming through the river. One checked the body, while the others watched the surrounding area with flashlights on. The other Ottos hid themselves.
"..." - The soldier seemed to be looking for something on the corpse... He searched from pocket to pocket, even going as far as ripping the shirt off to check. "...." - He reported back to his friends on the walkie talkie and retreated with the others.
"....." - The two Ottos went back to the church quickly after what they had witnessed.
"Someone's here to kill us right?"
"No shit."
"Who though? And why?"
"I don't know! We've done plenty of evil things! So it's not strange if someone tries to take vengeance!!"
"Could it be Theresa?"
"Of all people, why Theresa?"
The two Otto's conversation they have while running has woken the cocks up and they are panicking.
"Hey, let the cocks sleep!" - Another Otto clone came out and stopped them. "What's wrong?"
The clone touched the other two's faces. When a clone makes physical contact to another clone, the information is automatically shared between them immediately.
"... What?" - The clone looked surprised and worried.
"We have to tell the others, now."
Inside the church. Otto is reading a Farming book, Vol.1 in order to get that xp bonus for his farming skill. He saw these hurried clones open the door, and in surprise, they walked to him.
"What's wrong?" - He asked calmly and closed the book.
The clones quickly explain what happened to the original Otto... While they had no answer on what they were looking for, the original Otto already had an answer.
"Void Archive." - Otto said, his hand held a golden glowing cube. "Only me possesses this Divine Key, this is what they were looking for."
"...The clones might be many, but the God Key, only one. Whoever holds the Key is the original Otto." - Kyle explained to the commanders of Raven. "We just need to locate the one with it and take him down quickly. Without the necessary tools for his cloning pods, and a body suitable for him, he'll die for sure as all these clones are sentient."
Not so far from Kolosten, just right outside the forest which is around the town is the camp of the massive Schicksal army. They are resting and planning for the attack on Kolosten, in order to kill Otto Apocalypse.
"Searching 500 clones for one single object is tiring. I say we bomb the place, we have more than enough bomb shells, planes to do it." - One of the commanders says.
"No, that'll cause more chaos than intended, he could use it to his own advantage to sneak away." - Another commander argued with him.
"Quiet please, gentlemen. Our scouts will come back soon with the information on the terrain. We'll make a proper assault plan into the town, Otto can never escape. We've got our ships observing everything from the skies, if something leaves the forest, we'll know." - Kyle said.
"... Lord Commander, what's your opinion?" - One of the commanders asked Raven.
"Let's just wait. We cannot take our opponent lightly. After all, he is Otto Apocalypse, the person who held the Overseer position for the past 500 years, and shaped Schicksal as strong as it is today." - Raven stated his idea, as his men requested. He also looked at his friend, Kyle, who was just standing there and smiled all the time during the meeting.
After the meeting ends, Raven and Kyle went out together for a walk around the camp. They observed everything together, the tanks rolled out from the carrier ships, the ammunition boxes being emptied, soldiers checking their equipment numerous times.
"Time flew quick, didn't it?" - Raven said as he walked alongside with his trusted friend. "I can't believe it's been decades... Ever since... that mission."
He is mentioning the assault mission... which killed his best friend.
"Indeed, my friend." - Kyle smiled.
"... You know, there's something strange... How are you exactly... Still alive?" - Raven asked his friend, turned his face, looked him in the eyes, but Kyle avoided these looks. "I don't know... If my mind has... Grown too old for this has affected how I remembered things. But... I just wanted to make sure."
"Shh..." - Kyle put his hand on Raven's face, which made him completely stunned there. "If you talk more... You'll break free from the lies... A beautiful reality made from lies... I cannot afford to let you go... Yet." - He started to modify Raven's memories once again.
After he's done, the scouts finally return with valuable information that the commanders have been waiting for. And now, they can begin to form a final plan for the attack.
Meanwhile, back in Schicksal's HQ.
Everyone was in a big shock due to a large part of their own military having rebelled against them, and almost destroyed the HQ with that surprise, unforeseeable attack. If it wasn't for their confusing withdrawal, the base would have been nothing more than a place drawn on the maps.
