< Frost. Before you head towards the Disciple of Nilhim, I have some good news for you >

 

< Stats from CENSORED and Black Dahlia gained >

 

< CENSORED and Black Dalhia have been added to your Corrupted Persona collection >

 

< Unique Abilities Gained >

 

< CENSORED | ABILITY: Beyond the Threshold >

< EFFECT: Dress yourself in materialized fear. Passively apply Trepidation Stacks to those with less than 90 RESIST when active >

< What lays beyond the expanse we call the horizon? >

 

< Black Dahlia | ABILITY: Sins Are Nutrients>

< EFFECT: Create and control thorny brambles at will. They will guide you towards Sin-rich soils. Attain Nex from Sin-Rich sources via the brambles. What is determined as a ‘Sin’ is dependent on your interpretation >

< Like the flowers, we reflect the world that has nurtured us. The colors of our petals are proof of our experiences >

 

Frost was not surprised to find that she had gained the Abilities of these Corrupted. She simply needed to be within the vicinity of a subjugated Corrupted, just like Asterism. The stats she gained were miniscule. As much she had hoped to gain infinite HP, that seemed to only stem from a Condition rather than the Corrupted itself.

Besides, personally devouring a Corrupted was bound to give more stats in return. Not to mention that such Corrupted barely passed as nutrition with her absurd stats.

Her figure blitzed through a forgotten wheatfield. The setting sun caused the world to glow a bright orange as pulp was flung into the air in her wake. Jury stayed behind the others for now, as per the request of the White Rabbit who wished to meet with Frost alone within the Escape.

Additionally, she did not want to expose Jury to an entity that could reach into a person’s mind. Jury was a Beholder with incredible strength, but she was still an infant compared to her peers.

Her mind lingered on the sight of the blue star. Thoughts trickled into her head as she entertained the countless ways of destroying the Disciple of Nilhim. The wave of emotions arrived as abruptly as she broke the surface of the lake, violently disturbing the otherwise serene body.

“Nav. Can you show me the Corrupted Skills I’ve gained?”

“That I can. It is not like the Crowned where you must first manifest it before it can all be revealed.”

Indeed. The reason why Frost has yet to receive a rundown on the Crowned was because she first needed to manifest it. Corrupted beyond Woe of the Fallen Star were inaccessible even to Nav. It was not clear why this was the case.

“’The Well’.” Frost repeated the term introduced to her by the White Rabbit. “It’s what resides at the core of all of us. The self and identity. Our wants and needs. Aspirations and motives. She called it a ‘Law’ of the Miracle of Cognition.”

The Miracle of Cognition was but one of many names given to the enigmatic beginnings that predated the Captured Star. A far more fitting name was the Source. It wasn’t the source of all life, or the beginnings of creation and reality itself. Rather, it was the source of all anomalies that broke the laws of physics.

“Something was born from nothing.” It was the most she got out of the White Rabbit, but it was more than enough to convince her that she knew far more than anyone else in this world. “I honestly can’t tell if it’s some elaborate metaphor, allegory or if she meant it literally.”

“Have you heard of the Boltzmann Brain thought experiment?”

“Not really, no.”

“It is a reductio ad absurdum argument. But we are no strangers to them in this world.” Nav began as Frost braved a cartoonish version of the Black Forest.

Not a single star shone in its foreboding skies.

“The thought experiment tests our assumptions of the laws of thermodynamics. That when all comes to a homogenous, low-entropic state – such as that at the end of the universe – then something can be born from the void.”

“We had theories like that on Earth for almost everything. Something from nothing.” Frost commented, her presence casting an emphatic light upon the dark world. “Sorry. What’s that thought experiment called?”

“The Boltzmann Brain. It’s a theory where something as complex as a human mind can be born from nothing, containing memories, personalities, and experiences.”

“Even I think that’s a little too farfetched.”

“Indeed. But it is an interesting thing to dwell on.”

Nav then began to paint a world for Frost.

“Such a thing would allow for stars to exist when they otherwise would not. In that kind of world, at the tail end of existence, where the light of the past has been snuffed out… a single, lone star can be the one miracle needed to illuminate the world.”

“I wonder, Nav.” Frost’s voice became somber.

The thoughts of her beginnings scared her. As much as she knew that she came from Earth, the whole talk of being born from nothing caused her to question her own existence. It was but a fleeting thought, but one that caused her gut to sink into the recesses of her bowels like she had just swallowed a stone.

