9. The Meaning of the Skewered Beast

“Iscario!?” Frost cried in shock when she finally saw the state the man was in.

Iscario walked into the light of the village drenched in blood. One of his eyes were plucked clean from the socket. It bled like a gouged fountain as he clutched onto it through his drooping hair.

But he was calm. Terrifyingly calm.

It was as if nothing was awry. Frost’s heart rapidly beat in response as her body instantly took over. She clutched onto his shoulders and tried to move him aside but to no avail. He was like a boulder.

“W-what happened to you!? P-please sit down! I might be able to stop the bleeding with – Agh!?”

No. A mountain. She could not even move a single hair of his aside, let alone those feathers of his coat. Rather, they weren’t feathers at all. They were made from some sort of sharpened, ridged metal. It easily sliced through her forearm, causing her to recoil backwards in pain.

He merely raised a hand in response, silencing the worried Frost as he shook his head once.

“Y-You are –!”

Iscario only stared into the village mother’s eyes to silence her. There was a certain authority he held that instant caused her to shudder and kneel before him like he was a god. Frost instantly casted Greater Healing on herself, sealing up the wounds as she observed the situation in silent shock.

“Careful with your hands. My coat is not flourished for show. Please pay no heed to my injury. I had a minor incident with one of the Beholders. To think that dog would remain suspicious of me. But no matter. I am here now. It’s already too late for them.”

Frost grit her teeth and opened her mouth.

“… W-what the hell are you even saying? You just lost an eye. Don’t go speaking like that doesn’t matter –!”

“It was the price for using the Warped Stone on my own accord. The price for also using Infusion S to reach this place in mere hours. The price to reach you, of course.” His friendly smile was uncanny now. “Did you know Grandis was a restricted area? No one should have been able to access the Relay Sites in this region. Yet you did. Why do you think that is?”

Frost remembered the words ‘Restricted Access has Been Overruled’ that displayed when she first arrived in the Village of Virt. If it was restricted, then she herself didn’t know how or why she was allowed to teleport here. Iscario’s question made no sense to her as a result.

“I-It was the only option I had. Everything else was blanked out. Did I do something wrong?” She wondered, her heart racing in the looming presence of this man who caused the village mother to tremble.

It was odd. The entire village had fallen silent ever since he arrived. But Frost could not turn to see why, for Iscario’s presence demanded all her attention. Terror? Shock? Surprise? Frost didn’t know what these screaming emotions were.

“I am not asking you for an excuse. I am asking you for the reason. It would be best if you stopped pretending to be human.” He suddenly said, still smiling at her.

“Human? Pretending? You can’t be serious. You think I’m some kind of monster?” Frost nearly snapped in response, unable to believe that was anything but some kind of twisted joke. That was until she remembered something.

The Mark of Judgement.

“Iscario… if this this about the Mark of Judgement, then I don’t have it.” Frost caught on quickly, taking a single step back. “It’s all ‘Nil’. Just fucking Nil.”

“Nil? Poor thing. You are born from the same blood as the Archetype of the Floor of Judgement, yet you cannot even resist a simple [Cognito Scramble]? How. Utterly. Like –”

Suddenly, and without any warning, the pain struck her chest again. But this time it was no phantom pain. Protruding from the center of her chest was a massive pale stake.

“– My dearest sister.”

Agony beyond words engulfed her entire body, causing her to scream out at the top of her lungs before yet another rod pierced her from the side.

“A- AGH!? Is-ISCARIO!?”

“Penance. It was what my dearest sister offered to the Icon of Judgement. Since then, it never returned. But neither did she. It was then when I realized that her sacrifice was our salvation. Yet the Arbiter was born, plunging it into the flames of vain.”

“AAAAGH AAAAH STOP! STOP PLEASE STOP!”

“But she was born incomplete, forever seeking for the last 15 years for the being she called the Amalgam. May the Nexus never reach greater heights. The misery caused by their absence in Grandis runs deeper than blood. My entitled Kingdom was stripped away.”

Frost’s mind was in turmoil. She instantly used [Prolonged Stasis] to preserve her life for as long as possible as she cried for help in gurgled nonsense. The words that formed dripped from her chin in crimson ooze as the village fell to total silence. When turned her head, her eyes instantly widened in horror.

