I Am Honkai

RUMBLE—!

A colossal cosmic deity thundered in the void of space as if declaring war. Her cold and arrogant proclamation echoed across the vacuum like the embodiment of universal authority.

She stood there as though she were the end of all things, the culmination of the universe's majesty and power. It was as if every aspect of human history's awe-inspiring grandeur were part of her—and at her command.

In that moment, the Honkai energy drawn from the planetary core of Earth seemed but a drop in the ocean. Centered around Selene, the rupture in reality spanned imaginary numbers, dimensions, and physical space alike. Waves from the Imaginary Sea continued to seep out.

As if painted with that tainted ink, the very fabric of the cosmos began to show signs of collapse. Sinister Honkai corruption spread like living veins under an eerie crimson light.

VWOOM—

With a single motion from Selene—

Visible gravitational waves coiled around her.

At the center of the solar system, the Sun—the ancient star revered by countless cultures—faced its doom alongside its planetary companions.

The star that had illuminated the solar system for billions of years was yanked by Selene's single hand!

It deviated from its orbit and hurtled straight toward the fractured Earth!

Buzz—!

The Sun, in its prime as a yellow dwarf, rapidly aged under divine influence. Its hydrogen fusion intensified at unprecedented speeds, birthing violent solar storms.

Its brightness visibly increased, its core began to collapse, and its outer layers swelled. Even on the broken Earth—protected by cosmic deities, Saviors, and crystalline Ultra Origins—the heat felt like it could melt mountains and boil oceans. Even Heroic Spirits sensed the onslaught of extreme heat.

In mere seconds, planetary fragments scattered throughout space were engulfed by the expanding fireball.

In space—

The immense cosmic aether entity capable of halting Selene's manipulation of the eight planets revealed itself.

A goddess—no, a supreme deity from the original universe of the Type-Moon world—descended. Her energy-formed silhouette floated beyond Earth, her eyes, like galaxies, stared upward at Selene, who had just detonated a star. There was no anger in her gaze.

Hum—!

She casually extended her hand.

From her core, a universal aether wave expanded outward, enveloping the Earth and then the entire solar system.

RUMBLE————!

In an instant, the Sun became the battlefield of two divine authorities.

BOOM! CRACK—!

With a clear snap, the hydrogen and helium composing the star violently convulsed under the overwhelming powers. From afar, the Sun looked like modeling clay, twisted and reshaped without restraint.

The stellar core could no longer withstand the abuse. Massive ruptures formed.

CRACK—!

At that moment, the universe lit up. The star collapsed into a massive expanding ring of fire and debris, diffusing into interstellar material—thus ending its evolutionary life as a star.

From Earth's perspective, the world plunged into eternal night. The solar system, once a realm of ordered orbits, was now reduced to scattered wreckage—with Earth's shattered form still barely holding on.

Strangely, Earth had not suffered the physical effects of the star's destruction. On the contrary, its seismic activity subsided. The fragments that had once drifted toward asteroid-belt oblivion now began to bind together, as if glued, even starting to coalesce.

This reaction made Selene instantly notice a subtle emotional fluctuation from her opponent.

'She cares about Earth? About Chaldea? Or perhaps... about certain people.'

Selene didn't interfere. She already had what she wanted—confirmation.

"Selene... there's no need for these little tests. Dressing up in false grandeur to deceive mortals—doesn't really suit our level, does it?"

A dazzling silhouette, like a coalescence of starlight, gradually stabilized. The radiance faded into something tangible, and there she stood—freshly reconstituted—Rin Tohsaka, facing Selene from Earth's direction.

"True. That was careless of me. How should I address you? Ishtar? Or Rin Tohsaka?"

Collapsing the galaxy-spanning projection, Selene instantly teleported before the similarly human-sized manifestation of "Rin Tohsaka."

Selene studied the divine presence before her.

This figure shared some of Ishtar's qualities—free-spirited and vibrant, filled with a lust for life—but lacked Ishtar's arrogance and unruliness.

