849. The Na of An Agent of Qliphoth//////// < WARNING > ////////
< ??? >
< ??? >
< There is no currently known Threat Level to describe the Arbiter >
< However, we can assu that this is the level of where a Star resides >
White Star Arbiter
< Stardust to stardust. Nebula to nebula. There can only be one >
AFFINITY: Amalgamation
LEVEL : 600
ORIGIN : Star
HP : ???
ATT : ???
MAG ATT : ???
ATT DEF : ???
MAG DEF : ???
ATT DEF : ???
RESIST : ???
AGI : ???
“A Star… a Paradise Lost Corrupted was already enough to bring the end of the world…” Frost croaked.
The Icon of Judgent – a level 500 Corrupted – was already impossible enough to fight without the Conditions. But a level 600 Star was inconceivable. Yet there it was, flying above what used to be Mount Saris.
The Arbiter’s blade pierced into the depths of the world effortlessly. Frost could only imagine what a fight between two Stars would look like. Nothing would remain in Grandis, no doubt.
“That would explain… what we saw with Magus on his floor… ruins, and an endless expanse. Nothing would remain in a world of Stars…” She gurgled on her blood, imdiately prompting Jury to help empty her mouth with her tail.
Jury tried to comfort Frost. It was the only thing she could do now. But she never allowed it to make her feel pathetic. Nothing mattered more than Frost.
Dark moria then spoke.
“Paradise Lost, a Star – there is no difference. What they leave behind is the sa. Desolation for the sake of altering the world to what they believe is correct. As a result, anything can be a Star with enough influence.”
Indeed. Anything could be a Star. But not anything could be what the Arbiter beca. The Affinity of Amalgamation made Frost realize that her form may be similar to what the Crowned was to her. After all, the Arbiter had undergone an Awakening Event like she did for Civilization.
The White Star Arbiter was the 5th and final chapter of the Price of Paradise.
But it did not appear to be anything like a Corrupted… although, the principles that ford them were similar, as Dark moria claid.
Frost sputtered blood again as she uttered:
“Ilya… what on earth… happened to Ilya?” These were the words Iscario wished to say out loud, but he had not moved in over 30 minutes.
Not even his chest rose to indicate that he was still breathing, nor could he bring himself to blink. His entire world revolved around Ilya. It was all aningless if he did not have her in his hands.
His eyes were bloodshot. Not even the sparks that exploded like fireworks around him were able to cause him to squint. Two forces of Qliphoth faced one another. Dark moria’s Qliphoth Field protected them from Iscario’s attacks as well as dark, mirrored spears.
These spears belonged to a different entity that had been watching Iscario since the beginning.
“Ilya was an iteration of the Captured Star.” Dark moria answered.
Frost thought that she would keep her mouth tightly sealed. Dark moria didn’t seem to be the kind to answer such questions for free. Then again, it was Frost who overca her Rewound.
But more than that, Dark moria had ntioned a ‘promise’ to avoid interfering with this world.
“Our truths and epiphanies will do that one no good.”
“I wasn’t the one who broke the promise first. This world’s Captured Star has co far enough where you must have felt threatened.”
The entity that defended Iscario spoke in a feminine, authoritative tone. It was one of utter superiority and domination. Frost could feel her body instinctively attempting to shrink back in the presence of that voice.
It was formless, but she could see a pair of purple eyes gazing back from within the swirling shadows.
“Does your wish entail a Captured Star of your own?”
“I’m simpler than that. If it were up to , then our Amalgam would be tucked away in a little house, deep inside of a forest to live the rest of her life without knowing what kind of world this is. I would have fed her lies until the end of ti.”
Dark moria haughtily spoke, carrying a similar degree of domination.
She then continued:
“Amalgam. Light was always latent within Ilya. Dormant. World-depleting amounts of material were required to power her as with the Captured Star in the Old World. The sooner you think of the Captured Star as a conceptual vessel, the easier it will be to comprehend.”
She explained as she defended them from the entity’s attacks, all the while the Arbiter in the distance released her blade after striking the earth. The shockwave reached them in seemingly an instant. It destabilized both Qliphoth Fields, but not enough for either of them to pierce through.
“What you are seeing is the result of two iterations of the Captured Star fusing to create a Fruit of Light. Even when they are not fully powered, they still carry the sa power that exists beyond the foundation of our world. The Source.”
The White Rabbit ntioned the Source before. It was the enigmatic origin that gave birth to the first miracle of cognition; the Captured Star and the second miracle of cognition; P-Factor Augntation.
