Inside the World Bubble.
After Otto's series of "collapse, retreat, sell out, and run" maneuvers, Seele quickly understood why he had suddenly decided to make his own escape, even though their side seemed to have the upper hand.
This was because, in the North Africa region of the Proper World, the Puppets and Spawn that had successfully invaded the underground base of the Newborn World Serpent Headquarters were being swiftly suppressed and eliminated by a group of young female figures.
Individually, the combat power of these young women was not excessively overpowered.
For now, their numbers were also not large enough.
At the very least, they were outnumbered by the Puppets and Spawn.
However, their appearance allowed the Newborn World Serpent to use those golden-orange portals.
As a result...
The non-combatant personnel were quickly evacuated.
Moments later, the combatants unleashed their full power, holding nothing back.
In fact, Seele, the Fourth Herrscher, and Kali, the Third Herrscher, had never intended to completely annihilate the Newborn World Serpent members here from the very beginning.
Just as they had explicitly stated before their operation: the purpose of joining forces today was to cripple the enemy group, or at the very least, cause a certain level of casualties.
Ideally, these would be key figures.
This way, Kali's "Cold Wave" operation could proceed more smoothly.
And if they could also gain other benefits in the process, such as killing the most crucial person, Dr. MEI, making Kevin Kaslana suffer in agony, and obtaining her knowledge and talent...
Then that would naturally be worth celebrating.
In short, Seele was responsible for using the Puppets to stall Kevin and the other MANTIS who remained in the base, forcing these powerful warriors to either be intercepted or withdraw to protect the weaker people around them, such as the family and friends of other members.
In this situation, letting Kali's Spawn attack MEI... to be honest, the success rate would still be quite high.
But Seele, Kali, and even Otto, who had brokered this cooperation from the sidelines, never expected the enemy to play a card like "True Deus Ex Machina."
Prometheus's appearance instantly turned the tide of battle.
Not only did she effortlessly reclaim the Void Archives, which contained nearly all scientific research data from the original history of the current era, but she also used "Mimicry: Cosmic Juggernaut" to instantly eliminate the weaknesses that were hindering her side's powerful warriors.
Otto, seeing the situation was lost, took decisive action and immediately fled.
As for Seele...
"You piece of iron!"
She couldn't worry about the plan anymore.
After ordering her Puppets to stop serving as suicidal soldiers and instead stall for as much time as possible, she went straight to Room 309 of her building. She pulled a still-confused Bronya into her arms, and the two of them suddenly burst out of the building riding Project Bunny, which had transformed into its motorcycle form.
Then, they began to race away.
Only then...
"!!!"
Seele suddenly realized.
This was a World Bubble.
A World Bubble containing only a single continent, smaller than Europe.
And as the Fourth Herrscher, she did not possess the Authority related to Space.
Therefore...
She and Big Sister Bronya were trapped here.
"Otto!"
Seele's eyes practically tore open with fury. "You bastard, you played me again, didn't you?! Argh!!!"
She finally understood.
Before that, the only reason Otto's avatar had warned her to prepare for the enemy's impending counterattack wasn't out of kindness.
On the contrary, if he hadn't considered her strength, he would have realized that clashing with her at such a time... even if he threatened her with Big Sister Bronya... would only waste his precious time to escape... that man probably would have gone straight to tearing out her Herrscher Core.
Therefore, his intentions were crystal clear.
The man planned for her, who was deliberately left behind, to make more preparations and find more ways to fight back.
Because in this way, the enemy forces who would attack this place later would be slowed down.
And on his side, he would have more time to escape.
Seele... she had been used as a pawn to cover his retreat.
"Heh~"
Now that her thoughts were clear, a wild and vicious expression, like a cornered beast, appeared on Seele's face.
"You want me to buy you time here? In your dreams!"
She had already made up her mind. "A whole continent, its area isn't small."
"Besides, you, Otto, have stayed in so many World Bubbles."
"I just need to quickly hide my presence and keep a low profile. Even if Kevin and his group actually find this place, they won't know I'm here, let alone find me immediately."
"Just let them go deal with you first..."
Fwoosh~
Behind her, the top of the building Seele and Bronya had just left suddenly erupted with a large amount of visible, strangely colored gas.
In an instant, the short haired girl froze.
Then, her pupils constricted.
As the Herrscher of Death with super enhanced Authority, she could sense anomalies that ordinary people could not.
At this moment, she clearly "saw" it.
The strangely colored gas that had been sprayed into the sky and was now rapidly spreading to the surrounding area was a virus.
