Gardenia’s Heart

The starry sky, carrying the moonlight, cast its gentle glow over the floating labyrinth surrounded by a crimson-orange aurora.

At the edge of the cold stone island, in a small open field filled with vegetation whose plants shimmered in shades of violet and pink, a crystal of black ice sliced through the air at tremendous speed.

“If you can’t even get through my scales yet, none of your spells will pierce my mother’s.”

Letting out a sigh while placing one hand on his waist, a boy with grayish-pink hair watched a large rock in the distance explode as it collided with the newly fired spell.

“It doesn’t matter. Again,” replied a beautiful purple-haired girl in a cold tone as she extended her right hand forward.

Spinning at high speed, a single crystal—which, despite being made of ice, looked incandescent from how intensely it rotated—shot forward.

A sharp crack echoed through the cold night.

“See?” Wisteria’s tired sigh could not have been more justified.

In front of the boy, the ice crystal collided with a white scale that appeared in midair. Sparks scattered across the plain when, once again unable to pierce the crystalline, scale-like material, the girl’s magic was deflected and shot across the field with the same force with which it had been launched.

“You heard what she said, right? That approach won’t work on her.” Waving his gloved hand as if stating the obvious, Wisteria—who had become the girl’s training partner—let out another long sigh.

Watching her spell be defeated yet again and seeing the boy’s smile, Nia frowned once more.

Unlike when she fought Bahamut, if she had simply wanted to eliminate Wisteria, Nia could easily avoid the scales and kill him by other means. However, since she was trying to find a way to overcome draconic scales, there was no point in harming him, even if he irritated her.

“Stop releasing so much killing intent, rookie. You’ve already reached the point where if I weren’t a mage, I’d be dead just from that.” Wisteria narrowed his eyes and raised his arms to shield himself as a dreadful chill ran down his spine. Stepping away slowly, he turned around while cold sweat was forced down his face. “I’m going to grab something to eat. I was forced to test them, but those psychedelic fruits are edible. Get some rest—you need time to broaden your horizons before challenging Mom again.”

Watching the boy disappear toward the area with denser vegetation, Nia—now alone again on the rocky plain—felt the icy night breeze pass over her body.

Sitting down on the ground and then lying on her back, the purple-haired girl looked toward the center of the island, where Bahamut was waiting for her.

After returning from Elarielle’s laboratory, day had already turned completely into night. The first day of her deadline had ended. She had two days left. That was the maximum time she had to kill that hero.

“Horizons, huh…?” Nia repeated those words.

All of her spells were destroyed or reflected.

If she relied purely on physical force, reinforcing her body with dark mana, Nia could strike the scales without being reflected. However, without being able to project enough force using only her body, she wouldn’t be able to harm the dragon woman.

Even if she combined basic spells to create advanced ones and tried to exhaust Bahamut’s mana, unless the dark mana cost were minimal—like what Lily managed by using Akasha—the resulting damage wouldn’t be proportional to the effort.

Bahamut had told her to understand her strength.

But she couldn’t understand it.

Lily, her wife, had created several notable spells powerful enough to be named by her over the years. Yet ever since naming her first—and only—spell, Nia had never felt that any magic she had created deserved such a title.

What exactly was her strength?

Nia stared at the starry sky.

Her portals resembled that same sky.

But she had never reached it.

Even as she stared at the sky, even as she looked directly at those shining points, she couldn’t create a portal to a star.

There was a ridiculously colossal distance between Nia and those lights. Even if she could see them, she couldn’t obtain their coordinates to create a portal.

A portal…

Nia had gone to consult Elarielle in search of knowledge about the one who used teleportation magic better than she did, but that only left her with more questions than answers.

“How could the human hero teleport without using portals?”

She couldn’t find the answer, no matter how many times she whispered that question to herself.

When she used her magic, Nia created a breach between two points, her portal being the only way to navigate through that gap.

If the breach was the house, then the portal was the foundation that kept the structure of the spell standing. From the very beginning—from the first time she used that magic—she had been absolutely certain that the portal was mandatory.

And because of that, she couldn’t understand how that human didn’t need one.

Her strongest magic, [Cosmos Rupture], imbued her blade with a portal. By turning the house’s foundation into something mobile, she could move the breach wherever she wanted. By breaking through a spell’s defensive barrier and making it possible to move a portal through something rather than the other way around, a slash that tore through space itself could be created.

No matter the defense.

No matter how hard or resilient something was.

By cutting the part of the world where that thing existed, a cut would be made regardless of anything else. With that, she could bypass Bahamut’s scales.

It was an absolute magic among absolute magics.

However, such a spell couldn’t be used freely.

She needed something durable enough to withstand that magnitude of power. Without a catalyst to sustain the spell—a foundation to support everything—her magic couldn’t be cast.

