Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

713. To Chase A Fallen Star

Like Cer, his own electrical field countered hers, allowing him to remain within her field without taking damage. Additionally, a small, thin line of electricity connected them together.

This was because of their Ability – [Charged Blood Tether].

But unlike the link that bonded and enhanced Cer and her sisters, their bond was destructive, causing both to rapidly lose MP just to maintain it. She resumed her assault on the wolf. The problem with fights against Moons was that they were not instantaneous and a guessing game at large, as they could not see each other’s stats.

Still, she didn’t relent.

“I must. Cer. I have seen what those people can do.” Raoul warned. “How they were able to manipulate light with their bare hands. Mother could do the same. Infinite possibilities come from what they call the ‘Light’!”

“You know about the ‘Light’…?”

They were mutually surprised that they knew what the ‘Light’ was, resulting in Raoul pulling out a blue lens from his pocket. Cer’s eyes widened, and mid combat, she hurled an electric lance at Raoul out of pure spite.

He narrowly dodged it with a backwards leap, surprised by Cer’s newfound Skill.

“I thought Blessed couldn’t learn Skills –”

“HOW COULD YOU!?” Cer screamed, her eyes wide like she was on the verge of tears. “That’s… Res’ Cognition Filter. Her Atelier Lens… How could you. We buried it with mom on that day and you just… robbed her grave… Raoul. She’s gone. She’s resting now. Accept it and move on! You’re the one telling me that I haven’t changed, but what about you!? What gives you the right… to keep making mom suffer?”

Cer was Tempered enough to withstand the Second State. However, her sanity waned in light of Raoul’s intentions to resurrect the Blue Dahlia.

“You saw what happened to Res!” She disregarded all attacks made on her by the wolf and charged Raoul.

He was not fast enough to avoid her, resulting in him being dragged across the length of the city. Walls fell as destruction followed in their wake. Cer buried her face in his chest, repeatedly shouting: “Why!?”

Raoul suffered heavy damage as Cer gnawed at him from up close but refused to use [Electric Fang] out of fear of possibly mortally wounding him. He could have done the same, but likewise, the man did not wish to kill his own sister.

“Goodbyes were left unsaid. What do you know about the Light? What could the Nexus offer me that they can’t!? Every passing day I had to watch the twins roam the Common Hub of the Nexus with nothing resembling life in their eyes! Like mother – this world robbed us of the lives of the people we cherished!”

They tumbled through the air, exchanging blows in close quarters combat. Both crashed atop a bridge that crossed a gorge that tore through a section of the city. It quaked under their mere presence as Raoul swiftly struck Cer’s stomach.

“Gaaah!”

She did not even see his hand. It moved like a blur, and before she could realize what was happening, a second punch coated in darkness connected with the side of her body.

Raoul’s expertise did not come from his bizarre magic despite how powerful it was.

Rather, it was in his martial arts.

“Light, Cer, carries infinite possibilities. Our mother tapped into one such possibility and gained the power –!”

The tables shifted on Cer. She was confident with her strength as a Moon and her Corrupted Persona to take Raoul down.

“– To erase existing concepts, memoires… thoughts and text scribed into the world!”

Yet Raoul was on equal… no, far from equal. Though their stats must have been similar, Raoul was one of the few people in the Nexus whose combat experience surpassed the triplets.

This was Raoul’s element.

His offensive left Cer battered as she tried to fend him off. She couldn’t even open her mouth quick enough to conjure an [Electric Fang]. She needed to manifest more of her Corrupted Persona to even stand a chance.

Cer | HP: 30,000 | 50,000

Or she could wait till her HP dropped low enough to activate [Craving Blue Currant]’s conditional effect.

At some point Raoul noticed that electrical attacks were doing the opposite to Cer, which was why he moved to more physical attacks. The onslaught lasted for minutes as they crashed around the city, flattening every building in a two-hundred-meter radius.

Each punch that landed on each other generated a shockwave which devastated structures like a house of cards.

“Light is the reason why Colors are able to gain Original Magic! Light is why Colors are Colors! And Light –!”

He threw Cer into the air as his wolf leaped out from his shadow, attempting to capture Cer.

“– Is why it will be possible to make amends. Cer. Do you know why this world is so infatuated with us!?”

She twisted her body and escaped with a quick burst of [Galvanic Current], narrowly avoiding the bite as she landed meters away from Raoul, panting heavily. Blood pooled beneath them both, but Cer was worse off by far.

