Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

Special Halloween Chapter (2024): BAD END 1

< ENDING 1: The Perfect Rose >

< Decision of One Thousand Juries Pending >

< Awaiting Verdict >

Why? For what?

Frost did not know.

She had helped the people in that village. People who were abandoned by the Blessed and the Nexus.

Did she wrong someone? Frost knew in her heart that she was not a bad person. And yet, the 4 pallid stakes that skewered her body before the one thousand eyed beast claimed otherwise.

She was judged in the face of the beast and was blamed for a sin she had never committed by a Star of the Nexus.

Her occupation in Earth revolved around saving the lives of people. These thoughts began to wane as the Black Forest grew darker. The only light which came from the eyes of the 10-meter bird waned with her vision.

Everything started to go cold.

Frost was dying. Perhaps she was already dead. She did not know herself, only that the pain had finally begun to slip away. All sensation steadily disappeared, but in its absence was a flame that burst forth from the bottom of her heart.

“I… If my only wrong…”

*Crunch*

“… ngh… Ghk…”

But her words could not form any longer. The pale stakes were driven deeper into her body as the bird nudged them. She was impaled into the earth. The light in her dark brown eyes shifted to a vibrant gold.

She was determined to live. To survive. To experience the world that was taken away from her.

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

< THE AMALGAM’S AWAKENING EVENT HAS BEGUN >

< PARADISE LOST >

< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET CAN NO LONGER BE HEARD >

…

Several months passed. Or was it years?

Her suffering was ceaseless. Time no longer ticked for her.

It didn’t take long for the light in her eyes to fade away. She found herself trapped within a black shell, her nails endlessly clawing at her impenetrable prison. She drew the world outside, imagining what it must have looked like… the world that must have existed beyond the Black Forest.

Her dull eyes were unblinking as she scribbled across the walls. Dark stains ran down the side of her cheeks. They were patches of tears that had long dried up.

She would never get the chance to see it for herself.

One day, after an innumerable amount of time had passed, several voices spoke from outside as rods were stabbed into her shell. The rods were hollow and transparent. Blood amongst other fluids were drained directly from her being.

The supply was ceaseless. She watched her innards being syphoned through a tube, her blood through several others, and another that extracted a blue fluid from the base of her skull.

The pain was excruciating.

But Frost was far too broken to complain.

[???]

“As you foretold. Archetypes cannot die easily. Hence, their capacity for suffering increases to balance out their lack of mortality. It breaks my heart having to skewer a splitting image of my dearest sister. But it was a most deserving outcome.”

[???]

“Death is life’s method of limiting mortal suffering, barring the Archetype. Their existence is not bound to the logos of our world. Not beings born from the blood of the Nexus. She will be receptible now. Our own Captured Star. We have the seed that will feed on all broken thorns to bring forth a most perfect rose for us all.”

[???]

“Will this enable us to access the promised infinite possibilities of the Light?”

[???]

“It shall, and it will bring forth miracles rivalling that of the Advents.”

[???]

“Then ‘that’ miracle will be possible. Ahaha. Is it time to harvest the tail of that one?”

[???]

“Consider it an exalted honor. After all, her tail will be required to ignite our Captured Star.”

… Frost’s memories merged with the endless versions of the Captured Stars. Her sense of self fizzled into the void as she existed as no more than a living power source.

She closed her eyes for the last time, and with it, the identity – the very idea of ‘Frost’ – died.

* * *

< ENDING 2: The Scorched Girls >

The roaring flames of Calfasio’s defeat brought down the final remnants of Divas Pass. The photos of Our Happiest Moments burned as they tried to reach Calfasio in his final moments.

The State of Mind that Frost found herself in to confront the fathoms of the Iron Candle did nothing more than reinforce the Shadow that consumed the man. His memories faded away without a mention of his child; the flaming lance that Frost desperately clutched in her hands.

< [Remember] >

< “There was no one left for me to live for. A candle dies with its flame. There is nothing after when the wax melts away. It all returns to ashes.” >

< “Papa. Don’t hate me. Please remember me!” >

Alas, fuel were his memories. What little he knew of Ignis faded as his HP ticked down to 0, leaving behind a bereaved Scorched Girl. The blade’s flames intensified as it wept; the flames burning Frost’s soul and yet she did not let it go.

There was no Realization Criteria to save them.

< “Don’t hold me. I’m sorry I wanted milk. They loved a child that could only hurt them. She was burden, but they still tended to that flame.” >

Frost could not bring comfort to the Corrupted Ignis. The lance trembled in her arms, begging to be let go. The loss of Calfasio’s life only reinforced the Scorched Girl’s belief that she could only bring destruction to those who cared for her.

