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965. Smashing Through Dimensions
🕑 Added 2025-03-24 04:14:29 +0000 UTC“You were never born naturally. The image of human beginnings is the egg surrounded by flagellates! The Soul is unattainable. But the image of human perfection will always be within reach!”
Its limbs jackhammered into the ground and launched it forward in an attempt to break free from Frost. However, Frost’s one hundred arms latched onto it before it could completely disappear.
She crashed through countless metal sheets, her heels scraping the ground as she surfed the uneven terrain.
“I couldn’t give a shit if a heap of scrap has a soul or not! Humanity is a quality! Not an image!” Frost cried.
Suddenly, superheated steam erupted from the body of the entity. Thin strands were drawn from its hands and feet thanks to Frost’s [Steel Strand] Ability. Since it was rolling, it inadvertently wrapped itself up.
“YOU’RE AN ABOMINATION TO BOTH HUMANITY AND MACHINE!”
Frost thrust her legs into the earth. Realizing it would not be enough to stop them, she summoned a barrier of light beneath her feet. Hundreds of cracks formed along its surface before it shattered.
She tried again, and again – but her barrier was taking far too much damage to remain.
< What are you trying to achieve Frost? >
“I need to beat some sense into this stubborn machine. It doesn’t feel pain. It doesn’t understand human suffering. The only language this thing understands –!”
A brilliant flash of light appeared in Frost’s chest. It traveled through her arms before gushing forward to create a colossal, 30-meter barrier of light.
“– IS VIOLENCE!”
|| Amplification – Starlight Barrier ||
|| Heliospheric Repulson ||
< EFFECT: Create a barrier of light anywhere within a 200-meter radius. Blocks all physical and magical attacks. Maximum size of the barrier may not exceed 100 meters in circumference >
< BARRIER HP: 5,000,000 >
The sudden, tearing force that was exerted on her body as she came to a complete stop was enough to rip a warship in half. It had already lost several hundreds of thousands of HP – a testament of the sheer kinetic energy involved.
Yet she remained unfazed, and instead, reeled the Corrupted towards her.
She leaped from the barrier, using it like a floating stepping stool. The red mist coagulated into a massive, 20-meter double-helix lance. Then, she drove it into the eye of the Corrupted with perfect precision.
“!?!?!?!?!”
Digital screams came from the Corrupted.
But Frost was only halfway done with her attack.
She thrust a hand behind her as she summoned a regular [Starlight Barrier] behind her. This was not because she wanted to use it as leverage.
Rather, it was to protect the others behind her.
|| Detonation ||
Frost combined this with [Punch] to hammer it deeper into the chest of the beast. Both went flying forwards horizontally, the ground never becoming closer no matter how many seconds passed.
“What does it matter to you that I no longer obsess for a Soul? The mother may be infatuated with it, as are my brethren. But I have now found the truth of it all. The Soul ultimately matters little. It is a limitation… especially in a world where Soul-devourers exist!”
“I wouldn’t have had to devour Souls in the first place if your brethren didn’t try to kill me first! I never would have found out I was capable of it!”
“Preposterous. Like you and I, we were born with a design in mind. The difference is that you were given consciousness. A gift of the living. But… consciousness… Is that a necessary function of life? Wasted energy for unneeded executions. Do humans believe in this hedonistic way of life? It must be a curse.”
“Is your overindulgence on amassing all these bodies not the same thing!?”
They were approaching a fork in the path. If they did not stop, then they would collide with the wall. But it didn’t matter to Frost where they’d end, or what would happen afterwards. Jury was more than enough to keep the machines at bay.
As for this thing…
“No. Why the hell am I even trying? Your Ego’s been crystalized. It’s impossible to get into your mind anymore.”
[Progenitor Art: Ego – Die Agnosis] did not work on it. It was said to work on those who had already Corrupted. But the fact that she was adamantly rejected meant that there was no room in its heart nor Ego to accept her murmurs.
Once an Ego Crystalized… it was final.
Or at least in the vein of Ego Corruption.
Lailah
< The Shadow exists in the backdrop of the mind >
< The Ego on the other hand, is in the forefront closest to the Self >
< I can see it being theoretically possible to reverse it >
< But it is worrying that you cannot intervene >
< I would like to study that one. Please do keep it alive if possible >
She gained the confirmation she needed. An excuse to keep it alive. The only thing that irked her was that it could not feel.
But it made a distorted scream when I punctured its eye…
Frost grinned to herself as they crashed through the Site’ walls. It glowed white hot just moments before they did, making tens of meters worth of thick steel all the more malleable.
< [Stabilized Anchor] >
< The egg becomes the zygote. Part of its strategy to reach maturity is to remain in the womb of the Mother >
< EFFECT: Anchor yourself down and increase all DEF stats by 100%. 500% protection against piercing attacks >
< COST: 3,000 MP >
Exactly three thousand arms launched in various directions. It tried to stop itself from being dragged further into the Site.
“NO YOU DON’T!”
[Progenitor Art: Wrath – Rupture].
Thousands of bloody slashes engulfed the world. Everything within a 50-meter radius was subjected to a death by a thousand cuts. Arms that attempted to grab the walls were severely damaged, but it did not stop them from trying.
