Chapter 136: Three Minutes

"Lily, what’s wrong?" Reinhard asked without hesitation as he answered the call.

There was heavy breathing on the other end, followed by the sound of Lily moving quickly through the Garden. "Reinhard! I tried calling you before, but I couldn’t get through. I ran into another Awakener who was still alive, so I asked them if they could help us find everyone."

He rose to his feet. "What did they do?"

"They had a Gnosis that could locate a specific person and show us an image of them. We gave them Emily’s name, and they found her." Her voice grew quieter. "Reinhard, I can show you the image."

A projection appeared in front of him. For a moment, he didn’t understand what he was looking at. Then his breathing stopped.

Emily was walking through the Garden. Her clothes were torn, her white hair was stained with blood, and several wounds covered her body. Blood ran down one side of her face and disappeared beneath her damaged clothing, while one of her arms hung slightly lower than the other. She looked exhausted, like she should have stopped moving a long time ago. Yet she kept walking, step after step, deeper into the Garden.

Reinhard stared at the image without saying anything. "Where is she?" he finally asked.

Lily gave him the location. He nodded slowly, memorizing the direction before looking toward the enormous Heart beside him. Something was wrong. He couldn’t explain it, but a cold feeling had settled inside his chest. "Did something happen?" he asked quietly.

"Yes!" Lily answered immediately. "She’s bleeding badly, but she’s still moving forward. She won’t stop. We tried to tell her to wait, but she kept going toward the area where the Origin is."

His fingers tightened around the phone, his breathing growing heavier. "Emily..." He looked toward the direction Lily had given him. "I will—"

"Mr. Reinhard." Another voice entered the call, and Reinhard stopped.

The Association organizer spoke quickly, his voice tense. "Our scanners indicate that you are near the Heart of the Origin. Is that correct?"

Reinhard looked over his shoulder at the enormous Heart pulsing behind him. "Yes."

There was a brief silence, then the organizer spoke again. "Then you need to destroy it." Before Reinhard could respond, he continued. "You are standing at the most important objective in this entire operation. Destroying the Heart should disrupt the Origin’s connection to the Blood Mana network. It should weaken the Bloodkin’s regeneration, destabilize their abilities, and potentially free the people still trapped throughout the Garden."

Another voice joined the line. "Reinhard, you’re already there. Nobody else has reached the Heart."

"If you leave now, we lose our best opportunity."

"The longer that thing remains active, the more Blood Mana gets drawn from everyone connected to it."

"And the longer this continues, the more people will die."

Reinhard listened without saying anything. Then the organizer added, "If you destroy the Heart, Emily may be freed from whatever is affecting her. You could save her by destroying it."

His eyes narrowed slightly as that was the problem.

They weren’t wrong.

The Heart was the center of everything, and destroying it could save thousands of people, weaken the Bloodkin, disrupt the Origin, and bring the entire mission closer to an end. Emily might even benefit from it. It was the fastest path to ending the crisis.

"You don’t know that!" Lily suddenly shouted, and the line went silent. Her breathing was still uneven, but her voice had firmed. "You don’t know what happens when someone attacks the Heart. We don’t know what the Origin left behind to protect it."

She kept going before anyone could interrupt. "There could be traps. There could be guards. There could be another Singularity. There could be Special Orders waiting for him. We don’t even know what happens if the Heart itself reacts."

"Those are possibilities," the organizer answered immediately. "The deaths happening outside are certain."

"I know!" Lily snapped. "But what happens if Reinhard stays here fighting the Heart and Emily gets killed?"

Nobody answered. Her voice shook slightly. "You keep saying destroying the Heart will save her, but what if she’s dead before you finish?"

Reinhard lowered his gaze.

"Lily has a point," Yuna said next, her voice calmer but just as firm. "We don’t have enough information to guarantee Emily’s safety simply because the Heart is destroyed."

"The Heart is the primary objective," Maki added immediately, "but we have no information about its defensive mechanisms. We’ve already encountered Special Orders, Singularity manipulation, Blood Mana manipulation, and abnormal spatial phenomena. Assuming the Heart can simply be destroyed without resistance would be reckless."

"We don’t have time to speculate!" another team shouted.

"Then we need to account for that uncertainty faster," Maki said, her voice steady.

"If Reinhard leaves, thousands could die!"

"And if he stays, Emily could die!" Lily shot back.

"We can find another way!"

