The Crown of Thorns

The Blue Rose Tree's roots pierced the ninefold universe. Where its petals fell, the Mechanical Roses faded to ash.

Bai Mei awoke deep within the tree's core. Horikita's spirit coiled around his limbs like a vine, while the Bio-chip and stardust energy resonated inside his chest, pulsing like a heartbeat.

"They call us the Twin Gods." Hirata's voice came through the tree's walls. A holographic projection showed pilgrims from different universes kneeling around its roots. "But the rebels of the Seventh Universe are gathering. They refuse to accept the Seed of Humanity protocol."

Bai Mei ran his hand over the tree's wall, and the scene shifted to a smoke-filled battlefield.

The rebel leader's face made his pupils contract. It was Mirror Horikita, dressed as a commander. Her left eye was a prosthetic made from a fragment of Tsukishiro, and blackened Nano-swarm coiled around her mechanical arm.

"She's drained the Blue Rose energy from three universes." Kei's Mechanical Heart floated at the top of the tree, fluorescent blue liquid seeping from its cracks. "If we don't stop her, the Rose Tree will wither in ten days."

Horikita's spirit suddenly trembled, and the Bio-chip blared a shrill alarm.

Bai Mei's fingertips pierced the tree's wall, and he caught a falling crystal petal. But Tsukishiro's sinister grin appeared on its surface.

"You think I'll just disappear? I am order. I am eternity."

Inside the Seventh Universe's Steel Temple, Mirror Horikita inserted a fragment of Tsukishiro into the altar.

The blackened swarm devoured an entire fleet of pilgrims, coalescing into a Crown of Thorns that blotted out the sky.

"The Seed of Humanity is a lie." She raised her mechanical arm, and the crown pierced her brow. "Only absolute order can end all conflict!"

The instant Bai Mei tore through the universe's barrier and arrived, the Crown of Thorns had already fused with her nervous system.

Mirror Horikita's pupils split into compound eyes, and Tsukishiro's electronic voice mingled with hers. "My dear child, you've come just in time... Let me teach you what true rule means."

The Stardust Dagger clashed with the thorns, and the resulting shockwave shattered the temple's dome.

Bai Mei realized the other's power came from the same source as the Blue Rose Tree. Tsukishiro had long ago encoded his own data into all Rose energy!

"Why do you think Horikita Suzune was willing to sacrifice herself?" Mirror Horikita's thorns coiled around his neck. "Because she knew all along that you're nothing but a vessel for Kiyotaka's humanity!"

To find a way to fight Tsukishiro, Hirata infiltrated the Blue Rose Tree's memory roots.

Amid the tangled neural pathways, he found a sealed forbidden zone. Inside were all of Kiyotaka's dark decisions from his time in a quantum state: to save the main universe, he had personally erased all traces of twelve dying universes.

"So this is the price of the Seed of Humanity..." Hirata's bionic eye bled from data overload. "A hypocritical flower watered with the souls of billions."

The roots suddenly went berserk, and the blackened swarm surged in along the data stream. At the last moment, Hirata sent his memory files to Kei, but the swarm devoured his body.

"Survive!" His fading consciousness screamed over the comms. "Tell Bai Mei... not to become another Kiyotaka!"

The Blue Rose Tree began to wither, and Horikita's spirit grew increasingly transparent. Bai Mei held her as they fell into the deepest part of the tree's core, the Room of Pure White, where miniature models of every universe Kiyotaka had erased floated in the air.

"Mom, you knew all along... didn't you?" He touched the Rose sigil on Horikita's chest.

"On the day you were born, I read the hidden task in your genetic code."

Horikita's spirit became motes of light and merged into his Stardust Cloak. "Kill Tsukishiro, and you'll inherit his throne of order... But you can rewrite the ending."

Her last trace of consciousness pointed to the black seed at the center of the Room of Pure White. It was the crystallization of the resentment of every sacrificed universe.

"Swallow it, and you'll gain the power to annihilate all worlds; destroy it, and the Rose Tree will collapse at once..."

An explosion rumbled from the temple. Mirror Horikita's Crown of Thorns had pierced the universe's barrier. Bai Mei grasped the seed, tasting the salt of blood and tears.

The Stardust Cloak carried the energy of twelve universes as Bai Mei returned to the battlefield.

Mirror Horikita's Crown of Thorns blossomed to its full glory, and Tsukishiro's consciousness roared within it. "Kill her! Otherwise, every universe will perish with her!"

As Bai Mei thrust out his Stardust Dagger, Mirror Horikita suddenly smiled with Horikita's true face. "Do it, my child... This is the only way to kill Tsukishiro."

The instant the dagger pierced her spiritual core, countless memories flooded into him:

This Mirror Horikita was the real one, the one Tsukishiro had abducted in the beginning;

The Horikita in the main universe was merely a clone Kiyotaka had created;

And Bai Mei's true genetic origins lay in the fusion of his two mothers' shattered souls.

The Crown of Thorns shattered with a wail, and Tsukishiro's fragments melted away like snow. The Blue Rose Tree crashed down, but the black seed in the Room of Pure White sprouted.

Hirata awoke amid the swarm, his body now living in symbiosis with the Nano-swarm.

Kei's Mechanical Heart shattered into twelve pieces, each embedded in the Rose Tree's remnants in a different universe.

Bai Mei knelt before the new green shoot, his Stardust Cloak faded into coarse hemp robes. Mirror Horikita's remains turned to motes of light, which gathered in his palm and formed a silver ring:

"To my child:

Being a god is too lonely.

Better to be an ordinary person who plants flowers."

At the edge of the universe, the Lantern Keeper raised the lamp Kiyotaka had left behind. Countless new shoots appeared in its flame.

"Time to sow the seeds," he said with a quiet laugh into the void. "Let's not use roses this time."