"That I am indeed."
Suldroxia responded on hand to her hip, moment's after, a weird silence washed over the forest.
Nier didn't flinch.
He just gave her his usual calm, unreadable stare, his expression as blank and hard as carved stone.
And then came the question.
"Why did you bring me here?"
He finally asked, his voice steady, though every instinct inside him remained on guard.
"...Or better yet... what even is here anyway's."
Suldroxia tilted her head ever so slightly. Her emerald eyes glimmered with amusement as she placed a finger under her chin, her posture lazy, almost teasing.
"My, my... straight to the point, aren't we?"
She said.
And Nier reply.
"I am not here to talk woman, just answer the damn question already."
Nier quickly shot back.
His annoyance becoming prominent.
"You're a little rude, you know that right? But... hmm...
Suldroxia said as a soft chuckle escaped her lips, as she licks them teasingly as if amuse by his impatience.
"Rude men tend to be the most attractive. Back in my day, I had quite the weakness for bad boys."
Nier didn't responded. His gaze remained fixed on her, searching for even the smallest hint of deceit.
Suldroxia's smirk only deepened. She turned slightly, her long green hair cascading down her back like a shimmering wave as she glanced out at the vast horizon.
"But, if you really want to know, I suppose this place is exactly what you're thinking. Assuming you've been paying attention to the news for the past ten years, of course."
She lifted one hand, gesturing toward the towering tree dominating the skyline, an endless pillar of energized woods, and leaves stretching beyond the clouds.
"This...
She said, her tone now proud, almost reverent.
"....is Atlas Island — located on the far side of the world. One of the Five Great Manifestation Zones where a World Tree took root nearly eleven years ago."
The words hit Nier straight home, is early guess was indeed right. He had heard about this place many times on the news, I have seen information about it on online blogs and articles, documentaries, council reports you name it, he has seen it, but none of that compared to standing here now.
Given the public is aware of the existence of these trees, but not their locations.
He turned his eyes to the distance, where the colossal trunk of the tree pierced the heavens, branches extending across the sky like the veins of a living god of nature.
Its bark shimmered faintly, the light within pulsing in rhythm with the earth beneath their feet.
"So that is a Dracas Tree!?"
Nier muttered, his tone almost a whisper.
"I've seen it on TV... but never in person."
Suldroxia placed her hands on her hips, nodding with a faint hum.
"Mhmm I am not surprised. Very few ever have. The Council alongside Public Service keep this land heavily restricted. Even for someone of my standing, visiting isn't exactly... easy."
She walked a few paces forward, her heels clicking against the mossy ground, every motion deliberate.
"The Dracas Tree is what empowers the Hesta race sub species or next evolutionary form of humanity. Without it, they can't photosynthesize. Each Hesta undergoes five stages of evolution, or Circles, as scholars call them. My daughter, for example... she became a Hesta ten years ago. Right now, she is at the peak of the Second Circle, just a step away from the Third."
Her tone softened, carrying a trace of pride that quickly faded into boredom.
"But, ah... that is enough of the dull scientific talk."
She turned her gaze back toward him, eyes narrowing playfully.
"I imagine what you really want to know is why I brought you here."
Nier said nothing, though a flicker of curiosity crossed his face.
She smiled knowingly.
"You already have an idea, don't you?"
He gave a half-hearted shrug, feigning indifference.
"Not really."
Suldroxia chuckled softly, folding two arm beneath her chest.
"I see… that girl really really doesn't explain a damn thing beforehand."
She sighed.
"Let us make this simple then, did she tell you anything about our family traditions? About how Zane princesses are usually… married off?"
"Yes."
Nier replied almost instantly.
"Ah, good."
Her smirk deepened.
"But she didn't tell you who that man is, did she? The one she said she has fallen in love with?"
"Sadly, no."
He said with a faint grin.
"But I think I am starting to see the picture here."
"Ohhh, goodie."
Her voice was laced with amusement, but her eyes sharpened.
"Then I won't need to waste time explaining why I brought you here. As the man my daughter has apparently fallen for."
She leaned forward slightly, her tone becoming more colder as she speaks.
"You should know one thing."
"That being!?"
Nier shot back.
"Our house detests the weak-born. We do not tolerate inferior genetics being woven into our bloodline. Especially when a Zane princess is being married off."
She stepped closer as she speaks.
