Becoming a Monster

Chapter 346: Chapter 346: Growth Through Fear

Time slowed.

It wasn’t just Noah, even Ailetta looked at Eve in shock. What exactly had happened during the time Eve and Ava had chased down the Angel?

The grimoire, which should’ve still been inside Ailetta, whose body was similar to a dimensional space in its own right, had somehow been able to be breached without her knowing.

By the time the grimoire fully materialized, it hovered above Eve’s hands, levitating just a few inches above her palms. The book was still closed, and it was then that Noah was able to catch a glimpse of its new appearance.

The grimoire still retained the four skeletal hands clutching its corners, even its haphazardly stitched leather was the same. But in the middle of the cover, he could see an imprint of a skull, a skull that was almost a direct reflection of Ava.

Noah narrowed his eyes. Because the grimoire was floating over Eve’s hands, he could barely spot another skull on the back cover. From his position he wasn’t able to get a good view of what it was. Either it was another face depicting Ava’s, or it was Diablo’s.

Without the system he couldn’t get a clear understanding of the grimoire’s changes, but whenever it came to something new or something which he couldn’t understand, he activated his Nexus Eye.

Storage

Temporary Transcension

Temporary Inheritance

Soul Requiem

????

Noah’s eyes twitched. Why did a book that he received from a low-quality chest have so many different functions now? Most importantly, how was his Nexus Eye not capable of fully deciphering it?

Was it always there? Did it begin the moment when that miasmic figure entered the book? Or did it happen while the two were away?

Noah knew that he had already made the decision to wait for Eve to come to him when she was ready, but the uncertainty of the unknown gnawed at his curiosity.

The grimoire pulsed above Eve’s hands. Suddenly, the book opened on its own, flipping through pages as if it were looking for a specific bookmark, before landing on two empty sheets.

The moment the book flipped to those pages, everyone saw the black miasma from the unknown entity flowing out of the grimoire. The energy snaked its way past everyone else before enveloping the two skeleton creations. The two skeletons remained unmoving as the black mist engulfed them and eventually swallowed them whole.

By the time the mist had fully enveloped them, it slowly receded back into the book, and leaving the spot both Ava and Diablo once stood now empty.

Two images appeared on either side of the once empty pages. Images that weren’t just of Diablo and Ava, but true reflections etched as portraits of them with unnatural detail. And eerily within the confines of the book, their portraits felt alive. Their gazes flickered with awareness. The energy surrounding Diablo still flowed, while Ava’s eyes blinked ever so often.

Beneath each image, lists began to form: their strengths, their weaknesses, and their abilities.

When their pages were finished being updated, the grimoire snapped shut. They no longer had a reason to continue to stay, yet Noah didn’t move yet.

The front of the grimoire had changed again.

Ava’s once empty, lifeless eyes were now filled with eyes that were just as alive as if Ava was truly there.

All this time Eve had yet to look up, she was entranced by the book. Noah was familiar with how she was acting. It closely resembled the way he would act when he was addressing his system, or even when he was interacting with the things inside his soul.

”Eve...” Still holding the chest in his arms, Noah called out to the mesmerized vampire. Despite her trance-like state, her body reacted quickly. She turned towards him, yet her eyes blinked in a way that seemed as if she were still registering what was happening. It was only when the grimoire dematerialized, its energy flowing into her chest that the haziness completely disappeared.

Seeing her look up at him so innocently, as if the feat she just performed was the most natural thing in the world, the following question hung at the tip of his tongue.

”... Never mind.” He shook his head. He would have time to deal with all of their lingering problems after he took care of the most important one.

Instead, the array’s glow returned, layering over their bodies.

”Are you ready?” He asked, just to be sure.

”Mmhm,” she hummed eagerly. Still affected by Noah’s earlier affection, she remained oblivious to his skepticism.

One last time, Noah swept his gaze over the others. Each of them was looking at him. Aside from Ailetta, the others still weren’t aware of what was happening. But every gaze held trust.

Then, the light enveloping them flared, and they vanished.

Time moved on. The pressure in the room lifted, and silence crept in every corner.

And in that silence, the small group who had remained behind was still staring where Noah and the others disappeared.

Their stunned expressions showed that teleportation was too far out of their reality of understanding, even after all they had seen.

Mark could see it in their expressions. He could hear it in their silence. They were demoralized. And the more that they compared themselves to Noah, that feeling would only fester into fear, fear of growth, fear for failure, fear that would make them hesitate the next time they were forced to act.

He understood that feeling better than most. The helplessness, the certainty that no matter how hard you tried, you would never catch up. But admiration without direction was useless. And fear without resolve was poison.

His fist clenched, then relaxed. Without a word, his aura surged, filled with an even greater strength than when facing Noah’s dominating pressure. That aura was spread to the others, letting them feel a power unlike anything they had felt before.

Surprised showed across their faces, followed by confusion. Why had Mark suddenly done this?

”No one should envy the power that monster has. If you desire that power, then you must also understand the path he took to gain it. How many times did we watch him, again and again, face alone the kinds of monsters we wouldn’t dare to face together? How many times do you think he faced death to reach where he is now?”

Instead of facing them, he turned to look at the golden sea that remained.

”Look at me. Feel the power of my aura flowing through you. How much stronger is it than before? That aura, this...power. I gained it from the efforts of what he had to go through, and even then I felt that obtaining this power had almost cost me my life. Isabelle, I’m sure you understand that even better than I do.”

Isabelle’s expression turned ashen as the recent memory washed over her. The overwriting of her mind, body, and soul. Despite hesitating to divulge the whispers in her mind, to acknowledge that she too was given a power surpassing her old self. But she understood one thing clearly: the ”test” she endured would’ve essentially killed her, had it not been for Mark’s swift intervention.

She felt the others’ gazes, she remained silent, but her silence spoke loudly for her.

Mark then continued, his eyes burning with a sense of resolve to push himself even further, for everyone to continue to push themselves far past what their fear

”And yet even that...Even that was only a glimpse of what he endures every single time he pushes forward to what we would avoid.”

He turned back to face them, this time letting his gaze land on each of them individually, before finally landing on his sister.

”I don’t want to lose any of you. I want to continue fighting with you, living with you, making a future with you. I don’t want our weakness to be the reason we trek down the wrong path. I want to change. I want to grow stronger, and I hope you all are willing to push through that fear with me.”

__________________

Flashback to Noah’s Home before the first attack.

The day was still early. The forest was never silent, yet the calls of nature were peaceful. Powerful creatures prowled through the trees, birds chirped atop the giant-sized trees. Nature still was beautiful, just as beautiful as its danger.

But there was another noise, a noise that was natural to exist within nature, yet it still stood out from the other sounds. Chewing...bites that sounded louder than normal. A beast eating recklessly and without a hint of restraint.

Dummy was yet again feasting. It was a common theme for the simple-minded creature. One might wonder, why would Noah even consider leaving such a beast to protect the home he cherished?

There was something different about him, as he ate, the changes became more clear. His body was noticeably more stout than before, his movements less clunky, his fur thinned so much, the muscles beneath were clearly visible.

More strikingly, he no longer fed using the gaping mouth on his stomach. Instead, his face had split into thirds, three segmented jaws, wider and more lethal than before. They clamped around the corpse, tearing flesh and crushing bone. And as he feasted, something across his body was moving, imprints of creature’s heads of different species.

Dummy had changed.