After freshening up with a shower and changing into his clothes, he put on a basic white button-down shirt. Otto charted a course at St. 1504 Labs, the lab directed by the monocle-wearing Nagamitsu.
Since it was a weapon manufacturer exclusively for Schicksal, it would have some high-class materials for him to use, plus he could return her basic monocle. Nothing could compare to a classic crystal lens monocle!
It was killing two rats with one shovel.
As for considering her feelings on the matter, well, considering Otto was letting her use some highly risky materials, and adding on that he's funding her research.
It was stealing, but it was wrapped in gift wrap.
Otto thought of his approach. Should he go straight in there with a box and politely ask her for some materials, or...Never mind sneaking into her lab to steal her stuff.
It would be quite rude; a gentleman should say it right to her face. 'Give thy precious goods.' Or as the urban people would say, 'Run them pockets.'
...
The St. 1504 Labs were housed in a secure, isolated location on the outskirts of the Schicksal Floating Isles.
It was a moderately sized building covered with layers of defensive metals and an electromagnetic barrier just in case anything were to go critical and explode.
Even with its bulky design, it still resembled its roots from the Far East.
It had a curved roof with upturned slabs of drastically colored deep red metal. Carved on the walls were different mythical creatures, ranging from dragons, phoenixes, and qilin.
Plastered on the top front of the building was the number 1504, covered in a tint of azure yellow.
There was a lack of windows or any visible screening to see the interior, to keep what was going on inside a secret.
It was quite symbolic with its design since it looked elegantly simple, just like how Nagamitsu was with her taste of monocles.
Otto walked towards the far eastern-style building with light steps, and he glanced at the double-sided door with ringed knobs.
'Is that where all her funding went to, or was this out of her pocket?'
The door was firmly locked, and only those who had access could enter with a keycard, but as the Schicksal Overseer, he skipped that process and let himself in.
As he opened and entered the building, the temperature of the building dropped to a cooling chill.
Stepping into a reception area, his ears picked up on the sound of metal banging and tools clattering about.
"Ah, Overseer, what a surprise! What brings you here?... We're not doing anything illegal, I swear." A fair but surprised voice called out to him behind a desk.
A young lady with long, wavy, and pastel green hair, adorned with a starfish hairpin, greeted him. She was wearing the usual lab coat with the name pin, Amamitsu, attached to it.
Looking at her appearance, Otto thought her favorite cookie would be mint flavored.
"Funny...I was just here to return something, but you reminded me to do a quality check-up on the lab. Would you mind giving me a tour, Miss Amamitsu?" He politely asked.
Amamitsu appeared hesitant to answer, and her eyes darted around to avoid his gaze, but she swallowed her nervousness. Her expression shifted to a professional smile.
"Okay...Where would you like to go first?"
Otto let out a sly smirk, hearing this, "Where do you usually keep your metals?"
...
"Alright...What can I do to up the firepower of this?"
Standing in her office, Nagamitsu contemplated the answer on the whiteboard. Drawn on it were several bubbles with numerous keywords inside. Lines connected each idea until they reached a breaking point of enlightenment, but right now, the Lab Director was reaching a wall.
She threw her marker off the side in frustration and lumped herself down onto her office chair. The wheels spun as her mind tried to process or come up with any kind of solution for this problem.
"How would I make the Bows of Hel have an increase in Fire Power while still keeping the recoil to a minimum? Switching energy sources would mean overhauling the entire fire system."
"Why not adjust the barrel to spin to give it piercing?" A familiar but sly voice whispered in her ear.
"That can work, adjusting the excess energy system to the barrel instead of fueling the fire mechanism would drastically increase the firepower..."
Just as enlightenment reached her mind, she turned her head to where the voice reached her ears.
She jumped from her seat at Otto's sudden appearance, and her face scowled as she saw the man right in her office, carrying a box full of various assortments of metal.
"How did you even get in here?" Her gaze suddenly turned to the window of her office to monitor the inside of the lab, and there stood her green-haired assistant mouthing the words 'I am sorry,' before leaving in a rush.
Finding the quite clear answer to her question, she immediately moved the conversation.
"Are you here to give me my compensation for participating in that match of yours?" Her expression switched from scowling to anticipation.
"Didn't you get the transfer into the Lab's Funds account, or did you already spend it on lathering up the building with more stylish decor?"
"It's hindsight on my part then...Wait, are you trying to move the conversation to the point where I don't point out the fact you have a box of my precious metals?"
He swiftly put down the box onto the ground and then put his hands up as if he was caught red-handed,
"You got me!"
Having caught him, Nagamitsu took a glance inside the cardboard box to see what he had taken.
It was the usual metals she was familiar with: silver, gold, brass, steel, copper, and aluminum.
"Huh, why did you only take the cheap stuff? I assume someone as avaricious as you would have taken some of my Soulium."
Otto couldn't help but scoff and look "offended".
"Is that how you think of me? I thought I was a benevolent boss, but to hear such words from you stains my heart in wretched sadness." He dramatically muttered.
Nagamitsu couldn't help but crackle on the display of foolishness...
'Don't laugh! You have to keep up the image of an intelligent and competent Lab Director with peerless beauty....Huh, this Overseer really is making me act on my evil and narcissistic thoughts.'
Her thoughts ceased as emerald eyes stared at her face.
The Lab Director tilted her head in confusion, "Is there something on my face?"
"Hmm...Your hair is a mess." Otto plainly stated.
