Gardenia’s Heart

The air had stopped.

It wasn’t a metaphor or an exaggeration— it was as if the world itself had held its breath, unwilling to challenge the presence before them.

Every floating petal dropped to the ground, laying a path like a carpet for the creature.

A chill that did not come from the air traced the spines of the girls. Their stomachs twisted, as though the core of their beings were being clawed from within.

And the creature… did nothing.

And that was the worst part.

Dozens of blue eyes blinked irregularly, scanning them. Its pitch-black fur dripped shadows onto the ground, staining it with an ethereal purple.

It was obvious now.

There was no need for further riddles.

No tricks to split them up or weaken their powers.

No obstacle or convenient delay could matter anymore.

Because the moment they stood before it, the very thought of victory vanished.

And then—

It moved.

All sound vanished from the world.

And then, a muffled burst tore through the air.

Nia felt her body being yanked.

“Eh…?”

Even the metamorph couldn’t help but let out a confused moan as she was suddenly pulled to another place.

She hadn’t even realized it. It was only in that moment that she noticed—she had stopped thinking for the first time.

Nia was then set on her feet by something, but the strength left her legs and she dropped to the ground.

A strong scent of rust filled her nose.

Her numb body scanned her surroundings, a ringing burning in her ears as a thick, dark red liquid began to drip onto the ground.

Not understanding, she reached out and caught it in her small hands.

Thicker than water, it slid between her fingers.

It was red.

So it wasn’t hers.

Nia followed the trail with her eyes.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Until her gaze landed on the feet of the figure beside her.

A woman. Her stance steady, holding an amber axe with her right hand and—

She had no left arm.

“What…?”

The metamorph’s voice came not as a question, but as a hoarse whisper of confusion and shock.

Her muscles betrayed her. For a split second, she couldn’t move.

And then—

That sound reached her.

Something wet, swinging through the air.

Her neck turned, and her wide eyes locked onto what the Torment held—

Where she knew she had stood just moments before.

Torn flesh dangled from the beast’s black tail, swinging like a grotesque trophy. Shredded tendons and purple veins dripped among scraps of armor.

And then, the beast’s teeth—white as the bones it crushed for sport—stretched into a grin.

Not like an animal’s.

It was grotesque.

It was cruel.

It was…

“You need to pull yourself together.” Elarielle’s low voice yanked her from her thoughts.

Turning her gaze toward the hero, Nia noticed that despite the disturbing amount of blood gushing from her torn shoulder, there was no pain or panic in her.

“If you go into shock now, we’re dead.”

The queen gathered the blood in her mouth and spat it out—Nia could see it from the ground.

Her tongue was split.

To force her body to move and get them out of there, she had nearly cut it in two.

“[Bloom Embrace].”

A green aura spread from the elf’s body. Emerald lines converged around her shoulder as a new limb began to form.

“Can you stand?” Elarielle asked, never taking her eyes off the monster.

Realizing she was still on the ground, Nia forced herself to her feet.

Dark mana surged around her as she clutched her sword.

“I… I can’t sense it.”

Her mana-location had never stopped functioning. She had continued sending pulses to detect the creature—but from the moment it had appeared, even when it moved, she couldn’t feel it.

“I escaped on pure instinct, but still lost an arm. I couldn’t follow it with my eyes—it’s too fast.”

Once her arm was fully regrown, Elarielle reached behind her, pulled a girl from her back, and gently set her down.

Just like Nia before her, Thelira let out a muffled groan. Her knees buckled slightly, on the verge of collapse, but she managed to stay on her feet. Her entire body trembled from head to toe, yet even so, with her fingers steady on her bow, Thelira began conjuring an arrow.

“Get down!” the girl known as the Sage shouted with all her strength.

The very next moment, five claws slashed vertically through the air where their heads had just been.

The creature, having lost its targets, turned its gaze to the ground. A circular portal resembling a starry sky pulsed in violet tones. A brown arrow shot through it, and in the next instant, a stone pillar emerged, hurling the beast’s body away.

A hundred meters away, Nia burst from a portal midair, catching Elarielle and Thelira with her tentacles as she spread her wings.

Thelira’s golden eyes glowed brightly, and blood dripped from her lips, but she didn’t stop peering into the future. By narrowing her precognition to just one or two seconds ahead, she could see incoming attacks with perfect clarity, stripped of uncertainty—but even so, avoiding instant death was the best she could manage.

“Torment was killed centuries ago. How is it here?” Elarielle murmured, doubting the very question escaping her lips.

That monster had been eliminated. Every elf knew it was dead.

“Don’t think about that now—how do we kill it?” Nia asked, her crimson eyes burning with resolve.

Should they fall back and regroup? No. Nia knew that if the fight moved elsewhere, Lily would be in danger. She needed to destroy this creature here and now.