Theresa, Himeko, and you came to the Overseer's office after Otto's announcement about his retirement was broadcasted, they were there to ask many questions... The leaders of the Immortal Blades and Amber were there.
"When did he leave?" - It was Theresa's first question.
"2 days ago. When I found out, he had already left." - Amber answered.
"... You know, this is quite suspicious... Why would the Overseer retire so suddenly... Especially at a time like this?" - Durandal asked.
"I don't know, who knows what he was thinking..." - Theresa scratched her hair, she seemed to be tired and annoyed by her grandfather's decision.
"Nevertheless, his final order was to let you become the next Overseer. The others didn't have a problem with it, they wanted us to decide instead. So, what is your opinion, guys?" - Durandal continued and looked at everyone in the room, including you.
"No objection." - Himeko said. "We'll make sure to help her." - She patted her shoulder.
"Himeko..." - Theresa looked back to Himeko.
"I agree." - You said, as you also held many high ranks in Schicksal. "I have seen many other people, but Theresa is the one who fits the position the most."
"Then everyone's decided. Theresa, you are now the Overseer."
"... Alright. I'll do it then. I will not fail you."
"Then it's decided. Okay, done. Now we must get down to the bottom of the... Traitors." - Himeko said.
"We have suspicion on... Ravenblood."
"Commander Ravenblood, you say?... Hm... Not weird since he has enough influence to deploy such a massive army... But for what?" - Durandal asked. "Any idea?"
"I don't know either. Based on his achievements, his reports, and other things, there's nothing much to support the idea that he'll betray us..." - Amber said as she scrolled through some panels, while reading the reports.
"Could it because of Otto?" - You asked.
"Why?"
"Since, he immediately retreated after hearing Otto's retirement, come to think of it, he really could have at least turned half of this place into ashes, yet he didn't." - You explained your idea.
"I see... That makes sense. I'll check Kolosten, give me a minute to access our satellite datas..." - Amber said as she got on the computer. After a few minutes of reading, she finally got the data she was looking for. "Multiple aircrafts... carriers are there right now..."
"Then it's no doubt, his target was Otto." - You said. "What now, Theresa?" - You asked Theresa in a hurry. "Should we interfere?"
"Hmm... I'd like to say yes but, grandfather is not someone you can destroy easily, even if you have an army." - Theresa said.
"I agree with her. And also, considering the fact that he moved all his secret tech with all his Soulium clones, I can't possibly imagine how he will fall under someone's hand." - Amber said. "Maybe even 2 or 3 of these indestructible Soulium clones would-"
"New Keys" project - A secret project that was developed by Otto and a few selected scientists, in order to recreate and create new, unique Divine Keys without the use of Herrscher cores, but with temporary Honkai energy charged batteries to replace the cores.
And that's how weapons for Valkyries were created.
Of course Otto still kept the hope that he could do it one day and continued the project, until he finally succeeded.
A new type of a sniper rifle was created, powered by these mysterious yet dangerous batteries, their devastating firepower can take down even tanks in one shot. According to the Void Archive, these mass produced "Keys" are inferior versions of the 3rd Key, which was a Key they had no clue about.
Amongst the many vehicles and armors these powerful snipers can take down is Soulium... Unfortunate to Otto, these seem to be the weapons that worked against him well.
"Anyways... What's up with you two... For the whole time?" - Himeko coughed and asked you and Amber... Who seems to have... Been avoiding your sight since you stepped into the office.
Most notably, you've been trying to avoid looking at her as well, not out of some negative emotions but more like... Embarrassed? Even Amber is reacting the same, thanks to her, the others in the room noticed this as well.
Back to Kolosten, the Church.
Otto has been informed about the sniper, he has a clue on what's going on, at least that he's being targeted. And the whole village might be at risk. He immediately led some of his clones down to a secret basement of the church, and unloading some special packages they'd carried all the way from the HQ...