Cer | HP: 26,000

She had sustained significant internal injuries. A little more and she could take Raoul on. Although now that she realized it, Raoul seemed to have been holding back.

One look at the Wuthering Resignation was proof enough. Furthermore, the size of his dark wolf was only five meters compared to the twenty-meter version.

… Raoul was always strong, but what happened to him to become this much stronger? Then again… I don’t know what kind of Star he was to begin with. Or what he is now… Tch.

Breathing even the slightest caused cracks to emit within her body. Cer was about to reach in to down a healing potion. However, Raoul reached into his Dimensional Storage and threw Cer a white vial of Serum H.

“… what… are you planning…?” Cer growled, hesitating to drink the liquid. “Tell me then… get it over with… tell me more about your delusions… you wouldn’t go this far for no reason... Tch.”

Raoul breathed a sigh of relief as he winced lightly. Like Cer, he suffered internal damage, likely the first time in years hence his reaction to the pain that the likes of Cer were used to.

How much damage she inflicted was not known, but the two knew that if they went any further, then one of them would be killed.

He held out his hand, prompting Cer to throw the vial back to him. He drank half to prove it was indeed a Healing Serum and returned it with a light toss.

“You’re more competent than I remember. Cer. If you know of the existence of the Light, then you already know that people have a spark of Light inside of them.”

“I’m more surprised that you know about it.”

“Enough. Listen to me. Then you also know that there are people with more Light than others. There are two main groups of people, but collectively, the Red Wing calls them a ‘broken thorn’. The Seers of Evelyn. They can see the shape of a person’s soul, like what mother could do… and us.”

“… Us? Is this because of our… red eyes?”

Raoul nodded.

“That Angel… and father called us Children of Adam. We’re a special case. We’re children born from both sides, so we carry much more Light than normal people. More Light than other Children of Adam. Think about it, Cer.”

Cer shook her head lightly, her gaze falling to the ground as she sipped from the vial.

“I can fix everything. The twins. Mother. You three...”

“And you?”

Cer’s hair shielded her eyes as she asked this. She couldn’t bear to see the resignation on Raoul’s face.

“All so I can’t chase you…? You never considered that I’d follow you to the grave? I don’t get it. The fact that I’m standing here should be proof that I’ve changed!”

She tried to reason with him.

It felt like her entire world was falling apart. The shades of blue beneath her hair and on the tip of her tail intensified suddenly. Her sense of self was slipping away, giving rise to another Ego deep within her heart.

“But if that’s how you’ve always thought of me… then why couldn’t you just ask? If you knew how much I craved for you to just look my way, then why did you still continue to appear in front of us? Was it so hard to just talk? That’s all I wanted. Why do you assume that I just want to be like you? That’s all in the past. That’s the past me. I’m right here, Raoul. I’m standing right here.”

She took a step forward.

Raoul took a step back in response rather than to allow her to stand beside him. She tried again, and no matter how small the step was, Raoul would distance himself all the same.

“How can you call me delusional when you can’t even recognize that?” Cer reached a point where she questioned if it was worth trying to catch up with Raoul.

If he wanted nothing to do with her…

… then why was she still trying so hard?

Memories of the past flicked before her eyes. Simpler times flowed like a kaleidoscope of colors. Eventually, at some point, it all turned black and white.

The image she had of Raoul was still based on distant memories, just like his version of herself. The Raoul who used to help her pick out flowers for their mother was no longer here.

She no longer had to pretend that Raoul… was redeemable.

However…

“… why did you tell them not to tell anyone that I’m here?” Cer had to ask. “You know that I didn’t come alone. Things could go awry for you. So why?”

Raoul didn’t answer. She looked up at him, expecting to be met with an indifferent Raoul. But to her shock, her brother wore a conflicted expression.

“Why? Please tell me. So I can believe that there’s a part of you that I can still reach.”

“Enough… Enough. There’s nothing left for you to reach. This is the end. We can never see eye to eye… because you were never supposed to grow. Not while I wasn’t watching. Not when you are still a Moon!”

Cer was on the verge of experiencing Instability as Raoul turned his back to her.

“This is our last goodbye. Don’t try to chase me. It’s not worth it. Go home, Cer. A Moon doesn’t suit you. Neither does a Star suit me. Go back to being needy than someone that admires me.”

He turned his back to Cer and parted ways.

