64. I Am Fire!
< Level : 75 >
< The Amalgam >
NA : Frost
HP : 35,000 ^5/Min
MP : 8,000 ^5/Min
AGI : 65
RESIST : 60 ( 100)
AGE : 0
ATT : 2,200
ATT DEF : 520 ( 350)
O : 48
D : 1
ORIGIN : Archetype
MAG ATT : 750
MAG DEF : 500 ( 250)
S : 86
E : 45
< [I Am Fire!] >
A flaming shockwave engulfed everything in sight. The fleshy ruins instantly caught alight as Calfasio’s ho crumbled to the heat of his wrath. Having seen this in advance, Frost quickly made her escape with Our Happiest Monts disappearing off, snapping photographs as if in desperation.
Everything within a 20-ter radius was incinerated by their imnse heat as Frost’s body seared, taking an insane 1,450 damage.
Frost | HP: 33,550 | 35,000
“Tch!? It did way more damage to than I thought! I thought this would be a magic attack!” Frost exclaid, wincing hard as she healed herself and moved out into the open. Everything behind her burnt as her body continued to emit steam. “What condition was I hit with!?”
“Burn. You were given 20 effective stacks of Burn!”
“Effective!?” Frost roared, turning back the sound of a fiery explosion.
From the flas erged a rapidly approaching Calfasio, now completely donned in his Corrupted form. A pale, waxy skin covered his entire body as the draped wing periodically dripped hot wax due to the imnse heat.
But that was not all. Frost’s Solemn Counter activated as she swiftly dodged the thrust of a flaming lance, which in contrast to him appeared to be made of flesh. In this brief window of opportunity Frost did the only reasonable thing she could.
Counterattack.
She smashed her fist straight into his stomach, eting imnse resistance as if she had pumled a solid block of steel. Nevertheless, she followed through and sent him skidding backwards along the gravel of flesh and debris.
Only slightly, however.
Calfasio | HP: 497,500
“Effective aning how much is actually affecting you! You are losing 20 HP every second!” Nav made this glaringly clear to her as Frost pressed onwards against Calfasio the exact sa ti the Corrupted man brandished his flaming weapon which Frost quickly realized was Ignis in her completed Corrupted form.
Furthermore, Calfasio had assimilated all of Ignis’ ATT and MAG ATT stats, most likely due to her becoming a weapon.
No. Not his weapon.
She had beco the flas to his unlit wick.
Iron Candle
Calfasio
ATT : 3,000 MAG ATT : 2,200
It beca clear that her main enemy was Calfasio himself.
“CALFASIO! SNAP OUT OF IT!” She exclaid, striking him with insane agility as she continued to rack up Burn stacks just from being within his proximity.
His flaming lance impaled the ground behind her, releasing a torrent of flas which seared the back of her, causing imnse pain.
< [Backfire of Dual Embers] >
Frost | HP: 33,000 | 35,000
But this was not enough to stop her advancents. She wore the flas like wings, standing defiantly before his Corrupted form and exclaid:
“WAKE UP! Calfasio! You can hear , can’t you!?” Despite already knowing that the Corrupted were incapable of communication; Frost desperately tried to save him with words before Nav flashed but a single prompt before her eyes.
< SUBJUGATION REQUIRENT: Iron Candle and Scorched Girl are defeated when their HP reaches 0 >
< “I must burn ever brightly to perish all before . For my dearest Ignis!” >
< “Papa! Am I too needy for wanting milk?” >
It was futile.
The Corrupted were beings of imnse emotion. Hardly sapient, perhaps not even sentient at all. What she saw before her was a father and daughter who were plunged into the pit of despair and had succumbed to their emotions.
Frost could no longer see it any other way. Not for people who themselves had beco Corrupted, rather than the folklore and the residual emotions of the past two Corrupted she faced.
Her heart burnt with a fla much like theirs as she laid her fists into him, knowing well that Calfasio and Ignis were now a major threat to the others. She did not want to kill them. Rather, she needed to keep them at bay until she figured sothing – anything out save them.