Her stardust blade wouldn’t be enough to do that at full strength, creating an attack fast enough that not even Bahamut could react.

“Ragnarok…”

The weapon wielded by the Demon King himself.

Using it for even a single strike, Nia knew the limitless number of things she could accomplish if she had it. However, since it was acting as part of the seal containing the dark mana absorbed and released by Nerine, the World Tree, Nia knew she couldn’t borrow it.

“No…” Nia whispered.

Even if she could use it, Nia honestly wouldn’t want to take that sword again just yet.

Ragnarok. That blade had been the most powerful weapon she had ever held, but also the most terrifying.

It was only for a moment—when her hand touched the hilt—that it felt as if the weight of something was trying to force itself upon her. Lily had said she noticed nothing when she touched the blade, but Nia knew exactly what she had felt.

“The Demon King was able to wield that weapon…?”

Among all the things she had doubts and questions about, the Demon King was undoubtedly one of the greatest.

A single being powerful enough to stand against the entire world had been defeated in a decisive confrontation, and the result had been a curse upon the world in the form of his mist.

The orders that surfaced in her mind—Nia had no doubt they came from him.

What could he possibly want from this? Was his hatred for the other races so great that, even after death, he would continue ordering monsters to advance and kill anything that crossed their path? Nia had no answers to those questions.

The Demon King. Sylvan. Malus. Bahamut.

What made those people so strong?

Nia might be considered a genius by certain standards, but even using everything she could think of, nothing seemed to work.

Bahamut was right. She had been placed before constant challenges—enemies and obstacles that forced her to grow stronger. But if she continued to think the same way she always had, she would never be able to overcome the challenges that were yet to come.

Nia didn’t care about whatever purpose had placed her on this journey. Whether it was luck or destiny, all that mattered to her was becoming strong enough to protect her family.

She was a metamorph—a girl who had fallen in love, married her beloved, and had a beautiful daughter. Nia was not the center of the world; she was someone who had to strive with everything she had to ensure that what mattered to her remained safe.

“The center…?”

Lying on her back on the plains, Nia froze in place, whispering as she stared at the palm of her clenched hand.

“Rookie, I grabbed some fruit… wait, now that I think about it, do you even eat things like this?” Walking toward the purple-haired girl, Wisteria—now carrying several strangely glowing fruits in his arms—spoke.

Wondering whether the metamorph even needed to eat at all, the grayish-pink-haired boy watched as Nia stood up, the girl’s crimson eyes fixed on her own hand.

“Hey.”

Turning her face toward Wisteria, Nia called to him in a whisper.

“Bahamut is sharing her innate abilities with you, right? So far you’ve only used the traits of the Scale Clan—the crystal scales. But could you also ask for a bit of the dragon blood’s ability?”

Hearing the question, Wisteria rolled his purple eyes.

Carefully placing the fruits on the ground atop his cloak, the boy in black clothing adjusted the cloth strap around his neck that resembled a scarf.

“First, you remember the explanation, right? Some innate abilities won’t adapt to the host’s body even if they’re shared.” Running a hand through his messy hair, Wisteria looked at Nia. “Second, I can think of at least a hundred different ways a human would die if they gained the ability to pump mana through their blood like a dragon’s heart does.”

After thinking for a moment, Nia asked, “Even mages?”

“Look, the physical structure of a human heart couldn’t handle that burden. No matter how strong a mage is, there are some things you simply can’t control.”

Answering, Wisteria placed one hand on his waist again, his amethyst-purple eyes fixed on the thoughtful girl.

“So none of the heroes who were with Bahamut ever shared the dragon blood’s innate ability, right?” Nia asked.

“A human is a human. An elf is an elf. A dwarf is a dwarf, and a dragon is a dragon. While I can’t say Mom never lent a bit of her blood to heal one of them, I can say for certain that she couldn’t lend that innate ability directly.” Crossing his arms, Wisteria looked exasperated, not understanding the question he was being asked. “Although, even after saying all that, you might be the exception to everything I just said.”

Pointing at the metamorph, the boy let out a sigh, and Nia certainly knew the reason why.

Gardenia was the combined manifestation of the strongest traits of every species.

In addition to being able to use human and elven magic, Nia could use dragon blood even though she wasn’t a dragon. Her very existence defied common sense.

However, it wasn’t self-validation that had led the girl to ask those questions.

“So no one ever helped him…” Nia murmured, crossing her arms and bringing one hand to her chin.

Watching the girl lost in thought, Wisteria couldn’t have been more confused.

“Soooo… why ask all that in the first place?”

Hearing the question, the metamorph stepped closer, stopping about two arms’ length away from the boy.

