Gardenia’s Heart

This was the second time since merging into one body that Lily and Nia had been separated on such a scale. However, unlike the first time—during the battle against the guardian, when Lily found herself completely alone—this time, something was different.

With a graceful leap, Lily twirled her black sword, slicing through every enemy attempting to approach the point where she would land.

A rain of ice crystals fell toward her, but a powerful black shield formed above her body, protecting her directly.

“Thank you~”

Murmuring softly with a smile, Lily received no reply, but she knew the girl had surely heard her.

Since Nia regained her own body, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they had rarely been more than a few meters apart. Gazing toward the horizon, even amidst the thick fog, she could feel—deep in her heart—the highest floor of the castle, where Nia was. The distance between them spanned dozens of kilometers, yet Lily knew they were not truly apart.

Two ice foxes lunged at Lily from behind, but with swift precision, four purple tentacles emerged, crushing the creatures without so much as a single drop of blood splattering on her.

Even from so far away, Nia continued to shield her and maintain her body’s functions flawlessly. Though Nia had sent part of herself to handle Velmont, she was still with Lily. Placing her hand over her heart and smiling, Lily felt warmth spread across her cheeks.

Nia had warned her before entering the throne room that there might be a moment when she would remain silent for an extended period. Although concerned, Lily had complete faith in her wife. Nia would handle the situation on the plains.

The roar of a group of four horned bears interrupted Lily’s joyful thoughts. As she prepared to conjure ice crystals to pierce them, black ink-like lines wrapped around the beasts.

“This will never end, will it!?”

That unmistakable voice arrived alongside a flash of crimson.

Her attire was far too ostentatious for a battlefield, highlighting her desire to remain the center of attention even amidst destruction. Her face was smeared with blood, and her dress was so torn it exposed a deep wound in her skin. Two rabbit ears twitched back and forth as golden hair fluttered in the wind.

Back-to-back, the two girls stood in the center of the monster horde, defending each other.

“Selene, you took far longer than I expected.” Forming several black crystals to attack, Lily spoke with a smirk.

“Are you kidding me? Do you know how hard it was to immobilize all the students and teachers practically on my own!? Most of them collapsed from mana exhaustion after I destroyed their resident cards! I barely had any help containing the situation at the academy.” Selene huffed, her twin tails completely undone, leaving her golden hair cascading down her back.

“Our esteemed two-star mage struggling with students?” Lily teased with a mock-serious tone, covering her mouth as her eyes sparkled with disbelief.

“I swear we’d settle our rivalry right now if it weren’t for this situation, you brat!”

Ignoring the numerous cuts on her body and the fact she’d recently survived a fatal wound, Selene stomped her feet in an adorably furious display, obliterating a horned bear with a single strike.

“But if you’re here, that means Abelia’s daughter was rescued without issue?” Wiping the blood from her face, Selene glanced at Lily, whose clothes were spotless and devoid of any sweat or grime.

“Unlike someone I know, I’m capable of doing a job properly~” Lily sang, nodding as she sent two purple tentacles to strangle two ice foxes Selene had pinned to the ground with her ink.

“Stop provoking me! Actually, forget it—come at me! I’ll beat you along with the monsters!”

Selene huffed as she sprinted forward, aiming her brush at Lily. Red ink sliced through the air beside Lily’s head, striking a group of bats swooping down toward her.

”The monsters are one thing, but the civilians won’t last much longer. This is pushing their bodies to the brink. If we don’t stop this, they’ll all die within hours—either from exhaustion or some insane fight among themselves,” Selene said, her voice sharp but tinged with worry.

Just the sight of a familiar face amidst the chaos soothed Selene’s frayed nerves enough for her to crack a joke. But knowing they needed to resolve the situation, she quickly returned to the topic at hand.

”Don’t worry, this will all be over soon,” Lily declared confidently, her eyes locked on the next wave of monsters.

”As expected of my rival! So, does that mean you have a plan to fix this mess?” Selene asked, assuming a battle stance, her red dress flowing in the rain.

”We just need to defeat the monsters here. The mental manipulation affecting everyone will be broken shortly.”

”Easier said than done,” Selene remarked, narrowing her eyes as her ink beasts tore through the advancing monsters. ”But I see you’re confident, Rival. Tell me, what exactly gives you such conviction?”

At Selene’s words, Lily tilted her head innocently and responded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

”Love?”

”We’re doomed.”

