943. A New Member of The Family

943. A New Member of The Family

“Ama. Ama. Amal… gam.”

An adorable voice tried to pronounce Frost’s formal name without stuttering.

“Mal. Maglama.”

“Now that’s just ‘Amalgam’ in reverse.”

Standing in the middle of the abandoned room was the freshly hatched Realized Corrupted; The Enforcer of the Sovereign Star. The Sovereign Star was Frost of course, but the enforcer part was a stretch considering it did not have particularly powerful stats.

Furthermore, Frost hadn’t decided on what to do with this Corrupted just yet.

Although, judging by the stars shining in Jury’s jovial eyes, this Corrupted’s fate was already sealed. Jury had taken the liberty to invade this space the moment Nav leaked the news of a potential ‘child’ to her.

A small, rectangular obelisk sat in the same place where the cracked Genesis Stone-egg used to be. Since it had completely fragmented, Frost took the liberty of storing it into her Dimensional Storage.

It would be easier handing it over later than to explain what an egg made of Genesis Stone was doing here.

Jury hadn’t spoken a word, other than the quiet murmurs of “Aww~!” and “She’s so cute~!” The face she made also screamed: “Can we keep her?”

“What are we going to do with you?” Frost sighed, raising a brow as she stared down at the child-like Corrupted.

“We adopt her of course.” Jury hummed. “Can you say Jury? Jure. Ree.”

“Mal. Gam.” The Corrupted growled defensively.

“Rebellious, isn’t she?” Jury wasn’t dissuaded by this at all.

In fact, she found it endearing.

It took the form of a humanoid girl with dark skin and long, messy hair like she had been raised by wolves. Her razor-sharp teeth glistened as she bared them lightly.

She was cautious of Jury’s presence.

To her, Jury was an unknown threat that could very well endanger Frost’s life. Her eyes lit up with a soft, yellow glow through the bangs that completely smothered her face.

Due to her size, the Corrupted girl was like a puppy trying to defend its owner from a larger dog. Her body was encased in black feathers. These were functionless wings that simply served as a means of protecting her body.

White feathers arranged like stripes decorated her coat.

“Hold on. You and Nav are jumping right onto the whole adoption thing way too quickly.” Frost complained.

Despite this, she bent over to brush the girl’s hair aside, revealing her beautiful star-lit eyes.

Those eyes were the same that caused her to become aggressive in her old life. As a result, she tried to look away instinctively, as if fearing that she would harm Frost. However, Frost kept her gaze on her, and with loving headpats, she quickly grew to accept her.

“Mhm. Very convincing.” Jury teased. “Plus, doesn’t she look just like me?”

“What, her teeth and hair?”

“Skin tone, feathers, eyes you can say. She has your hair too! You can’t say she isn’t our child! Look at her!”

Jury tried to get close, but the girl instinctively directed a murderous look upon Jury. Her eyes widened with the intention of warding her away. But upon looking into Jury’s eyes, she became oddly…

“Gam. Mal. Malga…”

“Did she become shy all of sudden? Eh?” Jury was genuinely asking as she cupped her mouth, her face shouting: “How adorable~!”

Frost on the other hand glared at Jury as she hovered a hand in front of the girl’s eyes.

“Making a kid cry is adorable to you? I mean, an ex-Corrupted?” She growled. “You can’t just approach a Realized Corrupted like they’re a child. They still remember everything they’ve been through.”

“It’d be convincing if you weren’t pampering her at the same time.” Jury pouted, annoyed but still infatuated with their potential adopted Corrupted child. “Then… what’s the right approach?”

A few ideas came to mind. She had fought this Corrupted and learned of Conditions after all. She had also confessed to Frost about her woes; which would have carried over to an extent.

The proof was how she turned away when Jury looked into her eyes, or how she tried to avoid looking at Frost’s.

After brushing her hair back, a single eye remained covered by her bangs.

I wasn’t expecting to take someone under my wing today, but that’s on me. Besides… she does kind of look like Jury. Or at least she reminds me of her. Haaaaah. Just my luck.

“You don’t sound that upset about it.”

Well, it’s not like I can abandon a Realized Corrupted, now can I? I know I’ve been ruthless as of late, but I can’t help but feel sorry for her.

It wasn’t just sorrow. Sorrow alone would not have been enough for her to completely justify taking in a Corrupted under her wing.

Rather, it stemmed from her sense of responsibility for ‘creating’ it.

“Hey. You can understand me, right?”

She nodded. “Mal. Gam.”

“But you can’t say anything else other than ‘Amalgam’, huh?”

She shook her head, her hair – which almost reached her feet – danced like the leaves of a pinecone in a windy breeze.

“So you can’t call me Frost.”

“Malgam.”

“At least it’s not the full thing…”

Frost trailed off. She looked over at Jury, then, back at the Corrupted with a soft, motherly smile.

“You’re my little enforcer, huh? Not many people are strong enough to protect me you, know?”

“Gam!” She nodded vigorously as if to pledge her absolute loyalty to her.

“But, just so you know, there’s nothing I hate more than people who can’t get along with my friends.”

