A rumbling filled the air as a portal opened, and the World Tree seed embedded itself in the heart of the ancient tree. The previously frenzied growth of the ancient tree, fueled by fertilizer, came to a sudden halt.

"Huh?" "Why did it stop like that?" "Did something go wrong?"

People stared at the tree in confusion. This wasn’t like the last time it had paused to absorb fertilizer, disregarding the humans hacking at it. Now, it seemed frozen, as if cornered by a predator.

It was like a frog petrified in front of a snake, or an ordinary person paralyzed by the presence of a 2.5-meter musclebound giant—intimidated by a power far beyond its own.

But only for a moment.

A louder rumbling resonated through the air.

"Ahh!" "What the heck!?" "It's going berserk!"

The ancient tree thrashed, desperately trying to dislodge the World Tree seed lodged within it. But just as a parasite inside the body can’t be removed by struggling, the seed buried in its heart would not be expelled by mere thrashing.

This was merely its final struggle—a doomed attempt, like a person raging against an inevitable death.

The reverberations of the ancient tree’s agony reached even Flower, hidden within it.

"Kyaaa!"

Flower tumbled through the hollow chamber she had created, colliding painfully with the walls. She tried to soothe her bruised limbs with her powers, but the ancient tree continued its rampage, ignoring her abilities entirely.

This was natural. Flower’s powers allowed her to be loved by nature, not to control it.

Even for love’s sake, one cannot ask a creature to stop thrashing with a knife driven into its heart. Not even the most devoted lover could quell such instinctual resistance.

“What… what is happening…”

Flower’s moment of confusion was broken by light filtering through the cracks in the tree’s walls. Faint though it was, the light was enough to illuminate the chamber and reveal her presence to any lurking predators.

A monstrous roar echoed from the shadows.

“Ah! No!”

A nightmare creature leaped at Flower. It wasn’t real, yet it was; an illusion, yet not quite. A chaotic mix of fear, primal instinct, and terror clawed at her soul.

It was an indescribable agony and fear—the pain of skin being peeled from her flesh without any actual injury, accompanied by the terror that none of it was real.

Writhing in agony and terror, Flower's eyes rolled back as she lost consciousness, overwhelmed by the relentless pain.

In the instant her consciousness faded, the beast that had been waiting took control of her body.

“Grrrr…”

Flower emitted an animalistic growl as she began to take stock of what she could do. Within the ancient tree, now collapsing around her, she raised her head and gazed at the World Tree, which was growing explosively, consuming the ancient tree.

Amid the blinding sunlight, the image of a tantalizing prey filled her vision.

"It worked!"

Auxilion and I let out cries of triumph as we watched the ancient tree crumble, giving way to a new tree that soared through the clouds. The satisfaction of success was intoxicating.

Aside from the thrill of everything working without issue, there was a particular pride in seeing a plan that had existed only in theory and computation come to life.

I held out my hand impulsively, and Auxilion clapped it, sharing the excitement despite the awkward look that crossed her face afterward.

"I never thought I’d see the World Tree in this world…" "We just have to watch its roots take hold now, right?" "Yes, of course—"

"—What nonsense are you two spouting?"

We were pulled from our celebration by an annoyed voice. Bandaged Man was glaring at us with a scowl.

I shrugged nonchalantly at his interruption, and he snapped, as if our behavior was incomprehensible.

"Flower! You need to save her! She’s still in there!" "Oh, right." "Oh, really? So you never intended to save her from the start?" "I just forgot, don’t be so impatient. Especially since you're a villain yourself." "…I’m no villain."

Ignoring his muttering about not being a villain, I quickly manipulated a satellite to locate Flower. The nearby cameras had long stopped working, affected by Flower’s abilities.

Adjusting the satellite, I began scanning for where she might be. Before long, the AI cross-referenced faces captured on the satellite feed, pinpointing Flower’s location.

Fortunately, she was walking in broad daylight, unconcerned about her villain status.

She was remarkably unbothered about the whole situation.

“There she is. Go save her.” “…Open it.” "Oh, this is expensive..."

With a sigh, I opened a portal, letting Bandaged Man through toward Flower.

In an instant, he stepped through the space, approaching Flower, but paused as she turned her back to him.

"Flower. It’s time to stop. Let’s go back. If you want, I’ll help you escape to the ends of the earth…"

“Grrr…”

“...Flower?”

In the next moment, Flower’s arm struck him like a wild beast, sending Bandaged Man hurtling back through the portal.

I closed the gate swiftly, looking at him sprawled against the lab wall. Equipment and the lab itself were in disarray, but that was the least of my concerns.

‘What was that just now?’

If Flower had used her powers to obliterate him instantly, it wouldn’t have surprised me. I would have chalked it up to her wild ways with her abilities.

But Flower had struck Bandaged Man with her bare arm. Given that Bandaged Man’s strength allowed him to hold his own against Leviathan briefly, and Flower’s physical strength was hardly comparable to mine, it was incomprehensible.

‘Did her powers change? No, that’s impossible. Powers aren’t so easily altered…’

Even if Flower could somehow transform her body, manipulating powers at will is nearly impossible. Powers are determined by a handful of genetic structures; altering them as freely as plastic surgery is a near-impossible feat.

It’s like trying to cut your own hair perfectly—rarely does it end well.

“Gah…!”

Bandaged Man coughed up blood and slowly stood, looking at me.

“…Again.” “…That didn’t seem like Flower.” “It was Flower. Her strength… I never imagined she’d be hiding such power…” “No, anyone can see that it wasn’t her…” “I know. It was Flower.”

Bandaged Man looked at me with intense eyes.

“She was trembling… I don’t know what terrified her so much.”

“…Trembling? That thing?”

“Yes. You wouldn’t understand. You don’t know love. But I—we can feel it.”

Ignoring his rambling about love, I focused on something he had said.

Trembling in fear. Flower, with her powers over nature, shaking in terror?

If something could frighten her like that, it would have to be something neither natural nor artificial. Like something I had crafted recently…

‘…No way.’

Manipulating the satellite, I redirected it toward Flower as she approached the World Tree. Her gaze shifted, locking onto the satellite’s camera as if she could see it from orbit.

Her strength in sending Bandaged Man flying, and the eerie awareness…

All of it pointed to something other than her being inside her.

‘Could it be because of me?’

It didn’t take long to realize the likely culprit. In this situation, the only thing capable of causing such a change was something I had made—something I’d discarded like garbage down a sewer without even realizing what it truly was.