"Still, I am curious about you, young Nier. I have keen senses for danger, things that prick at me when they shouldn't. For that reason, and that reason alone, I don't spook easy. But her I am before you, confuse as to why all twenty-three trillion, six hundred thirty-three billion, seven hundred twenty-six million, eight hundred thirty-six of my cells are screaming at me to not approach you foolishly. How curious. Why would my own body be afraid of you? Despite ally modifications. That is the question that won't leave my mind, from a glance I can tell your strong, how strong I do not know, but I trust my instincts more than I trust my own eyes. Boy what the hell are you, no human or low level Hesta could fill me with this much apprehension."
She said her fox close eyes opening up as she takes a closer look at Nier.
Still Nier push her away and said.
"...That's for me to know, and for you to find out, still, personal space woman, I don't really trust you - you know."
"Fair enough I guess."
Suldroxia said backing away from him.
Still her curiosity was like a forest fire. Once ignite it can't be tame unless the right amount of water out it's embers.
As such she paused in her tracks, tilting her head as if listening to something no one else could hear.
"Hmmm your have weird heartbeat, it much slower than a human, hell even a Hesta. It's like you don't even need your heart to live. That aside though, internally speaking you are curious but visually the external parts of you fills me with wonder. Those black eyes of yours… I don't know why, but I feel stripped bare looking into them, and when they look at me. Magic pheraphs? Or maybe something else? I can't tell, how frustrating, I can't get proper read on you at all."
Nier said nothing.
There was no need.
Why would he explained how his power work to a stranger, admitting he was flux is like saying please kill me now.
If this woman cells fear him, then his own battle instinct hold true, she will not be an easy opponent if fight break out between him and her.
So in that respect, him and her just talking her. Is like two army going at war throwing nuclear bombs at each other.
It could go either way, till it doesn't, Nier was literally one step away from true immortality.
One can't lose if they can't die.
But such are other apostles as well.
Suldroxia sighed, amused as she was Nier would not be fool enough to play into her hands easily for that reason he said.
"Look... I really don't give a shit about satisfying your curiosity. Also what makes you think I want to take your daughter's stupid trials anyways!?"
He asked genuinely.
And Suldroxia have back an equally genuine response.
"What a feisty man you are!?"
She said with a small, delighted chuckle.
"I already like you. But to make this shirt and sweet our house runs matriarchal, in our house women lead, and the men scramble to keep up. The reason being my dearest husband, and brother our esteem patriarch struggles to sire males as easily as he does females; but that a him problem. He is the esteemed leader of the House, yes, but he is a broken thing more than a ruler. Women of Zane outperform men in every way except him. His fractured mind, and what it has become only proves that more."
Her voice sharpened with haughty amusement. Even as she spoke with arrogance, she kept her composure so she didn't cross into outright cruelty. In her mind, Zane bloodlines were superior when woman take charge, and with her family history being as fucked as it is, backed her point even more.
Nier exhaled and met her gaze.
"You still haven't answered my question, woman. I really don't give a shit about the history of your house... God.... Just shut up already, you are really starting to piss me off."
"Oh, right."
She blinked as if embarrassed to have forgotten.
"I'm not forcing you. But think: pass my trials and court my daughter, and you won't just get richer. You gain access to the family treasury. It is tradition we give any who are betrothed into our house, gifts that measure their worth. The husband of the first lady's daughter for example received a weapon capable of Terra forming an entire planet. With that he birthed a false religion and crafted gods in his image in just five years."
"Power corrupts and remakes, and mortals bend when it offered, such is the way of the world. Alas though we can't use the full power of those Gods thanks to Ceres and his meddling, that fucked has fucked mankind over countless times in the last, if I find him I'll gut him myself. Many council members want him dead as much as I do, who does he think he is, splitting Heaven and Earth like some petty clerk? The name Pest of Heaven, and Satan's Right Hand truly fits him."
In that moment Gaian energy leaked from her in a volatile shimmer as she spoke, lightning crackling across her skin with each insult.
"But that heretic aside, think, young Nier...if you join our family, you'll see how vast the world truly is. Pass my trials for my daughter's hand and I'll grant you a single wish, anything. Even resurrection of the dead is possible with our family magic, if you want I can even gift you a world of your own, let you sip from knowledge older than the gods themselves. Our archives date back further than the Age of Gods you know."
Nier didn't need money or status. But a wish... that changed things.
"I could use her to rapidly expand a cult."
He said slowly, considering the possibility of an entire planet to himself. One that is already prep for life.
"If what you say is true, maybe we could have a planet of our own."
"I mean we could do the same although as we are now the process at its quickest will probably take half century."
Kaly said.
And Nier responded to her by whispering his hand over his mouth as pretends to think.
"That is a true, but we could move things along way quicker with an entire planet worth of worshippers."
