Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

841. Absolute Authority

Michaela was no longer on her backfoot. Four arms stretched from her torso, each wielding a variation of the False Price of Paradise; Longinus, Cassius, and Gaius with her right hand holding onto the scabbard that was the Piece of Paradise.

Those weapons were shaped like spears that ended with a two-tongued tip. The double-helix design was how Michaela was immediately made aware of what exactly these weapons were supposed to represent.

Each were as blindingly pale as her form. Found stabbed at each of the tips was a golden orb.

It was no doubt the Forbidden Apple. The exact same glow could be found emanating from her chest. The light was so bright that the feathers of her coat could not dare to mask it. It caused her ribs to reveal themselves through the flesh and feathers.

“I am not proud of this form the slightest. It parallels the desolation these hands brought upon the world. When my tails pierced through the heavens and creation as we knew it.”

Michaela’s tails coiled behind her. They formed 7 rings, each consecutive one larger than the last. They were like halos, and she positioned them behind her back to appear like wings. They harped with a harmonious sound as her feathers quivered. One could imagine a large tuning fork being struck by a hammer.

< PASSIVE: What Has, What Is, and What Will >

< The deed is done. It shall be repeated ad infinium as foretold >

< EFFECT: You may only be damaged by those who know your true name. May only be killed by beings and objects carrying your blood. Able to use Warp >

It made the Arbiter nigh immortal. She could still be damaged by the likes of Uriel. Furthermore, it would not protect her from the Flaming Sword. Still, it was a Passive Skill that essentially guaranteed eternal life – a curse that plagued the Stars for as long as time had existed.

Uriel recognized the sound as it grew to the chorus of a million simultaneous screams.

“The Trumpet!” Uriel swiftly positioned her body behind the width of the Flaming Sword, and at once, she struck it with her tails to create a sound similar to Michaela’s.

“It was far more impressive in the past. This is only a recreation of what it was. Were it the same –!”

A pale shockwave was released by her tail. It clashed with the Flaming Swords. Every Sin that was caught by the shockwave violently exploded like crushed cherries. Replacing them were Prideful Consanguinities, which sprung out like crystal shards across Mount Saris.

“– I would require my tails to be resealed!”

< ACTIVE: The Trumpet of The End >

< Then, silence befell the night. It went undisturbed for exactly one minute. They heard the trumpets. No one knew what it meant. Did they know how many seals they had broken to incur its wrath? >

< EFFECT: Sound (Bless) the Trumpets (Impending) to announce your kingdom come (Celestial). Elevate (Liberation) those of lesser blood (Impurities) into Prideful Consanguinities (Rebirth) >

< COST: Sins >

It disgusted Michaela. The bracketed words within the prompt were what she used to believe in.

Had she used this skill anywhere but here, then countless thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – would have transformed into Prideful Consanguinities. She knew exactly what this sight was, as did Uriel.

“After Sinder died it wasn’t just Elysia who lost control.” Uriel uttered, her arms trembling. “The pale objects fell and destroyed what was left of Paradise. You finished what Sinder began. Paradisio was another civilization that could never be saved.”

Even though she was protected by the attack thanks to the blade, the sheer psychological toll caused her blood to involuntarily spasm.

“But that’s why before the final reset you castigated yourself. Placed on those Seals so that your tails could never sound the Trumpets again… But even without your Trumpets… you had Elysia.”

Michaela nonchalantly raised a hand as she checked the final Skill she had borrowed from the Icon of Judgement.

< PASSIVE: Renounced Seal >

< Seven seals were put in place so that the King’s wrath would one day end >

< EFFECT: Upon a major emotional resonance or epiphany, the tail that you require the most will be restored for that one instance. It may never occur again >

She shortly sealed her eyes. All several million eyes across her wings closed simultaneously.

“Haah… Elysia was the successor to my Trumpet. Do you remember the weapons she wielded?”

The Trumpet was the Arbiter’s ability that combined the powers of all her tails. It was, more than anything, her true power.

A better way to put it was that all 7 tails were derived from the Trumpet.

“Elysia went through lengths to use Advent-powered weapons for what she lacked! She was inferior to all of us with that lone tail! She only became an Angel anointed by you because she was the last Angel!”

“She was the most innocent of you all.”

“Did that give her the right to become your Trumpet!?”

The Trumpet was the name given to the power that allowed her to manipulate the Primordial Factor of living beings, so that they could be elevated beyond comprehension.

This also included the Stars to some degree. Her Arbitration was as close to the meaning of the word as any of the Stars that existed, propelling her to an exalted position amongst all celestial beings.

A piece of this Trumpet was found in all her Angels, hence why wielded abilities that could manipulate aspects of reality and life itself, such as Uriel’s tail being able to tear into other dimensions, as well as manipulating the blood of lesser beings.