They were all skewered. From base to head, the pale stakes hung them like a forest of corpses. Frost’s mind nearly broke at the sight. She had seen many horrible things in her profession, but nothing, nothing like this. If this was a nightmare then she wanted to wake up and never fall asleep again.

But in her agonizing heart she knew that this was reality.

“The world needs no deities if they cannot act when countless needed them the most. Therefore, oh Archetype of Amalgamation – you must become the price of everyone’s paradise. Come and be judged, you skewered beast.”

Another stake impaled her from the back, protruding just underneath her wavering heart.

HP : 55 | 120 | ^1 HP/Min + (6 HP/2 MP Conversion)

MP : 220 | 350 | ^1 MP/Min

“Oh. And don’t worry about dying so easily. Archetypes are very durable. The Arbiter proved it to us at the cost of a few dozen lives. Your HP can hit zero and you wouldn’t die. Such is the unfairness of your existence, born from the blood of the second Advent. But believe me, you monsters can still suffer. Repent. There is no penance for monsters like you.”

Frost was dying. She knew she was dying. The numbers kept on lowering incrementally as she continued to bleed. Iscario stood before her, clutching onto her hair like a strung puppet. She was queasy and hardly responsive. Yet she could feel everything that happened as clear as day.

He suddenly pieced a fourth stake through her stomach this time. He twisted and grinded it around, still wearing his damning smile. Frost screamed again, hurling even more blood before the man began to drag her down the village towards the Black Forest.

“You even have the organs of a human. But they’re functionless, no? Humans must excrete like functional beings. Why must you mimic us when you cannot understand that?” He scolded her with a gentle voice, almost humming as Frost barely understood the words that left his mouth.

Everything was cold. But painful. So incredibly painful. It hurt to breathe… to think. To stay conscious just a second longer. When her HP suddenly hit 10, Frost casted Greater Healing on herself to prolong her life.

She feared that all would be lost once her HP reached 0.

She wanted to live despite being reduced to a human pincushion before this…

… monster… how could… you…

“How… could you… Call me a monster… when you murdered them… all of them…” Frost coughed between staggered breaths.

“They served their purpose. They die happy knowing that their lives served a greater purpose. The village mother has minutes before she ends up like you. It is enough time to reflect on my justice. Perhaps you would have issued a different fate, like that in the hands of my friend the Red Barron to ravage every woman in that village?”

“… are you… blind… to your own… fucking… delusions… ugh…”

An insurmountable rage rose from the bowels of her heart. But she could do nothing but be dragged along, the stakes twisting into her body as it scrapped against the uneven earth.

“It is mercy. May you never forget that. The Corrupted are no different from you Archetypes. The Arbiter is beyond a monster. Stronger than even all the Beholders combined… and now many unopened doors are beginning to creak. Your death will seal them shut. May they never awaken. The Nexus will suffer like my entitled Kingdom that was lost.”

The threshold of the Black Forest was breeched. Suddenly, the distant lights felt like they were all around her as if she was being scrutinized by one thousand people. Hallucinations of many giants, golden eyes rang around her, the chimes of distant bells seemingly mocking her as she was dragged deeper into the Black Forest.

“And to think it would go as far as to mock us by calling the final classification of the Arbiter’s Trumpet ‘Paradise Lost’. Abandon all hope those who enter. Forfeit the aspirations of life for those that remain. And be damned to those that wish to flee. Justice must be enacted. Paradise did not deserve to fall… not my beloved Kingdom. And never my dearest sister.”

“… with… your… fucking mindset… I think… you would have destroyed… Paradise anyway… if you… ended up ruling it…” Frost spat at him, choosing to carve wounds into him with words.

But he only smiled in response.

“Now, now. Must you further hurt this already broken heart?”

“… I’ll… kill you… I’ll… I’ll…”

“You’ll die for everyone. That’s what you’ll do.”

He abruptly stopped in the middle of the darkness and whispered into Frost’s ear.

“The Corrupted that roams this forest will judge you in place of the Arbiter, you skewered beast. Be judged by its countless eyes that are ever so righteous. It’s a shame that this beast has existed for as long as it has. The Nexus is useless. Lament, Amalgam. May you repent in your final moments. Not even I would be able to fight this beast alone. Perish.”

He released Frost from his grasp. The skewer hung her upright as it sunk into the ground, causing her immense pain as she internally screamed. Iscario left without another word, his footsteps seemingly disappearing behind her. And in its place, approached something.

