Becoming a Monster

Chapter 262: Chapter 262: Tit for Tat

With Arachne’s new transformation, her aggressive close combat style was finally showing their true value.

As another leg was being sent towards the zombie’s face, she banked on the zombie to prioritize that spot over her true objective. Her outstretched hand glowing with the same sharp illusive energy as before.

Her talon-like nails made contact with the zombie’s chest, electricity bore into her hand, spreading upwards, and yet her hand continued to dig through. Her nails found their way past the flesh, past the cartilage, and were inches away from the one thing she believed was keeping the zombie alive.

As deftly cunning and suppressive as Arachne was, the zombie’s instincts were on a higher level. It may have reacted just as Arachne had predicted, but the driving force manipulating it gave it the answer to its predicament without it needing to think for itself.

Arachne’s danger sense finally spiked, she didn’t know what the danger was, but she knew that the warning was for her. Whenever her ability triggered, it meant that either hers or Noah’s life was at risk. Knowing this, the best solution would be to give up her advances and try again after the danger was over.

That thought registered with her for only a moment. Her hand was less than an inch away from victory, an inch away from showing everyone how powerful she had become, how could she let up now?

”!”

She could feel the core within her grasp. All she needed to do was to retrieve her hand. And it was then that she realized where the danger lay.

Her hand was being sucked in, the walls of flesh clamping hard around her wrist. That’s when she remembered that this similar scene happened with Fenrir, the creature was attempting to merge her body with his.

The hand that still clutched the core had gripped down hard while she still attempted to remove herself, but retrieving her hand proved to be more difficult than when she penetrated through its flesh.

Furious and panic attacks of her legs came bombarding down onto the zombie. Her attacks were quick, each attack still maintaining a sense of purpose despite her rush. Her eyes shifted back and forth at a speed too fast for anyone to follow, the hand approaching her was what she needed to get out of this crisis. As long as she parried the attack, her defensive attacks could penetrate through the zombies skeleton once more.

But just as she was reading the zombie, the zombie was much quicker than before to catch onto what she was attempting. Its head lowered as much as it could, just enough that only the top of its head was exposed more than its eyes to avoid any severe damage to its brain again. All the while, its arm twisted, avoiding her attacks all together. It wasn’t trying to strike her, it gave up on that. For it to achieve victory, it couldn’t allow Arahcne to fight with the others. And to guarantee that its transformation would last, it needed to absorb Arachne right here and now.

Arachne’s eyes flared in alarm. Her legs shot forward, stabbing down with enough force to carve through the zombie’s reinforced frame, but it didn’t even flinch. Her eyes glowed in tandem, the attempt to influence the creature’s mind once again resurged, but nothing happened. The closer the zombie was to achieving victory, its mind was no longer susceptible to outside influence.

When it seemed that Arachne’s pride got the best of her, giant shadows came from behind, latching on different parts of the zombie’s body.

Each serpent’s head sank their teeth as far as they could reach and yanked back with the strength of all seven serpents in tandem.

The zombie’s body jerked towards the direction it was pulled. Arachne didn’t hesitate to slam her legs down, gelantinous webs shot in the opposite direction on the ground as she pulled back with all her might.

But that wasn’t enough.

The zombie’s arm had already secured its target. Ailetta wanted to help more, she was determined to pull the beast away but she suddenly had the serpents pull away. Her own frantic desire to aid Arachne didn’t make her oblivious to the situation she was in. Within the short amount of time that her serpents had gripped into the zombies flesh, the zombie was now attempting to absorb them too.

”I can’t believe I’m about to do this...but if it’s for her...” Ailetta’s reluctance turned into one of acceptance. She was a selfish person, one that believed she had become someone who only cared about herself and Noah. However, thinking of how Noah would feel after losing Arachne stirred her to risk herself for another.

”In the end, I’m still doing this for a selfish reason.”

With a deep breath, she made a decision, mocking herself in the process. The three cores inside her began to glow, the energy within the three rotated with such intensity that the rotation of their movements became visible through her translucent body. The cores pulsed in sync, their combined force pushing against the limits of what her body could handle.

Ailetta knew what she was about to do was reckless, dangerous even, but hesitation would only cost her more.

As the cores rotation spiked, the energy being released was accumulating to the point that the three orbs were about to shatter while the energy accumulating between the three were preparing to make a new core in their place. Her form was beginning to destabilize instantly, the serpents no longer could move on their own. The process was still too slow, she was determined to speed it up, but when she pushed further, all control within her body was stopped.

It wasn’t her physical form that was being affected, but it was something affecting her soul. Instead of confusion, or outright fear of something being able to influence her in such a way, she smiled.