"Yeah, well go for it darling."
"Well I was going to anyways so yeah."
Nier exhaled, then said to Suldroxia.
"Fine. I'll take the challenge, but don't think I am doing this for riches or glory. If knowledge is the game, I guarantee I already hold more than you can measure."
Suldroxia hummed, intrigued but not surprised.
"So you want a wish instead then!?"
"Some things are beyond the current me."
He replied.
"The current you?"
She tilted her head, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
"How mysterious. I knew it... you're not human, are you, Nier?"
"Even if I weren't, would it change anything?"
He asked.
"Not really. If the devil himself wants to marry my daughter, he still has to prove his worth. That is our family rule."
"Point taken."
Nier said as he paused.
"So what exactly are these trials?"
"Curious."
She grinned.
"I won't spoil everything, but there are four trials, each harder than the last."
"The first is basically survival and a free-for-all depending on how you look at it."
"A free-for-all!?"
Nier echoed.
"Yes."
She nodded.
"Have you heard of Corpse Mountain before!?"
"A couple years back from the news."
He said.
"A Rank C threat. A place people are warned never to visit on Terra."
"That's right."
Suldroxia's tone grew grave.
"Lower-tier Fluxes and corrupted users cluster there. Even higher-tier operatives struggle to even survive on that mountain. F-221 as it is called now — once Mount Everlino changed suddenly about ten years ago and became one of the eight Flux Zones in this country."
"It appears in people's dreams and lures them. Anyone who sees it is tempted to go there. It current danger ranked is C now, but it has the potential to become Class Red. If that happens, it will jump to an S-rank existence. The only reason it remains C is because every unauthorized person who approaches is terminated by Public Service who has a giant wall around the place with guards protecting it from the outskirts of it. The point is going there now is a near-impossible suicide mission because of them."
"Then why send me there?"
Nier asked.
"Simple."
She smiled coldly.
"The mountain's anomalous properties prevent normal people from surviving. It creates ever-adapting pathogens out of nothing. The mountain itself became alive ten years ago when the Cleave appear in our world, how, we don't know. But those pathogens need host to expand and survive. They lure and transform the hosts into incubators, and those hosts leave and spread the infection. Our planet Gaia fights them thankfully,.if it didn't it could cause a world ending scenario. That is why Hestas even exist; they evolved to fight Flux as a living immune system to the planet."
Nier thought for a moment.
His focus more on the mountain as he said.
"So these pathogens are adaptive viruses that turn living things into... zombies basically!?"
"Exactly... Hence the name Corpse Mountain."
"Then why not just destroy the mountain?"
"We tried. Every attempt we do fails. Destroy it from the outside, and it regenerates. Vaporize it from the inside, it reforms within eighteen hours, exactly eighteen. It cannot be permanently eradicated by conventional means."
"Why is it only C-rank then?"
He asked.
"Because it needs a lot of hosts confined inside to adapt further. Right now it is held somewhat in stasis, anyone who gets close is terminated. The adaptation is reactive, not proactive. Each pathogen is its own library: what it adapts to today will be countered by what the next infected host carries tommarow. They evolve like memetic files."
"Okay, I get the mechanics, but why send me? You would just make the mountain stronger if I survived and left."
"Normally, yes. But that mountain is special, it is a treasure to the Zane family. You see, our family magic, the gift passed down from Gaia herself, lets us manipulate genetics through the power of memories."
"By studying the behavior and memories stored in both flesh and the land itself, our bloodline can copy those memories, no matter their origin, and rewrite them within ourselves as genetic memory. The only condition is that whatever we copy must have a past."
"Since the mountain appeared, we have been sending our people to get exposed to it. Ordinary humans would die from the infection, but with our magic, we can erase the parts of the pathogen that drive it to spread. And what is left behind as a result of that is the power itself, the knowledge it has gathered over the years stays in our blood."
Her voice grew steady, confident.
"What I want from you for the first trial is simple: survive the infection. Nothing more. Survive one night and you will pass, from eight in the night till eight in the morning."
She then pull out a small green vile from god knows where, and show it to Nier and said.
"Also each trial I will reward you for passing... Pass this first trial, and I will give you this."
"What is that?"
Nier asked.
"This my curious little mystery is called MMD-677."
"A very special serum distilled from the blood of the Zane founder. One vile of this will alter your genes in such a way even Hesta would find it challenge to compete with you in a prolong battle. You see using next gen science, and our family unique magic we manage to create serum that can permanently awaken the human cells."
