Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)
998. Everyone Is Here!

It wasn’t enough.

The presence of her claws could be felt. Though they were tiny, the world sensed that an invisible extension hovered just above them.

< (A) A Lamenter’s Hand [OO] >

< The reformed hand holds onto its last chance >

< EFFECT: Physical augmentation. Physical attacks extend to 120 meters. Affects Awakened Skills >

< COST: 3 Light per attack >

The jump was massive.

But Cer was Tempered to the Third State.

She could go one higher.

< (A) Paw Dipped in Sin [OOO] >

< Never forget the bloody road we took to learn this lesson >

< EFFECT: Physical augmentation. Physical attacks extend to 1,000 meters. Affects Awakened Skills >

< COST: 12 Light per attack >

It was costly.

Under normal circumstances, Cer wouldn’t even be able to use this once.

But here, with the amount of Light she currently possessed, she was able to combine it with [Deconstructing Swipe].

An invisible kilometer-large claw sank into the side of Kratt. He was already several kilometers wide. Even so, the claws alone were hundreds of meters long, and they effortlessly cut through it lengthwise.

Mechanical gore, and amalgamation of cables – the very guts of the machine – it came gushing like a fountain.

“Not my precious Mortal Pulp!”

“It never belonged to you in the first place! I had the decency to put people out of their misery! But you thrive on suffering!”

“Is that not an integral part of human existence?”

“Not like this. Humans believe in hell because they can’t fathom anything worse than reality. Hell gets thrown around so fucking much that it’s lost its meaning. Suffering is fuel to you. It’ll never be an excuse to your kind!”

“We already suffer. We suffer by not having the capacity to feel.”

“Let it stay that way!” Kratt finally began to skim through the dunes horizontally.

It came straight for Cer.

Qliphoth Field | HP : 0

Avatar of Kratt | HP : 410,500,000

“If a machine like you, who never knew suffering, were to feel one day, then you’d want to revert right back. Nothing good comes from pieces of shit that contribute to this cycle. If you were anything like the friend in our heads, then you’d have a point.”

“Who may you be referring to?”

“The voices in my head. I’m ill.” Cer grinned.

She pivoted her body forward, ready to annihilate Kratt.

But by the time she was able to kick off the ground–

“A pest. To think Dark Memoria was my largest threat.”

“GAAAAH!”

She was intercepted by a dark rod.

“Kratt. Devour this one. It appears to have undergone a specialized phenomenon. No matter. The Light will be consumed one way or another. Now, where was I?”

It impaled her lower back, reaching her spine. It bypassed her defenses with ease.

The resulting attack caused her legs to seize at once.

She turned, but didn’t find a single soul.

“Tch…! Who… what was that…!?”

Despite being Awakened, her HP and DEF made her especially susceptible to Beholder-level Attacks.

“Finally. I can put an end to that mouth of yours.”

“Haha… Ahaha…”

Cer ripped out the rod and sat there.

She could have moved, but for some reason, she decided to remain in place.

“Have you gone mad? Fear not. You will be integrated as a prized component.”

“I just found it funny. That I’m going to die after going through these lengths.”

She flopped onto her back, enjoying the vibrations of the sand.

“Doesn’t look like you have teeth in there. I wonder how the assimilation process goes.”

“There is no need.”

“Pieces of you will be ripped apart. Slowly. Tenderly. From the least usable to the most.”

Moment before Kratt could devour Cer whole, she smiled and wore a devilish grin.

“Perfect.”

* * *

“W-Wolf!” The Fragment exclaimed, clasping at the air in front of her as though it would bring Cer back. “N-No… I’m sorry! It should have been me!”

“Mini Amalgam. It’s not safe to stray too far.” Argon warned.

“But she died! She was eaten! All because she tired to protect me…”

“Mini Amalgam. That isn’t a problem.”

The girl didn’t know what to think. That person, alongside another golden-eyed person somewhere upstairs, were the first people to find her.

Watching the wolfwoman die because of her caused her to absentmindedly stare at where she was just seconds ago.

“… Are people as expendable on the outside as I am?” She asked, her voice lacking emotion.

“Used to be.” Argon answered truthfully.

“Then why don’t you seem sad?”

“The Fang of the Head has a peculiar warning circulating about her. Mostly for Healers since she’s become a magnet for some of the more discretely carnivorous kinds.”

“Huh?”

“Manager. Is that something you should be saying out loud to a uh… How old are you, Mini Amalgam?” One of the Vermilion Moons wondered, crouching to meet her gaze.

“Uh…” The Fragment put a finger on her lip before counting on her hands. “Maybe a million or two?”

The Moon’s face went completely pale.

“M-Manager… We got another scary Alter Amalgam on our hands.”

“Alter who? Who is the Amalgam? Why do you keep on calling me Mini Amalgam?”

