Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

608. The Road To Paradise Is Paved With Good Intentions

Suddenly, the Icon of Judgement was wrapped in a blinding light. All other sources of light were destroyed, plunging the world into utter darkness. It was an advanced form of Scrutiny that indiscriminately altered the world.

But there was more to it than that.

Marduk, upon reaching the final few kilometers of the Icon of Judgement, suddenly froze in midair as if telekinetically held in place. Every fiber of its being was scrutinized before the Icon of Judgement.

Frost couldn’t believe it. A Beholder could not even lift a finger under the immense power of a Paradise Lost Corrupted. To begin with, Apocalypse Corrupted was still not an easy feat for them.

But even so, Marduk was one of the stronger Beholders. The fact it could not struggle meant that it was under the complete domination of the Icon of Judgement.

There were no grand theatrics. No monologues or heroic feats.

It was over before Marduk could even believe it itself.

< DETERMINED EFFECT: Those who believe themselves to be of a higher order compared to the Icon of Judgement will be struck down. Those worshiped or wield a considerable following akin to a God will fall in the presence of the Icon of Judgement >

The Beholders were classified as Deities in this world. They were seen as false Gods by the Icon of Judgement, and as a result, were susceptible to an unceremonious death.

Marduk’s body condensed into a tiny, red pebble that bled like a fountain. It was wrung for all of its blood, reducing it to a dull, grey stone that shattered in the next moment. The death was so instantaneous and overwhelmingly one sided that Frost finally understood what made the Icon of Judgement so dangerous.

All life as she knew it on Elysia would have turned into Markers of a Price of Paradise.

Everything would have been lost.

The strongest would not have been able to stop its impending end.

Yet all it took was one child to stop it all.

< [Serve Me, O’ Apostle!] >

Three more portals tore open. This time, they emerged from the sides. Dull-armored Apostles walked onto the road. Behind them stood the gates that led to the Garden of Paradise within the final layer of this city.

The red lines that used to be gold were no longer symmetrical. They were chaotic like bulging arteries, causing them to appear more human than the previous Apostles.

< “My Kingdom must persist. The brethren of mankind must continue to seek salvation from me and not from abhorrent forces beyond my walls.” >

< “O’ Hanok, thee will be my most finest warrior closest to I. Sin shall consume thee, but thou shall have a seat saved in Paradise.” >

< “Abel. Live anew and be reborn. The light in which I hath giveth to Apostle Adam and Evelyn shall bring twelve miracles beyond the Gifts fallen from the Stars.” >

< “My Architect of my Paradise. Abraham, thee shall build all that is touched by my light. Now and ever after. Build the barriers that gate my Kingdom from the dunes of sand, and the rock of ruined wasteland of the Expanse. The place where dreams are ever after, in the land of wanderers and vagrant beings from nowhere.” >

< [Trumpet’s Call] >

<> [Promise of Paradise] <>

As with the previous three, they wielded pale spears and immediately charged straight for Frost. Her seven spears stabbed into the earth and began to spin like the hands of a clock, deflecting their attacks as she bolted away, searching for more Markers.

She no longer needed to fight. The spears were far more effective than her fists, for it was able to punt them across the city like giant balls. The names of the Apostles didn’t strike Frost as familiar. But the description and flavor text were food for thought.

“Whenever I hear rupturing, I always think back to Enoch. Their names are similar, but the Arbiter was indifferent when she saw Enoch.” Frost noted. “… but she came from G-Z7 as well, and apparently saw someone that looked like me but with brown eyes.”

Enoch’s existence was questionable at best. Frost didn’t know how much else that Artificer knew or if she was related to the Eighth Apostle to some degree.

“Twelve miracles that exceed the miracles of the Stars. That has to be the Advents, right?”

< It is certain >

“That means this Corrupted isn’t just from one event. It’s a culmination of multiple events. The Apostles that existed at different point in time. Abel must’ve been alive post-Captured Star, or even during it.”

There were far more untold events involving the Arbiter.

Both before, during and after the Captured Star.

So much so that Frost wondered just what the Arbiter was searching for. It was easy to blame the Arbiter. In fact, Frost had no choice but to reprimand her and possibly vent her anger for tucking this away.

But at the same time, Frost remembered the solemn expressions she made. The fact also remained that she helped push Anna, which in turn, saved Frost from her Corruption.

A traitor wouldn’t do that. More than anything, it was just as the Voice said.

Frost could feel the desperation in the air now.

The wings of the Icon of Judgement touched the ground, searching for what Frost knew was the Princess but to no avail.

It mirrored the Arbiter’s search for ‘Her’.

