There are two ways for a magical girl to become a witch.
The first, and most common, is being unable to defeat a witch or failing to purify one's Soul Gem in time, allowing it to be completely tainted by despair and become a Grief Seed that incubates a witch.
In this scenario, the magical girl is forced to fall. Unaware of this fate beforehand, they naturally do not wish for such an end.
The second way, which is somewhat special but by no means rare, is to meet the conditions of despair.
Just as in the original story, Homura Akemi fell into despair upon realizing she could never save Madoka and became the Homulilly witch; and magical girl Madoka, realizing she could never truly save everyone, became the Kriemhild Gretchen witch.
In these cases, the witch is not tainted by external despair but is the source of despair itself. Even the Law of Cycles has difficulty saving those who fall to this internal despair.
And today, Homura's declaration gave new meaning to those who had fallen into despair by their own will.
To build good upon oneself, to become despair, to become a witch, and in a reverse-propulsive manner, to manifest the hope bestowed by god.
If there truly was hope in the multiverse, if salvation truly existed, then its triumph must be built upon their corpses.
*VMMMM~*
In just a few short minutes, the multiverse was shaken for a third time.
Those who had willingly fallen into despair, those witches who also realized that the guarantee provided by the Law of Cycles alone was not enough to answer their wishes, ultimately chose to offer their power to Homura.
The salvation targeted by the Law of Cycles could only be bestowed upon magical girls who still held hope for the world, only preventing them from dying for reasons they did not wish for.
But Homura's prayer truly touched upon a reality deeper than the Law of Cycles.
More than their own lives, the witches cared about their original wishes. The Law of Cycles alone could only save the future of magical girls, not their hope.
Therefore, there had to be a witch who could bear the sins, bear the despair.
Didn't God Madoka's wish say it? She would defeat all witches. If that was the case, then by letting these factors of despair become witches, they could use the Law of Cycles to defeat all the despair in the world.
This was a reverse application of the Law of Cycles, and also a completion of it.
The Law of Cycles originally only incorporated magical girls and witches into its system of rules. Homura, on the other hand, incorporated the world itself into the system of witches.
With both working in tandem, this law that governed the multiverse truly became a complete Cosmology that could govern the operation of the world.
As if the final gear had clicked into place, all witches, from all worlds and all timelines, who sympathized with this tragic wish, offered up their power.
Black and purple points of light gathered from across the multiverse, and in the void outside the world, opposite God Madoka, a black virtual image formed, its aura the complete opposite of God Madoka's.
In that instant, Homura Akuma was born.
Opposite the Silver Garden that housed many magical girls, the Garden of Sinners opened. It was a paradise that could accommodate all those who became witches due to their own willing despair.
In that instant, all magical girls and witches across all timelines in the multiverse were sorted.
Those who chose the side of good, who chose hope, were taken under the protection of the Law of Cycles.
Those who chose the side of evil, who chose despair, were taken under the protection of the Sin of Witches.
Yin and yang, good and evil, hope and despair. The other cornerstone of the dualistic cosmology was finally constructed at this moment.
Homura Akemi had also become a multiverse-domain-level existence.
And at that moment.
*CRACK*
A sound like shattering glass echoed. Outside the multiverse, a crack suddenly appeared on the virtual image of Homura Akuma. The crack quickly spread, and in the blink of an eye, the image of Homura Akuma began to crumble.
"Homura-chan!"
Opposite Homura Akuma, God Madoka cast a worried look at her. Pink divine power descended from the heavens, attempting to help repair the cracks, but to little effect.
Just as Homura did not completely negate the Law of Cycles, but used it to bring the entire world under the dominion of the Cosmology, the Law of Cycles also held an attitude of tolerance and salvation towards the existence of witches.
God saves all, including witches.
Witches rebel against all, only to complete the law of god.
The two were complementary, not to mention the personal friendship between them.
"Big Brother Su Mo, is Homura going to be okay?" Sayaka also looked worried. No matter how you looked at it, Homura was in a very bad state!
"It's nothing, just a side effect of ascending to the multiverse domain," Su Mo shook his head, his tone still calm.
