Becoming a Monster

Chapter 340: Chapter 340: A True Monster.

Noah watched Regina mindlessly descending the stairs, her body gravitating towards them as if she were no different than a soulless, wandering creature.

He thought it was ironic. The energy created by angels corrupted her into a creature that was beyond saving. A creature that was no different than the zombies that wandered the earth now. In some aspects, he felt that her situation was even worse.

Her gaze, like their eyes, showed not even an ounce of intelligence. They were basically hollowed zombies.

The beings that were depicted to be the savior of humanity, the guardians of light, not even they saw Regina as a person worth saving.

The others followed behind her, less than a dozen of them. Their marbled bodies bore no distinction between armor and flesh. Their past selves were unrecognizable from them ever being human.

”Wh-what are they?” Noah heard a women cry out. There was a chance they were directing their question to him, yet he was unable to focus on them. They saw only his back, but Noah’s eyes were slightly unfocused as he had his first encounter with the hollow seraph’s unique trait.

”He will turn us all into monsters!”

”No! How could you?”

”It won’t just be him, Ailetta, someday he’ll turn you into one too. To him, we’re all just tools to be used.”

Without understanding how, Noah was reliving a scene that happened long ago. In front of him, Neal was standing before him as an abomination. Around him, the others formed a line opposing him in outrage. Their voices were resentful, fearful, and bitter. Yet all of their expressions were twisted with eyes that could kill.

”You didn’t even hesitate, Noah!” one shouted.

”He begged you to stop...”

”You think this is mercy?!”

The air was tainted with grief and fear. This was how they saw him as inhuman, a heartless monster, a murderer.

The scene was almost exactly how he remembered it, but... Why was he here? And why did the words that he could easily shrug away then, now cut so deep?

Something was different, logically he sensed that none of this was real. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it, but the longer he stayed, being subjected to their scrutiny, it became harder for him to unravel the truth between this false illusion and reality.

The feelings that were being forced on him were so frustrating they became unbearable. Why was he always the evil one? Why was it wrong to defend himself? Even though a part of him believed this was all just an illusion, he wanted to lash out, to release this rage that festered with his unbridled emotions.

But there stood the one person who always stuck by his side, who believed in him, even when he was human. Ailetta stood between him and the people who scolded and threatened him.

Without realizing it, he was already looking towards Ailetta, his gaze pleading yet feigning indifference.

”What about you, Le?” His fist clenched, his jaws locked as he squeezed the question out. ”Do you also see me as a monster? Am I so evil that even you fear me?”

She looked at him for a long time. And when she finally spoke.. It wasn’t the answer he needed.

Her voice was quiet. ”I... I don’t know.”

The words shook him, for a moment the sky around him turned a radiant gold before it flickered back to normal.

”I want to believe in you, Noah. I do. But everytime I look at you, I wonder how much of you is left. You aren’t the same Noah that I knew... Maybe the old you was swallowed up by the one standing in front of me now.

Silence fell. Noah didn’t breathe. He didn’t move. His body felt frozen in place as the world felt as if it was tilting around him.

Outside of Noah’s illusion–

The hollows drew closer, menacingly and slowly. They acted as a patient predator that was slowly stalking their prey.

The others stood cluelessly in the same location. They wanted to rush to Mark and Isabelle. The two were completely defenseless. But they couldn’t, and it was not because they were afraid of the energy inside of them, and it wasn’t because they were afraid of the seraphs.

It was because they feared Noah.

It all happened without reason. His aura turned cold, turning the air they breathed into a heavy substance that made them gag just to get enough oxygen. Several dropped to their knees, gagging from nothing they could see.

Noah’s aura wasn’t raging, it wasn’t screaming, it was empty. It was a kind of empty that made you forget what warmth even was.

It wasn’t just them, his creatures felt an oppressiveness even worse than them. The love and warmth they always received from their benefactor, turned frigid. It was as if Noah no longer trusted them, placing invisible chains on their souls as if he had locked them away. That gentle presence that had guided them, embraced them, welcomed them, it was gone.

No one could possibly understand what happened. And if the Angel was still here, even she would be left with lingering doubts.

The hollows were supposed to consume all of the victims’ sins, forcing them to relieve their sinful memories, making them regret their very essence until their souls were completely vulnerable from washing away their sins.

But this situation was the opposite of what was supposed to happen. Noah’s soul was growing stronger with negative energy, his sin was overpowering their ”purification.” In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they were fueling his sinful energy even further. It was as if Noah’s sin had a consciousness of its own.

Back in his illusion–

Noah’s body was growing, expanding. In his illusion where the seraphs should be in control, Noah was turning into a God. No... a devil. His body was growing, contorting, he was going to grow till he could consume everything.

The screams from below were distant, there was nothing else that could affect him. But when his body reached past the buildings, he suddenly found himself being embraced. Arms that were proportionate to his own passionately wrapped around him from behind.

”Whenever I take my eyes off of you, you always find a way to leave me...” A voice that most wouldn’t find tender or sorrowful, Noah found it threaded with longing and compassion. The voice whispered a hint of a playful exhaustion, a tone that helped to calm Noah’s heart.

His body stopped growing, his eyes widened as he tried to turn to see if it was really Ailetta. But he couldn’t, she wouldn’t let him.

”Even if you see me, what would that change? You will still question if this is all fake.” As she spoke, her hands roamed up his body, softly gripping his face so that he looked down towards the people that caused this.

”There’s nothing wrong with being a monster. Why does being a Devil have to be a bad thing? Don’t deny what you are. To them, a monster is a creature that needs to be put down. To them, A Devil is just a God they couldn’t control. And when they feared what you became, they didn’t ask why. They only decided you were wrong.”

Ailetta’s voice remained close, the warmth of her presence refusing to let the illusion consume him again.

”But to me...” Her voice caressed his ears. ”To us?” She smiled. He couldn’t see it, but he felt it against his skin.

”You are our world.”

There was a pause, the illusion around them began to quake, threatening to shatter. Ailetta’s voice whispered in his ear again, but this time her voice turned darker like a devil’s tongue.

”So let’s end this charade. Destroy this world, kill those who never were on your side. If they want you to be a monster so badly, become their monster. I’m here, that fake can die with them. No more questions, no more doubt, no more pain. Remember, you were never alone.”

The illusion cracked even more.

Noah didn’t stop growing, but he didn’t shrink either. His power didn’t fade, but his madness calmed.

He looked down at the people below. The ones who turned away whenever he stopped being what they wanted him to be. Who judged him for defending himself.

And he felt nothing. Not vengeance, not grief, just clarity.

His body moved forward with a new purpose. Ailetta released her embrace as she affectionately watched Noah consume them all, their screams played like a soft symphony in her ears.

In the end, Noah had left the fake Ailetta last. She stumbled on the ground as she faced Noah who returned to his normal size.

He could see her mouth moving, her tears flowing, but all of it meant nothing. His Ailetta would never look at him with those eyes. His Ailetta would never voice what she did.

Before the illusionary world fully broke down, he consumed her.

And when he did, the last trace of his human soul was devoured with it.

The seraphs didn’t purify the monster, they completed it.

Noah opened his eyes in the real world. The hollows that once sought to drag his sin into light now knelt, some by instinct, some by fear. But none dared to move.

What Noah had yet to realize was that he wasn’t the same anymore. The liberation of his desires led to what he craved all along.

A transformation to a true monster.