Realization was but a pipe dream now.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry Ignis. Calfasio. I… was too late.” Frost could only blame herself for their tragic end.

The agony of the Scorched Girl was deeply etched into her soul. It became a reminder of the price of failure.

Ignis accompanied Frost and her group in the form of the flaming lance; the weapon that carried the Ego of the self-loathing child. The fists that once defined Frost were replaced by this weapon.

And the world knew firsthand of the beast from Cinder’s Prophecy.

< “No one can love me. Everything I touch burns. Can they embrace the same thing that will one day burn everything they love down?” >

The Scorched Girl’s throes eventually became Frost’s own. Eventually, a crown of burning thorns and a flaming cape completed her appearance as she laid waste to her enemies with flames of wrath.

< ENDING 3: Stella, The Aspiring Star >

Stella never knew the world beyond the darkness that plagued her vision since birth.

She had only heard of the fantastic things that existed in the skies beyond their reach. The Blind Child served as a guide for those who had their eyes taken by the Major Luminescence or were exchanged as ‘tickets’ for the various rides in the Triple Paw Complex.

But she was not blind to the brutality of this place. It had simply become normal for her. It was her home, after all. Besides, it was only her eyes that she had lost from birth. She hadn’t lost other organs, limbs, digits, molars or arbitrary pieces of her body since the day she was born here in this happy paradise.

“Smile. Keep smiling. Everything will be alright one day.”

Stella would often repeat to herself, as well as to various friends within the Underpass who returned with one less organ. Aster was amongst these people. The one person who Stella could call a mother figure gradually lost her hands, eyes, legs and less vital organs.

Aster was a kind person. She often participated in the games in hopes of retrieving a friend’s lost organ on their behalf. But as of recent, Aster returned injured, bloodies, and with a voice that faked her wellbeing to the blind Stella.

“She started with a limp. Then, she could only crawl. I remember hearing how she dragged herself across the Triple Paw Complex on her handless stumps.”

She never complained, even when she couldn’t eat on her own. Relying on Stella was the last thing Aster wanted. Nor did she want to worry her. Instead, the older girl would rest beside Stella on those sleepless nights as they gazed up into the infinite darkness of their world.

“Aster would tell me about the Stars. How they shone incandescently above our city and brought miracles to people who believed in them. Her voice would always become raspy. I didn’t know why. I couldn’t tell if she was sad, but I could feel something damp against my shoulder every time she spoke about them.”

“I wondered if I could become a Star myself. Would Aster be ok? Would I be able to guide people like the Stars?”

Stella did precisely that.

There was no one to teach her what was right and wrong. No one saved them from their hell, so Stella could only adapt.

Eventually, Aster lost the ability to speak. Her lower half was purely human skin. Every bone, organ, and flesh were robbed from her.

Aster existed as no more than a house pet that relied on Stella. She gnawed at the air whenever Stella was close, tears streaming down her eyes as she was fed slices of a skinless, golden apple.

Years had passed in the blink of an eye, and Stella’s body had grown to the point where she could no longer be called a child. Her body was slender, and she wore a yellow, regal dress befitting that of a princess. The hoop skirt hid the writhing flesh that allowed her to glide across the blood-stained ground of the Triple Paw Complex.

Her corner of this place was different from the rest. Here, it was a place of extravagance; all made from human remains, retrofitted as furnishings and luxuries that she still could never see for herself.

Because they were all for Aster.

Everything was for her one star that showed her the way.

“Lights. Curtain rise. Action. I rose to the heights of a Star and claimed a Heart of my own. In doing so I realized that the materials we gathered here could not be used to complete you, my Aster.”

Stella’s flesh was purely her own unlike the vast majority of the entities of the Blood Festival. Her dark hair cascaded down her shoulders. The many curls made it appear like a bouquet of flowers.

Fixed on her face was a stitched mask. But even that failed to hide her peerless beauty. She reached down to touch Aster’s face. She bit at the air again out of reflex.

“I’m going to go up there. I wanna find things to help you. You did raised me. It’s my turn to return the favor. I’ll be back soon. I promise. I will complete you into an Aspiring Star like me. Like the oh so bright Aspiring Star – The Purulent Retina. Me.”

Stella became a being beyond that just that of the Masque. As an Aspiring Star, she held the authority to leave the Hearts in search of her own materials. Her intentions were still pure. She was only doing this because Aster needed help.

But would the world out there understand?

“Don’t worry about me, Aster. The Amalgam is the only thing we should fear. That monster wouldn’t understand us.”

Stella left the Triple Paw Complex.

And she was never seen again.

Aster was left gnawing at the air for days on end until she finally succumbed to her starvation. What was left of her was then taken away and stitched onto the bodies of those lucky enough to find her corpse.

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