Fortunately for him, the attackers still haven't made a move yet, but their plan of assault is not turning in his favor... The entire area has been surrounded by at least 4 different legions, a total of 13 different regiments. Kolosten lies at the center of the woods, covered by a tall mountain which has a small station for small aircrafts to land, and a big lake to the left of that station, down below. And they had the right plan just to exploit all the strategic advantages for these points...
Minutes later, the meeting of the leaders would finally come to an end, and in just a few more minutes, the assault would finally begin. Commanders spread the plans to the Captains, ordering each of them different missions with different goals. However, before the preparation was done, the ships which were hovering on the skies, providing visual information to the commanders on the ground communication system got sabotaged. They have temporarily lost contact with the ground units, no one was able to contact them.
"What should we do?" - Raven asked his commanders, who had gathered up again for the same problem. "Initiate our assault as planned, or wait?"
"We cannot afford to wait any longer, my Lord. Sabotage of comms was definitely done by Otto, if we give him too much time, who knows what he will be able to do against us."
"I agree." - Kyle said. "Otto's reaction speed was faster than I had expected, his clones must've noticed our scouts."
"If that's so... Let the attack begin." - Raven his order out.
And so, shortly later, a large number of infantry units moved into the woods, some taking the paved roads, some making their ways around the lines of trees. All headed to Kolosten. This was the first wave of the attack, with only infantry and a very small number of tanks deployed, and there was no air support with them. The tanks, of course, were forced to roll on the paved roads.
It was quite dangerous to launch a mission like this at night, in the woods, where they could be ambushed easily. There's still a long way until they can see the town from a distance... And Otto had already set up welcoming parties for them.
The soldiers going in front of the tanks were killed by yellow flying swords launched at them from the dark in front of them. These swords disappeared as soon as they claimed their victim's life, leaving the others in panic and alerting. Because the first attack was in front of them, some of them opened fire blindly, this alerted everyone else in the surrounding area.
This time, these swords were launched at them from the bushes on both sides of the road, killing most of the soldiers covered around the first tank. The helpless tank didn't know where to shoot, it just rotated the gun all over the place.
They had no idea who or what was attacking them. And so, from the bushes, some Ottos came out and spread out, three went for the tank and the rest grabbed the fallen soldiers' guns, and used them to shoot against their enemies.
The battle broke out so suddenly at the front of the tank squads that it led to the disarray of the other nearby squads, they couldn't react in time and most of them would be killed before they could have helped the attacked squads.
The first tank has been taken control by Otto, it only got the chance to fire once upon the other tanks before its armor penetrated from the rapid firepower of the other tanks. The Ottos quickly retreat back into the woods, with as much weapon and ammunition as they could bring with them, and the tank is left there, disabled so that the enemy can't reclaim it.
"What are you doing? Chase after them! Report to the others! Rally our forces!!"
Some of the soldiers followed the traces of the Ottos, but they were all killed by these glowing swords. But all activity of advancing was temporarily stopped when they were informed that they were up against the real Otto himself, who had come up to the frontline with no reason in particular.
Otto's plan was rather simple, "A good defense is a good offense." He would order around 50 of his clones to divide into 7 squads, each having 6-7 clones of himself. While the squad with him has 9 clones, they attacked the main road to Kolosten because he had suspected the enemy's heavy vehicles and supplies would use this road, and he was right.
By ambushing the enemy's frontline both in the woods and the road, at 7 different locations has caused significant damage to the first row of Raven's advancement. They had to stop to wait for the second and the third line, to strengthen their forces and continue the advance.
But what surprised the traitors the most would be the use of the Void Archive at the tanks' route, the ability to copy other Divine Keys is unmistakable.
Otto's plan was to use himself as bait, to draw in as many as enemies as possible to kill them off, if he's lucky, maybe an enemy commander. But the enemy did not fall for this trick, they are more cautious from now until the end of the mission.
A couple of minutes later, after rallied their forces, the first line pushed their advance again, this time going deeper into Kolosten's woods with caution. They expected to be ambushed many times before they reached the town, but they didn't expect the next fun game Otto had set up...
BEEP.
"Stop!!" - The leader of a squad raised his arm immediately when he heard the strange noise coming from close, everyone stopped and took their guns out, prepared to fight.
