'SNAP!'
'BOOM—!'
A flash of light.
An eruption of godlike cosmic power burst forth, blanketing the entire world in an instant.
Unlike when she confronted Kevin, this time Kagura didn't hold back.
She didn't just tap into the Infinity Stones—she unleashed their full, unrestrained power.
This wasn't the Marvel universe.
These Infinity Stones weren't primordial relics born from the Big Bang, wielding the highest authority of existence here…
But a snap… was still a snap.
And in that moment, the organization known as World Serpent was completely, irrevocably erased from the Honkai world.
Thunder rumbled across the skies, like the roar of an angry god echoing across the vast earth.
In cities across the world, in hidden black-site facilities, in abandoned rural wastelands—quiet, unassuming ashes began to rise.
Something had vanished. Silently.
Completely. And with it, the weight of all its sins.
When the Serpent had awakened, some 700,000 people across the globe had looked up toward the night sky.
Now, as divine judgment fell, a portion of those tied to those 700,000… simply turned to dust, vanishing without a trace.
But Kagura… had shown mercy.
She hadn't killed everyone affiliated with World Serpent.
The snap didn't simply wipe out the members.
It erased the very concept of World Serpent.
Gone were the research facilities, the Honkai experiments, the weapon caches and custom-built dead soldiers.
Gone were the controlled Honkai beasts.
Gone, most importantly, was the will of the organization itself—its ideology, its legacy.
It was all… deleted.
Sparks danced in the air.
Kagura stood among the dissolving wreckage, watching Raven's figure still flickering on the large screen.
The video feed was already beginning to distort.
Soon, all of World Serpent's infrastructure would fail.
Everything the organization had so painstakingly built would crumble to dust.
"…What… did you do?"
Raven clutched her chest, eyes wide in shock.
She could feel something inside her unraveling, crumbling into ash, fading from existence.
"Be grateful, Miss Raven." Kagura lowered her smoking right hand as the last of the glow faded. "I've generously cleansed your sins for you."
Normally, a snap using all six Infinity Stones would leave even someone as powerful as Thanos half-dead.
But Kagura had rerouted the cost—using her core energy in place of her own body as the price for wielding that divine power.
The result? Minimal physical backlash.
Well… relatively speaking.
[Core Energy Remaining: 50%]
Hmm, still within acceptable range.
She could recharge later!
"…My sins… have they really been forgiven?"
Raven seemed dazed.
All her memories of World Serpent… of Kevin Kaslana… even her past ties to Schicksal—were all fading away.
"I… am free?"
"No. I may have cleansed your sins," Kagura said coldly, her eyes fixed on the fading hologram. "But the act of atonement… is yours alone."
"Death was never the harshest punishment. Live, Miss Raven. Live with your guilt. Walk the path of redemption with your own two feet."
World Serpent was no more.
But agents like Raven weren't killed by the snap.
Instead, their minds had been altered.
Everything related to World Serpent—their indoctrination, their loyalty to Kevin Kaslana, every twisted belief force-fed into them—was gone, wiped away in that single flash.
What remained… was just them.
The people they once were.
Their original, untainted selves.
Kagura didn't hesitate to kill if necessary.
As an autonomous android, she had no deep aversion to death—even human death.
But she believed there was something far more meaningful than letting these criminals die on the spot.
She wanted them to spend the rest of their lives doing something good for the world. For humanity.
Even if that atonement would never truly make up for what they'd done.
Even if it was a mere drop in the ocean of their crimes.
Even if none of the victims they had wronged would ever come back to life.
Still… for people like Raven, perhaps this life—this burden of redemption—was far more significant than a swift death.
"…How unexpected," she muttered.
'Thud!'
Raven collapsed to her knees—eyes fluttering shut as she finally lost consciousness.
'Bzzt... bzzt… crackle—BOOM.'
The holographic screen in front of her fizzled out, dissolving into static before fading to ash.
Kagura let out a long sigh.
"I suppose... this was the best outcome—for both you and me."
'Tsss…'
She winced, shaking her scorched right hand.
"Oww… that really burned—QAQ!"
'CRACK! …CRASH!'
With the total erasure of all things related to World Serpent, the containment pod holding Rita finally shattered.
Its reinforced glass wall splintered into a cascade of glittering shards, joining the pile of ruined Honkai-modification equipment now reduced to ash.
"Nngh…"
Rita, now free, collapsed weakly to the floor.
Her torn and tattered clothing, paired with her fragile state, evoked a rare sense of vulnerability—even sympathy.
Sure, people whispered behind closed doors that Rita—S-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal—had done more than her share of dirty work behind the scenes…
But to Kagura, Rita wasn't some morally gray operative.
She was simply a graceful, beautiful, soft-spoken maid-type Valkyrie. That was all.
There was no hatred in her heart toward Rita.
If anything, she felt a bit of affection.
'If you've sinned… then repay those sins by serving the light—by serving hope. Live for it.'
In simpler terms?
Wife material.
Such were the chaotic thoughts swirling in Kagura's head...
"Thank you… Miss Kagura…"
Rita's voice was faint as she panted, clutching her chest with a trembling hand.
Pain clearly lingered on her face.
Scarlet Honkai patterns still glowed across her body.
"I… may not recover," she murmured. "A full Honkai rampage is only a matter of time now… What a pity."
She lifted her head, red eyes filled with both sorrow and resignation.
"I don't want Lady Durandal to see me like this… not in this pitiful state. I don't want to become a Deadwalker."
"So please… while I still have my mind…"
"End me, Miss Kagura."
"No. I refuse."
Kagura raised her burned right hand.
The wounds weren't critical, but the cost of a full-power snap using the Infinity Stones couldn't be brushed off so easily. Full recovery would still take time.
"I told you—I'd save you. All of you."
A gentle green light flickered across her hand. A ring-shaped magical circle began to form around her wrist.
"And if I said it… I'll make it happen."
'VWUMMM—!'
A seal of time materialized—its dimensional energy began to stir.
Kagura slowly rotated her wrist counterclockwise, and as she did, Rita's body began to move… backward in time.
Wounds that once seemed impossible to heal unraveled as if they had never existed in the first place.
[Time Authority: Regional Rewind Activated]
[Chronological Treatment: No Scars, No Traces]
Time was the ultimate remedy.
"…What… What an incredible power…"
Rita gasped in awe, watching as her injuries and corrupted Honkai energy rapidly faded from her body.
"Miss Kagura… your abilities… they may even surpass those of a Herrscher."
"Ahaha, thanks for the compliment," Kagura grinned.
"So… between my time-reversal treatment and Miss Durandal's 'White Blossom' healing arts… which one feels better?"
Rita chuckled softly, eyes warm.
"Your kindness today… is something I will never forget. But please…"
Her expression turned earnest.
"Don't tease me like that. Asking me to choose like that… it's far too cruel. Lady Durandal is… the most important person in my life. I beg you… don't joke about her."
"Got it~!"
The silver-haired girl leaned down and extended her hand with a cheerful smile.
"Then, Miss Rita—let's get along from now on, shall we?"