It was functionally similar to creating one’s own Corrupted Zone. One’s very own ‘kingdom’.

Elysia did not have such power. It was latent. Dormant. It only awakened after she had eaten from the Forbidden Apple.

“The irony of Elysia being my Trumpet when she lacked the qualities to be one. But it’s in this world where she plays her ticking melody to elevate the souls of the bereaved. Elysia has become a light for them. But we both know that beings who dangle light in the dark are predatory. They lure prey to a place of no return, then snap their jaws that had always been hanging over them.”

Uriel avoided another blast from Michaela’s tails. Wings that were larger than skyscrapers came crashing down around Uriel. Michaela no longer needed to move. She was far more powerful than Uriel now.

However, there was one thing that kept them even.

“Do you know how betrayed I felt when I watched her freely hold those weapons from the Inhumanity Principle!? GEN-08 created weapons that burned through our bare hands! But she was able to hold them! Longinus!”

Uriel’s eyes were fixed on the False Spear of Longinus that was held in one of Michaela’s hands as she ran across one of her wings, dragging her blade lengthwise. The damage dealt by the blade was immense, but it did not endanger Michaela’s life.

“The Lance of Annihilation! What made Elysia different from us to be able to wield it so freely!? To make her so compatible with the Light!?”

However, that blade was beyond the likes of Longinus. Nothing could stop it. Nothing save for the Piece of Paradise, otherwise, how else was she able to clash with her blade? This was because the Flaming Sword was designed specifically to be incapable of damaging beings or objects of pure Light.

“ANSWER ME! MICHAELA!”

The scabbard was one of these items as it was the crystalized realization of a Genesis Stone. Still, despite its flaws, the weapon cleaved her wings apart with utter ease. Eventually, Uriel severed one entirely.

“Elysia was born after the Second Shattering. She was amongst the Angels that roamed the ruins of the Facility holding the Yetzirah and mystical fragments of the First Shattering. You should know the answer already!”

“I do. Another reason why she’s no sister of ours! Elysia has more in common with the Light than she has with your blood!”

Uriel did not cease her assault, even thought Michaela was utterly unfazed by her. Her demeanor said it all. This had become no more than a quarrel as they awaited the results of Frost and Iscairo’s fight. Realistically, Michaela could not kill Uriel. Not while she had that blade.

Furthermore, Uriel couldn’t kill Michaela now that she had manifested the Fifth State.

“Precisely. She was the most receptive to the Light of us all. Gluttony. My Angel… was not even my own.”

Michaela mourned Elysia. Both had lived similar lives and suffered through the cycles. It was only Elysia who had attempted to change their world. Why there was so much struggle in her paradise.

It took her a condemnable amount of time to realize it was never paradise.

“My miserable, lonely Trumpet. Uriel. You have lived only a fraction of the time Elysia had, but you, like I had once – failed to carve out your own path. Instead, you’ve stolen a weapon from a face you cannot recall.”

“Neither do you seem to remember how those resets came to be in the first place!” Uriel moved to another wing.

Landmasses were swung at the Arbiter, only for her wings to carve right thought them. [The Trumpet of the End]’s acoustic shockwave crumbled hundreds of meters worth of earth, dissipating it as if it was put through an invisible sieve.

“The Third Shattering occurred at the end of every loop! There wasn’t a single person who didn’t have a spark of Light by the end of it! Elysia devoured the Fruit from the Tree of Life… that core remnant of the Captured Star… and she was able to accumulate enough Light to crystalize her wish on demand! She stole your Light, and then it was dispersed across the world!”

“I made that same mistake as well during the Second Shattering when the Captured Star was released from their prison. But that returned the Light to the world. The Third Shattering gave humanity inherent value. It became their Original Sin. Uriel… We… no, I have been blaming them for far longer.”

Nothing could change that Michaela was responsible for her hellish paradise, or the way she blamed humanity for their impurities. By the time she realized what she had done, there was nothing she could do to change it. So the only way to atone was to remain confined beneath Paradise, and to pray for her penance to come one day by the hand of her beloved daughter.

The scabbard in her hand vibrated. It began to gravitate towards the light above Primus Ramus in the distance. The distant light of the Piece of the Fallen Star steadily grew brighter with each passing second. And with it, so did the pull of her Piece of Paradise.

Ilya? My dear? Why are you trying to run from me? Am I still unworthy…?

“It made them worse! What is the point of humanity having their own way to manifest the gnosis of their hearts if it’ll only make them worse!?”

Uriel thrashed, conjuring multiple scarlet spears in an attempt to break through Micahela’s defenses. However, the sound of the [The Trumpet of the End] annihilated them like a barrier.

“Then what is the purpose of keeping humanity alive to repent for eternity as Sins?”