Just as Madoka's existence was sacrificed when she ascended to the multiverse domain, Homura too was an ordinary person before this, and she had to experience this side effect.
"Oh!" Seeing Su Mo's calm demeanor, Sayaka stopped worrying. After all, the same symptom had appeared with Madoka before, and Su Mo had perfectly resolved it.
But what she didn't know was that this situation was actually more dangerous than Madoka's.
The price Madoka had to pay was previously paid by Kyubey. Now, the price Homura had to face could not be borne by anyone else.
If this continued, the dualistic cosmology would indeed be completed, and the Sin of Witches could still govern the world alongside the Law of Cycles, but Homura's past as a human would be completely erased.
"Big Brother Su Mo..."
Across the barrier of distant worlds, Madoka cast her gaze towards Su Mo. As a goddess about to become a multiverse-domain-level existence, she still retained her old habit of subconsciously seeking his help.
She knew the plan had reached this point, but she didn't know how Su Mo intended to solve Homura's problem.
Within the crumbling divine image, Homura also looked towards Su Mo, her eyes slightly anxious.
She seemed to have reverted to the plain girl with braided pigtails from before, lacking confidence. She knew the plan Su Mo had given her, but she wasn't sure if she could really do it.
Faced with the girl's gaze, Su Mo spoke softly. "Homura, if you do this, I can agree to let you become the mistress of the house in this world!"
"What?!"
At these words, the flames in Homura's eyes, which had been somewhat illusory, instantly blazed. What did Su Mo just say? Mistress of the house? D-D-Doesn't that mean he's willing to m-m-marry me?
An immense wave of happiness overwhelmed Homura, making her momentarily forget that, legally, she was Su Mo's daughter.
"What?!" X2.
Simultaneously exclaiming in surprise with Homura were Sayaka and Madoka. A moment ago, they were very worried about Homura; now, they were only envious.
How did she suddenly trick Big Brother Su Mo into making such a promise? Does this mean he's deciding on the main wife?
Under their envious gazes, Homura no longer hesitated and directly put her Soul Gem into her mouth.
The moment she became Homura Akuma, her Soul Gem was tainted with despair.
The points of light from the witches across all timelines in the multiverse represented both power and despair.
Now, with her complete lack of resistance, multiverse-domain-level despair flooded into her Soul Gem.
Her Soul Gem immediately turned into a Grief Seed, and Homura willingly bore the multiverse-domain-level despair, becoming a completely different kind of witch—the Witch of This Shore.
Black flames burned in Homura's eyes. Even after falling into witchhood, they were not extinguished, but burned even more fiercely.
*CRACK!*
A crisper sound, one that could be heard throughout the entire multiverse, echoed.
Before her virtual image of Homura Akuma could shatter, Homura resolutely crushed her own Grief Seed. A Soul Gem? I don't need such a thing.
Multiverse-domain-level dilution? Multiverse-domain-level despair?
As the black flames burned, all negative effects were instantly refined.
The Scripture of Evil of the Avesta released a gravitational pull like a black hole.
All negative, evil forces were copied, resisted, and then balanced.
The dualistic cosmology divided the world in a positive and negative way.
Any power that contained malice, that contained negativity, belonged to the evil side, which was under Homura Akuma's jurisdiction.
As long as one had enough capacity, enough of a firm will that was not eroded by multiverse-domain-level despair, one could completely overcome the so-called dilution.
And to do that was actually very simple. One only needed one thing.
Hotter than hope, deeper than despair, is love.
As long as one possessed love that reached the extreme, one could cross the domain of despair and comprehend the true meaning of the dualistic cosmology.
And clearly, with Su Mo's encouragement, Homura had done it.
And so, the virtual image of Homura Akuma did not shatter, but instead condensed directly into Homura's form.
At this moment, Homura fully understood the mission she carried, and fully mastered her own law of the Sin of Witches.
The multiverse let out a low hum, like a cheer or a lament, as if welcoming the arrival of its rulers.
God Madoka, Homura Akuma. The two opposing multiverse-domain-level existences were finally and completely made whole at this moment.