Crack crackle—!
The sound of shattering erupted.
The void tore open. The heat surged upward. Othinus could clearly feel the sting on her skin—even her Magic God body was letting out a sizzle, an omen of imminent destruction.
Spears rained down from above, blooming like fireworks in the kaleidoscopic void, forming a sea of stars that blanketed the entire sky.
Carrying enough destructive power to easily harvest a star or two, their impact didn't form craters, nor did it resemble a high-velocity bullet smashing glass and piercing through. No—it was total annihilation.
Before the shockwave could even arrive, the torrential downpour formed by subspace lances had already pierced the pitch-black cosmos. Visible vortexes tore through physical space, catalyzed by Honkai energy, transforming directly into blinding white light—like pillars of energy obliterating everything in their path.
Billions upon billions of stars were ripped apart!
The brilliance of suns was scattered!
Each dispersing shard of stardust was fatal.
Everything visible, everything perceivable—the entire starry sky quaked!
Destruction. Extinction. Creation. Restoration... The sturdy wall of this individual universe fractured with countless fissures, each one a bottomless abyss, spreading to the horizon in the blink of an eye!
Under that wave of energy capable of collapsing phases and entire superclusters, even though they weren't the primary targets, most celestial bodies didn't even have time to react before collapsing into death.
Yet before such a sight, Selene's expression remained unchanged.
Just empty shells. No valuable lifeforms or scientific civilizations. Creating a dead universe? A trivial task.
This individual universe was disposable. Once the Magic God was dealt with—let it perish, fade on its own, or be given away as a gift. All up to Selene's mood—if it still existed by then.
This universe is saturated with her power. No, more accurately—it was created by her. A death cage built solely for me, or rather, for the Magic Gods.
Her dazed mind couldn't process deeper thoughts. That sky-blue single eye dimmed.
Othinus only knew one thing now: if she didn't stop this, it wasn't just about failing the breakthrough. Becoming a cripple was minor—total annihilation was a real possibility!
"Ugh... cough!"
The stench of blood followed.
She staggered. Her flawless pale face was smeared with the ashes of dying stars. Dense violet-red blotches clung to her like a corrosive disease, appearing and reappearing as her Magic God body was damaged and regenerated in a cruel cycle.
The universe rejected her constantly, suppressing her every attempt to respond... Was it truly over? Not yet. It wasn't finished. She had to find an exit quickly—
Fleeing. In that fleeting moment of thought, Selene pursued relentlessly.
Crack!Craaaack!
The sound of shattering glass erupted.
"Now what is it this time..."
A lance of light pierced through her back, emerging from the center of her chest.
Her power was fading.
So that was it. Ollerus's modified spell, huh?
She should've killed him from the start. Even after being eliminated, he still clung on and ruined her plans.
The spell Ollerus had mastered—based on the Christian Church's unintentional diminishment of foreign gods—was one of humanity's most powerful anti-Magic God countermeasures: a technique called "Fairyization."
One hit was all it took to twist the God of Magic toward the negative.
How someone like Selene—completely ignorant of magic—had acquired and used Ollerus's technique, Othinus couldn't say. But after witnessing Selene's true power, it somehow all made sense.
As she felt the spell working upon her body, Othinus paused, just briefly.
Then, on her calm and expressionless face, she let out a bitter, self-deprecating smile.
"To kill me, you really pulled out all the stops, huh? Even went so far as to steal from that pathetic man."
Othinus glanced out of the corner of her eye.
In a universe separated by who knows how many astronomical units, a blurry platinum figure stood watching her calmly. One hand held a ping-pong ball-sized green orb, while the other radiated with the light of the fairy spell—directed at her.
She had lost.
In truth, when Selene revealed the eye she had gouged out and sacrificed to Mímir's Well, Othinus had already sensed it—this was over. Not that she'd ever admit it, nor stop resisting.
That eye was born from the same origin as her. Calling it her source of power would not be an exaggeration. Normally, it should have been lying deep within Denmark's Mímir's Well—the legendary spring of wisdom in Norse mythology.
Forget touching it—any living being that even entered the vicinity of Mímir's Well would be instantly noticed by Othinus. Even the other Magic Gods slumbering in the "Hidden World" couldn't sneak up on it under her watch.
Even a weakened Magic God surpassed the world. Capable of ending it.
That's why, even if they knew, the other Magic Gods wouldn't dare provoke Othinus under such conditions. In their eyes, she was immature—one bad day and she might destroy everything. That wouldn't be good.
But to meet those conditions, Othinus had to remain within the range of her own phase.
Now? She wasn't just disconnected from Earth or her phase—she had been pulled completely out of her universe, into someone else's territory. Naturally, Selene had the upper hand.
Othinus had tried overlaying this universe with a new phase of her own. But each time, Selene shattered it by force.
After all, this newborn individual universe wasn't like the Index world, layered and wrapped in countless religious and Magic God phases. There, damaging the phase would literally reduce the world to gray dust—utter annihilation.
But here? No such safeguards.
The only potential winning card—her yet unfinished spiritual device designed to control Magic God power and lead "infinite possibilities" to a 100% victory: the "Gungnir (Lance of the All-Father)"—was incomplete.
Selene's understanding of Othinus's weaknesses far exceeded Othinus's estimation.
To face such a relentless, ruthless enemy who had her thoroughly studied—when Othinus herself knew nothing about her opponent—and then to strut boldly into the open while still crippled…
The result was obvious.
Selene struck without hesitation—fast, precise, ruthless!
BOOM—!!
The muffled blast erupted as Othinus was pierced through—stabbed clean. In that instant of impact, the fracturing light raced from her chest, shattering across her body.
No—that fracturing didn't stop at the physical.
