Becoming a Monster

Chapter 113: Chapter 113: Alietta’s questionable sanity

No matter how much he analyzed the accessory, Noah couldn’t determine its effects. Instead of scrutinizing over something he had no chance of understanding, he called for Fenrir to come to his side; potentially hoping that the effects of the equipment can be determined by equipping it.

While in the midst of gathering the mana cores with Arachne, Fenrir abruptly halted all progress on his current corpse, rushing to Noah’s side. A look of jealousy followed behind Fenrir as Arachne pouted, once again noting that Noah always calls Fenrir first.

As Fenrir trotted over to Noah’s side, his ears perked up with eager curiosity, eager to assist his master. Meanwhile, Arachne’s expression soured even more at the sight of Fenrir’s growing enthusiasm. Her jealousy turned into annoyance before she quickly masked it with a composed facade, returning to her task of recovering the cores; at least she can request for a larger proportion of them since Fenrir ”neglected” his duties of retrieving them.

Noah ignored the subtle tension between his creatures, his focus fixed on the collar in hand. Now that Fenrir was next to him, he reached out, attempting to fasten it around Fenrir’s neck. There was a slight surprise in store when Noah first questioned the collar’s size, but as he edged the collar closer to Fenrir’s neck, he became startled by the mystifying result. The accessory seemingly grew in size, proportional to Fenrir’s massive physique.

As Fenrir trotted around, Noah’s gaze followed him intently, searching for any subtle shifts in his behavior or a potential trait that he’s never seen before. With each passing moment, Noah’s brows furrow in contemplation, heavily scrutinizing anything that stood out of place.

He tried having Fenrir jump in place, running in quick spurts and even tried to see if Fenrir gained the ability to levitate, but every test met failures. When he began to believe that the accessory was only for show, he was suddenly licked out of nowhere by Fenrir’s overly large tongue. Initially, he was surprised, and then slightly disgusted, when he was about to complain, suddenly he halted. Surprise filled his expression once again.

”Fenrir, pace back and forth for me, but try walking as hard as you can.” He impatiently requested for the big lug, which Fenrir didn’t mind such a random request as long as he was getting attention.

”Interesting....” Noah couldn’t help exclaiming when he could physically see Fenrir pounding his muscular form into the pavement, could even feel the vibrations shaking through the ground, and yet the sound was almost half as loud as it should’ve been. By this point Noah could already derive that the collar had some form of effect to muffle the wielder’s steps; it was an essential item to have for someone like Fenrir who lacked decorum. Noah could envision that the collar would be useful even well within the future.

During the time Noah was exploring the collar’s mechanisms, Ailetta took this opportunity to aid Arachne in retrieving the cores, since her inability to fight off the birds lost her chance at obtaining a dropped chest. With Fenrir out of the picture, Ailetta felt more at ease to intervene in their prided duties, however, she still made sure to keep a good distance from Arachne. Ailetta may believe that it’s all in her head, but she still strongly believed that Arachne detested her, or at the very least, disliked her.

Confronting one of the nearby corpses, Ailetta blankly stared at the bird, dealing with the conflict within her to mutilate the creature. Subtly she glanced back in Arachne’s direction, watching as the spider-woman would casually lift up a corpse before gouging its heart out without a change in her expression. Seeing how useful Arachne was to Noah was the trigger to allow Ailetta to brush past her inhibitions. With a resolved glare, she raised a knife above her head, one that Noah was very familiar with; a coated substance coated the tip of it, the very same dagger Noah used to use.

Brief memories surfaced of her recent near-death experience as she pierced the bird’s chest. Her contained emotions spilled over when she simultaneously felt the resistance of the bird’s flesh while feeling the warmth of its blood splattering on her face. This would only be the second time she had ever physically drawn blood. The first time was when she needed to defend herself from a zombie for the very first time. Since then, she had adapted and begun to proficiently use her ability, never needing to confront a creature herself.

Her body jerked as she took everything in. Unlike the zombie encounter, she wasn’t acting for survival; this time she was able to absorb the full impact of her actions. After what she had just been through, being able to inflict ”harm” on one of the creatures that added to her trauma felt alleviating. Her estranged soul craved to strike the creature again. Each strike carried all of her resentment, all of her sorrows, and most importantly, she felt she was shedding the naive and weak woman she once was. Through her strife, she couldn’t hold back her small emotional outbursts whenever she struck at the bird’s lifeless body, her surroundings becoming covered by a flurry of feathers.

