Chapter 148: The Singularity

"That is the vision of ten minutes into the future."

The moment Madoka noticed her surroundings shifting back to normal, her nerves had relaxed slightly. Still, she couldn't shrug off the depressing feeling that she felt in that vision.

Noticing her abrupt change, her mother asked:

"Are you okay? Is there something wrong?"

"Mn, I'm fine."

With her usual smile, Madoka managed to hide the pain that she felt right now. In the end, even with everyone's help, they would end up losing.

However, what she didn't know is that... she underestimated their capabilities. She didn't know about Shiro's [Fellraiser Chain] nor [Ultimate Chain], There's also Roman's [0th Form] and Touka's [Judgement Descent], each of whom are capable of being called their "Final Attack".

While the vision that Kyuubey had shown is true, it didn't show the entire truth. Even if Shiro dies, he still has his "A Foreigner's Buff" that nullifies the concept of 'death' itself on him, making revival possible.

Though, that vision is enough to fool a gullible 14-year old girl. Yes, she might've been taught by the adults for more than half a month, but it couldn't change her fundamental self—she doesn't want anyone to get hurt for herself.

In a sense, it is a hypocritical thinking. Others can't choose to sacrifice themselves, but only she can?

With some strange manipulation, Tomohisa and Tatsuya separated from them for a while as they met their relatives. This left Junko and Madoka alone in a quiet place; they left the crowded inside of the evacuation shelter, hence they arrived at its portion where there's no people present.

The latter heaved a deep sigh as she finally decided.

"Kaa-san, I have something to do."

"Is that so..? Why do you need to ask me for permission?"

"It is something... huge."

Hearing Madoka's vague explanation, she was confused. As a mother, however, her instincts did told her that Madoka is telling the truth. Thus, she began asking:

"Is it something bad?"

"No..."

"Is it something that will harm others?"

"No..."

"Then what are you hesitating for?"

"..."

Right now, Madoka's chest felt heavy—very much so. Once she uses up her wish, what can happen to her is unknown. Even the trio from the Chat Group couldn't guess much since their power system in this world is very unique.

Because it is based on their karmic weight, what can someone with illimitable karmic threads can do? What can someone who can blind the entire Earth in Touka's [Tyrant's Eye] can do?

At the very least, she will become a goddess. Once that happens, there's no knowing if Madoka can still continue her normal life. In hindsight, she's giving up her everything just for the sake of others.

After all, she saw her mentor and both of her parents die right in front of her. It is NOT normal for a 14-year old girl to experience this hellhole.

"Thank you for everything..!"

Watching her run off to the distance, Junko felt a pang of pain in her chest. It's as if she wouldn't see her daughter once more...

Tears fell off on Madoka's eyes as she said, "Kyuubey, grant my wish."

"I see. With your karmic weight, it is very easy to become a god. Even, you can rewrite the fabrics of reality itself! Everything is possible with your wish!"

Kyuubey didn't even bother to hide its joy once Madoka, the girl with the greatest and largest latent energy, decided to make her wish. Just with her converted energy alone, this can sustain the universe's collapse for hundreds of billions of years!

By that time, the Incubators would've gathered much more energy, thus halting the end of the universe completely with their energy cycle.

All of that... will be possible due to the girl in front of it.

"In the past, present and future..."

"Hm..?"

It noticed something amiss from her wish, but it's too late for that. The concept of karma reaches its peak by the time a Magical Girl makes her wish, thus they couldn't really pry it from them before.

Madoka stopped running once she's outside the shelter. There, she saw the cataclysmic battle that took place. The concentrated black and white beam hit the Walpurgisnacht. At the same time, the fabrics of space collapsed, revealing the dark void within it. Then, she felt a power so strong that it would obliterate everything except these Bounded Fields—all of which is made and connected to the King of Magecraft.

Suddenly, she saw pink feathers dropping from the sky. It restored Mitakihara Town back to its former state and blocked the rampant power that ran amok in this planet.

Seeing this, her wish strangely became clearer in her heart.

"I wish to prevent the birth of the Witches, be it in the past, present, and future!"

Immense concepts that weighed heavily descended to her frail body. With that wish as the catalyst, the karmic links that she possessed is now being converted into something unimaginable, one that could rewrite the laws of the universe itself!

For short, Madoka is turning into a concept!

Homura, who is not far away from her, yelled:

"MADOKA!"

She immediately activated her shield to initiate a [Time Stop], but to no avail. The descent of the white light wasn't halted even under the stopped time.

"MADOKA! Why... WHY DOES IT HAVE TO END LIKE THIS AGAIN!"

Homura didn't show it much, but she held much hope that everything will be fine.

