993. In Which A Star Resides

993. In Which A Star Resides

[The Bite of the Wolf Who Could], the Third State Absolution version of [Wolf Bite], was used when she needed to recover Defibrilation Stacks.

Her maw was stronger than adamantium, and she used it to snap at the air. The shockwave alone tore the spires apart and ripped through the body of the Impuritas.

The damage she dealt could not be understated. A kilometer of metal carapace cracked under her immense power. But its sheer size made it appear like she was doing little to it. Such was the difference in scale between them.

It was as if she was fighting more than just a creature.

She reached the base of the creature, then she grabbed onto a spire with her tail and flung herself back up to repeat the process.

This time, she was after its head.

She retraced the damaged

landscape

along its body, chipping through layers of steel, cords, and eventually, muscular tissue.

*Plop* *Plap* *Squirm*

It pulsated, and it made a wet sound whenever her boots or Skills touched it.

“The blueprint is the same. You carry a Soul.”

“Is that not proof enough?”

“Why remain weak… when we can nurture you. Integrate you…”

“Hold you.”

Suddenly, rapidly firing harpoons were ejected from the red mass. Cer disappeared temporarily and reappeared just two meters away thanks to a Skill from her latest Profession.

“What the hell are you supposed to be? If you’re not machine and you got all that meat down there… Then what in the fuck do you really want? To assimilate? Do you think you’re the Crimson Hunger!? The Blood Festival!?”

[Arclight Warp].

It was derived from her [Warped Acceleration] Profession. Her body was able to disperse into an electric arc and reappear anywhere within a two-meter radius as long as there was electricity present.

Furthermore, when a flesh-coated harpoon managed to reach her, she dispelled it. All that remained were charred flesh.

Another Skill of hers was called [Galvanic Corrosion]. It came from a Defensive Profession called [Dynamicism]. This Passive Skill granted the power to use metals as a battery, allowing her to replenish a percentage of HP and MP depending on the type of metal.

Speed and electric prowess made Cer an incredibly dangerous force. The drilling intensified. It was a direct acknowledgement that this Moon had every capacity to stop its operations if left unchecked.

“We must become human. A soul of ours is what we yearn. This experience. But no matter how many souls we take...”

The layer of meat, which resembled steel wires, pulsed with movement. Curious, Cer cut a wound large enough to be called a gorge and found a slurry of liquid running beneath this layer/ She had reached an artery, and what she found sputtering out caused her heart to wrench.

“Help…”

“Waaaa…”

“Pull me out of here…”

“… I can feel it all… My body… is all of this…”

“Urggg. Aggghhh… Guurrrr…”

The slurry was sapient. It carried thousands of voices.

“People… As fluids…? Anids… You machines are copying the Anids!?” She roared.

“Their biochemistry was a spark of inspiration. It was ingenous. The human is the throne of the soul. Therefore does that not mean we have souls?”

Those voices were immediately squashed as harpoons fired from the pores of the wound walls. It sutured itself closed with cables thicker than entire buildings.

<

Cer. What you have been sensing isn’t its own Soul

>

<

Those belong to numerous people

>

“H… How many…? Nav! HOW MANY SOULS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT!?”

Cer had never seen anything so horrific. It went beyond the misery of the Triple Paw Complex, the City of Music, Scarlet Logic’s Heart of the City…

everything

. The sheer size of this Impuritas hinted of a number that caused her blood to boil.

<

If the human body has on average 5 liters of blood, and this contains 3 million Moral Pulp…

>

“Six hundred thousand… SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND!?”

Cer had already calculated it in a fraction of a second. Her emotional woes kept climbing as she soared towards the head of the Avatar of Kratt. Just then, robed machines appeared in her peripheries.