But before he left, he gave her some information.

“The Red Barron is headed towards the Capital. Knowing him, he’s probably already at the palace.”

She tried to chase after him, but his speed increased when he rode on the back of a colossal, twenty-meter-tall wolf. The silhouette of his back began to disappear behind the red mist which fell from the skies.

“… What do I do now?” She asked herself, looking at her tail as it blinked rapidly with unease.

She turned her head to the skies, watching thick tentacles dance above her, as if waiting for an opportunity to claim her. Thankfully, the dark clouds gradually began to disappear. It seemed that it was indeed influenced by Raoul somehow.

However, the people that were hung remained floating in midair, with residual hanging with no clear origin.

“Tch…”

Cer needed time to gather her thoughts, but time was an enemy now. Not only did he have Ara, but also their mother as well. Her internal injuries had not fully healed, and it was unlikely that they would be without Frost’s Healing magic.

Raoul was in the exact same situation. Since the Impuritas were looking for Healers, it was unlikely that he could be healed.

She had to wonder if it was worth chasing him down.

“… if I’m quick, then I can track him down. Fuck… Raoul. If that’s the choice you made, then I’ll make mine clearer to you.”

She slashed her arm, bleeding herself down till her HP trickled halfway. She memorized his scent as she put on her CognitO Transmitter and Receiver, finally regaining contact with Frost.

“Frost. The Red Barron is headed to the Capital.” Cer cut straight to the point, biting her lip in anguish. “… and Raoul escaped with Ara. And – It’s not just the Blue Chorus they’re trying to resurrect. They have the CognitO Filter that used to have mom’s Ego. He wants to bring back the Blue Dahlia.”

“Are you able to come to Seer’s Town?”

 

Cer considered it. But her sense of responsibility for failing here outweighed reason.

“I’m sorry Frost. But I need to end this. I can’t let Raoul get away…”

“You won’t get far.”

“Still… I still just want to chase him! No… not him. Not anymore. Never Raoul. He has Ara and mom. That’s all that matters now.”

“Then chase him.”

“… You’ll let me do that?”

“You’ll do it regardless of what I say.”

It was surprising to hear Frost to enable something so risky. This was because she trusted Cer, and that, after hearing Raoul try to undermine everything she had achieved, comforted her more than anything in this world.

“Stick to the coastlines. Chances are I’ll finish up in the Capital and pick you up along the way.”

“Can you really move that fast?”

“It’ll be a three-hour trip down to the Capital.”

“What about the way back?”

“Did you forget about them already? I have Snap on their way.”

“Do what you can. Don’t overexert yourself. If Raoul didn’t kill you then it’s because he can’t afford to. I’m not sure about you, but I hope you find what you want soon.”

“Who you are does not need to revolve around Raoul.”

“Heh. Yeah. I figured that later than I should’ve. I was just shocked that Raoul would betray us like that… Haaaah. Ugh… Thank you.” Cer covered her eyes with her forearm before shaking her head to fend off a wave of emotion. “Communications will get choppy since I don’t have any more Conduits. I’ll be blasting the Transmitter so you can find me if you get close. If you’re unlucky, then I’ll catch up to Raoul first.”

“Be careful. You have a lot of people that want you to come back safely.”

“… I know that. Much more than I can imagine. Yeah. I’ve changed alright. The bigger proof is that I didn’t go through the Instability thing and ask to get eaten right then and there. I’m heading out now. I guess I can’t be chasing a star and a moon at the same time, huh.”

“Good luck Cer.”

“If it comes down to it, then please don’t blame yourself if you have to do what can’t be avoided.”

“You understand what I mean, right?”

“I hope it doesn’t come down to that. Otherwise… I think it’ll end up like Raoul. Also, what’s the Wuthering Resignation thing I saw? Is the name similar to something you know? It killed everyone in the Rodan Trade City. There’s… tens of thousands of people hanging in the skies.”

“My guess is that what you saw is a Sin related to the Despair Affinity. Stronger than the Consanguinities, which are already Monsoon-levelled. Be careful.”

“You got it.”

With that said, Cer pushed forward, skipping along the ground with a speed that forced her ears to run parallel with the ground. The conditional buff of [Craving Blue Currant] activated, giving her an additional 50% increase in all electric-based Skills.

This included Galvanic Current, meaning her AGI had risen from 82 to 123.

She was faster than Frost now.