The shattered universe was pitch-black, but there was no need for starlight—for their presence alone shone like the most radiant supernovae in the cosmos.
Perhaps they were the cosmos itself.
Crack!
With the fall of the primordial universe, Ashtart lost her ho ground and was gravely wounded. The Swirl of the Root, fused with her and amplifying her power, now suffered equally devastating damage.
Her expressionless, refined face revealed visible pain—but weakened as she was, she could only watch helplessly as the Goddess of the End pierced her chest and reached its claws toward "Mother."
Ashtart tried to resist, to evade—but all in vain. Her cry of agony echoed.
From the wound in her chest—ford as Selene’s hand pierced through her divine body, composed of endless galaxies—her form began to collapse. At first, a sharp indentation; then countless cracks like shattered ice; and finally, large fragnts fell away.
Selene’s hand, smooth and delicate, now glowed with a corrosive, blood-red light. The primordial goddess could no longer resist the erosion carved by end-ti authority. Sinister purple-red markings twisted and writhed like serpents across her body.
Szzzz...
The sounds of stars drying up, nebulae tearing—blood like the Milky Way poured from her wound, endless. Each drop gave birth to a celestial body, a newborn world...
Only to be instantly torn apart in the spiraling black void, reduced to atomic dust. Yet each drop displayed its "flavor and nourishnt" to Selene.
"Be at peace... calm yourself... don’t resist. Return to origin. Beco the essence of creation and rge with . I will rebuild the primordial universe. This, I promise."
"Sleeping child... the battlefield is no place for your end. It’s ti to awaken. Co ho... return to your family."
Her voice fluttered gently through the destroyed void—wings of a butterfly. For once, Selene’s tyrannical dominance faded, her arrogance gone. Her voice now tender, patient, warm and sensual—seemingly magical, soothing all resistance.
"You... nnngh...."
Consciousness—like a candle in the wind—flickered, fragile. The pain throughout Ashtart’s body faded. Unaware how, despite knowing Selene’s intentions were sinister, that she was scheming sothing, Ashtart felt as though she were drifting in a warm, soothing stream. Her eyes grew heavy, her thoughts slowing.
This feeling... like a mother’s embrace... like the amniotic fluid in the womb....
No!
Suddenly, Ashtart’s divine consciousness jolted awake from the seductive trance. She was born of the cosmos itself—from the domain of existence before mammals, a primordial cosmic goddess born from the concept of the Milky Way! How could she experience longing for mammalian fetal sensations?!
There was only one explanation: the vessel that enabled her swift descent—the sacrificed human girl nad "Rin Tohsaka."
The human mind she had supposedly consud and assimilated... had affected her.
Selene was breaking her down from within!
"Selene... maybe... you win. But... don’t think you’ll get anything from . You’ll gain... nothing!"
Her half-lidded eyes flared with defiance, teeth clenched as she forced words from her throat.
In that instant, Ashtart’s divine will shattered Selene’s charm. Realizing Selene’s intent to devour her, she ignited with brilliant golden cosmic ether, determined to self-destruct!
"I see...."
Selene tilted her head and winked playfully. But in the next instant, all the gentleness and warmth vanished—a deep, cold voice echoed.
"Is that so?"
"So eager to die... It seems my rcy was rely wishful thinking."
Selene had initially considered preserving Ashtart’s divine consciousness—perhaps even reshaping it into a Supre Governor-class composite AI to administrate the Type-Moon composite multiverse colonies. But now, she changed her mind.
There was no longer any need. Total annihilation would do.
As for Ashtart’s original role? That could go to "Offensive Bias"—a brother to "ndicant Bias" (a nod to the Forerunners from Halo lore).
Reaching with her other hand, Selene forcefully straightened Ashtart’s head. Before she could respond, two slender fingers pressed firmly against her lips. Her flawless face radiated an inhuman aura of absolute dominance.
In those crimson eyes—only savagery, and the lust for conquest.
"Well then, Ashtart... look at this. Tell —who is she?"
Rip—
A rift tore through the void, splitting open the black domain. At the edge of the rippling, viscous energy, stood countless ominous, shadowy figures. Their presence exuded a cold, despairing aura—they were the Ghost Legion.
A suffocating stillness hung in the air like stagnant death, as though subrged in an ocean of hopelessness. Surrounded by the Ghost Legion, a delicate girl sat curled up at their center—vacant-eyed, dressed only in the thin school uniform of Homurahara Academy. A strand of purple hair brushed her soft, cherry-colored lips.
"Sakura...."
Even the briefest mont of distraction—just a fraction of a heartbeat—was fatal in a clash of this magnitude.
Pop— A soft, rupturing sound, like piercing a worn drum. Selene’s two fingers drove through Ashtart’s eyes.
"Goodbye."
Corrosive Honkai energy swirled rapidly around Selene’s fingers. A violet-red vortex burst forth from her hand, grinding Ashtart’s divine head to fragnts.
The gentleness from earlier? rely because Ashtart might have been useful—as a separable consciousness, detached from her god-body, stored for future use. But no longer. Selene opted for efficiency.
Of course, Selene was always a connoisseur—one who relished the finest experiences.
She excelled at seizing the mont, turning every tool to her benefit—preserving the essence of her prey while minimizing damage during the kill, ensuring maximum flavor in the feast.
Rin Tohsaka, in Selene and Ashtart’s duel, was less than an insect—but Ashtart had weakened, and Selene, now dominant, chose to exploit every advantage.
So, when Selene resolved to completely destroy Ashtart, she imdiately activated all the residual commandnts lingering within her—subduing her and awakening the remnants of Rin Tohsaka’s consciousness.