A high risk virus with extremely high transmission efficiency that could survive in the environment for a long time.
If Seele were given time, she could completely eliminate its harmful effects.
But...
Time was the one thing she lacked most right now.
Fwoosh~
In the distance, the top of another building also sprayed that same strangely colored gas.
"Damn it!"
Seele was now flustered and furious.
Why didn't he use this stuff when they were attacking the enemy headquarters?
Was he saving it all this time to screw me over?
She had no idea that Otto had already covertly used an even more advanced version of this virus at the Newborn World Serpent Headquarters.
The battle there was still raging, and the opposing forces hadn't fully cleaned up yet, so they hadn't discovered this hidden threat.
Afterward, the virus would definitely cause Kevin and his team some level of trouble.
While it might not play a decisive role, perhaps there would be some unexpected surprises?
In any case, no matter the outcome, it would still buy her some time.
Meanwhile, Seele could obviously guess what Otto was trying to achieve by orchestrating this in the current World Bubble.
With massive amounts of the virus being released in multiple locations, the World Bubble would soon face a terrifying plague on the scale of an extinction crisis.
In this situation, she had to immediately take countermeasures to preserve the World Bubble.
But doing so would make it easy for the Newborn World Serpent to find her.
Because the "poison-spraying" origin points were definitely more than one, Seele would have to deploy her "Serene Miniature Garden" again to stop the impending tragedy.
That would be far too conspicuous.
But if she didn't do this...
There was no doubt that Kevin and his allies, who could already use those golden-orange portals, would soon trace their way here.
If they immediately sensed the highly lethal virus permeating the area upon arrival, then...
That man, who had personally reduced Central Europe in the Proper World to a scorched wasteland, would surely show no mercy.
He would likely destroy the entire World Bubble directly.
Simply because Otto had stayed here and left it in a terrible mess.
He would eliminate all hidden threats.
When that time came, Seele and Bronya would have nowhere to hide.
This time, there would be no "surprise rescue."
In this situation...
"Very well, Otto Apocalypse."
Seele gritted her teeth. "Using this method to force me into a confrontation with Kevin and his group..."
She loosened her right hand, which had been gripping the throttle tightly.
Project Bunny ground to a halt.
Seele also let her arms hang limply, her shoulders slumped as she looked at the gray-haired girl in her arms who had yet to fully wake up, her expression bitter.
Bronya was already on the verge of waking up.
This time, Seele did not plan to force her back to sleep as she had done before.
She had many things she wanted to say to her in this final "now."
She knew that the two of them had no way out.
It was a dead end.
Struggling any further was useless.
Fleeing to a distant place... No matter how far she ran, it would be pointless.
This World Bubble was only this big.
She would most likely meet her end within this "cage."
All because...
"You are no longer needed for the rest of the play, Fourth Herrscher."
"On the contrary, after I lost two Divine Keys in a row and the assets within the various World Bubbles were completely wiped out, leaving me to attempt a comeback in the Proper World... Your existence, conversely, would cause immeasurable negative impacts on my backup plan."
"You have become an unpredictable and uncontrollable factor."
Proper World, South America.
After using Cosmic Juggernaut to teleport here, Otto immediately preset several more teleportation destinations for it.
In fact, before arriving in South America, Otto had also used Cosmic Juggernaut to frantically run around the world... well, all regions except North Africa.
Now, he knew, since Void Archives had escaped, Cosmic Juggernaut could no longer stay by his side.
This thing could become a beacon guiding his enemies here at any moment.
Therefore, after this diversion, he would eventually teleport the Cosmic Juggernaut to the Sea of Quanta and let it sink into the depths, doing his best to prevent it from becoming an asset for the enemy in the future.
And now...
Hum~
A golden-orange light flashed, and the massive locomotive began to travel to the next "decoy" teleportation point as preset.
Meanwhile, Otto, who had "disembarked halfway," immediately set off with Durandal, Li Sushang, Rita, and Theresa to leave this place.
Not far away, a shuttle that had been assembled over the past few months had been parked for a long time.
The group boarded it and quickly flew away from the recent teleportation point.
Inside the cabin...
"Overseer Otto."
Durandal stood beside the blond man and asked with a frown, "Can we really save the world like this?"
"..."
Not far away, Li Sushang also looked over.
This time, Rita, drawing on her experience, did not even lift her head.
She was taking care of the vacant-eyed Theresa, preventing her from falling due to the turbulence caused by the flight.
Looking back at Otto...
"We can!"
Today, he answered very concisely, "We still have a chance."
He added silently in his heart...
"But, it is not a chance for 'victory'."