“The Arbiter was in Puritas as well, wasn’t she? If we’re so similar to ‘Her’… Then was the Arbiter also trying to find the Princess?”

Frost didn’t need confirmation anymore.

Everything was crystal clear.

She remembered the Arbiter mentioned that she was in Paradise. For what reason was never explained. But she must have been undoubtedly close to the Princess.

“The Arbiter… No… Michaela said that she watched her become this world’s price of paradise. Doesn’t that mean she’s still somewhere in this city?”

Frost had a new target. But she firstly needed to deal with the Icon of Judgement. Afterwards, if the Princess could be spared, then maybe she could meet with the Arbiter to find out just what her relationship was with the Princess.

Again, it was easy to call her the mastermind of Paradise.

But it didn’t feel right to blame Michaela for the suffering caused by Paradise.

Because she had the Princess in this world. She didn’t have to try to bring ‘Her’ back when she already existed.

“Voice. Do you think she did the right thing? Was it worth all this loss to save one person?”

< You have to think as she did >

 

< You are a human. You have a compass guided by morals and ethics >

 

< You have people stronger than you to tell you what is right and wrong >

 

< But what about something that was born one day with no knowledge of anything? >

 

< Wandering for eons in search for a purpose? >

 

< And one day finding itself at the mercy of humans who seek to retrieve their ‘Gifts’? >

< You would also despise humankind >

“I would. Because it’d be all I know. Isn’t that why the Arbiter is so grateful to ‘her’ in the first place?”

< I wonder myself >

Frost wanted to hear the Arbiter’s thoughts more than her excuses. The past was in the past. Retroactively punishing her was useless because the Arbiter had done nothing but help her. The only thing she couldn’t forgive the Arbiter for was keeping this away from her.

The Arbiter and Elysia had done so much wrong. But Frost was the type of person who’d still reach out a hand towards them. Because despite all their sins and pitfalls, she could tell that they were full of remorse, suffering rather than reveling about their past.

“I can see why the Arbiter kept it a secret.”

Frost slowly spoke, her voice nearly drowning by the calamitous battle that trailed behind.

“If Jury reincarnated as someone else, and I knew it, then I don’t think I’d call them Jury. They’d be a new person entirely, wouldn’t they? That’s if they didn’t keep their memories. I’d feel guilty for trying to shape that person into someone else.”

Predefinitions were the source of Frost’s woes. She wouldn’t wish it even on her worst enemy. Jury was another person who suffered similarly. She carried the burdens and sins of Elysia. At one point, Jury had to define herself as ‘Jury’ to prove that she could not be predefined by someone else’s past.

“If you’re in the Nexus… then please don’t tell the Arbiter about this. I want to confront her myself.” Frost pleaded.

< I shall >

 

< This is between the two of you >

 

< And it shall stay that way >

“Thank you. You sure you still don’t want to tell me your name?”

< It will be better if I tell you within the Nexus >

 

< But I can give you a name that a curious red-haired thing has given me afterwards >

“Deal.” Frost grinned.

The Apostles were less than half of their HP now.

The Eighth Apostle | HP: 200,000

The Ninth Apostle | HP: 189,000

The Tenth Apostle | HP: 190,000

Only two remained after this.

The Apostles bled through the cracks of their armor, gushing ceaselessly as they were beaten down one-sidedly by the spears Frost possessed. The trio eventually uttered their half-HP murmurs through the prompts before the red arteries ruptured, painting their pale bodies red in One Sin.

< The Eighth Apostle begins to question whether this is right >

 

< Everything bleeds the same after all >

 

< So what differentiates a sinner from a normal person if all of our blood is red? >

The armor shattered, revealing a hideous humanoid entity underneath. It was a skinless human, its muscles bleeding at every inch as it stared back with crimson eyes.

< The Ninth Apostle turns to the places elsewhere >

 

< The one who murdered it long ago roams the Expanse >

 

< But it cannot remember its name >

The wings that protruded from their backs were the only things that remained white. Not a sound left their lipless mouths, which bared rows of teeth that were between a human and something else entirely. Their abstract forms made it difficult to interpret what they were.

< The Tenth Apostle admires the walls >

 

< But it pities the ones that will never know true paradise >

 

< It begins with Paradise. To Limbo. To Hell >

The attack patterns didn’t change. Nothing changed. The spears deflected their attacks, and they relentlessly resumed their assault even though it was futile. Tears began to stream from their eyes, a soundless scream tearing through their opened maws.

“800. I’m nearly there. It’ll be over with just a bit more!” Frost shouted.