217. The Venus Flesh Trap

“The Seeds transform people into Impuritas… An imperfect version of themselves. What a fucking disgrace.” Frost adorned her disdain as she spat with rabid vitriol.

Her irises flared unexpectedly like the headlights of a truck; the golden lights appearing like a pair of seeds to the eyeless woman. Somehow, despite this flaw in her physiology, the woman noticed this flash as a tendril left her mouth. The tipped barb struck her embedded halberd free from the rubble, flipping it into the air and catching it with a single flick of her arm.

Neither of them attacked. Their standoff was charged with equal amounts of shock and a fervent desire to obliterate one another, but there was a subtle desire to understand where each other’s heart laid. Frost for one was at a loss for words having witnessed an abominable, irreversible transformation.

Screams of those further along the fault line were silenced by Frost’s psyche. The inquisitive side of her yearned to understand the psychology behind the Impuritas, even if it was driven by some object. On the other hand, the Head Eater… No, the Venus Flesh Trap – the woman with no proper name – Stared at Frost as though she had already claimed victory.

“Ain’t it nice to find out that at least one promise here of all places was fulfilled. Shocked at what I am? Didn’t ya know – the Seeds here give power! I feel… almost perfect. Feelin’ all these emotions drivin’ within, finally havin’ its moment to burst out like a crumblin’ dam. Ah- Ahahahaha!” The Venus Flesh Trap spoke in a twisted voice that failed to resemble her original’s in every capacity. It was so alien to Frost that it was as though she spoke a separate language.

“What’s so good about become stronger when you’ve irreversibly turned yourself into a monster?” Frost, despite her hatred, sincerely asked, yearning to grasp at some semblance of sensibility, but instead, the woman laughed again, suddenly swiping at the air as if to test her newfound strength.

Logs shattered and rolled downhill as more of the fortress collapsed all around them.

“’Monster?’ Ain’t that unfair of ya to be callin’ a fellow person a monster when all I ever wanted was to live? What’s with that prejudice? That contemptuous worldview. Aaaaaaahhh. Wanna slice yer up and turn your bones into a juicy stock, but yer don’t really seem to understand anythin’ at all. More than anythin’, you’re the monster here!”

“Losing your humanity. Your Origin’s changed entirely. Like heart, like body – You’ve become something so despicable that I’m not even sure you even realize it.” Frost argued, feeling a gaze from somewhere beyond that unworldly form of hers. “So that’s what an Impuritas really is. A reflection of themselves. The Seed just draws it out, and sprouts whatever diseased ‘heart’ you have in there.”

Suddenly, the end of her crimson halberd was pressed against Frost’s throat. In the woman’s mind she had every advantage over Frost, reveling in her might which she falsely believed rivalled even a Color. Unbeknownst to her was that her level was far inferior to a Color in the first place.

The only reason Frost did not retaliate was because she desired to hear this woman talk. But of course, there was always another way to make her mouth move if she refused to comply.

“You really know how to get on people’s nerves, Black Dove. What that’s allegory for? The opposite of a healer? I took the Seed and ate it. That’s all there is to it, and now I’m just like any one of you crazed Colors. Strong enough to kill. Strong enough to finally break these chains holdin’ us low lives down in these slums. People like us wanna survive too.”

“So do the people you kill. Your point? Do you even hear the hypocrisy you’re spouting?” Frost spat.

“Only a Color can get away with that kinda attitude in this world. Yer ain’t that different from the Red Barron that pillaged and annihilated us over in Grandis. Then those hand-severing Demi-human fuckers that messed with people just wantin’ no trouble… I can see it now. You’ve been raised in one of those golden cities, huh?” The head of the halberd dug into Frost’s neck, but much to the woman’s surprise, not a single drop of blood fell. In fact, the blade hadn’t even penetrated her skin.

“… And the only way you can survive is to feed off each other? Prolonging their suffering just for what? To enhance the flavor?” Frost suddenly snapped her jaws shut, shattering the weapon in a single bite as her emotions bellowed the longer, she listened to this woman.

But she was not going to let her die that easily. It would be a shame to let her perish after the suffering she had caused, and besides, there was still much she wished to learn.

“Tch – Like I said – It’s an eat or be eaten’ WORLD!” The woman’s head split open as she lunged for Frost, aiming to snap her head clean off. “What’s a Color with wings like you going to know about the people down here beneath the grey clouds!?”

“Nothing – But I’m not so twisted to turn a blind eye like everyone up there on their fucking ivory towers!” Frost unceremoniously smashed her fist into the gaping maw of her foe, allowing her teeth to snap shut along her arm.

It did zero damage. Not even her feathers were bothered by the serrated teeth, which dragged along her arm as the Venus Flesh Trap suddenly went flying further down the fault line, colliding with a large boulder. It shattered upon impact, sending lethal fragmentation in all directions.

The ground around Frost’s footing shattered simultaneously.

What she had used was Magnitude, meaning the total damage she dealt was only 1,440 after taking into account the 80% reduction of her total ATT and the ATT DEF of her foe. Additionally, the environmental damage caused by the boulder was an added 1,000.

Venus Flesh Trap | HP: 21,060

Not that the HP mattered to begin with. Frost, wielding her blazing flames once more, pushed forth and began to douse the shattered remains with Liquid Fire. The gelatinous slurry engulfed the dazed woman before she began screaming hysterically.

“YER JUST LIKE THE RED BARRON! I AM NOT GOIN’ TO LET A COLOR LIKE YOU TAKE ME DOWN AFTER EVERYTHIN’ I’VE BUILT!” Despite her horrible wounds, she left the slurry and charged headfirst at an oncoming Frost.

