The curtain falls.
Whoosh—!
"Mm..."
"What happened?"
Consciousness slowly rose from an endless black domain. Life and all things regained awareness from boundless nothingness.
The brush of wind, the warmth of sunlight, the earthy scent of primordial mountains and rivers, the chirp of birds and insects, and the gradually swelling clamor of human voices.
Kamar-Taj.
Saitama opened his eyes. A faint burning sensation pricked at his retinas, and his vision was filled with blinding white.
Though it had only been a moment of daze, he felt an inexplicable sense of long absence. Shaking his somewhat groggy head, Saitama paused for a while. The lifeless, fish-like look in his eyes slowly refocused. Then, as if recalling something—"The great disaster!" His expression shifted, and he cried out in alarm, hurriedly looking down toward the ancient city of mages beneath the mountain peak.
In his urgency, Saitama even forgot to use the Sling Ring portal spell he had been practicing diligently lately. Instinctively, he transformed into a roaring streak of force and shot toward Kamar-Taj village.
"Was it a dream..." he muttered.
He had no idea what had happened. While carrying out his coursework as a mage of Kamar-Taj and acting as a hero for fun, the sudden global disappearance of life had filled him with foreboding. He had rushed back from North America to Kamar-Taj, only to discover that many mages—including the Ancient One and Doctor Strange—had vanished.
During that time, he had searched for the personnel left behind on Earth by the 117th Fleet of the Demon Inquisitor Chapter under the Imperial Inquisition, hoping to contact the Chapter Master. Yet no matter what he tried, he could not reach them.
All he learned was that, in the interstellar depths beyond planetary scale, a cosmic war was underway.
A mad Titan named Thanos intended to gather six cosmic artifacts and slaughter half the life in the universe to please his god.
Just as Saitama was helping the remaining half of the mages with whatever he could and preparing to head into space to eliminate that weirdo, it had felt as though he blinked and fell asleep—yet it was the kind of sleep with terrible quality. He had sunk into deep water in a daze, and after a single frame of experience, he had awakened again.
"This isn't normal. Some kind of nightmare-type monster?"
"Oh my, if Saitama-san thinks that way, I would feel undeservedly flattered. To cause all life on an entire planet—without distinction between noble or lowly—to disintegrate on its own, and even drag a great hero like Saitama-san into a dream without resistance or awareness... that is far beyond what a mere nightmare could accomplish."
The flippant tone grew solemn toward the end. Slowly gathering from drifting petals, the white-haired, white-robed Dream Magus wore a grave expression.
"A god," he said.
"The god of this universe."
"A god-level monster?" Saitama was about to ask further when, from the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a brilliant purple-red radiance quietly observing him. Like a sudden revelation, that familiar yet unfamiliar vast shadow instantly enveloped him.
The distortion and folding of reality obscured the changes and flow of time and space.
And the sudden emergence of a concealed aura... along with the terrifying presence laid bare, undisguised.
"Saitama."
That familiar voice and tone—though emotion within it was gradually fading, no longer sensitive to many things—the figure he had once beheld in the Imperial Capital of the Honkai Dimension remained unforgettable, even if only seen once.
He could not forget.
Nor was he able to.
Cold sweat poured instantly down his smooth forehead...
It had nothing to do with courage or bravery. It was his body's instinctive response. Even before he consciously reacted, his physique, his soul, his thoughts, his very concept of existence—every component of him—was trembling.
"Your Majesty, I'm sorry. I failed. I did not complete the task you entrusted to me—protecting the tithe world..."
Dejected, Saitama lowered his head.
In the blank void beyond the heavens—where shattered "realities" lay everywhere—after the will of self-destruction had vanished, the truly unified pale-gold authority over all things flowed through strands of flawless white hair, winding delicately around Selene's crystal-clear fingertips.
She stood within that blank void beyond the heavens, yet not a single trace of energy leaked from her. Without looking with the naked eye, one could not perceive her existence at all. It was as if she had fused with all reality—she was all things, and yet beyond all things.
What she thought, she knew.
What she knew, was everything.
In an instant, she understood everything that had occurred on Earth. Selene shook her head at Saitama's self-reproach...
Truthfully, transporting Saitama to Earth had merely been to anchor the entity-source of the "Limiter" concept to Marvel. After all, Earth was the "heart" of the foremost of the Five Great Gods—Eternity—one of the regions where laws and newborn concepts were most active.
As for the rest, the responsibilities Saitama believed he bore were secondary—insignificant, waiting to be arranged.
"No. You have fulfilled your mission. Now, Saitama, enjoy this period of study abroad."
With a single thought from Selene—
"Huh? What? Wait—hm?!"
The Empress' gaze withdrew. After hearing her words, Saitama scratched the back of his head in confusion.
At that moment—"Saitama."
A gentle, leisurely female voice sounded. Saitama turned sharply toward the mentor who had instructed him during this period.
"Master Ancient One!"
