Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

117. Another Alter-Frost

The Amalgam was an existence enshrouded in mystery, much like the other Archetypes. The Archetype of Amalgamation was supposed to oversee the Nexus, or potentially manage it much like the Archivist of the Eternal Library.

But the Impuritas saw her as a monster. A malevolent, nightmarish existence.

The harbinger of calamity so to speak.

Their truths were delusions in her eyes. How they arrived at such a conclusion baffled her to no end.

Could they not see their own destruction? Could they not see the world around them? The bloodied roads they paved?

Frost felt lightheaded.

The walls of the prison crumbled around them as metal burnt at the seams to a ravenous inferno. The flames were unlike anything she had ever seen. They were a bright red. Almost like blood, and they bled a mysterious, heavy element.

“What a weird reaction. Never seen a page burn like that!” The Scarlet Healer hummed, stroking the sweltering body of the barely living Impuritas man. “He’s toasting. Haaah. Haaah. So many opportunities to heal. So little time~”

“Follow… Follow me… Are… you ok?” Frost huffed, grasping the woman by the collar to pull her along.

At the same time, the Scarlet healer took the man’s face and began to drag him along like a bobsled. An incomprehensible groan came from him, which was silenced as the Scarlet Healer dug her fingers into its canvas-like-face.

“Ok? What a strange thing to ask a guarantor of the Condemned.” She said, following Frost passively. “Come now Canvas Head! I’ll heal you good as always!”

Each step that woman took made a splashing sound. Blood endlessly dripped from her robes and poured down her bare legs like a waterfall. The origin of this blood was unknown.

She was around the same height as her, and despite being in a prison for who knows how long, she did not appear malnourished.

“… Oboros Infinitas… What kind of… Atelier is that?” Frost asked between long breaths.

“Woooooah! Rare that someone knows about us!” The woman’s crimson eyes sparkled. “Lament. Lament. And lament. Or was it repent? Definitely not penitence. Because! The Condemned will never turn over a new leaf~” She said proudly, nodding ecstatically afterwards.

Weird.

“… that… doesn’t… answer anything. What about… you?”

“The best healer! Late bloomer! I heal, heal, and heal until there isn’t anything heal anymore! People are too fragile for our love of… haah… haah. Restoring the body. Regrowing limbs. Hearing the bones click and clack into place. Cooking nutritious food for the starved still… It’s… it’s amazing~!” She was overrun with ecstasy at the notion of healing.

An obsessive healer was what Frost gathered.

Nav had zero knowledge of them. There were no records of such an Atelier in the first place. Jury was contacted briefly to ask Cer, and to Frost’s surprise, there was indeed no such thing as the Oboros Infinitas.

Yet she could clearly see that they were a part of this mysterious Atelier.

Regardless of this, the last thing to cross Frost’s mind was that this woman was an enemy. As a fellow healer, and one who was imprisoned here no less, Frost skimmed through every precaution and led them out.

They made haste to flee through the busted walls of the prison as it moaned, threatening to collapse at any moment. Frost’s body was still recovering. It was a fast recovery, but the ordeal struck something deep within her.

She did not know what it was, but as soon as they emerged through the same hole she crashed through, they were met with the sight of a burning world. She inhaled the superheated air as flames reached towards the skies and devoured all that it touched indiscriminately.

The Scarlet Healer trudged behind, staring at Frost’s face as the woes of the Bloody Herring filled the world from beyond. They were undecipherable and conjoined with the mangled symphony of tortured voices that came from somewhere beyond the Monkey Paw Complex.

Their immediate section fell into ruin as the Floor is Hungry suffered substantially. Before long, the floor no longer moved and returned to its normal state, the bricks folding into itself as those that were still stuck within were crushed with a horrifying crunch.

“… Please find somewhere safe… and keep an eye on that thing.” Frost warned, her eyes devouring the burning world as its reflection brimmed in her golden eyes.

“Will do! He’s become my burden. Haah. Haah. I’ll heal you riiiight away~ Just don’t pop like last time! Here, I’ll give you some more red paint.” The Scarlet Healer panted, dragging the Impuritas behind her as they retreated elsewhere, disappearing into a mound of flames.

She was miraculously immune to them, likely thanks to her abnormally high DEF stat. And strangely enough, although the Painter was set alight, his body did not burn. The Scarlet Healer must possess some sort of insane version of Cleanse to rid them of their Burn stacks.

From that alone she had confidence that they’d be fine. Either way, she did not have the time to babysit. Instead, she made a brief mental note to question that woman later.

There were bigger issues at hand.

A tale of a world lost. Beholders must read that book. It warns them of a world that was destroyed?

Frost questioned, yearning to know of its contents.

“I myself do not know the contents as only Beholders are allowed to read this book. The Archivist herself cannot read it.” Nav stated, causing Frost’s breathing to become nearly rabid.

Then has Jury read it?

“Partially. But not enough to understand it. The Archivist says that Jury is close… and Frost.”

Yes?

“The heat of her precious book is reminiscent of something important that was lost.”

The world… right? The Archivist must have come from that world.

Frost arrived at this sound conclusion. If the book was about a world lost, and it was important to the Archivist, then that world must’ve been her home. The imagery of the flames bellowing around her must have been a familiar sight to the Archivist.

But then why did the book react to Frost? Why was her piece of her past connect to that book?

“She does not know.”

Then could it be me?

Frost was not so dense to fail to see this connection. If it was not the world, and if the book reacted to her, then this lost thing may be pertaining to herself. But the Archivist did not know and therefore, no conclusion could be reached.

“We need more food for her memories before we can draw any conclusions. But you may be right… Shall I give you the rundown of the situation of the others?”

Please.

