— — — — — —
Ryo spoke with a faint, amused smile:
"If she were to see what you look like now… maybe she wouldn't mind sharing the Cleansing relic with me."
"…Huh?" Cyrora froze when she heard that.
If she sees me now, she might not mind sharing the relic?
Would her current condition really be enough to make Glenda—the relic's guardian—willing to cooperate? Cyrora fell silent, but the thought wasn't entirely absurd.
If you saw your enemy reduced to nothing but a pathetic soul fragment… wouldn't you be tempted to enjoy the moment with someone who also despised them?
"…You really know how to twist the blade."
Cyrora had been doing her best not to dwell on her current state—trapped, powerless, reduced to a cursed soul. But Ryo had laid it bare without hesitation.
Then he muttered under his breath, "Unfortunately, I probably don't have the time to keep playing these mind games with you, Cyrora."
She didn't respond. Hidden in his shadow, her sky-blue eyes stared at his back—deep and cold, like an abyss.
"Let's keep it simple," Ryo said, looking out at the calm waters of Lake Kannawa. "Two options: carry out the plan I've laid out… or become my puppet. Those are your only choices."
After a pause, Cyrora replied with conviction. "There must be a reason you didn't kill me."
Ryo neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he simply said, "Maybe. Or maybe it's just that killing you would be… too much of a hassle."
"Heh." Cyrora gave a dry laugh. "Liar."
To a man who doted on Avrora as much as he did, she figured she was nothing more than a stabilizer—a psychological crutch to keep Avrora's mind intact. If the original soul vanished, Avrora, the twelfth doll, would inevitably suffer.
Maybe that's the real reason he hadn't erased her yet.
"You're really ruthless," Cyrora said with a sneer.
"You're also too damn careful, Ryo Yagami. With your power, there's no one in this world you actually need to worry about. Not the three Primogenitors who created me. Not even Cain, if he ever comes back."
"You know what? You're the Fourth Primogenitor—the invincible Primogenitor. The real deal."
Ryo went quiet for a moment, then let out a soft, half-sigh, half-laugh. "Can't believe I'm hearing that from you, of all people…"
Was he strong?
Cyrora and others might say he was terrifyingly powerful—despair-inducingly so.
But Ryo didn't think so himself.
He couldn't even shatter galaxies. He couldn't go head-to-head with Indra. So what kind of "strong" was that?
The gods of Little Garden wouldn't even look his way.
That thought alone irritated him more than it should've.
Compromise. Lay low. Bide his time. It was frustrating.
He rubbed his brow and sighed. "I need the Cleansing relic. And I need you, as one of the original Cain's retainers, to stand guard over the Empire of Dawn. I want to reinforce that identity—you as a symbol of Cain's legacy, the Primogenitor of the Demon Kind."
It was the first time Ryo had ever openly shared his plans with Cyrora.
Up until now, every conversation between them had been filled with hostility—cold, cutting, and bitter. This was the first time they'd spoken without daggers drawn.
As for the "choice" he'd given her earlier… Cyrora had already made her decision through her actions.
"The relic's guardian isn't going to support you. Even if Priestess of Cain has given you her approval, as long as I still exist, she won't acknowledge you."
Cyrora's voice was ice-cold.
"The Tenth Familiar Capricornus Dekatos—Goat of Glinting Eyes—has mind control abilities."
Cyrora was amused, "Keep her under the Familiar's influence. In six months, her mind will be completely rewritten. She'll only have thoughts of you, Ryo."
"…That's actually not a bad idea."
Ryo nodded slightly, clearly unbothered by the moral implications.
In a world this cruel, talking about ethics was just… hypocrisy.
"I'll teleport the dragon egg from the bottom of Lake Kannawa to Itogami Island. After that, it's your responsibility."
Cyrora's eyes lit up. "Hmph. Sure sure. When it comes to actual control and mastery over Familiars… I'm the expert."
Her tone carried pride—like she was declaring a universal truth. But deep down, she knew the truth: Ryo was letting her free... maybe even giving her a body.
Ryo remained calm. "I'll probably leave the Tenth and Twelfth Familiars in your care before I leave."
"Could you not sound like you're reading me your will?" Cyrora snapped. "Disgusting."
Ryo chuckled faintly and looked down at the water—beyond the surface, past the darkness and depth, where a massive, pitch-black egg lay sleeping.
He narrowed his eyes. Behind him, a double-headed serpent dragon materialized and let out a soundless roar that shook the very air.
At the same time, Ryo raised his hand. A golden glow radiated from his fingertip.
"—Dimensional Transfer."
A strange, layered space—like pixels stacking over each other—suddenly appeared, and in the blink of an eye, the egg was swallowed up and teleported 700 kilometers away to Itogami Island.
Cyrora was silent for a few moments, then sighed.
"Sometimes I really want to crack open your skull and see what's going on in there. How the hell do you think of this stuff?"
The third Familiar Gemini Tritos—The Serpentine Dragon of Mercury—had the power to devour space and void.
In her hands, it could tear through dimensions and destroy an entire country.
But Ryo?
He used it to rip open space and safely teleport a living being hundreds of kilometers away.
She'd never even dreamed of using the power like that. Even with a lifetime of experience with Familiars, she couldn't pull something like that off.
These two uses—destruction and precision transfer—were worlds apart. What kind of brain comes up with that?
But Ryo just shrugged modestly.
"I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants."
Those "giants" weren't scientists, though. They were self-sacrificing, life-burning warriors known as the Gold Saints.
After his conversation with Cyrora, Ryo looked out over the lake and thought aloud: "If this is such an important relic, it makes sense for it to be connected to Cain."
As he spoke, his eyes drifted to a Houda in the lake—panicked and twitching, clearly distressed by its master's sudden disappearance.
Ryo smiled faintly.
A moment later…
The Houda (Bee snake) began thrashing violently beneath the water, letting out a silent, tortured wail.
Then, horns—sharp, demonic horns—sprouted from its head, and its aura turned violent, unstable, chaotic.
Not long after, the newly evolved demon-snake coiled itself up and fell back into slumber at the bottom of the lake, adding another black, egg-like shape to the depths.
Satisfied, Ryo nodded.
He glanced over at Shirona, who had been quietly rowing the boat despite the sudden turbulence in the water.
"We're done here. Let's head back."
Shirona looked at him, a bit startled. She hadn't heard what he and Cyrora had been discussing. From her point of view, the lake had just… rippled strangely, and then Ryo abruptly decided to leave.
She didn't see the full picture—but something told her Ryo had accomplished what he came for.
Even though there was no visible sign that the relic had been unsealed.
With mixed feelings, she guided the boat to the shore.
Ryo lightly stepped off and landed on the old wooden dock.
And that's when he looked up—and saw a girl standing in front of him.
She wore a frilly Gothic dress, held a parasol above her head, and had long, black hair.
She was just… waiting there.
.
.
.
Note: Just three more chapters and Ryo will return to Little garden