Artificial Heart

The Artificial Heart is a still-beating Treasure-grade organ created from a human heart and several hundred Monster Mana Stones. Originally installed in a vampire-made combat doll and intended as a medium for opening a portal, it becomes a reusable spell vessel whose stored Mana-suppression effect is incorporated into the coalition's plan against Bathory.

History

Recovery from the vampire doll

Sae-Jin obtains the heart after a three-hour fight disables the durable doll maintaining a hostile isolation space. He tears the cold, palm-sized organ from the doll's chest and finds that it continues beating after removal. Its information identifies a human heart combined with several hundred Monster Mana Stones, seven empty spell slots among a capacity of thirty, and the ability to increase Mana flow merely through physical contact. Rather than absorb it for the possible growth offered by its Mana Stones, Sae-Jin preserves it inside his body through Spiritualisation. (Chapter 80)

The vampires regard the loss as more than the destruction of one construct. Their artificial heart required immense effort to make and was meant to serve as a crucial medium for their portal; they trace the energy it emits to The Monster's grounds and consider recovery essential. The same defeat that costs them the heart also destroys their initial portal, while the artifact's continuing absence complicates the later plan to connect three Dead Fissures and pushes Bathory's House toward cooperation with the el Las. The source notes that Bathory may have another technical route, but does not explain that alternative or reduce the captured heart's strategic value. (Chapters 81, 83, and 93)

Experimentation and preparation against Bathory

Sae-Jin tests the heart by feeding Mana into it and selecting one of its twenty-three stored spells. Activating the isolation barrier spreads a black wave through the training facility; he concludes that added Mana Stones can supply effects such as bitter cold or blocked Mana use within the enclosed space. Removing all Mana from the heart ends the barrier immediately, demonstrating that the spell is sustained rather than permanently established. Although he considers shrinking the grotesque organ into jewelry and using its materials for personal growth, the supplied chapters do not show either modification occurring. (Chapter 82)

The coalition later assigns the heart to Hazeline for a narrowly timed ambush. Its relevant stored spell can temporarily disable Mana flow, theoretically weakening Bathory long enough for concentrated attacks to kill her; Lillia warns that the plan's success declines sharply if the opening lasts beyond only a few seconds. Hazeline studies the device during repeated training until she declares that she can wield it perfectly and knows what to do. This operational mastery is the latest event in the item's supplied bundle: the later outcome of the planned activation is outside this item's authorized evidence set and is therefore not asserted here. (Chapters 134 and 136–137)

Abilities and properties

• Composite construction: The artifact combines a human heart with several hundred Monster Mana Stones and continues beating after extraction from its host. The corpus does not identify the human donor, the vampire craft process, the heart's age, or whether its motion is biological, magical, or both. (Chapters 80–81)
• Mana-flow enhancement: Holding the heart increases the flow of Mana through a person's blood vessels. The source does not quantify the increase, name a duration, or show whether prolonged contact causes strain. (Chapter 80)
• Spell storage and casting: The heart stores twenty-three spells out of thirty available slots, accepts new spell types, and can serve as a casting medium when supplied with sufficient Mana. Individual spells still require usable power; the bundle does not explain how a spell is recorded, erased, selected, or restricted by the user's training. (Chapters 80 and 82)
• Isolation barrier: Mana input activates a black, circular wave that encloses the training facility. Supplementary Mana Stones can add environmental or suppressive effects, while removing the heart's Mana collapses the barrier instantly. Its maximum radius, duration, durability, and consumption rate are not specified. (Chapter 82)
• Mana suppression: One stored spell temporarily disables a target's Mana flow. The coalition plans to use it on Bathory, whose physical strength remains dangerous even without magic, and relies on a window of only seconds for the finishing assault. Hazeline's need for sustained study shows that possession alone does not guarantee precise operation. (Chapters 134 and 136–137)
• Portal medium and traceability: The vampire Houses intended the heart as a crucial medium for opening or connecting portals, and can trace the energy it emits to a general location. The exact portal ritual, required number of Dead Fissures, range of the tracking, and whether the heart is absolutely indispensable remain unresolved; Bathory implies an unexplained alternative may exist. (Chapters 81, 83, and 93)
• Storage and unrealized consumption: Sae-Jin considers absorbing the heart's Mana Stones for exceptional personal growth but instead preserves the intact organ through Spiritualisation. The storage is demonstrated; the predicted growth from consuming it is not, and no supplied chapter shows the heart being absorbed, miniaturized, or remade. (Chapters 80 and 82)

Ownership and custody