“Make a crystal scale again. I want to test something.” Opening and closing her fist several times, a faint smile formed on Nia’s lips.

However, the boy looking at her couldn’t help but shake his head.

“Look, I agreed to go along with Mom’s crazy idea, but that doesn’t mean I like violence. I don’t want to see people getting hurt because of me.”

Rubbing his temples several times, Wisteria tried to convince the girl of his point.

“We’ve already tested this,” he continued. “It won’t work. Your physical strength alone isn’t enough to break the scale.”

“I’m not going to use physical strength,” Nia replied immediately, cutting off the boy’s lecture.

Frowning when he heard her answer, and with little choice left, Wisteria formed a crystal scale in the air in front of him.

“You’re just going to break your hand again…” Giving up on protesting, Wisteria partially averted his gaze while trying to watch what would happen next from the corner of his eye.

Taking a deep breath, Nia remained motionless.

The nearly nonexistent wind on the floating island gently stirred her purple hair.

Closing her eyes, the girl focused.

Teleportation magic was like building a house.

If the foundation were inadequate, the entire structure would collapse.

For that reason, a portal was necessary.

A structure made of mana that connected the entrance and the exit—that was the base that governed teleportation.

This wasn’t something that had been formally taught to her.

It was simply something that existed in her mind, something Nia had accepted as truth.

When she fought Orlaith, she shattered that truth for the first time.

By borrowing the durability of something that already existed, she turned her stardust blade into the foundation of her spell and named her first magic.

Bahamut had been right—she lacked imagination.

All these years, she had believed that was the only way to challenge that truth.

And that had been her mistake.

To surpass her limit.

To step into the realm of true geniuses.

She shouldn’t rely on a foundation.

She should become one.

Opening her eyes, the crimson glow of pupils shining like precious gems flashed brightly.

Lowering her body, Nia placed one foot in front of the other and clenched her fist.

Her waist moved. From her shoulder, then into her arm and finally her hand, every part of her body drove her closed right fist toward the white scale floating in the air.

There was no wind. No displacement in the air.

Because in that single instant, the rules of the world simply stopped applying.

The cosmos was born in the night.

With a wet burst, a dense spray of purple blood exploded in every direction. The impact of Nia’s knees hitting the ground echoed.

“I told you you’d get hurt!”

Quickly turning fully toward her, Wisteria crouched down in panic beside the girl who had fallen to the ground.

Her entire right arm—from the tips of her fingers to her shoulder—had been destroyed. Nothing remained except a fountain of purple blood that continued to spread into a growing pool on the ground.

Panicking, unsure how he was even supposed to help in a situation like this, Wisteria let out a sigh of relief when he noticed the noticeable boiling within the purple puddle, as the dragon blood rapidly healed the girl.

After collapsing to the ground, even as her arm regenerated, Nia didn’t lift her head again, staring fixedly at the dirt beneath her. With another attempt to break the crystal scales having failed, Wisteria didn’t find it strange that she seemed discouraged.

However, just as he was about to say something to cheer her up, a frantic murmur reached his ears.

“My limit is around a tenth of a second before I die from the backlash, then?”

“W-What?” Wisteria stammered.

“The amount of time a human could endure it without dying must be even shorter.” Placing her already healed right hand over her face, Nia—still staring downward with wide eyes—continued speaking. “For him to have done that constantly without ever getting injured… he really was someone who deserved to be called a mad genius, after all.”

Standing up, the girl—blood still running from her lips—wiped the purple streak away with her thumb.

“R-Rookie, what the hell are you talking about!?”

Shouting, Wisteria tried to understand what was happening, and in response, Nia simply pointed at the ground.

And in that moment, Wisteria felt his jaw drop.

It wasn’t a simple crack.

The rectangle of white scales had been shattered.

The fractures had split into countless fissures, dividing the thousands of crystal fragments into pieces so small it looked as if the material had been vaporized.

“It was my fault. I didn’t get hurt because of the scale you created.”

Looking at the stunned boy, Nia—her crimson eyes wide—slowly curled the corner of her lips upward.

“I always thought the only way to overcome that absolute defense was to use a weapon as the foundation for my portal and cut through the space where the scales existed. But I was wrong.”

It was an idea so absurd that Nia could never have imagined it before.

A self-destruction that, without dragon blood, would have been no different from certain death.

But with this… it was undeniably possible.

With a faint flash, a violet glow radiated from the girl.

Her fingers took on an astral coloration, as if her own skin had become the cosmos. Bright points like stars appeared across the palm of her hand, shining like clusters of nebulas.

The courage to wager her life with every strike…

The pinnacle of teleportation magic.

She didn’t need stardust.

Not even Ragnarok.

In the same way she did with her weapon…

“I just need to become the portal.”