“The former queen never said how she defeated it, only that it was resolved. Even I don’t know the details,” Elarielle said through gritted teeth, locking eyes with the metamorph. “I’ll keep it busy. Hit it with everything you’ve got.”

Nia nodded and released Elarielle. The queen landed with expert grace, her amber axe exuding a sickly green aura.

A black tail swayed side to side in response. The black wolf, nearly five meters tall, stood untouched.

The pillar Thelira had conjured hadn’t harmed it. It simply stood there, among the ruins. Torment remained motionless, waiting.

And then—she ran.

The amber axe clashed against the claws, sparks bursting in both directions.

“Tsk.”

As if the height difference weren’t trouble enough, each strike was heavy, forceful enough to make her click her tongue in frustration.

“Don’t you dare come back from the dead, you piece of shit!”

Channeling even more mana into her blows, Elarielle began forcing the monster back. Each impact of her axe carved small craters into the earth.

But no matter how much she pushed, she couldn’t open a single gap. The claws were unaffected by her decay magic, and any strike aimed at its fur was instantly blocked.

And then came another problem.

Slicing through the air like a spear, a black tail lashed toward her from the side. There was no way to stop it. But she didn’t need to.

A confused growl escaped the monster’s maw as several black threads wrapped around its tail.

Torment had many eyes, yet it hadn’t seen it coming. It seemed impossible—until it noticed why. Floating midair, a single lone portal hovered in the blind spot of all its gazes, from which countless threads emerged. The web, as sticky as it was strong, bound the limb in place—and in the next moment, each strand ignited in black fire.

“I’ve felt that myself. Not very pleasant, is it?”

Elarielle laughed, watching as Torment whipped its tail repeatedly, trying to break free.

Running, she gained distance just as ten arrows rained down in rapid succession beside the creature. Each bluish projectile exploded upon impact with the ground, releasing high-pressure jets of water aimed directly at Torment.

The water targeted its body, while the black flames still clung to its tail. The opposing forces didn’t cancel each other out—on the contrary, they created the perfect opening the hero needed.

“Good job.”

Circling the battlefield, Elarielle moved quickly around the creature until she reached its flank. Its many eyes searched for her, but couldn’t find her. That single moment of distraction caused by the combined attacks was all the cyan fairy needed to release her spell.

A putrid green aura surged through the air, completely enveloping the amber axe. There was no way to hide such an overwhelming force, even with the fairy’s invisibility—but it didn’t matter. Within a second, she was directly above Torment’s head.

All the blue eyes scattered across the monster’s body focused on her. She was the true threat. Elarielle was certain that’s what the creature was thinking.

But it was too late. This would end here. Whether it had revived or not, no living being could survive having its head cut off.

And so, as her axe descended, everything should have been over.

“!?”

That is—if she had hit her target.

A crater formed in the ruins as Elarielle’s axe struck the earth. Her blow came down like a bolt of lightning from the sky. Stone and grass exploded upward, and dust and debris engulfed everything in thick clouds.

Did she overshoot? No. Elarielle was sure she had aimed correctly.

“You two, where did it—”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence.

Because it... was already behind her.

The sound of ribs breaking echoed before the pain even registered. A black paw struck her side, knocking all the air from her lungs. Blood burst from her mouth in a thick stream of dark red.

With all her mana focused on the axe, she had none left to shield herself from the sudden blow. Elarielle was hurled like a ragdoll into the forest.

And then, through the settling dust, those blue eyes reopened—now locked onto the remaining two.

Thelira almost screamed her sister’s name, but a sharp cracking sound—too loud to ignore—came from beside her. Her eyes darted toward it. “Lady Gardenia, your hand!”

“I’m fine,” Nia replied, never breaking her stare from the monster.

Neither trees nor stone could bear the beast’s weight. So Nia had used her own strength to keep it in place for those few seconds.

She had anchored the threads with both hands and several tentacles. As a result, all ten of her fingers now bent at unnatural angles—completely broken.

Cold sweat slid down her back. She hadn’t even noticed when her fingers twisted or her tentacles snapped. It was instant. And the worst part—after everything—there wasn’t even a scratch on the creature.

Was its defense really that strong?

Nia didn’t have time to find the answer, as it suddenly charged straight at her.

A portal opened before her and she leapt into it with Thelira. Upon landing on the other side, she immediately conjured another portal and began healing her fingers.

“Check on that woman. I’ll buy us time.” Without another word, she pushed Thelira through.

Nia knew exactly where Elarielle had landed. It wasn’t hard to send the elf there.

And now…

She was alone, face-to-face with that being.

From opposite ends of the ruins, Torment and Nia locked eyes.

The beast, standing before the stone staircase, swung its black tail. The curved blades on its back, twisted like gnarled branches, pulsed with a white light.

