Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

64. I Am Fire!

< [I Am Fire!] >

A flaming shockwave engulfed everything in sight. The fleshy ruins instantly caught alight as Calfasio’s home crumbled to the heat of his wrath. Having seen this in advance, Frost quickly made her escape with Our Happiest Moments disappearing off, snapping photographs as if in desperation.

Everything within a 20-meter radius was incinerated by their immense heat as Frost’s body seared, taking an insane 1,450 damage.

Frost | HP: 33,550 | 35,000

“Tch!? It did way more damage to me than I thought! I thought this would be a magic attack!” Frost exclaimed, wincing hard as she healed herself and moved out into the open. Everything behind her burnt as her body continued to emit steam. “What condition was I hit with!?”

“Burn. You were given 20 effective stacks of Burn!”

“Effective!?” Frost roared, turning back the sound of a fiery explosion.

From the flames emerged a rapidly approaching Calfasio, now completely donned in his Corrupted form. A pale, waxy skin covered his entire body as the draped wing periodically dripped hot wax due to the immense heat.

But that was not all. Frost’s Solemn Counter activated as she swiftly dodged the thrust of a flaming lance, which in contrast to him appeared to be made of flesh. In this brief window of opportunity Frost did the only reasonable thing she could.

Counterattack.

She smashed her fist straight into his stomach, meeting immense resistance as if she had pummeled a solid block of steel. Nevertheless, she followed through and sent him skidding backwards along the gravel of flesh and debris.

Only slightly, however.

Calfasio | HP: 497,500

“Effective meaning how much is actually affecting you! You are losing 20 HP every second!” Nav made this glaringly clear to her as Frost pressed onwards against Calfasio the exact same time the Corrupted man brandished his flaming weapon which Frost quickly realized was Ignis in her completed Corrupted form.

Furthermore, Calfasio had assimilated all of Ignis’ ATT and MAG ATT stats, most likely due to her becoming a weapon.

No. Not his weapon.

She had become the flames to his unlit wick.

Iron Candle

Calfasio

ATT : 3,000     MAG ATT : 2,200

It became clear that her main enemy was Calfasio himself.

“CALFASIO! SNAP OUT OF IT!” She exclaimed, striking him with insane agility as she continued to rack up Burn stacks just from being within his proximity.

His flaming lance impaled the ground behind her, releasing a torrent of flames which seared the back of her, causing immense pain.

< [Backfire of Dual Embers] >

Frost | HP: 33,000 | 35,000

But this was not enough to stop her advancements. She wore the flames like wings, standing defiantly before his Corrupted form and exclaimed:

“WAKE UP! Calfasio! You can hear me, can’t you!?” Despite already knowing that the Corrupted were incapable of communication; Frost desperately tried to save him with words before Nav flashed but a single prompt before her eyes.

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT: Iron Candle and Scorched Girl are defeated when their HP reaches 0 >

 

< “I must burn ever brightly to perish all before me. For my dearest Ignis!” >

< “Papa! Am I too needy for wanting milk?” >

It was futile.

The Corrupted were beings of immense emotion. Hardly sapient, perhaps not even sentient at all. What she saw before her was a father and daughter who were plunged into the pit of despair and had succumbed to their emotions.

Frost could no longer see it any other way. Not for people who themselves had become Corrupted, rather than the folklore and the residual emotions of the past two Corrupted she faced.

Her heart burnt with a flame much like theirs as she laid her fists into him, knowing well that Calfasio and Ignis were now a major threat to the others. She did not want to kill them. Rather, she needed to keep them at bay until she figured something – anything out save them.

There was no possible way the others would be able to survive a single second in their presence.

