Acedia was right.

The only people who could observe the star were those Frost had agreed to bring along. The rest were to stay within the Leviathan. How it knew concerned her, as she was supposed to be invisible to the Fate Mechanism.

But that light wasn't the Fate Mechanism.

It belonged to Act X.

Suddenly, the land shrunk to a kilometer wide bridge. There was multiple running in parallel.

Colossal pits separated each land bridge. Countless severed strings hovered above these pits, dangling like damaged spider webs.

"Spider webs… Wait. The patten of this area… One moment. I'll be back."

Frost set Joy aside, drew steel strands and attached them to the Leviathan, and dashed out to check their surroundings. The pits replied with echoes of her footsteps, and once she was a good kilometer away from the Leviathan, she set off a series of explosions to clear out the mist.

A few hundred meters worth of mist was dispelled, but they were quickly being replaced. She shot herself one hundred meters into the air using an Amplified version of [Thermal Propagation].

The small snippet of land she was able to uncover was enough to confirm her suspicions.

"This place is shaped like a giant spider web. Beholder Marionette had that Skill, didn't she? She used it against me when I became the Crowned. It let her create a network of webs to anticipate my movement."

It wouldn't be a surprise if she could be tracked using a method outside of the Fate Mechanism. After all, being the Amalgam did not make her immune to Status effects and Conditions. The problem was that she couldn't observe them.

[Non-Euclidean Interpretation] didn't reveal anything new either.

"It's a Nest, huh." She quietly said in the apex of her leap.

One hundred meters was nowhere near enough to reach the base of the floating fortress. Chaining them together might work, but she also had to get everyone else up.

The only person she knew who was capable was Cer. She tugged at the string and dragged herself back to the Leviathan.

She landed gracefully atop its deck and relayed what she had found.

* * *

Night was coming to an end. The distant howls had subsided in the last thirty minutes, and they could feel the quakes through the chassis of the Leviathan as doors from across the City of Strings were sealed shut.

The land bridge narrowed until it was only around one hundred meters wide. The railway track swiveled from the very edges of the bridge, sometimes making half of the Leviathan hang over the edge.

The mist grew thicker the closer they approached the fortress. By now they were well inside Sector String J, but they had not encountered a checkpoint or a station of any kind. Although, the distance was too far for ordinary people to walk across on foot, and there were no doubt counter measures in place to eliminate those who posed a danger to Act X.

The fog alone would ward away any soul brave enough to approach. Even then, the star was selective in who could see it.

"Like the Eye of Elysia. This whole place is built like a purgatory for wanderers." Frost commented at the similarities of the place closest to the Expanse. "You'd get lost without relying on that star."

"Sounds like a way to recruit people into Act X." Jury replied in a whisper.

"Yeah. A cruel way too. It's an artificial way to make someone venerate the Scripts." Frost despised this method, although it didn't seem that Act X was making people walk across the concrete plains for this purpose.

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She turned to Joy, and pat her head again when she noticed that Joy was busy staring at the star again with a solemn expression.

"Hey, is everything ok? Do you see anything strange going on with the light?"

"… Gam…"

"Joy doesn't know. But the talk of the Scripts has her worried. It's best to keep her close."

She won't leave my side.

Frost took a strand of steel string and threaded it through the hem of her shirt.

"This is so we won't be separated if anything happens. It's ok to talk." She knelt and brought her into a warm embrace. "You have something you want to say – anything at all – and you tug on that string. Ok?"

"Malgam." She nodded slowly and hugged her back. "Hungry? I'm gonna cook up this Puff Puff."

Frost intentionally kept herself between Joy and the light of Act X. That way, she could only stare into her eyes. The tension in her body melted away, and the girl finally smiled back.

"Gam." She nodded.

"Good girl." Frost roasted it in her bare hands. Once cooked, used her hand to devour its innards, and she gave Joy a tasty leg.

