Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

642. Absolution, The Power of Nex and The Light

| FIELD OF BLOODY ROSES |

< CONDITION: The Briar Rose will contest for possession of The Cursed Princess. The Briar Rose and the Evil Witch are Immune to all attacks >

< If the Briar Rose is the first to break the Glass Coffin, then the one denoted as The Evil Witch’s HP is reduced to 1 >

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT: If the Evil Witch breaks the Glass Coffin, then The Briar Rose’s HP is reduced to 1 >

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT: The Briar Rose is Subjugated when its HP reaches 0 >

“The goal is clear!” Micheala’s voice ran out like a triumphant bell. “I will release my dearest child… and I will bring her back to my side with my own two hands!”

There was nothing to hold Michaela back now. Her Heightened Emotions were only that of the Second State, and yet her eyes pulsated with a hunger belonging to those who have experienced higher emotional throes.

Michaela hauled her blade forward, dragging it along the ground by her side rather than shouldering it like it was a blade of burden. It became something she had to draw alongside her. The tip of her blade glowed as she and The Briar Rose dove into one another.

Red petals exploded in their wake, trailing behind like blades made from blood.

< “Blood to blood. Kin and kin. A mother that damns their own child to a curse cannot call herself a mother!” >

< “The only hope for that child is love!” >

< [Sweet Release] >

< Let it enter your heart so that you can be no more! >

< EFFECT: Strike rapidly using the wielded thorns meant to eliminate pure evil. Inflict Hemorrhage Stacks to target on hit >

Though no damage could be inflicted, Debuffs could still be applied. Michaela’s blade met with the dual thorn-like daggers of the Briar Rose as they locked eyes, their faces mere inches away, but she was bitten by the roses attached onto the shoulder of the Briar Rose.

< [Rooted Attachment] >

< Can you feel the hatred coursing through our roots? >

< EFFECT: Prevent you or the target from escaping direct combat. Rooted Retribution lasts for 10 seconds before it must be released >

< “It must spill. The roses are red because they have only ever been fed blood.” >

< “Your daughter wilted because you could not care for her!” >

“… That I understand.”

Michaela uttering a low hum as her gaping wounds gushed. Even she was susceptible to the Hemorrhage Stacks, though it seemed that she had willingly allowed herself to be inflicted by it.

“I have been a fool to myself.”

The thorns of the Briar Rose stabbed across her body. Her rapid and futile onslaught targeted places that only a skilled assassin would have been able to strike with such precision.

“I thought that I could live only for you and myself.”

In the background, Galia assaulted The Glass Coffin, forming the first cracks.

She grinned at the Arbiter. The final blow would be left to her.

“But…”

The Arbiter’s emotional state steadily grew unstable. Nav instinctively reached towards her, but the flowers spat a thorn that missed her by mere inches, ordering her to stay put less she wished to perish.

Visions invaded the Arbiter’s mind again. An emotional surge consumed her during the ten, grueling seconds of enduring the fruitless strikes of the Briar Rose.

“… through all the hurt and pain…”

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

< The Arbiter Is Drawing Power from the Second State >

Light enveloped the Arbiter for a split second like an aura. That light was channeled down through her blade, then back onto her head where two fifths of a broken halo formed.

“… I’ve learned that I cannot keep myself reserved. I wanted to love that child with everything I had. But this world… this pride of mine…!”

The light rivalled that of the Nexus, and it ran back down through her False Price of Paradise one last time. Nav’s eyes glistened like the Arbiter’s, and for a split second, it was as though she could see a glimmer of ‘Frost’ within her.

“Was the reason why I could not love her! In this newfound world where the course of history must change, I chose to close my walls again! But this time –!”

That glimmer came in the form of the Light.

An untouchable, inconceivably golden light, far different from the white light of the Arbiter’s [Reign of Stars].

Ten seconds elapsed, and Michaela distanced herself for a brief moment, channeling her blade with the indescribable power. Though she was experiencing emotional turbulence, Nex was not released.

“I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS WORLD TO TAKE MY PRECIOUS MOMENTS AWAY FROM MY CHILD ANY LONGER!”

< [OO] [Reign of The Arbiter] [OO] >

< EFFECT: 20,000,000 Damage. Uses trace essence of the Light through Absolution. This attack requires internally generated Nex. Stored Nex cannot be used >

She generated it, and then, she harnessed it into an augmentative light.

“I only likened you to ‘Her’. I never compared you to my own child –!”

The blade struck the chest of the Briar Rose. Cracks formed along her form to the shock of the others. Immunity was an absolute rule that could not be challenged. Even the Amalgam’s maw could not penetrate that deeply.

However, the Arbiter’s blade, which was wrapped in light drawn from Nex, managed to puncture through the unbreakable shell, dealing only 8,000,000 damage out its base 20,000,000.

She had broken one of the rules of Conditions.

The Arbiter’s piercing blow did not cease.

She ploughed through the field of red flowers, bleeding them as they stained her pristine apparel. Blood sept into every orifice and poured into the gloved hands that she considered sacred.

Michaela had finally chosen to immerse herself into the hellish filth that was this world.

“MY CHILD IS BORN FROM MY OWN FLESH AND BLOOD! No creation or homunculi, or machine can replace the child that I’ve brought into this world from this womb! You accuse me of despising her! Of seeing that she is the replacement of the original ‘Her’! Even if it’s you – Frost – I will strike you down from the heavens of this Nexus and exile you to the very boundary of this damned world!”

Her mannerisms could not filter her visceral rage. Her emotions spilled straight form the source, gushing like the blood of the rose garden as she pushed the Briar Rose to the furthest edges of her fairytale.

The light disappeared all at once.

It was not something that one could easily tap into, as the Arbiter had found as her mind had grown so foggy that she nearly collapsed. But her legs remained strong, and she stood taller than ever despite the mental exhaustion.

Indeed.

The Arbiter of all people was experiencing mental fatigue. Utilizing the inexplicable powers of the Light at the expense of Nex nearly ruined her.

“Frost. Why do you believe in tales? We are all protagonists in our own stories. But this world… keeps on insist that this is how it was all meant to be. If your goal is to shatter this than to just resist it like I…”

The Arbiter twisted her body and hurled her False Price of Paradise towards the Glass Coffin. It shattered under its immense power. She turned back to the Briar Rose who wore a dark expression, and calmly walked towards her restful daughter with sorrowful eyes.

“… then we can both follow your blazing trail through this world of tribulations. To reach unimaginable heights to achieve unseen miracles. You were never my daughter. You were closer to ‘Her’ and embody the essence of the infinite Captured Star.”

Frost’s body shifted forms, unable to attach herself to a given tale. She sought a reason to further antagonize the Arbiter. All tales must have villains.

But what happens when the villain resigns?

“From now on I will walk on the mortal path away from paradise. The path I will walk will be one of repentance and immeasurable grief. But that is the price I am willing to pay if it means that we can find our own paradise. It costs sacrifices to create it…”

< “Can it be so simple?” >

< “Can you and I walk the same path?” >

< “In this tale of ours…” >

< “I see… it was the ‘spindle’ that caused her so much pain.” >

< “It was easier to blame you.” >