Shadows concealed Cer’s vision.
They were like Darkness Stacks attempting to blind her, to convince her that there was no light beyond Elysia’s reach…
No.
Elysia held out her hand, kindly asking Cer to take it.
Suddenly, Cer’s brows furrowed. A spark of lightning coursed through her veins, jumpstarting her heart.
“… do you think that I need your help… Just to reach the other side…? To be the perfect me? All of these shadows are of my worst self. I don’t need to wear them on my sleeves. But neither do I want to forget them. They’re a part of me… So don’t you dare… pretend like they ‘are’ me.”
A false savior. Cer could not see Elysia in any other light. She had tried to gaslight her into believing that she had no future, and that she had no power to reach that light on her own. Elysia tried to draw out the things she had tried to forget, to make them manifest like it was the only thing that mattered to Cer in this world.
“Elysia…”
Cer, upon reaching the gentle presence of Elysia, grit her teeth and reached towards her. But she did not take that hand.
“… Get the fuck out of my head.”
Instead, she sent a fist straight into her face.
“WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?”
An ear-shattering sound of broken glass pervaded the great lake. Cracks formed across its surface as her fist phased through Elysia, sending her falling into the world of light. The ticking immediately subsided as Cer collapsed into the shallow lake.
“Then so be it. We will meet again, Cer.”
She struggled to resurface. It felt like she was being dragged away by an invisible current. Suddenly, a pair of hands reached down to grab her.
“CER! Come back to me, CER!” The cries and the embrace of Frost welcomed her back into the real world. “Cer!? Is that you!? Are you ok!?”
Frost handled her clumsily, her hands shaken by the near loss of Cer. She patted Cer down, checking if she really was ok.
“I’m… back? Heh… Aha… I did it…”
A surge of relief caused Frost to lean in and embrace her again, right before she grabbed Cer’s cheeks and desperately stared into her eyes. Seeing nothing but Cer’s conviction caused her to slump further, sinking deeper into the lake.
“… I thought I lost you. I’m sorry. I tried to get in.”
Die Agnosis floated beside her. An extraordinarily powerful force had prevented Frost from entering Cer’s State of Mind.
“I was being blocked off – but – Cer! How do you feel!? Does it hurt anywhere!? Did you Corrupt!? What happened to you –!?”
“Calm down Frost! You’re starting to sound like Elysia!” Cer grimaced at the thought but was ecstatic to hear that Frost was worried about her. “… I was right. There was someone on this side of the world waiting to catch me. All that eat or wanting to be eaten… shit like that doesn’t matter to you, huh?”
She hugged Frost back, burying her face into her chest.
“Thanks, Frost.”
“… Thank you, Cer. I don’t know how you did it, but I know it wasn’t easy.”
As confused as Frost was, she could at least tell what Cer must have endured. She stroked the back of her head like her mother, allowing Cer all the time in the world to gain her bearings.
“… You beat Elysia. Is that what happened?” Frost whispered, wondering how Cer was able to return completely unharmed.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”
“You know I would.”
Cer wanted to laugh, but she bit her tongue and threw her head over Frost’s shoulder as she wiped her eyes.
“Yeah. You would. Only you, and everyone in our pack I call friends. Dammit… Is this water salty or something?”
She continued to rub her eyes and splashed even more water into it with her tail.
“I managed to get Elysia to back off. She’s like the opposite of you. You try to tell me do my best. To go forward. Try to encourage me. Elysia tried to do the same, but through submitting to my shadows. That way I could be a me… a fucked up me that I wanted to break away from.”
Cer sighed, wiping her eyes on Frost’s damp sleeves.
“Tch. But for better or worse, I think I’ve come to terms with it. Surprising, huh? That one person was able to beat their past without Corrupting. It sounds so easy. I thought it would be easy… I don’t blame anyone for Corrupting at all. It feels so easy to fall into that trap. Elysia… if you’re considered a savior, then she’s a false savior. A fucking devil, thinking it’s for our own good. Leading us to conclusions that only lead us to being swallowed whole.”
