Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)-Chapter 967. The Mother of Reborn Machines

“Mother.”

“Mother?”

“Mother…”

“Motheeeeer.”

“*Bzzzt.* “… ther…” *Bweeep*.”

What was the ‘Mother’? The Wholeness Reborn mentioned this being. The Unite Us, Everlasting outright confirmed that they were born from a ‘Mother’.

‘A’, because Frost believed there had to be more than one Mother, like the Memory Bistros and Queens of the Crimson Hunger, or the Aspiring Stars of the Maestros of Flesh.

It seemed obvious that a Mother-like figure would exist in Infecta Rot’s ranks given their obsession with humanity. If the stuffed toys were anything to go by, then Frost could only hope it wasn’t as horrific as she was imagining it.

She wouldn’t have to imagine it for much longer.

Frost did not hold back against the newest onslaught of Wholeness Reborn.

Protruding from the back of her wrists were a pair of purple blades. A single slash was not nearly enough to eliminate them in a single blow with their absurdly high HP stats. To only be capable of this much was pitiful given that she was head and shoulders above the levels of a Beholder.

But Levels were not an infallible measure of strength.

Absolution closed this gap. But it did not work on magic-based attack or general Skills. Absolution could only work on inherent abilities, such as punches, Frost’s maw, and theoretically her Blood Manipulation as it was an Art rather than a phenom of magic.

What this unfortunately meant was that [Plasma Cutter] did not have an Absolution version of it.

But in saying that, it could very well be Amplified.

|| Atomic Splitter || freeweɓnovel.cøm

< EFFECT: Concentrate the entirety of your heat into a wrist-mounted blade. Plasma arcs can be fired with the swing of your arm. Deal 40x your total amount of MAG ATT on direct hits. Deal 20x MAG ATT if target is hit by your plasma arcs >

DIRECT MAG ATT : 1,200,000

ARC MAG ATT : 600,000

The purple arcs glowed intensely as they grew from forty centimeters to just over four meters. The flaw of large weapons was that they became cumbersome when wielded by a shorter user. But that flaw was non-existent here, as the plasma cut through the floors like it was moving through air.

It did not even register it as a medium.

“That’s more like it.” She felt closer to the level of a Beholder now.

One swing of her arm decimated hundreds of Impuritas. The grand arc that was flung expanded with each passing second, reaching to a maximum length of nearly seventy meters. It went on for almost a kilometer into their ranks before dispersing into spectacle of purple fireworks.

“Good thing the name is just there for flavor. I don’t think I’d be able to survive a nuclear bomb.”

< On the contrary, I think you’ll survive just fine >

“Urgh. I’d feel more like a roach than a person if I did manage to survive one.”

The Wholeness Reborn were not able to come even remotely close to her as she dashed forward with unparalleled speed. The fractured halo from before reappeared over her head.

This time, it did not disappear.

< Drawing Nex From the First State >

Her heart wrenched.

A deeply troubling flame erupted from within, as it always did when attempting to utilize Absolution. The basis of this emotion came from her deep hatred of the Impuritas for their false prophecy.

One had to tap into a deep memory to unlock these emotions.

Then, only after taming them could one use them as a source of power.

< [Wrath] >

< [O] [Progenitor Art: Ruptured Whole] [O] >

< EFFECT: Your blood reacts violently to dangerous stimuli. Send a barrage of bloody slashes and spears in all directions inside of a 75-meter radius. Increase AGI by 25%. Explode defeated targets and use their blood to propagate the effect >

< COST: 150,000 HP per minute >

The cost was doubled compared to its original variant, but with it came various buffs that opened new possibilities.

AGI : 131

She moved faster than her plasma arcs. They flanked her like bladed wings as she moved at a speed that no ordinary person could fathom. Even Moons would struggle recognizing a target with such an absurd speed outside of Cer.