“WHERE THE FUCK IS THE REALIZAION CRITERIAAAAA!” Frost yelled right before Calfasio thrust the lance up high and scorched the air itself. It became near impossible to breathe now as she rapidly backed off, and moments later –

< [I Am Fire!] >

Another flaming shockwave quickly engulfed everything around it. The Abominations that foolishly strayed close were instantly reduced to dust as Frost watched her HP drop at around 30 per second. She moved amongst the Abominations just at the edge of its attack, healing herself thoroughly as she ravenously devoured them along the way.

“[Cleanse]! Agh! Nav, this is going to be a battle of attrition! I hate to admit it, but these fucking things are my lifeline now!” Frost heaved, finding it difficult to breathe, for every breath she took scorched her lungs as if she had just inhaled an acidic mist.

An entirely different breed of agony engulfed her.

She entered a coughing fit as the Corrupted Calfasio swung his lance forward and pointed it towards her direction.

“You are not the only one on a timer! Calfasio is also rapidly losing HP as we speak! Like a candlewick, the flames are going to burn him out as well!”

Frost’s eyes widened in disbelief when she heard this. She simultaneously anticipated his movements and attacked him with Biased Verdict. The ground split from beneath him as a Scorched Tree strangled him up high. In this brief moment of vulnerability, Frost snapped her jaw in his direction as she lunged straight towards him.

[Prejudice].

Calfasio | HP: 481,300

And seconds later, she watched it drop again.

Calfasio | HP: 479,500

Ignis on the other hand did not take any damage. As a weapon Frost had to wonder if she was invulnerable to all damage. The thought of Calfasio’s death being the trigger that would allow her to take damage caused immense anguish as she sent a devastating Punch straight into Calfasio’s undefended chest.

“DAMMIT ALL! CALFASIO! PLEASE – I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!”

However, she was caught off guard in her briefest moment of blindness.

Frost’s heart would not allow her to kill him. It yearned to save him despite the overwhelming odds that were stacked against her. But a Corrupted that existed solely with the conviction to reduce all to cinders was bound to burn the hand that desperately tried to rescue it.

And so, she paid the price.

< [Flame of a Fleeting Ember] >

Calfasio buried his weapon into Frost’s stomach, only just barely stopped by her hands as a flaming explosion erupted right behind him. In the next moment, Frost was shoved along the entire length of the city center, spearheaded at the tip of his lance as her feet dragged along the rubble, ploughing through countless Abominations.

< [Final Onrush] >

He accelerated, pinning Frost to the whims of the lance as she found it near impossible to remove herself from its tip. They pieced straight through the folds of the Plagued Heart. In an instant, the red surroundings turned to the grey and pink of the city ruins.

“[GREATER HEALING]!, [GREATER HEALING]!, [GREATER HEALING]! Agh – Angh!”

< “We woe. We cry. We scream. We beg. We all want these flames to stop burning. But in this world, we need it more than anything else!” >

< “Did I hurt mama? I’m sorry!” >

Each wall they smashed through caused her HP to drop by a significant 2,000 as she rapidly accumulated up to 40 stacks of Burn until they finally reached one, final wall where an explosion of flames engulfed everything on sight.

The lance had pieced straight into her abdomen, boiling her blood and imitation organs at its very presence. However, this gave her time to finally act. Boasting superior strength, she shoved the lance out and instantly took rabid bites at them, from both the lance and Calfasio’s wrists in an attempt to disarm him.

And it worked!

However, as soon as she grasped onto the fleshy handle of the flaming weapon –

“It’s – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

– Every fiber of her being felt like it was set alight.

The pain could not be described as physical. It was as if the flames cusped her very soul with its heat as her mind was wracked with mental anguish.

“AAAGH! WHAT IS – THIS PAIN!?”

“Do not wield Ignis! That – it only causes those who wield it misery!”

As a result, she threw the weapon far away, forced to retreat with her HP barely handing on by a thread now. She clawed at the walls along the ruins and ate at the overgrowing flesh, entering a cycle of replenishing her mana and healing herself before they reached the city center again.

