Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

741. The Crimson Hunger Heart of the City

Frost recalled the Star she instantly eliminated long ago in Divas Pass. It was an Insectid Red Giant that sparked her initial hatred of the Ateliers. The dark jaws of [Prejudice] clearly killed them, but she did not remember an explosion.

Neither did Scarlet Logic experience their Stars exploding when they perished. The Vermilion Moons were the only people qualified to answer directly to Frost, aside from the Red Giants who were so mentally broken that they could no longer form words.

She fell with the Vermilion Moons through the drilled tunnel, chasing the blue and crimson lights deep beneath. They were the final entourage of the main force. Following them was a single Red Giant with long spears skewering them vertically down the spine and out their tailbone, and another horizontally through the length of both arms.

“Souls. You don’t really die when you’re a part of a Replication Cycle.” Silica began, wiping one of the rods that stuck out from the back of another Vermilion Moon with a bloodied cloth. “You only lose a part of yourself. Each iteration destroys more and more of what you used to be. It’s not long before you’re a completely different person. Don’t forget that we only hold a small piece of our soul. The whole thing is held by Scarlet Logic. So long as that exists, then we can’t die.”

In a sense, the loss of the Soul was the catalyst that determined how a Star went out. Red Giants did not hold much of it to begin with, and they were also cleansed of their magic due to Midas Company’s technology.

If a Red Giant was no longer linked to a Replication Cycle, then their death would be their last. Consequently, it would then result in a stellar explosion.

Since the Vermilion Moons knew that the Soul was required for this explosion to occur, they rationalized that devouring or destroying a Soul would not result in an explosion.

Therefore, they asked Frost to keep her hands off their living weapon.

“The Soul is what makes us, ‘us’. But then you have machines without Souls that can become whatever they want. Makes you wonder just how important a Soul really is to the concept of self.” The Vermilion Moons were not strangers to the philosophical questions of what was the ‘real’ them.

After all, they had fought their own clones hundreds, if not thousands of times. What determined that they were the ‘real’ one, if both could carry the same Soul, memories, wants, needs, hatred, and love?

“There is the self and there is the Soul. Both are almost one in the same, huh. But the Soul is not different from a person’s blueprint.” Frost’s mutter caused Silica’s lips to curl into a thankful smile.

“Blueprint. I like that. That might just be what it is, but it doesn’t change that it’s what allows us to still be us.” Silica slowly spoke, her words punctuated with the depth of her contemplation over her own existence.

They would not have dared to entertain this topic with anyone else but Frost, who gave them a renewed direction and ultimately a new meaning of what was themselves.

It was their last and only life, much like Frost.

“Ready girls!? Let’s tear them up!” Silica roared as bubbles formed in a tube containing Serum R. “Pump your veins full of Serum R! Let’s show them how it’s done!”

The world opened beneath them.

They fell into a colossal sea of shallow blood and mounds of living flesh. Entire populations were melted into a mountain of corpses, wriggling their arms in extreme agony.

Large could not begin to describe the mountain, let alone the chamber itself. It was identical to the place that existed beneath Scarlet Logic’s Hive. A world within a world laid beneath theirs. The drop was easily several kilometers, and yet Inflow Direct’s personnel managed to land safely due to manipulating gravity to decelerate their fall.

The circular drill bit of the Gravity Auger enabled this as all hands were raised like the points of a crown. Then, they collapsed in spectacular fashion. Each one-kilometer arm fell in what seemed like slow motion.

It was impossible to appreciate the sheer majesty of machinery at this scale.

The mounds of flesh unfortunate enough to be in the path of the columns were smothered beneath their immense weight. Cracks split into the world as plumes of gore rose into the air.

2,500 Caldera Industries personnel spread themselves between each arm as they glided down. They were designed to be used as cover and a method to prevent enemies from flanking.

Aside from this, there was no semblance of a plan or order.

It was a tidal wave of machinery and weapons. Unlike the meticulous Galia, Beholder Knalzark did not believe in war tactics. Victory could be gained in many ways, but the only one known to his kind was through overwhelming strength.

A sea of blue swarmed over the red world. They trudged through ankle-deep blood and thrust hammers and drills into anything that moved. The attack was so sudden and violent that the Heart of the City froze in shock. Countless limbs shivered, as each fused individual felt the pain that inflicted upon them.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

A roar shook the cavity. Atop the largest mound of flesh was a familiar, feminine being that clasped at the mound that was fused with her lower body.

Frost’s body felt light now as they approached the ground. She glided like the many in front of her as hammers ploughed through mountains of flesh. Giant black balls bounced across the battlefield, crushing any emerging Impuritas that appeared through thousands of pores across the Heart of the City.

Then, she heard it. Its heartbeat, and the omnipresent voice of the Monarch.

“Drown them in a wall of blood. The apple has found teeth to bite from those who would nibble on its succulent flesh. Let us exchange our puss and see who is first to die from an infection.”

The Monarch did not care that she was being assailed, or that she would perish. It was not that she trusted that the Heart of the City itself would withstand the might of an Atelier. No. Like the first Monarch, they were so fixated on becoming complete that it was all that mattered to them.

Life and death were secondary to this one aspiration. A wave of red washed across the world. It came from somewhere far behind the crimson mountain, climbing to tens of meters high.

