Gardenia’s Heart

No matter where Lily searched on her body or in the surroundings, Nia was nowhere to be found.

“What did you do to Nia!?” Lily screamed at the guardian, who was approaching her.

“The metamorph has already proven herself worthy. This test is yours and yours alone. No third parties will be allowed.”

Lily didn’t understand why the guardian was testing her. The situation had shifted so suddenly that her mind couldn’t keep up.

Out of pure instinct, she threw herself to the side, and a massive tremor shook her body as something slammed into the spot she had just been standing.

Her one blue eye widened as she saw what looked like an enormous wooden sword growing directly from the guardian’s right arm, creating a crater on impact. Her gaze locked onto the guardian’s face, or rather, the top of his head. There, a small, glowing red gem had formed.

“That’s my vitality core, my heart, so to speak. Destroy it, and I’ll consider you to have passed the test.”

Lily had no time to process the warning, as the sword was raised again, already descending to crush her.

The heavy thud of the impact reached her ears, but before it could hit her, Lily had started sprinting toward the walls of the room, putting as much distance as possible between her and the guardian.

“W-why does everything feel so heavy!?”

Although she still had her two swords strapped to her waist, her one hand could barely lift them. The weapons, which had always felt as light as feathers, now seemed heavier than stones, forcing her to drop them to lighten the burden on her body.

It wasn’t just her arm and eye that had vanished. Her jet-black cloak, which Nia had absorbed and reshaped using her own body, had disappeared as well.

“W-why does my stomach hurt so much?”

As she ran in desperation, Lily noticed the sharp pain in her belly, and her lips were dry.

Ever since Nia had become her heart, Lily’s body had adapted to function on dark mana. She had only eaten a few pieces of bread the day before and couldn’t remember the last time she’d had water. Now, her entire body was screaming in protest.

“Running away won’t get you anywhere, you know?”

The guardian’s words were true. Lily was never athletic; her breathing was already labored, and sweat was pouring down her face from such a short run, but she refused to go down without a fight.

“Shut up!”

Extending her right hand forward, Lily closed her eye and focused with all her might. Throughout her life, she had never been able to sense this power within her, but when Nia joined her, she realized it was there.

Sweat dripped from her brow as she strained herself, but at last, a faint blue light formed in the palm of her hand.

A small blue ice crystal began to take shape before her. Its form wasn’t sharp and prism-like, as her usual black crystals had been, but warped, like clay molded by a child’s hands.

The tiny crystal shot forward, and although it didn’t dissipate mid-flight, it didn’t hit the guardian either. Instead, it collided with the wall behind him, the faint blue light spreading along the small area where the ice managed to freeze.

"This is... disappointing..."

Watching the ice crystal that didn’t even come close to him, the guardian casually waved his left hand through the air.

A chill ran down Lily's spine, and she immediately moved away from the wall. One of the massive pillars, the one closest to her, collapsed in her direction.

“!?”

“This entire place is part of me—be it the walls or the door. There is nowhere for you to run or hide.”

The silver-haired girl could no longer stay against the wall, as she no longer had that right. She kept running to avoid being hit by another pillar, focusing her gaze on the red crystal.

“I just need to destroy that!”

Lily knew she had never completed a spell on her own from start to finish. She didn’t even know how to manipulate the mana within her. Simply recreating the sensations she had felt before wouldn't be enough for success.

When she used Nia’s dark mana, it was Nia who crafted the spells and made them ready for Lily to use at will.

Seeing the sword coming to end her life, Lily stretched her hand forward again. A small blue glow appeared, expanding in a circular motion, like mist condensing. Within seconds, a glowing blue portal appeared.

“I wouldn’t enter that if I were you.”

Lily tripped over one of the craters left from the battle, and as she lost her balance, her body fell to the ground. Swallowing the scream of pain that was about to escape, she noticed her forehead was bleeding, and her arm was scraped. But as she looked at the portal closing before her, her eye widened.

On the far side of the room, a small crack appeared in the wall where the other half of the blue portal had formed. A nauseating realization hit Lily: if she had entered that portal, she would now be buried beneath the rubble.

“Teleportation spells are ranked at the highest levels of magic. Even the basic calculations for spatial bending take decades for a mage to master and perfect. Are you so incompetent that you rely entirely on someone else to protect you all the time and you don't even know about it?”

The guardian's disappointed voice reached her, and Lily bit her lip so hard that blood trickled down. She knew the guardian was right—she had been nothing more than a freeloader, reaping the benefits of the girl’s hard work.

Still lying on the ground, Lily turned over and began throwing ice crystals as quickly as she could. Dozens of them flew through the air, but the guardian didn’t even have to move. None of the shots came close to hitting him.

“Is this all you can do, human? Do you really think this is enough for you to claim power? You are merely limiting that metamorph, making her work to sustain your life. Don’t you see that you are just a burden on her existence?”

This time, she couldn’t dodge.

With a harsh thud, the guardian’s sword hit her, sending her flying several meters away.

“Aaargh!”

Red blood spilled from her mouth as the sensation of fractured ribs began to burn through her body.

“If you admit you have failed the test, out of respect for the daughter of Sylvan, I won’t kill you.”

The guardian approached, his legs resembling tree trunks moving slowly toward Lily. The strongest vertigo she had ever felt made the sensation of spitting hot blood seem like she was expelling her organs. Forcing her trembling legs to steady, she propped herself up with her one remaining arm to lift her body.

"I must question the metamorph’s rational capacity for choosing someone as incomplete and incapable as you," the guardian remarked.

