Gardenia’s Heart

“I need to kill him! He has to die!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, gripping a sword in each hand, the girl charged through the mine. Alongside her, partially deformed ice crystals shot forward toward the man ahead.

“Don’t interfere.” With a sharp glance toward the two guards flanking him, the man drew a sleek black rapier. His intense voice carried a faint hint of anticipation.

Standing his ground, his elegant rapier danced through the air. Without even channeling mana into it, his precise movements shattered the malformed crystals in less than two seconds. A low slash deflected the clumsy blade coming from above, and the next two thrusts struck both her sword and the wrist of her other hand.

“!?”

The precise blow pierced through the dark mana layer protecting her body. Even though the shield was poorly constructed, it saved her from losing her hand. The strike forced her to drop the broken sword and leap back to avoid further injury.

“Nia, attack him!” Ignoring the pain in her bleeding right wrist, Lily gritted her teeth and shouted to Nia.

(We need to heal your hand!)

The desperate metamorph did her best to ignore the discomfort and pain she felt. With great effort, she began to regenerate Lily’s damaged tissue.

Watching the wound on her wrist close and her broken fingers snap back into place, Lily yelled impatiently.

“Don’t heal me—attack him!” Her shrill voice echoed through the mine. Clutching her head with her injured hand, the searing pain threatened to overwhelm her.

Nia couldn’t understand why Lily demanded to continue attacking while still wounded. The girl’s angry voice frightened her, but trusting that her wife had a reason, she tried to form ice crystals for another attack.

(I-I can’t form the spells!)

But no matter how hard she tried to construct the spells that had always come naturally, even the simplest calculations sent her mind spiraling toward collapse.

“Damn it. I’ll do it myself.”

Frustrated, Lily channeled dark mana into her left hand and gripped the sword’s hilt tightly to keep from dropping it again. If she couldn’t rely on Nia, she would handle this on her own.

The man didn’t move. He raised his left hand, palm open, and curled his fingers inward repeatedly—a clear gesture of challenge.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”

She knew she shouldn’t fall for such a cheap provocation, but it didn’t matter now. With a fierce cry, Lily charged forward.

Ice crystals would be useless without rapid succession. With her sword as her only option, Lily accepted the dance of blades her opponent offered. The starlit gleam of the rapier clashed with the steel of her sword, each collision reverberating through the chasm.

Bending her knees, Lily spotted an opening. She lunged toward the man, swinging her sword in a wide arc aimed at his chest. The blade, blocked by the rapier, locked the two in a stalemate of strength.

“Just drop dead!”

She screamed with all her might, her azure eyes staring into the depths of his emerald gaze.

She hated him with every fiber of her being. That man had taken everything from her. Every shred of her soul screamed for his death. Every anguished voice in her mind demanded his end.

“Is this... a stigma?”

Instead of retreating, the man stepped closer, his eyes fixed on her face. His cryptic words echoed as he seemed to study something in Lily.

“Why do you have this?”

“You don’t even remember my face!” Ignoring the words she couldn’t understand, Lily kept pushing against the rapier with all her might.

Though Lily had access to Nia’s dark mana, she couldn’t cast the same spells her partner could. With both of their minds exhausted, the dark mana layer protecting their bodies and enhancing their movements was barely functional.

With all her strength, she forced her sword downward, desperately condensing as much dark mana as she could into the blade.

The result was predictable.

Given the uneven way she concentrated her power, Lily’s blade couldn’t withstand the pressure and shattered into fragments.

“!?”

Thrown off balance by the loss of her second sword, Lily was caught completely off guard. Desperately, she raised both arms to shield her face. The rapier, poised to cleave through her weakened body, came toward her without hesitation.

(Lily!)

The rapier collided with a black sphere that formed in the air, a barrier cast at the cost of a pained scream from Nia. But even that wasn’t enough to stop the weapon.

Thrown backward, Lily slammed into the mine wall. Her head spinning, and the world felt like it was turning upside down. Disoriented, she struggled to open her eyes and take in her surroundings.

Three injured purple tentacles began dissolving and retreating back into her body. At the last moment, they had wrapped around her and absorbed the blow in her stead.

(L-Lily... I can’t go on.) Nia’s voice wavered, showing she was nearing her limit. The ivory herbs surrounding them attacked her existence like thousands of knives.

“N-No... we’re not leaving until he’s dead!”

Forcing her battered body to stand, Lily formed two crude black ice blades. Without Nia’s support to shape them, the swords were dull and lacked rigidity.

Amidst the chaos, the chained prisoners screamed and tried to flee, creating a cacophony of voices. The soldiers, now focused on stopping the escapees, scattered to contain them.

