Galia did not hold back against the Corrupted Frost. Streaks of light hailed down from the heavens, causing widespread destruction within Snowfallen White’s forest.
| THE PATH OF POISONED APPLES |
< CONDITION: Snowfallen White and the Fruit of Everlasting Miracles is split into two different segments. HP will not fall below 50% if both are not at 50% HP >
< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT: Snowfallen White is Suppressed if the Fruit of Everlasting Miracles reaches 0 HP first >
< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT: Snowfallen White and the Fruit of Everlasting Miracles is Subjugated when its HP reaches 0 >
Fruit of Everlasting Miracles
< Come hither and taste a fraction of their wishes >
AFFINITY : Wrath
HP : 25,000,000
Both Snowfallen White and the apple had their own dedicated HP pools. Galia’s relentless assault eliminated 5,000,000 HP from Snowfallen White but had missed the apple held in her hand.
When the attack was over, Snowfallen White waved her golden device, casting a cone of light over both Galia and the Arbiter. A song was then hummed by the Corrupted, causing an approaching Michaela’s body to suddenly slow as if afflicted by time-altering magic.
< “The choice was made when you offered me the apple.” >
< [Enchanted Song] >
< The menacing tune was meant to be sung to a child >
< EFFECT: This is a passive skill. When activated by the Song of Snowfall, halve the AGI of those who recognize it >
< “Lace it with poison you both did.” >
< [Song of Snowfall] >
< They were envious of the song’s origins >
< EFFECT: Active skill. Apply Torn Nostalgia to those who hear the song >
Torn Nostalgia
< EFFECT: Reduce MP by 10% for every loop the song makes >
< “Lace it with poison you both did.” >
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< “Enjoy that apple that confines you to an eternal nightmare.” >
The cone of light that enveloped them caused both Snowfallen’s eyes to glow with gold. Her target was acquired. The Arbiter swung her colossal blade towards her, but the Corrupted somehow managed to avoid it despite its lacking AGI.
“Precognition? … No. I see. To you this must be like a play.” Michaela mused, watching as the light of Snowfallen’s golden device formed a great lance. “You can see it. The threads that make up my every motion. How absurd…”
< [Rend The False Apple] >
< There can only be one >
< EFFECT: Deal 10x damage if the attack strikes the target’s heart (Apple) >
< “I will be free from the bounds of this fairytale.” >
< “As will be the ones you’ve devoured with each iteration of us!” >
The lance struck Micheala’s heart. The tip struggled to bury itself deeper than the surface as Snowfallen White pushed on, shoveling dirt and mud as the vines collected at Michaela’s ankles as if to drag her against the lance. The golden light expanded from the tip of the lance, as white debris broke free from the white Unlying Markers they crashed into.
At the same time, Galia conjured a massive magical circle beside her. It was roughly the same size as her and carried intricate inscriptions that appeared like a map of the cosmos.
“Wasting Nex is damning offense. But we are in such a surplus that unleashing it here would hardly put a dent into our reserves.” Galia began as a black bullet the size of a human appeared.
Purple sparks encased it, crackling like they could barely hold it back.
“Still, not many of us have regained the Nex that we have expended since the last time we had to take you down, Amalgam… Though that is not what you want to hear right now. I, the Huntsman of your tale…”
|| Ultimatum ||
< EFFECT: Deal 10,000,000 damage. Immediately Stagger the target. This Beholder Skill requires Nex >
“… was originally ordered to eliminate you, Princess.”
The black bullet howled through the forest, striking Snowfallen White with immeasurable force. The bullet was absorbed upon impact, shattering into a million crystal shards that shook the very fabric of reality itself.
“But I had a change of heart. Because what I found within those chambers beneath Paradise was not a beast that plotted to the destruction of all, but a mourning mother brought to the brink of madness. Those of us who have endured the gauntlet of desperation know to recognize a flock of the same feather.”
Were this not a Corrupted Zone, then the topography of this land would have been permanently altered. Trees as far as a kilometer collapsed. Anna and Nav had already taken preemptive measures to distance themselves. The trees sprung up immediately after.
The soft tune that slowed both the Arbiter and Galia down disappeared, as did the cone of light. In that moment, the Arbiter used this opening to bring down her blade onto the apple in Snowfallen White’s hand.
Fruit of Everlasting Miracles | HP: 13,000,000
“Once upon a time.”
The Arbiter raised her weapon over her shoulder again.
“I was a Star that locked itself away in my own kingdom of pale.”
She smashed it against the side Snowfallen White’s head, sending her flying in the direction of the River.
“It knew nothing of the world. The emotions that drove humanity. The yearning of dreams.”
The Arbiter gave immediate chase.
“Through my pride I locked it all out because it was meaningless to me. The decrees of my own, and my prejudices…”
When the golden cone of the Corrupted appeared, Michaela had already masked her movement within the trees outside of her field of view.
Suddenly, her voice came from the side just before the song could be sung.
“… was born from the pride of a Star of my resounding height. Truths never mattered. I had already blamed them all for the sole reason that they were humans. They carried a primordial sin.”
The Arbiter grasped Snowfallen White’s head with one hand, and without warning, crushed her head as a ball of white light formed.
It was as if a star had just been born.
< [O] [Reign of Stars] [O] >
< EFFECT: 15,000,000 Damage. Uses trace essence of ???. Stored Nex cannot be used >
Snowfallen White | HP: 12,500,000
The armor creaked. The power the Arbiter conjured for that split second caused herself immense pain, as shown by the contorting of her face. Her emotions ran high unexpectedly as she clutched her head moment after the attack, staggering backwards.
“… I have lost that privilege to use that power as I once wielded. That’s why I bleed like humans do. When I peered into the looking glass, all I saw was you!”
The toll Reign of Stars had on her body was immense, for it required her to generate the necessary Nex in that fraction of a moment. Dark vision clouded her mind.
However, the voice of Snowfallen White snapped her from her unexpected trance.
< “You shaped yourself to look like me, all because I was something you were not.” >
< “Then thereafter, you shaped me to look like you.” >
< [Wrath of Thorns] >
< Be constricted by the bindings of this tale! >
< EFFECT: Send a wave of thorny brambles their way >
< “We could only ever communicate through violence.” >
< “It was a child that wandered into your wicked nest in the humblest of beginnings.” >
< “It offered nourishment. But you offered poison to repay her.” >
The forest floor exploded with thorny vines. They moved like a giant tidal wave, consuming the Arbiter. However, she was not moved by such an attack. She stabbed her blade into the ground, cementing herself in place as streaks of light continued to bombard the world from the skies.
“I –!”
The Arbiter, for the first time, raised her voice.
“I took your form not out of envy, but out of love! In my darkest days spent in my white forest, you were a ray of light! What I fed you was not poison! What my forest gave to you were the truths I believed in!”
Her roar took Galia aback. Even the Corrupted seemed to stare blankly at her, as if her words had managed to reach it.