The light vanished.
The blank, colorless expanse returned to vibrant hues. Time and space, once erased, began to flow again. The infinite radiance containing all spacetime, matter, energy, celestial bodies, and life-essence that would one day give rise to the material world of this newborn multiverse resumed its circulation.
Selene stood at the center of the surging energy tides.
Amid the flowing ocean of light formed by electrons, photons, neutrinos, and other fundamental particles—under the extreme collision, expansion, and scouring of the Planck-time limit (10^-44 seconds)—she remained upright.
Within this void where neither nebulae nor even the most primitive lifeforms had yet been born, the newly minted, "naturalized and officially appointed" Marvel cosmic creator god—Eternity—the extracosmic Honkai Empress fell into silence.
Haa... haa...
Clad in a resplendent imperial dress that reflected her dominion and preferences as though mirroring the cosmic firmament, violet-gold tassels and a pure white skirt embroidered with dark patterns drifted in the turbulent winds. Her platinum-blonde hair whipped wildly, shining with a soft radiance like sunlight—like a shimmering galaxy.
Her crimson eyes, reflecting the growth-veins of the multiverse each passing second, slowly narrowed, amusement flickering within.
"Recruitment? Tch... what a novel experience. I've always been the one recruiting others. Never thought I'd live to see the day I'd be the one recruited..."
Her lips twitched upward as she let out a dry laugh.
Everything had happened too quickly. To slip so easily into the inner ranks of the Marvel universe was beyond her expectations. Yet though unexpected, it was also logical—aligned with Elder OAA's practical needs.
She did not need to guess all of what this senior—this suddenly overhead superior, this unseen and unrelated "sibling"—was thinking.
In essence—inheritance appropriation.
Not literally the feudal custom, but similar in nature.
What OAA wanted, if nothing else, was Selene herself—and everything she represented behind her: her "assets."
As for granting her authority second only to the Omniverse, opening to her the most special and fundamental position among the cosmic creator gods—Eternity—a status nearly equal, second only to one, beyond even the arbitrary interference of the Living Tribunal...
All of that, to OAA, was insignificant.
Indeed, He already acknowledged that Selene possessed the qualifications. These were merely necessary conditions to subdue and influence her. With only the Living Tribunal capable of bearing the burden as His apostle, why not add another—"Honkai Firmament"?
"Eternity, hm."
As the sea of light pulsed at her fingertips, Selene brought her racing thoughts to a halt and slowly swept her gaze across her surroundings.
Her own secondary omnipotent multiversal abstract entity emerged from the background of quantum fluctuations. Heatwaves exceeding the limit of 10^32 degrees Celsius licked against her flawless face.
The orbits of rotating stars formed the hem of her skirt. The brilliance of constellations unfurled across her form, flowing and spreading. Dimensional star-tracks circled her, imbued with motion and mystery. Time shifted in instants, and within it lay the secrets of infinite multiverses.
Every generation of Eternity represented the concrete manifestation of the entirety of a universe's time—and the collective consciousness of all life within it—the embodied avatar of the universe itself.
Selene was no exception.
Yet compared to the current Seventh Eternity, who no longer solely bore the fundamental structure of the (omnipotent) universe, Eternity Selene more closely resembled the predecessors before him.
Before the Seventh, the Sixth and earlier generations of Eternity not only individually upheld the basic structure of the universe but also represented the new possibilities they themselves created and expanded for "Marvel" as a whole.
To put it simply, the eras before the Sixth were periods of rapid development. By the Seventh, development had stagnated. It was only in the era of the Seventh Eternity that the omnipotent universe gave birth to the current five cosmic creator gods.
Selene was an old-school Eternity.
There was no Death to divide away her conceptual dominion over death, life, and soul.
No Infinity to divide away her embodiment of the totality of cosmic space.
No Oblivion to divide away her manifestation of nonexistence, void, and the unknowable across the multiverse.
I alone stand astride the universe, bearing the abyss of heaven upon my back.
