Spiral of Madness: Ascension of the Villainous Dragon Prince-Chapter 158: Redo [2] — Soma & The Gardener

"It’s perfect!" Zorba clapped gleefully, laughing. "Hahahaha! Oh brother! We’re finally reunited! And it all ends happily!"

"No...! No...! Nngh...! Ugh...! Aaahhhh! Kill me...! Kill me!!!" Veynar screamed as Zorba laughed louder, moving his hands to force his brother to dance like a marionette.

"Hahahaha! Let’s dance, brother! Dance! Dance for me! Hahahaha!" Zorba laughed like a child with a brand-new toy.

Mirai and everyone else—except Louis—watched the scene in deep disturbance. Mirai walked to Louis and held his arm.

"Is this really okay?" she asked quietly.

"Let him have his toy," Louis shrugged. "As long as he remains loyal to me, I don’t care what he does with his brother’s corpse."

"...I guess so," Mirai sighed.

"Now!"

Zorba wasn’t finished. He summoned Hecatoncheires and turned the giant skeleton chimera into his second Spirit, giving it a spiritual body and even greater ability to shrink and transform.

Veynar became the "Fallen Malevolent Plotter Spirit," and Hecatoncheires the "Great Bone Chimera Spirit." Both carried Death as their primary element; Veynar’s secondary were Darkness and Shadows, while Hecatoncheires held Phantom and Ghost.

"As for the third, I’ll decide later... but for now, we’re good!" Zorba said. "My lord, what should we do next?"

Though things hadn’t ended exactly as Louis hoped, this was still better than the bitter, sorrowful death Zorba once suffered—even if it came wrapped in madness. Louis was glad to see him smiling and alive.

"There are still things to handle," Louis said. "The Nameless Streets are under attack by a powerful Grievance, and an evil priest from the Abyssal Mother is there. Zorba, let’s weave a narrative where he joins us to drive the creature out, then force him to leave for now. We can’t kill the Gardener—it would take too long. Expelling it is the best we can do."

"I’m new to this Spiral, but I’ll do my best," Zorba nodded. "We’ll need something connected to them, though..."

"This will do," Louis said, revealing a crystalized heart and—suddenly—Handy herself appearing beside him.

"Oh, it works!" Zorba said.

Catalysts needed deep ties to the target. Fortunately, Louis already held Handy and the Relic from the Gardener’s earlier death, making the task simple. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Very well. Let’s move!"

Without wasting another moment, Louis nodded to Mirai and the others. They plunged into the Nameless Streets’ Fantasy Field.

♢♢♢♢

Priest Soma Ferrera was having a difficult day.

He had been joyfully planning to bring salvation to all when someone hurled a Fantasy Field Fragment into the Nameless Streets, unleashing Entities and a towering Grievance that darkened the skies.

An emerald moon crowned with a giant red rose warped space and time inside the Field. His entire formation collapsed before he could complete it. With his plans in ruins, Soma did what any priest must: save lives and fight evil.

Following the Abyssal Mother’s doctrines, he battled the Entities with power granted by the Spiral of Compassion. Countless curses poured from his body, forming giant black hands with red eyes that clashed against the invasion while he rescued those in peril.

At the same time he healed the wounded, always wearing a calm smile to reassure them that everything would be all right. He guided families to safety outside the Fantasy Field as best he could.

But the Gardener was too powerful. Once it noticed him disrupting its domain, it sent its Avatar and swarms of Entities against him. Soma fought with everything he had, constantly devouring the life of the Gardener’s garden—only for his curses to be rewritten and consumed in turn.

A Tier 5 Spiralwalker versus a Level 5 Grievance was a breathtaking clash. Both nearly equal in power, they remained locked in stalemate, neither able to truly slay the other.

Yet unlike a Grievance, Soma was still partly human—with human weaknesses. No matter how much he healed himself, he slowly lost ground. Because he prioritized saving as many people as possible, he took hits meant for the Gardener’s true targets.

"Hohoh... This is not what I expected... My goddess, please lend me your strength..."

He prayed ceaselessly, fighting with all his might, but the Gardener had seized the advantage and pressed forward relentlessly. Soma kept trying to destroy the Grievance’s protected vessel, a towering pillar of vines and flowers at the Field’s center.

As he battled, two threads of fate latched onto his soul, attempting to steer him toward a scripted end. As a Tier 5 Spiralwalker, he could easily resist and sever such manipulation, but...

"Hoh? Prince Louis and a man named Zorba? I see—they want to strike two targets at once... Very well, I accept your terms! It’s a pity, but perhaps we can save this kingdom’s salvation for another day."

As Soma smiled and giant hands of vines and flowers descended to crush him...

RUMBLE!

The sky split open. A blinding meteor slammed into the massive hands, cracks spiderwebbing across them before they exploded into countless fragments.

Nirvana Flames swept through every plant in the Fantasy Field, burning away the Gardener’s influence.

"WHO...! WHO DARES NOW?!"

The Gardener—already furious from battling Soma—spoke through Lord Verdant’s mouth, realizing three powerful presences had arrived, followed by several more that descended like falling stars.

Explosions rocked the ground with each impact. Swamps evaporated, froze, or vanished entirely as the Gardener’s authority weakened.

Soma smiled as a man stepped before him, radiating golden light and ashen gray—Hope and Despair intertwined within him.

Black flames poured from his mouth, woven from countless curses.

"Soma, stand up and fight. We’re kicking this thing out. Afterward, get the hell out of my country."

"Hohoh, Prince Louis! What a surprise to see you here! This is our first meeting, yet you speak as though we’ve known each other for years..."

"I won’t repeat myself."

"Yes, yes, I understand, your majesty. Hohoh... youth these days."

Soma rose slowly, healing himself. He noticed a small black hand resting on Louis’s shoulder and smiled warmly, eyes widening for a moment. "I see! You’ve already joined the cradle, haven’t you?"