There was no possible way the others would be able to survive a single second in their presence.
“WHERE THE FUCK IS THE REALIZAION CRITERIAAAAA!” Frost yelled right before Calfasio thrust the lance up high and scorched the air itself. It beca near impossible to breathe now as she rapidly backed off, and monts later –
< [I Am Fire!] >
Another flaming shockwave quickly engulfed everything around it. The Abominations that foolishly strayed close were instantly reduced to dust as Frost watched her HP drop at around 30 per second. She moved amongst the Abominations just at the edge of its attack, healing herself thoroughly as she ravenously devoured them along the way.
“[Cleanse]! Agh! Nav, this is going to be a battle of attrition! I hate to admit it, but these fucking things are my lifeline now!” Frost heaved, finding it difficult to breathe, for every breath she took scorched her lungs as if she had just inhaled an acidic mist.
An entirely different breed of agony engulfed her.
She entered a coughing fit as the Corrupted Calfasio swung his lance forward and pointed it towards her direction.
“You are not the only one on a tir! Calfasio is also rapidly losing HP as we speak! Like a candlewick, the flas are going to burn him out as well!”
Frost’s eyes widened in disbelief when she heard this. She simultaneously anticipated his movents and attacked him with Biased Verdict. The ground split from beneath him as a Scorched Tree strangled him up high. In this brief mont of vulnerability, Frost snapped her jaw in his direction as she lunged straight towards him.
[Prejudice].
Calfasio | HP: 481,300
And seconds later, she watched it drop again.
Calfasio | HP: 479,500
Ignis on the other hand did not take any damage. As a weapon Frost had to wonder if she was invulnerable to all damage. The thought of Calfasio’s death being the trigger that would allow her to take damage caused imnse anguish as she sent a devastating Punch straight into Calfasio’s undefended chest.
“DAMMIT ALL! CALFASIO! PLEASE – I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!”
However, she was caught off guard in her briefest mont of blindness.
Frost’s heart would not allow her to kill him. It yearned to save him despite the overwhelming odds that were stacked against her. But a Corrupted that existed solely with the conviction to reduce all to cinders was bound to burn the hand that desperately tried to rescue it.
And so, she paid the price.
< [Fla of a Fleeting Ember] >
Calfasio buried his weapon into Frost’s stomach, only just barely stopped by her hands as a flaming explosion erupted right behind him. In the next mont, Frost was shoved along the entire length of the city center, spearheaded at the tip of his lance as her feet dragged along the rubble, ploughing through countless Abominations.
< [Final Onrush] >
He accelerated, pinning Frost to the whims of the lance as she found it near impossible to remove herself from its tip. They pieced straight through the folds of the Plagued Heart. In an instant, the red surroundings turned to the grey and pink of the city ruins.
“[GREATER HEALING]!, [GREATER HEALING]!, [GREATER HEALING]! Agh – Angh!”
< “We woe. We cry. We scream. We beg. We all want these flas to stop burning. But in this world, we need it more than anything else!” >
< “Did I hurt mama? I’m sorry!” >
Each wall they smashed through caused her HP to drop by a significant 2,000 as she rapidly accumulated up to 40 stacks of Burn until they finally reached one, final wall where an explosion of flas engulfed everything on sight.
The lance had pieced straight into her abdon, boiling her blood and imitation organs at its very presence. However, this gave her ti to finally act. Boasting superior strength, she shoved the lance out and instantly took rabid bites at them, from both the lance and Calfasio’s wrists in an attempt to disarm him.
And it worked!
However, as soon as she grasped onto the fleshy handle of the flaming weapon –
“It’s – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
– Every fiber of her being felt like it was set alight.
The pain could not be described as physical. It was as if the flas cusped her very soul with its heat as her mind was wracked with ntal anguish.
“AAAGH! WHAT IS – THIS PAIN!?”
“Do not wield Ignis! That – it only causes those who wield it misery!”
