Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

641. The Path Towards What We Must Do

“I was deaf to the suffering! My teachings to you…!”

Suddenly, just as the Fruit of Everlasting Miracles’ HP dropped to half, a pale field expanded from where the Arbiter stood, temporarily overriding Snowfallen White’s Corrupted Zone. She held out her weapon, dashing towards the singing Snowfallen White and pummeled her into the pale ground.

“… Were my honest feelings! The throes of man were born from the wounds you gathered whenever you entered my forest! How they threw rocks at you for your discolored hair and eyes! Despite how brightly you shone! Was there ever a day of downcast when you were in my forest!?”

Her sword was swung repeatedly at Snowfallen White like a club, bashing her into the dirt as the thorny brambles withered away. The forest sharply shifted, transforming into a rose garden along a highway leading to nowhere.

This was clearly not done by the Arbiter. Rather, the form of Snowfallen White was changing again.

“I… had wished that I was born a human. That way I would have been able to understand how to love you! I never learned how to love you! All I could do was hope that one day –!”

The Arbiter’s eyes were peeled wide and strained. Her body rejected the notion of displaying her emotions, and this further riled her heart with agony.

“– I could give you back the life I stole! And if that wish was my poisoned apple…!”

Her pummels stopped. She fell onto her knees above a now frozen Snowfallen White, who carried a golden apple in her hands which rested atop her heart. She was trapped within a glass coffin, surrounded by a field of red, weeping roses.

Sitting within the glass coffin, beside the body that looked just like her daughter, the Princess, was the scabbard.

“… Then I wish I hadn’t… involved myself in this… All of this began because of me and my obsession with you. You were my rose. You were my ray of sunshine. My world. My hope… and I let you fall through these palms. I heard nothing of what you said…”

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

< The Arbiter’s Emotional State Has Risen to the Second State >

Her golden eyes became dull. They were replaced with the eyes of the One Thousand Eyed Bird, which invaded her pale wings like a disease. They hung loosely from strings rather than being attached to them. They looked like golden apples.

< Borrowing the Active and Passive Skills of the One Thousand Eyed Bird >

But to the Arbiter, she recognized them as the many innocent ‘Hers’ she had slain.

“… And neither was I able to see it. My blind prejudice led me to so much ruin. The pride I wore kept me from accepting what I had become, and what I had done to you…”

Immense sorrow filled her heart. It was a miracle that she had not already Corrupted. The Arbiter’s feathers turned to a blackish hue, still carrying feathers of white that desperately held onto her image as a perfect being.

“I roamed the world as the wicked beast that thrived in a forest of death. I remember the days you called out to warn them of my forest. How they never listened. And how the cycle of this game of prejudice repeated endlessly until it became manifest in this new world I wanted, with all my heart, to call home.”

< The Arbiter Has Manifested the One Thousand Eyed Bird As the Second State >

“… I was the beast all along. So long as I could blame humanity then I was always right. Truth comes in the form of absolute power. People cannot fight against the ultimate form of prejudice. But you…”

Her wings surrounded her. Each of the apples sang the same song Snowfallen White did. It was ethereal, morbid, and sounded like it came from somewhere far further than just those apples.

< PASSIVE: The Call of One Thousand Hung Juries >

< Guilty at birth. The monster hatched from the egg pretending to be a bird. One thousand eyes look back at it now, demanding to enact their rightful judgement for what it had done to them >

< EFFECT: Emotional state rises dramatically. If declared Guilty, manifest black wings and experience Darkness until the duration of the manifestation period. If declared Innocent, manifest white wings and gain ??? >

“… were able to do just that. I was blinded by what each individual gaze meant. It was not until the weight of one thousand deaths made it apparent just what kind of monster I was. Is it too late to apologize? I always wonder myself. Telling you now will change nothing…”

Michaela said, but then, she suddenly gripped her False Price of Paradise as she was repelled by an explosive force from the glass coffin. She slashed the bleeding roses, watching Frost as the Looking Glass stared back at her.

Her eyes, though dulled, burned brighter than when they first began.

“But still I must bring myself to speak and to see things I’ve willingly kept away from myself. This ordeal has illustrated the things wrong with me. You and I are one and the same. I shouldn’t… allow myself to idly sit and allow the hysteria to happen, when I can so easily prevent it.”

“You put up airs to feed the image of your innocence.”

“You are as guilty as the rest.”

“How can I let you touch her again? Touch ‘us’?”

“There are a million roses in this world.”

“But there was only one you chose to love.”

Frost, who was also repelled by the coffin, took the form closest to her original body. Except she was dressed sharply like a prince carrying a pair of dark thorns like daggers as white, bleeding roses grew from a root glued to her right shoulder.

“It was ‘Her’, not your daughter. Nor ‘Us’.”

“Do not pretend like you loved your own child.”

“Only I can give her the love she needs.”

“Only I can break her free from our eternal curse.”

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

< WOE OF THE FALLEN STAR >

< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET WAILS >

“Galia. Anna. Come to my side.”

“M-Me!?” Anna shouted from across the field of red, lifting her blood-soaked leg in disgust. “W-What can I do!?”

“Bring some sense into Frost.” Galia smirked.

“Indeed.” Michaela hummed. “Let us all take the reins of this tale. I realize now how unfair it was to let you be the only one to direct the course of it, Frost. That is why I will now do my part. That child is mine –!”

The Arbiter’s False Price of Paradise grew to twice its size. She carried it on her back, the handguard biting deeply into her shoulder until it drew blood. Then, she howled with absolute conviction.

“– And I will take her back into my arms, even if it means destroying you in the process!”

A black, shadowy aberration of a giant jaw appeared, and it devoured the roses in its path.

< [Prejudice] >

< EFFECT: If determined Guilty, deal 1,000,000 damage. Lose 1% of total HP per attack until HP reaches 1. When HP reaches 1, all Juries may Enact Judgement >