Something massive. The ground quaked with each step the creature took as the glowing orb split into one thousand individual eyes, all plastered across a massive black, feathered ball. It was a hideous parody of a bird, one that couldn’t possibly exist naturally.

It was at least ten meters in size, towering over her as the eyes judgingly stared down with immense prejudice.

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

< ETERNAL NIGHT >

< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET RESONATES >

The feathered monstrosity blinked at her with all one thousand eyes, causing its thick coat of feathers to rustle noisily. Frost checked her health again and saw it steadily plummet as low as 10 again. But she had no more mana to cast Greater Healing anymore.

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Judges you >

< Judgement in Progress >

“Judge… ment.”

Frost could barely speak with what little air remained in her lungs. The stakes made it impossible to flee or react. She could only watch on in utter hopelessness. It blinked again, each of the golden eyes piecing deeply into her soul as she grit her teeth in torment.

“… I… I came from Earth… Transported here… turned into… a girl… and now… I’m being… judged…?”

Her words were in the form of a bloodied gurgle.

< Decision of One Thousand Juries Pending >

< Awaiting Verdict >

For what?

Frost did not know.

“I helped… those people… in that village… that everyone abandoned… but in the end… I’m the one… being judged…”

Who did she wrong?

Was she a bad person?

She knew in her heart that her answer was a resounding no. She did nothing to harm anyone, both here and on Earth. So why was she being put through such a hellish tribulation? A trial reserved for only monsters?

These thoughts were only fleeting. The Black Forest grew darker. The only light which came from the eyes of the hideous bird waned with her vision as all went cold.

She was dying.

HP : 3 | 120

Perhaps she was already dead. She did not know herself, only that the pain had finally began to slip away.

HP : 1 | 120

But as all sensation steadily disappeared; a resounding flame burst forth from the bottom of her heart, and from the deepest depths of her soul.

“If… my only… wrong… is living… then I’d rather… be wrong… to the very end!”

HP : 0 | 120

< The Blessing of the Nexus has Depreciated >

< Reason : Death >

When the Black Forest fused with the darkness behind her eyelids –

– Another message suddenly appeared.

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

< THE AMALGAM’S AWAKENING EVENT HAS BEGUN >

< PARADISE LOST >

< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET CAN NO LONGER BE HEARD >

A resurgence of pain shot her awake. The lucidity of the situation cause her to gasp in disbelief as she came face to face with the thousand eyed bird again.

I am…? Still… Alive…?

Status… Status…

< The Blessing of the Amalgam Has Overridden the Blessing of the Nexus >

< Reason : Awakened as the Archetype of Amalgamation >

“STATUS!” Frost screamed at the top of her lungs as her eyes flung open.

HP : 120 | 120 | ^1 HP/Min

MP : 350 | 350 ^1 MP/Min

I’m at full health now!?

Frost, in spite of the pain, clutched onto the stakes in her chest and attempted to pry them free. It hurt more than anything in the world. But even so, Frost tried. And tried and tried but her grip was too weak and slippery with all the blood.

“I… I won’t… give up… I want to live… I want… TO LIVE!”

And as if answering her call, something emerged from the corner of her eye. In an instant, she was tossed away by an extremely swift creature. She contorted as she landed more than ten meters away, screaming in agony before suddenly – two of the stakes were ripped clean from her chest.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

She flailed, clutching at the gaping holes in her chest before the other two stakes were ripped straight from her body. She nearly entered a state of shock by the pain alone, only saved by the terror that awaited if she did not escape from this place.

< A Hung Jury has Revoked the Verdict >

< Judgement Postponed Until Hung Jury is Resolved >

< There is No Skewered Beast to Judge >

As Frost flailed all over the murky soil, the thousand eyes suddenly fell elsewhere into the darkness. It ran at full charge at something there at a speed that should not have been possible for a creature of its size.

“STATUS. FUCK. STATUUUUUUS!” Frost yelled, not wishing to miss the opportunity to inspect it despite knowing that it was a Corrupted.

And yet to her shock, its stats appeared.

