[Using others for human experimentation was undoubtedly evil; no matter how high-sounding the excuses, it was by no means a righteous act.]
[Yet besides human experimentation, was there any other choice?]
[You didn’t have the ability to refine immortality pills with just a wave of your hand, and Kallen knew nothing about medical science.]
[Perhaps Void Archives’s treasury of knowledge had a way?]
[The Previous Era’s knowledge treasury mentioned the term “Honkai Disease”, yet the form of this disease differed from the Black Death.]
[The rampage of the Black Death was ultimately a form of Honkai outbreak, and different forms inevitably had different solutions.]
[Using the detailed description of Honkai Disease to find a cure for the Black Death was tantamount to building castles in the air.]
[It wasn’t to say it wouldn’t work, it just lacked the most crucial practice.]
[And that practice was human experimentation.]
[Perhaps, use your own ability?]
[No, it wouldn’t work.]
[No matter how miraculous Void Archives’s ability was, it wouldn’t help.]
[Before even saving a tenth of the people, all your remaining time would be burned away.]
[After much deliberation, the only remaining method to solve the Black Death might be to let Otto perform human experimentation.]
[…]
[Could there really be no other way?]
[Were you going to watch the “white wall” get splashed with indelible ink spots?]
[There were probably still ways.]
Lucien smiled lightly as he gazed at Otto, becoming increasingly gentle, “I am very glad that you can have your own thoughts and decisions, and consider my opinion before doing so.
But I do not agree with you using others for human experimentation.”
Hearing this, Otto wasn’t very surprised; instead, he let out a soft sigh of relief.
No one knew how much inner torment he had experienced during the time from making his decision to confessing to Lucien.
[Otto looked at you with supreme trust, his expression relaxed.]
[He thought you could still solve problems with a smile just like before.]
[Yet he didn’t expect you to smile and say something that left him in disbelief.]
“My constitution is special and I won’t have any issues; you can use me for the experiment.”
“…?”
Lucien was still smiling.
But as Otto looked at this smile that should have been warm, he only felt it was truly blindingly, dazzlingly painful.
He silently pulled down the hand that was gently stroking his hair, brought both of his hands together, and gripped it within his palms.
His incessantly trembling hands could barely manage to grasp that hand entirely, veins bulging on them.
——It was as if using actions to manifest the towering waves in their owner’s heart, or as if he were terrified that the hand within his palms would suddenly disappear.
The dim, yellowish light reflected by the flickering lamplight penetrated Otto’s pair of emerald eyes, refracting two completely contrasting emotions of detachment and madness.
“Even if all those people outside were to die,” his voice suddenly turned hoarse and shrill, pausing for a moment before returning to normal, “it wouldn’t be worth a thousandth or ten-thousandth of your body.”
Perhaps it is when the body refuses to obey, lips wrapped around teeth trembling, yet even so, one still has to forcefully pretend to be calm.
In the end, Otto failed to control his emotions teetering on the brink of collapse; he completely and utterly lost control.
The aura that he had suppressed for over a decade surged out completely from his slender body, pouring all at once onto Lucien.
[That later Immaculate Bishop naturally remembered this scene as well.]
[Not because of his humiliation and loss of control, but because——at this time, he still had someone protecting him and comforting him; no matter how humiliating it was, it wasn’t truly humiliating.]
Lucien was neither surprised by Otto’s loss of control nor shocked by the other’s current appearance.
Because he knew that a lion had always been hidden inside Otto’s heart.
Because he knew that sooner or later, Otto would stand at a height he could never have imagined.
But before that, Otto still needed his care.
Lucien didn’t care about the hand that was tightly gripped, instead extending his other free hand.
Gently arranging Otto’s messy hair to soothe his emotions.
[The front lines are tight, the rear is eating tight; we generally call such people motherfucking bastards.]
[And those willing to lead the charge for a common ideal are always called: comrades.]
[By the same token, using others for human experimentation is undoubtedly evil, but what if one uses “oneself” with confidence to conduct human experimentation to fight against calamities?]
[This is a great sacrifice worthy only of being passed down in heroic epics and ancient legends.]
[You are not a saint, and might not even be considered a good person in the traditional sense.]
[You do not want to show any benevolence, nor do you have any interest in saving a bunch of people completely unrelated to you.]
[In reality, you of the main world are eroded by Honkai and have little time left; the you of the current world still has to take care of Otto and Kallen.]
[You are the one who actually needs help from others.]
[ You let Otto use you for human experimentation simply because this was something you had to shoulder.
]
[ When you truly lived in this world, when you truly fell in love with Otto and Kallen, when you made up your mind to guide Otto and Kallen and genuinely wished for their happiness from the bottom of your heart.
]
[ The invisible burden and the crushing weight of life had already fallen upon your shoulders.
]
[ Due to your background, no one had ever taught you how to be an elder.
]
[ Were you also going to run away from your own “responsibility”?
]
[ You had countless times thought that even if you didn’t do better than others, you should at least do a decent job, right?
]
[ Now, the test had descended.
]
[ As you saw it, unless they died too early, no qualified elder would watch their younger generation beg on the streets.
[ Let alone allow them to conduct human experiments a hundred or a thousand times worse than begging on the streets.
]
[ Therefore, just let you act willfully for once in the identity of an “elder”.
]
[ You wanted to try holding up a piece of sky for Otto and Kallen.
]
[ Using this nearly clever shortcut to block the stain destined to fall on Otto, while helping Kallen continue her grand dream of saving the world.
]
[ You would be fine; at least, you wouldn’t be in any trouble before Otto and Kallen truly grew up.
]
[ That was what you thought, but words ultimately couldn’t be said that way.
]
After pacifying Otto, the gentleness and maturity on Lucien were completely replaced by the youthful vigor that should have belonged to his age.
Acting as if he were full of ideals, he smiled and said:
“When the brave are angered, they draw their blades against the stronger; when the cowardly are angered, they also draw their blades against the weaker.”
“And I am different.
I want to try drawing my sword to fight against that fate.
Otto, I ask you, are you willing to wield this sword together with me?”
As bright and clear as a gentle breeze and a luminous moon, yielding to none.
“…” Otto silently looked at Lucien, furrowing his brows and lost for words, finally revealing a smile that was even uglier than crying.
[ Otto Apocalypse cannot resist your smile.
]
[ Otto Apocalypse cannot avoid your invitation.
]
[ Simply because your existence is the confidence behind his loving and being loved.
]
[ He thought that if this was the “light” you anticipated, then he would march forward side by side with you.
]
[ Five hundred years later, the new Schicksal always stood with a strange statue—a holy deity stabbing the sharp sword in its hand into itself, its body covered in cracks.
]
[ Some guessed this was proclaiming Schicksal’s consistent style of conduct, some guessed this was a direct embodiment of the Immaculate Bishop’s lofty qualities, and some guessed this was a prophecy destined to be deciphered one day…
]
[ To this, the Bishop only smiled gently, treasuring all his emotions deeply.
]
[ This was merely a longing for someone.