//////// < WARNING > ////////
< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET RESONATES >
No creature showed itself to reflect why the Risk Classification Level had risen. So far, the only monsters were the Vexed and Relinquished Consanguinities. They were hardly a threat at all. Even monsters of the Eternal Night Risk Class were laughable.
However, the fact that it had not revealed itself yet caused Frost to hone her senses.
She fought the awful truth of Michaela and her past in Grandis. Half of her mind resolved to return to the Nexus immediately at all costs.
Thankfully, her rational self reigned control over the wheel of her heart. The Unfair Tail could not manifest itself, but neither did Frost allow herself to manifest the First State out of precaution.
It was the ultimate test of her control over her emotions. The reason being was that the Genesis Stone resonated equally with her.
< The equivalent of your own State of Mind will manifest if you are not careful >
< It would be wiser to allow the Princess to interact with the Genesis Stone >
“It must be easy for you to tell to abandon my hatred! It’s never been clearer to me now why Michaela kept her mouth shut! Iscario… He was a Nephilim all along! That bastard was her son!”
She followed the light for now whilst encased in flames, her bare hands running through the Consanguinities to devour them as she vacantly stared ahead.
“Voice. You said you’re in the Nexus. This stays between us until I return! I’ll deal with the Arbiter and Galia myself!”
“The Arbiter…?” The Princess whispered curiously.
The name piqued her interest.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about! Just focus on the light ahead!” Frost called, but the Princess’ eyes darted all around, confused by what Frost said.
“There’s more than one!?”
“Mm! This one–!” She reached out towards an invisible light.
“GET YOUR HAND AWAY FROM THAT!”
Suddenly, Princess’ head was engulfed by a ring of darkness.
It slid down past her neck as she stared deeply at a light on the other side, her head swallowed by nothingness. Frost instantly used [Thermal Propagation] and herself downwards.
The noose slipped free from the Princess’ neck moments before it snapped shut. Her head would have rolled if Frost was a second slower. The girl’s tiny hands rushed to her neck, her face pale with terror.
Branch of Utter Resignation
< “All can be amended with the death of one.” >
< “Resign yourself from this life so that your mother can be free.” >
The words bled from Tablets of Bleeding Truth. The pale, gushing monoliths were the source of the blood, and Frost destroyed them with a hail of bullets from De Jure. Only the Rods of Agonizing Legibility and the Vexed Consanguinity remained alongside the Relinquished Consanguinity.
Soon, the blood began to dry up from the firestorm that followed her every move.
“Why…? I just want to know more about you, mother. So why are you trying to kill me too?” The Princess uttered in disbelief.
“It’s not her! Believe me… And even as much as I hate to admit it now, your mother is not that kind of person!” Frost took Michaela’s side.
It was for the sake of the Princess and was the truth.
Because despite how much hatred she had towards Micheala for keeping this all a secret, she could not find it in her heart to lie to her daughter. She only knew snippets of the Arbiter’s woes of the past, and how it all revolved around the same thing that desperately clung around her neck, weeping tears into her back.
The invisible nooses tried to claim the Princess’ head, her tears spawning more of them as Frost had to take drastic action.
[Non-Euclidian Interpretation].
The excess branches of the Relinquished Consanguinity appeared all around them like a thorny hedge. Deviating even slightly from the passage resulted in an attempt on the Princess’ life.
However, the Princess seemingly willingly reached towards the small, golden fruits along the thorns she had mistaken for the light.
“Princess! Listen to me! Don’t touch anything!”
“But it’s… calling for me! Like what mother did –!”
“It’s going to kill you! Like last time! What happened to wanting to live!? What do you think will change if you die for something you don’t understand!?”
“Then I just have to understand! I… I’m still so useless! Wouldn’t all of this end as well if I just… just let it take me…?”
“If that’s what you really think –!”
Frost pulled her into her arms and carried her like a bride. Scrutinizing eyes drilled into to hers as Frost’s face heavily contorted.
“– Then why are you still trembling like you want to live!? Was it a lie when you cried after we survived against that bird!?”
Her hatred frightened the girl. But even so, the Princess could feel why Frost felt this way about her.
“I was in the same place as you were once! I was thrown into a black forest to die because of what I was!”
The Princess held onto Frost’s torn apparel.
“People thought that if I died then things would be better! It wouldn’t have changed anything because the world won’t stop for just one person, even if it’s you and I! Princess… more than anything, dying will only hurt the ones who loved you the most!”
“Mother was already dead! That doesn’t matter! Telling me this won’t change anything! So why… are you telling me this like mother is still alive!?”
Frost didn’t say another word, instead focusing on navigating through the thorny thicket. A hand would temporarily brush against its walls, devouring it to regain her Mana as she sustained [Non-Euclidian Interpretation].
“Then… is she really somewhere out there…? Right now?”
Finally, Frost delivered the truth.
“She is. Believe me, she is. Behind the pale walls of the Nexus.”
Her tears fell harder.
“She’s been searching for you all this time! But that Arbiter… Tch. This sin of resignation goes both ways for you two! You wanted to give your life to so many because you thought it was all you could do, and Michaela left it up to others to find the things she wanted!”
< This part of the Rewound resembles a black forest of the past >
< Acedia is the Sin with the Affinity of Despair >
< Their shape is an allegory of the resignation of all things >
< Was that not the same thing the Princess sought for? That all could be fixed if she had just disappeared? >
“I don’t know why, and I’m starting to think her excuse of protecting the Nexus is a lie! Even when we were in the Nexus she couldn’t just come and find me herself! But it doesn’t change that she wants to see you again! So don’t you dare –!”
The black gradient shifted to grey as the world swirled. The black thicket finally gave way, revealing a monochromatic world of the past.
“– TELL ME THAT YOU HAVE TO DIE!”