Iris pulled her right hand out of the black monolith, frowning. After the sea of blackness consumed her spiritual body, her mind went blank, her thoughts ceased, and her perception of time halted. She fell through infinity and, emerging on the other side, found herself outside the imaginary space.

Beside her, black and white mists manifested, though no one but her could perceive them. They morphed into a blurry figure, whose angelic, demonic appearance arrested Iris’s heart yet also pushed it away.

“What happened to me?” Iris said.

Duality covered her face. “No one knows. No one can know. Not even the world itself.”

“What could have happened?”

Duality quivered. Her majestic yet elusive aura flickered. “Only the Transcendent could blind us.”

“Yet I survived the encounter and recognised the disparity.”

Duality leaned forward. Her mist enveloped Iris, flowing all around her, observing, touching, caressing. Every sensation imaginable sparked within her heart, but she silently endured.

When Iris’s face grew pink, and her mind grew fuzzy, Duality drew back. She parted her hands from her face, revealing her wicked, gentle smile.

“You are still yourself, Iris.”

Was she? Iris touched her lips and licked her fingers. Her tongue tickled herself, creating a warm wisp inside her chest. This familiar emotion reassured her. “Was it Lilith? Gulia?”

“Only you know the answer.” Duality glanced behind Iris. Secain and Lorient were walking toward her mistress. “On the fifth floor lays a True Artefact whose value is second only to the broken vessel.”

Iris narrowed her eyes. Since returning from the imaginary space, she could smell a faint rancid scent, a mark of burned flesh. It stirred her curiosity every time she inhaled and exhaled.

Its originator was on the fifth floor.

Conflicts gleamed in her pupils. She’d once more touched upon secrets whose magnitude dwarfed her. That mysterious allure which took her to the edge of the imaginary space, that irksome suspicion that led her to plunge beneath Mystic Tower, that enclosing crisis that forced her to cling to her Shadow Heart, was it really her who made such decisions?

Had she never escaped her Fate? Could she ever?

“Mistress, what could we do for you?” Secain said. “Please tell us. We shall fulfil your wish without fail.”

“We’ve already taken care of all captive Monster Girls. They and the rest of the slaves have temporarily regained their mobility.” Lorient puffed up her chest, smiling. “Their leader wants to thank you personally.”

Iris nodded and turned to the stair leading to the fifth floor. Duality had already left. The decision was up to her. She could retreat without pursuing what lay above or risk her life seeking the answer.

“I too have something to ask her.” Iris beamed.

Lorient escorted a Monster Girl in a tattered lab coat to Iris. Though her dirty lab coat tainted her glimmer, her reflective skin, made of shiny gemstones and crystals, still called attention to her glamorous body. She lifted her head and looked at the face of her saviour, burning that ethereal vestige into the deepest part of her memory.

“Madam Black Rose, on behalf of my friends, I express to you my eternal gratitude.” She showed Iris the back of her right hand. On it was a large black diamond. “I, Olivia June, will serve you until my crystals blur, my gems crack, and my veins run dry. Please accept a part of me.”

With an amused smile, Iris stepped forward, grasped Olivia’s right hand, and tapped the black diamond embedded in it. She held that hand close and, as Olivia anxiously shut her eyes, kissed the gem. Its chill tickled her lips, and her warmth tickled its surface.

Olivia opened her mouth, blowing sparkling air. The shiny gemstones on her body flashed, and her crystal flesh glowed pink. She anticipated the pain of losing a part of herself, but she instead received a bliss she couldn’t resist.

“I cannot take you as mine, not now, not when your heart belongs elsewhere,” Iris said. “Tell me your reason, Olivia.”

Olivia averted her gaze. “My apology, Madam Black Rose. I thought I could exchange my body for a favour.”

“Do you believe I require your body?” Iris glanced around. Her subordinates bashfully smiled. If she revealed even a hint of her invitation, all would gladly devote themselves to her.

“What must I do if not devote my body to you?”

“Devote your heart to me.”

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“I . . . cannot do that right now.”

“Then devote it to the person to whom you promised.”

Her eyes wide, Olivia stared at Iris. Her pupils contracted and then expanded. Her gemstones darkened as the visages of her lovely friend emerged from the depth of her brittle heart.

“She’s already returned to Lady Lilith.” Olivia sighed. “I must fulfil my promise.”

Iris nodded. She raised her right hand. Secain stepped out of her shadow, holding the unconscious Melan, the professor with whom Iris played.

After Secain lay Melan in Iris’s arms and disappeared, Olivia held her breath. Her eyes scanned over the professor who killed her friend, tears welling in them. Her chest tightened and relaxed, tightened and relaxed.

She knew what she should be feeling, but she couldn’t force herself to feel it.

“I beseech you, Madam Black Rose, to grant her your mercy.” Olivia dropped to her knees. “You must have known she killed one of us. That Monster Girl, Trissie Hauntal, is her pupil, her favourite pupil.”

“And you her best friend?”

“Some of us used to work here, but an accident occurred, and now we have become the experiment.” Olivia bit her lips. “Trissie, because of her special physique, got tortured far more than others. We couldn’t help her; only her professor could.”

“Do you regret it?”

“It’s . . . the only way.”

