492. The Black Dahlia

492. The Black Dahlia

The glimmer of light fell from beyond the void. A star collapsed, and from it, a figure in black emerged within their world. It was Frost. Her hair was partially white for she had manifested the power of the One Thousand Eyed Bird, and with eyes brimming with conviction for there was a friend she needed to save.

“Everyone. You can rest now. I’m here.” Her back was the only thing standing between them and the Corrupted Res. “It takes more than just grit to stand up against a Corrupted. Cer. If you can still stand, then please move them somewhere safe.”

It was small, but the shadow she cast stretched from one end of the world to the other. Her words caused the very air to shake despite how gentle it sounded. The fear that once gripped their hearts loosened as Trepidation Stacks disappeared.

Frost witnessed the world change just moments prior. Minutes ago, she arrived in this world with several friends, most notably the Blue Moon who went her separate way to find the cause of Res’ Corruption.

Two more stars fell from the grey clouds that made up the boundary of this eerie world. An Angel descended, and with her arrived another figure dressed in black.

“Res!” Ber cried out, horrified to see her in such a state. A look of despair crept onto her face, turning into one of sadness as she felt Cer’s gaze on her back. “… Cer… how is she?”

“Better than what she was before.” Cer answered, slightly groggy after the fight. Her mana was depleted. “Ready for you guys to save her now. Looks like she couldn’t hear a word I said. Ha… ahaha…”

She laughed briefly as she sat up on her knees, her head then suddenly collapsing into her lap where Stella was cradled.

“Fuck. Of course the loud mouth is going to get ignored. She might not even listen to you either, Ber.” It frustrated her to no end, but she looked back up with hopeful eyes.

“That’s why Frost is here.” Ber solemnly nodded as Jury moved to check up on the others.

By now their Phantasia forms had disappeared. It was not because the timer had run out, rather, because they lacked the will to keep it equipped. Confirming that they were fine, Jury offered to protect them in Cer’s stead.

“Do whatever you want. Cause you’re all I can rely on.” Cer sighed. “… Ber. Don’t get mad at Sis. She’s been hurting for a long time. You know what she needs now more than anything else.”

“I know. ‘The Weight of Unconfronted Guilt’.” Ber relayed precisely what she saw containing Res.

The giant, black dahlia that served as Res’ shell was called the Weight of Unconfronted Guilt, a mirror to Ber’s own Weight of Unconfronted Expectations.

Weight of Unconfronted Guilt

AFFINITY : Lament

LEVEL : 30

ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : 1,000,00

ATT : 0

MAG ATT : 0

ATT DEF : 0

MAG DEF : 0

MP : 0

RESIST : 100

AGI : 0

Black Dahlia

Res

AFFINITY : Lament

LEVEL : 30

ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : Infinitas

ATT : 0 (Infinitas)

MAG ATT : 0 (Infinitas)

ATT DEF :200

MAG DEF : 200

MP : 12,000

RESIST : Infinitas

AGI : 0

Res as the Black Dahlia was invincible. Having DEF stats was entirely redundant, so Frost couldn’t understand why it was even needed. What she was warry of was the infinitas damage she could do, only by fulfilling a Condition she believed.

“Jury. Can you use [Time Seer] on Res?” Frost wondered, standing her ground firmly as she watched the tiny flowers grow. “We’re just waiting for Nav to confirm the Conditions.”

“I can try!” Jury exclaimed, focusing on Res.

A web of light appeared before the giant dahlia before suddenly, it shattered like glass.

Fragments of light disappeared like a cloud of dust, shocking Jury before she was suddenly overcome with mental anguish.

“Gnnngh…! That was…!?”

“Jury!?” Frost cried out before one of the flowers, colored orange, grew until it was their size.

Held within its brambles was a run-down house. Frost could hear the screams emanating from that flower. Its petals bloomed, the voices becoming louder as the flower shivered.

“I… I’m ok. What… what was that?” Disorientation riddled Jury’s face like never before. What happened in that split second could not be fathomed no matter how hard she tried. “It felt like I was… with Res for just a moment. Angh…”

Nav explained why she couldn’t peer into Res’ past, her knowledge again coming from somewhere indescribable. The Corrupted were already a manifestation of it. No. Rather, the world surrounding Res was. Using [Time Seer] was indeed redundant.