Selene’s jaw dropped. She covered her face with one hand, while the other continued summoning ink beasts to attack any monster nearing the city walls.

”By the way, any idea how to deal with that?”

Ignoring Selene’s dramatic reaction, Lily raised a finger and pointed to the sky. What she referred to couldn’t have been more obvious.

”I came here to help with this. As much as I wanted to head to the castle, I could see that leviathan from kilometers away and knew I had to do something about it. To think that bastard Velmont was hiding a calamity-class monster so close to the city.”

Selene’s pink eyes narrowed as her mind wrestled with the absurdity of the situation.

”A calamity-class monster? Wait—leviathan!? That’s not a dragon!?” Lily turned to protest, momentarily leaving the tentacles of Nia to handle the assault.

”Please, don’t give me that confused-student look!” Selene snapped, exasperated. ”Do you want me to give a terminology lecture right now, in the middle of fighting for our lives?”

”Fine, then I’ll go somewhere else, and you can handle this alone.”

Lily started to walk away, but Selene grabbed her cloak in desperation, pulling it frantically.

”Wait, wait! I’ll explain! I’m sorry!”

Clinging to the cloak as if her life depended on it, Selene yelled until Lily stopped in her tracks. Once Lily placed her hands on her hips and stared expectantly, Selene took a deep breath to calm herself.

”As we discussed before, the farther east you go in this world, the denser the demon king’s miasma becomes. It saturates everything around it. This isn’t something that only affects humans—even monsters go mad and die if they venture too deeply into it. Calamity-class monsters is the term we use for creatures capable of surviving in the demon king’s continent.”

Selene explained as thoroughly as she could, and Lily listened intently to every detail.

”The leviathan is a monster that inhabits the seas surrounding Finis, the demon continent. They’re known as the emperors of the seas because of their ability to sink ships and conjure storms. It’s precisely because of them that we’re forced to access demon territory by land instead of by sea.”

”Alright, so why isn’t this a dragon? It has wings, and I’m absolutely certain that the rest of it, even though it has no arms or legs, is just like a lizard!”

”You sat through my entire lecture! I swear by—!” Selene stomped her foot on the ground, letting out a string of unintelligible yells before continuing. ”Dragons are oviparous! Monsters are born from the concentration of dark mana. Even if it looks like a dragon, it wasn’t born from an egg! It has wings because that’s an innate ability of its species! Along with this storm!”

When Lily finished listening to Selene’s explanation, her expression softened with a faint sadness.

”I really wanted to see a dragon…” Lily murmured.

Speaking softly was pointless near someone with sharp ears, but Selene pretended not to hear Lily’s lament. Instead, she turned her focus to the Leviathan, its massive form stretching across the sky, its length easily covering more than half the city.

”Not even groups of multiple three-star mages would dare to take on one of these,” Selene murmured, her grip on her brush tightening.

”Don’t tell me you’re scared now?” Lily teased, stepping beside her. The black sword in Lily’s right hand pulsed with an intense blue aura.

”Of course not.” Pointing her brush toward the sky, Selene grinned. ”This bunny right here is going to use this bastard’s body to pay for her school’s reconstruction.”

In an instant, several streams of red ink shot toward the heavens, soaring hundreds of meters until they struck the Leviathan. Despite the attack’s force, not even a scratch formed on its scales.

As though waiting for the right moment, the enormous creature began descending toward the plains.

Both girls moved simultaneously.

Waving her hand, Lily created a small but long ice ramp, allowing them to quickly gain altitude.

With the monster’s face only meters away, they leaped. As the ice platform shattered, both had already latched onto the Leviathan’s body.

The creature, having charged at them at high speed, hovered just above the ground before flapping its massive wings and launching into a steep vertical ascent. They were so high that even the city, shrouded in mist, was barely visible below.

”If you don’t want to die, hold on tight—!?” Selene’s warning was cut short as a massive jolt of electricity coursed through her hand, forcing her to let go.

”Look who’s talking!”

Grabbing Selene with a tentacle before she could plummet, Lily pulled her close.

Lily could feel the electricity coursing through her nerves, but the pain was manageable thanks to Nia’s healing abilities, allowing her to hold on without issue.

”T-Thanks!” Selene stammered, her face flushed from nearly falling after showing off. The tentacles, thankfully, didn’t conduct the electricity to her body.

Struggling to stay latched onto the creature as it repeatedly thrashed in the air, the silver-haired girl racked her brain for a solution.