"What was that sound?"
"I had no idea, but it sounds familiar..." - One of the soldiers were given a signal by the captain, they ran to a tree to take cover, but while they were running there, they stepped on a mine and exploded on spot, the explosion startled everyone in the area, and as they get panicked, they moved and stepped onto the activated mines.
The use of simple mines or dynamite against elite troopers of Schicksal infantries - who have been deployed mostly to against Honkai beasts wasn't even though of in the first place, but it has proven to be highly effective against them, after all, they are now facing their former Overseer, who has commanded and formed every single regiment from paper to actual battlefields.
You cannot beat a man using his own tools, that he has created before you wield it.
He knows how to surprise them.
He knows how to destroy them.
He knows how to win. But it will cost more than he thought.
Back in the Town.
Every other villager was woken up due to the loud explosions in the distance, and the Ottos have been trying to evacuate them down to the basement of the church, the safest place in this town from now on. The original Otto has returned, he left even more clones outside to slow the enemy advancement down. But even he couldn't tell how long his clones would be able to keep them away for, he already had set up even more traps but what worried him more would be the air strike force. Just one bombardment and the whole area will be wiped clean, even Otto wondered why they hadn't done that yet, if they really wanted to kill him for good. The best he could do was to sabotage their comms with a device.
"This is certainly a bad time to be attacked... We don't have that many weapons to defend ourselves. Only the Void Archive and some explosives." - Otto said while looking at his army of clones, equipped themselves with weapons stolen from the enemies. "But we have nowhere to go now. This is our home, and we will protect it and its inhabitants."
The other clones also put the cocks and hens to safety inside the church, where they are protected with the villagers.
...
After 2 hours of being delayed by Otto's tricks, and the loss of two entire regiments' worth of infantry, the traitorous army made it past the woods and saw the village with their own eyes.
And the first of the enemy's commanders have appeared on sight too, behind them are motorbikes, with two guns strapped to it.
"My Lord. The woods are clear now." - The Commander reported back to the other commanders, then he got a new order.
"Burn the town."
"..." - The Commander stopped after receiving the order for a few seconds, took a deep breath before shouting the command. "Flamers ready!! Charge at the town!"
The troops would have to charge through a large field of grass lies around Kolosten, which is a disadvantage to them because they would be out in a complete open space with no cover. If there were snipers or artillery with Otto, they'd surely suffer a horrific loss.
But they still have to press on, in order to pressurize Otto, not allowing him to push them back with whatever strategy he can come up with.
The scout bikes charged ahead, followed by dozens of foot soldiers through the field, then suddenly some of the bikes charged ahead crashed down a hole, more like they fell into a hole which they did not see, and then later, foot soldiers started to fall into the holes as well, awaited those who were unfortunate enough to find a hole and fell into were spikes, they impaled through the poor soldiers' bodies, some died instantly, while some suffered with a spike pierced through their legs, their torso, even their chest before dying.
The advance immediately stopped, soldiers lay themselves down to the ground in order to take cover, while some tried to rescue the survivors out from the holes, but they were shot on the spot by shooters at a close range, which nobody thought about.
There were newly dug trenches near these holes, and Ottos are taking cover inside of these and firing upon the soldiers in their sight. Because of the surprise element, most of their enemies have been killed on spot. And the Ottos have not suffered a single loss...
Seeing this, the commander ordered the remaining to retreat back to the woods, where they'll have a better advantage if Otto wants to take it back.
There were only 140 Ottos deployed to fight these first enemy lines for now, the rest are waiting in the town.
"Good. Keep it up like this and we will be able to stall them longer..." - The real Otto said. "Are they done?"
Otto walked up to some of the other clones, gathered at the square, it seems like they are crafting something out of the techs and salvaged weapons.
"Its ready." - The clones showed Otto something which is the size of a hand. "Should be perfect against these things."
"Okay..." - Otto turned away, and was immediately touched by one of his clones, who just came back after observing the woods from the rooftops. "Get these ready now, use as much as we can, the battle shall happen inside the town soon."