The smooth-headed elder woman, her scalp shining, along with the long-faced mage and the plump mage...
"Fufu... It seems Her Majesty has already completed her plan. Ah, and here I was, the Sword Saint of Avalon, not even having made my move."
Holding a pure white small beast in his arms, Merlin chuckled as he looked toward the vast blue sky. Like a meteor shower, streaks of light crossed the heavens, dispelling all darkness. The brilliant outline spanning the void was terrifying yet familiar—radiant and blazing...
"Fu~, fu!" The pure white little beast glanced at the shameless man with disdain. You did absolutely nothing. You were merely thrown here by the Empress as expendable material. It's just that you were too cunning and managed to last until the end.
"Ah! Now, now, that's not right, Fou. If the plan had failed, we would have been the backup response. Even if only one of them, how can that be called unimportant?"
...
"Aunt May!"
At the same time, in Manhattan, New York—Central Park—high school student Peter Parker ran at full speed.
The streets were filled with noisy crowds.
"Oh my god!"
"You're alive!"
"I thought I had lost you forever..."
"God bless! God-Emperor bless!"
Incredulous greetings rose one after another.
He did not know whether that "Supreme" being had restored everything. At this moment, he did not care about exposing his extraordinary physique. Vaulting and weaving through the air, he arrived at Central Park—the place where they had once held a barbecue picnic and camped together.
There were too many people.
The tide of people returned from ashes walked here, gasping for breath. Peter Parker searched—until—
"Peter."
A call—so familiar—carrying a note of reproach.
"Peter, what happened to you? How did you end up like this?"
"Aunt May!" With a sobbing cry, Peter Parker flung his arms open and rushed toward the still graceful Caucasian woman who was walking over with a frown.
...
Taking everything into her sight, sorting through all realities, and confirming that everything Controller Thanos had murdered, destroyed, or erased had been rewound and restored, Selene shifted her attention to the worthy senior before her—"AAO," who could no longer reunify and ascend once more into "OAA."
"Come. My good senior. The development of the Sacred Empire requires your 'omniscience and omnipotence.'"
"..."
Silent, the white-haired elder sage—"AAO" in outward form—ultimately chose to follow in Selene's footsteps.
Creak—
Together with Selene, he pushed open the gate of the cosmic wall—the gate of the Marvel Universe.
Beyond the boundless void, on the other shore of the Sea of Realms, radiance ignited. The resplendent Honkai omnipotent domain devoured the shadows of nothingness and surged toward the Marvel Universe.
Beneath the deep wrinkles of "AAO," his eyes gradually widened. He truly beheld the realm that belonged to Selene.
"Here."
At that moment, Selene handed over a rectangular object.
"?" A question flickered across his face. "AAO" accepted it and narrowed his eyes. Through the glowing interlayer, he saw clearly what Selene had passed to him— a stack of documents?!
"Yours."
"AAO" lifted his head, first glancing at Selene, who nodded with a gentle smile, then lowered it again with suspicion.
—"On the Ascension of the Imperial Astartes Celestial Legion and Related Opinions · First Revision"—
—"On the Necessity of Universal Distribution of Super-Artifacts Such as the Heart of the Universe · Pending Submission to the Secretariat for Discussion"—
—"Administrative Classification for Incorporating the Marvel Universe into the Imperial Governance System and the Assignment of Civil Officials · Notes"—
—"On Whether to Restrict Space-Time Due to the Special Nature of the Marvel Universe, the Formation of New Auxiliary and Vassal Forces, and New Campaign and Expansion Quotas · Draft"—
...
"Honkai has never been merely the descent of destruction. After finality comes a new beginning. Development, breakthrough, further development, further breakthrough—these are the eternal themes. Regardless of the means employed, regardless of the cost in the process—be it inglorious or irrational—this is the path of my 'omniscience and omnipotence.'"
Selene let out a soft laugh. Standing at the junction between the Marvel Universe and the Honkai Dimension, in the moment before the two fully merged, she extended her hand.
At that instant, behind her—from the Honkai realm beyond the Sea of Realms—voices gathered from the endless, profound void.
"Your Majesty." "Queen." "Our Goddess."
Vast emotions—joy, anticipation, inevitability—converged.
Like veins of light, like countless morning stars dragging radiant comet tails, they pierced through layer upon layer of boundaries, converging behind Selene into a shimmering ocean of light.
Perhaps in "AAO"'s eyes, aside from a very few worthy of a second glance, the rest were nothing more than dust and ants. Yet it was precisely that united will, that upward striving spirit—rather than the decadent stagnation of a pleasure-seeking god reduced to hollow amusement.
He extended his hand as well.
And in that very moment, the Marvel Universe and the Honkai Dimension made contact—merging, becoming one.
"After finality comes a new beginning. It shall be without end."
A faint smile curved Selene's lips.
Absolute 'omniscience and omnipotence'? No. Such thing don't exist. This is a road without end.
—
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