Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

625. To Reach A Heart

Frost did not need a Genesis Stone to reach into the hearts of others. Others also could bring people back like how Stella did to Aster, resulting in a Realization.

But none were like Frost or Elysia, who could thrust her hand deep into the well of one’s heart, influencing Corruption or to rescue them from it – enacting Salvation or thrusting them into the depths of despair.

Corruption can occur even without them. Causality did not need to be directly linked to her or Elysia, like with what happened to Ignis, Calfasio, Aster and even Ber’s Corruption.

It was a law of the world introduced after the first cycle.

But they were the only two who had such a profound effect that they may as well be entities that governed this phenomenon; they who handed out epiphanies like shepherds to lambs.

She heard the heartbeat again.

It came from the Corrupted.

Frost was able to hear and visualize the heart of even the Corrupted now.

It’s not just the Icon of Judgement. But what does it mean?

No answers came to her. The heart itself was a small glimmer akin to that of a distant star unlike the Icon of Judgement’s emphatic heart.

“Aaaaaaaaaa!” An unlikely roar came from the Princess as she pointed in the direction of the Genesis Stone. “I always wanted to stay by your side even when you became like this! I wish you never tried to push me aside!”

< [Cleansing Brimstones From Far Away] >

< “The only place for you is elsewhere from mine.” >

Flaming brimstones fell from the tear ducts of the golden eyes above. They blanketed the world until all was smothered in red. Were it not for the golden barrier then they would have taken immense damage. Even Frost would not have found a way to avoid such an attack.

< “Do not regret as I have, my child. Prosper alone through my imposed misery.” >

“I don’t want to be alone! Neither did you but you never said a thing to me! I came whenever you called for me! But that was so few in between the years that I nearly forgot your face!”

It was wise to leave the talking to the Princess. Frost in the meantime soared into the skies as if repulsed by gravity. She eventually reached the colossal wall of white that was one of The Beast Forever’s wings.

“Don’t hit it! Please, let me deal with my mother my own way! This isn’t what she would’ve wanted!”

“Got it! You’re the boss now! Full speed towards the light!”

“Thank you! So that I can… I can at least hug her one last time! It’s what mother wanted! It’s what we both wanted!”

Frost ran along the great wing upside down, avoiding the slits that hid colossal eyes.

The law that was gravity no longer had a place in this world.

< “Kingdoms fall because of the sins they accumulate. It sept into the soil beneath the foundations, feeding unparalleled evil. Paradise fell because I was there, longing for the embrace of my most beloved.” >

< [Realm of Darkness] >

The twilight world shifted to darkness, plunging everything into an eternal night. Black crowns appeared from the ground. They were too large to fit the heads of normal humans. It was not until moments later when Frost realized that those crowns were in fact ruins of old civilizations.

They were ruins of the same exact city across multiple cycles. One ended with a hail of brimstones. Others burned as a dark beast wreaked havoc. Infinite possibilities across the cycles were laid out bare before her like multiple endings in each hypothetical universe.

But the cruel truth was that these had all occurred.

The death of the City was an event that could not be stopped, as was Sinder’s demise.

Nothing formed as a result of this attack. It was the purest expression of how the Corrupted felt, laying it bare for the world to hear the woes of a fallen star.

< “To become the beast they all despise throughout time is my inevitability. I lament that another will take my place and bear the burden of this misery chasing salvation.” >

< “I howl under the desolate night, calling for my child.” >

“I’m right here!” The Princess cried, her voice cutting through the darkness.

A blade of light in the shape of the Arbiter’s False Price of Paradise appeared overhead, bisecting the eternal night as twilight returned.

“I’m still here! I didn’t go anywhere! All this time it wasn’t your fault that people tried to separate us! Knowing me I must’ve done something wrong too!”

Her teardrops intertwined with the falling brimstones, neutralizing each other as if they could never coexist. But even so, the Princess didn’t falter. And if she did, then Frost was there to pick her back up and serve as an arrow to send her straight to her mother’s heart.

“Miss Frost. My mother and I… have we been living in a loop like this? Where it all ends the same? I don’t remember anything. I was raised in a closed garden. I never knew it was all for my sake.”

Frost gave her a tearful smile.

“For far too long. Every ‘Her’ follows a cycle, as I’ve learned. It’s a never-ending tale that determines all of ‘Her’ fates. One part Michaela, the other ‘Her’.”

Yeah. It all starts and ends the same, doesn’t it?

Frost fell into a lull as the world slowed. The darkness that was broken clouded her mind as her expression turned dark.

‘Her’. The Captured Star. The Star Child. The Princess. Me. We all exist in parallel with Michaela. Every Michaela across time must struggle to reunite with the Captured Star. It must all end it tragedy.

As do fairytales brought into this world.

Our lives are presented as stories, recontextualized to fit our current lives. Even Corrupted are ordained by such a law.

So this is a Cycle…

However, the eyes she wore saw through the darkness.

Michaela is right.

Our lives cannot be summarised by words.

The only way we can break out of it…!

< “Is to rewrite our own story!” >

< “That way, we can hope to find a new ending!” >

The voice of the Princess became like that of a Corrupted. Her mouth did not move, and her voice resonated from everywhere at once. She had clasped the world as her own, holding it in the palm of her hand.

And in doing so, she could feel even Frost’s own emotions. Her every thought. And perhaps, even her own memories.

A longing, bittersweet smile formed on her face all of a sudden.

“… Miss Frost. You’re really kind.”

It was a simultaneous expression of grief and hope. The darkness turned to light. Ruined civilizations arose, prospering as Michaela had dreamed.

< [Realm of Light] >

< “In my hopes of what can be, I eternally cradle mankind for a world better fit for her.” >

Frost didn’t know what the Princess saw in her exactly. But it was enough for the Princess’ tears to cease entirely, like she had reached an epiphany. The golden filaments in her irises glowed bright enough to override the sky-blue.

“You’re me from the future, right?”

“… you realized?”

“Since you talked about the iterations of ‘Her’… I guess that means… Mm. That I didn’t make it, huh?”

Frost’s heart ached.

The Princess’ expression was grim, but her eyes were so full of hope that Frost had to wonder where she was getting this courage from.

They were close to the light now.

One last slope down the wing would lead them straight into the cavity of the egg. Within resided a smaller cocoon, surrounded by grandeur wings as if to hide its fragile self from the world.

Alongside it was a pale mainspring that served as the Wound of the Rewound. If that was destroyed, then all of this could end even without the interference of the Princess.

But she wanted to see this tale of hers reach its conclusion.

“Mother is hurting right now. So I still want to do the best. Because I am alive right now. All thanks to you, Miss Frost.”

< [Cyclic Lament] >

A barrier of white emerged, syphoning red, blue and white particles from the many cities. Only one remained, shining with golden radiance. It was the ideal world, where Micheala did not endure the cycles of lament, and neither did the Captured Star need to suffer.

< “Forlorn beasts that fell from elsewhere carried predetermined miseries.” >

< “Those beasts lived so tightly packed in mankind’s eyes when they looked up at us.” >

< “But we were still so unimaginably far away from our own kind.” >

< “When you reached out to me, my child…” >

< “… I realized why beasts of elsewhere cannot be embraced by man.” >

< “But is that how you really feel!?” >

Golden particles from the idealistic world spun around their barrier like thread, creating a spear. Frost threw herself from the wing. Gravity accelerated them now, the wind dancing past them.

The spear collided with the barrier.

It shattered, and they passed through only to be met with another one. The Beast Forever desperately resisted the hand that reached for its heart. The barrier waned. A metallic groan came from the clash.

It seemed like all hope was lost.