< Unique Ability Gained >

< ABILITY: Enough Tough Fluff! >

< EFFECT: Expand your maw to up to 2x its size >

"A Magicalis gave me an Ability… When was the last time I got an Ability from a non-Corrupted?" Frost tested out the Ability, and to her surprise, it was definitely working. "… Jury, why do you look so happy?"

"Nothing~" Jury hummed.

"I know what you're thinking." Frost murmured, blushing a little. "Hey, Res. How far out are we?"

"Thirty minutes. Still nothing. I'll let you know if I find anything." Res had better vision than Frost. Her sky-blue irises glowed faintly as she painted a telescope and looked out.

What she had equipped was a new Atelier Lens called the Eye of Harmony. Her heart's desires had changed since Realizing. As a result, the Atelier Item forged from her heart was different from the last Atelier Lens that sought to censor the world.

This allowed her to see the world in colors she could not describe to Frost and filter out others. This was because she could see the world beyond the visible light spectrum. The Eye of Harmony allowed Res to selectively perceive the world in specific bands with greater accuracy.

There was one major reason she needed this filter, though she didn't say why.

It happened suddenly one day.

Coincidentally, her request came to Kissaria the day after Frost and Jury had their post-war in Grandis 'talk' all over their manor's atrium. And since X-ray was part of the light spectrum…

… it went without saying that Res may had seen something she wished she didn't.

Frost stifled a small laugh and patted her head. Her eyes widened temporarily, and her ears jiggled like jelly beneath her touch.

Then, she puffed her cheeks.

"You still treat us like kids." She pouted and lowered her head. "Don't stop."

Raoul gave them a small glance before looking away. His ears twitched, and his tail drooped behind him as the twins stared, and then, looked at Raoul's hand in silence.

They shuffled to Frost. Acedia did as well to receive her well-deserved head pats. Eventually, a bunch of heads were in front of Frost, and it felt like she was playing bongo drums, or whack-a-mole, since the one she headpatted would go down as another would rise.

"I only have two hands by the way. And you don't gotta lower your head like that. Feels like I feeding chicks." She sighed.

But it was Frost's honor and pride to be able to bring people comfort with just the touch of her hand. Having people who let her love them this intimately and love her back nearly brought her to tears all of a sudden.

"One sec. Alcina!" Cer called.

"Yes bab- I mean, Cer, the Fang of the He–!"

"You want in or not?" Cer barked.

Alcina wasn't certain whether it was right of her to request this from Frost.

"It would be wrong. My place is elsewhere. No disrespect to you, of course, Amalgam. Unless you are offering the sacred ritual upon me?"

"I love my Healers equally. You're not an exception. Blood Angel or otherwise." Frost smiled.

"Then I shall have my fill."

Raoul was the only one who did not receive anything. He wasn't the type of person to receive in the first place. At first it didn't seem like it amounted to anything to him. But when Frost patted the twin's heads, Raoul could not help but stare down at his own.

He shook his head and walked off to the other side of the deck.

Raoul…

Frost stared at his back and hoped that it wouldn't just be the twins they could save. She let loose another long-winded sigh. She had enough stepping on her toes to tap the heads of these people, especially Jury who kept evading her hand, only to hug her with teary eyes when Frost threatened to stop.

"Haaaaaah. Kinda wish I was a little–"

"No." (Res)

"Fuck no Frost." (Cer)

"If it is ideal to you…" (Acedia)

"Please don't say that. I don't want to imagine it… no. Never." (Jury)

"Gaaaam!?" (Joy)

They knew exactly what she was going to say, and that only irritated her more.

"You all enjoy me being this short?"

"You just wouldn't be Frost if you were taller." Cer smirked.

"Right. Like that changed who you are." Frost sighed again. "Hey. Res. Your ears are wiggling a lot. You see something?"

"I do now. The land bridge is connecting with the inner section of Sector String J. Tch. There's not a single building in sight. Then again… those would be closer to Sector String Q and K. Up there too, from what I heard from Ber."

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