MGSFV?! Chapter 392. Otto—Real or Not; An Open-Ended Farewell
It would be a lie to say that MiHoYo had no intention of hinting at anything here.
Even the writers themselves probably wouldn't believe that.
So the players' suspicions were... well-founded.
[Don't tell me there's gonna be an Otto model standing at the end, waiting for us to "click click click."]
[And then we get the line: "Otto gazes at you gently, saying no more"?]
[...That would be so 6.]
It was honestly a brilliant idea.
But this time, the writers showed "restraint."
At the end of the corridor, there was only a single door.
It stood there silently, waiting for players to push it open.
Though...
its shape really did look like a chocolate door...
Players: ???
"We've arrived—St. Freya's Central Cathedral."
"Once you open this door, follow the stairs down.
You'll reach the most confidential place in this academy."
Otto (?) was still meticulously planning everything for Theresa.
"...Mm."
But Theresa seemed distracted.
"Something wrong?" Otto (?) asked. "You seem deep in thought."
"A year ago...
This is where Kiana came under the influence of the Herrscher power."
"You're still blaming yourself for that?"
[Well it was your fault, Otto... Whatever, this isn't the real Otto. No point getting mad.]
[Otto's legacy really is... complicated.]
The players were feeling conflicted.
And so was Theresa.
She shook her head.
"You wouldn't understand."
"Because of that incident...
St. Freya Academy lost its most outstanding teacher."
Here it comes—
The memories began to hit players like a freight train.
"I mean...
It's even sadder than losing a close friend myself."
"But what's done is done. The past cannot be undone.
All you can do is keep your head up and carry forward in her place."
Coming from Otto (?), those words felt... off.
Because honestly, Otto is probably one of the least qualified characters in Honkai to give that kind of advice.
Maybe Kevin too.
They're both men who lived in the past.
Theresa: "..."
She didn't reply.
Maybe she was thinking the same thing.
Instead, she focused on the door in front of her—
and pushed.
Creak—
Creak—
The hinges groaned under the weight.
A crimson light streamed in through the widening gap.
The players leaned in, eyes locked on the screen.
A door like this definitely wasn't normal...
Just as that thought formed—
the scene fully revealed itself.
At the end of the dream, there was no secretive place of atonement—
Only a desolate wasteland...
The final resting place of a certain man.
And now, the one wearing his form was standing in this crimson desert.
The Imaginary Tree?!
Impossible?!
[Imaginary Tree: Do all the Apocalypses have a grudge against me or what?!]
[Let's go, Overseer! Take us back into the Tree again!]
[Is Otto seriously going to do this again?!]
[For Elysia! I'll lead the charge this time!!!]
The appearance of the Imaginary Tree shocked the players.
Was this chapter some kind of "Famous Landmark Tour"?
First St. Freya, now the Imaginary Tree...
What next?!
[Wait... Theresa's never been here before, right?
Can you even dream of something you've never seen?]
Some players spotted a potential contradiction.
[Good point. Now I'm starting to think this Otto might not be fake...]
[Seriously, what if this is a piece of the real Otto's consciousness? Like Siegfried in Swan Lake.]
[Pick the bottle back up. I might need it again. (serious face.jpg)]
But—
as expected, the truth was left ambiguous.
That's called open-ended writing.
It gives players room for imagination.
So...
Otto (?) stood before the red wasteland.
He didn't explain the connection between himself and this place—
He just made a signature joke:
"Mm... Theresa."
"If I had a bottle of Armagnac brandy,
I'd sit down and enjoy a glass or two right here."
Classic Otto—
Even his taste was refined.
Armagnac is one of the oldest and finest brandies in the world.
"See? Isn't that a beautiful tree?"
His tone was unusually lighthearted.
He sounded almost happy—though no one knew why.
Well, maybe we can guess.
From an omniscient point of view...
He succeeded.
Kallen came back.
But that's if you're looking at it as a god.
"...Didn't you say you were just a figment of my dream?"
Theresa muttered. "Why do you sound even more unserious than the real thing?"
Otto (?) chuckled.
"Heh, Theresa—humor is good for mental health.
You should really take a page from his book."
Humor?
Good for health?
Yeah right.
Otto's humor might have been good for himself,
but everyone else just got ulcers.
And even if he claimed to be healthy—
he still never let go of that day.
He spent over five hundred years planning a way to give her a second life.
Better not to think about it too deeply.
...
Players composed themselves.
Back in the game—
Theresa quickly cut him off:
"...Alright, alright.
I should've known your way of comforting people would be 'unique.'"
"Can you at least tell me...
is this place a dreamscape, or a real Imaginary space?"
Otto (?) actually offered a hypothesis:
"We've arrived at a place not tied to your memory.
That could mean your body is being affected by the Imaginary Realm—
or your dream is merging with someone else's."
"Personally...
I think both are happening at once."
He continued in his distinctly Otto-like tone:
"The Hyperion is in lunar orbit.
So where did the signal come from?
What method was used to reach you?
And... what's their motive?"
You had to wonder...
If this really was just part of Theresa's subconscious—
How was it imitating Otto's thinking this well?