The secondary effect of [Ruptured Whole] transformed [Rupture] into a virus-like attack, perfect for swarms of enemies. She did not need to look back to confirm her kills.

In mere moments, she was already at the entrance of the room containing the Nex Refinery.

She stopped atop a mound of rubble, her eyes widening to the sight laid bare before her.

“A Complex Heart… But it’s not in the shape of a machine. That thing…”

Frost had to take a moment to digest the form of the Complex Heart, as well as the countless, biomechanical pillars that rose from a crystal-infested floor. It looked as though the entire chamber: which stretched easily over what seemed like kilometers: was encased in frost.

What Frost saw dangling from the ceiling like a chandelier was a womb-shaped organism. Two long, curled hooks attached it to ceiling. Each glowed incandescently, all the while membranous tubes ran from these towers straight to the opening of the womb-shaped Heart.

That Heart was wrapped tightly around a machine where blue, transparent pipes were being transported to.

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Larger, opaque pipes then vented out a black sludge into a pit directly beneath.

This colossal, pale, thirty-meter machine was the Nex Refinery. Its design reminded Frost of the weapons that surrounded the walls of Paradisio, as well as the weapons that were summoned through Jury’s [Retrocauslity].

Complex Heart

Infecta Rot

< Complex >

< Ephemeral, fragile things fall throughout the ebbs and flow of time. But it is their wombs that complement all spectrums of life despite their fragility. What of ours? >

ORIGIN : Impuritas HP : 40,000,000

ATT DEF : 2,500 MAG DEF : 2,500

The pillars surrounding it also had stats.

Pillars of Obsession

Infecta Rot

< Converters >

LEVEL : 110ORIGIN : ImpuritasHP : 3,000,000

ATT : 2,500MAT ATT : 0ATT DEF : 1,250MAG DEF : 1,250MP (Mortal Pulp): 100L

RESIST : 1,000AGI : 0

These pillars did not move. Instead, they occasionally slammed an internal core like a drill bore, causing crystals to explode. Crystal particles filled the air, infecting all manners of life that dared to breathe it in.

This was the source of Silicon Rot.

But this was not what caused Frost’s chest to wrench as though she had been stabbed in the heart.

It was the people whose heads were made to resemble geometric shapes.

Humatozoa

< Fertilizer >

LEVEL : XORIGIN : X

HP : X

‘X’ was because they ranged from humans to Demi-Humans, and even the ill-known Half-Breeds. Things such as tails or animal features were hacked off crudely and stamped with a metal bandage that bit into their flesh.

It was a city now that Frost realized it. A city where its denizens were these people, who were herded around by mechanical tendrils of the Pillars of Obsession. And their attacking force: the Wholeness Reborn: were born from the oversized womb, falling from the uterus in a clump that resembled the eggs of a frog.

Nothing about it was remotely human. The screams of people surrounded Frost. The nightmare was like clockwork here, judging by how no one reacted when a person was slotted into a vessel resembling a sperm cell.

“… Humatazoa. A fucked-up version of ‘spermatozoa’… to fertilize the egg up there…” Frost was finally making sense of this as she zoned out her own senseless murder of the Wholeness Reborn.

Thousands descended upon her. But not one came remotely close. The denizens did not even notice her. The shaped cages on their heads blocked out vision, sound, scent and taste. Instead, they were made to eat through a tube that was directly fitted into their stomach.

This was also connected to the Pillars of Obsession.

The pillars were so obsessed with their duties that they did not even acknowledge Frost. That was the duty of the Wholeness Reborn.

Once thousands had fallen, Frost was allowed to freely roam their territory. She zipped around at blistering speeds and was about to eliminate one of the Pillars until she took a closer look at the denizens.

“Disgusting. Humans… made to live like cattle. I’m so sorry.” Frost apologized as she weathered through the relentless onslaught of shockwaves that would have easily torn an ordinary person in half.