Her youthful and elegant figure resembled the Rin Tohsaka of memory, but far more formal compared to Ishtar's revealing attire.

From the neck down, not a single inch of skin was exposed. Adorned with regal golden accents, her graceful limbs glimmered beneath flowing cosmic light like the movement of the Milky Way. Her purple-and-gold cloak bore no defensive features—emphasizing instead an aesthetic beauty, covered in intricate carvings and strange glyphs.

There wasn't a hint of armor—because for her, armor was unnecessary. She was the embodiment of the laws of the universe, second only to the Swirl of the Root in the Type-Moon world. Unless an attack reached galactic-scale output, it could not inflict meaningful harm.

Even Gaia and Alaya must bow and act cautiously in her presence.

Gradient blue hair strands brushed past her cheek, and in her brow glowed a crescent moon and star. Her long, blue-violet hair was tied with a deep red ribbon. Each breath she took caused the galaxy to ripple in response.

Beneath the celestial marks, a pair of sapphire eyes sparkled with the starlight of the entire firmament.

"I am Ishtar. The goddess Ishtar. Huh? That might confuse people with... her. Should I add a 'space' prefix? No way! 'Space' doesn't sound cute at all!"

Rin Tohsaka, now god-possessed, responded cheerfully.

"Right, then—it's settled. I am the ruler of the original universe. The goddess of goddesses. Ishtar Ashtart, foreign invader. Remember it!"

"...."

That mouth... Selene's expectations of a graceful, noble presence dropped by several tiers. Well, what else could she expect from Rin? Fully saturated with peak Rin energy.

By choosing Rin Tohsaka as her anchor in reality, even the primordial goddess of the original universe couldn't avoid adopting some human traits.

"Want to work for me? I promise—you'll see a universe far more vibrant than the closed-off one ruled by the Swirl of the Root."

As a formality before striking her down, Selene offered her hand and asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"I refuse."

Without hesitation, Ishtar Ashtart rejected her.

"Pity..."

Warm-up: complete.

VWOOM—!

Selene raised her hand slightly. Countless imaginary particles gathered in her palm.

So what if this was enemy territory? Selene began seizing control of the Root's grasp on the world. Did anyone think she used Solomon as a battering ram for no reason?

She had already glimpsed the branching structure by which parallel worlds, universes, and Stellar Inner Seas sprouted from the tributaries of the Swirl of the Root.

Through the ever-extending tendrils of Honkai corruption, Selene could see the strings that threaded the universe.

She saw the endless, omnipresent tributaries of the Swirl of the Root—currents typically hidden from mortal perception, their fluctuations so subtle that even Grand Servants struggled to detect them. Yet now, under Selene's gaze, they burned as though lit by a cosmic spotlight.

"Then die here, and become nourishment for Honkai."

A smile curled at Selene's lips. She opened her hand. If a third party could witness it up close, they would see nothing but a patch of chaos—space itself distorting in her palm. Then, as the haze cleared, a single blinding light flared within her hand!

At that moment, a true cosmic-scale cataclysm descended.

Protons, neutrons, electrons—particles of all kinds—were manipulated by Selene through mastery of the strong and weak nuclear forces. Electromagnetic radiation, extreme heat, boundless energy, gravitational distortion, and solar radiation burst forth.

Creation and destruction—like the very force of a Big Bang—churned in her palm.

"This is my answer!"

Buzz buzz buzz—!

Atop Ishtar Ashtart's head appeared the radiant Grand Crown of the Primordial Goddess. It linked the constellations and stars, igniting the frigid void of space with divine color.

Multi-Layered Star Ring, Rank: EX

A one-of-a-kind crown. Formed by the unification of all divine titles of "Queen of Heaven" descended from the original goddess Ishtar—the Ashtart Origin. It was the complete manifestation of the goddesses who share her root.

In short: a goddess with a humanoid galaxy, a domain where life can exist, a universe where humans exist as humans—the embodiment of a true primordial cosmic deity!

BOOM—CRACK CRACK CRACK!

As Selene's apocalyptic authority clashed with Ishtar Ashtart's primordial power, the myriad stars began to boil!

