966. Fear, The Ultimate Equalizer

Annihilation

The augmented power of Qliphoth. Highly effective against constructs of P-Factor. Neutral against constructs of Light

“If we cannot reach what remains still so far away, then we only need to bring them here. Accumulate… until we become everlasting!”

“The sin of Envy… You crave what you don’t have but don’t put in an ounce of effort to achieve it! All you can do is wallow in self-loathing and bring ruin to yourself and the world around you!”

Had Frost not layered herself with [Protection Ward], then her clothes would rip straight off her body. Despite the world imploding all around her, this was the extent of what this Corrupted could do to her.

“You remain unaffected. An undeniable proof of your false origins!”

“Far from that. You’re just too weak. The Crimson Hunger know well to stay the fuck away from me. But your kind are just going to keep coming back regardless of how outmatched you are…”

A fractured piece of a halo appeared above her head.

It was her turn to respond to Annihilation with Absolution.

“Light…? How can it be so bright!?”

The light in her right hand banished the fog of darkness within the halls. It shone so brightly that it caused the ring of darkness within the Corrupted’s eye to crack.

“Why are you so surprised after

gave you that power. I’m the one who gave you consciousness. The capacity to think. Speech.

Reason

.”

Turbulent air rushed through the hall following her strike. It shattered the sanguine spear and caved half of the Corrupted’s body in, causing it to take on a concave shape.

< [O] [Strike of the Amalgam] [O] >

ATT :

600,000

Its pitiful Qliphoth Attack paled in comparison to a First State Absolution Skill. The crumpled halls were blasted back into shape before panels were disintegrated by supersonic shockwaves.

Beneath it, steel began to glow a bright yellow from the friction of air particles alone.

A vacuum was left in the wake of her destruction. Deafening silence befell them. Heat struggled to transfer in this environment as well. The other side of the hall burst open, revealing an interior unaffected by the darkness of Qliphoth.

There are people on the other side.

Frost did not stop with one or two strikes.

Five total strikes were used to reshape this Corrupted till it resembled a giant crumpled piece of paper.

“My gift to you was wasted.”

“Instead, you bared your fangs at me.”

“But I’m overjoyed that you did.”

“It justifies whatever happens to you afterwards.”

Frost mocked it one-sidedly. Her sadistic side rarely came out. But when it did, she ensured that her enemies were left with the weight of their sins etched into their soul.

Three kilometers were all that remained before they’d reach the Nex Refinery. She only just now realized just how absurdly large the Sixth Level was, although her ability to transcend spatial dimensions played a part in expanding this Level.

She gracefully reached into a tear in space.

“You’re right about one thing.”

“Consciousness is a curse.”

“For you, that is.”

“Is it finally time to see the sun?” A hollow voice spoke. “Oh Amalgam. And… a thousand hails from this heap of scrap? I see. It has invoked your ire.”

“Do what must be done.”

Frost retrieved a certain object from her Dimensional Storage.

“!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?”

Immediately, the remaining hands of the Corrupted shivered. The eye in the center trembled uncontrollably as high-pitched whines and the screams of a thousand voices broke out.

“There are things in this world that can be experienced without sensation. But there are even more stimuli out there that only those with consciousness can experience.”

What she held was the blue-pallid Lantern that contained Terrent and her deepest, most intimate fear of all – herself. Nothing more, nothing less. And it was enough to break the Corrupted’s mind to the point where it could only gaze upon Frost as though realizing something.

“Tell me, what is it that you’re thinking about right now?” Frost dangled the Lantern before its eyes as they came to a complete stop.

Then, she stowed it by her hip and inserted her fingers into its socket. Blood poured from its wound as she slowly brought out its LED-like eye out from the socket. She cradled it like a child in her arms, staring down at what was once an enormous Corrupted.

“… fear…? This is fear…?”

Its mind was far too broken to respond to her.

She gently placed the eye back in its socket.

“Lucky for you, it only gets better from here. Good. Stay like that.”

The spilled blood of the Unite Us, Everlasting began to coat its body. It hardened, creating bloody crystals. They expanded and propagated across its body, eventually encasing it in a tomb of blood-crystals.

“The next time you wake up…”

The eye was the last to be trapped within the crystals.

“… You’ll be under the care of your new owner.”

She found it humorous that an Infecta Rot member had found itself trapped within a crystal. It was only a shame that they could not feel pain.

“I wonder if Ignis can design a weapon that’ll let Infecta Rot feel pain.” Frost murmured to herself as she marveled at her work.

A fifty-meter tomb of blood crystals was the doing of a Progenitor Art.

[Lament – Throne of the Anguished]. By using the blood of an effected target, it allowed her to imprison them in countless blood shards. So long as it remained within the ‘Throne’, its HP could not drop to zero without her direct intervention.

“I don’t believe that for a second.” Frost said. “The world will find a way to bypass it. Man… what an annoying Corrupted. I was looking forward to seeing what kind of item it would drop. But I trust Lailah will discover something interesting from this one.”

It’s always possible to create weapons from it

“That too. Enoch might want to look at it as well.” Frost hummed before setting her sights on the entrance ahead.

A fresh swarm of hundreds of Wholeness Reborn poured through the massive hole in the wall.

“Weird. Seems like we’re also close to where they’re being spawned from.” Frost didn’t pay much attention to it.

“If I may speak?” Terrent asked.

“Go ahead.”

“You’ve… killed how many of Infecta Rot’s spawn?”

“Probably thousands of Wholeness Reborn. Or, er… the ones with the long arms and legs.”

“Intriguing. A Tribulation should have ended long ago.”

“You’re familiar with the process?” Frost knocked on the Lantern with delight.

“There are pathways that a Heart will use to reach a Site. A set amount is usually able to be sent, so it is highly unusual that there are still so many on this Level.”

Those pits might be the pathways…

“Wait.” Frost realized what he was implying. “That means there’s a Heart on this Level.”

“Correct, Amalgam. What you call a Complex Heart must be birthing them. Though from the scent of this place, I believe it has been long abandoned! There shouldn’t be material to create Impuritas. Unless of course, it came with people. Though I wouldn’t begin to imagine what would have become of them when they crossed the Thresholds! But it is possible. Just agonizing.”

“… People were reported missing in Emerbright…”

Dread filled Frost’s voice.

Slowly, her body began to change in response to the surge of rage that sparked within her heart.

“And you’re implying that people from the Derma Layer were also brought here?”

“I am outright telling you that yes, you are correct.”

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

Those Lights that Frost saw were not White Midnight personnel after all.

But were people who were dragged into this mess.

“Terrent. Thanks for the help.”

“Your very welcome–!”

She threw him back into her Dimensional Storage.

Joining him was her apparel. She stood in the middle of the hallways completely bare of clothes. Her breasts were larger, and she stood taller than usual.

< The Third State Has Manifested as Heart of Ours >

Protruding from her chest was a massive umbilical cord that connected her to a giant beating red heart.

“It never ceases to amaze me how low these Impuritas will go.”

One by one, she slipped on pieces of her main apparel.

The Coat of Sanguine Prejudice, The Sovereign’s Tights, Ther Sovereign’s Boots, Dream Shatterer, the Badge of Fragmented Aspiration…

“White Midnight, Infecta Rot and the Genesis Stone. Just what they all trying to achieve down here.”

Suffice to say, Frost was ready to wage war.