Otto left in a hurry, he was followed by many of his clones, all are equipped and ready for battle.
Just a moment ago, trees near the foot of the mountain were chopped down, and battle tanks were spotted rolling out from the forest, charged straight into the front defensive lines of Otto.
Normal gunshots were useless against these well armored heavy tanks that were rolling through the field and towards them. A large number of infantry took cover behind the tanks as they advanced forward.
They thought they'd be able to push Otto's defensive line back. But they had forgotten one thing because of their arrogance. They were fighting against the Otto Apocalypse.
"It's Apocalypse time." - One of the clones said, as he fixed his bayonet, he charged out from the trench, followed by many other Ottos. They charged towards the tanks which were slowed down by the former dead bodies and the holes.
The tanks and the soldiers fired upon the massive line of suicidal clones which charged towards to them, gunshots didn't work like how they can only scratch tanks' shells, but bomb shells from the tanks blew some of the clones' limbs and heads off. But only one or two clones were taken down, and the Ottos were able to keep on charging forward.
And then the deadly close ranged combat, or rather a massacre since these soldiers had no chance fighting against Otto, happens, which was an easy win for Otto's clones, they also captured the tanks, few of them were sabotaged or destroyed but Otto has 3 functioning tanks in his possession now.
"Bois! Roll these wheels back to the trenches! We can hold longer with these!!"
The Ottos quickly retreated back to the trenches with the tanks left outside, guarding the ground behind the holes. The enemy tried to charge the tanks in smaller squads but they were gunned down.
"How can this be... We underestimated the clones' capabilities of fighting." - The commander said as he reported back to Raven. "We need to hold the line here. It shoul-"
He was stabbed from behind with a bayonet, by one of his bodyguards.
"Wh- what?" - He coughed blood.
"You did not underestimate me... Because you knew nothing about us to begin with." - The bodyguard's face shifted shape, the hair changed color and grew longer in front of his eyes, to his terror, it was Otto.
His other bodyguards were killed by the other disguised Ottos in his line as well.
"When did you-"
"Earlier when you fell straight into our traps... Did you really think there were only spikes down there?" - Otto smiled as he pulled the bayonet out, blood and guts of the commander fell out to the ground as he fell.
Some of Otto's clones were commanded to stay down at some holes between the spikes, when the soldiers fell down they simply took their equipment and changed their face structure to match their victim.
After that, they pretended to be injured and called for the others' help or climbed out of the hole and acted like they weren't hurt at all, and retreated back to the woods with the enemies without detected.
"You..."
"Sorry but there's no way you'll win a war against me." - Otto's clone smiled as he pressed a switch inside his hand before leaving.
Bombs planted in the frontline's ammunition stashes and trenches of traitors were activated, blown up and killed tons of frontier soldiers.
"That's the signal."
"Let's go! Quick!"
The Otto's clones in the trenches, once again, climbed out and charged to the forest where the explosion occurred, they successfully took back control of a part of the woods with no resistance met.
While the real Otto was observing from the bridge which connected the mountain and the town. Things are going in his favor... For now.
"This should get us some more time to breathe." - Otto said, then he looked at the skies, where the enemy ships were still hovering, that is what he worried about most.
Meanwhile, at Raven's camp outside of the woods.
"We lost the front lines, sir."
"..." - Raven looked at the officer who came to report, who is also afraid of being killed on the spot for reporting such unfortunate news. "Got it. Get back to your position. We'll initiate the backup plan."
"... Backup plan you say?"
"Yes." - Raven said as he walked to the other commanders. "Have we restored the communications to our aircrafts?"
"Yes sir. They're on."
"This is Raven speaking, all air units listen carefully, I'll explain the details of our assault plan..."
Back to the woods.
The Ottos are taking a huge advantage in taking their forest back, enemies keep getting pushed back with heavy losses, as their formation and morale break, and the Otto's clones are still in perfect shape.
"This is all you've got? Ravenblood?" - One of the clones shouted, as he smiled while tearing through the enemy lines with the others.
"Hold your line, soldiers!!" - The enemy's leader of the front line tried to keep everyone in formation, but he couldn't do much as the enemy is very close to them now. "Charge!!!!!!"
