Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

849. The Name of An Agent of Qliphoth

//////// < WARNING > ////////

< ??? >

< ??? >

< There is no currently known Threat Level to describe the Arbiter >

< However, we can assume that this is the level of where a Star resides >

“A Star… a Paradise Lost Corrupted was already enough to bring the end of the world…” Frost croaked.

The Icon of Judgement – a level 500 Corrupted – was already impossible enough to fight without the Conditions. But a level 600 Star was inconceivable. Yet there it was, flying above what used to be Mount Saris.

The Arbiter’s blade pierced into the depths of the world effortlessly. Frost could only imagine what a fight between two Stars would look like. Nothing would remain in Grandis, no doubt.

“That would explain… what we saw with Magus on his floor… ruins, and an endless expanse. Nothing would remain in a world of Stars…” She gurgled on her blood, immediately prompting Jury to help empty her mouth with her tail.

Jury tried to comfort Frost. It was the only thing she could do now. But she never allowed it to make her feel pathetic. Nothing mattered more than Frost.

Dark Memoria then spoke.

“Paradise Lost, a Star – there is no difference. What they leave behind is the same. Desolation for the sake of altering the world to what they believe is correct. As a result, anything can be a Star with enough influence.”

Indeed. Anything could be a Star. But not anything could be what the Arbiter became. The Affinity of Amalgamation made Frost realize that her form may be similar to what the Crowned was to her. After all, the Arbiter had undergone an Awakening Event like she did for Civilization.

The White Star Arbiter was the 5th and final chapter of the Price of Paradise.

But it did not appear to be anything like a Corrupted… although, the principles that formed them were similar, as Dark Memoria claimed.

Frost sputtered blood again as she uttered:

“Ilya… what on earth… happened to Ilya?” These were the words Iscario wished to say out loud, but he had not moved in over 30 minutes.

Not even his chest rose to indicate that he was still breathing, nor could he bring himself to blink. His entire world revolved around Ilya. It was all meaningless if he did not have her in his hands.

His eyes were bloodshot. Not even the sparks that exploded like fireworks around him were able to cause him to squint. Two forces of Qliphoth faced one another. Dark Memoria’s Qliphoth Field protected them from Iscario’s attacks as well as dark, mirrored spears.

These spears belonged to a different entity that had been watching Iscario since the beginning.

“Ilya was an iteration of the Captured Star.” Dark Memoria answered.

Frost thought that she would keep her mouth tightly sealed. Dark Memoria didn’t seem to be the kind to answer such questions for free. Then again, it was Frost who overcame her Rewound.

But more than that, Dark Memoria had mentioned a ‘promise’ to avoid interfering with this world.

“Our truths and epiphanies will do that one no good.”

“I wasn’t the one who broke the promise first. This world’s Captured Star has come far enough where you must have felt threatened.”

The entity that defended Iscario spoke in a feminine, authoritative tone. It was one of utter superiority and domination. Frost could feel her body instinctively attempting to shrink back in the presence of that voice.

It was formless, but she could see a pair of purple eyes gazing back from within the swirling shadows.

“Does your wish entail a Captured Star of your own?”

“I’m simpler than that. If it were up to me, then our Amalgam would be tucked away in a little house, deep inside of a forest to live the rest of her life without knowing what kind of world this is. I would have fed her lies until the end of time.”

Dark Memoria haughtily spoke, carrying a similar degree of domination.

She then continued:

“Amalgam. Light was always latent within Ilya. Dormant. World-depleting amounts of material were required to power her as with the Captured Star in the Old World. The sooner you think of the Captured Star as a conceptual vessel, the easier it will be to comprehend.”

She explained as she defended them from the entity’s attacks, all the while the Arbiter in the distance released her blade after striking the earth. The shockwave reached them in seemingly an instant. It destabilized both Qliphoth Fields, but not enough for either of them to pierce through.

“What you are seeing is the result of two iterations of the Captured Star fusing to create a Fruit of Light. Even when they are not fully powered, they still carry the same power that exists beyond the foundation of our world. The Source.”

The White Rabbit mentioned the Source before. It was the enigmatic origin that gave birth to the first miracle of cognition; the Captured Star and the second miracle of cognition; P-Factor Augmentation.

Dark Memoria further added:

“When they came together, all levels of reality condensed into a miracle-bearing Fruit. The theory behind the Light is that it affects all levels of existence, hence why it can create miracles. Emanation from where the Light and primordial properties exists; Creation from where thoughts and the sea of the Collective Unconsciousness flows; Formation from whence the Rivers flow from Creation to take form, and finally, Action – the material world where formation lives. Us. The material world. Other worlds. Elysia.”