”Of course, if anyone could make a miracle, its you.”

Noah had quickly made it to Arachne’s side. His expression was unclear, not just unclear, but only his eyes were recognizable. As he advanced towards Arachne, witnessing everything that happened. His mind was already thinking of everything that he was capable of to salvage this. His answer became clear as his form receded, replaced by his entire body becoming one with his abyssalith form.

His focus was entirely on Arachne’s situation; he wasn’t paying attention to Ailetta’s inner conflict until he sensed the powerful surge of energy in her direction. The eye in his chest noticed it first, the cluster of energy that was clashing within her body. His mood turned for the worse instantly. What he was about to do should be impossible since Ailetta had yet to undergo the soul ritual of becoming one of his fallen, but his bond with Ailetta was deeper than any other.

Using the soul that was intertwined with his own, he linked himself with her other half, willing her actions to a halt. It was an action that he never thought he would force himself to do, never would he want to manipulate the free will of those he cared for.

The remorse he felt would have to wait as he reached Arachne’s side. His advances ignored the zombie entirely. Noah was aware of his limits, and he wasn’t quite sure of the zombie’s limits anymore. However, he did know that their best chance of winning was through Arachne.

His hands gripped around her sides, embracing her so tightly that Arachne faltered despite the situation she was in.

Instinctively she was about to look towards Noah, but her body noticed it first. An enormous amount of slime was melding into her own. At first it acted as a mere covering, an additional protective layer at best. But then one lonesome eye poked out from the layer that looked towards her before it seeped within the meld, and that was when the true change took place.

The slime began to resonate with her very being, giving her a rush of power that empowered her in such a way that she felt she was going through another mutation.

And if that wasn’t enough, a rainbow of colors began to surge through Noah that simultaneously engulfed her, festering itself throughout her body. Noah was buffing everything at once. Still, Noah believed it wasn’t enough.

Despite merging one of his advance golems into Arachne’s own slime, and buffing her within all of his lesser spells, it wasn’t enough. The meager 10%,(not including the additional benefits of his slime) was not enough. He needed more. The problem was, he didn’t know how.

The only solution he could come up with was the same answer for everything else, to brute force his way to do it. His mana flared as he tried to send a more potent energy through her. It wasn’t as simple as providing more energy, it was how that energy was being channeled that would improve the purity and efficiency of the skill. And that was where the golem came in. He and the golem were still one and the same.

His mana circuits swelled as his mana surged forth, his insides bled, the amount of pain he was being subjected to was by far just as antagonizing as when he first was integrated into becoming a chimera. But as the energy within himself melded into his golem, the golem was able to synchronize the input of energy into Arachne in a way that didn’t allow the energy’s potency to reduce.

At this point, Arachne was as strong, or maybe even stronger than the zombie itself.

Arachne’s body trembled, not in weakness, but in overwhelming force. The synchronization between Noah and the golem had done more than just enhance her; it had pushed her beyond her limits, beyond what she thought possible. The runes carved into her exoskeleton pulsed with life, shifting as if they were trying to spell something as her body adapted to the influx of refined energy.

Her limbs moved with a strength that she couldn’t fully control, as if every muscle, every fiber of her being had been optimized for this singular moment.

Her fingers tightened around its core. No hesitation. No fear.

With one swift motion, she ripped it free.

The moment the core was severed, the zombie convulsed violently, its body rejecting the sudden absence of its lifeline. A shockwave of unstable energy burst from its form, tearing through the battlefield as its regeneration failed for the first time.

White energy furiously flowed out of its body while its once boisterous and muscled body began to deflate. It wasn’t dead yet, but it might as well have been. The transformation was over, and whatever strength it may have had was completely drained. A tiny spark emitted from its body, a weak attempt to make its final retaliation. A look of clarity washed over the zombie’s eyes. Edward was finally able to come back to his senses, as the person before he became a zombie.

His eyes were human for the final time, yet deep down he didn’t feel remorse that he was going to die, he didn’t show regret for all of the wrongs he had done, instead, he felt aggrieved. His eyes bore a hatred like no other as he looked up to Noah and Arachne holding his core. The power they had, all of the abilities they’ve shown, all of it should’ve been his.

Noah couldn’t miss that look, his gaze was always of Edward, that glare was unmistakable. Even without the core, Noah wouldn’t risk someone like Edward to stay alive any longer, not after all of the sudden powerups he had displayed.

While still in his slime form, his arm outstretched, an arm that grew and opened up to return the favor.

No words, no ridicule, no contempt. Noah’s arm converged onto Edward’s body, his mouth too weak to even speak, but the horror that reflected within his eyes was the last thing he was able to express before Noah consumed him.

’An eye for an eye...’