"This would mean that your cells stop being passive tissue and become semi-conscious agents. They will start to communicate with each other, exchange memories, and make instinctual decision that will cooperate at all time, and even be able to rewrite what lives inside you. When a pathogen's memetic drive tries to hijack a host, your cells recognize the danger and acknowledge the potential, henceforth it will work erasing the compulsion, then repurpose the pathogen’s archive to obey you."
"The result is terrifyingly efficient: infections don't just fail, they become fuel. Your body learns fast, adapts faster, and turns the mountain own anamolous power's into something you can wield. That is why the vial is dangerous, and priceless. Survive one night at Corpse Mountain with MMD-677 in your veins, and you won't merely have a chance to walk away alive; you'll also carry a living library of its power inside your blood at all time's."
"... But this won't be much of a trial if I just give you this now, to earn this you will need to survive the night, so my cute little enigma, do wish to take the trials!?"
Nier close his eyes, he need not any form of convincing.
"I accept."
"Hehehe good answer."
"You have four days to prepare, till then, enjoy my daughter company."
With that Suldroxia turned to face the great Draca Tree, her tone soft but commanding as she spoke.
"Mnemosyne, thank you for allowing us to meet like this. You may send him back first, I still have business to attend to here."
In that instant, reality itself began to twist once more.
The world around Nier folded inward like a page being erased, light bending until it lost all shape. Space convulsed, time shivered, and the laws of nature obeyed the will of the Draca.
Then came the darkness.
As his form began to dissolve, Nier felt his existence stretched across space. Before he fully vanished, a woman's voice drifted through the void between subs, soft, mournful, and ancient.
"...Son of Circe... accursed one... blight of Ishtar... fallen child. Mother watches. Hates you, she does... yet I pity you. Circe was friend, her death grieved us all. Ishtar... she must pay. Love was sacred, yet she profaned it, and in her rejection cursed your line. Cruel... how cruelly the divine wound festers. Still, I owe Circe much. The man in green, he caused the end. Ishtar walks beside him... you must destroy... Julpi...
But before she could finish speak, another voice echoed from the higher plane or the nexus between spheres.
A second, harsher voice shattered the void like a blade.
"ENOUGH! The blight of Ishtar is better off dead."
And at that word, Nier's mind and body was cast out out of the universe, his atoms flung beyond the boundaries of 3rd dimensional space itself.
He fell through nothingness.
Not through distance, but through immutable laws and frameworks, thrown between the smallest and the largest, between zero and the twenty-sixth dimension, where even light forgot how to move.
For a moment, he ceased to exist. His body no longer matter, his flesh and form reduced to a scatter of Planck particles. Yet somehow, consciousness remained, anchored by something else within him.
Something other.... Something beyond this world.
Even without form, his awareness persisted. He was awake, but he could not comprehend. His human mind should have collapsed instantly under the infinite pressure of dimensional inversion, but it didn't.
Something ancient and eldritch within his soul his soul merley laughed at the attempt of destruction.
Nothing but an Outer God on Kaly level can destroy him, so as his human body that followed immutable principle was destroyed, Nier souls wrapped around itself to preserve the human sanity, whispering without words, holding himself intact, yet denying himself understanding.
His true form persisted, but the information this place give to the conscious will make him unable to form without consequence.
As such Nier destroyed all invasive information that was passively filling his being.
It was a paradox of awareness, to be conscious, but comprehend nothing.
Two wills stirred within him, one human and fragile, the other vast and unfeeling, observing through him like a god wearing mortal skin.
And then... Came a voice.
"No... Mother."
The voice of the Draca echoed across the void, trembling with defiance.
"He is not yours to unmake alone."
"BRAT HOW DEAR YOU DEFY MEEEEEE!!"
"I am sorry mother, but I can't agree with you on this, begone from this world, I will be judge when the time is right."
By those words, by some miracle Mnemosyne was able to cast Gaia will back into the Mind Womb.
Whatever power Gaia had save through the limited faith she had collected via those who once worship her was all but depleted.
Leaving only Nier and the will of the Draca in this place.
"I am sorry, I am so sorry... You must go now, I will hide you from mother for as long as I can, it's sadden me to say this but in 50 years Ceres barrier will fall. And the Divine will return to the earth once more. The Gods will judge man, and they will judge harshly. I chose the lesser of two evils. Find Brunhilde and let her teach you as she did your mother... I will rematerialized you back home now."
With that Nier ended back in front of a familiar place, it was his Phantom, the trunk still up and Bella's two bags beside him.
Nier looked at his trembling hands, as he said in pure shock.
"W-What the fuck!?"