She was curious.

But the answer never left the lips of the Vermilion Moons.

* * *

A presence emerged from the horizon.

A woman dressed in a wedding veil fluttered across the sky. Her short-distance teleportation was incredibly unstable.

“Alisa! Machine! WE NEED TO LEAVE! We cannot win!”

It was Lammy. She had returned from the Maw of the World, and her appearance spoke of a fierce battle. One may assume that she had won, but her words hinted that she was on the losing end.

The fact that she had retreated caused the Rogue Moons to wear eyes of relief.

“ALISA! Wait– The Site Core… It has already been broken!? Where is Kratt!? WHERE IS THE FRAGMENT!?”

Suddenly, a white blade narrowly missed her face.

“Ahh… And you’re here.” She noticed the White Horseman.

Her body shuddered, but she knew that there was only so much they could do. Even approaching a broken Site Core was taboo for them.

Lammy scoured the desert in search of the Fragment. If not for the Fragment, then she needed to find Kratt who had likely already devoured it.

“Where… have they gone!? The Fragment and Kratt could not have disappeared already!”

She narrowed her gaze and noticed the red hairs of the Vermilion Moons.

“Ah… There – There you are! The Fragment!”

She noticed it and immediately Warped towards the Vermilion Moons. There would be no announcement of their death. It would be swift and unexpected. Time was no longer on their side with the impending collapse of the Site.

Furthermore, the recovery of the Fragment was paramount.

I’ll take the head of the first one. Then, I’ll skewer the next and wrap her neck with her innards. I must leave a message for the Captured Star behind. I cannot go down looking weak. Sinder… Sinder wouldn’t forgive me. It’s all for you Sinder. All of it…!

Suddenly, she felt a strange presence.

The glow of the Eye of Elysia appeared in the skies.

That shouldn’t be possible. Normally, the Eye of Elysia could only be found when one reached the ocean. If anything, it would have taken the form of a tiny, insignificant star in the sky.

But it was there, looming over them with a watchful gaze.

Watch me then, Elysia. Watch me take the Fragment of the fruit you had selfishly taken for yourself! Just a bit more and that seat of yours shall be mine!

She reached forward, expecting to impale the head of a Vermilion Moon.

*Clang*

A metal ring sounded as she was sent flying back across the desert.

“You dare…? The White Horseman dares to strike when I’m this close to your beloved Fragment!?”

The Horseman couldn’t hear a word she was saying. She was still so very far away and had merely hurled a sword to prevent her from messing with what belonged to the Captured Star.

“Captured Star… How loyal you are to a thing that I will crush!”

“Really?” A voice spoke from behind.

She scrambled on all fours, her tattered dress tearing further as she let out a horrible sound.

“Is that what you think?”

“H-H-How… I… I warped. I had Serum S…! I… No…!”

Frost couldn’t chase her.

But her voice alone had caused her to retreat far enough where she wouldn’t pose a problem.

Her eyes weren’t on Lammy to begin with.

Rather, her attention was drawn to a certain figure that looked just like her.

“Let’s just say I followed a star.” She stopped in front of the Fragment, smiling tenderly. “Cataract. You were the slugcat from before. Hello~”

“F-Friend!” The Fragment’s ears wiggled. “B-But… The other friend was eaten…”

“Cer? Don’t mind her. She’ll come back.” Frost waved it off as she greeted her Vermilion Moons…

And then, she turned to face the White Horseman who kept a good 100-meter distance from the Fragment.

“Thank you.” She lowered her head.

“It is not me you should be thanking. We are but the closest manifestations of her current Will. Therefore, our actions directly represent her psyche. Rather polite. I would have expected you to feel some level of animosity towards an Aberration.”

“I had great first impression with the Black Horseman.”

“The least impressionable of us did that? Impressive.”

A nightmare was unfolding before Lammy’s eyes.

Perhaps she had expected Frost to feel some level of danger towards the Horsemen of Elysia. But instead, she was watching what seemed like a reunion between old friends.

“Since when… Was the Nexus so close with the Horsemen? I don’t believe it. It… A thank you immediately. Alisa… ALISAAAAAAAAAAA!”

She tore open a portal from above.

“I need them back. That conjurer. They must return with the Genesis Stone–!”

However, when that portal opened, he did not arrive alone.

Jury, Horus, Morgause… they arrived in close pursuit as they fell from the skies.

“NO YOU DON’T! [RETROCAUSALITY]!”

The weapon that the White Horsman had been using suddenly changed targets upon Jury’s command.

It took aim at a Kratt who suddenly emerged from the Earth. Half of its body was beyond repair, and flying out of its mouth was a certain Moon.

“Wolf… is alive!” The Fragment celebrated.

Lammy deeply exhaled.

“… Retreat… We cannot win this.”

It had only gone from bad to worse for their side.