Becoming a Monster

Chapter 324: Chapter 324: Taboo

Both sin and virtue resisted each other. Noah’s power and the Seraphim’s power seemed to be equal, but the moment the Seraphim’s wings unfurled, the holy creature showed why it was considered a creature of divine status.

The domain Noah built was bathed in a holy fire. Blue divine flames burned away at his slime, forcing Noah to recede.

Watching this, the Angel should’ve been happy, yet her expression was the complete opposite. Her face was aghast, her eyes wide. Fear that was more extreme than she has ever shown before was reflected in her eyes. She wasn’t afraid of Noah, nor was she afraid of what the envoys became. What she was scared of was what the seraphim signified.

There was a reason that God forbade the strongest of his angels to never visit the mortal realm, there was a reason why the strongest creatures of hell respected that same boundary.

The mortal realm was the bridge between both heaven and hell. That bridge was a fine line, a line that was a fragile existence to maintain. A bridge that supplied to both sides and without that bridge, the existence within hell and heaven would become finite. The souls of the mortal realm were constantly in circulation, making it a keystone in the balance of creation.

And that balance was sacred.

That’s why neither side dared to truly tip the scale. And now, the Seraphim’s appearance was a breach of that unspoken rule.

No one fully explained how the metaphorical bridge would break, but seeing the environment around the seraphim being affected by its presence, the Angel grasped the reason instantly.

The floor, the wall, the very air...Everything was being bathed by a divinity that didn’t belong here. Everything was being directly influenced, and that was why it was taboo.

Her head snapped toward the upper floors. There, the divine aura subtly cloaked the humans, confirming her worst fear. They were absorbing energy meant only to be granted by the Heavenly Father. And as the sacred power surrounded them, whether awakened warriors or defenseless civilians, all of them were overtaken by a wave of euphoric invigoration.

Both their mind and body were feeling pure bliss, their spirits momentarily cleansed, as though they were being embraced by the universe itself.

Regina and Vincent were no different. The sensation was so otherworldly that their conscious tuned out reality around them. The pulse of energy was followed by their bodies becoming lighter, their thoughts serene, and their sense of self was momentarily erased as they could only afford to focus on the tantalizing sensation.

And then, all at once, they suddenly collapsed. Their bodies spasmed on the ground, eyes widened in visible pain, completely white, glowing with a translucent hue of gold.

It didn’t end there. The divine energy continued to flow into them, saturating their bones, flesh, and soul. Their veins lit up like molten streams beneath the skin, and with each pulse, their bodies stiffened. Stone crept up their limbs, stone of smooth and pale quality made out of the same marble as the envoys. The transformation was painful, and yet only their bodies reacted to their pain while their minds were too far gone to understand what was happening.

Their hair bled into threads of silver and gold before freezing in place. Locked as the strands also became a part of the marble shell.

Then came the final act. From the center of their faces, a luminous mask began to form, growing outward like stone growing from flesh. The mask was seamless, erasing every trace of their human identity.

The mask had no mouth, no nose, and no ears. Only a smooth, expressionless facade with narrow slits where their eyes once were. Through those slits, their golden irises still glowed.

Behind that glow lied a serene feeling that gave the impression of someone who could be trusted. But underneath those eyes lie a disturbing intense desire.

But somewhere inside that surge of rapture, Regina’s mind crack, creating a moment of clarity. Something within her screamed, whether it be her instincts or soul, that was innately and intuitively set on self-survival when compared to the others. She didn’t crave for power like the awakened, she didn’t blindly trust in anyone to protect her, only to be used for her own needs, and so, the bliss and peach in which the divine energy granted her, it all felt...wrong. The traits that made Regina unreadable were the very traits that managed to save her.

She thrashed wildly, her body still barely able to move. Her breath was being hindered by the mask forming across her face, but due to her resistance from the holy energy, the mask, alongside the rest of the marbled skin began to fracture.

When the fractures grew, eventually splitting across the mask fully broke apart. Her golden flickering eyes widened in horror.

She screamed; her ragged screech went unnoticed by everyone but the angel. The energy around her recoiled, as if shocked by her will. The energy that seeped into her and enveloping her peeled away in slow, reluctant tendrils. Her glowing eyes dimed, a semblance of her pupils were starting to return.

Then she collapsed again, gasping, her body not feeling like her own. She was extremely weak, causing her body to feel significantly heavier, but couldn’t care. Her body was still trembling, sweating, her thoughts were haunted by what happened. Her body still bore traces of what she had nearly become. Streaks of faint silver and gold in her hair, and faint lines of light beneath her skin.

Beside her, she saw the others. All of them were different, and yet the same. Only their body composition and the lengths of their hair made them capable of being told apart.

But she didn’t need to pick out their hair to know who the marbled creature beside her was. She simply knew it was her closest aide, her confidant.

Regina’s breath caught in her throat. Grief gnawed at the edges of her battered thoughts. Pam had always been there for her, she was more involved in her life than her own parents, and now she was gone.

But somewhere deep, underneath the heartache, a guilty relief flickered.

She was glad it wasn’t her; she was glad to be alive.

”I can’t stay here...” She muttered to herself. Her body twitched again as she tried to move. She survived, but she could feel it, the energy was still just as invasive. Her mind felt as if it was constantly fighting against thoughts that were hers, a voice whispering gently in her ear, coaxing her to accept an inner peace. The echo of that euphoric feeling still haunted her.

She dug her fingers into the floor. Pain once again riddled through her. But she had to move. She rolled to her side, coughing, trying to suppress her groans. Finally, she began to push herself up, but as she did, she froze. Around her there was movement.

One by one the marbled creatures gracefully rose. They didn’t stumble or needed to brace themselves. They almost floated as they rose to their feet, like puppets lifted by invisible strings.

All around they rose in silence.

Regina’s heart thudded against her ribs. Her body stiffened, her movements slowing to almost a crawl as she tiptoed towards the direction of the mysterious shopkeeper. She had no faith that the shopkeeper could do anything, but she hoped that its presence could ward off the creatures around her.

Each step was agony. Her desperation grew when she saw the creatures gliding towards her, their hands remaining aimlessly at their sides.

Adrenaline pumped dangerously through her, her pain suddenly numbing as her body was about to break out into a run. But then she found her body freezing again.

Memories were resurfacing. A lie she told to save herself. Moments of betrayal. Her indifference to a crying stranger. Her cowardice.

All of them, tiny moments that she had buried and justified, were suddenly forcibly brought up again, clearer than they ever had been.

Tears welled up in Regina’s eyes, mixed between guilt and panic-stricken fear. She didn’t understand what was happening, but she realized that closer the creatures were getting to her, the memories resurfacing was becoming more vivid than before. And each time, she felt her grip on reality slipping.

______________

The angel realized what was happening. The humans became hollowed seraphs. Creatures that roam the outer heaven realms, residing at the border of hell. These creatures fed on the sins of all living things. Eating away at their vanity, until the creature becomes completely guilty of all of their sins, causing the weight of their sins to break them.

And when that happens, the hollow would perform their own baptism, eating the victim’s soul as their form of mercy. Cleansing them of any residual sins and turning them into hollow versions of themselves without a soul. Left to roam the world driven only by one purpose: to seek out sin and purge it, mindlessly, endlessly, without rest or reason.

What she was seeing was one of the very reasons that neither side should ever allow not only their strongest, but also creatures that were embodiments of their opposing energies to exist in the mortal realm.

And what terrified her most...Was the subtle realization that this wasn’t an accident.

The seraphim weren’t here by mistake. It was summoned, not by God, not by hell. But by her. She would be the reason for creating one of the ultimate taboos.