Cer could go on for hours, but she wasn’t the kind of person to mope. Minutes later, Cer broke free from Frost’s embrace and stretched her arms like they were wings.
“Nggggh~! Don’t look at me too hard, Frost. I might get the wrong idea. Just kidding… Hah. So…?”
“Welcome back, Cer. You really are the strongest wolf.” Frost praised with sore eyes.
“I think I did feel your presence in there! It’s impossible to mistake you, you know? Even if you feel like a warm, golden light.” She pointed at her chest with a thumb. “In the end, it was all me! Cer, the best wolf that ever was! I’m half disappointed though.”
“Aha? Is that what comes to mind after nearly being broken down? Haaah. To be honest, like I’m any better.” Frost laughed. “No new powers?”
“Unless you consider a better outlook a new power, then nope. Nothing at all. Ain’t that annoying? Still the tiny old Cer. But the best Cer no doubt!”
“Then you’ll want to take a look at this.”
As Cer proudly basked underneath the moonlight, Frost fished for something under the water. An electric discharge spread across the lake for a second before Craving Electric Wolf slashed out from the water.
In Frost’s bare hands, held like a prized catch, was an Eternal Night Corrupted.
“Unfair powers aside, what’s the matter with it? I thought you ended up killing it.”
“I had a better idea. Plus, I wanted to try this new power of mine. There is a Criteria called Salvation. It’s what I used to Unrealize Ber, which lets her manifest her Corrupted Persona. She gets to stay as a Demi-human, whereas Res – a Realized – is an Original.”
“What’s this gotta do with me?” Cer was intrigued all of a sudden, and she seemed to know where this conversation was going.
Her tail steadily swayed like a fan.
“It can be used on Corrupted as well. Since gaining the ability from the Icon of Judgement, I’ve been able to see golden hearts in everyone. Even the Corrupted. Salvation works with the Corrupted, Cer.”
Frost brought Craving Electric Wolf closer to her face.
“Salvation lets me turn non-Main Sequence Corrupted into Corrupted Personas. So if you were to fulfil that criteria with my help –”
“Then I’d get my very own Corrupted Persona?”
“Yes.”
Cer’s tail wagged erratically now.
“How do we do that!?”
Frost took Cer to the edge of the dry banks of the lake and pinned the Corrupted down, sinking her hands to cut it up into bite sized pieces for Cer to enjoy.
“You have to eat it without dying. That won’t work normally due to its Condition, but you have me. You have a Healer.”
A grin flashed on Cer’s face.
She unbuttoned her suit, shedding the top blazar and revealing a white buttoned shirt. And with hungry eyes and her teeth salivating with a dangerous current, she feasted on the Cer of the past.
“Why is this so funny? So that’s how this part of me dies and gets integrated. The part of me that wanted to be eaten…”
*Munch*
*Squish*
*Gulp*
“… Just needed to be eaten after all.”
< Craving Electric Wolf Has Been Added To Cer’s Corrupted Persona Collection >
* * *
< This is Lailah speaking >
< Frost. As a foreword, I want to state that interfering may not be the optimal way of helping someone >
< Your power is to save people. Is that not why it is called Salvation? Even the Realization Criteria falls into that idea of salvation. It had allowed people to reinforce their Egos. Ignis to come forth from her Corruption, fully integrated and made to wear her shadows. Ber to suppress her shadows. Res who was born anew from its embrace >
< Can you call that finding one’s perfect ‘Self’ when either the Ego or the repressed shadows have to give in? >
< Neither do I >
< Integration is key >
< Moreover, the fact that Cer was in the First and Second State and has not yet experienced emotional instability until the Third like you usually do must mean that she is quite Tempered >
< Cer is an interesting subject >
< To resist Elysia’s will and one’s shadows is commendable >
< Elysia will no doubt return for her >
< As for now, we know that Elysia seeks to enact her own form of Salvation. You are two sides of the same coin >
< Let us hope that we can one day bring you both to the same side >