“Ignis is faced with an approaching hoard of Blood Festival entities. They are managing, thanks to L.S’ preemptive efforts. Jury, Cer and Broker are met with an entity named the Speechless Paw.”

Ber and Res were likely fighting a similar being as well. Frost turned her attention to the castle. A long, burning strip of road separated her. 24 hours had yet to elapse, so she could not use the Iron Candle’s abilities.

Furthermore, the Heart of this complex was not her only enemy.

“AMALGAM! YOU – You were supposed to be trapped within the Black Forest! A blunder on our brightest friend’s part! ARE you content!? Look at the destruction! You will bring the fall of civilization itself! I KNOW IT –!”

“If civilization collapses because of my presence alone, then it was already on the cusp of collapsing. I am not some fucking scapegoat for you IMPURITAS to push your blame onto!” Frost cut him off with a deafening roar as she tried to find the source of his voice.

It was near impossible to detect his presence now that her AGI was less than half of the Blood Herring’s.

Golden stakes appeared from seemingly nowhere, this time managing to puncture her body shallowly as she took considerable damage. She flung herself away as her emotions stirred.

Counter Offensive was a handicap. Because the Bloody Herring’s AGI was higher than hers, she was forced to take twice as much damage.

It was no more than 800. But combined with the Broker’s Arms, she took upwards of 850 MAG ATT damage, and 450 regular damage after minusing it from her DEF stats. This, combined with the insane frequency of attack saw her HP chip away.

This was the first weapon capable of inflicting both ATT and MAG ATT damage simultaneously.

Not that it mattered in the slightest.

Her HP was so immense that he may as well be throwing sewing pins at her. But they still hurt. Frost could never get used to the sensation of having her body riddled with blades, even with the aid of Painkiller.

She did not stop running down the chaotic street, hopping from side to side to avoid as many of the stakes as possible. They protruded from her back very shallowly before they were shed.

She was like a golden porcupine at times.

“It burns! Malevolent, blind Amalgam! Was that parasitic rock of yours not enough! Must you also burn our world!?”

“Whose lies are you believing in!? Don’t you think that you’re being led astray!?”

“Preposterous! Your unwashed mouth is more putrid than that rock you command! But no matter. You will perish here at my own two hands! And I, oh the great Bloody Herring, will receive the ‘Seed’ from that sacred garden as a reward NO DOUBT!”

The stakes riddled her from every angle. Her foresight allowed her to see the stakes that embedded themselves into the ground like a line of spear-wielding soldiers.

She evaded them with relative ease as she grit her teeth, weaving right through. For once, her much slimmer, feminine body came in handy.

Frost could not wait to get her hands on this damned fish. Death would be far more merciful of a fate, and as a healer, she’d make sure of it. Not only for her sake, but for everyone else that suffered because of him.

The barrage of stakes did nothing but give her the final push into entering the Second State. At about a quarter of the way through; and as electrical gashes cleaved the street in front of her, she finally hit the Second State.

< The Will of the Amalgam Has Reached the Second State >

< Please Choose a Corrupted to Manifest >

< Judgement | One Thousand Eyed Bird >

< Civilization | Greed Counter >

Knowing that most of the Bloody Herring’s power came from the coins he possessed, Frost chose the Corrupted that made the greatest sense for the situation.

< Borrowing the Active and Passive Skills of the Greed Counter >

Suddenly, a translucent diamond appeared high above her head. It twinkled in the light like a star as the oncoming attacks subsided. The diamond was approximately five meters in size; hardly comparable to the Corrupted version.

But it did not detract from its splendor.

“What… It – it can’t be. You – That diamond – That belonged to the Corrupted! How could it possibly be here!?” The Bloody Herring exclaimed as Frost’s body continued to change. “No… you… have become the Corrupted…?”

An ethereal glow emanated from the undersides of Frost’s hair. On the outside it was still jet-black, but inside it was a beautiful blue. But this was not all. Like the wings of a sacred beast, one hundred golden tentacles sprouted from her back.

It was as if she had assimilated the golden spears. The Broker’s Arms could no longer reach her back, which now appeared like the many tentacles of an anemone. Each of the Touch of Golds were about as thick as her arm, and it was a mystery how one hundred were connected to her back.

And this was still not the last of it.

A blue portal suddenly phased into reality at the halfway mark. A woman with short, messy hair like hers emerged like a bullet from the portal. It imploded into itself, disappearing for good as the woman skidded along the street.

She then stood firmly, eagerly awaiting Frost tens of meters ahead.

She was dressed in a black, military coat somewhat reminiscent of her Coat of Prejudice. Just without the feathers. The woman’s coat was trimmed and lined with beautiful golden engravings. She wore a peaked cap, and stared back at her with proud, golden eyes identical to her own.

This woman was taller. Around the same height as Jury’s, and her proportions were also relatively similar.

But this woman was not a Jury look-alike.

Like the mini Frost, this was a reflection of herself. Just bigger.

She saluted Frost with a stoic face, standing there like a heroic soldier.

< The Second State Has Manifested as the Greed Counter >

< The Hired Arm requests a weapon >

< All weapons encountered may be purchased to arm her. The first weapon is free. The weapon purchased will bear half of the stats of the original weapon. If the original weapon is given outright, then the damage will be doubled >

< Corrupted weapons may not be used >

It was an incredible skill.

Knowing of one weapon that intrigued her more than anything else; she yelled it out at the top of her lungs.

“THE JUSTICA ARM!”

The sound of rustling coins surrounded her. Golden particles in the shape of coins appeared in front of the Big Frost, and at once; a marvelous, Victorian Era gun appeared in her hands.

Imitation Justica Arm

ATT : 750     MAG ATT : 750

And with it, a bizarre emoji reminiscent of the Little Frost appeared over the Big Frost’s head.

It was of a proud, hearty smile.