Lillian merely chuckled, loosened her fingers one by one, and stuffed the heart back in. The ribs that had split apart to either side closed automatically.
She patted that flat chest, and the enormous wound healed outright, leaving only a bewildered Victoria.
"Y-you, what are you doing?!"
"Waking you up. Nothing is more piercing than a spiritual warning on the verge of death. And while I was at it, I helped get your stopped heart working again."
She flexed her fingers nostalgically. "That felt nice."
"You!!!"
"Don't be angry. I just saved your life. You nearly fell into permanent madness, Victoria."
Only then did Victoria come to her senses. "Permanent madness? You mean..."
"You must have experienced irregular madness before. Oh, judging by your expression, you seem to have forgotten about it... In any case, someone who has gone mad once is more likely to go mad a second time, and the second time means permanent madness."
Lillian licked her lips. "Madness may be delicious, but it isn't time yet. You'd better pay close attention to that fragile rationality of yours. And stop looking directly at Great Beings like that."
"Looking directly at a Great... Being?"
Only then did Victoria realize what had happened. Remembering that fleeting glimpse, she shuddered all over.
That was actually a Great Being?!
She was about to turn to look, but remembered Lillian's warning. The expression instantly vanished from her face as she activated [Rationality].
Another effect of the [Rationality] state was that she would not fall directly into madness.
But Victoria still felt that was not enough. Several mirrors appeared out of thin air in front of her, and she looked that way through their reflections.
The scene she had just seen appeared in the mirrors again. An endless black wall filled their entire