Chapter 982. Redefining Truths and The Key To It All

“Hot. So hot that it’s become cold. Funny how that works. The Subcut can become so cold that it feels like everything burning.”

Yet Lammy did not stop smiling. She was well below half HP now, but she couldn’t care less. She didn’t possess a Qliphoth Barrier like Frost expected her to.

But her gut told her that she did not need it.

“Captured Star. Fighting me won’t get you anywhere! Why don’t we just fight conventionally and give Elysia a good show?”

And despite her overwhelming strength, she could not pass through Lammy. Each attempt caused her to either be assailed by hundreds of whips, tears in space, or to have her body nearly torn in half.

“So stubborn. I wonder if Elysia cares much about you. I’m she wouldn’t mind watching me waterboard you in the sea of unconsciousness. But there’s no proof that the Eye of Elysia actually is her eye~”

It was frustrating. Speed was an incredible asset. When paired with Warp, it was effectively impossible to fight on an even field. However, it wouldn’t be long before Lammy’s HP drops low enough to warrant a retreat.

In the end, her role was solely to keep Frost at bay.

This meant that there had to be a third force that would deal with the Site Core.

Frost rallied with twice the effort. Her stamina was still at peak condition. Each lunge was stronger than the last. In mere minutes, dozens of craters left behind by the wake of her leaps littered the dunes.

Lammy | HP:

50,000,000

Something has to be up…

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It is likely that she possesses a Qliphoth Field internally

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Her body hasn’t accumulated any damage

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This would either mean that her body isn’t truly corporeal…

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… or she is utilizing Healing magic

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Healing magic? An Aberration of Elysia? I get they’re Old World Angels, and that Elysia was born from the Nexus: but she shouldn’t have Healing powers!

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I agree with you

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But Jury has Skills that have mentioned Time serving as an infallible version of Healing magic

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“Are you turning back the clock?” Frost inadvertently uttered.

Lammy giggled.

“It’s more that I’m in a constant state of reset. Elysia was always the one who patched the Angels up before Healing magic was conceptualized. Oh, you didn’t know? Elysia’s Arts were special. You have the Divine Arts, the Blood Arts, Lust Arts, then you have her Apokatastasis Arts. Even back then she was always one to want to offer salvation~”

“She could Heal…?”

Nav. Confirmation?

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Lailah has never seen it in action. It was always easier to utilize temporal phenomena

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Michaela was not around her Angels enough to know this was a power of hers, much like how she was not aware of Uriel’s Blood Arts. If she did, then she would have believed it to be a phenomenon of Divine Arts

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[Analyze Target] did not allow her to see if this was an Active or a Passive Skill.

It must therefore be an Ability.

Frost’s attacks slowed until she came to an eventual stop.

She stood in a pool of molten glass and was propped up by a barrier to prevent her from sinking.

“Less Healing, and more restoration. Elysia could bring things back closest to their original state. And people wonder why the Fruit granted her the ability to manipulate Time itself. With a power that perverse, it makes you wonder just how powerful Elysia really is as the Star she is now. To hold the power of a fundamental concept, no: a law…”

She stared down at her hands before clasping her heart.

An audible ticking could be heard from within.

“And to only carry a fragment of that Heart of Time… Not even Corrupted have yet reached the level of manifesting as primordial concepts. Can you imagine that? Paradise Lost are already some of humanity’s greatest Gods and venerations. But what about concepts such as fear? Ahahahah… Yet people can’t paint the world as they like. How unfortunate.”

It was a terrifying thought experiment. The lull left Frost wondering what the limits of the Corrupted were. Lammy was right. So far, the Corrupted had only been touching on human experiences from the Collective Unconsciousness left behind in the form of Nex.

But what if a Corrupted was born from something deeper than the disorders of civilization? Or the reverence of gods and religion?

“No. Not our goal. Not even sure if it’s possible~ Besides, we

all

lose in that scenario, don’t we? A Fourth Shattering brought by your death might even make it possible. We’re all friends here. Except for Elysia. Hmmmmhmmm~ We just needed an unmatured tail from your Jury.”

She complained with a long sigh. Then she continued:

“Lilith was supposed to help us. Everyone wants Elysia gone for one reason or another. Frankly speaking, I just don’t like you, so I don’t care what you do or don’t do as long as you don’t meddle with my business. Which you are doing riiiight now. If only there was a tail, somewhere, anywhere…”

Her gaze then fell onto the Eye of Elysia beyond the horizon.

“… then we’d be able to reach Elysia herself. Down in the recess of Deep Time.”

“That again? With the tail?”

Their obsession disgusted her. The fact that Jury was kept captive and corroded just for her tail almost made her re-engage with Lammy.

However, her face suddenly lit up.

Wait… Jury’s tail. An unmatured version…

“Frost?”

“… Hm…?” Lammy tilted her head, wondering why Frost had become so quiet.

… Nav. Are you able to check my Dimensional Storage?

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Absolutely

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Dimensional Storage Contents

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???x Food

???x Water

1x Casual Wear Set

543x One Thousand Eyed Bird Feathers

12x Caramel-flavored Coffee (Fresh)

5x Cloth

???x Miscellaneous Items

1x Jury’s Tail (Unmatured)

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… Frost…?

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Why do you have this?

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Remember the Bloody Herring incident? I ended up with Jury’s severed tail. I think I remember considering eating it… I thought it’d be weird to tell Jury that I had her tail after all this time, but I didn’t think… Shit. We have it. The key. We’ve had it all along!

Indeed. They had it for months now, and no one suspected a thing.

However, Lammy’s suspicion grew due to Frost’s silence.

“… It’s not fair when you don’t tell me your secrets. Go on. I’ve told you what I know~”

“Know what?” Frost wore a neutral expression.

But Lammy wasn’t falling for it.

“Oh… So you’re going to play like that.”

Her tone changed. The playful cadence disappeared entirely. Her expression darkened, and her hair bunched together in front of her face, concealing her eyes.

“What do you know about the tail…?”

“About as much as you do.”

“Don’t lie… Don’t…”

Then, in an instant, she appeared in front of Frost, baring her teeth as she tackled her towards the sea.

“LIE TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

[Longform Warp]. This, combined with Infusion S, sent them barreling through the Great Unknown. Dark waves crashed beneath them as they moved so quickly that Frost could barely move her limbs.

They skimmed over the ocean surface. The island where the Site Core existed disappeared instantly.

They were lost at sea for what felt like hours. It had only been minutes.

But Lammy seemed to have a destination in mind.

“IF YOU WON’T TELL ME–!”

Another island gradually appeared, and there, she could see a great hole spanning tens… no,

hundreds

of kilometers across.

“THEN I’LL FORCE IT OUT OF YOU!”

Above that hole was a blue light, the same she had seen in the Seventh Layer: the Subderma Layer.

She didn’t have to wait for Nav to know exactly where they were.

“That’s… The Maw of the World…?”

< Entering the Maw of the World for the First Time >

< Welcome to the Maw of the World >

She pivoted towards that hole as the effect of Serum S died out.

They were going to ascend all 38,000 meters.

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

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You will be exposed to the Curse of the Ascent

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