It was like he'd become an external processor for Theresa's brain...
Of course—
That, too, would remain a mystery.
In the end, whether Otto (?) was real or not didn't matter.
What mattered was that he thought like Otto—
and thus found the answer.
"You're stalling.
If Otto is talking like this, it means he already has an idea."
Theresa called him out.
Otto (?) laughed.
"Hahaha, fine. No more riddles."
He got straight to the point:
"Corruption is a two-way street.
If someone is attacking you,
it means you can push back and corrupt them."
"Only you can do this, Theresa."
"Think about what kind of beast sleeps inside you...
Think about what it can devour."
[...]
[Damn, I almost forgot—Theresa is a MANTIS. Her fusion beast is Vishnu, just like Kosma's.]
[Wait—is she about to trigger artificial Herrscherization?!]
"Theresa? Artificial Herrscherization?"
Elysia paused.
Theresa, as a fusion warrior, really did have the potential for a controlled Herrscher state.
"Now I'm curious. What would Theresa's form look like?
Would she turn into a cute little monster like Kosma?"
"Mei, you got any insider info?"
"I don't."
Then after a beat, Mei added:
"Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you, Elysia.
Leaking new battlesuit details ahead of schedule is a serious breach of duty."
Elysia agreed:
"You're right. Absolutely right."
Then promptly shifted gears.
"But I still wanna know! Will she get horns like Kosma too?"
"...So that's what you care about."
"What else?"
Mei fell silent.
Elysia returned her focus to the screen.
In-game—
Otto (?)'s guidance helped Theresa understand what must be done.
This was just a dream.
And in dreams, you can't afford to hesitate.
"Come now, Theresa.
Time to warm up."
And with that—
The game shifted into battle mode.
"Theresa vs Otto Apocalypse"
Players: ???
They froze—then understood.
Players: ...
A moment of silence.
Then they got to work.
They'd been through too much at this point—
fighting Kosma, Grey Serpent, Mei vs Elysia—
Controlling Theresa to fight Otto was moving, but they could handle it.
[He said devour, so devour we shall~!
Sorry Otto, tears in eyes but we're finishing you off.]
And since Otto (?) wasn't too aggressive,
they had time to fire off chat messages while beating him up with Twilight Knight: Mooncradle.
One clean combo—
and Otto (?) staggered.
"Good! Keep going."
He wasn't panicked—
he was encouraging her.
"Grow strong, Vishnu."
Theresa didn't hold back.
As her devouring intensified, the surroundings crumbled.
Otto (?) became increasingly transparent—
And then—
CG.
A glorious CG showed Vishnu's phantom rising behind Theresa,
and Otto (?) barely clinging to form.
It was... hard to describe.
[MiHoYo never just stabs you once.
It's always again and again, until you feel nothing.]
[Come to think of it... no one in Honkai dies just once.]
[Thanks to Honkai, I learned people can "die" multiple times.]
"Well done, Theresa."
"Vishnu's strength is overwhelming.
You should be able to devour this dream with ease."
Theresa gazed at him.
"And what about you?"
"Hmm?" He smiled. "Am I that special?"
His name had changed to '???'.
"When any dream ends,
all its characters return to the dreamer.
I'm no exception."
"No, that's not what I meant—"
Theresa shook her head.
But she didn't know what else to say.
So she left it at:
"Never mind. It's not important anymore."
Do all Vishnu fusion warriors love saying "never mind"?
Otto (?) seemed to understand.
"Hehe. This is what it's like to say goodbye to family, huh, Theresa?"
"Theresa, it's the same for everyone."
"But even your real grandfather...
He was just another mirror of yourself."
"I'm glad you understand that."
His voice weakened.
His form blurred.
"And to him...
You were also a mirror.
You reflected his hidden kindness.
He reflected your hidden cruelty."
"...Thanks."
Theresa paused—then added:
"But the real Grandpa...
He would never say something like that."
Wouldn't he?
A lot of players recalled that scene—
Otto leaving behind a hand-sewn bishop's cape for her.
Hoping she'd try some fruit other than bitter melon.
He didn't say it aloud.
Maybe he just didn't have the courage.
Otto (?) smiled softly—
"Of course. That man was nothing but a hopeless fool."
And then, he was gone.
From now on—
No matter the form,
Otto would never again appear in Theresa's dreams.
This was the final goodbye.
No explanation was given.
No confirmation if it was truly Otto or just a figment.
The writer chose to leave it blank.
And maybe—
That's exactly what Otto deserved.
He was a complicated man.
Some players liked him.
Some hated him.
Some just didn't know what to feel.
But it was that complexity that made Otto who he was.
Made him unforgettable.
So in the end...
[My nose stings... I'll never dream of him again...]
[This was just a side chapter, yet it stabbed us so many times. You're ruthless, writer.]
[Then again... every interlude in Honkai reopens old wounds.]
[Goodbye, Overseer.]
[A toast to the Fool... and then smash the bottle on his grave (sunglasses).]
——
The story now returned to Raven and Mei,
as they dove deeper into the dream forged by the Stigmata Project.
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