The ruined universe was pitch-black. They needed no stars or candles, for their very existences were like the most brilliant supernovas in the cosmos.
Perhaps they had always been the "universe" itself.
Crack!
The annihilation of the primordial universe deprived Ashtart of her home-field advantage and dealt her a devastating blow. The Swirl of the Root, which had merged with and empowered her, only suffered further, enduring the same damage as Ashtart herself.
Her delicate, expressionless face revealed unmistakable pain, but in her weakened state, she could only watch helplessly as the Goddess of Finality pierced her chest and reached her demonic claw toward her "mother."
Ashtart tried to block and evade, but every attempt proved futile, and she let out an anguished wail.
At her chest, her divine body, composed almost entirely of endless galaxies, abruptly caved inward around the wound pierced by Selene's palm. Dense cracks like fractured ice spread across it, after which great chunks began to fall away.
The delicate hand buried within her now flickered with a dazzling blood-red radiance of corrosion. At this point, the primordial goddess could no longer resist the erosion etched with the authority of Finality. Ominous violet-red patterns spread outward, twisting and winding like snakes.
Crack... Crack... Crack...
Amid the sounds of celestial bodies drying out and shattering and nebulae being torn apart, blood poured endlessly from the wound like a cascading galaxy. The blood within Ashtart's slender body seemed inexhaustible. Every falling drop became a celestial body, the birth of a nascent world...
Although each one was immediately torn apart within the spiraling black cavity of the void, destroyed and reduced to dust composed of atomic particles, they nevertheless displayed their "deliciousness and nourishment" before Selene.
"Relax... Calm down... Do not resist. Return to the primordial state. Become the essence from which all things are born and merge with me. I will rebuild the primordial universe. That, I promise."
"Sleeping child, annihilation upon the battlefield should not be your final resting place. It is time to awaken... Return to your home. Return to your family."
Words as soft as butterfly wings drifted through the ruined void. Rarely, the incomparable dominance in Selene's voice receded, and her arrogant coldness vanished. In its place, her voice became lingering and gentle, warm with concern, unhurried, soft, and alluring. It seemed to carry a strange magic that made resistance impossible and brought inexplicable tranquility.
"You... mm..."
Her waking consciousness was as fragile as a candle flame wavering in a cold wind. The agony throughout her body gradually faded until she could no longer feel anything. Somehow, although she clearly knew that Selene harbored malicious intentions and was secretly plotting something, Ashtart felt as though she were immersed in a warm, comfortable current. Her eyes slowly closed, and even her thoughts seemed about to cease.
This feeling... It's like a mother's embrace... the amniotic fluid of the womb...
No!
Ashtart's divine consciousness abruptly awakened from the comfortable, illusory Discipline. She had been born naturally from heaven and earth, emerging as a primordial cosmic deity from the concept of a galactic universe within the region where life existed in the primordial cosmos. How could she possibly possess the nostalgia and tactile memories of a mammalian embryo?!
Then there was only one possibility. It came from the human girl named Rin Tohsaka, who had been sacrificed as the medium that allowed her to descend rapidly.
The consciousness of the human girl who should have been completely devoured and assimilated by her was actually influencing her...
Selene was dividing and dismantling her!
"Selene... perhaps... you... you have won, but... do not think you will accomplish anything through me. You... will get nothing!" Ashtart opened her eyes halfway and clenched her teeth, forcing the words from the depths of her throat.
Her divine consciousness instantly broke free from the influence of Selene's Discipline. Seemingly understanding Selene's intention to devour her, her entire body suddenly ignited with dazzling golden cosmic ether. She had resolutely decided to destroy herself!
"I see..."
Selene tilted her head and winked at her teasingly. In the next instant, all warmth and gentleness proved to be illusions, and a low, icy voice rang out. "Is that so?"
"You want to die that badly? It seems my mercy was nothing more than wishful thinking after all."
Selene had originally intended to preserve Ashtart's divine consciousness and modify it as an experiment, transforming it into a supreme governor-class composite artificial intelligence that would assist in administering the Type-Moon composite world colony. Now, however, Selene had changed her mind. There was no longer any need. She would annihilate her completely!
As for the position Ashtart would have occupied, it could be given to Mendicant Bias' brother—Offensive Bias.
