"That's settled, then. Release the news tomorrow."
"Y-yes, at once!"
Under absolute authority, Selene had no doubt the two historians would make the right choice. For her, it was trivial—replaceable, even—but for them, their compliance meant the survival of their entire bloodline.
Shifting her gaze away from the trembling chroniclers retreating on tiptoe, Selene fixed her crimson eyes on Mine. Her tone carried a faint, unreadable amusement. "Now then... it's time to deal with you."
"Cough... cough... You win..." Mine coughed blood, her breath ragged. Perhaps she had already accepted her fate. After a pause, she asked hoarsely, "Selene... if you take power, will you rule justly? Or become another Honest?"
Mine was born in the Empire's western frontier. As a mixed-blood minority, she had endured discrimination from childhood. Her fight had always been for the hope that no other child would suffer the same.
"Just rule? Of course... That much is certain. You don't have to believe me—time will prove it."
"Then why are you so cruel to the nonhuman tribes beyond the border?" Mine pressed, voice trembling with anger and pain. The effort of speaking tore at her wounds, forcing her to curl up in agony.
"'Cruel'?" Selene gave a faint laugh. "To them?"
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll indulge you with an answer."
Her tone shifted—still calm, but carrying an edge of conviction.
"You, Najenda, and those like you... your thinking is laughably naive. Nonhumans respect strength, not virtue. You see me as a butcher and a slaver of their kind—but you conveniently ignore how many Imperial civilians they slaughtered when they invaded our borders."
"Do you know how many lives I've saved? To the ordinary people on the frontier, I'm far better than your so-called 'rebels.' You've chosen to sit on the wrong side of the line."
"Yes, the nonhumans seek more land—there's nothing wrong with that. But the Empire's people wish to defend their ancestral homes and preserve their strength. That, too, is not wrong."
"As for my conquests and enslavement? That's merely the privilege of the strong."
In the twilight of the Empire, as in all eras of chaos, it was the common people who suffered most. Civil wars raged within; invaders struck from without. The powerless could only drift with the tides, their lives dictated by the whims of rulers.
"In the end, it's all about perspective. You wanted both sides to coexist in peace? How foolish. The world doesn't allow for such luxury. Temporary compromise may suppress conflict—but what happens when the spoils have all been divided?"
"Human desire is like a boulder rolling down a mountain—once it begins, it never stops. Unless those boulders were at the bottom to begin with."
Selene wasn't of this world, yet she had chosen it—and chosen the Empire as her foundation. Her allegiance was clear.
Wherever she governed, she prospered. From the Imperial Guard Legion, to the southwestern provinces, and then to the northern frontier—Selene had ruled with unmatched authority and results. Her prestige was at its zenith.
Without her command, not even Honest could move a single soldier of the Guard.
"..." Mine froze in place, dumbstruck. These words—naked in their realism and dominance—were something she had never considered.
Despite being an elite assassin, Mine was, at heart, still just a fifteen-year-old girl.
"That's enough talk," Selene said coldly. "After death—"
She raised a hand, placing it lightly against Mine's forehead, her voice turning detached. "—reflect on it in another world."
"W-wait! Another world... wha—mmph...!" Mine's words died as violet-red light surged from Selene's silver-white gauntlet. Within seconds, already at her limit, Mine's body went limp and she collapsed unconscious.
"Consciousness extraction... modification... inscription."
Grasping Mine's head in her palm, Selene began her long-prepared operation.
According to the principles of the Type-Moon world, Heroic Spirits were born when their legends became immortalized in human belief—the crystallization of deeds turned to faith.
Selene altered portions of Mine's memory relating to Honkai energy, embedded details from the official Imperial record, and with the news to be published tomorrow by the court historians... the foundation for her legend was complete.
"Now then, it's time to send her to the Type-Moon world. Establishing a link between two worlds... with this level of renown, the Throne of Heroes should accept a pseudo-servant from a parallel world," Selene murmured to herself.
"We'll use Mine as the probe first. She doesn't possess overwhelming power, and I've removed all traces of anything resembling Honkai from her memories. All that remains are fragments of the Empire—its wars, its victors, and the deeds of one of its two Great Generals, Selene."
This way, the Throne of Heroes would need to reconstruct Mine's history and identity through her memories. And in doing so, it would inevitably record Selene's existence as well.
"Once that's done, my data will have reached their side. Next time, when I personally respond to a Holy Grail Summoning... there'll already be a template in place. Even if my power exceeds their acceptable limit, the Throne should still let me through... probably."
As she pondered, Selene noticed the purple-red Honkai particles completely enveloping Mine's body—the moment had come.
"Sebas, handle everything here. I have other matters to attend to," she instructed. Picking up Pumpkin, Selene vanished in an instant, taking Mine's body with her.
—Into Imaginary Space.
"Void Gate," she intoned.
Vmmmmm—
The infinite violet void around her began to tremble. The space before Selene shimmered and split apart, glowing brilliantly.
In the next instant, a massive space-time vortex, hundreds of meters across, formed and hovered before her within the Imaginary Space.
"Active or passive... I believe the Throne prefers the latter," she mused. At her fingertip, a pulse of violet light flashed, and a pale gray cube materialized in her hand.
It was the Teigu: Dimensional Formation · Shambhala.
"Heh... you're getting a good deal out of this. Memory modification."
Hmm... After wounding Syura, Shambhala had fallen into the chaos of battle and eventually ended up in Mine's possession. Then, in her final duel against Great General Budo, she exhausted all her strength. Pumpkin was destroyed, her energy spent—and that's when she encountered the other Great General, Selene.
Taking advantage of Selene's mercy, born of admiration for talent, Mine managed to recover a sliver of strength and used all her remaining life force to overcharge Shambhala to its absolute limit. In her final moments, her dying wish resonated with the Holy Grail—the omnipotent wishing machine of the Type-Moon world—and drew her across the boundary between realities.
"Yes, that's perfect. A clean story, believable legend, and a good impression of me left on the Throne of Heroes. My patience answering her questions wasn't wasted after all."
Selene continued adjusting the narrative threads within Mine's memories—small edits, refinements, logical consistency maintained.
As for whether Shambhala truly had world-transference capabilities?
"Well, as long as the legend's strong enough, that hardly matters. The Throne doesn't fact-check."
After all, Heroic Spirits weren't literal recreations of the living—they were manifestations shaped by myths, distortions, and interpretations. Misunderstandings, embellishments, and creative retellings all became part of the legend.
A classic example: the Vlad the Impaler in life was purely human—but as a Heroic Spirit, he possessed a vampiric aspect.
"Coordinates... assigned. Dimensional link... active. Charging... transfer!"
Selene synchronized the coordinates of the Akame ga Kill world with the sigil imprinted onto Mine's soul. In doing so, the faith and legend associated with her would flow continuously into the Throne of Heroes.
Once everything was in place, Selene began the transdimensional transfer. The light sphere surrounding Mine pulsed once—then moved.
With a shimmer of rippling distortion, it vanished into the Void Gate.
"Phew... that took a lot more effort than expected. Hopefully it'll be worth it. In any case, it's time to spread a few stories about Mine's 'glorious deeds'..."