Gardenia’s Heart

Nia’s gaze swept slowly across the hall, from one end to the other.

Monsters filled every corner her crimson eyes landed on. Lifeless-eyed people stood still, awaiting orders, and at the center of it all was a man.

That man had hurt her wife. That man was the reason she had endured so much suffering. For the first time in her existence, Gardenia did not hold back even the smallest fraction of her dark mana.

The aura that spread through the hall was terrifying. Even Velmont couldn’t maintain his composure when he felt it.

As the girl’s murderous intent reached the monsters, their overwhelming bloodlust and aggression were redirected entirely toward her in an instant. It was as though the monsters’ primal instincts understood that unless they killed her, they would all perish.

Unshaken, however, Nia simply continued to walk forward. With each step of her high heels, the stone floor beneath her seemed to turn red. For her, those monsters were no more than an afterthought. It was as if blood spread like a carpet to guide her path.

She walked to one of the hall’s pillars, where priorities demanded her attention before anything else.

Collapsed amidst the debris of a broken pillar, Oliver lay semi-conscious. His stardust blade was shattered, and his body was bleeding profusely from multiple wounds across his chest and abdomen.

Kneeling beside him, Nia extended her hand to his largest wound, and slowly, a small gelatinous substance began to seep into his body.

“Multiple fractures. Ruptured hepatic arteries. Lacerations across the skin’s surface. Massive blood loss in minutes.” Her cold voice listed the injuries that would kill him if she did nothing.

Her crimson eyes moved from one wound to another, analyzing which to prioritize.

Then, she began her work.

Unlike what she had done with Lily, Nia wouldn’t alter Oliver’s body to survive on dark mana. Since absorbing the second book, her “material” had increased, giving her enough resources to handle complex structures like organs without difficulty.

Taking a greenish potion, Nia poured it into Oliver’s mouth, forcing him to swallow. Her advanced knowledge of the human body allowed her to repair his internal injuries just long enough for even intermediate potions to take effect.

Once the gelatinous liquid fully returned to her, Nia stood up, her indifferent gaze now fixed on the far end of the hall. She spared not even a single glance more at Oliver.

“I’ve stabilized your body enough for you to walk. I’ve already removed your comrades from the gardens. If you don’t want to die, you’d better leave as well.” Her tone was cold, as though her first task had been completed.

When his body finally began responding to his mind, Oliver used his trembling hands to push himself out of the rubble. His eyes struggled to focus on the woman before him, but given that she had saved him, she didn’t seem to be an enemy.

“W-Wait, please, I can’t leave yet. If we don’t stop him—”

“This wasn’t a suggestion. Saving your life was a request from my wife, so I don’t appreciate your persistence. I don’t need spectators.”

A circular portal, reminiscent of a violet sky, appeared, and before Oliver could protest, his body was thrown through it by a tentacle.

Once all distractions had been dealt with, Nia resumed her stride. She dispatched the remaining monsters that dared attack her and began closing in on that man.

Her wife would handle the situation outside. Nia’s task was to finish things here.

This was now her battle.

It didn’t take much for even Velmont to feel his body tense under the presence before him. His dominant hand had already drawn his rapier the moment she entered the hall.

Velmont didn’t know who she was. He wasn’t even aware that someone with such an imposing presence existed within the boundaries of the mist’s territory.

“I found it strange that the leviathan awoke earlier than expected. When I lost contact with those in the mines, I assumed something down there might have disturbed the lake’s waters. So, it was you, wasn’t it?”

The girl’s lips curled into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“I must admit, memory manipulation is a clever strategy. If you can alter the memories of mediocre bandits, you can remain untouchable. Even if one of them is captured and tortured for answers, they won’t remember anything, after all.” Her voice carried a cold fury as she spoke to him. “But being able to implant stigmas into monsters as well? That was something I hadn’t expected.”

“Did you come here just to praise me?” He raised an eyebrow at the woman standing before him.

Nia stopped ten steps away from him, her expression unchanged even as her words carried deadly threats.

“Actually, I came for your head.”

The moment those words were spoken, it was the man who struck first.

A black rapier cut through the air in the blink of an eye, its target unmistakably the woman’s neck.

“!?” His attack would decide everything—if it succeeded, he would win; if it failed, he would retreat and try again. But as a sharp exclamation of disbelief escaped him, Velmont Sunshard watched his blade trapped in a gelatinous purple tentacle.

The man’s eyes widened as he tried to understand what he was seeing. He pulled with all his strength to free his weapon, but it wouldn’t budge.

“What’s the matter?”