Had Mendicant Bias not reported earlier that it had located its "good brother," Offensive Bias?
Selene extended her other hand and forcibly straightened Ashtart's head. Before the latter could answer, two slender fingers tipped with crystalline nails pressed firmly beneath her lips. Selene's flawless, exquisite face radiated an inhuman pressure.
Within those scarlet eyes lay nothing but brutality and the desire to conquer.
"Then... Ashtart, look at this. Who is she?"
Rip...
A mottled black cavity tore open the empty reaches of the cosmos. At the far end of the dense, multicolored energy, countless sinister, pitch-black figures stood within the rift, radiating a despairingly cold and terrifying aura—they were the Shadowkhan.
The scene was as deep and still as stagnant water, like sinking into a boundless sea of despair. Surrounded on all sides by the Shadowkhan, a beautiful young girl curled up among them with vacant eyes. Her delicate body was clad only in a thin Homurahara Academy uniform, and a lock of purple hair clung to her cherry-colored lips.
"Sakura..."
Even a lapse lasting only one ten-thousandth of an instant was a fatal mistake in a clash between supreme beings.
With a grisly crunch, as though puncturing a broken drum, Selene's two fingers pierced straight through Ashtart's eyes. "Goodbye."
Powerful particles of corrosive Honkai energy rapidly gathered between Selene's fingers. A violet-red vortex surged from her hand and directly ground Ashtart's head to pieces.
Her earlier gentleness had existed only because Ashtart might still have been useful. Selene had intended to extract her divine consciousness, preserve it from the destruction of her divine body, and place it in storage. Now that Ashtart was useless, Selene naturally chose the most convenient method available.
Of course, Selene had always been a "gourmand" who knew how to savor her meals.
She excelled at seizing opportunities, making use of every available tool, preserving the freshness of her ingredients, and minimizing damage during slaughter so that she could enjoy the fullest possible feast.
In the struggle between Selene and Ashtart, Rin Tohsaka naturally did not even qualify as a mayfly. Unfortunately for Ashtart, she was at a disadvantage, while Selene, who held the advantage, had decided to make a few small moves in her own favor.
For example, the moment Selene decided to kill Ashtart completely and leave not even the slightest remnant behind, she immediately activated every trace of the Discipline remaining within Ashtart's body, suppressing Ashtart and awakening the portion that belonged to Rin Tohsaka.
After that, Selene only needed to provide some emotional stimulation.
To be honest, Selene had paid little attention to this particular "stimulus." Sakura Matou was Kiana's spoil of war.
Back then, after Kiana killed Zouken Matou and burned the Matou residence to ashes, she unexpectedly encountered Sakura Matou, who happened to be returning from the Emiya residence. Faced with the girl's sudden breakdown as though her entire world had collapsed, Kiana felt sympathy, but she also sensed that something was wrong and instantly knocked her unconscious.
Even after regaining the carefree personality she had possessed during her days at St. Freya Academy, Kiana would never have dared ask Selene to save an unrelated "ant."
Thus, she went to Durandal instead. With the Abyss Flower sustaining Sakura's life, they dug out her heart and completely burned the "old worm" to ashes amid his pleas for mercy.
Afterward, Kiana and Durandal discussed the situation. One of them had killed Sakura's grandfather and burned down her home, while the other's maid had cut down her brother... Even someone as pragmatic as Durandal was not cold-blooded enough to throw such a pitiful and innocent high school girl back into a home that had already been reduced to ashes, with nearly every member of her family dead.
Considering that Fuyuki City would eventually become the battlefield for Selene's plan, and intending to release Sakura after everything ended, Durandal stored her inside the Tiger Talisman's Noble Phantasm space. Then there was no further opportunity...
After that night, one life-or-death battle followed another, and the progression of the war was dizzying.
By the time Durandal received Selene's order to withdraw in advance as an added precaution, even her own maid had already left the battlefield. How could she have spared any attention for the high school girl inside the Tiger Talisman's space?
By the time Durandal remembered her, Selene's true body had already descended, the archipelago had sunk, and Earth itself had been shattered.
Because Durandal had dissolved her spiritual body so that her true form could join the battle, Sakura Matou was transferred to the Shadowkhan's base within the Shadow Realm.