“Fuck… I hate this. I hate everything about this. Why do I have to kill him to save him? Why is the Realization Criteria hidden Nav?” She spoke as if begging for a miracle to happen, knowing well that Calfasio was destined to die. “Why is it always so hard to save someone!?”

“Frost… I cannot see the world like you do. I can only discern what is right and wrong based on whether or not they are a threat us. But if there is someone you should blame – then turn to the Nexus.”

“… Is the Nexus our enemy, Nav? You ensured me that the Arbiter was on my side, but what about the others? The Ateliers? The Blessed? The Beholders? I was betrayed by a Star of the Nexus, brought to unforeseen lands… There is no gimmick here like the One Thousand Eyed Bird.”

Frost scathingly spoke, watching the brimming flames sweep over the city as Calfasio made his appearance, his hands now fully grown back, as well as the chunks that she ate from Ignis.

“Dammit… We’ll have to take his weapon away. But I don’t know easy that’s going to be.”

The pain was not something she could withstand. It was unbearable and its effects still lingered. She could only imagine the perpetual agony Calfasio endured as he clutched onto that weapon almost naturally. He pointed his lance towards Frost again, his HP now reaching 450,000.

< [Fuel Are Memories] >

A sudden heatwave engulfed everything again and his stats soared up once more.

 

Iron Candle

Calfasio

ATT : 4,000     MAG ATT : 4,000

< “I must burn ever brightly for my dearest daughter!” >

< “I always wanted to thank you, but I thought it would be weird to say it out loud.” >

The photographs she kept hidden suddenly grew hot. She clambered to pull them out, keeping a constant eye on Calfasio as she brought them to her face.

Somehow, Ignis’ image was slightly blurred now in every single photo as a few of them fizzled into ashes.

It was then that Frost realized the true horror behind Fuel Are Memories.

“No… he’s – He’s losing his memories of Ignis!”

“The Captured Memories are the proof of this, no? You can see it. I cannot fathom the notion of using memories to empower oneself.”

“Calfasio…”

< [Remember] >

Somewhere, Our Happiest Moments was trying its best despite its futility.

While he was still standing there in the distance, Frost used Dismissed Confession now realizing that fighting him head on would be suicidal. However, there was no other way she’d be able to remove Ignis from him again. Her strands also wouldn’t last a single second in the presence of their flames either.

Additionally, Dismissed Confession did not make him speak. Their RESIST stat was so absurdly high that it did not matter the slightest. And besides –

“That is not something that will work on a Corrupted I’m afraid.” Nav warned. “They are already speaking with their twisted hearts.”

Frost’s heart wracked with everlasting hatred as she turned to the Nexus behind her just for one moment. She judged them. She judged all of them for allowing this to occur right at their very doorsteps. They had the forces here to save them. And yet the abandoned them.

The people who were turned into the Crimson Hunger. The people who suffered at the hands of this madness… and the friend who merely wanted to be strong enough to support his dearest daughter; Corrupted by the unfair cruelty of it all.

< The Second State Has Manifested as Judgement >

 

< UNIQUE | PASSIVE: Hysteria >

< We accused one another of the sin of one >

< On death, the Judge’s Aid are reborn as miniature reflections of yourself. They carry your Will as their armaments to enact your rightful judgement >

< UNIQUE | ACTIVE: Judgement >

< Was it worth eating what was forbidden by the King? >

< Enact Judgement. One single target may take up to 300,000 damage. Unavoidable and may only be used once >

Although Calfasio was her enemy, the Nexus was the subject of her eternal judgement. The aura surrounding her changed as she carefully observed the battlefield, seeing the runaway Abominations spill further into the blazing city whilst the others fought for their lives within the inn and its surrounding streets.

These Abominations were stronger now, likely strengthened as a result of their resistance.

A few of her Judge’s Aids began to shatter, and from the glass shards emerged a form that appeared like a child-like version of herself, around the same size as the cat-eared girl who could only watch with stupor, as if she was stuck inside of a nightmarish fever dream.

