850. The Battle Has Been Won

850. The Battle Has Been Won

Lilith’s words were spoken in code, but Frost understood the meaning behind it. Another reason as to why Dark Memoria wished for her to stop pursuing the future was revealed.

“Given what you are, it’s inevitable that you will become akin to Fruit of Light yourself.” Dark Memoria confirmed her thoughts. “A Star in our eyes, but a miracle-granting fruit to others. Don’t be surprised when you find yourself in a Captured Star situation one day, trapped inside of a dark vessel to be harvested of your Light.”

Jury’s tail swiped the air in front of Dark Memoria as though to shoo her. It never came across her mind just how powerful the Aberration was. If she so wished, then Jury’s existence could end here.

Instead, Dark Memoria simply straightened her tie again.

“That won’t happen.” Jury severely hissed as she wrapped a tail around Frost’s hand. She cusped her face with both hands and brought her head to meet with hers. “Never… No one’s going to touch Frost. She’ll be too strong for them to try.”

“Nothing is impossible. The effects of the First Shattering resulted in the sun itself turning into a black hole. The fact that a primitive version of humanity managed to attain so much Light proves that there is no guarantee.”

“Don’t you dare imply that it’s going to happen! Not to Frost!” Jury bared her rows of bladed teeth.

Her breath came out like the steam of a brazen bull, and her eyes swelled with unparalleled fury.

“That depends on how much effort is put into prevention methods. Lilith has her eye on you now. Iscario wants to kill you. Uriel wanted to use you as a Rose. Impuritas blame you for their miserable lives. That’s not counting the potential Faux Angels, Corrupted and now the Stars that have seen the Fruit of Light and the Arbiter.”

Dark Memoria listed their worries without a look of concern. It further angered Jury. If she hadn’t saved them then a fight would have broken loose. This was how vexed Jury had become, and it didn’t help that Frost was in such a broken state.

“… Why are there so many enemies…? Wasn’t it supposed to just be Iscario and the Impuritas? Why Frost…?”

“Stars have always been curious of the Light. The Arbiter is the classic example of the big bad wolf. Truthfully, it was the dream of a ridiculous Star. But it bore fruit. Light has been restored to the Nexus.”

“Meaning?” Jury grated her teeth.

“I’m lost myself. The Northern Star the Arbiter kept speaking of may have some answers. For now, I’ve told you all that I know. What more can I say other than the Light grants miracles?”

“At least –!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“It’s fine Jury… She’s helped us enough…” Frost croaked, her voice managing to calm Jury down. “Dark Memoria… What happens now?”

“Celebrate and have a long rest. Though the Stars are notified of the Arbiter’s existence, it will take a long time before they can act. However, there’s no guarantee.”

“But there’s a way right!?” Jury shouted.

“I can’t say.”

“Tch…” It hurt Jury as much as it did for Frost. Dark Memoria had already given them what they needed to know. If anything, she gave them more than what they deserved. It was always like this for enigmatic beings such as the Aberrations.

“But.” Dark Memoria approached the duo. “I can stay. That is, if there is vacancy in the Nexus.”

“You’ll join us…?” It surprised Frost.

She had thought that Dark Memoria would disappear like the White Rabbit. Having Aberration of Elysia as an aly, especially one who governed access to the past would be immensely beneficial.

No, that would be a severe understatement to what this would enable.

“At this point there’s no reason not to.” Dark Memoria dusted her apparel. “I can be a temporary Archetype if you wish. Just being in the Nexus guarantees having someone who can at least defend against Qliphoth. Or, in case you weren’t aware – Annihilation.”

Qliphoth-based attacks had a name, as did Light and P-Factor.

Absolution for Light, Arbitration of P-Factor, and now Annihilation for Qliphoth.

“Mmn. As it turns out, there is more to teach. Hm. Jury. You’re not going to ask if I’ll aid Time Reverberation? How humble.”

“Let me handle Frost first. Deals, your bargains – please let it wait.” Jury begged.

“… it’s not like I’m dying…” Frost tried to smile.

Those were the wrong choice of words.

She should have known better than to joke about her current state. Jury was already on the verge of losing her mind over her, and now, she had no filter left to prevent her tears from pouring down her cheeks.

“It is!” Jury cried. “Frost! How can you say that!? In front of me!? Don’t you see what’s happened to you!? Don’t joke like that! I… I can’t stand it. You constantly end up like this! I promised that I would be the one to protect you! But look at you! Look at me! Why does it always end with you on a pike!? Dark Memoria is right! It’d be better if you could just stay away from this madness!”

A deluge of sadness overcame Jury. She struggled to form words as she clasped onto Frost’s. Despite her anguish, she took care not to worsen her pain.

“But neither of us can escape it!”

“… I’m sorry…”

“Don’t… don’t apologize.” She eventually mellowed into soft sniffles. “I… I just wanted to be there for you. I keep failing.”

She was wrong. Jury must have already forgotten that it was because of her that she was still alive. The fingers of her right hand creaked open. Slowly, she raised her hand.

Jury immediately grabbed it and brought it to her cheek.

“… if it weren’t for you then I would’ve died.”

“Is that enough? For you?”

“More than enough. Jury. It goes the same way for me. You know that, right? I’d rather that you weren’t involved in this. But by the time I realized it…”

“… I was already involved. From the start. Like you, I was blamed before I was even born. They threw me into the Black Forest… Both of us were. Frost. Tch… What did we do wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Jury… rather than thinking about what we did wrong… how about we think about what we did right? They can remember us however they want… but how many more… will look at us… Ghk… Urgh…”

Frost was on the verge of blacking out. The pain was beginning to become too much to bear. Losing her lights here would mean the end of her, as she would not be able to consciously maintain [Corporeal Restoration].

“Frost!? Hang in there! The Little Frosts! We can get them to feed you if you’re out of mana!”

“… like Stars…” She finished.

She wanted nothing more than to rest her head in Jury’s arms. Being held up like this was beyond painful. She didn’t even have the energy to tear up. Her eyes only burned as bloody trails ran down her cheeks and her wounds.

“Jury. Come a little closer.”

“Like this?”

Frost’s body had been endlessly trembling since Jury had arrived. It finally ceased when Jury’s hands carefully wrapped around her. Frost felt like she could ride through the pain so long as Jury was here…

I stopped hearing Nav for a while now. Am I in so much pain that I can’t think straight? Or, are you being considerate? Nav…

… I see. That’s why you… never mind. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.

Thank you.

The battle worn Frost had won. Iscario lost everything important to him, but it didn’t change that he was still alive. Their enemies only continued to grow. But so did their allies.

His time would come eventually. She didn’t have to chase Iscario anymore.

After all, he had a reason to return to her.

And when that day came, she vowed to end him once and for all.

“… Dark Memoria… can you do me a favor?”

“The wolfwoman?”

“Yeah… Is she ok?”

“Ho. Only because she seems important to you.”

With that said, Dark Memoria took her leave. She disappeared with the same dark swirls that surrounded Lilith. Cer had been fighting Raoul for hours now. She could only hope for the best.

Suddenly, a prompt appeared as she slowly closed her eyes.

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