Hearing the emotional grunts and cries nearby, Arachne curiously looked in Ailetta’s direction, noticing her distraught actions with a confused gaze before shaking her head. Arachne couldn’t understand how such a simple task was so difficult to comprehend. She retrieved another core, examining the heart in her hand before glancing back at Ailetta, who was still unable to perform the task as effortlessly. Deciding it wasn’t worth her attention, she turned away and continued her work, ignoring Ailetta altogether.

Besides Arachne, the arrival of the others couldn’t sit still as they watched Ailetta irrational and concerning behavior. Jasmine was the first to approach, but as she drew closer, each step was slower, and shorter than the last before she stopped progressing all together. Up until the end she second guessed herself, questioning if she deserved to be able to show concern for Ailetta’s wellbeing. Once again she stood off to the side while Ailetta was in danger. Jasmine couldn’t see herself as a good person anymore, even worse, the person they considered to be a monster was the only one who stood by her side in her time of need.

Jasmine was sure that Noah was aware of everything, she was sure that Noah would tell Ailetta of how they fled, only to worry about themselves. A strong pain began to simmer at her core, Jasmine felt as if her heart was being torn and twisted inside her just imagining Ailetta glaring at her with resentment, with betrayal...

As Jasmine’s thoughts began to spiral deeper into the negative void of despair, her face slowly began to devoid itself of any color, her skin was no different than the undead. How could she forget that the reason Noah is with them is only because of Ailetta’s insistence. If her dark thoughts were even remotely possible of becoming a reality, then why would Noah continue to aid them reaching their goal?

Seemingly petrified due to her own despairing thoughts, Bailey couldn’t take the sight of Ailetta losing herself. Her thoughts weren’t the same as Jasmines, she wouldn’t take the time to make the situation about her, she would own up to her own actions after comforting her friend.

”Aietta, hey....” Bailey said softly, yet her voice slightly trembled as she placed a reassuring hand on Ailetta’s shoulder. ”It’s ok, it can’t hurt you anymore.”

Ailetta paused mid-strike, her breath heavy, she looked up at Bailey, her eyes confused, and yet a disturbing smile was plastered on her face; causing Bailey to flinch involuntarily as a result. ”Eh? But I’m fine...” Ailetta replied, her tone unsure of why Bailey was addressing her in such a concerned manner. She turned her gaze back to the bird’s remains, seemingly unaware of her own expression or the eerie atmosphere she was creating.

Bailey hesitated, uncertain how to respond to Ailetta’s strangely calm demeanor. ”I was just collecting the core for Noa-” Ailetta continued, her voice was still calm until suddenly she stopped. A loud metal thud sounded as the grip on the dagger loosened, causing it to fall against the ground. All emotion drained from Ailetta’s face, blankly she stared towards the work of ”art” she committed, her eyes were the only signs of life as they flickered, showing that her mind was elsewhere.

Noah, who had been observing from a distance with a furrowed brow, made his way over. ”Bailey, what’s going on here?” He asked with an accusatory tone. Although he noticed Ailetta stabbing the bird like a madman, he felt the scene was normal; even he would do the same, after all, the birds tried to kill her, so her resentment was justified in his view. What he didn’t understand was Ailetta’s abrupt change after Bailey approached her.

However, Bailey didn’t take well to Noah’s accusation. Without realizing, she jerked her hand away from Ailetta, instinctively retreating away from her, before attempting to defend herself; even she knew that Ailetta was Noah’s bottom line.

”It’s-it’s not what you think Noah! I was worried for Ailetta, I only wanted to check on her, and this happened. I-I don’t know what’s wrong with her.” Bailey rushed in her response, the pitch of her voice breaking at times due to the induced fear of Noah’s animalistic gaze.

Noah remained silent as he contemplated the cause and effect of Ailetta’s behavior. But his silence was nerve wrecking to the one who most desperately wanted to hear that Noah believed her. The physical signs of her stress amounted even more, each second was enough for her body to retreat another step away.

”Noah, wait!” Noah was interrupted from his thoughts when hearing Ailetta call his name. He watched suspiciously as she stopped inches away from him, her emotions changed once again, causing his suspicion to deepen. He didn’t like the mental gymnastics she was putting him through, however, there was something about her this time that grabbed his attention. His rising annoyance began to stabilize as his gaze burrowed into hers, but just as his mood reverted to ”normal”, the intensity of his gaze multiplied to levels bordering obsessiveness.

When he looked into her eyes, he didn’t see fear, nor did he see that weak girl that he came to care for. This girl’s eyes screamed that she had a goal and would do anything to achieve it. This was what he wanted to see, finally he might get his chance; other than him, he desperately wanted to find out how far someone else would go to forsake their humanity.