Each wielded a pale stake and pounced on the Abominations with little regard for their own life. This bought her much more valuable time as she stared down Calfasio, watching his HP whittle away.

“How… How can I judge them when they did nothing wrong? How can I judge normal people who just wanted to live in this hell!?” Frost let loose of a wild woe, marking the next stage of their battle.

“It would be wise to take Ignis out with Judgement –!”

“NAV! How could you!? I want to save them! The Realization Criteria works on the Corrupted! All of them! It must work on those two! I want to give them my Blessing and bring them back! My prejudices are reserved for the Ateliers!”

< [I Am Fire!] >

Calfasio | HP: 430,200

This time, his area of effect was a substantial 30 meters, wiping everything out within its vicinity. Though she was another few dozen meters away from the edge, her vision waned to the heat that caused the very ground to grow a bright orange. In fact, the world steadily turned orange as a result of the smoke, the flames and Calfasio’s mere presence which completely distorted their surroundings.

< “World of titans allows us to live only in the mud of its feet.” >

< “Why is it that everyone around me looks so sad. Was my happiness painful for them?” >

“Even if saving them isn’t guaranteed?”

“Guaranteed matters little if we don’t try! That’s why – I have to remove Ignis from him. So he can stop burning. That way we might be able to figure something out!”

“All the while the Plagued Heart is still throbbing with life?”

“Don’t try to convince me otherwise! Nav… please, let me hold onto what I have left of my damned past self! I won’t be like them! Let me try! Let me keep extending my arms out even if this world labels it as wrong! If my hands burn – then so be it! I’d rather die being wrong in the eyes of the world than be like any of them!”

This was her conviction. It had never changed since the beginning. Her rights and wrongs were perhaps illogical in this world, but she’d be damned to let someone die. Someone to suffer all because of the incompetence of the world’s ‘deities’.

However – she also deeply understood that there was a chance she would not be able to save them. Frost however blinded by her valor knew that life was a fleeting thing. It was always her job to help people, no matter how futile, how diseased, how painful, and how distraught it all was.

What mattered the most to her was that there was a wholehearted attempt.

And so, she briskly moved as Calfasio pointed his lance towards her again.

< [Flame of A Fleeting Ember] >

The flames exploded behind him, and he rushed onwards encased in a flaming aura that distorted its immediate surroundings. He was fast, and the longer he chased the faster he became. Frost used the urban ruins to her advantage, avoiding him with ease before she caught him in the branches of Biased Verdict.

However – this lasted only momentarily. The heat was so immense that it almost instantly incinerated the already burnt tree. Frost had to retreat and feed on more of the Crimson Hunger just to replenish her HP. They were like two candles trying to withstand the flame that was Ignis, growing stronger as Calfasio’s wax body further cracked each time his HP dropped.

The cycle was near endless. The cat and mouse game saw the city burn as the skies choked with smoke. Frost’s only viable attack was Dismissed Confession, but at this point she did not think it would be needed.

Calfasio was going to die regardless of her intervention.

“Nav… I’ve hit 0 HP before. When I Awakened as the Amalgam. Will I die if I hit 0 HP again?”

“Unlikely... No. I truly do not know. I believe there may be consequences.”

“… as always.” Frost hissed.

< [Remember] >

Once again, the weak little critter snapped pictures of him. It was dangerous for such a low-HP creature to remain while the city caught alight, and yet it did not care the slightest for its own safety.

It just wanted Calfasio to remember.

Calfasio | HP: 370,000

And as if to spite it –

< [Fuel Are Memories] >

 

Iron Candle

Calfasio

ATT : 5,000     MAG ATT : 5,000

< “I must burn ever brightly to perish all for my dearest one!” >

< “Does mama hate me? Do you hate me? You never told me why mama never came back after I was born. You always looked so sad when I asked…” >

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