Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

934. The Forbidden Fruit And Its Taste

He merely curled his fingers into a fist, and her head exploded like a crushed plum. Her brain matter was indistinguishable from the pulp of a fruit, and her body dropped like a heavy bag of dirty laundry.

“Aaaah shit. How many liters are we going to use up to revive her?”

“Fuck sakes. She should consider herself lucky that the Black Dove wasn’t the one to kill her.”

“Should we send someone back to recycle her body? She’s still mostly in one piece. We won’t lose that much if we’re quick.”

Rather than acting shocked like a civilized person would, they treated her death as no more than an inconvenience.

“Move.” The Blood Angel sighed. Her one word caused them to part ways, giving her unmitigated access to the woman’s body.

The choir ceased at once. While death was common in the world of Elysia, the people of the Nex Megalopolis had been enjoying relative peace and security for the last decade. As a result, they and children who grew up in the Nex Megalopolis could not stomach the sight of it.

The Blood Angel placed a hand on the woman’s chest. Suddenly, her blood was drained back into her body, filling her with color and life. Bones regrew, and muscles sewed her body together before a layer of skin covered her face.

The Blood Angel did not need to physically touch her to resurrect her, but it made the process faster than remotely manipulating their blood.

Frost was curious as to how she could manipulate their blood so effortlessly. Of course, Honored Ones possessed this power. But it was as though she was manipulating her own blood.

That was when she realized that the Reconstituting Fluids carried Frost’s diluted Blood Purity. This meant that Blood Angels had complete governance over the blood of those bound to the Replication Cycle, much like Frost.

However, that was only limited to the context of healing.

“Retrieve your arms and follow the Justicer. Our target resides within the inner sanctums. You have lost no more than five hundred milliliters of blood. Two hundred of which are mine to claim.”

“Can’t say nothin’ about a Healer taxin’ us. With our blood of all things.”

“With each death you experience with that blood… with every droplet you spill… makes me wish I could take it all for myself.” The Blood Angel spoke with scorn. “Justicer. Please escort them. So long as the Black Dove is here, then you can afford to leave your precious Healer out of sight.”

The Justicer turned to Frost, awaiting an order. Justicers were known for their undying loyalty to Galia. If she or her chosen Apostles spoke, then they obeyed without question.

The fact that they heeded Frost did not go unnoticed.

Although, they assumed it had to do with her being a Healer.

“Do as you wish. I have something to do here anyway. I’ll join you all shortly.”

Frost turned towards the gathered people, waving a hand as she put on a bright smile. It matched the energy of the little Healer, causing her to hop in place with excitement.

“She looks like she can handle them.” Jury said, not knowing why Frost was headed there.

“Healers can only heal physical wounds. Right now, I have the power to nip a memory in the bud before it festers into a trauma down the line.”

Jury stayed behind, as did the Orange Disruptor. They were curious as to what Frost meant by this. Once the others had disappeared behind the thick curtains, Frost approached the Healer, who responded by tackling her waist with a big hug.

She was truly tiny. If she had to guess, she was around 135 cm tall, and that included the beany she wore.

“Frost! I knew you’d come to say hello~!”

“Mhm~ It’s a bit saddening seeing you so happy outside of the Nexus.”

“You can’t keep me up there forever! I mean – oops… S-Sorry…”

“It’s fine.” Frost planted a finger on her lips, sealing them shut. “They’ll be forgetting it soon enough. Ahem. If you do not mind, would you all please gather here? The appearance of the machines had me worried that you may be unknowingly carrying the Silicon Rot disease. I’d like to cleanse it before it becomes problematic for our Healer in the future.”

“M-Mm! The Amal – I mean, the Black Dove is right!

It was a mere suggestion, but the possibility of this being a reality startled them. Frost was right. The machines were carriers of the flesh-crystalizing disease. Nipping it from the bud was of utmost importance.

But that was not why Frost was asking them to gather before her.

“Forgive me for my intrusion. Those people made quite the scene. I’m frankly ashamed that you all had to witness such a horrible sight.”

She placed her hand on the head of a mother and her weeping child. A magical blue circle appeared beneath all three hundred people, spanning as far as dozens of meters across. It rotated like a vortex as beads of dark blue light materialized in front of their foreheads.

“Elin. Please step aside. Close your eyes if you can.” Frost softly warned.

Those beads of light exploded like miniature fireworks. Residual particles were reabsorbed into the magical circle, consumed by an infinitely dark void within the center.

Then, once their expressions morphed into one of bliss, the magical circle disappeared as she removed her hands and waited to hear their response.

“What horrible sight?”

“Mama. What’s the black-haired Healer saying?”

“I’m not quite sure. Miss Color. If you’re referring to yourself because of your hair, then please, don’t worry! We still consider you a Healer!”

“Indeed. No Healer should call themselves a ‘horrible sight’.”

Confusion was plastered on the faces of Jury, the Orange Disruptor and the Healer who had no idea what they were talking about. It was as though they had collectively forgotten about the events that transpired just moments ago.

But it was true.

All memories regarding the death of the Repenter was erased from their minds.

< ABILITY: Oblivion >

< What was will never be >

< EFFECT: Permanently erase chosen memories of a target. Effectiveness is determined by their level of RESIST. If the existence of a person, object or being is known by less than 0.5% of the population then you may conceptually erase them from all minds so long as they can see the light of the Nexus. A concept can only be erased once and only after interacting, breaking or defeating said concept, object or being >

Evidently, she did not need to be in physical contact with a target to remove their memories. However, they had to be within a certain distance as well as within a magical circle, which would represent her all-devouring maw.

She didn’t know how to create a magical circle in the first place. But invoking the Ability was no different from activating a Skill. There was no knowledge required behind its mechanism, although, since it was an Ability, it had a larger degree of flexibility.

But why did this come to mind suddenly?

My head hurts. What the hell is wrong with me all of a sudden?

“Black Dove?” Elin asked, suddenly freezing when she caught a glimpse of her trembling eyes. “W-What’s wrong?”

“Eh… Nothing… Sorry.” Frost put on an assuring smile and patted her head. “Silicon Rot is not easy to remove. Detecting it is even harder at such a scale. I used more mana than I thought I would.”

“Really? Huh. Even you have your limits! I can only imagine! Thank you, Black Dove~!”

After parting ways with the Healer and the grateful crowd, she returned to Jury’s side with a soft sigh.

“Remind me to never do that again.”

“How come? Removing memories is a helpful ability, isn’t it?” Jury nuzzled against Frost, hoping to cheer her up. “It’s not like you removed anything important. Hey, why do you look so sad?”

“It’s the guilt of removing what should be permanent. Healers are not intended to repair the irreparable. At least I think so. I don’t actually care. But it’s funny seeing the all-powerful Head look so vexed.” Horus hummed.

Neither were correct.

It was not the guilt that perplexed Frost.

But rather –

Hey, Nav. Are memories supposed to taste good?

“Hard to say. A memory about a murder should taste like blood.”

That’s what I thought too.

– It was the irresistible flavor that had petrified her.

Not even the most decadent of sweets compared to the taste of what was a morsel-sized memory.

She shoved those thoughts to the deepest recesses of her mind, vowing to chaste herself from ever indulging in that forbidden flavor.