In this strange timeline, guests came from outside Mitakihara. They called themselves 'mages' and have powers that rivalled a Magical Girl's. The two of them has profound wisdom that opened up many possibilities in her mind.

It was far too long when she started to regress, to the point that she shut down her emotions once she got tired of being hurt.

That's why she didn't save Tomoe Mami and let her die instead. She viewed her as the main perpetrator of their suffering.

That's why she didn't save Miki Sayaka. No matter what Homura did, her end is always the same—to become a Witch and die.

In the end, she's just a human being. She's tired, worn-down, and bruised. The only person that kept her going is Madoka, yet she'll see her going to that same end again?

"Even... Even with their help..."

Homura blankly stared at the bright pink light with pure despair. This time, she had truly put her hopes far too high up... that when it failed her, she got hurt very badly.

Click-!

Tock-!

Time stopped immediately. However, it only slowed down the descent of that huge conceptual weight.

"It took some time, but a singular world-line?" A cold voice rang out in all directions.

"This singularity... It shouldn't exist..." She added.

Homura reacted quickly and exclaimed warily, "Who are you?!"

Instead of responding properly to her, the cold voice said something painfully obvious.

"With your current power, there's no hope in succeeding. This is 'that time', so you'll only have that chance much later... But, it's different now."

"What do you mean..?"

"Madoka will ascend to become a concept, something that will be known as the *&!#@@#*(!#... An interference exists..?"

While the cold voice is busy musing over something, Homura immediately asked it with something.

"What will happen to Madoka after that?!"

"That? As a concept herself, she transcends this universe itself. The result of that is none other than the erasure of her existence."

"Erasure... of existence?" Homura murmured confusedly.

"She won't exist for anyone. She will be forgotten by everyone. Truly, it is a miserable sacrifice. The ones that she sacrificed for wouldn't even remember her, so why did she do it?!"

At this time, the cold voice sounded more cynical and frustrated.

"...Since you're here, why don't we talk properly?"

"Hah... That stupid impression made me expect the usual Magical Girls cliche... not something like this."

From nowhere, a man wearing a doctor's outfit and fluffy orange hair in a ponytail appeared. He didn't have his usual white gloves and instead have ten rings on his fingers. Nine of them are glowing in golden, but the final one in his right middle finger is a real one. This rings made it possible for him to move in this stopped time.

He looked at the pillar of light that held power, something that he only sensed from his connection with God before.

"The consequences are that bad?" He asked.

"...Hm. Strange. Your physical body is ordinary, but your soul..." The voice stopped for a moment to think. "To answer your question, that's right."

"So it really happened. Thank God that we prepared something for this..."

Hearing this, Homura is shocked. She knew that the man is none other than Romani Archaman, one of Shiro's companions. She knew that he also taught Madoka in regards to some stuff, but never had she expected that he had foreseen this!

"How..?"

"Well, let's say I understood her. Knowing that she would rather harm herself for the sake of others, we thought of this possibility happening." Roman said.

"We?"

"That's right. We made some preparations to counter this."

As he spoke, the rings shone brightly before the golden glow that surrounds them shattered. The rings now looked no different from the others, giving off a mysterious feeling due to the sheer amount of mystery that it stored.

The Rings of Solomon, the rings given by God to bestow him with boundless wisdom as well as omnipotence, makes its appearance once more.

"I still can't execute my Noble Phantasm, huh. Nevermind, it is something non-replicable in the first place. For now, at least."

Roman then used it to affect the pink pillar of light. While he did so, he asked, "About the singularity thing that you've said before... This world is something separate from the others?"

"...It wasn't too long when 'we' noticed this. The timeline where the decisive event happened suddenly became a singularity which can't be affected by anything outside." The cold voice responded again.

"I see. Once this singularity gets 'corrected', it will affect everything else. As expected from singularities..." He paused for a while before adding, "Why does it seem like I'm always tied to these?!"

Homura and the owner of the cold voice could only react blankly in Roman's complaints.

*****

A/N: I'm finally done with midterms. That long strenuous battle had finally ended. The upload schedule will be stable again, so y'all can expect one chapter a day once more. On the other hand, I thought of something that would give y'all bonus chapters. I decided that for every ten reviews, I would upload one bonus chapter. Of course, spam reviews aren't allowed, so do make sure to put in a "valid" review out there! Insights, pros, cons, everything would be appreciated. Both on webnovel and scribblehub counts, and this event will only end if we reach 50 additional reviews (5 bonus chapters).

PS: If you're on both sides, you can only upload on one of them. I like to release additional chapters to let everyone see the conclusion of Madoka arc faster, but please don't kill me out of overwork:)

PPS: Enjoy the 1.7k words in this chap! Happy Reading!