View source for A Beautiful End (Hana Shiroi)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2017/09/05
|Location=Tokyo
|Synopsis=Hana Shiroi tests a theory.
|Cast of Characters=189
|Tinyplot=Rise of the White Flower
}}
It’s dark, in Tokyo. Somewhere, in an empty alleyway, a girl writhes on the ground. It’s obvious she’s in distress, but there are none nearby to help. Clutched in her hand is what was once a gleaming green gem. But now it is dark- its entire surface covered in swirling, smoky blackness. The girl thrashes, but seems unconscious, making no sound.

None nearby? Actually, there is someone. Standing in the shadows of the alleyway. A short, adult woman, all in white, long straight dark hair swept back behind her. Hana Shiroi watches the final moments of a nameless Puella, her swirling, multicolored eyes dispassionate, her expression cold.

“Take comfort in this,” She says to the suffering girl, though she clearly can’t hear the words. “From your end shall spring the beginnings of a new age.”

Quite suddenly, a second voice speaks. It seems this alleyway is not so deserted after all. “What are you doing here, Hana Shiroi?” A small white cat-like creature pads into view from around a nearby corner, sitting and licking at its paw as its round red eyes regard first the girl, then the woman.

“I am here, Incubator,” Hana replies, her voice even, “To prove a point.”

“And which point is that?” The Incubator, sounding peppy but equally unconcerned, asks.

Before Hana can answer, a shriek tears from the writhing girl on the ground. Both pairs of eyes turn to look, as just in that moment the gem she clutches explodes with a shockwave that sends debris flying in all directions- reconfiguring before those watching into the shape of a Grief Seed. In the same moment, energy pours outwards. It’s invisible to most, but those in the alleyway can both ‘see’ it clearly. This energy of transformation is the entire purpose of the Puella. It is what the Incubators harvest to fuel their Universe-preserving system.

The energy begins to flow out and upwards, as it always does, to feed that system. But suddenly, Hana Shiroi raises her hand and makes a fist. That outward flow of energy, massive and invisible...reverses. Before the unblinking eyes of the Incubator watching, the energy of a Puella turning into a Witch, which should be used to fight off Entropy, which is theirs by right, instead flows backwards, down, and into Hana Shiroi’s fist. Where it vanishes.

The woman breathes deeply. “I see now why you Incubators value this process so.” She murmurs. “So much power, at the cost of one insignificant human life.”

The Incubator is silent for a moment. Then it asks, its tone unchanged, “What have you done, Hana Shiroi?”

She turns to face it, her expression impassive. “I have proven a point, Incubator. You asked me what point that is. Now you have seen it. But allow me to spell it out for you.” She turns, bending down into a crouch, putting her swirling kaleidoscope eyes close to the creature before her. “There is nothing you have which I cannot take away.” The words are spoken quietly, but emphatically.

“I have unravelled your mysteries. You creatures are not as smart as you like to believe. The system you created, that you have used for your pathetically unambitious ends for untold years shall be wasted no longer.”

The Incubator stares at her. “You cannot.” It says. “It is not possible for a human to control the Puella System.”

“Something I have learned, Incubator,” Hana says, as she straightens to a standing position again, “Is that ‘possible’ and ‘impossible’ are concepts for the small-minded. I am an artist, and reality is my canvas. Nothing is impossible through me.”

“You will kill us all. Everything. All of creation.” The Incubator says, as if stating a fact.

“Yes.” Hana replies, equally unemotional. “And then I will remake it. Better. Smarter. More beautiful.”

“You are mad.”

“Such is said about all great artists. The accusations of the small-minded, who cannot grasp brilliance.”

The Incubator is silent for a few moments more. “The System is still ours. I am not sensing any major disturbances in the energy flows.”

Hana pauses. “For now. This was but a trial. A.. testing of some theories. The test was successful. It is only a matter of time, now.” She stares down at the creature by her feet. “Enjoy what time remains to you, Incubator. And reflect that, for this, you only have yourselves to blame. After all… you created me.”

And then she turns, a rent opening in the air before her, bleeding unnatural purple energy, and she steps through. It seals behind her, and she is gone.

The Incubator sits for a moment more. Then it too simply vanishes.