Ah—almost forgot one.
Galactus.
He did not belong to the category of abstract cosmic entities. No need to concern herself with him overly.
"The composure of the strong. How delightful."
Selene gazed at the scene for a long while, then slowly curved her lips.
To be valued. To be plotted against. In some cases, that was not a bad thing.
The truly pitiful fate was to be ignored—to be unworthy of calculation, unworthy of inclusion.
Lowering oneself?
It was not as though she had never done so.
At worst, this was merely another reenactment of the central council's power consolidation or the Thousand-Year Empire general's usurpation.
Selene was well-versed in such plays. Though the difficulty this time was on an entirely different scale from before, so too were her starting point and capital far greater.
"An unbreakable shield against encroaching darkness. An indestructible blade sweeping away cosmic turmoil. A supreme deity safeguarding the multiversal realms. A fair and impartial arbiter... Which do you expect me to become?"
She spread her arms as she spoke.
Eyes always brimming with tears cannot see the future clearly. Better to act than to sit and wait.
That was Selene's creed.
Hum—hum—hum—
Like ripples across water, within the infinite dimensions of this multiverse now entering its material phase, violet-crimson waves spread through the space around Selene. One pitch-black aperture after another tore open in the void.
They were single universes forcibly seized under Selene's dominion and connected here through brute extraction.
Unnumbered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Some were barren, desolate death-universes discovered by civilian Rogue Traders. Some were primitive life-universes assessed by the Imperial military as low-value and temporarily sealed for lack of development priority. Others were worlds Selene sensed beyond the cosmic sea—whether single universe or multiverse—and forcibly extracted before injecting them directly into her newly acquired Marvel secondary omnipotent multiverse.
Heh.
The more she fulfilled her newly obtained duties, the more she felt just how "black-hearted" OAA was.
A so-called secondary omnipotent multiverse? In truth, it was merely a newly born composite multiverse. Yes, OAA had lifted the promotion restrictions within the Marvel system and opened a green channel for its ascension—but how was it to ascend?
The resources and "mass" required for world advancement? After providing the entry ticket into the greater multiversal framework, that old fox had vanished without a trace.
Selene did not even bother to sense it. He was surely observing her every move from some higher-dimensional inner space, waiting for her to labor wholeheartedly for this blank check.
Should she jump into this pit?
Selene had already jumped.
Space twisted...
As far as the eye could see, it was as though countless frost-blurred mirrors appeared simultaneously, mosaic-like distortions seeping into the still-expanding multiverse.
They formed bizarre, irregular kaleidoscopes, stretching the entire universe infinitely. When the distance reached a certain limit, they proliferated, merged, solidified—then a most fundamental multiverse was born.
At every moment, it repeated. Countless universe-bubbles, dimensions, and special spaces were born, proliferated, expanded!
Perhaps exhausting oneself on the chessboard to become the strongest piece had no meaning at all. But Selene, possessing a strong sense of ownership, did not think so. Sooner or later she would become the one holding the board. Fattening her pieces was merely a necessary process.
Resources were not irreplaceable.
Selene was no miser.
Yes—this was an investment. And she was already prepared for losses, even total ruin.
To gain ten thousandfold profit with zero risk—where in the world did such a thing exist? Consider it tuition.
You freeload—I learn.
OAA's entire foundation, the structural veins of the Marvel Omniverse—every bit of it was worth studying and borrowing.
A profound glint flickered within her crimson pupils. Selene stretched lazily, casting a glance in a certain direction, growing ever more eager.
"Not enough. Main body—I need more!"
Before her words fully faded—
Riiip!
Hum hum hum hum hum hum—
The embryonic universe, already gulping down extracosmic "nutrients" like a leviathan, suddenly erupted into even more violent spatial storms.
...
A certain supreme higher-dimensional space.
Sea and sky were of one color. Concepts held no meaning here—at least none belonging to the Marvel Omniverse system.
