Becoming a Monster

Chapter 322: Chapter 322: Tainting an Angel

Ailetta wasn’t simply waiting for the chance for Noah to understand what she was preparing to do, not when the spawn was in control. However, she had her own plan.

She didn’t speak, didn’t move. It was the giant creature that stepped beside her hinted at what she was about to do. The creature enveloped in eyes wasn’t entering the fight. Instead, a bulge slowly protruded out of its chest as a fist-sized core fell into her outstretched hands.

Normally, Ailetta would take the time to analyze the orb, comparing the size, quality and any different factors compared to the other cores she had acquired this way. Yet she placed the orb within her chest without a second thought.

The moment she did, her form dimmed. The violet light within her was enshrouded with darkness as her form grew taller in size. And as she was transitioning, the slimes that were still inside of the abomination she created separated themselves from the coreless creature’s body to rejoin their mother, empowering her mana even further.

The Angel sensed two powerful spikes of negative energy from separate sources. She couldn’t understand. She wasn’t in hell, yet the abyssal energy originating from those creatures were too potent to not be created from hell’s flames.

That’s when Ailetta had finalized her transformation. Just like Noah, the violet energy within her was barely noticeable, but it was for different reasons.

The entirety of her body was made of pitch darkness. Yet anyone who dared look upon her would not see her shape, they would see eyes. Dozens of them.

Behind her, a fan of writhing tentacles unfurled with slow, dreadful grace, like a nightmare’s interpretation of a peacock’s tail. Each massive tentacle bore two grotesquely larger eyes, one on either side, while smaller, twitching eyes dotted the rest of their lengths.

It wasn’t just her ”tail”; her body held more eyes than it previously did. And at the center of her chest, in a location similar to Noah’s Nexus Eye, was a massive singular eye that withheld a gaze more aware and heavy than the others.

Crowning it all was a hardened crest of darkened slime atop her head that made out a jagged crown. To the Angel, she viewed it as a symbolic manifestation of defiance against the divine.

”These heathens do not deserve pity, they need to be vanquished from reality all together...” The Angel mumbled to herself. This was the first time that she had witnessed such darkness, so much ”evil” outside the realm of hell.

The sight of Ailetta was impossible to ignore, her appearance was more eye-catching than all the others, she didn’t realize that something

was making it difficult for her to look away. But as the Angel continued to scrutinize the slime’s appearance, she found herself questioning whether this was truly a test or if her father had forsaken her.
The Angel had questioned the words before thinking. But once formed, the doubt had taken root. And once it did, her thoughts were beginning to affect her emotions, and her faith.

Her beautiful pure white wings were beginning to take an almost unnoticeable change. The small tips of her feathers were draining of their purity, decayed black feathers were overtaking the edges like ink bleeding through snow.

Whoosh!

Three beams of light shot out towards Ailetta, tearing through her body. The beams clearly penetrated her, yet the attack seemingly did nothing to damage her body.

Ailetta didn’t move, didn’t turn; yet her eyes were always watching. Her stats were enhanced, but more importantly, her perception was abnormal. With so many eyes, she could not only keep track of everything around her, but also perceive the attack coming towards her and instinctively judge its angle and where it would land.

Her speed was comparatively lacking when it came to the beam’s speed. Moving out of the way was not an option. However, unlike Noah, her body was devoid of organs which allowed her to maneuver her body as she pleased, creating holes within herself that were large enough to allow the beams to bypass through her.

Even though the attacks didn’t faze her, the eyes that were targeting the Angel were forced to close and move to avoid the attack. It was that lapse of time that allowed the Angel to become aware of what was happening to her.

”She’s....she’s the devi- No! She’s even worse. None shall be spared; even their souls are no longer worth saving.” The Angel’s breaths were ragged. Although she was no longer under Ailetta’s effects, the darkness that took root at her wings was not going anywhere. The Angel was no longer as pure as she once was, and her thoughts proved that. Hatred, an emotion that should’ve been foreign to an Angel, now colored her vision.