Still standing exactly where she was, Nia looked at him with a disappointed expression as she asked.

The tentacle, no thicker than a fist, was tougher than anything Velmont had ever tried to cut. Every second his blade remained trapped, more damage appeared. Crack after crack, the rapier was being destroyed.

Clicking his tongue, Velmont concentrated mana into his weapon. In an instant, the blade was surrounded by a dense layer of brilliant light.

With a powerful strike, the purple tentacle burst apart, and Velmont leaped backward to create distance.

“How did it go again? ‘Quick to flee like a wolf catching the scent of its hunter’? I think that’s how you put it.” Tilting her head to the side, Nia clasped her hands near her face, her voice almost sing-song.

Without closing the distance, he aimed his rapier at Nia, an immense amount of mana condensing into the now gleaming white blade, which transformed into a beam of light that shot toward the girl.

“What’s the matter?”

Once again, it wasn’t the girl who looked startled, but Velmont himself.

The instant the beam of light surged forward at great speed, the man felt an ominous instinct—if he didn’t jump aside immediately, he would die.

The beam struck one of the hall’s walls, but it reappeared a moment later beside him, emerging from a portal resembling a starry sky.

“So, the way you escaped the mine that day really was teleportation? That’s quite unexpected.”

Velmont spoke, even as the near-miss left a gash along his abdomen.

“Is there any human besides the elder of the Mage Tower who can use that kind of magic? No... you’re anything but human. Wait, don’t tell me—let me guess this on my own... a high elf in disguise, perhaps?”

Cold sweat trickled down his face, and his breathing grew irregular. Yet, despite his deteriorating state, the man spoke as if he still held the situation in the palm of his hand.

”Save your breath,” Nia said dismissively, shrugging off Velmont’s words. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips curled into a faint, taunting smile as if daring her opponent to do his worst.

Velmont’s eyes narrowed in frustration at the disrespect. Concentrating mana into his partially broken rapier once more, he gave his next command with a firm voice.

”Attack.”

The controlled civilians stationed along the walls immediately unleashed their magic upon Nia.

Impact after impact collided against the black sphere that surrounded her. Assessing the situation, Nia considered the presence of unrelated civilians and carefully selected the most suitable approach.

With a snap of her fingers, two black ice crystals formed and began spinning rapidly in front of her.

Velmont observed her preparing the attack amidst the controlled crowd, initially unable to comprehend what she was trying to do. Even though her tentacles were fending off the approaching civilians, the attack seemed like it would cut through everything—and everyone—in its path to reach him.

It wasn’t until the ice crystals were fired that Velmont realized how wrong he had been.

Reacting instinctively, he moved his blade faster than he thought possible, slicing through the ice crystal that had appeared in front of his forehead via a portal.

There was no time for shock, as he was forced to leap away to avoid the second crystal aiming for his knees.

“Aargh!” he groaned in pain. His quick reflexes saved him from losing a leg, but he still sustained a deep wound.

With its target missed, the ice crystal crashed into the reinforced floor, sending cracks spiderwebbing across the room.

In this situation, his first instinct should have been to heal himself with a potion, but Velmont knew that stopping even for a moment could mean his demise.

Dashing through the lines of civilians, he began contemplating his options. Hiding his mana wouldn’t work—she would still find him. Attacking her directly was pointless—his attacks would just be turned back on him.

But that wasn’t the only problem. Every civilian he sent to attack her directly escaped his control as soon as she touched them. A portal would then appear, and they would vanish from the room.

As the number of pawns dwindled to half, Velmont ordered the remaining ones to focus on ranged attacks, creating a barrage of spells to keep her from getting closer.

“Hey, hunter,” Nia called out, her voice calm and unbothered despite the dozens of spells hammering against her black sphere. “Mind telling me what you’re planning by gathering so much mana into that sphere?”

She didn’t even glance at Velmont, hidden among the crowd. Her sharp eyes were fixed on the glowing sphere atop the altar.

The sheer amount of mana being funneled into it was unsettling. Her keen senses could both see and feel the immense energy flowing into the sphere. That sphere, made of stardust, is pulling mana from all of Caligo. More specifically, from every single one of its residents.

“Every stigma, every visitor’s hourglass, every citizen’s card—they’re all siphoning mana from people to fuel this.” As she spoke, she flung two more demi-humans through a portal, removing them from the battle.

Nia studied the sphere with growing unease. The amount of mana stored there already exceeded her expectations. She knew she had an enormous reserve of dark mana—enough to lend Lily the power to fight freely on the plains and still have plenty left to battle here.

