Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)-Chapter 1107. Tides of the Moons

< [As The Queen Commands] >

It vomited Converted Drones from its pores in the hundreds. But they did not get far. Sparkles suddenly materialized in the air, and a Moon lit a thin cigarette of a brand that caught Horus’ eye.

“Smorza Artesian goods. Shit not even a Color can get their hands on. A Demon Moon. Damn. Out of my league~”

The ram-horned woman: a Demon proven by her dark sclera: had lit the cigarette using a magical lighter. When the metal lighter snapped shut with the flick of a wrist, the sparkles suddenly transformed into shards of glass.

They were shaped like raindrops, and they pelted the Converted Drones. One hundred perished in an instant, their bodies reduced to a macerated mush.

“A Skill…? Magic? Of what sort? Moons… Were they always capable of large-scale capabilities?”

A Herald could not help but question this. Moons of the past were reliant on highly precise Skills. The Eye, Fang and Claw were the sole exception thanks to Serum S, which had granted them large-scale Skills, such as [Hyperelectric Field].

What many did not know was that Moons, due to Serum G, were unable to tap into a power that was called the ‘Tides of a Moon’. These were Skills that allowed a Moon to control its immediate surroundings by projecting a piece of themselves.

For the triplets this came in the form of the electric field.

The first time it had been used by a Moon outside of the triplets was during the War in Grandis, deep inside the Upper Sanctums of the Nexus. [Crystalized Pyrolytisism], which had turned one of the grand halls of the Nexus into flaming crystal cavern.

Fifty meters was the average area of effect. Outliers like the twins had significantly less range. It came to no one’s surprise that the Moons who took the mantle of the Seci Response were also the Moons whose powers were in the upper limit.

Indeed. The range of [Raindance Redemption] was ninety meters.

“Did you believe that the Moons would stay the way they were under the Amalgam’s rule?”

Ber could not help but giggle as she flourished another hand. This question, while it had humored her, was enough to push her to the First State and manifest her winged arm.

The Herald tried to speak, but his voice was swiftly suppressed by Ber’s laughter.

“Is that how Act X thinks? Serum G might as well be a concept over a Serum if that’s how Act X thinks. Nothing can stay the way it is. Nothing. If he couldn’t, then I don’t believe that an Atelier can.”

Raoul came to her mind, but she shrugged away his name and focused her mind on the task at hand. She held her winged arm outwards, and then, she charged into the Corrupted army. A dark tornado ravaged the Corrupted Denizens as black and gold petals cascaded down like black snowflakes. Those who were lucky to catch a glimpse of her through the ranks of the Denizens noticed that she wore a pleased smile, her eyes gently sealed shut as she moved on the tips of her toes.

She was dancing.

“Witness us, Act X. What good is a stage if there isn’t a performance~? The Moons control the tides. Every phase of the moon determines the strength of a tide. You’ve yet to see the Tide of a New Moon!”

Ber was a New Moon, much like Res. They were both Moons who had returned from Corruption. She was the first New Moon, and the only Moon to possess her own Corrupted Persona. The black feathers spun in the opposite direction of her, eventually condensing into a beautiful moonlit dress.

Her Emotional State had risen to the Second State. This was her limit. Any further and she risked Instability, since she was not Tempered yet. In any case, she dragged the blade into the earth and sent an uppercut against an unseen target.

Her eyes flickered with a sudden intensity, and she laughed:

“Condition: The Corrupted with the date for a name is only revealed when in the presence of electricity. Lucky~ Sis, have you tried using your Tide of the Moon yet?”

“As if this doesn’t count!” Res snapped in a joking manner, gesturing to the immense number of painted barricades and platforms littering the Grand Stage.

“Kidding! Sending the Conditions!”

Her wing, which was now encased in electricity, connected with an invisible entity. Crackles of electricity revealed a cloud that buzzed with static. It carried the screams of a faded memory. Ber tapped her Interrogating Clock, but nothing had changed.

She didn’t expect it to. But it was worth trying for a Corrupted that was suspected to be heavily based on a location, given that it was also an event.

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A cacophony of screams rattled the Acolytes. It damaged them, causing some to bleed from their ears, and others to itch their eyes until their eyelids bled.

At the same time, the Moons rejoiced as they received Ber’s message.