But it wasn’t just hatred, there was also a rising fear. Her fist clenched, she stared intently at the envoys, each engaged in their own fierce battle. She wished to vocalize her anger to force them to kill Ailetta, a target she now considered to be a higher priority than Noah.

Yet she didn’t. She couldn’t. The envoys were creatures directly created under God’s will. She could make a request, but she could never command them; only the archangels and God himself could command them.

Thankfully, she noted, with some relief, that Ailetta hadn’t moved since the completion of her transformation. As long as she avoided looking at the creature then she believed that when the envoys finished over the others, then they could take care of her.

But something deep inside whispered a more damning truth. The envoys...They hadn’t even looked her way besides the instance in which they saved her. Not even once, it was as if they didn’t consider the slime creature as threatening than the others.

No. That wasn’t it.

When she actually paid attention to their individual fights, she realized that it wasn’t just the slime creature, all of the Devils creatures were just as abnormal in their own ways.

The envoy fighting the devil’s many creatures wasn’t winning with overwhelming odds. A purple energy coated the barrier of divine energy that enveloped the envoy. When comparing the envoy’s actions from before, the beams it released were noticeably weaker, and smaller than before.

It wasn’t just its magical prowess, its speed was slower, and its reactions too. And all of this was because of something the Angel couldn’t understand. The attribute that was affected by Arachne’s ability was the envoy’s spirit. And envoys are spiritual entities. Not just its divine energy, but all of its physical capabilities were empowered by its spirit, which is why the envoys could become so powerful despite using the bodies of weaker creatures as vessels.

That left the envoy constantly on the defensive. It wasn’t fast enough to avoid the energy blast Kratos could release, causing it to constantly use its energy to form shields rather than attacking.

The time it had in between Kratos’s attacks was filled with Arachne’s webs, webs that drained more of its energy as it struggled to cleanse them before they could drain its power even further.

Arachne’s greatest strength was her close combat capabilities, but to synergize with the others, she placed herself in a position where she could still prove herself to be invaluable.

With Kratos and Arachne both providing attacks from a distance, that left Fenrir as the sole threat to fight the envoy as the frontal combatant. He was an unrelenting beast, never allowing the envoy to have a moment to stand still. The envoy’s beams would penetrate his hide but were incapable of piercing thoroughly through him. Those wounds would only heal, and his hide would become stronger, tougher, with each time the envoy attempted to strike him down.

Fenrir became stronger the more pain he withstood. With the envoy’s capability of flight, he wasn’t able to secure too many attacks, but he was aware of his role, and he wore his badge as a meat shield proudly.

_______________

The Angel could barely believe what she was seeing. The envoy wasn’t losing, but the fact that it wasn’t winning either played a lot on her psyche.

It was only when she looked at the remaining envoy that she felt relieved. Scorched marks were riddled all around Noah’s body from the divine cleansing factor of the envoy’s attacks. He was still moving with the same ferocity as before, attacking nonstop with speed and strength that made his battle with the envoy seem to be on a different scale than the other.

Yet, the Angel didn’t care about that; his battered appearance was enough to reassure her that the envoys weren’t going to be defeated.

But then the crazed devil did something unexpected.

Just as it seemed ready to lunge again, it veered away, charging straight toward the very creature she despised.

The slime creature stood with open arms, as if she was welcoming the devil into her arms only to be slammed into the ground at the moment of impact.

The scene didn’t make sense. For a moment, the Angel thought the Devil had lost its mind, turning on its own.

The Angel’s brow furrowed, her eyes narrowing to inspect what was happening. The envoy who was facing the spawn, on the other hand, struck at it with a barrage of beams that reeked of urgency, as if it was in a hurry to finish him off.

And they vanished into the slime. No explosion. No impact. Only a faint wisp of smoke.