Then, all Selene had to do was provide an emotional trigger.
That trigger? Selene hadn’t cared much—it was Kiana’s spoil.
Back when Kiana burned the Matou residence to ash after killing Zouken Matou, she had unexpectedly encountered Sakura Matou returning from the Emiya household. Faced with the girl’s utter collapse—as if her world had ended—Kiana, moved by sympathy but guided by instinct, knocked her unconscious.
Of course, asking Selene to spare a re "ant" was out of the question. Even a reverted, free-spirited Kiana of Saint Freya days wouldn’t dare.
So she sought out Durandal. Using the Black Abyss White Flower, they extracted Sakura’s heart—and as the old worm begged for rcy, they burned him to cinders.
And so, Kiana and Durandal made a decision: one had killed her grandfather and burned down her ho, the other’s maid had cut down her brother... Even for soone as grounded as Durandal, she couldn’t bring herself to throw a poor, innocent high school girl back into the ashes of a destroyed ho and a family essentially wiped out.
With Fuyuki City destined to beco a battlefield for Selene’s plan, Durandal figured she would release Sakura afterward. So she stored her in her Noble Phantasm’s Tiger Talisman space. And then... nothing happened.
That night ended, and battles raged nonstop one after another. The war developed so rapidly, no one could keep up.
By the ti Durandal received Selene’s orders to add a layer of insurance and fall back, even her maid had retreated—there was no ti to worry about the high schooler in the Tiger Talisman space. When Durandal finally rembered, Selene’s main body had already descended, the islands had sunk, and Earth itself had been shattered.
Since Durandal dissolved her spirit form and entered battle in person, Sakura Matou was transferred to the Ghost Legion’s Shadow Kingdom.
That’s when Selene finally looked into the matter. Turns out Kiana had quietly tied up so loose ends in the Type-Moon world.
And then, since they were already involved, Selene didn’t want to override Kiana’s intentions. A kindness begun by Kiana—let it be her responsibility to see it through.
Now, presenting Sakura before Ashtart’s eyes was just Selene making use of every possible tool at her disposal.
Despicable?
No—just a practical use of available resources. You’ve lost. Everything of yours is now mine. I won’t let even a sliver of this pure primordial essence go to waste.
Rip—
As the rift closed, the violet-red vortex in Selene’s hand surged downward from Ashtart’s neck. Deep gashes burst open across her headless body, from which entire streams of "galaxies" poured.
Buzz—!
Without exception, an intense suction followed. All energy escaping Ashtart’s body was instantly drawn in—none was allowed to escape. It was all devoured by the violet-red spiral.
Then—
Crack—
Ashtart’s body shattered. A form once made of endless galaxies disintegrated instantly... reduced to lingering cosmic ether and primordial essence, flowing from Selene’s fingertips—absorbed.
An accumulation of energy diffused around Selene, particles of radiant light swirling like shimring neon strears.
She opened her eyes—suddenly radiant. Crimson-gold irises were dotted with twinkling stars. Starlight shimred and flowed, clustering in her gaze. Her eyes seed to hold heaven and earth, dazzling and entrancing.
Huuuh... A breath like stardust escaped her lips. Selene’s gaze shifted to the shattered black hole, now tainted by blood and corruption after Ashtart’s demise.
Her delicate hand was still buried in it. As expected—now that Ashtart was devoured—nothing stood between her and the Swirl of the Root.
Thump!
Her other hand plunged in, manipulating the connection between Ashtart and the Root. Selene braced herself and pulled hard.
RIP—!
The black hole, born of the primordial universe’s destruction, tore open!
In the next mont, starlight ignited. Light—everywhere Selene looked—light.
The ultimate "mass," the "record of all," exploded outward. Selene was instantly engulfed by the surging torrent unleashed by the Swirl of the Root.
The mont Selene stepped in, the entire Swirl of the Root boiled. Infinite quantities of "mass," "records," "being," and "existence" flooded together.
The chains of space were shattered by the surge of "existence"—accumulated to the universe’s peak and released in an instant. The stream of ti was torn into fragnts, its linear flow splintered.
In an instant, the overwhelming influx ca like a tidal wave. It carried comprehension akin to the language and manipulation of magic itself—fluent in all tongues of all eras, embedding perceptions into the mind in discernible form. Even Selene, imrsed in it, felt a mont of dizziness.
Steadying herself, she knew—this was the Swirl of the Root’s final counterattack. Perhaps it also stemd from its innate, automatic assimilation of all outsiders.
Though its nature was fixed and its level supre—origin of all phenona—it still lacked the free will of a true creator god. That made it limited in certain ways.
"I like this thod of infusion. Let’s begin."
"Dinsional Unfolding!"
Wielding the authority of Honkai, Selene welcod the flood and assimilation. She closed her eyes and descended deeper into the Swirl of the Root, letting it engulf her.
She felt her hair and lashes drifting within the "Root," her limbs weightless, her whole body suspended in its flow. It was as if she had returned to the Sea of Honkai—warm, comforting, tranquil—where the burdens of the world no longer existed.
Selene adored this feeling. The sensation of fullness. The feeling of becoming stronger....
Buzz buzz buzz—!
Countless fluid currents curved in from all directions. In that mont, Selene beca a humanoid black hole. Centered on her location, a strange ripple and faint hum began to stir. It expanded rapidly, flowing along countless "tributaries" of the Swirl of the Root, stretching into the vast web of ti and space.
It was the world’s elegy—but Selene’s hymn.
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