—–

Why?

Just why was he forced to witness such a thing?

How many more times would he have to endure horrors like these?

His father was dead—beheaded. The enemy held his severed head in her hands.

The first time Louis saw his father die, he could not bear to watch; he had only found ashes and scattered bones afterward.

But this time… he could still see his father’s face, twisted in pain and sorrow, weeping tears of blood.

What kind of nightmare was this?

For a fleeting moment, Louis considered ending his own life.

He no longer wanted to exist in this timeline. Everything had gone horribly wrong—Zorba was dead, and now his father too.

He wanted it all to stop.

He wanted to die and never wake again.

Now Louis finally understood: his power was no blessing. It was a vicious, malevolent curse.

What had he done in his life to deserve witnessing such an atrocity?

Was this punishment for being an ungrateful prince?

Was it because he had rejected the role of prince from the very beginning?

Was it because he had acted spoiled, then broken under the impossible standards of his family?

Or… was it all because of that game? As William? Because William had played a game?

One truth burned clearly in Louis’s mind.

His heart… had shattered completely.

“L-Louis…” Mirai whispered. “We have to do something. Your mother— Ah?”

Mirai’s eyes widened in horror at something utterly impossible.

Louis’s chest cracked and fractured like brittle glass, pieces falling away to reveal a bottomless darkness pouring out.

Countless jaws, eyes, hands, legs, tails, claws, fangs—every grotesque body part—spilled onto the ground, flooding everything in a writhing tide.

“Hm? Wait, what is this…?!”

Before Louis, a glowing red message flashed relentlessly.

[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]

[Madness Index: 100%]

[IT IS ADVISED TO PLEASE CALM DOWN, OR YOU RISK A COMPLETE CORRUPTION INTO A GRIEVANCE.]

But it was far too late.

Louis turned to Mirai. His eyes streamed with endless body parts and black blood.

“Mirai… run away…”

“LOUIS!!!”

BOOOMMM!!!

The entire VPI and Frost Castle erupted as darkness surged upward. Ashes blanketed the capital while survivors who had not yet evacuated stared skyward in pure terror and disbelief.

Massive boulders plummeted, smashing houses and unleashing chaos and devastation. Dozens of those who had survived until now were crushed beneath falling shards of ice.

Enormous cracks raced across the city, opening into an endless black inferno from which countless monsters poured—slender humanoid figures with long white hair and spinning red eyes.

They seized anyone they found, claws tearing flesh, devouring victims alive amid screams of agony and despair.

The sky blackened, filled with countless red-gold eyes and gaping mouths lined with sharp jaws. An endless black cloud spread across the entire territory.

The ruined castle and half-destroyed VPI trembled violently. Ashen black wood erupted everywhere.

Sharp roots snaked outward, studded with red-gold eyes and jaws, devouring and ripping apart every trace of life in their path.

Branches stretched skyward, twisting and warping the air itself, beginning to reshape reality across the surrounding capital.

A Fantasy Field was taking form.

“A-Ahhh! What’s happening?!” Verlan cried in disbelief, fleeing from the stretching branches that chased her. “How is this possible?! That prince… he became a Grievance…! And of this caliber?! Lady Seraphine!”

From the sky, a crack shattered open. A woman stepped through—long red hair, glowing purple eyes. She gazed down at the carnage, a heavy headache pounding as something attempted to invade her Fantasy Heart.

“I see. So this is what Prince Louis has become. He could never transform into a dragon, but he makes a fine Grievance… I wonder if I could tame it.”

“Don’t even think about it! We must run right now—that thing is too powerful— Ah!”

Before Verlan could flee farther, sharp vines and blooming red roses burst from inside her body. She writhed and screamed in torment.

“Aaaagh! W-Wha…! L-Lady Seraphine?!”

Verlan vomited blood as realization struck: Seraphine had no intention of saving her. The tall woman sighed and shook her head.

“Verlan, you’ve done well so far. But you’ve outlived your usefulness. Your power is too dangerous, and the higher-ups have decided you should remain here—to die alongside Frostbane.”

“Y-You can’t possibly…! Wait…! I am useful…! You can’t do this to me!”

“In the end you’re nothing but a disgusting demon from Spiritias. Why would we ever treat you as an equal?”

“A-Ah…”

Verlan’s eyes widened in terror as a sword of thorns and vines pierced her Fantasy Heart, ripping it free from her chest.

“L-Lady… Seraphine…”

Seraphine held the Fantasy Heart and began devouring it right in front of her. Behind her, a portal through space and time opened—crafted by the Gardener Fragment she had tamed.

“Goodbye, Verlan.”

“AAAHHH!”

Verlan screamed, tears of blood and rage streaming down her face. Giant black branches pierced her body from every direction, impaling her completely. Her head filled with dozens of writhing tendrils as dark red roses—each bearing eyes—sprouted from her nose, mouth, and eyes.

CRASH!

Until her body tore apart into shreds, her remains scattering across the ever-growing, twisted tree—becoming its fertilizer.

♢♢♢♢

Mirai found herself in a completely black void.

She stood there, looking around in confusion, realizing she was utterly alone.

“Where am I?”

As she scanned the darkness, she began to walk forward. The floor felt bitterly cold beneath her feet, and the air was painfully dry.

She wandered on, confused and disoriented, walking for what felt like hours, then days, weeks, months.

An endless path stretched ahead. The farther she went, the more she understood how utterly futile her efforts were.

“Am I dead?”

For a terrifying moment, she considered the worst—that she had died, and this was the black emptiness after life, an eternal nothing.

But if she were truly gone, wouldn’t her consciousness have vanished completely? Why was she still here, still aware?

“No, this has to be…”

“Mirai…”

“Ah!”

A familiar voice called her name. Mirai ran toward it desperately—that faint, beloved voice belonging to the one person she longed to see smile again, even just a little, the one she ached to free from endless suffering.

There he stood: a faint silhouette of white glass, long flowing white hair, empty eye sockets bleeding endlessly.

“Louis?!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep