Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

843. The Fruit of Light

“Ilya… Ilya!” Michaela cried, reaching out towards the object.

“A Fruit… No, that’s a ‘Rose’. A completed Rose. Were those two thorns? And it was enough to create a perfect Rose… No – Michaela! MICHAELA! NEITHER OF US MUST ACT RASHLY!”

Uriel screamed like a rabid dog. Despite this, she too sought after the Fruit of Light. However, both were repelled by a powerful field that caused millions of transparent colors to appear temporarily.

The field extended over hundreds of meters like a shell. Not only did it repel them –

“… Qliphoth Corrosion?” Uriel muttered, seeing dark swirls linger on her fingertips.

– But it promised to utterly destroy them if they dared to approach.

“ILYA!” Michaela did not care for this and threw herself against the shell of the Fruit of Light. “WHERE ARE YOU, ILYA!”

Only whimpers responded from within. Michaela’s face – which had always been nonchalant and stoic for as long as the world could remember – was wracked with emotions. She clenched her teeth and bared them to the world as her face contorted, forming wrinkles that had never appeared on her face before.

“I can’t tell if this is a shell made of Qliphoth or something else. Did Elysia have to go through this every time the world reset?” Uriel couldn’t begin to imagine it.

However, it would explain how she corroded over time if that were the case.

Michaela encased herself with every wing and tail, creating a drill-shaped cocoon. It began to spin as she pushed on with everything she had. Slowly, the tips of her tails and wings sept through, and immediately –

“AGH… ILYA!”

– Unimaginable pain consumed her. Michaela had lived for eons. She knew every conceivable and inconceivable pain in existence. This was beyond anything she had ever experienced before.

Black swirls appeared around her wings and tail, peeling off layers of feathers as they began to blacken.

“NO! Michaela! Revert! Elysia’s greatest mistake was devouring the Fruit of Light! Are you… MICHAELA! Are you attempting to cause the Fourth Shattering!?” Uriel could not stop her. “Your daughter’s soul will be ripped apart and spread across the world! Your body will not be able to contain that raw amount of Light! You are not Elysia!”

Her words fell on deaf ears. No matter how loudly she screamed; it was just that. A scream. She could not intervene nor interrupt Michaela now.

Her entire body had already slipped into the veil and passed the point of return

Michaela could no longer hear her nor the outside world now. Her desperation drove her ever forward into a world of light. A dark vortex consumed her. The world was condensed into a cylindrical tunnel. It seemed like she was falling.

“Please… Ilya! Are you here!?”

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

< Michaela >

“Lailah… You’re able to communicate with me directly now?”

< I am not aware of why this is the case >

< But I presume it has something to do with your current state >

< Attempting to interact with the source of Light will result in the termination of your vessel >

“I don’t care! If I means that I can bring back Ilya, then what does it matter to me!?” Michaela’s language was crude. The elegance she had always maintained was replaced by a relentless, emotional drive to reach for the tiny hand of her daughter.

< P-Factor will no longer be able to maintain your form >

“Lailah. How can you tell me to stop when I’m already this close!? Can’t you hear her? Ilya… has been crying for 15 years. I’m sorry Lailah. I can’t stop.”

Meters of Michaela’s wings had already decayed. They were stripped down to the bone. Existence outside of beings from the Light could tread within the domain of the Fruit of Light. It was an existence so pure that that impurities were stripped away, resulting in Qliphoth Corrosion.

She could not even bleed. Her blood would be devoured by the Light. It was an excoriating process, given the sheer surface area of her body.

“This is the only thing I want. Ilya should be given a chance to live, even if it comes at the price of my own life. But I’ll only be creating another Cycle if my life ends!”

Tears began to stream down Michaela’s eyes.

The gold in her eyes suddenly matched the color of the bead of Light far ahead within the realm of darkness.

“What I want is to be with Ilya again!”

It was her one wish. A wish that stemmed from eons of separation. Reuniting with Ilya was only the start. In her heart, she dreamt of a world where she and Ilya could live in without fear of repercussions. It would be hard. Nothing was easy in this world.

But that was because she did not have enough control over her own life. She was like a ship carried around by the winds and the seas. The islands she found were not of her choosing.

She vowed:

“I will create world for Ilya… and if that’s not possible, then I’ll create a paradise for us. And if I can’t, then live – Ilya. Live on the Floor where the skies are blue; where the world is untainted by people like us. The place where the Amalgam calls home will be yours too!”

Suddenly, light accumulated above her head. It formed golden halo. Steadily, with each passing second as her conviction grew, and as her drive to see Ilya again sent her further into the Fruit of Light – that halo continued to grow.

< … Then allow me to assist you, Michaela. I’m the only one who can interface with you >

Lailah didn’t say a single word to her. Nor could she tell what kind of emotion Lailah felt. Lailah was no different from Uriel. She was abandoned by her creator. Set aside and left to rot to the ebbs of time. But Lailah did not antagonize her.

Instead, she lent her a hand.

< Your wish is not for the sake of the world or anyone else’s >

< This is yours >

* * *

“ILYA!” Michaela screamed into the void.

The sound of roaring winds passed by her. By now more than half of the girth of her wings had been devoured. It would not be long before her cocoon was fully exposed. Then, Michaela would cease to exist.

Suddenly, a voice spoke out amongst the sobbing from somewhere ahead. It was a dreamy, whimsical voice that reverberated along nonexistent walls.

“It’s no use.”

“Ilya?” Michaela uttered.

“I’ve already departed. I’m no longer able to live anywhere but here.”

“… Ilya…?” She was taken aback by this.

Somehow, Michaela knew why this was the case. Her soul was not here. While her body… no, her vessel, which was the fused Piece of Paradise and the Price of Paradise were present, her soul was somewhere else.

“I can only exist here in Guf. The outside world has no place for me. My world is here in the Treasury of Souls.”

“That can’t be…”

“It’s ok mother. If my soul disappears and if my body decays, then there’ll be a new me in 15 years. You have one of ‘me’ already.”

Suddenly, a thousand variations of Ilya and Her chattered at once:

“One already. One already. Me already. Her already.”

The cacophony didn’t cease. Michaela’s hands reached as far as they could forward. Her face contorted to an unrecognizable form as she cried out:

“YOU ARE NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR HER!”

“Huh?” “Eh?” “Huh?” “Eh?”

“Huh?” “Eh?” “Huh?” “Eh?”

“Huh?” “Eh?” “Huh?” “Eh?”

“THERE IS ONLY ONE OF YOU ILYA!”

The last remaining walls of her tail and wings gave way. The skin of her fingers peeled away as she desperately strove to reach for Ilya.

All but one tail remained.

“I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU GO AGAIN!”

“Moth…er…?”

Everything around Michaela began to change. The colorful walls gradually became darker. The only light now was the one, tiny speck far ahead. The flesh of her body peeled away, giving light to a pale, naked form that reached inwards into the darkness.

It felt like she was swimming in mud. The darkness was a medium, but still, she fell, clawing her way towards the light.

“ILYA!”

Unbeknownst to her was that something grandeur was occurring outside.

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

< THE ARBITER’S AWAKENING EVENT HAS BEGUN >

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