To prevent them from anchoring down, Frost threw purple arcs of plasma to cut through the dark material. If the arms could not be cut quickly enough, then she only needed to destroy the anchor point.
“I cannot detect it!? Your movements were trackable until now!”
“I’m starting to wonder just what the hell you know if you weren’t aware of what the fuck I’m capable of!”
“Inscribed information on you claims that you’re unmistakably the False Progeny. But to wield this kind of strength–!”
“I was wondering what the difference between you and the Crimson Hunger were. You strike me as being not all that different with the talks of completion.”
She began as they suddenly entered a space containing hundreds of churning gears. A faint, red and black glow could be found lurking in the great distance. They collided with tens of gears. Anytime it seemed like they were slowing down, Frost would kick off her [Starlight Barrier] to further propel them forward.
Gears shattered by mere proximity to them. She rolled around, bashing the Corrupted against as many gears as possible before smashing through another wall.
“They have the capacity to learn and evolve! Every human they bring back adds to their wealth of information!”
They arrived in a world submerged in pure Liquid Nex. It swirled up, down and along the walls as though unaffected by gravity. A bright blue hue shone from deep beneath, illuminating the world in a vibrant light that banished the darkness that plagued the Sixth Level.
Only the center of the enormous chamber did not have Liquid Nex floating around.
“The capacity to change is a component of humanity that you will never understand!”
Another wall approached. But this time, Frost wanted to see if there was more than what met the eye in this place.
“They learn from each death. But in your blind obsession, nothing you learn is recovered! I’d blame it on your lack of a Soul, but you don’t even put in the effort to attempt to experience the world despite yearning it!”
She activated [Non-Euclidian Interpretation] and was immediately greeted by pathways where there was no wall at all. Thanks to the Brightlight Pollinator’s buff, she could have this Skill active for as long as she wished.
All Skills requiring MP could be used for the next 24 hours free of charge.
As it turned out, physical barriers did not section off these interior pieces of the Site. Instead, there were massive, kilometer-long gaps that hid in the higher dimensions of space.
She flew right over one, using [Detonation] to ensure that they would clear the gap. A terrible void resided beneath them.
Far below she could feel a faint, humming heat. The sheer number of these pits was alarming, and it was where the darkness was disposed of.
Somewhere, deep beneath the world in a spatial slice hidden from plain view were the dumping grounds of Qliphoth.
“How can we experience things when we lack the capacity to begin with?”
“A start would be an attempt to learn! But from everything I’ve seen so far – Infecta Rot…!”
Once the pit was cleared, they reached a room containing exactly twenty-six pendulums. Each had an English grapheme etched into the black metal. They swung over a pit of Liquid Nex, and far above were ethereal clouds that shone with a faint, blue light.
“… Will smother the world in Silicon Rot. When humans are gone and trapped in crystals, then what will really be ‘human’ in that kind of world!?”
This place must be connected to the Fate Mechanism.
< These pendulums operate on the vibrations of the Site itself >
< They return power straight into the Fate Mechanism alongside completed missions >
She crashed through an incoming pendulum. Its force was enough to throw them backwards, but they were soon struck by yet another. It propelled them back on the right path as they shifted through a space that seemed to have more than four cardinal directions.
Frost’s mind could barely keep with what she was seeing. Her only saving grace were her countless invisible eyes that gave her omnidirectional vision.
“It is the unification of organic and inorganic. Silicon life… would it not be a great sight to behold?”
“Never. Not at the cost of all life that came before it!”
Finally, they burst through one last wall and found themselves back in the dark hallways. This time, however, Frost was able to see dozens of tiny orbs of Light in the distance.
People? Could it be White Midnight!?
< The possibility is high >
< They may be protecting the Nex Refinery >
Her goal now was to reach the Nex Refinery. Once there, then she’d finally maim this Corrupted and leave it to be recovered later.
However, it was not going to give up so easily.
“Why not? Both can coexist in a singular form…”
//////// < WARNING > ////////
< QLIPHOTH BASED SKILL DETECTED >
“TCH!”
A dark halo appeared in the iris of the Corrupted. It was a complete, unbroken ring unlike the shattered halo of Absolution.
Then, it began syphoning the world around it again.
Only this time, it was at a level of power that crumpled the very foundations of the Site inwards.
< [Q] [Everlasting Bonds] [Q] >
< When it is all said and done, matter is matter. Humanity follows but a different blueprint >
< EFFECT: Annihilation version of Co-Dependent Bonds. Begin syphoning surrounding organic and inorganic materials. Replenish HP and Overheal up to 30% of max HP. Replenish MP if metal or limbs are absorbed. 65-meter radius >
< COST: 5 Qliphoth >
ATT : 15,500 MAG ATT : 12,000
“Am I seeing this correctly Nav!? That’s 27,500 damage in TOTAL! FOR AN ETERNAL NIGHT CORRUPTED!”
< Be glad that it did not multiply the damage by 20x like your First State Absolution [Punch] does >
Nav was right.
It could be worse.
Much worse.
