The universe trembled.Not like when stars are born or die, but as if the very fabric of history realized something was about to erase it.
Elisa moved forward through the ruins of what had once been Vita, her body shining with the same light that had shaped the cosmos. Before her, in the middle of the silence, lay Astrid—fallen, motionless. Her breathing was barely a whisper, and she looked completely battered. The crack behind her continued to pulse, extending black strands that sparked with golden light.
Elisa raised her hand. Energy gathered around her palm: the primordial force, the very power that had reset the multiverse. There was no hatred in her gesture—only sadness."I'm sorry," she whispered.
And she struck.
But the beam never reached its target.Space warped, the air turned to smoke—and just before the attack landed… Astrid vanished.
Elisa felt a presence behind her.When she turned, her breath stopped.
Astrid was there—standing, upright, transformed.Her skin shone with an impossible golden radiance, her eyes now like twin suns, and her hair—now a suspended blaze—floated like a crown of fire. Behind her, the air evaporated; her silhouette seemed to merge with the crack and with something else, something breathing from beyond.And when she spoke, her voice multiplied.
There were three voices: hers—and two others, deep, distant, ancient.
"What… is… happening… to me…?" she asked into the void, both astonished and exhilarated.Her hands trembled—not from fear, but from power.The brooch shone like a solar core in her chest, with a brilliance that could blind anyone.
Elisa stepped back, horrified."No…" she whispered. "It can't be… it's them."
Astrid looked at herself, fascinated. Her fingers passed through the flame of her own hair without burning. Her tone shifted, her exaltation turning into gratitude."Thank you…" she said, looking toward the crack, smiling. "Thank you for this opportunity. For this power."
Her gaze settled on Elisa, and for a moment her star-filled eyes seemed like holes through which light itself leaked."Now you stand before the end, Elisa. I told you it wouldn't be the same as the last time we fought."
Elisa held her gaze. Her face was pure pain."Astrid, I truly… understand you. I swear I do. Your loss, your rage, your confusion. But you're seeing everything backwards." Her voice broke. "I used my gifts—the same ones I hated my entire life—to restore what was lost. To bring new life, not to erase."
Astrid tilted her head."New life? Or an artificial life that obeys you?"
"It's real!" Elisa replied. "The Second Existence is alive—it breathes, thinks, dreams. You do too. That proves there is hope. But what you're doing now will destroy everything. You'll become the same echo the Guardians and the primordial gods once were. The voices you're hearing in your head are nothing more than their vile consciousnesses speaking to you."
Astrid laughed—and that laugh came with a double whisper, the echo of Lyra and Zefaniel intertwined with her voice:
"Did we not warn you, Elisa?" they said, overlapping. "We told you we would emerge. We told you we would never lose hope of meeting you."
Elisa stepped back."You…"
"She freed us," they answered through Astrid. "She finally opened the door."
Astrid smiled—but the smile was not hers alone.It was the reflection of three consciousnesses sharing a single body.Her gaze was human and divine, chaotic and serene.
They stood facing each other for a few seconds, as if waiting for the other to strike first. Astrid, just to test her power once more, attacked first.
With only her index finger, Astrid formed a sphere of pure condensed existence the size of a marble.A marble that contained all concepts: existence, time, space—even dimensionality, cardinality, and anything that could be named.
"Conceptualization."
Astrid launched the sphere with something beyond speed—an attack completely inevitable, one that could not be measured by distance or time.
And yet, Elisa—being a divinity herself—reacted.
With a sharp motion, she raised her hand and deflected something intangible.
Elisa repelled the attack, and it struck a distant planet.
There was no explosion.
And when Elisa turned to see what had been destroyed, it seemed as if nothing had happened—but only because what had been destroyed could no longer be conceived, leaving behind nothing but a blur in reality.
A cold sweat ran down Elisa's spine as she understood what was coming. They locked eyes again—Elisa with fear but determination, Astrid with a defiant, almost mocking gaze.
At first, there was no sound.Only the sensation that everything in existence was vibrating.
Then—the detonation.
They launched at each other: Elisa wrapped in darkness, Astrid in fire. Their fists collided, and existence itself took time to process the impact. Time froze, fractured, began to mix with its own echo.
Elisa won the clash of fists. The blow was so powerful it destroyed the arm Astrid attacked with—along with half the universe on her side.
Elisa was stunned to see Astrid's arm completely pulverized. She thought she had already won.But Astrid only looked at her mutilated limb with intrigue—and strangely, excitement.
She remembered the first time she had faced Elisa, when the same thing had happened.And with her triple voice, Astrid laughed.
"I told you," she repeated, "this time things would be different."
Her arm ignited in blazing flames—and when they dissipated, it had fully regenerated.
Elisa could hardly believe what she was seeing. Even for her, it was astonishing. But she didn't let it shake her—she snapped back quickly, raised her hand, and extinguished all the light in the universe, plunging everything into darkness. She moved like a shadow, striking Astrid from blind angles.
Astrid countered by shining, overpowering the darkness—then increasing her radiance even further, beginning to burn Elisa with it.
