Chapter 241: A Goddess-Like Girl Lifts the Entire World

And everyone else... had already fallen into slumber before her.

The rumbling in the void grew louder and louder, reverberating across the entire world.

Boom, boom, boom—

But no one felt uneasy because of this thunderous sound.

Because everyone had already lost consciousness, gently wrapped within golden cocoons of light.

Whether it was the magical girls in the Place of Origin, the citizens of Kazenari Town, or the Previous Magical Girls, all of them were the same.

Only this girl with cherry blossom-colored hair tips remained standing in the Place of Origin, beneath that majestic Sacred Tree.

She was the only conscious existence in this world.

And she was also the deity who governed all things.

The secret ritual that had persisted for three thousand three hundred and thirty-three cycles was finally about to commence its final step.

The next moment, she began issuing commands of her own will.

Hmm!!

In an instant, the radiance of the Sacred Tree's main body swelled once more, pushed to its absolute limit, almost melting into the Origin Space itself.

Throughout all of Utopia.

Everything except living beings, the mountains, the earth, the rivers, all man-made things, all natural things, likewise began transforming into endless rain of light.

The girl slowly raised her hand, grasping the crimson Soul Gem at her chest, as if holding the spark that could ignite the entire world.

(BGM: Puella Magi Madoka Magica OP - Connect)

Then, she clenched her fists and crossed them together, revealing that beautiful and confident smile as she chanted her incantation.

"Smile, full marks—"

Accompanied by the surging sound of tides resounding through the void, the melting world poured toward her like a torrential rain of light.

The girl's lips parted and closed, her body stretching and dancing, as if proclaiming to everything in existence.

"Miracles, one hundred percent!"

That crimson radiance ignited in her palm, setting the rain of light ablaze, transforming into the flaming wings behind the goddess-like girl, wings capable of burning away all despair.

"Burn with heart-fire, strike down thy form."

She still maintained her most ordinary attire, but her long hair and pupils had transformed into the purest, most vivid crimson.

She was the only trace of red between heaven and earth.

She raised her hand, as if questioning herself, or arrogantly questioning the entire world.

"Are you ready?"

(<ゝω·)~☆

—Magical girl Mengmengxiang, Grand Full Bloom Form!!

Hmm!!

The Sacred Tree standing behind her finally melted completely into a stream of hopeful light, surging toward her body like a torrent, transforming into the massive wings of fragments behind her back.

The twin wings of fire and light once again gathered behind the goddess-like girl.

Then.

She raised her head, looking at the stars scattered across the sky at this very moment.

But those were neither the Sacred Tree, nor the Fragments of Hope.

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million.

That was a galaxy of colorful, beautiful starlight formed by no fewer than a million points of light.

All the residents of Utopia, the souls of those magical girls.

The next moment, the goddess-like girl gently raised her hand, making a tender cupping gesture at her chest.

And so the galaxy of stars in the sky, as if pulled by an unseen force, converged toward her palm, finally condensing into a crystalline, translucent sphere glowing with soft light.

Inside the sphere stood a miniature golden Sacred Tree, with familiar streets and buildings wrapped around its branches and leaves, carrying a peaceful aura.

That was unmistakably Kazenari Town.

Or rather, it was the only part of the world called [Utopia] that held any meaning.

Even though compared to this girl who stood only one step away from Truth, this world was as illusory as a bubble that could burst at any moment, she still held this orb of light with both hands, cherishing it beyond measure.

Her crimson eyes reflected everything within it.

As if she wanted to remember everyone inside.

The next moment.

She gently raised it above her head, pushing it upward bit by bit.

In an instant.

Everything in the world began to [flow].

The supreme Domain within Utopia finally began driving the myriad phenomena within this Witch's Egg, just like a primordial deity separating heaven and earth, turning everything into pure duality.

White and black, light and shadow.

Above was Truth, below was Illusion.

With this act of lifting, the existence within the sphere was gradually becoming more solid, bit by bit flying toward the real world above.

And in contrast.

The girl lifting it began to descend, sinking into the shadows and darkness below.

Endless pitch-black nothingness surged up in an instant, wrapping around every corner of her body, as if she had plunged into a vast, boundless deep sea.

But...

Her expression did not change in the slightest, still as resolute as ever.

The twin wings of fire and light spread out from behind the girl, illuminating her beautiful profile. That determination was so brilliant, so blazing, like the rising sun, as if even the pitch-black nothingness itself turned to look at her.

The wings beat, but not to soar into the sky.

Rather...

To dive.

To keep diving.

Above her head remained that circle of gradually receding light, representing the world of the living, and the true shore beyond.

And the further down she looked, the more completely the light was swallowed.

The pressure of nothingness, like deep-sea water pressure, squeezed every inch of her skin.

Crack, crack...

From the depths of her soul came wave after wave of tearing pain, as if it were emitting a sound of being overwhelmed. The dazzling wings of fire and light also began to crumble under this crushing pressure, shedding broken luminous feathers.

The girl's expression remained expressionless, as if it weren't her own soul being crushed, yet the fire in her eyes was already flickering intensely.

—It really does hurt.

—It's dozens of times more painful than being shattered to pieces... no, probably hundreds of times.

But...

She had long been prepared for this.

Reversing the final step of the entire ritual was something that should have been impossible for the original Witch King.

This was a denial of one's own very essence.

To do this, even as an A-rank, a Forbidden Species, her very existence would irreversibly weaken, so how could she possibly maintain the continuation of this ritual?

It was like reversing the process of life's growth, inverting cause and effect, a paradox of turning back time itself.

The fact that she could forcibly accomplish this relying on two A-rank talents and her own willpower was already a miracle that no one could have imagined.

But even so, for her, this was already a state where she had to push her operations to the absolute limit, without the slightest room for distraction.

As she descended, her wings grew weaker and weaker, cracks began to appear on her body's surface, and the radiance surrounding her began to dim.

And the deeper she sank, the more abstract the surroundings became.

Distorted lights and shadows of every color flickered continuously in the darkness. Occasionally, indistinct voices drifted into her ears, too muddled to make out what they were saying, only the sensation of someone whispering right by her ear.

All five senses seemed to have failed, and so did her magic power perception.

This was a place that no one could ever reach, not even through death.

Because this was not the boundary between life and death.

This was the interstice between existence and non-existence, between Truth and falsehood.

Only by borrowing the power of the Domain could one briefly plunge into this singularity.