What the beings of this world might feel from beyond Earth's atmosphere was something Selene neither knew nor cared to know.
Even if she could feel it, such emotions had long become irrelevant to her.
Floating silently in the void of space, Selene gazed down upon the Earth below—its surface now almost completely enveloped in a vast violet barrier. Her scarlet, diamond-shaped pupils reflected no emotion whatsoever.
In most worlds, power was proportional to the abundance of life and vitality. And under the Honkai's total planetary corruption, that vitality had all but vanished. The moment to consume the entire Jackie Chan Adventures world had arrived.
"It's time."
The instant her voice fell, tides of Honkai particles surged across the solar system, rippling outward in a violent tide.
The time had come.
The violet barrier surrounding Earth began to fade away, its purpose fulfilled. The Honkai had fully fused with the planet. From that moment on, the Honkai Beasts ceased being invaders—they had become this world's native lifeforms. The spatial transmission was no longer needed.
Sensing Selene's will, every Honkai Beast on Earth halted its rampage. Their massive forms lowered reverently to the ground, as though in worship.
Seeing the white monsters suddenly stop, the few surviving humans across the globe broke into trembling cries of disbelief.
"They stopped! The monsters stopped attacking! God hasn't abandoned us!"
"We're alive!"
"Come on! Let's get out of here while we can—"
"Wait... look! Look at the sky!"
At last, even the shattered remnants of humanity noticed the changes in outer space. Eyes turned upward to the sky—bright, vast, and unnaturally luminous.
High above, a crimson "planet" shone brilliantly, its glow so intense that it outshone the stars. Looking closer, people began to notice something horrifying: within that red sphere was a golden outline and a faint diamond-shaped gleam.
"Is that... the sun? No... it's moving... that golden ring—wait... that's a pupil!"
Only then did people realize what they were truly seeing. As their vision adjusted, their hearts froze—the "crimson planet" was no celestial body at all.
It was an eye.
A single, colossal, blood-red eye.
And as the Earth itself seemed to tremble, the full face of the being to whom it belonged was revealed.
Her visage spanned the heavens—two enormous scarlet eyes set into a face woven from the tapestry of the stars themselves. Her face dwarfed even the Earth–Moon system.
Gazing into those eyes, as deep and endless as a galaxy cluster, all traces of hope vanished from the hearts of humankind. Despair, emptiness, numbness—those were all that remained.
Thud...
"Oh... my God..."
"Lord, please forgive us!"
...
"The time is right. Let's begin."
Her voice—cold, resonant, and devoid of emotion—echoed through the vacuum of space in utter defiance of physics, reverberating across the heavens like the decree of a god.
Following the faint ripples of resistance emanating from deep within the planet, Selene's consciousness ripped violently through the barriers of existence, descending into the chaotic light of the void.
The World Core had no sentience—only instinct—but when it sensed Selene's invasive presence and the sharp, predatory aura she radiated, the shimmering light recoiled, seeking to flee.
But Selene was no fledgling.
"This makes two."
She extended a hand formed of pure will. The massive, radiant hand closed tightly around the escaping core. Ignoring its desperate wail, she crushed it without hesitation.
"Devour."
Her cold voice echoed through the void. The cosmos itself seemed to rumble in response.
From the depths of space, the chaotic light flared brilliantly. The crown-like chaos halo above Selene's head grew denser, brighter, more divine.
"Ahh... this feeling... truly intoxicating."
As with The Walking Dead world, the moment she devoured the world's core, an indescribable rush surged up from deep within her soul—addictive, transcendent.
When she opened her eyes again, an unmistakable expression of genuine joy—pure, unrestrained, and born from her very soul—lit her face.
For the second time, Selene had achieved complete ascension.
At that instant, every strand of existence—the world's developmental timeline, its structure, its very framework—was laid bare before her, crystal clear in her perception.
Now, even if this were the primeval age of the Eight Demon Sorcerers and the Eight Immortals at their full strength, Selene could crush them all—sixteen against one—with ease.
"World control complete. Now... let's merge the two worlds and forge a dimension of my own."
Her brief moment of delight faded, and Selene spread her hand wide. Space itself trembled as a colossal rift, shimmering with countless shifting colors, tore open before her—a gateway of infinite energy.
In response to her will, the entire solar system belonging to the Jackie Chan Adventures world began to transform.
This was part of a plan long in motion—her goal to create a realm entirely her own.
The Honkai Dimension.
The strength of the Honkai was tied to the civilization it inhabited. The more advanced the civilization, the stronger the Honkai's growth. In every world, the Honkai would always be slightly stronger than the total sum of that world's power.
But Selene was not one to remain passive. Rather than leech off another developed world like a parasite, enduring endless hunts from that world's so-called heroes, she would build her own world—be its ruler, develop it as she pleased, and feed its growth through the invasion and absorption of other worlds. A self-sustaining cycle of evolution.
In her vision, this new realm would be akin to Dormammu's Dark Dimension—but not entirely the same.
The similarity: within it, nothing could escape the notice of its ruler, and the ruler's authority would be absolute.
The difference: this dimension would not be her weakness. Even if she left it, her power would not wane unless suppressed by a world of higher rank. As civilization advanced within the dimension, so too would her strength rise accordingly. Even if the dimension were destroyed, it would matter little—she could simply build another one.
As an immortal being with an effectively infinite lifespan, Selene had all the time in the world.
As for developing civilization—or dealing with rebellion from the oppressed—she couldn't care less. To her, the so-called people were merely ornaments, decorative embellishments at best.
As long as civilization existed within her dimension—as long as there was life, activity, and resources—Selene would possess an unending source of power. She would never truly die. At worst, she might be weakened or sealed, her growth slowed... but never halted.