Their echo filled the cosmos with a grand symphony of annihilation.

Torrents of Imaginary Space, storms of the physical universe, surges from the Swirl of the Root, and flows of universal aether—all collided. Even Grand Caster clairvoyance was rendered useless. Countless dimensions, parallel worlds, and timelines across the Type-Moon world were disturbed. Everything descended into chaos!

Their duel was direct. Brutal.

As for Noble Phantasm chants?

Unnecessary.

For these two were the very concepts to which Heroic Spirits prayed!

One seemed to merely twitch a finger—but within that motion lay mastery over subatomic particles and the four fundamental forces of the universe.

The other seemed to simply hurl raw energy—but behind it lay the power of a multidimensional soul that formed the Galactic Spirit Foundation—a force capable of burning entire galactic regions to ash.

Wherever their powers collided, stars and even entire star systems were pulled from their orbits.

Each impact produced shockwaves powerful enough to derail celestial bodies.

Planets, formed through eons of evolution, collapsed like wet paper under the overwhelming might of these two cosmic goddesses.

Mountains shattered. Oceans reversed. Crusts flipped. Geography, climate, the presence of life—it didn't matter. Mass extinction swept across all.

Even hardy microorganisms perished in an instant.

One planet after another was torn apart. Molten cores erupted into space. Stars that should've burned for eons were snuffed out in a blink, crumbling into dust.

The stellar sea boiled. The stars fell. The galaxy burned.

...

Beneath the darkened sky, deep rumblings continued within the broken Earth's shifting crust.

Amid the upheaval, colossal mountain ranges—far exceeding even the mighty Himalayas—rose and fell from the grinding of tectonic plates, surging like crashing waves.

The dry seabeds roared with unending fury, while hurricanes stirred up sandstorms thousands of meters tall.

Though the planet had been forcibly reassembled under the divine might of cosmic deities, the ecosystem had collapsed. The land was dead. Restoration was, for the foreseeable future, an impossibility.

Looking upward, this was a divine war beyond any recorded in myth. The stars were falling. The gods of the universe displayed unfathomable destructive power.

Within Semiramis' Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Waver Velvet stood frozen.

"The eight planets are shattered. Even the sun is gone. Without the sun... even if the foundation is repaired, this world is doomed."

Previously, Avicebron had needed to complete the Crown: Light of Wisdom (Golem Kether Malchut), and Semiramis the Hanging Gardens. After entrusting the command of the battle to Iskandar, Waver had dedicated himself to preparation.

He'd barely survived Selene's initial annihilation blast.

But now? The Noble Phantasms were ready, yet seemingly irrelevant.

Even if Avicebron's "Adam" were a hundred thousand meters tall, one stray shockwave would still erase it.

Waver wanted to ask—why?

He had come to investigate an ordinary Fuyuki Holy Grail War, yet each twist had only delivered more and more unfathomable horrors.

First came irregular summons, then the beast-goddess appeared, then Chaldea, the Human Order guardians, entered the fray... and finally, cosmic gods themselves descended. Were it not for the protection of one of them, Earth would likely already be gone.

Even Gilgamesh, arrogant as he was, had no desire to get involved now.

The difference in scale was too great.

What was the point of indignation? He didn't even qualify to be a bystander!

"Waver Velvet."

"Who?!" A sudden voice shattered the despondent silence of the Hanging Gardens, and the gathered Servants jolted to attention.

Waver looked toward the source. At the grand hall's entrance, pure, jewel-like brilliance split space open. Through a multicolored gemstone doorway, a towering figure stepped forth.

Clad in a black uniform, standing over six feet tall, his muscular build radiated raw strength. His upright posture was like an ancient pine, exuding the aura of a seasoned general.

His features were distinctly Central European—white hair slicked back in disorderly waves, a face lined with age but alight with vitality, giving him the appearance of a robust man in his fifties.

"Waver, members of Chaldea—this is not the time for despair. An unwelcome guest has arrived. And that invader from another realm... she is not the only god-king we must face."

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