Gardenia’s Heart

Thunderous impacts echoed through the mist-shrouded forest.

“It rebuilt its own body...”

Collapsed on the ground with her legs numb and her arms trembling, Rose stared wide-eyed at the sky above her.

Deafening roars blended with thunder, each clash making the very earth quake beneath them.

(If elves are known as the race with the most healing spells, then dragons are the race with the greatest regeneration. Whether it’s a severed wing, torn limbs, or any organ destroyed and removed from their body—a dragon will always regenerate, as if returning from death itself.)

Beside the small girl lying on the ground, a red-haired woman lifted the brim of her wide hat with a finger, watching the fog-filled sky with one eye open.

(And all of that is possible because of one single factor… dragon blood.)

Sylvan’s calm voice—perfectly audible even through the chaos—made Rose tremble even more.

“Blood...?” Rose repeated, swallowing hard, unable to hide her unease.

(A dragon’s heart has a unique trait shared by no other species. By absorbing mana directly from its reservoir, the heart pumps that same mana into the creature’s blood, creating a substance that surpasses even the healing capabilities of an advanced potion: dragon blood.)

With her thumb, Sylvan drew an invisible line along her neck in an exaggerated gesture.

(No matter how absurd the injury, as long as there is mana to continue producing this type of blood, a dragon will automatically regenerate—no matter how many times it’s killed.) Her amber eyes narrowed as she gazed upward. (Judging by the mana it had before and now, during the hours we’ve been apart, they must have killed it at least eight times.)

If popular sayings claimed cats had seven or sometimes nine lives, dragons turned such thoughts into reality. As long as they still had mana, they would return from death as many times as necessary, advancing like engines of destruction unconcerned with their own wounds—learning their opponent’s weaknesses and abilities with every near-death return, pursuing nothing but absolute destruction through trial and error.

“What should we do? Everyone is in danger! If the dragon can’t be killed, my mothers will die!” Holding Cherry—who struggled to remain conscious—Rose cried out, tears filling her eyes.

(Rose). Sylvan whispered in a voice impossibly calm, as if letting the breeze carry her words. (Just open your eyes and watch until the end.)

Raising her palm toward the sky, a wide smile stretched across the Archmage’s pink lips.

(Watch the kind of fight that only my daughter is capable of creating.)

---

Even though mankind could sail across the oceans, they could never conquer them.

The realm of sea creatures was a domain where only those born with bodies adapted to it could truly exist.

The same truth applied to the skies.

The blue expanse that covered the world belonged entirely to those born with wings.

And yet, defying that very notion, two girls stood against the sovereign of the heavens head-on.

“How many more times, Nia?” With a firm voice, the silver-haired girl spun through the air just as a massive claw slid across her black blade.

A black thunderclap burst. Surging past the outstretched arm that sought to tear her apart, Lily tightened her grip on the star-dust swords.

Accompanied by the roar of the wind, her blades slashed without pause, each impact blasting apart an indigo scale and carving a trail of crimson blood toward the dragon’s neck.

But the dragon would not accept such blows without retaliation. Its immense size made precision difficult, yet it also meant that every strike it landed would be devastating.

Raising its left arm, the beast swept horizontally, intent on cleaving the silver-haired girl buzzing around it like a persistent insect.

But with a roar of startled pain, its reptilian eyes widened, locking onto the space that had suddenly become empty.

Appearing between Lily and the incoming claw, Nia stepped out of a portal reminiscent of a star-filled sky, watching the attack futilely ram against her barrier. The sheer impact alone was enough—like striking an unbreakable wall—causing countless talon tips, each the size of a great tree, to shatter into thousands of fragments and rain down from the heavens.

Turning her crimson gaze on the dragon, the metamorph narrowed her eyes.

“Two more times.” Nia’s frigid voice escaped her lips just as another deafening roar reverberated across the skies.

Within mere seconds, deep gashes opened along the dragon’s shoulder, back, wings, and legs. Appearing and vanishing in completely different places, Lily carved colossal wounds faster than the behemoth could react.

Individually, none of the attacks would have been decisive, but amassed so relentlessly, even the dragon couldn’t help but writhe as vast portions of its flesh were torn apart.

As crimson blood dripped through the sky, Lily stepped through a portal, stopping beside Nia—both pairs of black wings crackling with thunder in the fog-laden heavens.

Side by side, they faced the indigo dragon, its body already regenerating as its platinum wings held it aloft like a deity.

The moment had finally come.

“Let’s finish this.”

Both sides advanced.

Thanks to the floating rivers, dragons could move with overwhelming speed—but the same truth applied to anyone who could enter their domain.

Like challengers seeking to seize the title of sovereigns of the sky, the two girls beat their black wings and evaded the creature’s claws, each swipe generating enough force to tear the clouds apart.

The dragon knew its attacks were useless. The silver blur vanished every time it closed in, and the purple one could not be struck even when its claws collided with her. Winning by speed was impossible—another approach would be needed.

The massive tail swayed. In a single motion, its body shrank, and the four platinum wings propelled it upward, launching it hundreds of meters into the air within seconds.

