Before the Golden Tree, upon blood-soaked earth, a golden-haired maiden strolled. A delicate path unfurled beneath her feet across the crimson landscape, as if welcoming her return.
"The laws governing the cosmos, the mysteries of life's cycle, the place where all essence and origin converge."
"...Is He welcoming my arrival...?" Snow murmured to herself as she continued down the path.
The girl had always known she was different. Her mind, unlike others', carried fragments of memories from a transmigrator, along with the powers that came with them.
[ Beneath the brilliant starry sky that shrouds the heavens, with the World Tree rooted in the firmament, you hang upside down from its branches, rooted in the earth. In every leaf, every possibility of that tree, I find no trace of you. ]
[ Daughter of Man, what are you? ]
Her companion's initial question echoed in her mind—and now, the golden-haired girl sensed she would finally find the true answer here.
She strolled along the path, drawn by the Golden Tree's silent call. It beckoned her to claim the spear and sword destined for her.
"I am not a false god..."
She had made no pact with the god known as the Honkai Will, nor had she borrowed authority from Him. Therefore, she was not a puppet of the Honkai.
Yet as she drew closer to the Imaginary Tree, she felt her own Authority becoming increasingly complete: law, space, conquest, desire, stillness...
This was not the power of a Herrscher, but something more primal, coalescing within her from the golden tree's roots and veins—the Original Imaginary Authority.
...The path across the Blood Soil had reached its end. The towering tree loomed before her. Instinctively, she placed her hand on its golden trunk.
Closing her eyes, she posed her final question to the World Tree—the world-spanning entity before her that, by all rights, should lack consciousness.
"Who am I?"
The Imaginary Tree, lacking consciousness, naturally couldn't answer her question.
But the moment the girl placed her hand on the trunk, a flood of information surged forth from the tree, a deluge of what she recognized as Information.
Within this boundless torrent, she found the answer she sought:
Long ago, a great being who had fallen from a higher dimension seized a portion of the Imaginary Tree's Authority. This Authority, along with the nameless being's remnants, ultimately fell into a single leaf among the tree's thousand branches.
The being's remnants, still carrying the Authority, ultimately landed within a young child's life-support pod in the personal quarters of a Schicksal Overseer. The child was the progeny of Otto Apocalypse and Kallen Kaslana, inheriting both their bloodlines.
Created by the Schicksal Overseer for some unfathomable purpose, this child should never have been born, nor should they have existed, let alone possessed self-awareness. Yet at that very moment, they were truly reborn.
The nameless being's fragments had nurtured a nascent consciousness and soul within her. The remnants of the fallen being's memories allowed her to swiftly comprehend her surroundings. And the Imaginary Authority they had brought down with them allowed her to leave her unique imprint upon the Golden Tree.
She was an unreplicable miracle, a Holy Child born with an unconscious connection to the Imaginary Tree. Unlike the Honkai Will, she possessed supreme Authority but had been granted no predetermined mission.
She was—the Unbound and Unrestrained God.
-
"Because of some reason, I've been connected to the Imaginary Tree since birth..."
"So, what would you call that state...? The Root?" The girl pursed her lips and effortlessly pulled the golden-hued spear and the greatsword burning with fiery orange flames from the ground, weapons that had materialized beside her without her noticing.
[ Spear of God: Gungnir ]
[ Branch of Ruin: Laevateinn ]
These mythical armaments, once briefly wielded by the Herrscher of the End in another world, were now being casually handled by the golden-haired girl.
They were gifts bestowed upon her by the Tree itself. Though the Golden Tree before her lacked true self-awareness, these weapons had indeed been entrusted to the girl by it.
"Quite generous... Then it shouldn't mind if I snap off another leafless branch to take back as a souvenir, right?"
The girl scrambled up the Golden Tree, selected a branch that had already shed all its leaves, and gently snapped it off.
"Whoa? This spear... it maintains its own state? Maybe grabbing it when using my Authority would be a good idea... but otherwise, forget it. Who wants to be a Lancer, anyway?"
The golden-haired girl shook her head, hefted the spear, and turned her attention to another weapon—a greatsword wreathed in burning golden-orange flames.
The greatsword seemed to hold her attention more. After all... fire-type greatswords were the epitome of power.
Whether it's Old Ancestor Kevin or that Firefly girl, they both use fire-type greatswords! And shouldn't Saber be the strongest class anyway?!
"Alright, time to go find that gradually losing-it Old Ancestor... but... the deepest depths of the Sea of Quanta... hmm... I've got it!"
An idea seemed to have struck her.
Mimicking the function of the Second Divine Key, the primordial Authorities of Reason and Space released a faint aura that drew nearby Imaginary God Constructs guarding the area.
"Ah, it's you. Don't be nervous... I'm just going down for a quick look-see and to say hello to one of my Old Ancestors."
Snow flashed the Imaginary God Construct a polite smile, hefted Kevin's Chibi form, and leaped down into the small Sea of Quanta before her.
"....." The God Construct simply stared blankly as the entrance slowly vanished, casually raising its sword to shatter several Quantum Shadows that attempted to emerge. It remained motionless until the portal completely disappeared.
Silence descended once more upon the blood-soaked Geo of the Imaginary Tree.
The girl plummeted, falling into the deep sea beneath her feet—or rather, into a bizarre and kaleidoscopic space. She dodged, cleaved, and pulverized the grotesque geometric shapes that obstructed her path, sometimes sprinting across their surfaces.
Occasionally, translucent, pale blue jellyfish drifted into her path. The young Quantum Shadows, unaware of what they were blocking, usually only caught a glimpse of a greatsword wreathed in blazing golden-orange flames.
"These Quantum Shadows are so weak... feels like killing chickens... no, even chickens are harder to kill than you guys," the girl muttered, knocking another Quantum Crab into the distance like a golf ball. She seemed to have forgotten what she and the weapon she wielded truly were.
-
Branch of Ruin: Laevateinn
Forged by the Imaginary Tree
Attribute: Imaginary
Snow Apocalypse
Owner of the Original Imaginary Tree Authority
Attribute: Imaginary
Shadow of the Deep Abyss
Quantum Projection of a Tide-class Honkai Beast
Attribute: Quantum
If you don't absolutely obliterate this, you might as well pull out Gungnir and reenact the world-famous masterpiece—"Lancer, Kill yourself!"
She grabbed the tail of a jellyfish floating in the Sea of Quanta, swung it around a few times, and flung it away. Then, she smacked a tiny crab rolling toward her at high speed like a golf ball, sending it flying. The golden-haired girl sprinted across the geometric structures of Chaotic Space, descending deeper and deeper into the abyss.
At the very bottom, she discovered a miniature World Bubble. Through her Authority's hyperdimensional vision, she saw a white-haired man staring blankly at a sakura tree.
"Old Ancestor, you're here... Holy shit—!"
So engrossed in observing Kevin, Snow was suddenly impaled by a Quantum Shadow's fishy thrust, sending her crashing into the World Bubble.