Becoming a Monster

Chapter 337: Chapter 337: Not Quite Holy

The room was once again filled with an aura that did not belong to this world.

Noah looked at the pillar of festering hellish energy. The scene was no different than the vision he had.

If there were a difference, it would be the screams that filled every corner of the room. Ailetta was in pain; pain that didn’t mirror what he had seen at all. Was there something wrong with the ritual? Was the energy too potent, causing her to experience backlash?

’Or maybe it’s because she isn’t an actual demon.’ Noah thought back to the vision. If it was a demon forged by the flames of hell he could understand why there was such a stark difference.

Inside the column of light, Ailetta’s body was suspended. The energy inside her violet slime interior pulsed with the mixture of golden pulsing energy. The outside of her body was being bathed in holy flames and shadows.

Noah still had two other items in the chest and yet they were meaningless when it came to Ailetta’s well-being. He watched the pillar churn like a living thing. Ailetta’s screams gnawed at him with every waking moment. His mind screamed to intervene, but his instincts warned him not to. He could feel it. Not just her pain, he could feel her power growing, her soul changing.

”Don’t interfere,” Arachne edged close to the pillar, stopping due to Noah’s command.

Without understanding what was happening, she only desired to support Ailetta who managed to earn a place within the few who were important to her.

”This is her trial to grow stronger,” he said, more to himself than to her. ”She can handle it.”

The pillar continued to churn. Mark and the others curiously and worriedly watched. They had grown accustomed to the fact that the Ailetta they knew was lost to them. But to be witness to her pain, writhing in helpless agony, was something they couldn’t detach themselves from.

More than one of them had the urge to inquire from Noah about what was happening, but no one had the courage to do so. Instead, they stood by in uneasy silence.

’She’s almost done,’ Noah walked forward. The pillar of mana began to recede. All of the accumulated mana wasn’t merely disappearing; it was being absorbed inside of Ailetta’s body.

During this time, her body was almost obscured, save for the silhouette of her form that was visible from the dense mana.

Noah’s gaze sharpened as he drew closer.

The temperature dropped. His body felt an unease that was hard to decipher. The aura he was feeling felt uncomfortable, it reminded him of the Seraphim’s burning mana that opposed his very existence. But at the same time, he felt the desire to embrace it. His soul hungered to bathe in the cold and unsettling energy.

The strength of that aura steadily rose. It was when that energy reached its climax that the pillar was fully absorbed inside Ailetta, finally revealing her new breathtaking form.

She looked completely different than what she once was. In fact, one would believe that she was a different person altogether.

Her body still retained its slime like appearance. However, her entire gelatin makeup was now reversed. The entire outer layer of her form was that of a violet slime, mixed with clusters of golden sparkles of light that aligned and connected as if it were a series of constellations.

And layered underneath all of it was pure darkness, slime that became more devoid of light than before. There was an elegance to her, yet something impossibly vast, like she was no longer confined by the rules of mortals.

As she descended to the ground, she hovered slightly above it as if she was no longer bound by gravity. From her back emerged two feathered wings. Despite their bird-like appearance, each wing was made up of slime that was shaped to give it a feathered appearance. The wings, just like her body, were made up of the same golden constellation.

These two wings appeared to be capable of flight and yet they never once moved to keep her afloat.

Her face was no longer made up of the same slime appearance as before, reverting to when she was first human. A familiar face was prominent, even when compared to her now striking and otherworldly features. The Ailetta that was once a plain and dorky girl, was now a beauty. Her beauty didn’t come from visible appearances, but from the serenity and grandeur of her presence.

The eyes retained her glowing violet iris, while now her abyssal pupils were layered in a golden halo, flaring so brightly that one would believe she was about to release a spell at any moment. There was a clarity in her gaze that made even Noah falter.

Her tranquil beauty was accentuated even further as Noah’s gaze rose further, passing her hair that was almost entirely golden strands, interlaced with violet stars that were the complete opposite of her body constellation.

Above her hair was what caught Noah’s gaze, because hovering over her head was a halo, a halo like that of an angel.

A halo should signify purity, but this one...not only did it feel wrong, but its appearance denounced everything that it was supposed to stand for.

One half of the halo was gold, while the other was saturated in rich, living darkness. The two halves melded at the seams, neither dominating the other. But even the golden tendrils felt unnatural, as if they had been forced into radiance. They coiled around the dark side of the halo like vines around a dying tree.

And along the edge of both halves, eyes slowly opened, six in total, three on each side.

The eyes on the dark half matched Ailetta’s own: glowing violet irises with abyssal pupils encircled by golden halos. They pulsed gently, blinking out of sync with reality.

The golden side bore their counterparts, eyes of golden irises with pupils ringed in a faint violet glow. The golden eyes, too, pulsed with life and intellect, but their gaze was less intrusive and more knowing, as if they were seeing the world for what it really was instead of unearthing its secrets.

Ailetta’s eyes slowly blinked, as if she were gaining focus of reality around her. Her eyes immediately found themselves searching for something, for someone. The moment her vision cleared, her eyes locked onto Noah.

A proud smirk formed on her lips, a refined one that didn’t follow her usual humorous and expressive self, but Noah found her small smile to be more endearing than ever before.

”I’ll be the one to protect you-to protect us this time.”

Her words felt different. Just like her smile, even her tone was endearing. And most surprising was the fact that she verbally spoke of caring for someone other than Noah.

It was warming and yet unsettling to see her this way.

Noah didn’t mind the change. He was satisfied that she was okay, and that she seemed happy with her own transformation.

He wanted to speak to her about her changes when suddenly his eyes widened, fear caused his body to react first as he lunged forward. Right after Ailetta spoke, her eyes glazed over, both the ones on her face and the ones in her halo. Noah noted the weakness drilling through her body before it took over her, reaching her before she fell to the ground.

Holding her in his hands, Noah didn’t call out to her, he didn’t say anything at all. He just watched as Ailetta’s body changed in his arms. She transitioned again, her form moving as if she was a living lava lamp. The outer layer of her body changed places with the darkness within her, however her golden constellation reverted back to formless energy that flowed through her.

Her wings were absorbed into her body, while hair reverted almost completely identical with the rest of her figure.

The halo above her hand flickered, the six eyes blinked longer than before. Eventually, they closed their eyes for good and when that happened, the halo dissolved, including the eyes as if both the halo and the eyes were made of pure energy.

The moment the halo disappeared; it was as if it triggered for her normally exposed eyes to finally awaken from her body. They appeared as if they were hiding all the while Ailetta was in her transformation.

Each eye looked around curiously and full of alert, aware that their mother was vulnerable.

Noah didn’t care about her changes, his grip tightened around her, staring in her now sleeping face that still retained her human appearance.

”Even until the end you pretend to be strong.” He muttered aloud, clinging her closer to his body. For now, he just wanted her to rest. The transformation must’ve taken its toll on both her body, and her soul.

As everyone silently watched the pair. Ailetta’s body started to glow, eventually turning into white particles that were absorbed into his body.

Calmly he stood up after allowing her to rest within his soul. Just having her inside of him gave him an ethereal feeling. His own body took on an inadvertent change. Seems of golden lines formed thin layers around his exoskeleton.

The physical change itself didn’t take Noah by surprise. It was the feeling as if all of his skills pertaining to his slime had grown noticeably stronger.