Elisa responded by creating a massive black hole to swallow Astrid's light, then hurled it at her. The collision produced an explosion of light and shadow that illuminated the entire multiverse.
And then they began an unrelenting exchange of power.
Astrid hurled stars endlessly. Elisa answered by disintegrating them and returning them as cosmic dust that overwhelmed Astrid. When Astrid was completely engulfed in ashes, Elisa seized the moment and struck at an incomprehensible speed, hitting her with a blow that warped history itself. Past, present, and future trembled.
For a moment, it seemed as though both reverted to their human forms.
Elisa struck again—shattering the universe and sending them into another. Once more, it felt as though history itself fractured. This time, for an instant, they appeared as children.
Elisa moved to strike again—but Astrid blocked it with one hand and retaliated. History convulsed once more.
For a blink, they even fought literally with their souls. Elisa summoned another black hole, attempting to absorb Astrid's very soul to separate her from the gods—but Astrid resisted with the help of Lyra and Zefaniel, who held her in place and helped her counterattack. Astrid released a pulse of power from her eyes—projected directly from her soul—striking Elisa and sending her to the farthest edge of the multiverse, shattering space itself upon impact.
She rose again—and charged once more.
Each of Astrid's attacks moved the stars.Each of Elisa's responses reordered the memories of creation.
The battle was not only happening in space.It was happening in the narrative itself.
Words failed.Sentences repeated.The story corrected itself.
Past versions watched the battle: a child Elisa saw the annihilation of everything; a young Astrid saw her world vanish—not because of a crack, but because of their mere presence.
The battle was so apocalyptic that the story itself could not contain it. Narrative and coherence lost all meaning before it.
Astrid unfurled wings of fire and light, slicing through shadow projectiles cast by Elisa, splitting galaxies and firing blazing volleys in return. Elisa dodged by creating dimensional voids, and every black hole she formed to absorb the attacks invoked new laws of physics.
The entire multiverse watched.
The story could not sustain it.
Timelines were cut or erased, beginnings and endings blurred. In some moments, Astrid disintegrated Elisa with flames that swept across planets. In others, Elisa scattered Astrid like sand. And in all of them, the story bore the consequences.
The multiverse had already been completely deformed. Now, within a dimensional dome formed from the remnants of different universes, Astrid and Elisa faced each other directly. Both gathered power across their entire bodies, forming spheres around themselves—and collided.
The echoes of Lyra and Zefaniel resonated strongly.
"Look at what you've done, goddess," they said through Astrid. "You thought you could contain us, and you turned us into a memory. But memories always return."
"Enough!" Elisa shouted. "Don't use her!"
"We don't use her," they replied. "She chose us."
Astrid smiled.
"They're right. It was me. I listened. I called them. I freed them. And now, Elisa—everything ends here. The story ends here."
Astrid won the clash of power, shattering Elisa's sphere and hurling her to the edges of the dimensional dome they had formed. It broke apart, causing all those universes to expand together in a single instant, forming an amalgam of different worlds.
Both were enveloped in dimensional dust from the collapse. It was clear that Elisa was beginning to feel the damage.
She was exhausted.
"You don't have to keep going down this path," Elisa said, her voice trembling. "I don't want to lose you. Despite everything… you're still part of what I loved."
Astrid lowered her gaze, almost tenderly.
"You were too…" she whispered. "But the love you offered was always just another kind of prison."
She raised her hand to launch another attack. Astrid formed a white hole and hurled it at Elisa. Elisa raised both hands, ready to resist. She could feel her hands burning, nearly being destroyed by the pressure and energy—so as a last resort, she chose to detonate it, knowing she couldn't undo it.
The attack exploded, destroying the malformed cluster of worlds they stood upon.
Now, only blank sketches remained.
Elisa dropped to her knees, exhausted, her hands smoking and scorched—but Astrid gave her no respite. She advanced, striking her with a blow that recreated everything anew and sent her crashing into a moon. The brooch burned, and the echoes of Lyra and Zefaniel—laughing maniacally like a chorus of resurrected gods—guided her.
Elisa rose again, nearly out of strength, trying to resist. She created new realities around herself as shields, formed shadow clones to overwhelm Astrid, multiplied time to delay her. But Astrid destroyed every layer, every reflection, every defense—until she finally stood before her, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her with one arm, her other hand ready to deliver the final blow.
Elisa closed her eyes. There were tears in them—tears of pure darkness.And for a moment, Astrid felt something stir in her chest.
Perhaps compassion.Perhaps nothing.
The brooch shone one last time.
Elisa prepared for the end.
She pleaded with Astrid with all her strength one final time, begging her to listen—but there was no turning back.
With her free hand, Astrid began charging a beam—a fusion of existence and nonexistence—and with a precise cut, she opened a wound across Elisa's torso. It began to fade slowly. Astrid released her, and Elisa continued dissolving into the air, raising her hand with all her remaining strength to reach Astrid, just like the last time—but she couldn't.
Elisa's life went out.Her existence faded away.