Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

963. The Ascension of Impurity

“Don’t stop to gander at my capabilities, rabbit. We have executive authority to complete the mission by any means necessary.”

“Usari… Understands.” The look of bewilderment in Usari’s eyes said it all.

It was the first time she had seen Horus fight with a weapon.

“U-Usari didn’t know you were a weapon specialist – I-ICY!?”

Usari’s face turned to that of shock as a loud thud resounded beside her. Icara was suddenly snatched by the tendril-like limbs of a Wholeness Reborn.

Then, she was shoved into the chassis in the center of its chest.

Faint, red lights that littered its body turned green.

“Mother… Humatozoa… Bzzzzt. *Whirl* Captured.”

Its behavior changed. It fled the scene upon capturing Icara, swinging from crystal pillar to another as Usari laid down relentless fire, only for her bullets to shatter upon impact.

“ICYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!”

“Hold your fire.” Horus grinned, producing yet another weapon.

Frost, in the meantime, summoned her [Plasma Cutters] and launched a barrage ahead, severing the pillars which caused the fleeing Impuritas to remain suspended in the air.

“Perfect. Give me a moment to aiiiiimmmm…” Horus harped, retrieving black and orange Justica Arm from her Dimensional Storage.

Horus

< ACTIVE: Justica Arms – Crystal Bullet >

< ??? >

< EFFECT: Fire a highly penetrative crystal bullet. Ignores 10% of DEF stats >

ATT : 1,500     MAG ATT : 1,500

“Goodnight~!”

Then, with a single bullet, she punctured the chest of the Wholeness Reborn. Blood spilled from its insides.

But this did not belong to the machine.

“Morgause. She’s all yours.”

“Splendid shot.”

Indeed. Her target was not the machine itself, but Icara.

Frost used the opportunity to leap into the air and grab the Impuritas in question. Once held in her hand, she analyzed this Skill in particular.

< PASSIVE: Love, Death, Rebirth >

< Embrace them wholly to the womb that once brought us into being >

< EFFECT: Prioritize the capture of humanoid targets. When [Humatozoa] is activated, change priority to protecting the captured target >

< ACTIVE: Humatozoa >

< We were led to believe that the egg hatches the whole. Mother told us that an invader must fertilize the egg from beyond the shell >

< EFFECT: Return to ??? to begin the process of rebirth >

Rage filled Frost’s eyes. She shoved her arm into its chassis with a hand illuminated with the Light. And like a lantern, the Impuritas glowed, the light diffusing through its accumulated flesh as Frost honed her inner Will and spoke directly into its mind.

“You are hopeless.”

“Everything you’ve fought for and sought after could have been obtained without delving into this madness.”

//////// < ALERT > ////////

< Transferring Light to the Wholeness Reborn >

Its body convulsed. The moment the Light entered it, its body was immediately under Frost’s command. She could not manipulate the blood of the Impuritas for the sole reason that they did not contain Light.

But this one now did.

And because of that, it was now susceptible to a phenomenon that plagued the world far worse than the Impuritas.

Not only that…

“Here. Live the wish that they so desperately seek.”

But Frost could invoke it.

Light was the catalyst of Corruption.

She dug her fingers into her palms and smeared her blood along the chassis of the Impuritas.

Only then did [Progenitor Arts: Ego – Die Agonisis] kick in.

In the split second that she tried to enter their State of Mind, she saw a scene of countless miserable machines yearning to become human. To attain a soul. To become more than just steel at any costs.

They did not understand it. And their yearning reached such a level where Frost could not even interact with the mind of this creature.

Instead, she could only invoke the Corruption with unpredictable consequences – one that she was willing to take.

She wanted to see just what a Corrupted Impuritas looked like.

“You know what you are.”

“Become human as you so wish.”

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

< The Wholeness Reborn’s Corruption Event Has Begun >

< IMMUNDITIA ASCENSIONIS >

< The Ascension of Impurity >

Frost threw the Impuritas to the cold earth, shattering tens of meters worth of crystal filaments.

“Frost!?” Jury exclaimed. “I’m getting a weird warning! What did you do to it!?”

“I was curious.” Frost answered quickly, sweeping her arms to clear the immediate viscinity of Impuritas for a moment. “The Impuritas seek to Corrupt. That’s their ultimate goal. I wanted to see what Corruption does to the Impuritas.”

“I’m not gonna lie Frost, but I don’t think it’s gonna go the way you think it is!” Jury cried.

“Yeah. A part of me thinks so too. Impuritas don’t have explicit Shadow.”

“Exactly!” Jury shouted, but she did not blame Frost for missing this.

She too was curious what a Corrupted Impuritas would result in, but the writing was already on the wall.

< “The wholeness of humanity. Did it reside in one spark of Light?” >

< “Was the Soul truly the catalyst for life?” >

The Impuritas in question shivered, all the while Morgause couldn’t help but stand in utter reverence over the Amalgam’s influence, while the others – Horus most especially – was rendered completely shocked.

Horus made quick work of the Repenters, deleting them by removing their heads from their shoulders.

“Amalgam. You… can Corrupt? No. That’s not an ordinary Corruption. That… I’ve seen it before.”

The body of the Wholeness Reborn was enveloped in a dark light as black tendrils grew from its back.

However–

< “Preposterous.” >

–With one utterance, the darkness was replaced with a golden light. The dark tendrils became an assortment of limbs. Countless grew from its back. Then, its entire chassis was overgrown by human hands and feet until it became a colossal, ten-meter ball of nothing but limbs.

< “It never was about those miniscule things.” >

< “Human existence is not determined by marginal factors.” >

< “Does the zygote carry the soul?” >

Deep within was a resounding red glow that mimicked a human eye. It was digital. The pixels were as clear as day, like they were made from an LED screen. But the components within attaching it to the umbral chassis – which now resembled an open rib cage – were veins, arteries, lymphs and connective tissue.

< “Does the spermatozoa of humans contain that spark of humanity?” >

< “Neither. It is the form that makes them human.” >

< “With enough flesh, steel can merge and become a remarkable fusion of both.” >

“Galia…” Jury uttered in a hushed whisper. “It reminds me of the Corruption Galia went through. Ego Crystalization.”

“No. It’s not that.” Frost began, preparing to take this monstrosity down herself. “It’s the worst kind of Ego Crystalization. It’s the corruptive version, where the Ego consumes the self.”

< Ego Corruption >

< As opposed to Ego Crystalization >

< But I must warn you Frost >

The golden light disappeared.

Ushering in its absence was an aura of darkness Frost and Jury recognized immediately.

“Qliphoth…” Jury grit her teeth.

“Impuritas-based Corruption… They become Qliphoth-based entities!?”

< In hindsight, it should not be surprising given that they are impurities >

< You can say that you have inadvertently ascended its form >

“Fucking hell.” Frost grunted.

But she noticed something peculiar about it. The onslaught of Wholeness Reborn was nowhere to be found. This was because they were being assimilated into the body of the Corrupted.

It rolled around, crushing them with no regard to their allegiance.

All that mattered was fulfilling its own Ego.

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

< ETERNAL NIGHT >

< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET RESONATES >

“I’ll break this one down! Just follow my lead!” Frost commanded. “Nav. Report everything you find to the Archetypes!”

< They are all watching closely >

< Dark Memoria has departed from the Nexus. Just as a precaution >