“Can theories be taken as gospel? You’re better than that Dark Memoria.”

“But they exist, don’t they? A place Beyond the Veil where Stars roam and form. How the Rivers gushed from the Source and sept into the world? They’re real. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be Dragons or beings born from mythological and conceptual Rivers. Tales that have no right to exist here would not walk alongside us.”

“… The Light has reign over all of that?” Jury could not hide her shock.

“It does. It’s an unreasonable power that enabled Elysia’s resets. Interestingly, it resonates strongly with cognition. It’s what brought about the Corruption and whatnot. The best way to describe it would be like a catalyst. Then again, what do we know? What matters more is what it can do, not how.”

Dark Memoria laughed to herself as she straightened her tie.

“Isn’t that right, Lilith?”

The Third Apostle of the Arbiter. Lilith.

Frost instantly recognized that name. Immediately, the dark flesh of a woman’s face appeared from the darkness around Iscario. She held an unnaturally youthful appearance. Past the darkness one could see a dark laboratory coat also being worn.

“Ah. To have my name spoken by a lowly Aberration makes me wish I could stay to tear your tail out. You’re missing a key detail. It’s not what the Light can do when utilized; it’s what the Light will do when it becomes Shattered. We could have had a plethora of new ways to create our perfect selves.”

“Unfortunately for you, the Light resonated with the Arbiter. You saw the nodes of her blade. The once Shattered Light is being restored. The Nexus… I’m not even sure what the Light is for. But the Arbiter would talk of how the Northern Star urged her to restore the Light.”

“An unexpected outcome.”

Dark Memoria and Lilith went back and forth to no end. The information they provided was sparse, but it provided much needed insight into what exactly had happened to the Arbiter.

“She’s become a being of almost pure Light. Far from a perfect vessel like the Amalgam or your Ilya, but one, nonetheless. Of course, such a form will be difficult to maintain. Regardless, she’s broken her Cycles. Ilya is no longer considered a bearer of Light like the Amalgam, or the primeval ‘Her’.”

“… Ilya… won’t be… she’ll no longer be perfect…” Iscario shuddered. “No… Ilya was supposed to be the only untainted thing in this world…”

“Completion begins with the destruction of the self.”

“Ilya…” Iscario couldn’t breathe a moment without her.

“Only then can one be reformed into their perfect self.”

The darkness began to eat away at Iscario. They were retreating. Stopping them was futile. Slowly, their bodies were devoured by the darkness. The mechanism was closer to teleportation magic than it was with Justica Arm’s tech.

“The Amalgam. ‘Frost’. You were once Sinder. Before that, you were but a child that died endlessly for the sake of humankind. I wonder if those thoughts of Earth are truly yours.”

“… Even if they’re not mine… I still remember earth like it was…” Frost croaked. She returned Lilith’s gaze and saw nothing but an infinitely deep abyss within those purple eyes. “It doesn’t change a thing. Why… is an Apostle of the Arbiter… against her…?”

“Hoh. That miserable doctor would’ve been glad to hear that. Let me correct you: I’m more against a certain Archetype of Attachment and Elysia than the Arbiter. If anything, I am grateful for the opportunity she gave me to work on creating the Captured Star. Gihon, the River of Expression, was not easy to drain.”

“But those Rivers exist here, untouched and only lapped by few creatures of the old. Those Triplets are among them, born from the blood of Typhoon who drank from the River Styx, and the Blue Dahlia from Lethe.”

“What do you believe constitutes a perfect self?”

“… is there really a need for that…?”

“The bystander’s take. Unlike Evelyn who tried to bring people to her side. I’m quite fond of your take, believe it or not. It means you’re not as difficult to deal with as I would have imagined. Stars still sparkle in your eyes. Were it not for your complicated existence, then we may have gotten along.”

“Bullshit… I see right through you…”

“Hoh. Hmhm~ Good. At your pace, a River will not be needed to fatten you up. Nor will harvesting another world of its souls be required. But you’ll eventually come across them like I have. Then you’ll realize how large the cracks are.”

“We will be there to take what’s ours when that day comes.”

“Amalgam. The more Light you accumulate, the larger the ramifications become.”

Lilith and Iscario began to fade away starting from their legs.

The darkness swirled around them like a vortex.

“AMALGAAAAAAAAAM – THIS IS NOT THE END! I WILL RECLAIM ILYA! ILYA! ILYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA –!”

Eventually, only Lilith’s eyes remained.

“A Shattering of such a scale will be unprecedented.”