Dark moria further added:
“When they ca together, all levels of reality condensed into a miracle-bearing Fruit. The theory behind the Light is that it affects all levels of existence, hence why it can create miracles. Emanation from where the Light and primordial properties exists; Creation from where thoughts and the sea of the Collective Unconsciousness flows; Formation from whence the Rivers flow from Creation to take form, and finally, Action – the material world where formation lives. Us. The material world. Other worlds. Elysia.”
“Can theories be taken as gospel? You’re better than that Dark moria.”
“But they exist, don’t they? A place Beyond the Veil where Stars roam and form. How the Rivers gushed from the Source and sept into the world? They’re real. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be Dragons or beings born from mythological and conceptual Rivers. Tales that have no right to exist here would not walk alongside us.”
“… The Light has reign over all of that?” Jury could not hide her shock.
“It does. It’s an unreasonable power that enabled Elysia’s resets. Interestingly, it resonates strongly with cognition. It’s what brought about the Corruption and whatnot. The best way to describe it would be like a catalyst. Then again, what do we know? What matters more is what it can do, not how.”
Dark moria laughed to herself as she straightened her tie.
“Isn’t that right, Lilith?”
The Third Apostle of the Arbiter. Lilith.
Frost instantly recognized that na. Imdiately, the dark flesh of a woman’s face appeared from the darkness around Iscario. She held an unnaturally youthful appearance. Past the darkness one could see a dark laboratory coat also being worn.
“Ah. To have my na spoken by a lowly Aberration makes wish I could stay to tear your tail out. You’re missing a key detail. It’s not what the Light can do when utilized; it’s what the Light will do when it becos Shattered. We could have had a plethora of new ways to create our perfect selves.”
“Unfortunately for you, the Light resonated with the Arbiter. You saw the nodes of her blade. The once Shattered Light is being restored. The Nexus… I’m not even sure what the Light is for. But the Arbiter would talk of how the Northern Star urged her to restore the Light.”
“An unexpected outco.”
Dark moria and Lilith went back and forth to no end. The information they provided was sparse, but it provided much needed insight into what exactly had happened to the Arbiter.
“She’s beco a being of almost pure Light. Far from a perfect vessel like the Amalgam or your Ilya, but one, nonetheless. Of course, such a form will be difficult to maintain. Regardless, she’s broken her Cycles. Ilya is no longer considered a bearer of Light like the Amalgam, or the prival ‘Her’.”
“… Ilya… won’t be… she’ll no longer be perfect…” Iscario shuddered. “No… Ilya was supposed to be the only untainted thing in this world…”
“Completion begins with the destruction of the self.”
“Ilya…” Iscario couldn’t breathe a mont without her.
“Only then can one be reford into their perfect self.”
The darkness began to eat away at Iscario. They were retreating. Stopping them was futile. Slowly, their bodies were devoured by the darkness. The chanism was closer to teleportation magic than it was with Justica Arm’s tech.
“The Amalgam. ‘Frost’. You were once Sinder. Before that, you were but a child that died endlessly for the sake of humankind. I wonder if those thoughts of Earth are truly yours.”
“… Even if they’re not mine… I still rember earth like it was…” Frost croaked. She returned Lilith’s gaze and saw nothing but an infinitely deep abyss within those purple eyes. “It doesn’t change a thing. Why… is an Apostle of the Arbiter… against her…?”
“Hoh. That miserable doctor would’ve been glad to hear that. Let correct you: I’m more against a certain Archetype of Attachnt and Elysia than the Arbiter. If anything, I am grateful for the opportunity she gave to work on creating the Captured Star. Gihon, the River of Expression, was not easy to drain.”
“But those Rivers exist here, untouched and only lapped by few creatures of the old. Those Triplets are among them, born from the blood of Typhoon who drank from the River Styx, and the Blue Dahlia from Lethe.”
“What do you believe constitutes a perfect self?”
“… is there really a need for that…?”
“The bystander’s take. Unlike Evelyn who tried to bring people to her side. I’m quite fond of your take, believe it or not. It ans you’re not as difficult to deal with as I would have imagined. Stars still sparkle in your eyes. Were it not for your complicated existence, then we may have gotten along.”
“Bullshit… I see right through you…”
“Hoh. Hmhm~ Good. At your pace, a River will not be needed to fatten you up. Nor will harvesting another world of its souls be required. But you’ll eventually co across them like I have. Then you’ll realize how large the cracks are.”
“We will be there to take what’s ours when that day cos.”
“Amalgam. The more Light you accumulate, the larger the ramifications beco.”
Lilith and Iscario began to fade away starting from their legs.
The darkness swirled around them like a vortex.
“AMALGAAAAAAAAAM – THIS IS NOT THE END! I WILL RECLAIM ILYA! ILYA! ILYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA –!”
Eventually, only Lilith’s eyes remained.
“A Shattering of such a scale will be unprecedented.”
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