As a result, she threw the weapon far away, forced to retreat with her HP barely handing on by a thread now. She clawed at the walls along the ruins and ate at the overgrowing flesh, entering a cycle of replenishing her mana and healing herself before they reached the city center again.
“Fuck… I hate this. I hate everything about this. Why do I have to kill him to save him? Why is the Realization Criteria hidden Nav?” She spoke as if begging for a miracle to happen, knowing well that Calfasio was destined to die. “Why is it always so hard to save soone!?”
“Frost… I cannot see the world like you do. I can only discern what is right and wrong based on whether or not they are a threat us. But if there is soone you should bla – then turn to the Nexus.”
“… Is the Nexus our enemy, Nav? You ensured that the Arbiter was on my side, but what about the others? The Ateliers? The Blessed? The Beholders? I was betrayed by a Star of the Nexus, brought to unforeseen lands… There is no gimmick here like the One Thousand Eyed Bird.”
Frost scathingly spoke, watching the brimming flas sweep over the city as Calfasio made his appearance, his hands now fully grown back, as well as the chunks that she ate from Ignis.
“Dammit… We’ll have to take his weapon away. But I don’t know easy that’s going to be.”
The pain was not sothing she could withstand. It was unbearable and its effects still lingered. She could only imagine the perpetual agony Calfasio endured as he clutched onto that weapon almost naturally. He pointed his lance towards Frost again, his HP now reaching 450,000.
< [Fuel Are mories] >
A sudden heatwave engulfed everything again and his stats soared up once more.
Iron Candle
Calfasio
ATT : 4,000 MAG ATT : 4,000
< “I must burn ever brightly for my dearest daughter!” >
< “I always wanted to thank you, but I thought it would be weird to say it out loud.” >
The photographs she kept hidden suddenly grew hot. She clambered to pull them out, keeping a constant eye on Calfasio as she brought them to her face.
Sohow, Ignis’ image was slightly blurred now in every single photo as a few of them fizzled into ashes.
It was then that Frost realized the true horror behind Fuel Are mories.
“No… he’s – He’s losing his mories of Ignis!”
“The Captured mories are the proof of this, no? You can see it. I cannot fathom the notion of using mories to empower oneself.”
“Calfasio…”
< [Rember] >
Sowhere, Our Happiest Monts was trying its best despite its futility.
While he was still standing there in the distance, Frost used Dismissed Confession now realizing that fighting him head on would be suicidal. However, there was no other way she’d be able to remove Ignis from him again. Her strands also wouldn’t last a single second in the presence of their flas either.
Additionally, Dismissed Confession did not make him speak. Their RESIST stat was so absurdly high that it did not matter the slightest. And besides –
“That is not sothing that will work on a Corrupted I’m afraid.” Nav warned. “They are already speaking with their twisted hearts.”
Frost’s heart wracked with everlasting hatred as she turned to the Nexus behind her just for one mont. She judged them. She judged all of them for allowing this to occur right at their very doorsteps. They had the forces here to save them. And yet the abandoned them.
The people who were turned into the Crimson Hunger. The people who suffered at the hands of this madness… and the friend who rely wanted to be strong enough to support his dearest daughter; Corrupted by the unfair cruelty of it all.
< The Second State Has Manifested as Judgent >
< UNIQUE | PASSIVE: Hysteria >
< We accused one another of the sin of one >
< On death, the Judge’s Aid are reborn as miniature reflections of yourself. They carry your Will as their armants to enact your rightful judgent >
< UNIQUE | ACTIVE: Judgent >
< Was it worth eating what was forbidden by the King? >
< Enact Judgent. One single target may take up to 300,000 damage. Unavoidable and may only be used once >
Although Calfasio was her enemy, the Nexus was the subject of her eternal judgent. The aura surrounding her changed as she carefully observed the battlefield, seeing the runaway Abominations spill further into the blazing city whilst the others fought for their lives within the inn and its surrounding streets.
These Abominations were stronger now, likely strengthened as a result of their resistance.