The girl, at the edge of the ruins, silently infused her stardust blade with even more dark mana.

This wasn’t a battle of honor or ideals.

No words were needed.

They both charged at each other, and the impact of their clash sent shockwaves in every direction.

The first time Torment had attacked, Nia hadn’t even managed to react. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Front paws, hind legs, spectral blades on the back, the maw, and the tail—she needed to handle them all.

A black sphere formed in the air to her right, exactly where the next attack would come from.

“Fail.”

Her voice rang out as she leapt back, her body swallowed by a portal. Her obsidian shield could only block the tail for a single second.

Next.

Descending from the sky above Torment’s body, hundreds of fist-sized ice crystals formed around the girl, spinning violently in place, charging with energy.

With a single slash of her sword, they fired in rapid succession. The air rang like shattering glass as the shards slammed into the ground, trying to pierce the monster now darting through the ruins with terrifying speed.

“Fail.”

The projectiles were slower than the creature. She wouldn’t hit it this way. Overwhelming the monster with brute force would get her nowhere.

Next.

The creature climbed the ruins, leaping from pillar to pillar toward her.

Her black wings flapped with explosive force, thunderous shadows erupting around her. With a single boost, Nia launched herself toward Torment, her blade engulfed in black flames within seconds.

The monster raised its claws in response. But before it could strike, it saw a circular portal open directly in front of it.

She was warping away—it had seen her do this before. Its many eyes searched for where she’d reappear.

And that was its mistake: assuming she had entered the portal.

A blade of flaming black obsidian was already inches from its face.

A faint smile curved on the lips of the purple-haired girl as the glacial blue eyes locked onto her.

Nia understood now—Torment’s defense wasn’t absolute. Her threads, Thelira’s arrows—they weren’t enough to wound it. But other things were. And that’s why the creature had kept dodging, why it had gone after Elarielle first.

Putting all her strength into her arms, Nia spun midair. She had no ground to push from—so she used something else. Black lightning exploded from her wings, giving her a sonic burst that turned her into a black blur.

She was right in front of the beast’s neck. She’d already calculated its reaction speed from previous attacks. In that tiny sliver of time, she was undeniably faster.

It couldn’t dodge this.

Her sword sliced through the air—

And that was all.

“...”

No words formed, just wide eyes.

It was gone.

No sound. No light. No movement. It was there—then it wasn’t.

And then, Nia felt blood lust approaching.

“Aaargh!”

Purple blood burst from her mouth as something slammed into her from behind.

Like a swat meant to crush a fly, a black paw with five claws struck her midair and smashed her into the ground.

Dizziness and vertigo crashed into her, and the cutting wind tore against her body—but just before she hit the ground and was crushed beneath the monster’s weight, a portal opened at the point of impact, flinging her somewhere else.

Several tentacles wrapped around Nia’s body in rapid succession. Her falling momentum shifted from vertical to horizontal, and a wall of carved stone stopped her from being thrown even farther.

“Ah... Aah... Ah...”

Her groans of pain were barely louder than the ringing in her ears. Her body might have been made of gelatinous matter, but Nia still felt pain.

She blinked repeatedly, blood dripping from a gash on her forehead into her eyes. Her dress was torn in several places, and her hair was a tangled mess.

Carefully, she retrieved the superior potions Elarielle had given her and drank them one by one. Warmth slowly spread through her cold limbs.

Forcing her body upright, she dug her black sword into the ground for support and stared at the creature, which stood motionless, still watching her.

It surpassed her in brute strength and speed—and that alone wasn’t the problem. She had faced powerful opponents before. She had met beings who excelled beyond her in many ways.

But this time... she couldn’t understand what she was facing.

She couldn’t injure it. She couldn’t even sense it. Nia furrowed her brow and took a heavy breath, despite not needing to breathe.

Every time Torment vanished, something twisted inside her. It disturbed her in a way that made her want to curl up and hide.

It wasn’t teleportation—she was certain of that. If there were even the slightest disturbance in space to allow for translocation, she would have detected it long before anyone else.

Then, like a blade sinking into her thoughts, the truth cut through her.

Torment hadn’t chased after her immediately.

It hadn’t pursued her.

It hadn’t attacked her while she lay on the ground.

It had only... watched.

“They’re just playing with me...”

The words slipped from Nia’s trembling lips like a whisper. So faint and quiet, they shouldn’t have been heard.

But Torment heard.

A howl tore through the air.

It wasn’t simply beastlike. It was something far worse.

Like a thousand animals being skinned alive, all screaming at once for their lives.

The sound echoed across the land.

It wasn’t a cry of rage.

It wasn’t a roar of hatred.

Nia knew exactly what it was—and the realization was more terrifying than any truth.

Because that sound was...

A laugh.