He couldn’t understand why a being capable of absorbing the knowledge of his beloved master would tie themselves to such a fragile existence.

“Nia is amazing, you know?”

The statement made the guardian feel doubt. At that moment, instead of a plea for mercy or surrender, the words that came from the woman were nothing like he expected.

"She can create such complex spells and learn them in so little time. Do you think you understand my beloved? Do you think you know what makes her happy? Do you know how much joy she feels when she discovers something new? I don’t care about Sylvan’s desires or what you think about me. I don’t care if I’m weak and rely on her help. What you call a burden is simply the most natural part of what I call love.”

Lily was still spitting blood as she spoke, her trembling legs struggling to stay upright against the guardian, but refusing to fall until she said what needed to be said.

“You can call me whatever you want—weak, pathetic, a parasite, or anything else. But I won’t accept you insulting the girl I love more than anything in this world!”

The guardian’s voice remained monotonous as if he were observing a fragile, pathetic creature who didn’t understand the vastness of the world, forcing itself to fight against him. All he truly felt for her was pity.

“I see there’s no need to prolong this any further. Let’s end it now.”

There was no need to continue the test. If what concerned the metamorph was a partner, it didn’t have to be this woman. It took less than a second; the massive wooden sword made no sound as it passed through the girl’s chest without resistance.

The floor of the hall, now painted red, marked the end of what could barely be called a confrontation. Though he didn’t approve of her, the deadly silence that finally filled the hall after the woman’s death left him with a bitter taste. As he was about to turn away, however, a voice reached him.

"Gotcha."

The guardian immediately sensed something was wrong, but his reaction was slow.

A single hand grabbed the sword that pierced her chest, clawing at its surface with intense force. Blood dripped from her nails as a thick layer of ice formed on her fingertips.

The blood-soaked ice grew in volume, dozens of spikes forming, pinning Lily’s lower half to the ground, even if it meant piercing her entire body.

"At this distance, I won’t miss!" A psychotic look gleamed in the eyes of the girl who bled profusely.

In line with her words, a massive number of blue lights formed around the two of them.

It wasn’t dozens or even hundreds—it was in the thousands.

The guardian quickly grasped the gravity of the situation. He knew everything that happened within the labyrinth, and he had witnessed a similar desperate move before. One of the opponents they had faced had condensed all their mana into a staff of stardust, burning their entire life force in one go.

It was an attack so powerful that it could even kill him.

A dreadful chill ran down his spine as he tried to push the girl away, but she was clinging to his arm with a dense layer of ice. The way she had anchored herself to the ground made it impossible to break free from her grip. No matter how much strength he used, the frozen limb wouldn’t budge.

"You're planning to use your own body as a detonator? Are you insane!? This will kill you too!" the guardian shouted, realizing the madness she was about to unleash.

"It’s fine to die," her head tilted, her wide blue eye showing a strange surprise at the very question of her sanity. "Even if my head is torn off, all my organs shredded, or even if my body and soul are completely destroyed, I know Nia will save me."

Her euphoric expression lit up with a genuine passion. As she spoke, blood still dripping from her lips, she reaffirmed her absolute faith in her beloved. Not for a single moment did she doubt that Nia wouldn’t save her.

"Even if I die to kill you right here, my beloved will protect me, so I’m not afraid to die."

At last, he understood. The girl had reached a state beyond mere faith or trust. She had absolutely no fear of death because she had a genuine conviction that her beloved would shield her.

For the first time in a very long while, the guardian felt fear.

"You’re truly insane! This is beyond salvation!"

The guardian tried with all his might to free himself. His left arm slammed into Lily's face. With each impact, he could feel something inside her breaking. Each blow put another wound in her flesh and bones to the point where he wondered how she was still alive. There wasn't even a thin layer of mana to protect her, everything was being burned to carry out this attack. Blood and silver hair were sent in all directions, but the hand that clasped the sword that was her arm never weakened.

“Do you know...” Spitting out a few teeth, she spoke with difficulty. Her face was swollen, and drenched in blood, her heart shattered, and she had barely a minute to live before collapsing as a corpse. Yet her expression burned with life. “Ever since I heard those men naming a spell, I started thinking about how it would feel to do something like that too.”

Her lips curled into a grin from ear to ear, revealing her teeth now stained crimson with blood. Gripping the guardian even tighter, a single phrase seemed to come alive as it reached the world.

“[Crystal Apocalypse]”

The flash of light that followed those words was akin to staring directly at the sun.

In an instant, all the crystal spheres exploded into a whirlwind of ice. The entire hall threatened to collapse as the vast mass of freezing energy converged into a single point like an avalanche, disregarding for even a moment what or who would be affected in the process. The air inside the chamber froze, and the pressure dropped. Every wall of the hexagonal room was instantly covered in ice and snow.

By disregarding even the conjurer’s life, a devastating attack was unleashed that would bring about absolute destruction. The temperature, already reaching absolute zero, halted even the slightest atomic movement.

Just as a burn could occur from contact with fire, freezing a part of the body would create a wound of the same nature, achieving the same result: cellular death. This was, indeed, an attack of monumental proportions.

When the dense mana finally fulfilled its purpose and faded away, all that remained within the frozen chamber was a colossal ice crystal over five meters tall.

Inside it, a girl with closed eyes wore a smile on her burned and battered face. Bound to her was a massive being three meters high, its body composed of dark wood, seemingly screaming in agony despite having no face. The red crystal atop its head was completely destroyed.

These two beings encased in ice shared a singular fact.

Neither showed any sign of life.