Literally nothing existed.
Within the barren radiance, an elderly voice sounded.
"The main body... indeed, merely one of countless incarnations. Infinity remains infinity no matter how many times divided. In any case, it seems a tacit agreement has barely been reached."
"Heh heh. An interesting 'junior'—invasive by nature yet obsessively devoted to order; arrogant and autocratic yet humble and receptive; insatiably desirous yet pure and detached. Contradictory. Contradictory. Utterly contradictory..."
"Honkai... Empire... Covenant... UEG... UNSC... Forerunners... Precursors... Flood... Zerg... Inquisition... Inquisitor Chapter... Interesting..."
"The 'unknown' beyond omniscience and omnipotence... so many variables. How many new possibilities will they bring? A stagnant pool requires fresh living water..."
"Living Tribunal—my child, my messenger, my servant. Come before me. I shall... grant you a mission."
Clang!
Like the impact of heavy metal striking.
Within the barren light, a slender shadow quietly appeared.
It was a colossal golden humanoid entity—head severed from body.
"I answer your summons, my Lord."
...
"OAA..."
In the boundless extracosmic darkness, Selene stood upon the void and murmured the name. After lowering her head in thought for a moment, rare solemnity and excitement flickered within her deep crimson eyes.
"Transaction. Wager. Cooperation..."
She had agreed.
Then so be it.
Selene faintly sensed that the key to her next sublimation—accumulated in silence before explosive release—lay here.
With thoughts connected, once she grasped the intent of her split incarnation, it took only a few breaths for her to thoroughly strip clean the universe-bubbles occupying this region of the cosmic sea.
Alive or dead—registered by the Empire or not—after extracting the exploratory fleets, those greedy hyenas that roamed the worlds accumulating wealth, Selene shoveled everything else wholesale into her new multiverse.
Within the silent void, ravaged by Selene's plunder, some world-bubbles collapsed abruptly. Countless fine cracks, like spiderwebs, spread across wave after wave of universe barriers.
Selene did not care.
Not Imperial citizens. Not her subjects.
Why should she care whether they lived or died?
From beneath the fissures of certain multiversal bubbles burst native powerhouses and gods, surging upward in fury. Selene did not even glance at them. Like a gambler searching for chips, she wrapped them in annihilating flames.
With a wave of her hand, pure blood-flames—crimson cosmic energy manifesting as condensed life-essence—along with temporary guiding channels linked to the far side of the void, were forcibly injected like a whale drawing in water.
If she were to act as a nursemaid, then at the very least—her "milk" would never run dry.
OAA was strong—supreme omniscience and omnipotence, yes. But she had her own advantages. External plunder, forcible extraction, extracosmic maneuvering—these were Selene's home field. His steadiness and constraints meant he would not venture outward lightly without sufficient cause.
The gambling table was set. The chips were down.
She followed.
If she lost, so what? She would not truly lose.
As for why she would not lose—well. Selene had decided to learn a little from the old Emperor currently working under her command.
"By the way... my 117. Go take a look..."
...
Meanwhile—
Within the Marvel Omniverse, amid the multiversal ocean vast as grains of sand, within one tiny speck—designated Earth-199999.
Wrapped in gentle buoyancy, enjoying the fleeting stillness where thought itself seemed paused—
"Ah—!"
He jolted awake.
The towering giant clad in silver-white heavy armor stirred before the central command platform of the bridge. He rose slowly at first, scanning his surroundings in confusion. Then realization flickered—broken thoughts reconnected.
His body lunged forward. His armored arm collided with the metal console, producing a deep, resonant boom like a great bell.
As his broad form spread wide, the number '117' engraved upon his chestplate became visible, along with the refined insignia '≡≡' upon his right pauldron.
Demon Inquisitor Chapter—Designation 117.
"Hiss—hah... I... I was supposed to be in slipspace transition." Dizzy, he shook his head and straightened with effort. "Where... is this?"
—
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