Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)-Chapter 1129. Rebirths
“It was never your fault! I did this to myself! I never gave you two the time, nor the space to talk about how I felt!” Once Raoul was close enough to the butterfly, she stabbed it with her greatsword.
It sank into its tender flesh, and she felt bones rattle against the edge of her blade from deep within its body. At the same time, Cer intercepted a spear as it soared in midair. It could not be destroyed, so she deflected it onto another statue.
“You don’t have to feel like it’s your fault. I drove myself into a corner because I refused to open my heart to you! I was afraid. I was a coward!”
Each following strike she made was charged with overflowing emotion. The blade suddenly became heavy. In her heart, she did not have the conviction to hurt them like this, even though it was healing them.
Eventually, Cer returned to eliminate the butterfly, causing it to separate down in the middle.
Butterfly | HP: 424,000
Zodizygotmortem | HP: 11,000,000
< “Opened up?” >
< “Cruelty opened our hearts up too.” >
< “Opened up hurtly.” >
< “For a long time.” >
Ber’s Interrogating Clock violently trembled. Its hands spiralled out of control before the clock projected a mirror above the twins. Golden cracks ran through it as a distant memory played.
“… This shouldn’t be possible. The Interrogating Clock… Is for locations.” Ber was shocked but quickly composed herself as she realized that it was likely interacting with the Corrupted Zone.
Perhaps this scrapyard contained its buried memories, hence why it was working. Nex was strange. To question it was to be confronted with endlessly branching questions with no answer in sight.
“It’s mine.” Res confirmed, revealing her own Traumatic Clock. “And a bit of yours too… The train incident wasn’t your fault. You can’t blame yourself for it.”
The butterfly fizzled into a dark liquid that vanished before it touched the ground. Then, one layer was stripped away from the zygote, reducing the maximum HP of the Corrupted by 1,000,000.
Zodizygotmortem | HP: 10,000,000
< [Petal Plucking] >
A second entity descended from the Zodizygotmortem. This time, it was a rat with a conjoined head. It stood upright on two legs, and its spine was bent in an irregular shape, causing its chest to flare. It had no mouth to scream with. In its chest beat a heart that seemed to speak for it through rapid, depressed heartbeats.
< “Where were we…” >
< “A long time ago.” >
< “Laboratory subjects.” >
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< “Conjoined because no one wanted us.” >
As the battle restarted with this new form, the memories of the twins appeared in the golden, cracked frame above.
Long ago, during an unknown time, the twins had lived a normal rural life in Emvita. They were smaller back then, and the blank faces of loved ones surrounded them. Every day was the same mundane task of fetching water for the village. Breakfast, lunch and dinner rarely changed from day to day. The two were not satisfied with their lives, but they were happy because they were surrounded by people that loved them.
One day, they were given an offer to become better.
The offer came from Luminal Synchrony.
Promises of a new life sparked them with the hope of changing their lives, as well as their loved ones for good. Perhaps through this offer they could finally move into the larger cities where it was safer during the nights.
However…
“… When I found you two, in the basement of the abandoned Lighthouse, they ripped your humanity apart.”
The image revealed various subjects that were fused into a single organism. Every face that was either stationed on a dissection table, a cage, or in a vat of fluids were from their village.
The twins were their prized experiment. They had gone numerous fusions, to the point where they became near catatonic. Raoul rescued them out of pity. She planned to part ways with them once the mission had ended, but to her surprise, the two: after they had been sawed off from each other’s backs: clasped onto her.
The reason was simpler than one could imagine.
Raoul was no more than the only person who had come for them.
That alone meant the world to them.
“I regret being able to take your hands. To tell you to trust me. I let you latch on without assuring you who or what I was.”
The rat’s chest expanded. Blood curdled within before it released a beam of blood at Raoul.
< [Conjoined Origin] >
It clashed with Cer’s extended hand. The blood cascaded around them, creating a dome that barely missed Raoul’s perked ears. Her eyes became moist as the memories of her first encounter with the twins were broadcast to the world. Regrets of that forgotten time crept into the recesses of her heart, threatening to unmake her.
But Raoul refused to allow her heart to break.
“Do you blame yourself for what happened to the villagers?” Cer’s expression softened as the attack faded.
The combat continued in the background. Res and Ber did not stop annihilating its Denizens, and they quickly took the mantle of destroying the statues as they appeared. The attacks of the Corrupted were slow and highly choreographed, as if it truly did not intend to injure them.
In fact…
< [To Be Pierced] >
< [To Be Pierced] >
< [To Be Pierced] >
< [To Be Pierced] >
< [To Be Pierced] >
< [To Be Pierced] >
Cer flickered in place as she intercepted these spears at ridiculous speed. It appeared as though she had not moved from where she was standing. The Zodizygotmortem was aggressive in attempting to attack itself, but far too passive against them.
Corrupted were a reflection of oneself, even if it was the Shadow.
The message here could not be clearer, and Cer’s heart wrenched at the sight of the misery the twins had been carrying all this time.
“… I blamed myself for what happened to the children of my village at one point.”
This time, it was Cer’s memories that was being broadcast. A little, bloodied Cer sat at the edge of the river. Beneath its inconspicuous surface was a cavern known to sweep those who swam underneath into the Underflow.
Cer did not admit it. But the expression she wore in that memory was telling of what was going through her mind. For a second, she inched closer to the water with resignation, only for a voice to call out her name.
She turned, and she saw a panicked Raoul who extended her hand towards her.
“It took me a long time to understand that I felt guilty because people blamed me for it. I was just a kid who didn’t know any better. We were all just kids. You were too. How can you blame yourself for being snatched away?”
Cer gave Raoul a nod, and the two pushed forward to eliminate this Corrupted. Raoul swung her greatblade, repairing its HP before Cer landed the finishing blow.
“You did nothing wrong.” Raoul whispered. “Neither to them, nor myself.”
< “Hurt them.” >
< “When nature is to heal.” >
< “Became unwanted.” >
< “Grew wings, not by choice.” >
It was impossible to converse with a Corrupted. They were still too far deep into their sorrow that Raoul’s voice could not reach them. Once the rat died, another layer burst like a popped pimple, and a third being was born.
Zodizygotmortem | HP: 9,000,000
< [Petal Plucking] >
A wingless bird with two exposed hearts crooked its neck. The pale bird was barely taller than five meters. In place of its wings were stubby talons that eerily resembled the prosthetic the Wandering Healers use to administer their Serums.
< “Unwanted transformation.” >
< “Unwanted birth.” >
After travelling with Raoul for a short while, the twins underwent a transformation. They became Healers. The freedom that they had to express themselves became suppressed. Trust was hard enough to build after being experimented on by people who fed them false promises, and being betrayed by other people seemed normal to them.
But being betrayed by one’s own existence caused them to slowly deteriorate. They couldn’t voice their concerns to Raoul. He wasn’t the kind to concern herself heavily in matters that didn’t threaten their lives, so they shut it away and kept smiling.
Though they had become Healers… it would be incorrect to say that it was a tragedy.
Because Raoul remembered the time they spent together, as did the triplets. The twins were the highlights of their days: the sunshine after a storm. Whenever they returned from a mission, the twins would be the first person to greet them with nothing but a welcoming smile.
And for that reason, Cer had desperately wanted them to smile back after…
After…
“I made the mistake of leaving your side. We were happy. What little love I had available in my heart was filled by you. I remember the nights we spent talking about the stars. I avoided warning you about them. I still had my regrets from speaking those truths.”