Lily was confident in handling humans, but when it came to monsters, especially something of this scale, she knew her limitations. Nia’s rapid analysis and ability to pinpoint weaknesses had always been crucial for their success against such foes.

In a situation where she didn’t want to burden her wife any further, Lily knew she had to rely on someone else.

”I’m open to ideas!” she shouted, cutting off Selene’s murmured complaints as the girl dangled from a tentacle.

Lily gritted her teeth as the massive monster began thrashing violently, doing everything in its power to shake them off.

”The Leviathan’s scales aren’t rigid all the time. If they were, it wouldn’t have the flexibility to be strong on the surface and rigid enough to survive the high-pressure environments of the deep sea.”

As Selene spoke, spears of water formed from the storm’s downpour. To any observer, it looked like a literal rain of death.

”And what does that mean?” Lily asked, forming a black sphere around the two of them to shield them from the deadly rain of water spears.

”It means it can shift the rigidity of its scales by concentrating mana in specific parts. When it defends, it focuses mana heavily in certain areas, giving it colossal resistance. We need to spread our attacks simultaneously across multiple spots!”

As the Leviathan began spiraling in the air, Lily gritted her teeth and started running.

The uneven, scaly surface made for an unstable terrain, but with her stardust sword in hand, Lily dashed across the creature’s massive body, slashing at as many places as she could.

The sky and ground flipped positions as quickly as a blink while the Leviathan spun, making it difficult even for Lily to orient herself. Firing ice shards wildly in every direction while striking with her sword, she finally began to see wounds accumulating on the colossal beast.

”R-Rival! I know you have plenty of reasons to be mad at me, but please don’t let me fall!”

Selene shouted, firing spells at any spot her dizzying eyes could focus on. Her body was flung side to side as Lily moved at breakneck speed, even atop the thrashing monster. The rabbit-eared girl struggled not to lose her stomach while clinging desperately to Lily’s tentacles.

The howling wind tore at them, only rivaled by the rain that obscured their surroundings.

As if angered by the persistent humans clinging to it, the Leviathan grew increasingly aggressive, its roars escalating in volume.

If Lily hesitated for even a moment before an attack, her sword would fail to penetrate the scales. And even when it did, the area would harden shortly after, preventing her from creating deeper wounds.

With no time to think, Lily relied entirely on instinct, striking faster and faster until more and more blood poured from the Leviathan’s massive form.

Lightning rained down, targeting the beast and the girls, while its roars grew nearly unbearable to the ears. The torrential downpour of water spears would leave deep gashes if they hit, but Lily never stopped attacking.

When the pain finally became unbearable for the creature, it hurled itself downward with immense force.

Lily’s eyes widened. Even with the sudden motion, she could tell this move was different from the others.

”Damn it, it’s trying to drown us in the lake!”

Out of all possible outcomes, this was a major problem.

Lily didn’t need to breathe, but Selene did.

The cutting wind from the steep dive made communication nearly impossible, but trusting Selene’s sharp rabbit ears to understand her intent, Lily hurled Selene through a portal just before the Leviathan struck the water.

With a thunderous crash, the cold lake water swallowed Lily whole. The murky depths turned crimson as the creature’s blood clouded the water, and it dove deeper and deeper toward the bottom.

Even underwater, much to the beast’s frustration, Lily had no intention of letting go.

The lake’s darkness posed no problem for Lily, whose vision pierced through even the blackest shadows. The cold didn’t affect her thanks to Nia’s protective influence, and the immense pressure was held at bay by the dense layer of dark mana enveloping her body.

The Leviathan may have thought the depths were its territory, but it couldn’t have been more wrong.

As the resistance of water was greater than that of air, the Leviathan couldn’t generate inertia as quickly as it could in the skies. With its mana spread throughout its body to harden its scales and withstand the immense pressure, any attack Lily launched would be effective.

Smiling even in such a situation, Lily swung her sword and plunged it into the creature. Deeper than ever before, the stardust blade carved a massive gash into its flesh. At the same time, several tentacles began striking at different spots.

Each impact made the monster writhe. It couldn’t comprehend how a human could still be alive so deep underwater, let alone continue attacking in such conditions.

As more and more of the water turned red, the Leviathan, left with no choice, started swimming straight toward the surface with speed. Its wings began forming again on its back.