Iris pulled the asleep Melan close to her face. That innocent yet fatigued expression hid beneath it emotions she would never reveal when awake. Iris carefreely stroked the sleeping beauty’s cheeks. A wisp of milky white light shimmered on Melan’s skin, merged with it, and dispersed into her body.

Her pained countenance turned calm, her breathing stable.

“What do you think she’s dreaming?” Iris said.

“Will you bring her to our side?”

“Is it contrary to your wish?”

“Trissie might not want it.” Olivia pursed her lips. “I . . . this new form is free from our previous shackles, but the timing might not be appropriated.”

“Then you shall set the timing yourself.” Iris gave Melan to Olivia, who got up and received her mentor.

Feeling the soft skin, Olivia faintly tensed. Her gemstone eyes caressed every inch of the beauty in her embrace, but she dared not go further. She didn’t want to force this choice upon others, like how it was forced upon her.

“Please give her a little more time,” she said.

“So long as you do not regret it.”

A group of Monster Girls took away Melan. Olivia wanted to give Iris her black diamond, but Iris rejected it, disallowing her subordinate from harming herself and ruining her symmetric charm.

“On the fifth floor lies a powerful artefact,” Iris said. “Your favour is to tell me its name.”

Olivia could reject that offer, but she couldn’t change Iris’s mind. Fine. She’d repay everything her way, even if her saviour didn’t want it.

“I’ve never seen the artefact myself, but my professor, she once spoke of it. Its name is Infernal Star Path, a True Artefact hypothesised to contain the secret of the revolution of the stars.”

“Is it in the possession of the Tower Guardian?”

“Although he’s researching in it, his speciality resides in the Element Pathway while the artefact is of Star Pathway.”

Lorient arrived beside Iris, staring at her calm smile. “Mistress . . . please don’t have any outlandish ideas.”

“Worry not, Dear. I shan’t let harm befall any of you.”

“Please include yourself in that group. You’re the leader of our operation, your safety of utmost importance.”

Iris softly laughed. Her tone lingered in the air as if to submerge away the worry. Her subordinates shivered and pinkened and gasped. Their bodies and minds grew sensitive, their hearts wandering into dreamy scenarios. They couldn’t and wouldn’t resist Iris’s toying with their feelings.

As Lorient held her breath, calming her racing thoughts, Iris delicately leaned onto her knight. Her rustling dress grazed Lorient and emptied her mind.

“Have you no trust in your mistress?” Iris said.

“It’s unfair.”

“Authority is never fair, my Dear. I hold absolute reign over your body and soul. Do you want me to relinquish such control?”

“You’re truly unfair, Mistress.”

“I’ll compensate you later.”

With promises of rewards nuzzling her, Lorient reluctantly agreed to the request. Secain never once doubted her mistress and thus accepted it readily. They swiftly announced their retreat to their respective attendants. Iris asked Olivia a few more questions regarding the fifth floor and the Tower Guardian before letting her go.

“Are you sure?” Olivia said. “You’re powerful, Madam, but the Tower Guardian is a Grandmaster.”

“If I return alive, will you surrender your heart to me?”

Olivia blushed. “I can’t possibly bet against your life.”

“That’s because I can’t lose.”

When all retreated from the fourth floor, quietude returned. Iris closed her eyes, sinking into her realm of consciousness. Her spiritual vessel materialised amidst a sea of pure-white fluff, and she found herself sitting beside Duality, who was viewing the pale horizon where an invisible yet majestic sun was setting.

“You only have one chance, Iris.” Duality covered Iris under her angelic and demonic wings. “This place is close to Cathedral of Deliverance.”

“If she were looking for us, we would still be within the cathedral.”

Duality covered the left half of her face. “I like your decisiveness, Dear Iris. What gives you such assurance?”

“My instinct’s always right.”

Duality devilishly laughed. She moved her hand to cover the right half of her face. “Deep love in oneself is precious, Iris. Please be careful not to shatter yourself.”

“So long as pieces of me remain, I will return.”

“As yourself or as another?”

Iris glanced at the smirking Duality. She didn’t retort, for that doubt also echoed inside her chest. “I’ve never been able to tell.”

Duality held Iris, wrapping her arms around Iris’s waist, and rose to her feet. She delicately raised her sole partner above the ground, her wings shrouding her partner’s figure within layers of feathers and flesh.

Invisible, almost imperceptible, traces of unknown energy flowed from Duality’s fingertips into Iris’s abdomen. As Iris allowed their intrusion, they permeated her immaterial body, cloaking her soul in a translucent fabric whose shape resembled a revealing undergarment.

“We can reverse your death once. However, such a disturbance will not go unnoticed,” Duality said. “Your second life will face a peril beyond your imagination.”

Iris, her eyes flashing, grasped Duality’s arms and squeezed lightly. “Have I gotten too greedy?”

“We like ambitious partners. This little investment will reward us handsomely, beautifully.”

After granting Iris a blessing, Duality’s silhouette dissolved into the clouds, and Iris awakened from her mental slumber. She couldn’t sense anything different within her body or soul, but she trusted Duality, specifically the contract they signed.

A tattered flickering cloak manifested around Iris. She raised her hands, where multiple rings glowed, anticipating the moment their owner made use of their powers. A fluffy bracelet on her left wrist quivered. She was as prepared as she could be.

Her expression solemn, she ascended the staircase towards the fifth floor.