“Malga…?” She looked over at Jury, tilting her head.

Then, Frost cupped the cheeks of the girl. She stared into her eyes with her own.

Suddenly, the air went cold as she uttered:

“Except for people who can’t see eye to eye with my wife.”

It finally clicked with the girl. Jury was not an ordinary person. Immediately, her hostile attitude faded away, but her wariness was still there. Her long, black-feathered tail rocked behind her.

Jury matched her movements with her own tail as she crouched down in front of her.

“My name is Jury~ What’s yours?”

“Ma…” The girl paused, looking at Frost for an answer.

“… I’m not your owner for you to be looking at me like that.”

But the girl insisted.

Her eyes conveyed this.

“Alright. How about… Jurost.”

The sound of glass breaking could be heard within the girl’s mind. A look of horror came across her face as the feathers across Jury’s tail stood on all ends as though she had just seen a ghost.

“It’s the combination of our names. Jury and Frost. Me. Since Jury wants a child so badly, I guess that name works. Then again, you’re not exactly our child, and I don’t know why we’re even telling you that you are – so that probably doesn’t work. Eyeforcer is another good one.”

Jury reached out towards the girl. For once, she did not attempt to resist as Jury blocked out her ears, preventing her from suffering further psychological damage.

“Since you had the motif of the eye and Caldera Industries’ eye. I can see it working. Eyeforcer’s a pretty cool name too, if I don’t say so myself – Mmpfff?”

Jury plugged Frost’s mouth with her tail, feeding her a tasty coagulant to keep her mouth shut.

“You… somehow got worse at naming.” Jury wryly smiled. “Why not Joy? To celebrate you Realizing?”

“Malga…?”

Frost wanted to complain but left it at that since the girl seemed to like that name.

“In the wise words of Cer: you have a hidden talent. Just try to keep it hidden next time.”

Good one Nav. Way to kick me while I’m down. Really… Well, if it means that someone else can chip in with a better name, then it’s a good thing, right?

“Frost. Are you going to stand on that hill? After all the things you’ve taken accountability for?”

Sorry Nav. Try not to forget that I’m the one that came up with your name in the first place. That means something, right?

Nav paused for an unusual amount of time. During this, Frost watched as Jury ruffled through the girl’s hair. She was still apprehensive, but then again, who wouldn’t be?

Jury was still a stranger to her.

Finally, Nav responded in a faint whisper:

Indeed it does.

Frost could tell that she was wearing a smile as she said this.

“Joy. What do you want to do? You’re not a Corrupted anymore.” She leaned over to pat her head. “So you’re not bound to unnecessary shackles. You’re free to do as you wish. Whether that means you choose your own path, or you follow me. That is ultimately your own choice.”

The answer was obvious.

But Frost had always given people the same choice.

While she was a metaphorical star (and literal to some), she did not wish to bind people to her against their will.

Stars should be followed, not reached, less one wished to be caught up in its gravity well; bound to an inescapable orbit.

The only star worth reaching is the light within oneself.

Like Cer.

The girl pointed at Frost, declaring: “Malgam!”

“You heard her loud and clear~” Jury hummed. “How about the thought of being our child?”

“Jury… let’s not impose that on her–”

“I know. But it’s fun to think about, regardless if it’s true or not.” The soberness of her words did not match the jovial face she was making.

She did not treat this as a joke. Nor did Frost believe she was. She simply did not want this Corrupted to feel like they were forced to act in a role that was imposed onto them.

Besides, there was no telling what would happen to this Corrupted in the future.

But…

“Gam!” The girl nodded.

She was not dumb. Her life as a Corrupted would have given her a sizable wealth of knowledge to draw from. It was just a matter of expressing it. Anyone waking up in a new body would appear like a newborn.

The fact that she could answer this meant that she knew what this meant.

“Healers already see me as their ‘mother’ anyway.” Frost murmured, smiling at the girl. “Not like this is any different.”

What was supposed to be an experiment bore the fruit of life.

There were no downsides to Realizing a Corrupted in the end. Depending on the result, it could produce fiercely loyal and adorable personnel.

Still, this brought an important question. Was she technically this being’s mother since she was the one that gave it life, despite it already being alive? What constituted her being its ‘creator’, when it had already existed on pre-existing thoughts?

“The difference… is that you liberated her.”

Is that how you see it? How come?

“Take a machine for instance. It would naturally come to resent its creator if it were created with shackles in place.”

Nav stated, referencing Lailah and her strained relationship with Michaela.

Life, meaning, self-determination, free will – these were what Frost had granted Joy.

But to Frost, she felt that breaking what chained it down in the first place mattered more than this. The perspective they shared was different because of their experiences.

To Nav, having these qualities unmitigated was more important. But to Frost, being able to break free from personal shackles was paramount…

… perhaps because they were already able to experience life in its fullest extent.

“Malgam!” Joy cheerfully cried.

She took Joy’s hand; a gesture that the Realized Corrupted did not know the meaning of.

And as they removed the Isolation Sphere, Frost wondered if Joy was one of many Realized Corrupted that would join the ever-growing family that was the Nexus.