Nothing could be done to keep Frost from annihilating the Impuritas vessels. Among the Bone Voyages were similar monsters from other Impuritas Groups, such as the Ghost Ships of the Memento Mori and the Ferry Cruisers of the Blood Festival.
Aboard the ship of withering bones and metal skulls were the resurrected crew of past shipwrecks.
Manning the ornate golden ships which used ferris wheels as paddles, and merry-go-rounds as a winch for their harpoons were humanoid monsters with stitched limbs and organs, each decorated handsomely for the occasion.
Beneath their festive tricorns was a face with a single, sinister grin that spanned from ear to ear. It took up more than half of their faces, and within their loose jackets hid a multitude of lidless eyes. The Ghost Ships were identified as the Rooks of the Memento Mori; living, resurrected chariots that carried the undead forward in a fortified vessel.
The Ferry Cruisers, on the other hand, were part of the Blood Festival’s Roaming Circus category.
Soul Rank: Black | Impuritas: Memento Mori
Soul Rank: Black | Impuritas: Blood Festival
Neither of these roaming Hearts were a threat to Frost. In the past they would have given her trouble, and especially now, considering the environment. However, Frost was an entirely different class of monster.
She did not even have to destroy the core of the Heart itself to eliminate them. All she needed to do was snap her jaws once at any part of their vessel, and they would be engulfed by a second set of jaws that arrived from the darkness.
Glistening teeth interlocked like the jaws of an angler fish. A pair of soulless eyes accompanied the nightmarish maw before everything was swallowed by whole. Nothing was left behind. Entire 100-meter ships snapped out of existence.
None of Frost’s attacks emitted a single sound. Indeed, Frost’s breaths were louder than the gnashing of her great maw, never mind the maneuvers and conjuration of defensive magic on their ship.
And yet, the silence was deafening. Crashing waves and the internal panic of the Impuritas could not match the silent orchestra of destruction. Frost swam from ship to ship, her body slithering through the currents unnaturally like a serpent. The way she moved her body was alien to her, for she had never performed such movements.
However, the Corrupted Persona she wore applied pieces of its instincts, enabling her to perform feats beyond her capabilities. It was the first time that a Corrupted had imparted additional knowledge and instincts upon her outside of their Corrupted Skills and flavor texts.
It was akin to adding a complementary gear into one’s head.
None could believe their eyes. The Ankou that was still attached to Frost’s waist despaired at the error they had made for aligning with Iscario. The Amalgam could freely manifest the Corrupted at will, and they were still meandering on how to reach Corruption.
Furthermore, and due to him also being afflicted by the Allure of the Light Condition; he saw Frost as the sole Star that shone brighter than the self-proclaimed ‘Brightest Star’ ever had, and perhaps, ever could.
“We were never supposed to go against the Archetypes.” He murmured with reverence.
“It’s too late for you to begin repenting. I’m only keeping you alive because I haven’t found a reason to kill you yet.” Frost spoke yet her lips did not move.
Her voice spoke internally within his mind.
< Beholder Umbra would like you to speak a few words on behalf of her >
What does she want to say?
Although Frost asked, she readily relayed everything Beholder Umbra solemnly recited. In the meantime, Frost continued devouring vessels, swimming through the darkness of the Underflow like it was made for her.
“Stars, O’ puppet of Death, are beings with knowledge that will make the sane mad and turn the world against a preacher of truths.”
The Ankou was just a skull, yet his expression visibly changed to one of utter despair from the moment he recognized the long cadence, and the haunting metaphorical verbiage.
“We are an island in the middle of an endless sea. Foolishly rowing out to the expanses beyond what we know; is bound to cause us to clasp at reeds of uncertainty. Then, you see it. A star. A light. A holy glimmer that falls from the skies. You seek it. But equally, it seeks you.”
Beholder Umbra’s words enraptured the Ankou. He began to mumble to himself as though her words caused a shared, traumatic memory of the Memento Mori to resurface.