The crimson waters clung to their ankles, attempting to keep them in place. It tried to drag each Dwarf down like it did to countless. However –

“Annoying. Push through! Manipulate the balls and break the waves!”

“WE’RE PUSHING THROUGH!”

“DO NOT STOP! DO NOT FEAR THEM! THERE IS A REASON THAT THEY DESCENDED INTO THE DERMA LAYER! THEY TRIED TO HIDE FROM US! LET US REMIND THEM WHY!”

– A series of battle cries seemingly stunned various forms of Their Bodies and giant blobs of meat as they oozed from the pores like puss. Memories of past encounters were undoubtedly ingrained into them but funnily enough, they had no memorized countermeasures to deal with Caldera Industries’ full brunt.

“Engulf them whole and bring forth a swarm of locusts. Pluck them clean to the bone. We will bring them back anew for the next feast! You entered our home… waging war with the intent to destroy us? They’ll all know in time what is happening here. My children are already on their way. Take them. Collect their bodies and find their weaknesses!”

This was the first time that the Crimson Hunger were faced with the entire might of an Atelier. If they had, then they would have released the equivalent of antibodies to deal with them swiftly. The issue was that the moment one personnel was engulfed by the balls of flesh, they would not be able to recover them.

This was because of their immense weight.

“TURN THE DIAL!” A voice ordered through intercoms that originated from various machinery, particularly the 10-meter sized balls. “RELEASE YOUR QUANTIFIED GRAVITY! BRING THAT WAVE DOWN!”

As said, thousands of hands reached for their devices and twisted a dial, increasing the Quantified Gravity output to the point where the world collectively distorted. Seismic fissures split the world apart again as the wave was brought down by an immense gravitational field.

The land crumbled under the weight of 10 times that of normal gravity, causing a sinkhole to form. The wave shattered into crimson foam before it suddenly flattened. The blood pooled there like a drain, allowing Caldera Industries to progress further ahead.

“98 Quants of Gravity! If you’re not rated for it, then fall back!” Another battle cry resounded, cutting through the sound of tearing flesh and shattering bones.

Around one thousand men and women stayed back.

One could not rely on anti-gravity measures when the Quants were this high.

The black balls bounced tens of meters into the air before slamming down on their victims. Then, they mashed together to form an artificial worm and began to roll around the mound. One hundred of these massive balls rolled over anything that came into their way, flattening the base of the mountain.

Frost was left speechless. These personnel and machines had no chance of beating the Heart of the City on their own due to its Def stats, but they could plough through everything else with ease.

It did not matter what grotesque form the organisms of the Heart of the City took. They’d be crushed by the ends of their hammers and the machines.

An Atelier can’t take down a Heart of the City without a Beholder, huh. But anything they produce is no match for them… Nav. How much Nex am I generating from this?

Frost contemplated as she pushed up with the Vermilion Moons, dashing overhead the army as she planned to dive straight into the mountain of flesh.

“A surprisingly high amount. One thousand NEX per minute.” Nav calculated.

Mechanical arms dove from out of the ground like giant serpents. They formed a spectacular arc above Frost and the Vermilion Moons.

The Vermilion Moons did not need to interfere, but they did so anyway. Due to the small number of Caldera Industries personnel, they were not immune to being overrun. Only a handful were present, but one could not underestimate the power of a Moon.

“Amalgam. Witness us. This is for you! This strength we have is all because of you! We suffered because of these Hearts! It’s only right if we pay what’s due!”

The rod containing Serum U – Ultimo bubbled. They did not take it, but it seemed to foam in response to their eagerness for combat. This was the equivalent of a super soldier serum, which increased their stats tremendously for 30 minutes but halved it for the next 2 hours.

Since they’d be fighting soon after, they silently agreed to avoid using it. Besides, it was not necessary in the first place.

Serum W – Wishcatcher was drained from their backs as they wove through Caldera Industries’ personnel. Eventually, they reached a long stretch of red where giant, tentacle spires rose from the ground.

“Nothing!” Silica cried. “Our sisters aren’t here!”

This Serum allowed them to sense other Blood Moons. With nothing here to retrieve, another forbidden Serum was drained till half. Balls of light formed in their hands before molten rock formed on its surface like a crust. It was as though they were holding a miniature sun in the palms of their hands, and at once, they smashed it against the tendrils before them.

A great beam of fire tore a hole through the building-sized tentacle. It grew in size, forming a cone as it disintegrated everything in its path. It extended for another fifty meters further, vaporizing blood and gore alike.

The resulting red mist carried the stench of scorched flesh.

“Serum X – Xpulsion never ceases to amaze us! Isn’t it amazing, Amalgam!? Our Head!? This is only but a ray of what a dying Star is capable of!” Silica laughed maniacally as the Monarch stared in what seemed to be in disbelief. “And it replenishes thanks to Serum Y – Ylem!”

Walls of flesh shot out from the ground. For Frost, it was only a matter of pushing through like an unstoppable object. But for the Vermilion Moons, they had other forms of magic thanks to the Serums.

Silica and her battle sisters did the same thing as Frost, except that the walls broke a nanosecond before they could interact with it. Not only that, but Silica was suddenly attacked by a hail of flying thorns.

“Gaaah?!”