Becoming a Monster

Chapter 487: Chapter 486: An Impossible Existence

The cleric’s mouth slowly parted at the sight, not because of her presence alone, but because of what that presence represented, and although the sudden manifestation of her energy should have drawn his attention first, it was instead what his eyes began to recognize that made his mind falter.

His gaze lifted to her wings, and for a man who had devoted his entire life to the church, who had studied the depictions of angels and the hierarchy that stood beneath God, the resemblance was undeniable, yet what he saw did not align with anything he had been taught.

Her wings carried the structure of angels, but not those who remained within God’s grace, because what he saw reflected something that had turned its back against it.

A fallen angel.

He could not determine how such a being had come to exist, because a fallen angel was not defined by a single origin, and while some had betrayed God outright, others had severed themselves from His essence by their own will.

Then there were even ancient beings who had dragged others down with them, twisting what once belonged to the heavens into their own twisted versions of a complete being.

He did not know which truth applied to her, and the uncertainty only made what he was seeing more unsettling, because regardless of the path, the result before him was the same.

This was a creature that once stood with God.

Yet even that was not the full truth of what stood before him.

As his gaze lingered, he began to notice something else within the form of her wings, a structure that was from another presence entirely.

The shape and the way the edges curved carried the unmistakable traits of a vampire. But the reality of that being true was even more unnerving.

Only a pure-blooded, noble lineage vampire could retain their wings while maintaining their "human" form.

A vampire and a fallen angel, all residing in one being? This wasn’t simply unnatural; it was irreconcilable.

The contradiction nearly drove him insane. He had never heard of such an event happening.

But with it came understanding.

Because now he knew that the archon wasn’t retreating, nor had it abandoned its purpose.

It was intended to vanquish a being that stood as a direct defiance of divine order.

Even so, the origin of her wings wasn’t enough to break him.

But what he saw next forced doubt into his beliefs for the first time.

The cross he had been holding with the last of his strength slipped from his grasp and fell freely to the ground as his attention fixed entirely on the center of her forehead, where the third eye glowed with a presence he recognized instantly.

The energy within it was unmistakably divine. There was no sign that it had been taken or corrupted in any way. It was as though the energy truly belonged to it.

That was what made it unbearable to witness.

A divine being that had fallen, mixed with a creature that stood at the opposite end of God’s grace, should not have been able to hold that kind of power, and yet here it was existing right in front of him.

—

The archon did not care to understand how Eve came into being or what she represented, because its purpose did not require understanding, only judgment, and it would smite her all the same.

Even as it registered the two figures at her side, its focus never shifted from the one in the center, because it determined that as long as the true body was destroyed, the rest would cease to exist with it.

As it launched itself forward, Eve had already advanced to meet it, and despite being the original body and the merger of the three, the two figures at her sides moved in perfect unison with her, matching her speed without falling behind.

The distance between them disappeared in an instant, and Diablo was the first to step in.

His blade moved in a direct arc meant to intercept and disrupt the archon before it could fully commit to its strike, but the archon did not respond the same way it had against Noah, because instead of reacting, it asserted control over the exchange from the very beginning.

Its sword shifted mid-motion and met Diablo’s strike at the precise angle needed to redirect it, deflecting the attack away without wasting movement, and in that same motion, it carried its blade forward without pause.

Diablo had no opportunity to react to its counter.

Its sword cut cleanly across Diablo’s neck while, at the same time, two barriers formed at its sides, intercepting the incoming attacks from Ava and Eve with perfect timing and positioning, preventing either strike from reaching its body.

Neither of their attacks broke through, because if Noah had been unable to breach its defenses, then there was no possibility that the three of them could do so through force alone.

The exchange was resolved in a single instant.

The archon’s blade passed through Diablo’s neck without resistance, completing the motion exactly as intended.

However, the result did not match the archon’s intentions.

Where the blade had cut, the severed space reformed immediately, as if the damage had never existed, and Diablo’s form remained intact without interruption or instability.

Neither Eve nor Ava reacted to it, and Diablo himself did not falter, because to them, the outcome had already been accounted for.

The archon did not pause in surprise because it was not capable of such a response; instead, it registered the result as new information and prepared to continue its assault.

Yet before it could proceed, it made a different decision.

Rather than pressing forward after successfully intercepting all three attacks, it withdrew, creating distance between them.

Even then, its gaze remained fixed on the three.

Every action it had taken was correct, and every response had been executed with perfect efficiency, allowing it to intercept each incoming strike while completing its own without error, yet despite that, the exchange had not favored it.

From the moment their attacks made contact, it registered multiple irregularities within the interaction, because not only had a portion of its energy been taken during the clash, but its own weapon had failed to produce the expected result.

When its blade passed through Diablo’s neck, the holy aura embedded within it should have purged the target completely, yet the form it struck neither resisted nor collapsed, and instead reformed without disruption, as if the tainted phantom was immune to God’s energy.

But that alone was impossible. A creature of sin could not defy God’s essence. Unless the phantom was also being created using God’s essence...

But that conclusion could not be verified, and the archon did not rely on speculation when the exchange itself provided measurable results.

Its instincts continued to identify the entity as real because the resistance, weight, and timing of the clash aligned with a physical existence, yet its power still failed to register it as something that could be judged or erased, creating a contradiction it could not immediately resolve.

At the same time, it processed the second irregularity without delay, because the moment their attacks connected, a portion of its energy had been drawn away.

And it wasn’t simply being dispersed; it was being converted into its opponents. God’s holy energy was being used to make themselves stronger.

The loss itself was minimal compared to the total power of sustaining its form, but the implication carried far greater significance because continued engagement under the same conditions would result in it inadvertently strengthening the enemy with every exchange.

It attempted to adjust its approach, but the opportunity never came, because the three did not allow the fight to slow, and the moment it withdrew, they advanced again, closing the distance without hesitation and denying it the time needed to form a new solution.

Before it could fully reestablish control over the engagement, it registered another change.

A presence emerged behind it, carrying a weight that exceeded anything it had accounted for, and within that presence were two distinct energies it had already encountered, now unified within a single source.

It did not turn out to confirm it. After witnessing Eve do the same, the thought of another enemy being able to merge together was already considered.

The moment it processed the presence, the archon had already felt it upon itself.

Its body responded immediately as a barrier expanded outward from its position, forming into a complete dome that enclosed it entirely.

Under normal conditions, such a structure could not have been formed within that span of time, because the scale required more preparation than the moment allowed, yet it did not create the barrier at all.

There had been no buildup or delay, which meant it had not created the barrier at all, but had instead transferred the one that had protected the cleric onto itself in a single instant.

That was when the shift became clear, because the protection that had surrounded the cleric vanished, leaving him exposed.

Its mission had failed, and regardless of whether it sacrificed itself or continued to fight, its summoner would still die, which meant the only remaining variable was...

What would happen to its body?