“Lord, there’s no need for you to dirty your hands. Allow me to handle the intruder,” a female voice called out beside the man.

One of the two guards who had accompanied him—a woman clad in battle armor—drew her starlit blade and knelt before her master, awaiting his orders.

“Take the silver-haired one alive,” the man in the black mask commanded, his eyes scanning the shadows of the cavern. In the distance, two figures struggled desperately to restrain a third as they made a hurried escape. “It seems other rats have snuck into this place.”

Raising his right hand, the man snapped his fingers. Instantly, every worker who had remained at their stations, even during the commotion, froze in place.

“Attack.”

The moment his cold voice rang out, all those frozen figures turned and began moving toward the women without exception.

“Ah!?”

Abelia cried out in shock as Cleomel grabbed her. The knight, who had leaped onto the wooden walkway above, already had one hand gripping her lance.

“Cleomel, what happened!? We left Alice behind!”

Frightened by the sudden shift in the situation, the noblewoman demanded answers from her knight. Gripping Cleomel’s armor tightly, Abelia finally noticed the deep, bloodied gash across the woman’s abdomen.

“Heavens!” Abelia swiftly pulled out two intermediate healing potions from her bag and placed them into Cleomel’s mouth.

Biting her lips to keep the liquid in her mouth, even as it mixed with the blood rising from her throat, the dark-skinned woman pushed back two men advancing toward her with pickaxes. The lifeless eyes of her attackers held nothing but the raw desire to kill.

“The young mistress never learned that spell—not from me, nor her brother.”

Confused by Cleomel’s words, Abelia glanced back. From atop the walkway, Alice had both hands extended forward, sending multiple slicing water disks through the air toward the women.

“Why is Alice attacking us!?” Abelia screamed, clinging to Cleomel.

“I don’t know, but if we don’t leave now, we’re going to die!”

From the higher platform, Cleomel caught sight of the silver-haired woman—Lily—desperately trying to break through the woman in her way. Cleomel didn’t understand why Lily had revealed herself and jeopardized everything. To start a massive battle while so severely outnumbered was tantamount to suicide. Unable to spare any assistance, Cleomel resolved to do whatever she could to ensure Abelia’s escape.

Channeling mana into her lance, the knight deflected the water disks aimed at their backs toward the cavern walls. She then leaped to the platform ahead of her. Before her feet landed, she hurled her lance at the wooden walkway, reducing it to rubble and causing everyone preparing to attack to plummet into the depths below.

Using only the remaining pillars for support, she bounded through the mines at incredible speed, recovering her lance just before it hit the ground.

They were nearing the tunnel they had come through. Cleomel had memorized the passage, and if she could keep running just a little further, they would escape.

But just as their goal came into sight, her instincts took over. Shielding Abelia with her body was all Cleomel could manage before the air was knocked from her lungs upon impact.

“!?”

A panicked cry escaped Abelia’s lips as she tumbled to the ground of the ravine. Beside her, Cleomel, semi-conscious, used the last of her strength to shield Abelia with her own body. A large bloodstain spread across the back of her shirt.

Landing gracefully on the ground, the man walked toward the two fallen women, his boots faintly stained with blood. His rapier was once again sheathed at his side, his every step causing the cape on his back to sway.

“Well then, how about telling me how you managed to get in here?”

As his green eyes settled on the two women, his expression shifted for the first time.

“Vivienne?” His words came slowly, as though even he doubted them.

Even through his mask, the widening of his eyes was unmistakable. For the first time, the man took a few steps back. All the workers around him froze, completely motionless.

Seizing the opportunity, Abelia gritted her teeth and forced herself to her feet. Supporting Cleomel on her shoulder, she ran as fast as she could, pouring the last intact healing potion—one that hadn’t shattered during their fall—into the knight’s mouth.

Abelia’s wide, panic-stricken eyes stayed glued to Lily, her only hope. Her thoughts raced, echoing the words she had just heard.

“Lady Lily! We can’t defeat him—we need to flee!” Her desperate shout echoed across the battlefield, but her plea fell on deaf ears.

The silver-haired girl shattered her ice blades with every clash against the starlit dust of her opponent’s weapon, trying relentlessly to force an opening.

However, the poorly prepared explosion and the lack of dark mana in her arms caused Lily’s attacks to harm her more than her opponent.

The woman standing before her, with an impeccable posture, didn’t show the slightest sign of fatigue. Not a single bead of sweat adorned her face as she pointed her sword directly at Lily.

“Just accept your fate, vile woman. I don’t even need to use magic against someone of your level.”

Lily felt her body growing weaker. Her head burned as if set ablaze, and her eyes could barely focus on the figure in front of her.

