Chapter 92: The Gardener Of The Emerald Moon [2]

“Wait—Ngh?!”

Louis screamed in agony as his legs—part of his soul—were ripped away, transforming into beautiful flowers the Gardener tossed into the air, laughing and celebrating his integration into its eternal garden.

In desperation, a massive Ashen Frost icicle materialized, piercing and freezing dozens of Gardeners solid—only for more to emerge. Louis swung Gungnir weakly, its light fading as his soul, too drained for energy, fragmented further.

“Don’t…! I am not…!”

He vomited soul essence as the Gardeners tore his body apart piece by piece, planting each fragment as a seed. Every seed bloomed into a beautiful flower with sharp vines—a White Lily.

“Beautiful…”

“I love you.”

“Beautiful…”

“I love you.”

“Beautiful…”

“I love you.”

“Beautiful…”

“I love you.”

“Beautiful…”

“I love you.”

“Beautiful…”

“I love you.”

As Louis slowly perished—everything below his chest gone, left arm missing, half his face vanished, memories fracturing—he pointed his remaining hand skyward. Cracks spread as it crumbled, fingers turning to seeds that fed the soil, sprouting more White Lilies around his soul.

Among all he had known and cared for…

His mother wasn’t the final thought in his mind.

“Mi… rai…”

As his face broke down amid the Gardener’s constant humming—an obsessive, toxic love expressed by turning the beloved into flowers for its garden—Louis closed his remaining eye, bitterly accepting death.

…

“LOUIS!”

Or so he believed.

A voice rang from the starry skies. The Gardener paused, gazing upward.

A massive crack split the night. Abyssal flames shaped like demonic specters rained down.

“A-Aaahhh! MY GARDEN!”

The Gardener screamed in agony as flames consumed the Emerald Moon. Louis opened his remaining eye faintly.

And saw her.

“Hah…”

He smiled bitterly, marveling at the odds.

He had thought of her, and she appeared.

It was absurd.

Yet Mirai was the most stubborn person he had ever known.

With bare hands, she tore through the Gardener’s Consciousness that had absorbed Louis’s soul, using the connection as a gateway into the Grievance’s Fantasy Realm—deep within the Dimensional Labyrinth, far from Earth.

Her Devil Incarnation laughed behind her, guiding the way.

“Louis! Louis!!!”

Mirai screamed, tears streaming as she saw Louis harvested into seeds planted as White Lilies. She descended like a blazing meteor, crashing onto the Emerald Moon’s surface.

“GRIEVANCE! NOT ALLOWED! LEAVE!!!”

The Gardener raged, inexplicably calling Mirai a Grievance, attacking with everything it possessed. Giant hands of vines and flowers erupted. Plant and vine monsters swarmed from the ground toward her.

“I won’t leave—not without Louis!”

Mirai charged through the thorny path, flames burning everything. She manifested a long blazing scythe, harvesting plants with ruthless efficiency.

The Gardener agonized. Mirai’s flames were its ultimate weakness. The more they burned its growth, the fainter its existence became.

“Mypreciousminemineminemine!!!”

The Gardener seized what remained of Louis and fled. Mirai pursued, crying as she rampaged.

“LOUIS!”

“Mi… rai…?”

Louis drifted between consciousness and oblivion, memories bleeding and distorting as his sense of self faded.

“No…! Don’t take him from me! No! Louis…! LOUIS, PLEASE DON’T GO!!!”

Seeing him on the verge of consumption, Mirai halted. She screamed, her humanoid form cracking and exploding into pieces.

BOOOM!

“…?!”

The Gardener lost balance and tripped. What remained of Louis—half his face and part of his torso—fell to the ground. He faintly beheld the monstrous form Mirai had become.

With most memories fractured, Louis no longer knew who he was or why he was here. Yet his remaining eye widened at the creature before him.

A giant demoness with red skin and long blazing hair. Eight wings—two butterfly-like, two angelic, four demonic. Three heads, each weeping sorrowfully with black tears. Eight golden horns fused into a crown. Dozens of tails ending in monstrous heads.

“AAAAHHHHH!”

Mirai screamed in grief and agony as she battled the Gardener, who manifested its full power as a colossal flower monster. Its resistance proved futile. The titan burned it relentlessly while weeping golden tears.

“My garden… Aaaeeehhh… Papa… Papaaaaa!”

The Grievance met a swift end as Mirai pulverized it with eight giant fists, burning its core until the Fantasy Cores exploded and shattered, consumed by her monstrous tails.

Louis witnessed it all through bloody tears. He no longer knew her identity, but something lingered in his fading mind.

“How beautiful…”

Mirai gently cradled what remained of Louis in her gigantic palms, weeping as she gazed at his pitiful state.

“Louis…! Uuuhhh! Louis…!”

Mirai possessed tremendous power, yet she lacked the ability to heal souls—especially one damaged so severely. The others outside could only support her entry; they couldn’t aid directly.

“Who… are you…?”

Louis asked faintly, drifting in and out of awareness, pain numbing his very existence.

“I…! I am Mirai…! And…”

Mirai wept, lowering her face to his Soul Fragment. Her lips kissed him gently as her flames burned his soul, granting a swift, painless end.

“I love you…”

Louis smiled as the flames consumed him. There was no pain—only gentle warmth filled with love and compassion. He faded into ashes, his face smiling back at her.

“Thank you…”

When Mirai opened her eyes, she held his lifeless body. His soul was gone, replaced by a beautiful White Lily blooming from his chest.

Despite his gruesome death, he wore a peaceful smile—as if embraced by her love in his final moments.

“Why…! Why did it have to end this way?! Why did this happen?! Why…! Louis…! Aahh…! Louis!”

She clutched his body, sobbing uncontrollably. Eduard stood silent, unable to comprehend the tragedy. The other Agents were devastated.

Days passed. News of the Prince’s death—after saving the District Alliance from a Dimensional Rift and a powerful Grievance—spread through the Kingdom.

Those who hated him rejoiced. Those who had grown to love his changed self mourned for many days.

Burying his beloved son was perhaps the most painful experience Gustaf had ever endured—worse even than Benladra’s endless slumber.

“I’m sorry, Louis… This is all my fault… You always deserved a better life… a better father…”

As he was laid to rest, everyone saw the prince resting on a bed of white flowers, smiling calmly—as if he hadn’t died in agony, but with peace of mind.

White petals danced in the wind as the Rivers of Time flowed onward.

Louis’s soul continued its journey, unable to find rest.

Thus, Prince Louis Drakeheart’s 5th Life came to an end.

—–

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