A few minutes earlier—Imperial Southwest Border, Yule Mountain Pass.
Most of the southwestern tribal soldiers stationed within the fortress were still indulging in leisure. Only a few unlucky patrol units were on duty, cursing their bad luck as they trudged along the windy walls. Looking out over the sandstorm raging beyond the pass, they smirked, confident that the pampered Imperial troops would never attack in such weather.
Even if the Imperials did come, they thought, it would take them forever to climb these massive walls. Growing complacent, the sentries began chatting idly.
"Yawn... So, how was your haul the other day?" one tribal soldier asked his companion, his tattoo-covered body glistening with oil paint, a grotesque mask concealing half his face.
"Don't even mention it. The chieftain ordered a retreat early. I only managed to grab a few livestock."
"Same here. I heard the Empire's sending troops to attack again."
"Tch... Those soft-bellied Imperial weaklings? What's there to fear?"
"Tell me—why do those cowardly Imperials get to live on such rich land while we're stuck in this wasteland?"
"That land was meant for us! The heavens decreed it!"
"Yeah... and those Imperial women—so soft, so delicate... hahaha..."
At that, the two exchanged knowing grins—the kind shared by men who'd seen too much.
Suddenly, a faint sound of horses neighing carried through the sandstorm. A drowsy sentry rubbed his eyes, stood up, and peered down the wall.
What he saw made his blood run cold. Beyond the haze of dust and wind, an enormous formation of Imperial troops stretched across the desert—ranks upon ranks in perfect order.
"Why are they attacking now? In this wind? Don't they know the desert can whip up sandstorms at any moment?!" the soldier muttered in disbelief. He froze for a few seconds before grabbing the alarm rope. "The Imperial army! The Imperial army is attacking!"
But before the alarm could echo across the walls, countless violet sparks flickered in the storm outside the pass.
Crack! Thunder roared.
A suffocating pressure filled the air—an invisible hand that seized every heart within its grasp. The sky above glowed violet, thunder rolling like the wrath of gods.
For the first time, unfiltered Honkai particles surged freely from Selene's body. A wave of invisible energy spread outward from her, a torrent of crimson-violet light shooting into the sky.
Even the storm itself bowed before her. The winds and sand were torn apart, scattering in all directions, and the entirety of the Imperial army came into view for the defenders of Yule Mountain Pass.
But it wasn't the army that terrified them most—it was the figure standing at the front, clad in silver and blue ensemble, glowing with power.
"A... a Teigu user?!" an older tribal sentry shouted in panic.
With the fortress in their hands and the Imperial army before them, the tribes had felt secure. But at the sight of a Teigu wielder—a being said to embody the Empire's ancient might—terror gripped even the most hardened veteran. He had once seen such power before, and he knew well: this was something no mortal could oppose.
In that instant, the crimson-violet light flared brighter, engulfing the landscape. The ground beneath Selene's feet rippled like a living thing, rumbling with monstrous force.
The earth quaked violently, spiderweb cracks spreading outward from her position, racing across the plains like veins of destruction.
"Yes... this feeling," Selene whispered, her voice filled with exhilaration. "Pure release—no restraint... the raw essence of Honkai energy."
At her fingertips, streams of violet light gathered—countless Honkai particles swirling, condensing. When she flicked her finger forward, the air itself shattered with an otherworldly crack.
"Spatial Shock!"
An overwhelming, uncontrollable force blanketed the surrounding mountains. Yule Mountain Pass froze for a split second—and then, from the point of Selene's finger, a web of cracks spread outward at impossible speed.
BOOM!
An explosion tore through the landscape, an invisible wave of devastation blasting everything aside.
The ground split apart—rising, crumbling, collapsing into endless fissures. Rocks were hurled skyward; valleys caved in, swallowed by the abyss.
Even towns dozens of kilometers away heard the deafening roar of destruction.
RUMBLE!!!
"R-retreat! Everyone off the walls! Retreat!!!" the tribal commander screamed, his voice hoarse with terror. But it was far too late.
The cataclysmic tremor consumed everything. The fortress walls and surrounding mountains shook violently. Buildings crumbled. Roads split apart, collapsing into the earth's gaping maw.
Within several kilometers of Yule Mountain Pass, the earth had turned soft and unstable—rising and falling like rippling waves, making it nearly impossible to stand.
Rumble—!
Under Selene's precise control, all the released seismic force was funneled directly toward the fortress ahead. The deafening roar shattered the air, but aside from the sound, the tremors had almost no effect on her 8th Imperial Guard Legion.
Before the Imperial soldiers' eyes, the terrifying quake surged forward in a rolling tide of sand and stone, devouring the entire fortress in a single, unstoppable motion.
Within that churning sea of earth and debris, flashes of scarlet briefly flickered—blood erupting from beneath the collapsing structures.
Thud.
The local garrison officer who had previously tried to dissuade Selene fell to his knees, trembling. "G-General... y-you..."
Seeing the man prostrate himself in shock, Kinshasa, standing beside him, simply shrugged. Small display, that's all. The explosion in the south was far more impressive.
"That's enough," Selene said coolly. Ignoring the stammering officer behind her, she admired her handiwork for a moment before pressing one gloved hand firmly to the ground. "Diffuse."
The purpose had been achieved—the southwestern tribes occupying Yule Mountain Pass had been completely annihilated. There was no longer any reason to sustain the tremors.
This time, Selene didn't call back the dispersed Honkai energy. Instead, she issued a new command—to spread westward, toward the Western Kingdom.
These particles were born from her, and as the Herrscher, Selene could command them as easily as breathing.
Cautious as ever, she decided not to allow large-scale Honkai diffusion within Imperial borders. Better to use the Western Kingdom as the testing ground first.
In a few years, she thought, when she inevitably requested a campaign to subjugate the Western Kingdom, she could then observe the results firsthand—what kind of world would emerge under uncontrolled, unrestrained Honkai evolution?
The erosion of this world by Honkai energy had begun.
After giving her final command—"Do not cross into Imperial territory. Develop freely within the Western Kingdom. Spread gradually toward the southern frontier if necessary."—Selene rose slowly, watching as the thunderous rumbles subsided.
When the dust finally cleared, the once-mighty Yule Mountain Pass was no more. The fortress had been completely flattened. What had once been a gorge barely a hundred meters wide had now expanded into a yawning chasm thousands of meters across—ten times its original breadth.
The legendary stronghold, once an unassailable barrier, had become an open road.