Gardenia's Heart

Chapter 73: Overload

Inside the grand hall at the highest point of the castle, the metamorph stared expressionlessly at the entity before her.

"A demon..." Nia murmured.

Still standing near the altar, Orlaith studied the woman before her with curiosity, her fingers grazing her own face.

"Oh, you don’t seem all that surprised." Her words carried the tone of someone disappointed by the lack of any dramatic reaction from the woman in front of her.

"I recently learned that Velmont went on an expedition to the demon continent a little over a decade ago, hunting demons. Almost his entire group perished there, yet he somehow managed to return and decided to change his life after that. Were his traumas so severe that he resorted to killing and kidnapping people? I don’t think that’s the case."

Shrugging indifferently, Nia noticed a shift in Orlaith's expression—the hostility in her borrowed body flaring to life.

"Perfect! Absolutely perfect!"

Clapping her hands as she laughed, Orlaith began to pace the hall.

"You should have seen him begging for his life. Promising to do anything to stay alive. Such foolish hope, so easy to crush, so easy to destroy." Winking and pointing a finger to the side of her head, Orlaith let out a loud laugh. "But then I thought, why not?"

"You could start by telling me what you’re planning," Nia said, ignoring the demon’s unhinged ramblings as she gestured toward the sphere of stardust.

"The great Demon King, the one teacher to whom I owe all my knowledge, always told me that before we seek an answer, we must first pose a question. I’ve just answered yours by telling you who I am, so now it’s your turn." Intertwining her fingers, Orlaith leaned her elbows on the altar, a grin stretching ear to ear. "First, let’s see—what is your name?"

The demon’s question was simple, but for the first time, Nia felt a wave of nausea spread through her body. She didn’t want to reveal her name to this woman, but she needed the conversation to continue.

"Gardenia."

She would never lie about her name. Her crimson eyes narrowed even further, burning with cold fury as she stared at the grinning demon.

"Very good! This is how those who are worthy communicate. After all, we’re not barbarians, are we? Now, tell me, Gardenia, how is it that you can wield dark mana?"

Nia raised an eyebrow in surprise. Orlaith hadn’t asked why her magic resembled that of monsters or what her race was. She had asked directly and explicitly how she could use dark mana.

"I thought it was my turn to ask questions now," Nia replied, her mind racing to find a way to avoid discussing the matter.

"No, don’t try to dodge my question." Orlaith wagged her index finger back and forth. "Even I can hardly believe what I’m seeing, but you’re doing it, aren’t you? With all the mana in the city being drawn into my invention, it’s easier than ever to notice. All the remaining dark mana in the atmosphere is orbiting you. Like a stone thrown into a lake, you’re causing ripples in something that should be static."

Her gaze turned serious, and the pressure emanating from her body grew so intense that all the humans and demi-humans in the room struggled to breathe.

"I learned it in a moment, without even realizing I had learned it. As for how I’m doing it? I have no idea," Nia answered with a shrug, offering the raw truth.

She wasn’t lying—just omitting the existence of the

The metamorph had expected a debate to erupt after her response, but instead, Orlaith remained frozen in place, staring at her in astonishment.

"How can you say such absurd things, yet I can't detect a single lie? You're such an enigma, and it piques my curiosity. Hehihihihi!"

Laughing as she rested her chin in her hands, Orlaith gazed into the beautiful crimson eyes of the woman before her.

"It's a shame we can't delve deeper into this now, but we can discuss it more later—when we get to know each other better." Orlaith’s expression turned into one of exaggerated disappointment, accompanied by a theatrical sigh. "Alright, your turn."

Though Nia found it odd that Orlaith had given up so easily after such a brief answer, she took a moment to consider her next question.

"Where is all of this—the things you've been doing in this city—leading to?"

What had initially seemed like a mundane question suddenly became an entertaining one for Orlaith. She clapped her hands several times, stepping away from the altar to gesture toward the fallen people scattered across the hall.

"[Shadow Puppeteer]"

The way she uttered the words carried an almost sensual appreciation for each syllable. As her deep, abyssal voice echoed, everyone in the hall stood up at once, snapping into a salute.

"Tadaaaa~!" Orlaith’s grin widened as she watched the metamorph contemplate what she had just seen. "So? You’ve been analyzing my spell quite a bit, haven’t you? What can you tell me about it?"

"You’re able to create these stigmas to influence people remotely, either suppressing their memories or controlling their bodies, turning them into pawns," Nia replied in a neutral tone, her crimson eyes keenly observing Orlaith’s reactions.

"Yes! Yes! But come on, don’t give me such a plain answer. I’ll give you a little hint. Here’s the million-gold question! In the second case, what do you think happens if I make them use mana?"

The moment the question was posed, Nia didn’t hesitate for even a second before answering.

"They can cast spells on your behalf, using your mana to do it."

Nia had suspected something was off ever since the fight in the mines. All the workers had been ordinary civilians, merely possessing magical affinities. Yet somehow, they had been able to cast spells, even though they shouldn’t have known how.

"Gardenia, you’re amazing! You’re absolutely incredible! Where have you been all my life!? You understand things so quicklyyyyy!!"

Orlaith, so excited that her words began tumbling out with a careless cadence, skipped around the room. The spiral-shaped mark on her hand was visible from various angles as she moved.

"I've already granted plenty of minor spells, but I've never tried using [Shadow Puppeteer] through someone else. To make this one work, I had to etch it not just into the soul but into the flesh as well. This is one of my finest stigmas! I'll gladly accept any compliments you'd like to offer~."

With a sudden snap of her fingers, two demi-humans standing on the edges of the hall dashed toward the purple-haired woman.

"Now, your turn. Show me how you're destroying my spell."

Nia didn’t have time to respond. Her black shield absorbed the impact of a lightning-coated punch so powerful that the entire room trembled.

The attack was swift, but it didn’t end there. The second man approached from the opposite side.

"Tsch." For the first time, Nia clicked her tongue as she leaped backward to avoid the strike.

Having missed their target, the two demi-humans began to sprint through the hall, weaving between the pillars in

“Look here, here! Stardust, luminite, and countless others. Nearly a ton of mana-conducting ores mixed and condensed down to an object smaller than a head!” The demoness laughed, caressing the artifact lovingly. Her smile stretched impossibly wide, ear to ear. “This is my greatest masterpiece! The destroyer that will incinerate and reduce everything to ashes! The Seed of Chaos!”

Mana pulses began to flare from the sphere, its previously dormant energy now seeming to find a purpose.

“Velmont mentioned wanting his people to live under the sun. Are you planning to blow up the capital with that thing?” With each mana pulse reverberating through the castle, Nia had to shield her body with even more dark mana.

“Naaah! Why would I do something so dull on such a special day? I’ve got a much more entertaining place to test this invention first~” Orlaith sang, her smile widening as she skipped around joyfully.

Nia had witnessed the power of a single stardust rod infused with the mana of a single one-star mage.

With the amount of mana poured into the orb from the entire city, she knew nothing good would come of it. If the overload occurred and multiple explosive spells were unleashed on this scale, it would take a large part of the region with it.

“This is my farewell gift to Caligo.”

Orlaith declared, her tongue running over her lips as if savoring the chaos about to unfold. Her next words left no doubt that the point of no return had long since passed.

“Death~”