Becoming a Monster

Chapter 385: Chapter 385: Not A Demon Afterall

"Earth..." Amara repeated under her breath. She blinked; the question came off as something that didn’t seem to register. The question was no different than if the creature had asked her whether or not she was human.

But her mind spun, she quickly weighed the different meanings to the question. And it was how she recalled the tone in how the creature said "too". It wasn’t in a way that would depict the creature had met others who were from Earth, it was as if..."

She looked at the creature again, her eyes widened. For a moment, she began to entertain an impossible thought. That the creature wasn’t a monster at all. That it was human.

She quickly shook the thought from her head. She’s encountered people who could turn into monstrous forms, but nothing that held the same presence as this. There was no doubt in her mind, what was in front of her was a bonafide monster.

But then again, she subconsciously bit down on her lip hard. She had seen some people even lose themselves entirely in those transformations.

’No! This mons-creature... It’s fully aware of itself. Almost too aware.’

Still, the word lingered. If the creature was asking her as if they shared something, then what did that mean?

"Yes! ...We are from Earth." She finally decided to speak, the volume of her voice pitched as she let forth her answer just to bring it back down to a crawl.

The drake for the first time was truly interested in what they were discussing. To it, Earth seemed like another world entirely, as though their discussion was finally closing in the gaps in understanding what was happening to the world. With its powerful senses, it was fully aware of the expansion of its territory, trees that weren’t here before, the sudden appearance of the demon and its home.

It became lost in its own thoughts as it began to understand that they were mistaken. The Earth they believe they originated from, and the world they were in now, they were one and the same. But that possibility only opened up another surge of questions, the main one being... Who had the power to accomplish such a feat?

And it wasn’t just the drake, Noah was coming to the same conclusion. The only difference was, he was aware of the divine being that made this possible when the drake had no clue.

Now, Noah had a decision to make. His gaze overlooked them again in contemplation.

From what it sounded like, they would eventually die if he didn’t shelter them. An insidious thought took hold. Why let others take what could be his? He could kill them now, take their cores. He could use their dying blood to extract their abilities.

But that was all. His motivation for slaughter wasn’t the same anymore. Never had he killed without reason, even if it was selfish.

Before, he had at least the system. That was all the motivation he needed, to grow through endless deaths.

The thought of slaughter came so easy. And Noah was fully aware of this. It was this lone thought that made him seek to avoid more needless slaughter. He had to remember his original code of living.

"’An eye for an eye’," his internal monologue was muttered aloud. His focus was so intense that it made the humans across from him feel that something bad was about to happen.

"You," he voiced, seemingly no one in particular. But his icy stare penetrated only one person alone.

To Noah’s surprise, Amara bravely stepped forward without a moment’s thought. Her thread was still there, and for now, she was keen on believing that her God had sent her here because of this creature.

"Let me speak to the one that resides in you."

For a heartbeat nothing moved. Amara felt her heart thumping loudly, louder than ever before. She should have been asking herself how the creature knew of her God, but instead she felt that her earlier beliefs were finally confirmed. Anubis truly sent her here for this creature.

There was no more doubt in her eyes, no more inhibition in her posture. Noah felt something was wrong with the woman. Nothing he said should’ve initiated such a reaction.

"Just so we’re clear. I didn’t agree to anything, yet. Your lives mean nothing to me."

Gasps erupted from the people behind her, yet Amara did not waver. She accepted the creature’s bluntness with an acceptance that was natural for such a creature to say. Its words weren’t cruel out of malice, they were honest words, words from a being that demanded honesty in return, nothing less.

The small lapse of silence caused some to begin to cry quietly, as if their last hope was no longer in their reach. But this was the kind of truth that Amara would expect nothing less from a being that her God led her too. It was the same kind of truth her God would demand, a truth stripped of comfort and lies.

"Whatever your decision becomes, I will accept. The mercy you have shown us already is more than we could ask for and we shouldn’t expect you to share our human values." As she was finishing speaking, her eyes began to turn into a bluish-white. It reflected the same sense of serenity and unknown as the moon. But Noah felt something else from the depths of her eyes, it was death, and the power of a soul stronger than he had felt even when facing against the seraphim.

"I can feel that my God also wishes to speak to you. Maybe his wisdom can help you decide."

Her voice carried no arrogance, but the certainty in the way she spoke as if the being inside of her would convince him to shelter them caused Noah to form an unfavorably biased opinion towards the being that he had yet to meet.

The moment the last word left her lips, her body suddenly erupted in flames. It was the same bluish-white hue as her eyes. Those around her retreated, yet no one screamed or panicked for Amara’s well being. This wasn’t the first time they had witnessed the feat.

Within those flames, Amara herself made no sound. She stood within the inferno as if it was a cloak, until eventually, her figure wasn’t able to be made out at all.

The fire continued to spread, growing taller, swelling beyond her shape. They moved with intent, shifting into an outline of a figure that was human, yet wasn’t.

Witnessing the flames, Noah instinctively used his Nexus Eye. He didn’t believe that the flames were the trigger for the transformation without reason, something about the flames must be special to the being inside her.

His body stiffened the moment he did. He wasn’t able to process the information he gained before his senses were overwhelmed by his eye. A resonance tore through him as though the very essence of those flames called to him.

The same was true for the figure behind the flames. Within the flames, bright ethereal eyes beamed. Then, as if shaped by intent, the fire no longer burned wild but converged on itself in different parts of its body while the rest of its body was exposed to reveal its true identity.

Metal took place in the areas where the fire converged. A chestplate, bracers and a wide belt, all of it made out of black and gold precious metal. Each piece of armor was etched with symbols and blue jewels with energy that burned within them just like the flames from before.

A towering figure with a jackal head atop its body stood in her place, one that was nearly seven feet tall. Despite its glamorous jewels, its enchanted equipment, and its body that looked as if sculpted by gods.

The being didn’t need to speak; Noah already knew who stood before him. This was not simply another spirit clinging to a mortal like the Angel from before.

This was Anubis. A being that felt even more surreal than angels.

The air grew heavier around them. The humans behind Amara grew extremely pale, their bodies inching towards one another out of pure self preservation. It wasn’t Anubis’s pressure that made them react in such a way, it was the stench and bearing of death that radiated from him.

The drake reacted to Anubis the strongest. The pressure Anubis released wasn’t strong. Not because Anubis himself lacked strength, but because his host wasn’t strong enough.

What truly unsettled the drake was the power of the god’s soul. Even though the drake’s body was stronger, Anubis’s soul carried such overwhelming weight that it imposed an invisible handicap on all who stood against it.

The drake’s gaze flickered uneasily toward Noah, remembering that he had seemed aware of the being all along. When the drake looked to him, expecting to find the same unease that rattled its own core, its world overturned.

Noah’s aura was the same as before. His posture also remained unchanged. It was as if Noah was in the middle of a blizzard but wasn’t aware of it.

The drake’s gaze was now completely serious. Not because of Anubis, a god-like existence, but to Noah, the demon that the drake was now starting to believe wasn’t a demon at all.

"That demon had been lying to me all this time!"