“Shut... up...” Her weak, almost hoarse voice struggled to escape her throat. Her bloodstained fingers trembled as she summoned two new swords.

“Lady Lily!”

Pushing her own body against Lily’s to shield her, Abelia reached her limit and collapsed to the ground. Her legs, still trembling from the over twenty-meter fall, began to ache as the effects of adrenaline wore off.

Her panicked expression deepened. Within this city, one could count on a single hand the number of people capable of recognizing her.

“We can’t win! That man is one of the two two-star mages of Caligo!” The declaration that escaped her lips seemed to shatter even the last remnants of hope in her heart.

A two-star mage. Someone leagues above any opponent the girl had faced before.

“I don’t care who he is.”

Lily’s voice, heavy and resolute, dismissed the gravity of the threat. Her arms struggled to lift the black ice sword, which was already losing its shape in her grasp. Her legs, under her black dress, could barely drag her closer to her opponent.

The woman in battle attire prepared to advance again, incensed by Lily’s audacity. But the sound of black leather boots approaching from her side held her in place.

“It’s been a long time, Vivienne. Eight years, perhaps nine?”

With slow, deliberate steps, the masked man approached. His impeccable composure was evident in every movement.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Abelia shouted, her voice still carrying the authority of a noblewoman despite her exhaustion. “You’re the lord of this city! It’s your duty to protect the inhabitants, not force them into slavery! Answer me, Velmont Sunshard!”

Stopping at the mention of his name, the man let out a subtle sigh. His green eyes swept over the group of captured demi-humans, who squirmed in panic under his gaze.

“As always, you never fail to give me more work.” His casual tone accompanied the removal of his black gloves. “You are a strong woman, Vivienne. Back then, I believed your family wouldn’t survive another year. A risky and worthless investment, not worth the trouble. Yet here we are.”

Abelia was on the verge of collapsing entirely, her strength barely enough to support Cleomel’s weight. As the man drew closer, a silver-haired girl suddenly leaped toward him.

“Your fight is with me!”

Ignoring the searing pain in her body, Lily shouted as she charged at Velmont.

The misshapen ice swords in her hands were hardly worthy of forcing Velmont to draw his rapier. With his hands enveloped in a bluish aura, he blocked each strike with ease, not even considering her a threat.

“Lady Lily, we need to flee!” Abelia’s voice reached her once more.

“Shut up!”

The silver-haired girl no longer knew if the voices around her were real or mere delusions of her broken mind.

But it didn’t matter.

She couldn’t leave. Not yet. Not before she killed him.

Fury burned within her like an unrelenting fire, consuming her entire being.

She didn’t care if no one else could help her—she just needed to deal with this on her own. It didn’t matter to her that he was the lord of Caligo; that only meant the entire city was against her.

She had been alone since the day her father died. The day her world was ripped away, forcing her into a life of misery. She wasn’t going to leave this place until that man paid for what he had done.

(I-If this keeps up, you’re going to die!)

Not even Nia’s desperate voice could stop her advance. Her eyes could barely stay open, and her body was on the brink of succumbing to the darkness, but none of that could halt her.

“If you can’t help me, then stay quiet!”

Shouting, Lily overloaded her ice swords with mana, forcing them to explode. In one last desperate effort, she hurled herself at her opponent, trying to grab hold of him.

“Aaargh!”

But the moment she did, her neck was seized by bare hands and lifted into the air.

“You roared with such ferocity, but even predators know when to bow their heads.”

Her two aching arms struggled desperately to free her neck from the firm grip holding her. Slowly, a shadowy blue aura began to wrap around the man’s fingers. His piercing green eyes seemed to bore into the very core of Lily’s existence.

“Why is the stigma being rejected? This never happens—”

Before he could finish his thought, his expression shifted to doubt as a single purple tentacle struck his stomach, forcing him backward. The brief moment of weakened grip was enough for the silver-haired girl to break free and start running.

“Nia... don’t...”

Lily could barely speak. Her body, no longer under her own control, staggered toward Abelia, who was holding the now-unconscious Cleomel.

Nia, ignoring the pain that surpassed anything she had ever felt, placed one hand on each of the girls. Despite the agony, she continued casting her spell. She had to get Lily out of there at any cost.

Guards were closing in rapidly, and those in battle attire had already drawn their weapons, aiming directly at her.

Her mind burned like an inferno; her body felt as though it was about to collapse. Yet Nia didn’t stop.

Slowly, a portal resembling the starry night sky formed beneath the group, enveloping them.

On the brink of losing herself to the darkness, Lily caught a final glimpse of the man’s face staring at her. Then her eyes closed, and everything went black.