“Do you believe that the Star Mori and I saw was a Star willing to offer a hand? A Lodestar seeking to guide those that are lost? How foolish. Those who live in the dark will use the light as a tool to lure the ignorant and the curious into waiting jaws.”
As Beholder Umbra recited, Impuritas vessels sailed to Frost’s light, only to be devoured whole.
“Curiosity killed countless souls seeking for a way to break the laws of nature, and the boundaries of reasoning. Demons, like the Impuritas, searched for a way to resist their nature. Succubae that are enslaved by their sexual urges. Vampires that lamented feasting on their loved ones to sate their hunger. Phantoms who can never experience physical connections. Demons of bargains who will always lose more than what they can give.”
“Then we realized – all of us – that our nature cannot be resisted.”
“Does it scare you that your insignificant tale will come to an end?”
“That it will not be any longer than a stanza in a book no one will remember?”
“Why must you be a Star?”
“… Is… it not unfair that we… can die so easily in this world?” The Ankou feared Umbra more than Frost, as did the entirety of the Memento Mori. “… Mori is our beacon. Our method of resisting the unforgivable nature that chains us. Does a world without light not frighten you? A cold void where nothing exists?”
“You can only claim that ‘nothingness’ is a fear because you have forefitted everything that makes you alive.”
“In a world where death does not exist – where we can freely deny the laws that make it possible – we would live in a hell beyond even my comprehension.”
“Nerves spread as far as possible along the walls. Organs repeatedly harvested. People living as instruments. Societies with their minds broken down for the thought experiment of ‘who will survive’.”
“… How meaningless. Because such a world already exists.”
Beholder Umbra adamantly believed that one’s nature should be preserved. That way, one could never be hurt or experience struggle, where hubris did not exist. Umbra believed in defeatism, verses the Memento Mori’s absurdist philosophies of existence; that a meaningless universe could be changed.
However, Beholder Umbra’s defeatist philosophy was tied to reason.
“We are beholden to our natures. Remember Death, O’ Memento Mori.”
“A deathless world is a misery that I will never accept.”
“Because there must exist a limit to one’s existential suffering.”
It was the only thing Beholder Umbra was willing to go against. Allowing a deathless world to exist roused unheard emotion within her voice. Her intonation became heavier, and the verbiage she used became direct.
“It has been a long time since I have spoken to a Memento Mori.”
“Amalgam. Offer me that head, and the key to my heart shall be yours.”
After three hours of barreling straight through the Underflow, they finally arrived at an underground harbor beneath the heart of the Capital. A stone fortress overtaken by the Crimson Hunger was the last hurdle required to reach the Red Barron.
And included in this last hurdle was a familiar Complex Heart.
< Forever we hunger for our moment to become whole. Wrathfully reconstructing what we’ve lost, our appetites whether for what we will gain. Stomachs screaming; we must be unpalatable to avoid being eaten ourselves >
A Memory Bistro was likely to be found there. And if the Crimson Hunger were truly like a hive mind comparable to the Fractured Nilhim, then it was possible to cripple them before the war could begin.
After all, the Memory Bistros were able to memorize an event down to the smallest of details.
Therefore, it was only appropriate to make them remember the same terror that broke the mind of a Disciple of Nilhim.
“Do not look out of the portholes. Move to the most isolated part of the ship and close your ears. Deiman, Autumn, Hired Arm, and you too – Mae. You’re responsible for them.”
Deiman, Autumn and those who overheard Frost had already seen what she was capable of, so why was there a need for them to cover their eyes? If anything, they wanted to continue basking in Frost’s overwhelming heroism.
However, Mae was the only person present who – once again – knew exactly what was going to happen next.
She foamed at the mouth before blacking out.
“Our presence might be known because of this, but it’ll be a surefire way of removing another keystone of the Impuritas.
My Exalted, my Tear Retrievers, my Raven – I hope you are ready.”