Before Nagamitsu could even react, soft, gentle hands started to brush her hair. His touch smoothly strided across her scalp, with each strand of hair being placed delicately into position.
Nagamitsu stiffened in her chair as her body softened from his tender touch, and her eyes stared gently at his face.
She didn't attempt to stop the moment, his fingertips gilding through her hair reminded her of her mother doing her hair until it was the right and beautiful fit.
The warmth coming from his fingers, the light smile he wore while dealing with her hair, and the gentleness soothing at her hair. She felt her stress disappearing at every nook and cranny his fingers touched; she wanted for this moment to last just for a second longer.
In her disappointment, his tender fingers parted from her head.
After her hair was cleaned up, Nagamitsu stood there and looked at the man with a dazed expression.
She felt a hand pat her head as he glanced at her with a proud smile, "There, your hair is fixed. It's quite beautiful now, just like your pristine appearance."
Otto quickly grabbed the box and moved his way out of her office. "See you later, Miss Nagamitsu."
As the man left, Nagamitsu placed a hand on her heart, and it beat faster and faster as her mind remembered that sensation of those gentle hands touching her head with familiar warmth.
Nagamitsu couldn't help but let out a cruel but flustered smile, even someone as evil as her can feel love.
...
As Otto walked back to his office with heavy steps, he wondered why he fixed Nagamitsu's hair, but seeing her hair look like an ape started strangling it made his instincts go haywire.
Whenever Theresa's hair was a mess, Otto would go fix it like a loving Grandpa, and as for Lin, whenever his gremlin of a roommate woke up with morning hair, she'd bug him until bribing him to do her hair.
'It's not like Nagamitsu would hold a grudge against me for doing her hair.'
Done with his thoughts, Otto opened the door to his usual office space. It took a moment to put down the heavily contained briefcase and box to fully enter.
He placed his stuff on his desk, where the material he did his Boon ritual, which failed successfully.
Within Otto's mind, a golden cube made out of distorted lines focused into shape, and he soon entered Cogitation.
The silver ritual knife on the table was in his hands as he whirled it around the room, and soon a transparent wall of Spirituality was formed.
Complete silence took over in the still and clean space as Otto moved to set up the ritual.
Before he lit the candles from left to right, Otto took out a thin rectangular piece of silver from the box and started carving into it with his knife.
Various Hermes incantations on both sides, as well as the corresponding symbols of skull spirits and decay, were plastered on the metal. One last symbol was the number 13, carved largely on one side.
He repeated this action until there were 10 of the same carved rectangular silver pieces together on the table.
Now Otto was ready, he placed the heavily encased suitcases in front of the candles and lit them from left to right. He skipped the process of applying the essential oil drops and or herbal powders to the candles' flame.
Next, Otto drew a circle with a red market around the silver pieces, which were placed in front of the ritual pieces and the suitcase.
With his hands, the suitcase opened and shone a blue luminescence onto the room. Inside was a bluish gem with a few hues of purple; it had an aura of repose, senescence, death, and decay.
Taken from the secure facility of Schicksal Lab 3, it was the Gem of Serenity, or its actual name...The Herrscher Core of Death.
Its origin was that the Will of the Honkai gave 4 Herrscher Cores to the Second Herrscher for the Second Eruption.
Hundreds of Honkai Fission missiles later, she's dead, and her corpse is picked up with the four gems.
Anti-Entropy has Conquest (Lightning) and Schicksal has Haste (Fire), Desire (Wind), and Serenity (Death).
It wasn't mentioned how AE got Conquest, and Otto's memory didn't help at all, so he chalked it up to AE just nicking the thing when they used a Giant Robot to depower her, and the Gem popped out.
In Lab 3, it was meant to be used on Valkryie to see who was compatible with using it, but the possibilities of finding a Valkryie who could accommodate it were impossible, and those who failed would start to decay into a vapor of black mist made out of rotting cells.
Thanks to the command of Otto, they were canceled, and all that funding was gone to wasted. It really didn't matter at the moment because money was meant to be spent, and right now, Otto was going to gamble on it.
He was going to use the Gem to make Charms, mystical items that have the power bestowed from a high-level existence as their essence, contained in a vessel that can handle the said power, and stabilized by the powers from corresponding symbols carved on precious metals.
Herrschers' Core count as High Level Existences, and so Otto began his chant.
"I Pray to the Aspect of Death!
The One Who Slumbers All Life!
The Hand of Repose, Serenity, and Passing!
O'Core of Death, I beseech you, grant these Charms the touch of Death!"
Finished with his last words, Otto felt his Spiritual Intuition scream in danger.
A blinding white light started engulfing the man, but Otto couldn't help but manically laugh at the situation.
His surroundings changed into a space filled with nothing but white covering the entire dimension.
What he saw was a white, or rather colorless, featureless humanoid sitting on the ground. It didn't speak and merely lingered in silence.
When merely glancing at the figure, Otto felt a slight tremor of pain within his head; it wasn't rising but merely a constant annoyance.
What he was facing now was the "God" of the Honkai, the "Will" who sends out their Angels (Herrschers) to wipe out Humanity, and an Omnipotent Deity.
Despite being faced with such a being, Otto merely smiled and plainly said to the Faker.
"Long time no see, remember the last time we met and what you told me to do?"
He soon gave "It" the middle finger, "Why don't you go k*ll yourself, first, PROMETHEUS!"