In the quiet, desolate space, the roar of machinery suddenly rang out, but the sound was fleeting. A white figure fell from mid-air; as it approached the ground, it snapped its eyes open and performed a nimble flip to land on the "floor."
"What a terrifying man. But even he cannot block the spread of 'malice.' A pity for this planet; looks like I need to find the next destination..."
Muttering to itself, the figure walked toward the depths of the desolate space.
This was undoubtedly the space where "Kyubey," or the "Incubators," were born.
In the past, Homura Akemi had constantly searched for their lair to root out Kyubey, but she never found it. This happened precisely because their nest did not exist in external space but was an independent existence. Unlike a Witch's Barrier, Homura naturally couldn't find it under normal circumstances.
This was a special space created by the cosmic race that manufactured the "Kyubey" to ensure the "Emotional Conversion Device" operated smoothly. A Witch's Barrier could be considered a degraded version; the magical girls naturally couldn't find this place.
Kyubey intended to harvest the last batch of "emotional energy" from this planet and then begin moving to the next. But as it stepped forward—
Snap—
A strange cracking sound rang out abruptly. Kyubey, who had already stepped forward, instinctively paused. When it tilted its head toward the source of the sound—
Pshht!
"Found you!"
A terrifying aura, like the appearance of a final boss in a horror movie, spread in all directions. Enveloped in blood-red, looking like a "Demon" (Oni) crawled out of hell, Lancer held a Kyubey that had been skewered through the body.
This "Demon" was, without a doubt, Lancer.
Led by Nagisa Momoe, he had found the space where Kyubey hid and smashed through the shell of the space using the Gáe Bolg, which he had imbued with "Spatial" attributes. To Lancer "delight," the first thing he saw upon entering this space was a Kyubey. He unhesitatingly drove his right hand through its body.
The discarded Kyubey corpse bounced twice on the floor like a broken doll, leaving a pool of blood. Lancer didn't even give it a second glance, knowing it was merely a "decoy."
Almost the instant he killed it, another Kyubey appeared in the distance.
"To think you could find this place. Truly impressive."
"You can actually feel impressed? That's the most surprising part, isn't it? Furthermore—"
Looking at the Kyubey pinned to the ground by an ice spear, Lancer wore a mocking expression.
"Are you even worthy of being called a 'person'?"
Realizing that individual units could not escape Lancer grasp, a large number of chilling, blood-red pinpoints of light suddenly appeared in the dark space. However, once these lights appeared, they unhesitatingly fled in all directions.
Lancer simply gave a disdainful smile.
Killing them individually was pointless. From the start, Lancer goal was simple—destroy the place where the bodies were manufactured!
Looking at the tall, bizarre machine before him, he couldn't help but take a deep breath.
While this wouldn't end everything, he had at least begun walking the path toward the end.
"Save the universe? What an arrogant bunch..."
With a sigh that sounded like a mix of lament and mockery, Lancer assumed a basic spear-handling stance. His legs were slightly apart, the spear tip lowered. As his feet kicked off the ground, he turned into a blur and charged at the "machine."
BANG!
SHREEE!
CRACK!
After a series of tooth-grinding collisions, Lancer appeared at the other end of the machine. He held his spear in one hand while raising the other high above his head, swinging it down violently.
"Kill all those scumbags!"
BOOM!!
With a massive explosion, the pitch-black space was completely illuminated. Lancer followed up immediately, spear in hand.
He was going to end this!
Without a doubt, Kyubey had overplayed his hand.
In the past, to harvest energy, he had found Homura Akemi, eventually creating this unstable entity capable of traveling through time. Because of her, Madoka Kaname became entangled in countless threads of causality, eventually transforming into the "Law of Cycles." Madoka Kaname then wished for the eradication of all "Witches," granting salvation to every magical girl the moment they would have transformed, soothing the scars in their hearts.
Everyone was saved, except for two people—
One was Madoka Kaname, who discarded her own self to save everyone else.
The other was Homura Akemi, who never forgot the other girl even when her memories were sealed.
Because her "Love" was heavier than "Despair," Homura Akemi became a "Demon" more terrifying than any Witch, completely destroying the "Kyubey" of that timeline.
To save Homura Akemi, a bewildered Madoka Kaname found a man from another world—Lancer.
If Madoka and the others were unable to change anything because they were wrapped in countless threads of causality, then Lancer, coming from another world, could set this world on a completely different world line.
That's right. Lancer was not in the "Original World Line," but the "Final World Line"!
In this timeline, to save the last person, Madoka Kaname had returned Homura Akemi to her initial state. This was why the girl "Madoka Kaname" was still entangled in a massive amount of causality, triggering Kyubey abnormal obsession.
And what Lancer needed to do now was cut through it all!
The blue comet tearing through the pitch-black night—no one knew if it brought rebirth or destruction. This was why the "Gem" Lancer obtained was named by the "Law of Cycles" as the "Blue Star that Carves the Unknown"!
Lancer arrival led everything toward the unknown, and that was exactly what she hoped for.
She had "failed" once. She had underestimated her own place in the other person's heart, leading to an anomalous accident no one expected. This time, she wanted to save that person as well, and the one she entrusted with this wish was the man named Lancer.
Thousands upon thousands of "Incubators" fled in all directions within this enclosed space, but they soon encountered unexpected attacks. Countless bizarre strikes came from every direction.
Fireballs, wind blades, forests, pools of water, quagmires, even torn space...
The "Incubators" existed only to induce girls into contracts and lead them toward despair, so they didn't require high combat power—this was also to save energy.
Normally, this wasn't a problem. Relying on the information gap, the "Incubators" secretly guided the progress of this world. Humans were like marionettes in their hands. By their calculations, it would take another thousand years for humans to break free of these strings; by then, they would just use a "natural disaster" to reset civilization to the beginning, just as they did with Atlantis. But they never imagined an "Anomaly" like Lancer would appear.
Realizing the machine for manufacturing "Incubators" had been destroyed, the entity unhesitatingly opened the space. Thousands of Kyubeys began falling toward the ground like rain.
It was clearly preparing to flee.