289. We (I) Discarded Many

289. We (I) Discarded Many

//////// < WARNING > ////////

< TRICKLE >

< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET BECKONS >

We Discarded Many

Frost

< Moral compass fallen asunder >

AFFINITY : CivilizationUppTodated from nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)/m

LEVEL : 20ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : 7,200

ATT : 0MAG ATT : 1, 500ATT DEF : 0MAG DEF : 0

MP : 12,000

RESIST : 0AGI : 2

Jury gagged. Her stomach nearly twisted itself clean apart from the rest of her organs. An unrelenting, unforgiving agitation in her abdomen nearly threw her off balance as she and Ber arrived at the scene.

“FROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!” Ber slaughtered every Impuritas, and every Scarlet Logic force within the immediate vicinity, impaling them one by one along each claw. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER! WHAT DID YOU DO TO FROST!”

They gargled on bloody words. For the first time for many, they despaired their inevitable fate. Ber held them high above like a trophy. To onlookers, her form took after a distorted, dying tree with bodies serving as its fruit.

“WHAT DID YOU DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?” Her emotional anguish was not even a fraction of what Jury experienced, as she stumbled along the uneven path, desperately trying to come to terms with the Corrupted Frost ahead.

“No. Please no. Frost... Frost! FROST!” Jury screamed, rushing straight towards the child-like Frost. However, no amount of speed or desperation was enough to bring her even a meter closer the moment she entered a 10-meter proximity of it. “CONDITION!? What’s the Condition! Frost she’s – she’s –!”

< As difficult as it is, I implore that you calm down. Unlike Frost and Ber, your emotions cannot be weaponized. I do not want you to fight if your mind is clouded... >

“There’s no way I can do that right now!” Jury argued, activating [Doppler Strike]. Her afterimages and absurd speed were not even enough. More than 40 after images followed as earth was excavated underneath her.

The smallest shrapnel was enough to obliterate entire sections of walls within this illusionary city. No. Illusionary was wrong. This place was as real as anything else. Jury’s attacks converged into one point, never able to reach Frost as a massive ring of earth sunk from the sheer force alone.

Ignis, taking the healers under her protection, tugged on Jury’s mantle.

“Don’t let her cry anymore. Frost is... someone we can’t let cry like this. I’ll be back!”

“Mm! Please, come back soon. We’ll need everyone on board!” Jury hugged Ignis before the feline Demi-human dashed away, leaving Jury and the triplets to deal with Frost. “Conditions... please Nav! Hurry!” Her eyes were plagued with liquid anguish.

The three pushed onwards, surrounding the untouchable, Corrupted Frost. Her manifestation wasn’t an addon to herself. Rather, the Corrupted had taken over her as Frost began to speak from her heart into theirs.

< “Directionless I lay, my compass of morality broken by faults not that of my own.” >

< “Does it not bother them? That needless suffering can be justified? I fell into the same trap. I tried to protect innocent lives. But they became victims to my wrath.” >

Everyone could hear her. From the triplets, to Scarlet Logic and even the Impuritas. So long as they were within the 10km Corrupted Zone they could hear her sobs. Impuritas cackled at it. Scarlet Logic screamed profanities and judged the voice as a coward. Ber brought down her claws of justice upon them, purposefully grinding down bone, knowing well that they could not die if they even wanted to.

To them, Frost was but one chosen in a sea of a million. An ordinary person. One of the many they had discarded. But similarly, she was also like them.

She was the one who discarded many... and the only one who tried to find her way in her moral conundrum. The signs of the crossroads began to glow, all the while the club in her tiny arms became dull.

Cer trembled after hearing Frost’s words and attempted to break into her shell regardless of Jury’s warnings. She wasted magic and precious mana attempting to save her friend. Her desperation was deadly, and she nearly reverted to a feral state.

“Give me Frost back! Frost! Come back! The Frost I know wouldn’t have fallen like this! The Frost I know... she shouldered everything. Where is the voice when you need it!?” Cer screamed, her fangs of electricity never reaching Frost.

Instead, it only seemed to frighten her. Frost wept, hiding her face behind the cushion.

Humanity

LEVEL : 10 ORIGIN : Trauma HP : 1

< “It’s tender. So long as I have this then I know I’ll make the right choices, right? Right...?” >

< “Which way is the right way? My compass from my world does not work here. My north is their south. My south is their east.” >