Chương 39: Snow Lily

Black, feathery wings burst from Reverie's back. She shot into the air as her body continued to twist. The poorly drawn flames around her turned black, burning hotter and darker than before. Her limbs stretched, becoming longer and sharper. Black horns grew from her forehead, curving upward like a crown made for a monster. Her skin slowly changed color. Green spread across her body. Small scales formed along her arms, neck, and face. Cyrus stared up at her, horror tightening his expression.

"She's still mutating." The purple crystal in Reverie's eye pulsed again. The white book floated beside her. The black book beat like a living heart.

"Ability Activate." Reverie's voice echoed through the throne room.

"Fairy Tale." This time, she moved with more control. Black Mist leaked from the black book and twisted into a pen. It hovered above the white pages, dripping dark ink as Reverie began to draw. Noah's eyes narrowed. Her memories were returning. That meant her mind was breaking under the weight of them. But it also meant her ability was improving. The drawings were no longer childish scribbles. They were becoming clearer. Sharper. More dangerous. Noah gripped the ice sword and forced himself to think.

"Cynthia, Adam, you two are on defense." Adam glanced at him.

"Got it." Cynthia lifted her axe, though her eyes remained fixed on her mother. Noah looked toward Ava.

"Ava, don't shoot her with your bow." Ava's eyes widened.

"What?"

"I'm worried about what could happen if you absorb anything from her." Ava's expression tightened.

"Like you're absorbing from her?" Noah did not look away from Reverie.

"It's fine."

"Noah."

"I can expel the darkness in my body," he said.

"If you take any of it in, you can't." Ava's hand tightened around her bow. She hated it. Noah knew she hated it. But she lowered the weapon slightly. Above them, the pages of the white book flashed. Shapes began forming in the sky. Eyes. Mouths. Dozens of them. The purple eyes floated first, glowing with the power of her Regalia. Each one turned slowly, ready to trap anyone who met its gaze in stone. Then came the others.

Photorealistic eyes and mouths, so detailed they looked less like drawings and more like pieces of living flesh torn from reality itself. Noah felt his stomach twist.

"The purple eyes are her Regalia," Cyrus said quickly.

"Those other ones…"

"Her Demonic Eye," Noah finished. The Philosopher's Eye. If the purple eyes could turn them to stone, then the realistic eyes and mouths were likely worse. They were most likely extensions of the Philosopher's Eye, able to inflict status ailments from a distance. Sleep. Confusion. Paralysis. Berserk. Anything. The throne room had become a sky full of curses. Reverie hovered above them, black wings spread wide, tears of black blood trailing down her face. Noah took a breath. They could not win by waiting.

"Cynthia!" She snapped her eyes toward him.

"Can you open a portal that high?" Cynthia looked up at Reverie. Then her yellow eye narrowed.

"Behind her?" Noah nodded.

"Yeah." Cynthia spun her axe once.

"I can." Noah lowered his stance. Darkness gathered in his legs.

"Then open it." Cynthia scratched through the air. Space split open in front of Noah. Another crack appeared high above, behind Reverie's back. Noah looked up at the woman they were trying to save. Then he smiled through the blood on his lips. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Let's reach her." Noah raised the ice sword.

"Cyrus. Ava." They both looked at him.

"Augment your abilities into this blade." Ava's eyes widened. Noah tightened his grip around the hilt.

"Infuse every ounce of mana you can spare. The moment this connects with her, she won't be able to move, and Cyrus's ice will flow straight into her body." Cyrus understood immediately. Ava did too. Neither of them argued. Cyrus placed his hand against the flat of the blade. Frost spread across it, sinking deep into the ice already forming its shape. Ava stepped beside him and touched the hilt. Yellow lightning crackled across the sword, wrapping around the frost like chains of light.

The weapon trembled in Noah's hand. Cold. Stillness. Darkness. All of it gathered into one strike. Noah leaped through the portal. He appeared above Reverie. For one brief moment, he was close enough to see her face. The blood running from her eyes. The snakes hissing in her hair. The purple crystal pulsing in her socket. The pain beneath all the madness. Reverie turned sharply, raising a mass of Black Mist to block him.

"No, you don't." Adam threw his spear. The weapon tore through the air and pierced one of Reverie's black wings. The wing ripped open. Reverie's balance broke. Noah descended.

"As long as I don't destroy the heart…" He raised the sword with both hands.

"You'll live." Then he drove the blade into her stomach. The effect was immediate. Yellow light surged through Reverie's body, locking her movement in place. A wave of ice followed. Frost spread from the wound, crawling across her skin, her scales, her wings, and her snakes. The black flames around her flickered and died as the cold swallowed them. Noah and Reverie fell. Cyrus reacted quickly. He thrust both hands toward the ground.