So high in the sky that everything around it faded into gray, the dragon gazed down, its reptilian eyes locked on the girls even through the mist.

The howl of the wind grew so deep it seemed as though the heavens themselves were cracking.

With the beat of colossal wings, the discoloration caused by such a massive displacement of air generated a spiraling gust. The clash between air masses of opposite temperatures at such altitude could result in nothing less. In mere seconds, multiple tornadoes—each the size of an entire city—descended.

The natural phenomenon, born purely from brute strength, did not merely seek to strike the girls—it aimed to vaporize everything in its path.

“Fool.” With a whisper, Nia stepped forward, placing herself before Lily and taking the lead.

An instant was all it took for the dozens of tornadoes to collide with the metamorph’s barrier. The difference in pressure was overwhelming, the already thin air accelerated so violently that the friction against the barrier created sparks in every direction.

Without needing to speak a word, the two girls joined hands. With a swift movement, Nia spun, hurling Lily toward a portal that formed immediately before them.

Black wings gleamed. From above the dragon’s head, the silver-haired girl dove, plummeting with her heterochromatic eyes fixed on the ground.

“Akasha!” A brilliant azure light burst forth alongside the girl’s voice.

Darting through the forest, a black wolf bounded across branches at blinding speed. On its back, a blonde-haired elf and a rabbit-eared girl clung with all their strength to the twisted white branches to avoid being thrown off.

Dropping the two girls to the ground and leaping upward, the wolf’s entire body shifted. Cutting through the air like an arrow, the wooden staff adorned with blue butterflies flew thousands of meters high until it reached Lily’s grasp.

And then, it happened.

The air crackled, and a white flash consumed everything.

Zigzagging like titanic serpents, hundreds of lightning bolts seemed to tear the sky apart.

“[Skyfall Discharge]”

Thunder roared with the girl’s voice.

Coiling around the dragon’s massive body, the high-voltage currents discharged without restraint.

Not even the indigo scales could withstand an attack of such magnitude.

The scent of ozone mixed with that of burning flesh, the dragon’s cries of pain echoing as more and more of its body began to char. Its four wings screeched uncontrollably as they struggled to keep it airborne. Its arms and claws tried to break free from the serpents of lightning, but as beasts forged for destruction, each bolt evaded its strikes, spreading even more wounds across its body.

“Hard to move when you’re trembling, isn’t it?”

An unrestrained attack capable of risking even the caster’s life was utterly devastating. And yet, walking calmly along the dragon’s body without a single bolt striking her, Lily stared at the great creature as it struggled in vain.

Step by step, the silver-haired girl approached the center of the dragon’s chest. The fierce wind whipped her black cloak wildly, her silver hair flowing in the breeze as her dual-colored eyes fixed upon the creature’s torso.

“Any regeneration from a fatal wound always begins here… which means this is where it hurts the most, doesn’t it?”

The air turned frigid.

Slowly, at Lily’s feet, each indigo scale began to turn white. Like shattering glass, the dragon’s dense defense crumbled as it was frozen to the lowest possible temperature, rows upon rows of scales cracking.

“I don’t like fighting, you know? I’ve never felt joy in tragedy.” The girl’s words left a visible breath in the air. As the surroundings became so cold that snow fell among the clouds, Lily watched the small ice flakes take on a crimson shade as they touched the dragon’s blood.

Ignoring the serpents of electricity that continued to ravage its body, the great dragon focused entirely on the girl standing atop it, a furious wave of bloodlust crashing down upon its target.

Yet, without even raising an eyebrow, Lily faced all of the dragon’s wrath head-on. As she watched its colossal claws descend toward her, seeking to shred her beyond recognition even if it meant tearing its own flesh in the process, she couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

It happened instantly.

From within the dragon, dozens of colossal ice boulders began to form, bursting out of its flesh like glacial spears. Each pillar of ice impaled one of the creature’s limbs, stakes jutting outward from its chest, piercing its wings and arms.

“Still, after being forced to fight so hard to survive, we begin to learn certain things. For example, when wounded, humans and dragons become very similar… especially with a crystal piercing the heart.”

The wooden staff spun in the girl’s hands, the bluish butterfly lights connected by ethereal threads glowing—and then a white flash consumed the world.

“[Crystal Apocalypse]”

It was like staring directly into the sun.

In a succession of cataclysmic explosions, each of the ice crystals growing within and beyond the dragon’s body blazed with an azure radiance before bursting in all directions.

Arms, legs, internal organs—nothing was spared from entering a glacial state that brought inevitable cellular death. Every tissue and scale of the dragon’s body froze, its flesh being torn apart under the pressure of countless ice pillars detonating inside it, hurling its colossal form in multiple directions.

It was as if the world itself cried out in mourning—the dragon’s roar of pain turned into a deep, desperate groan until, at last, even its voice fell silent.

Plummeting from the heavens in that state would make the conclusion undeniable for anyone: the creature was unquestionably dead.

But such logic did not apply to a dragon.

Thump.

A deep sound echoed through the air, followed by the unmistakable bubbling of something becoming blisteringly hot.

