Act I.
It was a word that struck an ominous chord. The Librarians. No, the Authors of Existentia wielded the power to create entities from their tales, as their namesakes implied. A masterpiece of a play manifested before their eyes as an abominable theatrical.
The cathedral shifted. Every crimson mass expanded as bricks began to shatter, creating a cavity. The Remembrance were swallowed by the flesh, dissolving their bodies until a putrid, vaguely humanoid figure remained. The cavity had distorted tremendously, and Frost had to confirm with Nav whether or not they were affected by a Corrupted Zone.
“This is not a Corrupted Zone!” Nav adamantly claimed as the Bride and Groom interlocked hands, dancing as though they had fallen for one another at first sight. “We are surrounded by Crimson Hunger mass. Can you hear the heartbeat? This place is connected to something we cannot fathom.”
“Another Heart!?” Frost cried and began their onslaught. There was no other condition available other than the invulnerability the Bride and Groom possessed, whose named had changed for this Act.
Lovestruck Woman
Bride
< Love at first sight >
LEVEL : 60 ORIGIN : Impuritas
HP : 30,000
ATT : 0 MAG ATT : 1,000 ATT DEF : 1,000 MAG DEF : 0
MP : 2,000
RESIST : 50 AGI : 10
Uninvited Lovestruck Man
Groom
< Love at first sight >
LEVEL : 60 ORIGIN : Impuritas
HP : 30,000
ATT : 1,000 MAG ATT : 0 ATT DEF : 0 MAG DEF : 1,000
MP : 0
RESIST : 50 AGI : 10
Both were fitted into a dress and suit respectively. The Groom’s body had regained its human appearance, but if one looked close enough they would find dead, dried flesh hiding underneath. The external skin was worn like a mask, and his hollow eyes stared deeply into the fond eyes of the Bride.
Additionally, the now hundreds of meaty entities, which danced in this mockery of a ball, had undergone a change of their own.
Familia
Remembered Family
< Hatred at first sight >
LEVEL : 80 ORIGIN : Impuritas
HP : 10,000
ATT : 2,000 MAG ATT : 0 ATT DEF : 2,000 MAG DEF : 500
MP : 0
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
RESIST : 20 AGI : 15
“O Prince, why do you threaten to exile my dear happiest love.”
“For the bouts between our families… When I snuck into your party, I fell in love. But the Prince wished us apart. The romanticist in me could not help but to admire the pale feathers he adorned.”
Whenever they spoke, it began with the Bride and was followed with the Groom. As Frost blitzed through the crowd, dragging bodies along like clubs, she prepared a strike reserved for the lovestruck couple.
And with a spectacular flaming arc, she struck the duo with an unforgettable punch. Flames and burning pages exploded from their bodies. Like a hammer to hot iron, the glow of their burning, paper bodies increased punch after punch, and bite after bite.
Their HP isn’t anything special at all! Frost mentally exclaimed, defeating them as their bodies were reduced to golden particles.
However, the battle was still not over. Nav could not understand how these tales worked. They were different from the Corrupted. The fact that things did not progress likely meant there was a hidden Condition.
“Better off erasing all of them! All this talk about a Masterpiece and that’s it!?” Cer cried, rushing through the legs of the dancing Familia’s, clashing at their heels as Res fired periodic beams, with Ignis further increasing her Biomass count. Jury and Ber, however, had already slaughtered a near hundred together.
Seeing this – Ignis reeled her blade behind her. The bone extended to over 10 meters in length, and after jumping into the fray, she spun, cleaving all with her tornado-esque attack.
“Not bad Ignis! Did seeing my height inspire you!? Hehe!” Ber grinned as Ignis wiped away the blood from her cheek.
“Mm. Having better reach is helpful. Dangerous. But good.” Ignis concisely spoke.
“Don’t make it sound like we’re holding you back! Hitting us is impossible! Don’t forget –!” Cer laughed, getting drunk on the battle as Frost made it her mission to devour the fleshy stage, the heartbeat of this world throbbing wildly. “We’ve been thriving in a job where people die young!”