Only then did Selene specifically investigate how this minor incident had unfolded. It turned out that Kiana had quietly completed one of the essential tasks of their visit to the Type-Moon world without saying a word.
After that, since Sakura was already there and Selene did not wish to dismiss Kiana's kindness, she paid no further attention. Kiana had started the matter, so she could see it through to the end.
Revealing Sakura Matou before Ashtart now could also be considered Selene's use of every available tool.
Despicable?
No. She was merely making reasonable use of the tools at hand. Ashtart had already lost, which meant everything she possessed belonged to Selene. Selene could not allow her to squander such pure primordial essence, not even the slightest trace of it!
Rip...
Selene severed the rift. The violet-red vortex in her hand descended from Ashtart's neck like a spiraling storm. Deep wounds instantly burst open across the headless body, and rolling "galaxies" poured from cracks of varying lengths.
Buzz—!
Without exception, a powerful attractive force swept outward in an instant. Every trace of energy escaping Ashtart's body was drawn up without the slightest leakage and sucked into the violet-red spiral.
Then came Ashtart's entire body.
Crack—
Ashtart's body collapsed with the sound, as though the form composed of endless galaxies had instantly been reduced to ashes... The lingering cosmic ether and primordial essence flowed from Selene's fingertips before being absorbed.
The phenomenon of accumulated energy gradually spread around Selene's body. Streams of luminous particles followed her like neon ribbons in a city of dazzling lights.
She opened her eyes, and they suddenly blazed. Brilliant stars dotted the scarlet curtain of golden rings, their fluorescent starlight gathering around her irises. It was as though heaven, earth, and the stars themselves were contained within her eyes, dazzling enough to draw anyone into them.
"Haa..." A wisp of nebula-like mist seemed to escape Selene's lips as she turned her gaze toward the ruined black hole left behind by Ashtart's death, now pierced, corroded, and stained with blood-red patches of light.
Her delicate hand was still inserted into the black hole. Just as Selene had predicted, after devouring Ashtart, no obstacle remained between her and the Swirl of the Root.
Thump!
She thrust in her other hand. Using the connection between Ashtart and the Swirl of the Root, Selene exerted tremendous force with both arms.
Riiip—!
The black hole born from the ruins of the annihilated primordial universe was torn apart!
In the next instant, stellar patterns lit up.
Light.
Everywhere Selene looked, there was light.
The ultimate "quantity" and "records of all things" were released in an instant. Selene was immediately engulfed by the waves raised by the Swirl of the Root.
The moment Selene stepped inside, the entire Swirl of the Root began to boil. Countless streams of "quantity," "records," "being," and "existence" gathered together.
The restraints of space were shattered by this accumulated "existence," which had reached the world's absolute limit before being released all at once. The rays representing the flow of time were torn into disconnected fragments.
A vast amount of information poured into her in an instant. It was nearly equivalent to the language and manipulation capabilities of magecraft, granting mastery over every language that had existed throughout the world's history. Thus, every perception of all things was stored within her mind in a recognizable form... Even Selene, immersed within it, felt momentarily dizzy.
Steadying her mind, she knew this was the Swirl of the Root's final counterattack. Perhaps it was also partly the result of its fixed tendency to assimilate outsiders.
Although its status was lofty as the ultimate source of all phenomena, it was still a fixed program. Compared with an individual creator deity possessing direct consciousness, it suffered from far more limitations.
"I like this method of infusion. Begin."
"Dimensional Expansion!"
Selene exercised her authority over Honkai and accepted the "submersion" and "assimilation" without resistance. She closed her eyes and allowed her body to sink into the depths of the Swirl of the Root until the "Root" submerged the top of her head.
Selene could feel her hair and eyelashes drifting within the "Root." Her limbs relaxed as she floated within its currents. It felt as though she had returned to the Imaginary Space—warm, comfortable, and peaceful, a place where she could cast aside everything in the world and remain free of all worries.
Selene loved this sensation, the feeling of being filled, the feeling of growing stronger...
Buzz, buzz, buzz—!
Countless streams of "fluid" curved inward from every direction. Selene transformed into a humanoid black hole. Centered upon her position, a peculiar fluctuation and faint hum slowly began to build, then spread at extraordinary speed along the countless "tributaries" of the Swirl of the Root, extending into myriad worlds and eras.
This was the world's elegy, but it was Selene's hymn.