At his command, more than 70 soldiers charged at Ottos with bayonets, which would obviously do no damage.
But to the clones' and Raven's soldiers' surprise, the whole area where they were fighting was bombed. Heavy artillery tanks, missile launchers from outside the forest rained heavy explosive shells upon their foes, including their own allies.
Both sides there suffered heavy losses, the entire frontal line was wiped out clean, and the clones also suffered heavy losses due to the numerous explosions. Around 20 clones were destroyed, and 20 more got crippled, the rest suffered minor injuries but they needed to retreat now.
Before they could group up, enemy tanks' engine whirring sounds could be heard from a distance, they're rolling their wheels through the woods, crushing any trees that are on their way to the clones. Another large number of infantry followed them, but this time they were equipped with even deadlier weapons that could cause harm to the Soulium clones. Some of which included the "New Keys".
To let them get past the woods and head into the fields would be something they must prevent, as the strategy with the holes can't be used again and they can rain artillery on the trenches. And so, the remaining clones decided to give their all and fight there to the death.
The tanks which the clones had possession on rolled forward, opening fire upon the enemy units and tanks, while the clones charged forward and used the tanks as cover... The battle went on.
Back to the trenches, original Otto had brought with him another 100 clones to reinforce the defense as well as the offense group. More than 300 clones guarded the town, the mountain, the lake and the church. They have also set up heavy guns to help them defend against attackers from the air, crafted from the enemy's salvaged weapons and the technology he has brought with him.
One thing to note is, the town and the mountain which has the station on is connected by a bridge, which is the main route Otto would send his clones to guard the mountain, of course there's the other way but it's too close to the forest, and the trenches aren't long enough to cover that spot. So if the bridge was to be lost, Otto would have to either let his clones swim to the other side or rebuild the bridge, which is impossible, and the first option sounds ridiculous.
"Seems like something happened." - One of the clones standing next to Otto said. After witnessing the explosions, they assumed something bad had happened.
"Should we hold our position here or reinforce ourselves in the woods?" - Another clone asked the original Otto.
"... Let's say-"
A large explosion sound interrupted Otto, he was both surprised and terrified for the first time ever since the attack started, the thing he feared the most has just become true. As the town behind him, which he swore to protect, was bombed.
From the skies above, of where these great air crafts took control, bombshells rained. The rain of explosives has continued to go on in front of his very own eyes. His hometown, even though has changed completely from what his memories, shrouded in flames and rubbles alike. That was a fatal hit to his spirit, but things weren't too desperate for him.
The church was safe, thanks to a shield generator he operated from the beginning, and all the townspeople along with the cocks and hens were safe. But because the fate of all the clones caught in the bombardment was unclear, the worst scenario would be he lost all the clones in the town. Otto wanted to return to the town now. But he can't, many enemy tanks and heavy infantry have been spotted walking out from the forest. Even mechanical Titans were deployed, they plucked trees as if they were grass, and the traitorous legion approached the trenches...
Even worse, carrier planes were deployed from enemy's flying ships... They are heading to the mountain.
"What do we do now?" - The clones asked the original Otto, who stood there unwavering.
Back in Schicksal's HQ.
A large battleship, even larger than Hyperion in size, just took off, despite being stopped by the control towers.
"You can't just go all out like that without permission given by the-"
"Aw shut up!! I do what I want! Our former Overseer is in danger, and we are going to rescue him!"
Marika was seen standing on the bridge, having a fight with people on the screens. So the Great Angel took that ship out with some help she could get and is now heading to Kolosten with haste.
"And besides, someone will have to deal with that legion of traitors... Who are more capable of doing that?"
"Hyperion and the Immortal Blades were tasked for it already!! Your assi-"
"Aw shut up!!" - Marika turned away and ignored whatever the HQ was telling her.
While Marika was leaving the HQ, the Immortal Blades were given a ride by Hyperion and had left a while ago, but unexpectedly, the Captain disappeared from the ship without a trace...
The End of First Part of the Raven Blasphemy.