And yet, the sphere now contained more mana than she carried within herself.

“Are you planning to drive all those people to complete exhaustion, hunter?” Nia asked, her voice sharp as her gaze pierced through the chaos.

”Silence,” Velmont barked with intensity as he charged toward the girl alone.

The fact that his opponent remained stationary was an advantage. In an open field, with no defenses aside from her magic, Velmont could relentlessly press his attacks.

The man’s black cape billowed behind him as he darted swiftly from every possible angle, seeking an opening to strike. Any magic he tried to launch from a distance would be redirected back at him through portals or blocked by her black sphere. If he wanted to win, he had to triumph in a contest of speed.

His rapier, imbued with his light spell, clashed repeatedly against her violet tentacles. Each time his weapon was caught between them, it threatened to shatter; he couldn’t afford for that to happen again. He had to move faster, strike harder—he had no other choice.

“This is but a small price they pay to live under the sun,” he declared with a commanding voice, his attacks now numbering in the hundreds.

Yet, no matter how fast or tirelessly he fought, for every tentacle he severed, two more emerged. And when he managed to defeat those two, four more attacked him in unison.

She wasn’t even taking him seriously—he could tell. Without so much as sparing him a glance, the woman continued to fix her thoughtful gaze on the sphere above the altar.

His body was growing weary. He couldn’t delude himself into believing he could outlast her in a battle of endurance.

But no matter how insurmountable the odds seemed, no matter how powerful the woman before him was, Velmont was absolutely certain he would prevail.

With a single leap, he retreated to the side of the altar, steadying his breath as he landed.

Nia didn’t pursue him. Instead, she retracted her tentacles back into her body, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

Nothing had changed.

There was still only one opponent standing before her, and the sphere continued to absorb massive amounts of mana. Even so, the shapeshifter chose not to attack.

”My enchanting lady in a black dress, might I be granted the honor of knowing your name?” Velmont’s voice rang out with theatrical flair.

Removing his hat, he dropped to one knee and bowed low, his head inclined in exaggerated deference.

Nia’s eyes narrowed further, her wariness sharpening.

”I found it strange that Velmont had learned such powerful spells without anyone who knew him being able to imagine where he might have studied. At first, I thought it might be one of the books, so I attacked cautiously. But my body didn’t resonate with a volume like it did the other times, so I ruled that out.”

The girl began to speak, her purple hair swaying softly beside her cold crimson eyes.

”All this mana for large-scale spells. And that monster called Leviathan—far too strong to be controlled by a stigma created by Velmont. Even after testing him in various ways, I couldn’t believe it was him orchestrating all this chaos.”

Even the mocking smile that once adorned her face had vanished. Her aura intensified further as she stared at the essence of the being before her.

”Your body is still Velmont’s, but the one inside isn’t him anymore. Who are you?”

Absolute silence enveloped the blood-covered hall following those words.

Not even the faintest breeze remained.

It was as if the very world had stilled itself, unwilling to linger any longer.

“Heheh...”

A laugh echoed.

It sounded neither human nor monstrous.

The sensation emanating through the air and clashing with the girl’s aura wasn’t rage, resentment, or hatred.

It was something entirely different.

If she had to describe it, there would be no word more fitting than... malice.

“Hehihihahahahaaahaaaaaaahhhhh!!”

In an instant, frenzied laughter overtook the room.

It felt as though the very air within the hall vibrated. The voice, as if rising from the depths of an abyss, caused even those with controlled minds to shrink and recoil.

”You figured it out so quickly!! That’s amazing!! So marvelous!! How did you notice? Am I really such a bad actor!? Oh, you’ve sparked my curiosity... heh... hehehehehe!”

‘Velmont’ adjusted his hat, hands clutching his stomach as he laughed uncontrollably. His green eyes rolled wildly across the room, his exaggerated expression betraying his boundless excitement.

”Watching was soooooooo boring! So, I’ll take over from here!”

Discarding his black gloves with indifference, ‘Velmont’ inspected the palm of his hand. A pattern resembling thorny spirals burned into his skin, glowing faintly as if branded by fire.

With a simple snap of his fingers, every remaining civilian in the hall dropped to their knees simultaneously.

”Perhaps you are worthy of knowing my name before your death.”

The man’s voice had changed entirely. It now carried a high-pitched tone, unmistakably feminine.

The corners of the lips curled into a twisted smile, and the next words were agonizingly slow, as though they relished every syllable, savoring the emotions they conveyed.

”I am the Fifth Twilight of the great empire of the Demon King, Orlaith, The Soul Engraver.”