She held what looked like a child in her arms and investigated the cables as she applied Healing magic to keep them alive. No matter how much flesh she pried, the child did not flinch as though pain was all it had ever known.

But the few seconds they were in contact with Frost’s bare hands caused them to suddenly quiver…

It was the first time they had experienced anything other than pain.

What she found inside their body revolted to her no end. The wires were hooked up to every organ, and it had completely replaced their circulatory system.

This meant that killing a Pillar would instantly kill many on the spot. Their lives were tied to the machine. It was woven into one nightmarish fusion of flesh and steel…

… a way that Frost could never have envisioned in her wildest dreams.

“And you’re used as vessels to impregnate the egg…?”

Frost hacked the cabled off before utilizing the Skill Mastery of [Cleanse]: [Purify]. It allowed her to banish all foreign materials from a chosen target, regardless of if she could see, reach or even interact with it or not.

It would have pained her to no end to have to pulverize this one and then return them back to their original state.

“Please work.” She begged as the halo above her head trembled with fury.

“A Holy Mother? Ah… That sign wave. That belongs to the False Progeny.”

The mangled voice of a purely mechanical existence spoke.

It faintly reminded her of Lailah or Nav. Closer to the voice of the Site rather than them. In fact, it only reminded her of the two because of its robotic, monotonous manner of speech.

“You must be the Mother.” Frost patiently spoke. “No remorse for your own kind or humans. Are you just there to keep on birthing those monsters? Forever? Is that all you are?”

To her relief, these people could be saved. Their organs were not permanently removed or damaged like those who came from the Triple Paw Complex.

But irony was that even though they had their bodies, their minds were damaged to the extent where they did not even recognize themselves as humans at all. They were reduced to shapes, guided by cables to be used as the next batch of fertilizer.

“My children fell to you? Must replicate. Initiating the Great Race.”

It did not even recognize Frost’s voice.

“The great… Tch:!” Frost did not spare another moment and leaped straight into action.

The membranous tubes that connected the Pillars to the Heart suddenly began transporting people in their spermatozoa-shaped vessels straight for the Heart. Within these tubes were bladed hazards that, to Frost’s disbelief, sought to limit the number that could reach the Heart.

She slashed over twenty tubes in an instant. Acid gushed forth from the wounds, draining into the dark pit as Frost used her many hands to rescue as many people as possible. Everyone she touched gained a [Protection Ward] to defend them from the hazardous environment.

< The Great Race >

< One soul is born from the sacrifice of billions >

< That one flagellate fertilizes the egg as the rest die >

“IT DOESN’T WORK WHEN IT COMES TO PEOPLE! That approach… fucking reminds me of what the Broken Thorn were trying to do with the Rose!”

< It brings the question of whether or not when there are many of one thing, no matter how ‘valuable’ they are individually, do they lose their inherent value? >

“NEVER NAV! DON’T TRY TO RATIONALIZE THIS SHIT!”

< No, Frost. I am speaking from an objective standpoint >

< Value is lost when too many of one thing exists >

Frost disagreed wholeheartedly. It worked with commodities. Not life. Never life. Nav probably didn’t see this because she has yet to experience life in the fullest. But still, to hear this from Nav rocked Frost to the core as she removed all one hundred and thirty tubes, leaving the Heart to tremor with the absence of a human.

“It is that moment in the cycle.”

“The moment of bleeding.”

It disgusted Frost.

How could a machine possess the most twisted depictions of the human body? It did not even know the function of the menstrual cycle. It simply bled itself to mimic what it only knew as the ‘moment of bleeding’.

To even call itself a Mother was an affront to life.

//////// < WARNING > ////////

< The Will of the Amalgam is Nearing the Fourth State >

“NOT YET! I’ll kill this thing first… There’s an order that we have to kill it in if we want to save these people!”

Frost stood there, on a mound of crystals wielding a double-helix lance of solidified blood.

The only person who would know of Frost’s deeds today would be that one child who watched with stars in their eyes.