A few of her Judge’s Aids began to shatter, and from the glass shards erged a form that appeared like a child-like version of herself, around the sa size as the cat-eared girl who could only watch with stupor, as if she was stuck inside of a nightmarish fever dream.
Each wielded a pale stake and pounced on the Abominations with little regard for their own life. This bought her much more valuable ti as she stared down Calfasio, watching his HP whittle away.
“How… How can I judge them when they did nothing wrong? How can I judge normal people who just wanted to live in this hell!?” Frost let loose of a wild woe, marking the next stage of their battle.
“It would be wise to take Ignis out with Judgent –!”
“NAV! How could you!? I want to save them! The Realization Criteria works on the Corrupted! All of them! It must work on those two! I want to give them my Blessing and bring them back! My prejudices are reserved for the Ateliers!”
< [I Am Fire!] >
Calfasio | HP: 430,200
This ti, his area of effect was a substantial 30 ters, wiping everything out within its vicinity. Though she was another few dozen ters away from the edge, her vision waned to the heat that caused the very ground to grow a bright orange. In fact, the world steadily turned orange as a result of the smoke, the flas and Calfasio’s re presence which completely distorted their surroundings.
< “World of titans allows us to live only in the mud of its feet.” >
< “Why is it that everyone around looks so sad. Was my happiness painful for them?” >
“Even if saving them isn’t guaranteed?”
“Guaranteed matters little if we don’t try! That’s why – I have to remove Ignis from him. So he can stop burning. That way we might be able to figure sothing out!”
“All the while the Plagued Heart is still throbbing with life?”
“Don’t try to convince otherwise! Nav… please, let hold onto what I have left of my damned past self! I won’t be like them! Let try! Let keep extending my arms out even if this world labels it as wrong! If my hands burn – then so be it! I’d rather die being wrong in the eyes of the world than be like any of them!”
This was her conviction. It had never changed since the beginning. Her rights and wrongs were perhaps illogical in this world, but she’d be damned to let soone die. Soone to suffer all because of the incompetence of the world’s ‘deities’.
However – she also deeply understood that there was a chance she would not be able to save them. Frost however blinded by her valor knew that life was a fleeting thing. It was always her job to help people, no matter how futile, how diseased, how painful, and how distraught it all was.
What mattered the most to her was that there was a wholehearted attempt.
And so, she briskly moved as Calfasio pointed his lance towards her again.
< [Fla of A Fleeting Ember] >
The flas exploded behind him, and he rushed onwards encased in a flaming aura that distorted its imdiate surroundings. He was fast, and the longer he chased the faster he beca. Frost used the urban ruins to her advantage, avoiding him with ease before she caught him in the branches of Biased Verdict.
However – this lasted only montarily. The heat was so imnse that it almost instantly incinerated the already burnt tree. Frost had to retreat and feed on more of the Crimson Hunger just to replenish her HP. They were like two candles trying to withstand the fla that was Ignis, growing stronger as Calfasio’s wax body further cracked each ti his HP dropped.
The cycle was near endless. The cat and mouse ga saw the city burn as the skies choked with smoke. Frost’s only viable attack was Dismissed Confession, but at this point she did not think it would be needed.
Calfasio was going to die regardless of her intervention.
“Nav… I’ve hit 0 HP before. When I Awakened as the Amalgam. Will I die if I hit 0 HP again?”
“Unlikely... No. I truly do not know. I believe there may be consequences.”
“… as always.” Frost hissed.
< [Rember] >
Once again, the weak little critter snapped pictures of him. It was dangerous for such a low-HP creature to remain while the city caught alight, and yet it did not care the slightest for its own safety.
It just wanted Calfasio to rember.
Calfasio | HP: 370,000
And as if to spite it –
< [Fuel Are mories] >
Iron Candle
Calfasio
ATT : 5,000 MAG ATT : 5,000
< “I must burn ever brightly to perish all for my dearest one!” >
< “Does mama hate ? Do you hate ? You never told why mama never ca back after I was born. You always looked so sad when I asked…” >
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