“I agree with Cer for once. As long as you’re not like that.” Res, placing a blue potion against her lips, looked over at the feasting Frost. “Then there’s no risk of accidental injuries. Fight like no tomorrow. But this weird. Are we expecting them to get stronger?”
“Possibly! Unless this was an elaborate scheme to work us up, then please treat it like we’re up against an Eternal Night Corrupted!” Jury answered, also curious about the difficulty of this brawl.
The easy nature of the battle caused Frost to wonder just how much stronger it would become in the following Acts. What helped the most was that due to manifesting the Second State, everyone’s stats besides hers had effectively doubled. Jury’s didn’t quadruple as she had yet to be misvalued. Perhaps this was why the Memory Bistros had actively avoided her. To prevent the Crimson Hunger from being liable for its effect.
Also, there was no telling just what the purpose of this Masterpiece served in the first place. On one hand, she knew it was to fuel her emotions, but she couldn’t imagine it bringing her anywhere near past the Third State.
So what resided in the second hand?
What else was waiting for them in the following chapter?
Frost gained nothing eating the stage, so she went on to transform the remaining 50 Familia into coins. Etched Coins never had their moment to shine, but this wasn’t about the Etched Coins themselves. Rather, this was to maintain her stash of coins.
Because they were dwindling faster than she expected. A large force was likely under the influence of her False Diamond, which had the effect of using her coins as a replacement for their mana.
Isn’t the False Diamond over what, a few hundred meters in the air? Who’s benefiting from it?
“Unknown. But the fact that they are empowered must mean they are allies.”
Justica Arms? The 6th Branch? This fast!?
“You described what the world was like above the City of Spades. Smoke, and railways that ran both above and beneath the smoke. It is possible that they may be using a train. Frost. Your mind is clogged. Justica Arms uses Atelier Magic. Many Atelier Magics use Nex.”
… meaning they’ve sent in the Associations, huh. Something big is beginning to brew –!
Suddenly, upon cleansing the chamber from the entities, the Bride and Groom spoke with a rumble that wormed into their chest.
“When the Prince told us that it was impossible my world fell apart.”
“Exile would not be the worst of it. Told that we were never meant to be only tempered our love. In those mountainous field away from the greatest city of Paradise, I snuck to her estate on that moonfilled night.”
The world crumbled; the flesh solidifying to stone. An earthquake ravaged through the sewers, causing the ceiling to split as debris spilled from the surface. A cave-in was inevitable, and something sinister roamed beyond.
Without a moment to lose, Ignis, much to their surprise, cried out:
“Get over here, quickly! I’m bringing us out!”
With haste, they all huddled beside Ignis, with Frost kept at a distance by Jury. Her tail wrapped her waist firmly as Ignis’ left hand split into tiny tentacles, each fastening the others to her.
“We’re going up, huh!?” Cer was ecstatic to see a proactive Ignis.
“Is this going to work!?” Res asked.
“A shortcut. We’re very deep underground. So… please hold on tight!” As if inspired by Ber’s transformation, Ignis began to wield a voice of her own as steam began to exhaust from her body.
“Hah! That’s what I’m talking about Ignis!” Ber cried, punching the air.
Then, in the next instant, the rocky ceiling was ploughed as bony and muscular machinations arose from her back, like the legs of a parasitic spider. The sheer collective size pushed them through the countless tons of rock and soil; the skeletal head and body protecting them. Not that it mattered considering their strength, but it was as Ignis said – this was a shortcut to the surface.
Like the stem of a plant, they pushed through until they reached the light of the burning city, rising above as loose rock pelted the roofs like hail. The steaming skull exhaled powerfully, its heat near rivaling Frost’s own as they found themselves soaring above the city.
And underneath, they were met with a towering, pale castle that stood on two legs made from the collective corpses of their families. It stood shoulder to shoulder with Ignis’ Musculoskeletal form, and at the top sat the Bride at a marble balcony, with the Groom hiding at the base of their mountain of corpses.
“Was it a sin for us to stay as one?”
“Was it a sin for us to be in love?”
< ACT II >
The Forbidden Balcony Beneath the Stars
Librarians