LEVEL : 150     ORIGIN : Folklore     HP : 300,000     ATT : 10,000 MAG     ATT : 0     AGI : 8

Frost nearly vomited her guts out when she saw this. A level 150 was frankly impossible for her to beat. But for now, it had left her alone in the company of something else. By the time her pain subsided, Frost casted her Greater Healing on herself and stared up to see a pair of familiar golden eyes staring down at her.

It was Jury. She was the creature that saved her.

“… Ju… Jury?”

The girl only responded in a croaked cry. When her vision completely returned, she realized that Jury was being strangled above her by the twisting branch of one of the blackened trees.

“JURY!” Frost cried as she forced herself to get up onto her feet, hardly able to support her own weight with the number of cavities in her body. It was a miracle that she was even alive.

Frost, even amid despair, was driven by nothing but her heart alone. She shouted as she bent over to clutch one of the stakes in her palms, and screamed as she hauled it upwards like a spear. It was heavy, but she needed to act now if she wanted to rescue Jury.

The branches had seized her claw away. Without it the girl, who had grown considerably in size now, was rendered unable to escape its strangulation. The nauseous Frost poked at the branch, missing several times as her head began to spin.

“Please! C’mon please hit! PLEASE!” Frost screamed over and over as she repeatedly jabbed at the branch encasing the girl’s neck until finally; it snapped. The branches holding her arm alone were unable to carry her weight entirely, causing her to fall.

She fell with a heavy thud, quivering from the lack of oxygen as Frost collapsed over her with an ear placed over her mouth to check for any signs of life. The smallest, faintest… warmest breath caused her heart to mellow as she clutched onto the ground beside her.

“Alive… You’re alive. Thank goodness.” Frost nearly wept, the emotional baggage suddenly hitting her all at once like a freight train as she remained there with her head atop the now adult Jury’s chest. “[Greater Healing]. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you faster.”

She wished this was all just a bad dream. But she knew that what she experienced here would never leave her.

The pain was real.

The agony of death was real.

The sight of countless murders was all very real.

She was betrayed by a person she was told she could trust the most. A Star of the Nexus.

She thought that maybe… just maybe she did something wrong along the way. The guilt of having to leave the safety of the Nexus when she was still but an infant in the world slapped her. It was moronic. Insanely moronic.

But then she thought about the village mother and Jury.

Even though she’s most likely dead now, she had given the village mother the ability to see one last time. As for Jury… She didn’t know. But what she did know was that this woman had saved her. Yes. Woman. Now that her body was that of an adult woman, she could no longer call her a child.

Things grew dark again. If she died this time, then she… no. She didn’t want to die. Even if she couldn’t as that bastard said, the experience was terrifying. If she fell asleep, she at least wanted to wake up again. To live.

Even if it meant waking up in this nightmarish forest again.

And so, she succumbed to the darkness, unable to fend it off, dreaming of the peaceful life she had back on Earth.

Then, there was a voice. A strange, monotone voice that uttered one word.

“Stat…us?”

LEVEL : 22     < The Amalgam >
NAME : Frost     HP : 120     MP : 350     AGI : 10    RESIST : 2AGE : 0     ATT : 5     ATT DEF : 0 (+3)     O : 5     D : 0ORIGIN : Archetype     MAG ATT : 0     MAG DEF : 0     S : 56     E : 33
< PROFESSIONS >OFFENSIVE     DEFENSIVE     SUPPORT     EXPLORATION
BRAWLER : 5     GREATER HEALER : 56     APPRAISER : 8     COOK : 25

< ACTIVE SKILLS >
(O) Punch [5/10]     (S) Greater Healing II [3/10]     (S) Cure Disease I [2/10]     (S) Prolonged Stasis II [2/10]     (E) Home Cook II [5/10]     (E) Appraise Object [8/10]

< PASSIVE SKILLS >
(S) Saturated Blood     (S) Medical Attention Please!     (S) Coordinated     (S) Mana Upscale     (E) Dimensional Storage I (0kg/20kg)

< ABILITIES >
Archetype of Amalgamation     Blessing of the Amalgam     Mark of Judgement (Depreciating in 300 hours)

< EQUIPS >
NEX : 0     Waterproof Gown (Destroyed)     Waterproof Coat (+1 Def) (Destroyed)     Waterproof Cargo Pants (+1 Def) (Damaged)     Boxers (Damaged)     Fabric Socks (Damaged)     Immaculate Leather Shoes (+1 Def) (Damaged)