Even if her power increased by a single gram each year, it was still increasing.
With that logic in place, she cared not for how the denizens of her realm perceived her—love, hatred, worship, or fear.
One way or another, she would do whatever she pleased.
The will of the so-called citizens of the Honkai Dimension? Irrelevant.
If she was in a good mood, perhaps she'd grant them a blessing of power. But if they dared cause trouble... total erasure.
Of course, that was the worst-case scenario. Selene was no mindless brute, nor a tyrant of chaos. Her rule would be deliberate—meticulous, and strategic.
Was she strong? Yes. Invincible? Perhaps.
But part of her success lay in caution.
Why had her rise been so seamless, her victories so absolute? Because she always chose her targets wisely. She invaded only weaker worlds. When entering stronger ones, she hid her power, never acting rashly or dreaming of sudden ascension.
Her growth might have been slow, but it was stable. The risk of failure—minimal.
As long as she could advance step by step, she would never gamble her existence against an unknown foe.
And in her new dominion, her governance would be equally refined.
The Mental Seal.
Desire manipulation.
Truth through lies.
Conflict redirection.
The illusion of progress.
She had endless methods of control.
Absolute power was the foundation—the sword of Damocles hanging perpetually over all subjects.
After all, her years as the ruling class of the Empire had not been wasted.
Indeed, the thousand-year empire would serve as the foundation for her new Honkai civilization. That was why she had invested so much time in that world, playing the role of a loyal general under Honest—to sow the seeds for this very moment.
...
"Open."
Crack!
As the ruler of the Honkai Dimension and the absolute master of the Jackie Chan Adventures world, Selene willed all restrictions away—completely freeing the merged realms from limitation.
In an instant, the colossal, multicolored rift stretched across the entire solar system. Streams of violet-red light surged outward from Earth, connecting every planet in a dazzling web of energy.
The fractures danced like living things, twisting and weaving through the void in eerie rhythm until they formed a grand, sigil-like pattern.
Then, accompanied by a sound like the shattering of reality itself, the solar system—Earth included—was seized as though by a monstrous, violet-red claw. The entire region of space was forcibly dragged downward, swallowed by the gaping rift below.
Rumble... Rumble...
Bathed in rippling violet light, the Jackie Chan Adventures world—encased in a transparent, spherical barrier—was slowly pulled into the vast expanse of Imaginary Space.
As this happened, the chaotic crown hovering above Selene's head—symbol of her authority as [Lord of the World] and [Overlord]—flared with brilliance, ensuring the transition unfolded flawlessly.
"Finally... it begins."
Within the boundless depths of the Imaginary Space, Selene moved with newfound ease. At her command, a vast region of the void was delineated and marked.
At its center, the Sun now hung suspended, surrounded by the familiar planets of the solar system—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto—all repositioned at her whim.
"Not enough. Come here..."
With a wave of her hand, the kaleidoscopic rift reopened. Under her will, The Walking Dead world—her previous conquest—was dragged in as well.
Moments later, it shared the same fate as the Jackie Chan Adventures world. The planet shattered apart, breaking down into endless streams of matter—raw building material.
By Selene's hand, these fragments were reforged into solid barriers and new land, constructing the foundation that would separate her new Honkai Dimension from the endless void of Imaginary Space.
Since this was her domain, Selene saw no need to follow natural cosmic laws. Instead of countless planetary spheres, she crafted one immense supercontinent.
"Let's call you... the Honkai Continent," she mused with an amused smirk.
Following her will, the newly formed land expanded outward—mountains rose, plains stretched, seas and rivers took shape.
Then she paused, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Hmm... something's missing. My dwelling must be majestic—something worthy of my reign."
As if in response to her thought, the northern center of the Honkai Continent began to quake violently. From the trembling ground, a titanic mountain surged upward, growing higher and broader by the second—so vast it defied physics itself.
Measured by the standards of the physical universe, its height was equivalent to the diameter of the Moon.
As the mountain and landmass took shape, the oceans of the solar system were gathered and poured around its base, forming a boundless inland sea.
Above, the violet barrier spread, shielding the world from the Sun's radiation. Countless stars, galaxies, and nebulae shimmered in the firmament—projections of Selene's own design.
There were no hemispheres, no tilt of axis. Day and night were unified and regulated to Earth's time cycle. Through repeated calibration, Selene established all of Earth's climate zones within the new world—along with several newly invented, extreme biomes beyond anything that had ever existed.
"Whew..."
Even for Selene—the ruler of two worlds and the master of Imaginary Space—the scale of this creation left her drained. The immense consumption of energy was unlike anything she had experienced before.
Though her strength replenished rapidly within her own domain, maintaining such equilibrium between expenditure and absorption was no small strain.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she turned her gaze toward the last remaining blue planets.
"...Now, it's your turn."
Buzz... Buzz...
Unlike the violent dismantling of the other worlds, Selene handled the two Earths with care. Rather than reducing them to debris, she peeled away their surface layers like the rind of fruit—preserving them meticulously.
Soon, the separated planetary crusts floated like massive, layered cakes beside her. The stripped cores were disassembled and merged into the structure of the Honkai Continent, reinforcing its foundation.
"Go."
She guided the planetary fragments, arranging each according to its optimal climate zone.
When the final layer was in place, Selene exhaled deeply, exhaustion tinged with satisfaction. Gazing upon the magnificent world she had built within the limitless Imaginary Space, a faint smile crossed her lips.
"The prototype of the Honkai Dimension... it's almost complete. All that's left is to seed its foundation with civilization."
Her creation—her masterpiece.
Selene chuckled softly. "The fruit called Empire is nearly ripe for harvest... Honest, you'd better not disappoint me."