Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

871. Our Special Day

The world goes on regardless of what happens.

Time marched onwards as it always had. The lives lost, the places destroyed, and the visions of apocalyptic events were always temporary. But life had the capacity to remember. What was gone would remain in memory. While the world was indifferent to these great events, the lasting impact would be felt by generations to come.

It was up to the people of today to learn from those losses, so that it may never happen to the people of the future.

Life across Elysia resumed after the brightest star descended into Grandis. Wars restarted as soon as the Nexus’ color returned. Apocalyptic near misses and calamities were seen as a part of life and best to be ignored by races with long lifespans. Others were consumed by the thought of the apocalypse. And more were long used to world-ending scenarios.

Were flaming hailstones going to shower the Nex Megalopolis again? Why had the Nexus changed color? What was the light that appeared over Grandis? What was the future going to be like moving forward?

Frost wore a complicated expression as she stared at herself in the mirror.

The future seemed so uncertain suddenly. Butterflies rummaged in her stomach, whilst her knee bounced with concern.

She was sitting down on a small stool. Surrounding her on the furnishings of this simple dressing room were various sets of dresses, gowns and suits. Her worries of the future weren’t because of the fate of the world or anything remotely close to that. In fact, Frost was confident that the world would indeed become a better place so long as she was here.

Rather, what made her so anxious and was something else entirely.

Something far more beautiful that made it seem like the world would soon be ending.

It had been 10 days in Relative Time since they returned to the Nexus. One week seemed like a lot of time in Elysia, but it was far too short for Frost to prepare her heart. Her face flushed a light shade of red just thinking about it.

After all, she didn’t expect Jury to live up to her promise to immediately marry her as soon as they returned to the Nexus. The proposal was swift and sudden, and Jury didn’t give her much time aside from a vague, “We have one week from now~”.

“Is it going to work?” Frost fidgeted with her bow tie to distract herself. It was unbecoming of the very same person who won the mental battle against the god of delusion himself; Iscario.

“You’re overthinking it. But I’m not going to lie, you don’t even sleep that often. What’s up with the permanent bed hair?”

Cer patted down her loose cowlicks. The small amount of hair gel that coated her hands kept them at bay, giving Frost the cleanest look she has ever had since gracing this world.

“The miracle of Healing magic. I had messy since the day I became a woman. My hair just goes back to being a mess if I get healed. It’s pretty much why I don’t style my hair. Aside from not really seeing the point of it.”

Her short hair, which just hovered above her shoulders, was straightened out to the point where Frost could barely recognize herself. She was beautiful to put it bluntly, to the point where her next few words refused to come out.

Ber picked out a dress for Frost and held it before her with a large grin.

“You’ll never know if you don’t try. Now, pick your poison. We can go with matching with Jury, or – are you going to stay in the suit?”

The dress in question was nothing like a wedding dress. It was more of ceremonial, military-styled dress that was heavily embellished with golden ornament. Layers of frills ran down the lower half of the dress, and the upper contained a corset that would accentuate one’s chest.

It was black to symbolize eternity in both life and death, rather than the traditional white worn by the bride which was a symbol of purity.

The answer couldn’t be more obvious. And it wasn’t because she didn’t have a notable chest to begin with.

“Suit, definitely.” Frost patted her near non-existent chest. “I’m still iffy on wearing dresses. They just don’t feel right, if that makes sense.”

The suit made her look closer to a man than a woman, although, one would have to be blind to even think she was a man in the first place. Or deaf, considering her voice.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Ber’s ears perked up with understanding. She knew exactly what Frost meant, because for her, it was the opposite. Suits were never her thing. Cer on the other hand glared at the two, wondering what they were talking about through their eyes.

“I’m going to be in front of a lot of people. I want to look the way I want, not how I’m expected to. It’s going to be our special day… Yeah. Oh god… It’s our special day.”

Her short moment of relief came crashing down as she was reminded of how important today was. All she could think about was Jury and the implications of a marriage life. Not that it would be possible, but one could dream.

The sudden rush of euphoria and an odd sense of dread, like that of knowing it would be your turn to walk onto the stage next, consumed her for a moment.