"An eye for an eye. You pierced me the same way before, didn't you."
Othinus's small frame was impaled by Selene's single hand.
Shhhh—!
The Magic God's face twisted in pain. Her skin turned deathly pale. Strange violet-red Honkai corrosion patterns crawled across her cheeks.
Even the extended rupture behind her—uncertain if wing or petal—was corroded. Those eerie markings snaked through the radiant violet light.
"Can you feel it? This is a specially tuned Honkai infection—crafted just for you, based on your right eye."
Honkai disease was troublesome, yes—but only for mortals. To a Magic God, it was barely an interesting tattoo. You could soak in the Honkai sea and be fine.
But if Selene cultivated Honkai energy from Othinus's own eye as a nest, tuning it specifically to target Magic Gods… the outcome would be different. Especially with Othinus already crippled and hit by the Fairyization spell, her body now crumbling from within, the infection accelerated rapidly.
Her golden wavy hair drooped weakly across her skin, like a delicate flower ready to wilt, like fragile porcelain. The one-eyed girl pressed her pale cherry lips together, the bitterness of defeat unmistakable.
"Uaaaaah... Don't underestimate me, Outer God!"
Othinus's face grew even paler. Her power was draining, but she still clenched her teeth. Her bloodless lips were torn open from biting, her scream hoarse and fierce.
"I am a Magic God who ascended to the pinnacle of the magic path!"
In that moment, the roles reversed. Othinus clutched Selene's hand—still impaled through her chest—with one hand, while her trembling left hand lifted, palm aimed at Selene.
"Bow—!"
With a voice torn from her throat, the bow behind the Magic God fired again—an "arrow" capable of collapsing an entire galactic filament, dragging down all the galaxies with it.
Faced with that terrifying impact—whose stray shockwaves alone could annihilate clusters of galaxies—Selene simply raised her left hand slowly.
"Face reality."
Crack—!
"Urgh..."
With a muffled groan, the bow behind Othinus shattered.
With just a light squeeze, Selene forcibly deconstructed Othinus's exclusive weapon. The wings that once blotted out the sky vanished into nothing.
"My body... my eye..."
Othinus no longer had the strength to care about her broken spells. Gazing at the blood still pouring from her chest, she fell silent.
"To ascend from a human into a Magic God, you gouged out your eye and offered it to the spring. As a ritualistic act of destruction—a systematic sacrifice. That 'eye'—once I return it to your socket, your uniqueness will disappear."
"You didn't use this trick the last time you gave up your power. Seems you still had attachment then."
Her snow-white, waist-length hair drifted softly around her shoulders, catching a gentle solar glow that shimmered with mesmerizing hues. Selene delicately lifted Othinus's eyepatch.
"What were you thinking? Scared of your own power? If you didn't want it, give it to me—I wouldn't mind."
Selene was baffled. She couldn't understand that mindset.
Once, Othinus had feared her own power and abandoned it. In chasing strength, she forgot the world she once called home.
And now? She'd done everything to reclaim it—exploiting people and things alike—all to recover her full strength. Contradiction at its finest.
Her stunning, flawless face bore deep eyes like blood-red diamonds. Selene toyed with the orb in her hand—the ping-pong-sized gemstone.
"That's enough." She nodded in satisfaction, watching as the violet-red blotches spread over the one-eyed girl's body.
"Farewell, Magic God Othinus."
Vmmm—!
Then came the sound of something shattering, faint like a hallucination, echoing through the deathly silent void.
In that instant, a special suction force emerged from Othinus's Magic God body, now collapsing from within.
...Hunting and devouring Magic Gods—so that's your true reason for coming to this world...
Othinus understood. Selene didn't just want to kill her—she wanted to consume her. Use a Magic God as nourishment to climb even higher!
"Then try me!"
Snarling, Othinus no longer wished to live. If she was going to die anyway, so be it! Without hesitation, she unleashed all the Magic God power she had left, charging straight at Selene.
"Gladly."
VMMM VMMM VMMM—!!
Dark light exploded outward. In an instant, Selene—or perhaps Othinus—became the center as the entire universe was linked together.
Thick, liquefied Honkai energy particles poured down. The fractures spanning the cosmos from their godly battle came alive, writhing wildly in the eerie violet-red glow. Energy gathered, forming a massive cocoon of blood.
As the first Magic God Selene ever devoured, she needed to experiment thoroughly on Othinus.
...
Reality Universe.
Above the "Star of Bethlehem" fortress—
Kamijou Touma staggered forward, gripping his severed hand, limping step by step toward the edge of the floating citadel.
That was where Selene had taken the so-called Magic God.
Everything along the way had been reduced to dust. The torn land was pocked with monstrous craters, the air thick with the scorched stench of ozone. Pools of molten red lava oozed from the ground, seeping into the soil. The entire ecosystem had undergone irreversible catastrophe.
This used to be an ocean!
Kamijou Touma knew—Selene had protected him again.
He was a softhearted guy, no doubt. He could smile and forgive those who hurt him. But hurt his friends? That was a line he couldn't accept.
People could say what they wanted about Selene. But at the very least, his time with her had been pleasant. She was just... a bit cold.
So what if she was eyeing his power? So what if she used him? He only knew one thing: Selene had never harmed him or his loved ones.
"Didn't think the Magic Gods in the ancient grimoires were actually real. I always thought they were made up..."
Especially Kanzaki Kaori's words—those finally made the spiky-haired teen unable to sit still.
"We have to do something. We need to help!"
"Are you trying to get yourself killed—" Stiyl was about to explode when a terrifyingly burned and shredded hand clamped down on his shoulder.
"Stiyl... the courage of youth shouldn't be stopped."
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