Larkspur's arrival clearly did not surprise Moss. The bright smile still on her face was proof enough.
She could also see that Larkspur was no longer as she had once been, yet even in the face of mana threads filling the sky and near-tangible mana radiance, her expression did not change in the slightest.
She even began applauding for no apparent reason.
"After waiting so long, the star of our main act has finally arrived."
Moss said flippantly, "But it seems you really liked the 'gifts' I left for you, enough to waste quite a bit of time on them. I never thought you would like those little trinkets I made so casually that much."
"You call them... those people, 'gifts'?"
Larkspur looked at Moss with a calm expression, showing neither joy nor sorrow. "What a joke. One that isn't funny in the least."
"This is not a joke."
Moss shook her head. "Have you not realized that, through them, I showed you a new possibility? Something that had never existed before—a combination of human tameness and Aberrant Beast mana. They are the most suitable high-quality ingredients for mass production. Were you not moved?"
"All I see is a group of pitiful lives that you toyed with and defiled."
Larkspur's fingers twitched slightly, though not a trace of emotion showed on her face as she regarded Moss indifferently. "Now tell me, what did you do to Hong Siyu... no, to those ordinary people from the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau?"
"What did I do? Can't you see for yourself?"
Moss widened her eyes as if astonished. "The stitching together of Aberrant Beasts and humans, the layering of their life traits—isn't that obvious?"
"Simply sewing Aberrant Beasts onto human bodies could never create such blasphemous things."
Larkspur stared at Moss. "You directly embedded