Still holding on, Lily noticed the faint light of the water’s surface growing closer. The sudden change in pressure could have caused nitrogen dissolved in her blood to form bubbles and block her blood vessels. However, this wasn’t a problem for a girl whose wife would care for her even at the cellular level.

“Good work.” The moment the Leviathan’s head broke the surface of the lake, a confident voice echoed.

As the monster emerged from the water, already anticipating the moment, a girl with rabbit ears stood ready, her brush pointed toward the lake. Several red ink projectiles shot toward the creature’s head at high speed.

Roaring in pain from the relentless barrage of attacks, the Leviathan frantically ascended to the skies. The sheer number of actions it had to manage simultaneously made its responses to the attacks increasingly slower.

Finally letting go, Lily reappeared beside the golden-haired girl through a portal. Narrowing her eyes, she stared at the creature.

“All that, and it’s still standing?” Lily murmured, her gaze fixed on the beast, which hadn’t succumbed despite the thousands of accumulated wounds.

“We need to hit it with an area attack so powerful it covers its entire body. That’s the only way we’ll bring it down.” Placing her hand on her hip to ease the extreme exhaustion, Selene turned to the girl beside her, who was already completely dry despite having been underwater just seconds ago. “Do you have a spell that can do that, Rival?”

“Yes, as long as it stays still, I can hit it,” Lily said without a moment’s hesitation.

“Alright. I only have enough mana for one attempt. I’ll immobilize it.” Surprised by the immediate response, Selene twirled her brush between her fingers and allowed herself a smile.

The two women, their dresses stained with blood and grime, nodded to each other and stood side by side. The last of the monsters emerging from the forest advanced toward them, but they were ready. The Leviathan wouldn’t dare come close again, instead opting to attack them from afar until they were dead. That meant they would have to go to it.

Running forward, the two girls cut through the ranks of monsters with deadly precision, their stardust weapons glowing brightly as they prepared their most powerful spell.

They had only one chance. They couldn’t afford to miss.

As the once-frozen plains turned red once more, the two girls leaped into a portal resembling a starry sky.

The biting wind of high altitude struck them immediately. Fog, clouds, and the storm clashed with their bodies as they plummeted in free fall.

Below them, the enormous Leviathan searched for its vanished targets until the overwhelming sensation of mana emanating from above forced it to look up.

The blade Lily wielded carried her mana signature, meaning only her energy could be channeled into it. The power was already being amplified several times over, but it still wouldn’t be enough.

”I think it’s time to try that again. Nia, lend me your strength,” the girl said, her most radiant smile accompanying her voice.

Once before, she had done this at the cost of her life.

Back then, the mana in her body was only enough to summon thousands, but with Nia’s power, hundreds of thousands came forth.

In an instant, the entire sky was blanketed with blue and black ice crystals.

“No, you’re not escaping!” With sharp teeth bared, the girl with rabbit ears swung her brush.

In one swift motion, countless lines of ink latched onto the creature that was trying to flee back to the lake, dragging it upward toward the heavens.

“On my signal!” Selene shouted, blood dripping from her lips. The expression of ecstasy and ferocity on her face made it impossible to tell her mind was at its absolute limit.

Seven colossal orbs of ink began to orbit Selene. Each one glowed with a different color, expanding in all directions, bubbling with explosive energy.

When all the preparations were complete, it was as if the entire sky of Caligo had been consumed by the mana of those two girls.

It was all or nothing.

Under the storm clouds, the voice of the first girl echoed.

“[Polychrome Overflow]”

And then, a voice colder than the most frozen abyss followed.

“[Crystal Apocalypse]”

It wasn’t merely brilliant or chaotic.

The world painted with ice and the one built with multicolored ink converged with absolute force.

Tearing through the storm clouds, the combined attack surged forward, carving its path as if determined to annihilate everything in its way.

The temperature plummeted to absolute zero as the multicolored wave corroded everything it touched. In an unprecedented impact, the tidal wave of multicolored ink slammed into the Leviathan, forcing its massive body to the ground with tons of weight in a single instant.

Without even the time to roar in agony, the creature’s body was struck by explosions from the glimmering ice crystals. Piece by piece, its scales were frozen and shattered until, finally, its very core was reached.

The echo of shattering ice and the boiling ink intertwined into a symphony of pure annihilation.

When the attack finally ceased, the plains were left with a sight so surreal it seemed out of place in the world.

From head to tail, encased in a prism of ice with indescribable hues stretching for miles, lay a Leviathan, utterly lifeless and motionless.