Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

< UNIQUE >

< [Rekindled Woe] >

< Relight my flame. I shall burn this world anew >

< EFFECT: All effects of the Crowned and fire-based Skills are doubled. Your HP cannot reach 0 until every flame is put out. If your body experiences death or disappears, revive through a burst of flames. Lose Sanity and enter a forced Instability state >

< ADDITIONAL EFFECT: Exchange mana into HP. Blood loss does not impact HP. HP is now tied to your flames. You may expend 30% of available flames/HP to deal [World Ablaze]’s maximum damage >

ATT : 10,000,000 MAG ATT : 10,000,000

< [The Universal Language] >

< We cannot be better >

< EFFECT: Don the mantle and the crown of the first ember. 30-minute limit of [What Doesn’t Kill you…] is removed. Once HP reaches 10%, immediately manifest 10% additional total ATT DEF and MAG DEF. When all jewels of civilization combine, your flames will burn at their maximum intensity >

They were absurdly powerful Unique Skills. Frost wished she could manifest Affinities at will, but until then, emotions were her only way to bring out this latent power.

| Infusion S: Speed |

< The price of keeping our burdens out of sight >

AGI: 5,000

There it was.

The mark of a counterfeit Beholder Skill. Beholder’ Level Skills, such as Frost’s Amplified Skills were denoted by two ‘||’ marks, whereas the counterfeits were marked by one ‘|’.

However, unlike Iscario’s version, the AGI increase was significantly higher.

It was twice the maximum speed of Cer’s [Lightspeed] Awakened Skill. But the cost of this was one’s most prized organ.

Yet nothing changed.

Lammy cackled. She laughed hysterically as flames engulfed them both.

[World Ablaze], [A Million Wicks and One Light]. This was paired with the manifestation of [Immortalized Woe]. A massive 15-kilometer city formed in the desert. It was divided into four colored sections.

Various additional Skills of the Crowned were now available to her in their ‘Stable’ form.

< [STABILITY: Clubs of the Voiced] >

< They spoke with hands on their chests, and vowed to never be discarded again >

< EFFECT: Deal 100% more damage to those who refuse to speak out. Emerald crystals have arrived to aid you. You may compress the virtues of civilization to perform an attack dealing 5,000,000 damage. Unavoidable attack >

Unlike the emerald crystals that manifested due in their Instability form, they did not scream. Instead, they hummed with a harmonious choir as they took to the skies. Then, as Frost dragged by the Aberration through her city, smashing through dark spires one after another: the crystals appeared in the palms of a fourth of Frost’s ethereal hands.

An emerald jewel then shone above the crown of thorns.

“Aren’t you afraid it’ll take something away from you!?” She cried, smashing the clumped emerald fists into the side of the Aberration.

No matter how fast she was, she could not avoid this attack.

But she clung onto Frost. The heat she generated melted buildings seconds before they were anywhere near them. Flaming hailstones continued to bombard the battlefield, some reaching as far as the distant Site Core.

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Her RESIST is high enough where she may as well not be accumulating Cinder Stacks. I would’ve used it to sabotage her MP. [Mana Disruption] doesn’t work with powerful magic… Then again, her Skills uses Nex to begin with.

“How uneducated!” She giggled, teleporting from Frost’s hands.

Then, she bounced in and out of existence, lashing at Frost with a barrage of near unstoppable whipshots.

“Aren’t you capable of creating your own versions of the Gifts From Stars!? Or was it a fluke~? I thought you’d understand it well! I expect better from the seed of Sinder!”

The name caused Frost to send a wave of unavoidable attacks. To still be derived from Sinder after all this time infuriated her to no end. Twenty-five emerald fists clashed with Lammy, but it was nowhere near fast enough to prevent her from striking Frost.

However, in Frost’s current state, she may as well be immortal. HP was replaced with flames, and she had no reason to stop using the Crowned’s Corrupted Skills.

[World Ablaze] and [A Million Wicks and One Light] dealt incredibly amounts of damage, and yet, it just looking at Lammy would make one believe that she too was invulnerable to all damage.

Lammy | HP: 200,000,000

Either way, she’s rapidly losing HP!

Frost could only focus on area of effect Skills. Her strikes, while devastating, could not deal damage if she couldn’t hit her target in the first place. Additionally, [Fine Line] worked to her disadvantage.

She had no windows of opportunities to exploit.

“Tch! There is always a cost involved!” She cried, skidding along the sands and leaving behind a massive trail that resembled a canyon.

