Another pair of hands unfurled at her sides, the joints bending with hideous snaps.
"I do not know if it is the Advent, or the benefactor that bestowed my Gift. We prefer it that way. The drone does not rebel against its queen. The Denizen does not stray far from its Corrupted. The blade does not question whose blood it sheds."
"They don't apply to people. People have the capacity to change. Marionette. I didn't co here to delve into philosophy. You know why I'm here. I hope you can understand why I will not let you kill my Healers."
Frost severed the conversation before it could unfurl. She ca here for but one purpose.
"We have all the ti in the world to converse as you see fit. But that cos after you let my Healers go."
"Amalgam. What are those Healers to you, to wish to tornt them with the agony of self-awareness? Without the Scripts, and without the safety of a Shell, the only cure is through death."
Frost slashed her palm with a nail. The blood that spilled coagulated into a sanguine orb. Not a single drop blessed the ground. It crystalized into a spear, and it hovered by her shoulder. It alone was not enough to damage a Beholder. It instead served as a reflection of her patience.
Death was never a cure. Not for an illness of the mind, nor for trauma. Frost believed in alternatives. Life was precious. But, in a world where people could live in a liquefied state for decades on end, she also would not deny a person the right to euthanasia.
The twins were in recoverable state. Their forms were not permanently altered like the slis of the Crimson Hunger. The Nexus also had the ans to help them overco their trauma.
"Is it wrong for a mother to want the best for her children? As a Nilhinid, didn't your mother do everything she could to nurture you? She was a Healer too."
"Was she?"
Another pair of arms erged from Marionette's robes. Her tone, though hollow, carried a spark of emotion.
"A Nilhinid can only be born from a Healer bred by an Anid. No Nilhinid lives beyond the age of two. Their bodies are too unstable to support itself. In ti, the silk from the lacrimal apparatus consus them."
She bent downward and retrieved a handful of silk. It fizzled away before she could bring it close to her face.
"Weak. Pitiful. Destined to be abandoned. If not, then unloved by an unloving father. But what of a Nilhinid that never knew the warm embrace of its holy mother…"
The last set of hands erged, and she slowly turned to face Frost.
"… or the cold fangs of its father."
Her eyes, a pair of golden orbs mirroring Frost's, suddenly welled with light.
"Purpose has been set into motion. It cannot be stopped. For the sake of the Tenth Act, and for the sake of the fated pilgrimage beyond its sealed door thereafter, you will stand down and cut their strings yourself."
"Is there no other way?"
Frost drew a mote of light from her halo and prepared an [Absolution] empowered attack. Combat was unavoidable. Talking was a fruitless endeavor. The only way to get through to Marionette was through violence.
And even then, she was not convinced that Marionette could co to let the twins go.
"There is a way. But Amalgam, before there were strings there was instinct, and then there was nature. A form of purpose so vile that only the strings may provide them with salvation from themselves. All in the form of a prewritten persona. You will co to understand it. The compulsion of an instinct. The addiction of the taste–"
Her hands rose to the skies. Shimring strands rose from the center of her palms, and the roar of an engine awoke from within the garbs that heavily obscured her body. Her hands then clapped together, summoning a great blade made from string. It erged from the earth, and she gracefully clasped it with one hand.
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Another ford and more followed until all eight arms were equipped with a five-ter-long blade.
Finally, she brought the tips of the blades at a single point. The long shadow it had cast resembled a puppet being manipulated by strings – the insignia of Act X.
"–And the revulsion of an unwanted role. Amalgam. Have you ever thought that there have been Healers who did not wish to beco one? Suddenly, one day, your thoughts are suppressed, and you are no longer who you were."
Beholder Marionette slashed the air. Eight lace whips slashed the ground beside Frost, leaving behind a deep gash.
"They are not your children, Amalgam. The Mother bird cannot claim what does not see itself as a bird as its own. I apologize. But it is the nature of a spider to devour that which is ensnared by its web."
//////// < WARNING > ////////
< A Beholder's Zone of Arbitration Has Been Detected >
|| The Nest of the Moirai ||
< A spinner, a weaver, and the severer. A strand pulled. A strand woven. And a strand cut for the purpose of divination >
< EFFECT: All targets within the Domain of Beholder Marionette have their Fate revealed up to 5 seconds in advance. Stacks with Beholder Skills that grant [Read Fate]. Apply 5 Stacks of [Read Fate] to all targets >
Precognition. I can see, at best, two to three seconds into the future. Five seconds, plus extra from her Skills will put at a major disadvantage… Status.
For the first ti, Frost was granted the unmasked Stats of a Beholder.
Beholder Marionette
< The Living Loom >
Soul Rank: Incandescent | Atelier: Act X
LEVEL : 250
ORIGIN : Anid
HP : 195M
ATT : 900K
MAG ATT : 700K
ATT DEF : 250K
MAG DEF : 250K
MP : 5.9M
RESIST : 30,000
AGI : 89
On paper, the stats were not as impressive as one might expect. However, this only accounted for her base stats. Beholders were known to deal millions of damage using their Beholder Skills, which were not represented in the Stats.
Her base stats also fell in line with the stats of the level 250 Aberration of Lant.
She possessed more HP than Frost, and she suspected her attacks were on par if she used [Absolution] and [Amplification]. Her DEF stats were also quite high, and Marionette's RESIST was the highest she had seen on any stat screen.
And to think Beholder Marionette is the weakest Beholder after Jury… I don't have Nav to connect to the Archetypes.
But she had succeeded against a similar-strength foe before.
"Beholder Marionette. I am not going to let you go unpunished. This is your last warning before you incur the wrath of the Head."
"I have nothing to fear but the failure of my Commandnt."
Frost let out a long, disappointed sigh.
A crown of flaming thorns coiled around her head.
< The Will of the Amalgam Has Reached the Fourth State >
< All Corrupted Zones lower than Apocalypse-class are overruled by the Amalgam's Corrupted Zone >
< Any possessed Corrupted with the matching Affinity may have their skillset and abilities manifested as a Corrupted Zone >
She had nothing to manifest yet. Not until she manifested an Affinity. That can wait. Since Beholder Marrionette's Domain was the equivalent of an Apocalypse-Class Corrupted, she could not overrule it.
But that was only a matter of ti.
"Then you leave no choice."
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