One Queen Bee

< CONDITION : Cannot be damaged until all Converted Drones have been eliminated >

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT : One Queen Bee is Suppressed when all Converted Drones have been eliminated >

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT : One Queen Bee is Subjugated when its HP reaches 0 >

Indoctrinated Dolly Boy

< CONDITION : The Indoctrinated Dolly Boy seeks out those who oppose the Scripts. The Scripts are absolute. Its claws grow with each recited Script >

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT : Indoctrinated Dolly Boy is Suppressed when a Script is exposed as a lie >

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT : Indoctrinated Dolly Boy is Subjugated when its HP reaches 0 >

Sunshine Jack

< CONDITION : Targets those who are not tethered to a performance. The darkest shadow has the brightest light. Learn to smile, because there is no sunshine in a frown. HP cannot go lower than 1 while it has remaining Stacks of Orb of Decaying Sunshine >

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT : Sunshine Jack is Suppressed when it extinguishes Orb of Decaying Sunshine. Gain Orb of Sundown when Suppressed >

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT : Sunshine Jack is Subjugated when its HP reaches 0 while it has the Orb of Sundown Condition applied >

King of Midnight

< CONDITION : Most vulnerable when Non-Suppressed. Activates King of Deluge when Suppressed. Corrupted Skills may linger after Subjugation, Suppression or translocation. It prioritizes non-combatants >

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT : The King of Midnight is Suppressed when HP is reduced to 50%. Activate King of Deluge. Risk Classification changes from Eternal Night to ??? >

< ADDITIONAL SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT : If King of Deluge is active, it may only be Suppressed when confronted by the Knight of Night’s End >

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT : The King of Midnight is Subjugated when its HP reaches 0 >

1st of the 9th, 325 PA

< CONDITION : 1st of the 9th, 325 PA cannot be damaged until its form is revealed. Highly vulnerable to electric-based attacks >

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT : 1st of the 9th, 325 PA is Suppressed when its HP reaches 0. Return after a period of hibernation >

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT : Subjugated when the Origin of Memory is forgotten or overcome by the wielder. Return after an unknown time as a new historical footprint >

* * *

“Receiving!”

“Woah! Ma’am Claw! Is this all?”

“Our thanks, Claw of the Head. Glory to the Head!”

“Eternal Night, they are, in practice they are weak. Purpose Corrupted, as outlined by ImpulseWorks through Meaning, barely deviate from their one goal.”

“Weak solely because of our preparations thanks to the Archived Corrupted. We’ve been using them to train solo and in groups non-stop during our 240-hour blocks. We cannot call them weak for certain until one of us manages to slay the Heart of Ours without a party.”

* * *

Indeed. The Moons of the Nexus had been using the Archived Main Sequence Corrupted as well as the Archived Corrupted within the Eternal Library for training. Since there was no risk of death, Moons could, if they wished, throw themselves at Corrupted for hundreds of hours at a time.

The inherent time dilation of a Corrupted Zone paired with an Isolation Sphere stacked, meaning one could theoretically fight for a thousand hours in the span of a single day. Of course, even a Moon had trouble focusing for that long. The Moons firstly needed to be Tempered.

Such rigorous training was required of the Moons to bring them up to par with the New Moons. Of course, this was also how Candidate and Aspiring Moons were trained, particularly those who joined the Seci Response.

There were two modes of training. Solo and party.

Solo was self-explanatory and was highly dependent on a Moon’s individual abilities. Aspiring Moons had an inherent advantage since they could see the Conditions but did not have the same strength or experience of a Moon.

Typically, Moons fought Corrupted as a single instance as well in solos. But recently the sequential method had been gaining popularity. This saw a Moon fight Corrupted of a theme back to back, elevating their Emotional State as the fight continued from the weakest Corrupted to the strongest.

The Judgement Main Sequence theme saw the most traffic, since the Arbiter had personally offered to grace them with a battle if to whoever managed to surpass the Icon of Judgement.

Unsurprisingly, no one had managed to take down the Castigation Bird, an Apocalypse Risk Classed Corrupted.

Party mode on the other hand, saw Moons team up either as duos or as a raid party. The latter was mostly for Woe of the Fallen Star or higher Corrupted. So far, the strongest Corrupted the Seci Response Team had taken down as a collective was the Heart of Ours.

As for what happened when they faced the Crowned…

… Suffice to say, they were just happy it was over before they realized what had occurred.