Barriers shattered behind her to catch her footing, then, she was propelled forward with Amplified [Thermal Propagation]: [Detonation]. The effects of [Rekindled Woe] threw her into the dark city skies, towards the blue zone where diamonds hovered in the air.

< [STABILITY: Diamond Counter] >

< Take back what they’ve stolen from us. Only we can measure our value >

< EFFECT: Deal 100% more damage to those who acknowledge their Inherent Value but fail your appraisal. Your Diamonds will aid you to deem their worth. You may compress the virtues of civilization to perform an attack dealing 5,000,000 damage. Unavoidable attack >

“Have you tried satisfying a Star’s criteria? When you understand a Star and redesign its produce, then that cost becomes redundant, no? Nex becomes the only form of payment.”

They entered the palms of another twenty-five ethereal hands, giving Frost two unavoidable attacks to counter Lammy’s speed. Still, it was not enough. Lammy danced around her, whizzing past like a pest as they crashed through buildings.

“But that wasn’t a technology you drank!”

“Think for a moment, Captured Star!”

Eccentric sparks of magic filled the air. Spears of blood continuously formed from Frost’s blood with each lash as Unlying Tablets littered the desert, only to be consumed by the flames.

“Sinder would hate it if he always had to spell it out for you. You call it a payment. But there are other ways to a Star’s heart outside of using their technology. When you have the very source, then there are many ways to interpret their philosophy! Think of it as a bargain!”

Lammy grinned as Frost, by chance, intercepted a whipshot with her [Atomic Splitters].

“A Faustian Bargain! There is a price to pay, but if you’re smart, then you can work alongside the Star’s fathoms. As Beholder do! Why Beholders end up with that perfect book of theirs! But then you have this. A fathom interpreted in an entirely different light~!”

“The counterfeits!”

Indeed. The Nexus had learned that the Impuritas, namely the Librarians, were capable of stealing pages from a Gift From a Star. That way, they could create their own version which were the counterfeits.

Lammy wore a pleased look as they then entered the red district.

“Retelling, Captured Star! Or, how about we call it an adaptation? You should know aaaaallll about it! You and that Little Red Ridding Runt and all those tales!”

“Who the fuck are you talking about!?”

< [STABILITY: Heart of Ours] >

< Towards that cherished dream of ours >

< EFFECT: Deal 100% more damage to those who carry ambitions. Let them become desperate. Your Hearts will aid you to deem their worth. You may compress the virtues of civilization to perform an attack dealing 5,000,000 damage. Unavoidable attack >

Another twenty-five hands gained large rubies. She now had three gemstones attached to her crown. She was powering up further. A war of attrition and time was futile against Frost.

Lammy should have known this.

For a moment, after receiving multiple blows from Frost’s ethereal hands, a scowl could be found on her face.

“It won’t matter. They’ll be a footnote in history. A troublemaker. An extra!”

She was stalling. Frost realized that Lammy was stalling.

But for what?

The Vermilion Moons hadn’t reported anything to Nav yet.

Jury seemed to be fine.

Was it because they were running out of time?

No. In the first place, Lammy had the advantage before they Warped here. If her goal was to deal maximum physical and potentially psychological damage, then she would have kept her close to the Rogue Moons. They would have served as valuable hostages.

They knew exactly how far she’d go to save those Moons.

Is she trying to keep me away from the Site Core?

She suspected this to be the case.

If so, then what for?

Explosions threw her into the direction of the Site Core’s star. [Detonation] paired with [Heliospheric Repulsion] gave her the leverage she needed to propel herself through the black district of the artificial city.

“Ooooh~! I don’t think so~!”

< [QQ] Fountain of Sorrow [QQ] >

< A toast to a happily never after! >

Lammy spun like a sawblade. The whips attached to her dress carved into Frost’s left shoulder, cutting through inches of reactive blood crystals before biting into bone.

< [STABILITY: Spades of Blooded Bonds] >

< We must brave the world together >

< EFFECT: Deal 100% more damage to those without a current bond or ally present. Your Spades will bury them for you. You may compress the virtues of civilization to perform an attack dealing 5,000,000 damage. Unavoidable attack >

“Of course. This was your plan all along.”

“It must be your imagination~!”

She threw herself away and attempted to bypass her, healing herself with her infinite supply of mana. The onyx crystals filled the last of her hands, and the crown was now complete. Immediately, her flames intensified.

Everything within the immediate 5 kilometers were subjected to a heat so intense that it began to melt sand into glass. The sand sizzled starting from 10 kilometers. At 15 to 20 kilometers, the air would instantly combust any unfortunate soul that was caught within this faux Corrupted Zone.

Lammy | HP: 120,000,000