Her barb stabbed Frost’s chest multiple times but to no avail as though she was made from an entirely impervious material. On the other hand, Frost grabbed the length of the barb and drew her straight into her punches like a yoyo.

[Goodnight].

[Goodnight].

[Goodnight].

[Goodnight].

This, combined with her Dream Shatter’s effect that cleansed all Torpidity stacks inflicted onto the target meant that it was impossible for her to render this woman unconscious. So long as Frost battered like a disfigured boxing bag, then she could know no rest until the sweet embrace of death.

“I REACH MY FULL POTENTIAL AND THIS IS HOW IT GOES DOWN! Must be nice havin’ strength as second nature! For people like us – WHAT’S A LITTLE SACRIFICE TO WANNA LIVE!? This body of mine is more human than whatever you are, Color! If you could devour a Seed and feel this rush – this sensation of ever contentment and endless emotional hunger – then you’d understand – AUUUUUGHHHHHH!”

Ignis suffered after she became a Corrupted…

Venus Flesh Trap | HP: 15,000

Calfasio despaired and never made it out.

Still holding onto the length of her fleshy barbed tongue, she swiftly spun twice and threw her against the walls of the gorge. A sonic boom exploded the moment Frost let her free, and she travelled over a 50 meters before she was left embedded into the rocky cliff face. A seismic crater surrounded her as rocks, logs and debris showered all around them. By now most within the fault line had disappeared into carved homes and caves within the walls themselves.

The cracks of the crater drew a surrealistic star – the only star ever to be seen beneath all the grey.

Venus Flesh Trap | HP: 8,000

Aster and the star-aspiring children wept to become the stars they’ve only heard by name.

“Are you telling me that their Corrupted selves are their perfect personas? None of them became an Impuritas. Instead, they were cursed to become something worse, and yet that’s the aspiration of all you dregs parading yourselves behind a heart…” Frost monologued, her emotions creeping along her body as it began to take control of her. “Want to live… I don’t know why… but that – that sort of excuse pisses me off. I don’t why, but every part of me wants to burst out in flames!”

Her body reacted as though out of instinct. It was not wrath, nor judgement. Rather, she felt sorrowful, yet spiteful at the same time. She could not put her finger on the emotion. Somehow, it felt as though something untapped had been unraveled within her.

A door was being pried open from within the depths of her soul, and she felt every creak of it reverberate in her chest.

“Eat or be eaten. Can’t be helped. Want to live…”

“… Frost. The Archivist… implores that you calm down.”

“What does she know to tell me to calm down!?” Frost, in a fit of rage, caused a tidal wave of flames to sweep across the gorge, reducing the stray logs to ashes, and the falling rocks into orange, glowing orbs.

“Your book is steadily growing hot. She recalls pieces of your anguish, though unclear. Like through tinted lenses, there is little that can be described. It’s unknown why you are reacting so strongly to this all of a sudden.”

“I’ve always been like this. Right now I just have an avenue to vent… Being stuck inside of this hellhole of a City’s fishing it all out. I’m surprised I haven’t turned into an Impuritas or a Corrupted myself seeing how fucking easy it is when you boil it all down.” Frost scathingly spoke through clenched teeth as she dashed for the brutally mauled Venus Flesh Trap, who despite being completely outmatched, continued to struggle.

Again, they exchanged blows but Frost was the only one to come out on top. Fist after fist, blow after blow –The woman’s HP rapidly dropped.

Venus Flesh Trap | HP: 2,100

“Tramplin’ on everythin’ we’ve built up because it’s so wrong! You’ve never spent a living day like us! Since the get go – Since the day we could see the grey skies we’ve been scavengin’ just to live!” The Venus Flesh Trap cried, never frowning nor allowing herself to break. “That piece of cloth – Lucky you to even have the sponsored blessing of a big Atelier! The Missionary was with you all along!”

Venus Flesh Trap | HP: 1,000

Her demeanor was admirable. But Frost was not going to let her die just yet. Grasping onto her throat, she dragged the woman along the walls of the fault line as the black particles of Grand Healing V engulfed her. The stack of Severe Burn and Cinder caused the Venus Flesh Trap’s body to glow with cracks of red as though her soul was set alight.

In that instant she realized just how much of an abnormality Frost was, and she could not help but to laugh.

“Healer with black hair! Ahahahaha! Ya really are what your namesake is! Black Dove. What kind of a fucked allegory is that!? A violent antipole of those healers! Nothing about you is normal – But – Everything else is just like any other that’s dragged us through the unshoveled shit of our OUTSKIRTS AND GRANDIS!”

Grand Healing V increased the woman’s HP by an additional 25%, causing her total HP pool to rise to 29,375. This was insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and did nothing other than allow the Venus Flesh Trap to take a heavier beating.

[Dismissed Confession]

Whilst this caused her great agony as she bombarded her with an array of Confession stacks, causing her mouth to move far more than usual. Gravel and dirt fell into the woman’s mouth, drowning her before Frost moved to the ground and dragged her forth down the length of the fault line, hearing the heartbeats beyond become louder.

“You know nothin’ about the struggle! Nothin’ about our climb! Every day we’re all beggin’ to see just a piece of a star past all the smoke! Then you come in here and try to take it all away – Take our piece of whatever stars fall from the skies!”

Her body began to gradually change. The split that separated her maw went further down to her body as her legs slowly turned to roots. Her body was still mostly human, but to call it human anymore was an insult of the highest degree.

Nav! She’s changing –!

< The Venus Flesh Trap’s emotions are heightening >

< The Seed is germinating. The longer this goes on, the more her heart will devour her >

< This is the price they pay to use such a power >