Across the entire blood-stained layer of ice covering the dragon’s body, steam began to billow outward. Like a kettle on the verge of boiling, every frozen drop of blood liquefied once more, shattering the ice that bound its massive frame and stitching each tissue together like a divine seam.

In freefall, every torn piece of its body was rejoined. Limbs that no longer existed were restored entirely, until all four of its wings beat firmly, sustaining its body once again among the clouds.

Scale by scale, its once-ravaged flesh was recovered with the same indigo hue, two reptilian eyes snapping open to behold the world.

In mere seconds, its body had fully regenerated.

It had returned to its prime—without a single wound or sign of the battle it had endured.

But both girls knew one thing.

“Only one remains now.” Receiving her wife once more at her side, Nia rested her crimson eyes on the center of the dragon’s chest.

There was no reason to hesitate.

Charging toward the girls, the dragon had its newly restored sight swallowed by darkness. A dense black sphere formed around its head, plunging its world into blindness.

Clawing at the immense spherical surface, it tried to pierce it, thrashing wildly from side to side.

Extending her open palm forward with a calm motion, the purple-haired girl watched the dragon’s futile struggle. There was no need to restrain its entire body. As long as it was within her reach, she could strip away its right to rule the skies.

“Fall.”

The moment Nia closed her fist, a deep, resonant sound rolled above the raging thunder.

Like a massive tree collapsing from its crown, the dragon’s neck—once proudly raised—buckled, followed by its spine. Its colossal body plunged in an irreversible arc, tilting forward before crashing toward the ground.

Its platinum wings beat against the air in heavy, uncoordinated strokes, desperately struggling to keep it aloft. Yet even they—once capable of conjuring tornadoes with a single flap—could do nothing to stop what was unfolding.

It was as though the weight of a mountain had been fastened to its skull. Every attempt to rise, every roar of effort, every contracting muscle was crushed beneath the overwhelming gravity acting solely upon it.

It sank. The being that once ruled the skies met the earth as its final destination, colliding against the side of a mountain ridge and sending debris and dust spraying in all directions.

Slowly, the sphere that blinded its sight dissipated, and even with every limb of its body crushed against jagged rocks and thorny trees, the dragon attempted to rise once more.

But the girls were far from done. A voice, cold as blood-stained snow, echoed again:

“[Diamond Doom]”

Like a glacial age descending upon the thorn-covered forest, a cold so intense that every word breathed into existence turned visible filled the impact zone.

A sharp crackling—like glass slowly fracturing—echoed beneath the ground. As though born from the very depths of the earth, chains of azure ice erupted forth. Each link was crafted with perfect geometry, glittering like gemstones, shining even through the night’s mist.

The dragon had no time to flee.

Slithering across the ground, the icy chains coiled around its legs, climbing its limbs and tail like ravenous vines. Within seconds, its arms and wings were bound once more, every touch of ice against its skin freezing its scales solid.

Its massive body thrashed, yet each taut chain proved unbreakable, pulling it back and denying even the slightest motion.

It roared—air bursting from its maw with a force strong enough to make the surrounding trees sway under sheer pressure—yet even that was denied.

Tightening around its neck, the ice chains sealed its jaws like a muzzle, forbidding any sound, not even the smallest whimper of pain, from leaving its throat again.

“Just shut your mouth. You’re never putting that awful noise in my daughter’s ears again.”

Walking across the frozen ground before the creature, Lily slid her wooden staff into the belt at her waist and drew a single black sword from its sheath.

With a single motion, she hurled the black blade into the air. The weapon spun overhead—only for its hilt to be caught mid-fall by a waiting hand at the perfect moment.

Suspended in the air before the dragon, a girl with short, flowing violet hair stared coldly at her immobilized opponent.

Metamorph and dragon exchanged glances.

There was no mystery, nor miracle to be found.

Willpower and bloodlust were meaningless.

Logic and probability had already been crushed beneath raw destructive might.

Hunter and prey had been decided long before this moment.

As though the cosmos itself had been sculpted into its edge, the stardust blade began to glow. Tendrils of reddish-violet light spread across the black metal, making the air grow heavy around it.

Ethereal fissures, reminiscent of a star-speckled night sky, erupted around the girl—each rift converging into a single point.

Kneeling and bound by chains of ice, there was nothing the dragon could do to evade.

Defying the very laws that shaped magic itself, the strike was simple—but carried absolute annihilation.

Reality bent and strained as the world split; space and everything within it was severed.

“[Cosmos Rupture]”

A single cut of immeasurable might traced a perfect line from its shoulder down to its ribs. Scales and chest parted—along with muscle, sinew, and finally, the creature’s heart itself, cleaved in two.

In the next instant, any movement that might have signaled life ceased entirely. Even the faintest resistance vanished.

Crimson blood, devoid of its former azure glow, poured from its body. It boiled, attempted to shape itself—yet without even a trace of mana left in its reservoir, the liquid remained powerless.

The fallen dragon’s body lay motionless.

The result was unmistakable.

In the Dawn Valley, at the far eastern edge of Phaea, the victors had been decided.

This battle… had finally come to an end.