"Niflheim!" A massive cushion of snow burst across the throne room floor. Noah and Reverie crashed into it, the impact sending powder into the air. For a moment, everything was white. Then Noah pushed himself up, breathing hard. Reverie lay beneath him. Frozen. The ice sword remained buried in her stomach. Frost sealed her limbs, her wings, and most of the snakes in her hair. The purple crystal pulsed faintly beneath the ice, but even that had slowed. Noah staggered to his feet. His body shook. His lungs burned.

For a single breath, it looked like they had won. Then the Dark Heart reacted. The purple crystal in Reverie's eye pulsed once. The ice around her cracked. From the crystal, flowers began to bloom. White petals pushed through the frost. Thin roots spread across Reverie's frozen body, digging into the ice as if it were soil. More flowers opened, delicate and pale, beautiful in a way that felt horribly wrong. Cyrus's eyes widened.

"Snow lilies." Noah looked at him.

"They only grow in the region of Niflheim," Cyrus said.

"They use ice in the ground to survive." The roots spread faster. They drank the frost from Reverie's body. The ice began to vanish. Reverie gasped sharply. Her fingers twitched. The frozen snakes in her hair began to move again. Cyrus stared in horror.

"The fragment…" Ava raised her bow. Adam summoned his spear back to his hand. Cynthia's face twisted with dread. Cyrus's voice lowered.

"The World Core fragment The Doctor embedded into her…" The snow lilies bloomed brighter.

"It represents the Life Element." One of the seven elements of creation. The ice shattered. Reverie rose from beneath the flowers, still wounded, still crying blood, but no longer frozen. And behind the throne, The Doctor began to laugh.

"Damn." He clapped his hands slowly.

"I did not see that one coming." The snow lilies bloomed around Reverie's feet, their roots drinking away the last traces of Cyrus's ice.

"Even filled with madness, she can still pull off crazy stuff like this." Noah gritted his teeth. Reverie's body trembled. The wound in her stomach remained, but pale roots crawled through it, stitching flesh and Black Mist together. The Dark Heart in her eye pulsed again, feeding her more power, more pain, more life. Jackpot raised his pistol slightly.

"It won't end unless you remove the Dark Heart from her eye." Everyone looked toward him. His blue mask gave away nothing.

"I recommend using the dumb puppy's ability to loosen the resentment from it first." Noah blinked.

"Dumb puppy?" Cynthia clicked her tongue.

"That nickname is spreading." The Doctor slowly turned his head toward Jackpot.

"Hmm?" His voice was light. But the air behind it sharpened.

"Whose side are you on, exactly?" Jackpot did not lower his gun.

"The sooner they knock her out, the sooner we can grab the eye." He tilted his mask toward Reverie.

"You already have enough data." For a moment, The Doctor said nothing. Then he chuckled.

"It's fine. I get it." Jackpot's fingers tightened around the trigger.

"When she's in her Soul Release state, she looks a lot like your wife." The throne room went still. The Doctor's voice stayed cheerful.

"So you must feel bad." Jackpot did not answer. The Doctor tilted his head.

"Though instead of snakes for hair, your wife has tentacles." Jackpot's pistol shifted slightly toward him. The Doctor laughed.

"Relax. I am only making conversation." Reverie screamed again, and the flowers around her bloomed wider. The Doctor turned back toward Noah.

"It is as he said." His mask faced the young Hero.

"So keep trying, little Hero." Noah's black spots darkened. The Doctor's voice lowered.

"If you want to save her, tear that thing out." The purple crystal pulsed in Reverie's eye socket. Noah looked at Cyrus. Cyrus looked back, jaw clenched. They both understood. This was no longer about freezing her. No longer about wearing her down. They had to remove the Dark Heart. The Doctor leaned casually against the throne.

"And Jackpot." Jackpot did not look at him.

"If you want to help them so badly, then do it properly." The Doctor's tone turned cold.

"When they create an opening to rip out the Dark Heart, shoot the bitch in the leg." Reverie's snakes hissed. Cyrus's eyes filled with rage. The Doctor smiled beneath his mask.

"Then we will grab the Philosopher's Eye." Noah ripped out the sword, his grip tightening around it. Ava drew her bow. Adam lifted his spear. Cynthia raised her axe. Cyrus's hands shook with cold fury. The battlefield had changed. The Crows wanted the eye. Cyrus wanted the book. Noah wanted to save Reverie. And Reverie, trapped beneath madness and memories, only wanted everyone to disappear. The snow lilies trembled. The Dark Heart pulsed. And the final struggle began.