Selene possessed a very clear understanding of herself. She was a hypocritical and vain woman.

Or rather—very bad. Dark, cold, and utterly unscrupulous.

She had little to do with the goodness and beauty upheld by the mainstream order of countless worlds. As for the Seven Deadly Sins, perhaps not all seven, but five out of seven objectively fit.

Regarding Thanos, Selene’s actions were undoubtedly more sinister than any pile of terrifying adjectives could describe. Bit by bit, step by step, she shattered and redirected every pursuit of this mad Titan.

The cost of Heroic Spirits, the recyclable investment poured into the newborn multiverse—those were not even worth mentioning. The true pawns she used and discarded at will were Earth’s Conscript Army, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Nova Empire, the Kree Empire, the Shi’ar Empire...

Talk of friendly exchanges and anti–Black Order alliance treaties was nothing more than theater.

Though the Servants and the soldiers of the 117th Fleet had genuinely formed bonds of comradeship with these temporary allies—because they did not know—for Selene, these Marvel natives were all expendables.

Expendables to build Thanos’ momentum. To gather fortune around him.

The birth of a universal emperor was never accomplished overnight. The Black Order, overlord of the dark underworld, the universe’s number one terrorist... these were Thanos’ accumulated "momentum," but in Selene’s eyes, it was not enough.

And in Marvel, where were the so-called "protagonists," the "favored children of destiny," most concentrated?

Earth. Next the Shi’ar. Then the Kree. After that, Nova, the Skrulls, and so on.

No matter how large or small, light or heavy, they were once brushstrokes sketched by God "OAA" across universes and dimensions, across endless timelines and parallel quantum realities—tiny specks of possibility.

Even a mosquito’s leg is still meat.

After myriad calculations, Selene had pushed the Thanos of this universe to this very moment.

Observing his actions—across known and unknown timelines—Thanos’ future always lay on the path of pursuing power and status. The Cosmic Cube, the Infinity Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet, the Heart of the Universe—these divine artifacts became the finest expressions of himself. And at the end, he might even choose salvation...

His love for the goddess [Death] alone was enough to prove how far the obsession in this madman’s mind had gone.

Now, just as Thanos roared after awakening from illusion, "I am absolutely not your plaything!!" The awakening of an obsessive could only be shattered by the object of his obsession.

Though the irony was obvious—this living, mad, contradictory creature was indeed a toy.

For now.

Perhaps...

Selene smiled.

To surpass the gods?

Very good.

Yes. That is how it should be. You malformed butcher—what tragic romance do you think you deserve? To pin your hopes on retiring to the countryside after fulfilling your "mission," watching the sunset like some old farmer and waiting for death? To sleep forever in [Death]’s embrace, in life or after death?

Heh. Vulgar. Incomparably vulgar.

The destiny I weave for you suits you far better. A thunderous unification of all things—would that not better fit the rise, despair, and awakening at the end of the road of a universal emperor?

"Arrogant."

She commented lightly. Her tone betrayed neither joy nor anger, neither truth nor falsehood. Without warning—without even invoking the authority of creation—she flicked her hand casually. The aura of despair and madness surged stronger with each breath. Thanos, who drove the power of infinite primal singularities of the great universe toward self-annihilation, seemed to crash directly into her grasp.

Soundlessly.

Seized within Selene’s palm, tides rose and fell. Dimensions overlapped and condensed like blades. As easily as slaughtering a chicken, eternal blood began to stream from Thanos’ neck.

Though each bolt of primordial cosmic lightning he wielded could easily rend matter and pierce dimensions—not one, but billions of annihilating thunderclaps tearing simultaneously—the infinitely resplendent rhythm that should have surpassed a single-universe Big Bang was completely compressed and confined by Selene.

"It seems you have not sunk into oblivion after all. I quite like your defiance and madness. But the etiquette of hierarchy and reverence is something you will need eternity upon eternity to learn."

Light flickered within Selene’s pupils.

That light resembled the delighted gleam of a decadent noble who had discovered a new toy.

Before her words finished, Thanos’ severed head had already regrown instantly. Yet the massive, ferocious, blood-seeping purple head Selene had plucked off remained vividly suspended before him—then was stuffed into his arms.

"Pathetic madman struggling in the mortal world—do not disappoint me."

"You will regret not erasing me at once." Thanos felt his fury so profound that even his voice warped. "I swear it."

Selene smiled faintly. "Then exert yourself to the utmost to entertain your god—your sovereign, you shabby clown of Titan."

It was the truth.

Though forced and theatrical, she had indeed treated Thanos’ experiences before becoming the Unifier of All as a courtly farce.

After all, the storyline of a lovestruck fool who licks and licks until left with nothing, then returns in lightning fashion shouting ’Do not bully a poor Titan,’ was something she herself had directed.

It was, frankly, too amusing.

Rip—

A massive fissure tore open like a dreadful demonic eye. Within it, the breath of annihilation howled forth, spreading outward and eroding the framework of this dimension. Restoration to collapse. Collapse to restoration. The cycle repeated endlessly.

"Go prepare the drama of the mortal world. Crawl out, my ’clown.’"

Selene expelled the burning, howling Thanos beyond the veil of the Empyrium, casting him down toward the abyss of endless cosmic wreckage.

In response, the creator gods such as [Eternity] remained indifferent.

The [First Firmament] (Selene) spread influence and selected apostles within the bounds of the rules jointly supervised by Them and the Living Tribunal. As for tossing Thanos into the abyss formed after the destruction of cosmic space, They would not concern Themselves with such trivial punishment.

However—

"First Firmament from beyond, thy right of interference has now been exercised. Return. This universe is already approaching its demise." The voice of [Eternity] remained distant and ethereal.

"No hurry. I seem to have discovered something interesting within this Titan." Selene turned slightly, her smile light and playful. "Gentlemen, I do enjoy sharing."

Thanos—this is the final cover I will give you...

...

At the same time, in the current universe—the material cosmos.

Thanos’ snap had already split across the heavens like a bolt from a clear sky.

A tremor born from the depths of existence, impossible to describe, enveloped all races and all beings throughout the universe.

Of course, none of that concerned Thanos anymore.

He was falling.

"I am not a toy."

"I am not a toy..."

The purple Titan slid down through a bottomless abyss. His fury and calm interwove strangely within him. It was not that he felt no sorrow—but that sour emotion was instantly replaced by something far more intense.

"..."

So intense it seemed to spill outward, as if forming some nonexistent shape.

Make Them pay the price.

Strip the gods of Their divinity. Drag Them down from Their thrones.

"Then let Them pay the price."

As Thanos transformed under the power of the universe’s primal singularity—continuously evolving toward a conceptual cosmic god, struggling violently as he shifted toward becoming a subordinate deity of the [First Firmament]—the outer abyss itself shattered. It was as though another dimensional world were emerging.

A voice sounded softly.

"Who!?"

Following the sound, Thanos saw—

His own head.

A body almost entirely composed of endless galaxies, as though the entire universe resided within.

"I am you."

—

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