“The one and only.” Cer said as Frost stood up to take a good look at her full body in the mirror. “Lucky. Not a lot of people hold big ceremonies. Not even well-known Adventurers. Puts a pricey target on your back. One of the unspoken rules of being an Adventurer is to never let people know who your loved ones are.  It’s typically why people like to go by aliases.”

“Do I at least look good?” Frost posed for a bit.

Her clothes were simple, but they complemented the status she wore as the Amalgam. It was a two-piece suit with a white undershirt. Like the dress, golden embroidery symbolizing feathers ran across the suit. Her pants were also black as were her hard-leather shoes.

A giant, scarf-like mantle made from the feathers of the One Thousand Eyed Bird draped behind her right shoulder. The gold and black matched the color of her hair. It was so large that it was like she was carrying some sort of fuzzy creature on her shoulders. Traces of red could be found within in reference to her red hair.

Fixed around her waist was the Adorned Tale. This amplified her presence and authority by 5 times, which was another reason why she didn’t have to go all out. Frost was enamored by her appearance, but she still asked for the opinion of the triplets.

“The only other person that can match you right now is Jury.” Ber assured. She brushed Frost’s face lightly with her tail before standing to the right of her.

Cer stood to the left as they took an arm each.

“Just think of Jury as a Corrupted and you’ll get you confidence back no problem.” She grinned. “Gonna have to make a new disease for you. Frost Syndrome. The condition of getting cold feet when they’ve braved through scarier things. It’s not like Jury’s going to bite you.”

Frost thought about it for a moment, and her face instantly flushed. She wafted the thoughts of an aggressive Jury away. It jumpstarted her heart, and she was able to face the upcoming event with renewed confidence.

Still, she did not like how the thought of an aggressive Jury had cured her. She considered herself what people would call a ‘top’ for as long as she could remember, so the fact that she was so easily broken down by these thoughts said something about her true nature.

Regardless of this, she sighed and wore a smile in light of one of her happiest moments yet.

“Bzzt. *Snap*. (Are you excited?).

Frost turned and peered into the eye of her fuzzy friend.

“I’ve never been more excited than today. Coming into this world as the way I was… I would never have imagined that I’d get married. And if I did, it’d be between just me and my partner at most. Haaah… Plenty of people are waiting for us out there, huh? Whose idea was it to bring all the Moons? Haha. Snap. Are you recording with that~?”

* * *

Snap zoomed into Jury as Res and Ignis helped her put on her final touches. They sprayed expensive perfume onto her and made micro adjustments to her black, laced and frilly dress. Jury twirled one last time in the mirror and placed both hands on her cheeks with a face that said: “I can’t believe this is happening~”

She turned to Snap with a flustered expression that mellowed into a dreamy smile.

“Snap, did you see what Frost was wearing? Hehe. I’m kidding. Don’t tell me. I want to see it for myself. I’m just worried that maybe it was too sudden for her. She looked so shocked when I said we were getting married. Oh no. Was 10 days enough time for her to mentally prepare?”

“Frost has gone through worse.” Ignis said nonchalantly. “I’ll be disappointed if Frost chickens out.”

“It didn’t look like that from my perspective.” Res patted down Jury’s cowlicks with her hands and tail. “Remember back when Frost first tried to confess to you? I remember it like yesterday. We were just leaving Divas Pass. She had the same face. Shocked, but in a good way. Like she couldn’t believe you loved her back.”

“Really? I must be remembering it wrong. She looked confused. But that’s because I beat her to the confession.”

Jury reminisced on their first moments. The first time they met. The first time they held hands. The first kiss they shared. Their first intimate moment. And their first and only engagement.

“Time really flies before you know it. I should stop worrying about it. But I just care so much about her. You know, there was a time when I made Frost wear that maid outfit. It was fun. But I didn’t think about how Frost felt. I became a little reluctant after that.”

Months had only passed, but it felt like they had known each other for years. Jury had always felt out of place in this world. But one day, someone came into her dark world and pulled her out.

That same person also told her that this world was both of their homes.

Jury touched her left hand. It was darker than the rest of her body due to Qliphoth Corrosion, but it was not clawed anymore. Her eyes became damp as she cradled that hand before slowly turning to Snap’s camera.

“To my star~ Snap. Make sure to capture all of Frost’s good parts.”

“Mmn.” Ignis agreed, stepping into frame with a deadpan look. “We’re relying on you Snap. Fuel can’t become our memories again.”