"There may not be another way!"

"Then we need to create one!"

The line erupted.

Voices overlapped from different teams, each person trying to make their argument heard. Some demanded that Reinhard destroy the Heart immediately, while others insisted Emily’s condition had to come first.

Reinhard barely heard them and his eyes moved between the Heart and the direction Emily had gone. The Heart pulsed again, and the Garden trembled.

Then he looked down at the image Lily had sent him. Emily was still walking with blood was still running down her body. Yet she was moving forward with a determine look.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. "Stop."

His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone heard it, and the line fell silent. He turned slightly toward the direction Emily had gone. "Yuna, can you reach her?"

There was a brief pause. "No."

"Why?"

"We’re being locked down. Special Orders are keeping us contained, and there are too many First, Second, and Third Order Bloodkin surrounding our position. We’ve tried breaking through several times, but we can’t get enough distance."

He nodded. "Maki?"

"I can’t reach her either," Maki answered. "I can continue coordinating the teams here, but getting to Emily would take too long."

Reinhard looked at the Heart again, then toward Emily’s location. He finally understood. Everyone was telling him that someone else would go, but nobody actually could. "Then only I can do it."

"Mr. Reinhard, that’s not what we’re saying," the organizer responded immediately.

"I know what you’re saying." His eyes stayed fixed ahead. "You’re saying the Heart matters more."

The organizer hesitated. "That’s not the point."

"It is." His voice stayed calm. "And you’re right."

The line went quiet again.

Reinhard knew exactly what the Heart represented, knew what would happen if they failed to destroy it, knew there were thousands of people depending on the teams finishing this mission.

He also knew that leaving the Heart behind could cost lives. But there was one thing he wasn’t willing to accept.

"But she’s my wife." His voice grew quieter. "I’m not leaving my wife to die because the timing is inconvenient."

"You’re putting one person above everyone else!" someone shouted through the line.

Reinhard didn’t answer right away. He stared at the Heart, then said, "If you could get to her, you would." Nobody responded. "You can’t." His gaze shifted toward Yuna. "That’s why you can’t go either, isn’t it?"

Yuna clenched her teeth. "Yeah."

He nodded. "Then only I can."

"We’ll send another team," the organizer said, frustration creeping into his voice.

Reinhard looked toward the direction Emily had disappeared. "Can they reach her?" Silence. "Can they reach her before she dies?" Another silence followed.

He gave a faint smile, though there was no humor in it. "If you could, then you would’ve already done it." He tightened his grip on the phone. "That’s why I’m going."

The organizer started speaking again, but Reinhard had already made his decision. He disconnected the call, and the Garden went quiet around him.

For several seconds, Reinhard stood alone before the Heart.

He had spent so long trying to reach this place. The objective was right in front of him, and all he needed to do was attack it. Maybe it would work. Maybe destroying it would end everything. Maybe it would even save Emily.

But there was another possibility. He could waste the time he had left, and by the time he reached her, Emily could already be dead.

A familiar mechanical voice appeared in his mind.

[Investment Opportunity Detected.]

His expression changed.

[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]

[Current Rank: C.]

[Current Value: C+.]

[Objective: Rescue your wife before she dies in three minutes.]

[Difficulty Grade: A.]

[Success Probability: 1%.]

Reinhard stared at the notification, his eyes moving from the words to the enormous Heart, then toward the direction Emily had gone. One percent. He almost laughed. Instead, he rubbed his face with one hand. "This damn thing..." His voice was tired. "Couldn’t you have given me this twenty minutes ago?"

The system gave no response.

He stared at it for another moment, then clicked his tongue. "Of course you wait until now."

He looked back at the Heart and considered it for a brief moment. This was the objective and was what everyone expected him to do. This was the thing that could potentially save thousands, but Emily was somewhere ahead of him, bleeding and walking toward a fight she might not survive.

Reinhard turned away from the Heart.

His body was exhausted, his clothes were torn, and blood continued dripping from several wounds, but his eyes had become completely focused.

Then he started running.

"Emily..." His breathing was rough as he pushed himself forward. "You are not allowed to die." He accelerated, forcing more Mana through his exhausted body. "Or I swear, I’m kicking the doors of Hell open."

The enormous Heart remained behind him, pulsing quietly within the depths of the Garden. Reinhard disappeared into the darkness, chasing the only person he had decided he would never abandon.

Three minutes remained.