But that didn’t explain what Jury had experienced.

Orange Dahlia

AFFINITY : Lament

LEVEL : 3

ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : 30

ATT : 3

MAG ATT : 3

ATT DEF : 3

MAG DEF : 3

MP : 30

RESIST : 30

AGI : 3

Nav’s prompt was worded informally this time, as if she also shared their desperation.

Frost was thankful that she held back from attacking immediately.

“So breaking the Weight of Unconfronted Guilt is what will cause it to collapse onto Res, huh.” She verbalized her findings, causing Ber to nod in agreement.

It was a straightforward condition. All they had to do was find the Red and Blue Dahlias. The others needed to be defeated. However, as more flowers began to emerge, it became apparent that those flowers were largely absent.

“… Where are they?”

Frost was perplexed. Amongst the sea of sluggish, colorful flowers each carrying a sin of Res’ past, not one of them was red or blue. Ber immediately began the one-sided slaughter, as Frost unleashed her flames upon the flowers, vanquishing them all in one fell swoop.

A Trickle Corrupted was no match for their combined might. Jury did not even need to step in. The world was cleared of the flowered momentarily before the ground shook again, and more sprouted exactly fifty meters away from the center in a giant ring.

“So it’s one of those kinds of Corrupted. Trickle because of what?” Ber barked, slashing the world beyond with her great wings in fury. “Because it’s a Corrupted that tries to kill itself!? Res… I KNOW what you’ve been through! So I know that you wanted to live more than all of us! I’ve already forgiven you!”

The flowers returned, strengthened considerably this time. The brambles that held each sin were thicker, and the thorns were far sharper. They seemed to grow towards Res’ direction, as if yearning to strangle what was left of her miserable sense of self-esteem.

To bury her like all she had buried in the past – a futile effort that had only caused it to grow, mature, and return for the harvest.

X Dahlia

AFFINITY : Lament

LEVEL : 3

ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : 30

ATT : 12

MAG ATT : 12

ATT DEF : 12

MAG DEF : 12

MP : 30

RESIST : 30

AGI : 3

“This has been weighing on your conscience this whole time? Res. Why didn’t you talk to me about it? If we knew earlier… then we could’ve helped you.” Frost’s words were met with Green Dahlia which carried the body of a short-haired Ber, shivering in the cold alone.

“The past is the past. I thought we were over it! Res… how many times do I have to keep telling you that it wasn’t your fault!?” Ber exclaimed, resuming her relentless attacks as Frost merely set the world on fire.

Her flames could not harm the others, who were also engulfed in its ravenous heat. They stared in wonder, witnessing the power and control of untouchable beings. Yet even they could not easily bring a person who had strayed too far away from themselves back.

“The children!” Ber roared, smashing her clawed hand into the face of a Brown Dahlia. Within its brambles were the brutally murdered villagers who died at the hands of the Stuffed Teddy Bear.

“The bloodshed!” A Yellow Flower depicting the burning flower fields was cut into ribbons. Its petals fell unceremoniously, stirred and then burned to cinders by the immense heat that caused all flowers to smolder with steam.

“The dresses I wanted to wear!” A pink Flower was torn apart, falling like unwanted clothing.

“EVEN THE DERMA LAYER! HOW CAN YOU BLAME YOUSELF FOR ALL OF THAT!?” Ber was on the brink of fully manifesting the Black Swan. The combined wails that were emitted from the plants drew her mad as Cer could only watch in horror, able to pinpoint exactly where in the past they originated from.

They both could. And they both knew that none of it was ever Res’ fault.

“The guilty you carry – the blame you want to take… None of it is yours! Why are you so stubborn Res!?” When the flowers were vanquished yet again, Ber approached the Weight of Unconfronted Guilt and extended her arms, her tail brushing against its coarse surface.

Tears tumbled down her cheeks. Her eyes sparkled with nothing but love as she tried to reach her sister.

“Come back. Res. Come back… Please. Come back to us. Don’t keep running away like me.”