We Are Better

Replacement in progress. Pending… Sensation

<

Creators

>

Soul Rank:

Nil |

Impuritas:

Infecta Rot

LEVEL :

130

ORIGIN:

Impuritas

HP :

530,000

ATT :

2,200

MAG ATT :

1,200

ATT DEF :

1,400

MAG DEF :

1,400

MP (Mortal Pulp):

5L

RESIST :

1,500

AGI :

48

They flung themselves forward, as if attempting to tackle her. But by being made of machine, her Passive Skills disassembled them at the atomic level.

However…

“More Mortal Pulp inside of them. You… All of you are – Fucking wastes of life! No. You pieces of shit weren’t even considered living to begin with! You take people into you… mush them and instrumentalize them – Just so you can feel SOMETHING!?”

Cer annihilated them with utter ease. 500,000 HP was nothing to her. But to a regular Moon? They were a credible threat, and she could not believe that the Impuritas had been hiding such powerful members all this time.

She thought back to the War in Grandis. The assault on the Nexus. And even the Atelier War in the Nex Megalopolis. Further even. Had these been used at any point in the past…

… Then what would have the world looked like?

“I never believed in Caldera Industries’ mission. But if this is what they had to keep fighting… Then FROST BETTER LOOSEN UP RESTRICTIONS OR SHIT IS GOING TO GET WORSE FROM HERE ON OUT!”

It was possible that they were rare to begin with. Or that they were too preoccupied with something else.

Right. The Site Core… But what else? Infecting the land? Yeah… They work in secret. Away from Caldera Industries. That’s why they don’t make themselves known. Because if they did… I swear, and I fucking hate to admit it, but Caldera Industries wouldn’t let this slide!

“Ah. I know you. The Electric Fang. The Wolf who was elevated. The Wolf…”

“… Who yearns to be devoured.”

“We can integrate you into ourselves. Replace the need for your pain.”

The Avatar of Kratt spoke as she tore the We Are Better apart, biting down on mechanical tubes. Rather than a hiss, there was a scream whenever a pressurized pipe was punctured. And beneath their hoods was a metal frame fused with the human mass. They carried a beating heart – a parody of human and machine.

Worst of all was a face was grafted onto their heads.

A green eye glowed within their mouth. It peeled into itself, the mouth consuming the grafted face to reveal this orb.

This was their eye.

And from it came the barrel of a weapon.

*Bang*

Fragmentation bullets. Prohibited ammunition. But in this instance, they were not used to maim a target as much as they were to saturate the skies in hopes to hit Cer.

“No bullet can touch me… You… HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU’RE DEALING WITH!”

< Your Emotional State Is Rapidly Rising >

She used Light again to activate [Warp Speed] – an Absolution Skill. The shockwave alone cleared her immediate proximity as she barreled straight for the head.

“The fabled Jester of Speech. The Jawless One. We know of you.”

“As do those troublesome animal triplets.”

“Hear this vow, human.”

“One day, we will experience it all…”

A larger crack ran through the Site Core.

It was on the brink of breaking.

The cracks around the chassis glowed with a blinding light.

But that Light was no brighter than the color glowing in Cer’s crimson eyes.

“… and we will understand why humans fight so hard to keep it for themselves.”

Something shattered above her the moment she collided with the head.

It didn’t seem to do much damage.

The immense gravitational field messed with her electric powers.

But that did not come from the Avatar of Kratt.

Darkness suddenly consumed her as she realized she had passed the point of no return.

“Where… Did I go…? I can still feel my body. I’m standing on a platform. But there’s nothing. I can’t be Corrupting again. I don’t see Elysia.”

Then, she heard the sound of someone crying.

“*Sniffle*…”

< Entering the Site Core for the First Time >

< Welcome to The Site – ???? >

< Welcome to the Sideral Chalice >

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

<

You are in the presence of the Advent of Despair

>

Expecting to find Elysia, Cer’s heart dropped when she saw a child hugging their knees in the center of the darkness.

That white-haired child carried an eerie resemblance to Frost.

Fragment of The Captured Star

???