“I tend to ignore this a lot because when the truth comes, I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle it. I come from Earth. I was born there. I know I was. But I have so little memory of it. Recently, it felt like I have more memories of the old world than on Earth.”

The only star in the sky was the blue one, and even that began to fizzle away.

“Captured Star. Light. The First Miracle of Cognition. GEN-00. All these unfamiliar namesakes make me feel so lost sometimes.” Frost deeply sighed, lowering her gaze to the ground before she slapped her cheeks, invigorating herself. “Alright! Doesn’t change that I’m me, though. Stuff like The Source and all that are in the past anyway. Right now, we only have the Corrupted and Impuritas to worry about. Haaaah. Nav. Thanks for listening to me.”

“Your ramblings are a part of what makes you so cute.”

“Aww~”

“What? That was intended to shock you. But I will gladly savor that reaction.”

“The White Rabbit’s going to have everything we need whether we like it or not.” Frost spoke with renewed conviction, nearing the last traces of the blue star before they broke free from the Black Forest, entering a pale garden infested with pallid flowers.

And there, in the center of it all, was the base of the same pillar she saw in her memories of the old world.

“And I have a feeling we’re about to uncover something big real soon.”

 

< CENSORED’S CORRUPTED SKILLS >

 

< ACTIVE: CENSORED: Sensory Deprivation >

< EFFECT: Consume a target with a thick veil of manifested nightmares. Inflict 50 Sensory Loss Stacks and 50 Trepidation Stacks on those afflicted >

< What blinds us from horror is the same thing that induces terror >

< COST: 2,000 MP >

 

< ACTIVE: CENSORED: See No Evil >

< EFFECT: Apply 50 Darkness Stacks and 10 Trepidation Stacks indiscriminately >

< RANGE: 50 meters >

< Fear afflicts us all. The only medicine is to break what lets us see it >

< COST: 2,500 MP >

 

< ACTIVE: CENSORED: Fear Attenuation >

< EFFECT: Conjure the CENSORED manifestation of a person’s nightmares and strike them with it. They will take a recognizable yet concealed form. Deal 1,000 damage times 2x by every 10 Trepidation Stack the target possesses >

< I still recognized the silhouettes of my fears behind the safety of my veils >

< COST: 2,500 >

 

< ACTIVE: CENSORED: Surgical Administration >

< EFFECT: Permanently remove the organ of an individual. It may never be regrown. A piece of the soul will be forever scarred >

< Extreme terror mended only through extreme methods >

< COST: 100,000 MP >

 

< PASSIVE: CENSORED: Overwhelming Repression >

< EFFECT: Create an indiscriminate Repression Field. When left by individuals with over 20% Trepidation Stacks to their RESIST; inflict the Despair/Breakdown Condition >

< Is it really all inside our heads? >

< RANGE: 50 meters >

 

< PASSIVE: CENSORED: Nightmare Fuel >

< EFFECT: Your form becomes incomprehensible. CENSORED bars ooze from your body, instilling far more fear than what truly lies underneath. Those at 100% Trepidation may turn into Shells should you wish >

< The fear of the unknown is the most primitive of all terrors >

< BLACK DAHLIA’S CORRUPTED SKILLS >

 

< ACTIVE: Reap What Has Been Sown >

< EFFECT: Absorb the Sins and fragments of relevant memories. Flowers of a Sin type will be left to grow on the target’s body >

< It was tended in such a way that the results of the harvest were obvious >

< COST: 500 MP >

 

< ACTIVE: Guilty Constriction >

< EFFECT: Control those smitten with guilt so long as the Brambles are not severed. Target must have 50% Guilt Stacks to their RESIST Stat >

< We must make amends before the day of our mourning >

< COST: 500 MP per second >

 

< PASSIVE: Flowers of Repentance >

< EFFECT: For each Dahlia that grows on a target’s body, increase the number of Guilt Stacks accumulated when caught within the Brambles. At 75% Guilt Stacks, Dahlias become unremovable >

< Our sins leak into the world because we tend to overlook the damage we cause beyond ourselves >

 

< PASSIVE: To Bloom >

< EFFECT: Those with 100% Guilt Stacks will be absolved of sin by transforming into a Dahlia. They will proliferate and color their surroundings, leaving behind the proof of their absolved sins in the colors of their petals >

< It comes in full circle >