Becoming a Monster

Chapter 507: Chapter 506: He Fed His Own End

Ethaniel registered every word.

And although what Noah said had made sense, he couldn’t accept it.

He admitted that without Noah, he would’ve never obtained the power that he has now, or understood the truth of the world as he does now.

But he couldn’t admit Noah had created him.

That thought didn’t make sense, no matter how he looked at it, because what he had become wasn’t something that could simply be given by another.

It wasn’t something that could be shaped by someone who didn’t even grasp the very foundation of what he now perceived.

Noah wasn’t a god.

What Noah had done was something far simpler.

He had removed the limits.

The weakness of flesh, the dullness of human understanding, and the constraints that had kept him bound to a perspective that could never reach beyond itself.

Now those limits were gone.

He could feel it clearly, not just the mana around him, but the structure beneath it.

The flow that connected everything together, the underlying essence that gave it form and meaning.

Something that had always been there, yet something he had never been able to truly perceive until now.

And even with that clarity, he could tell that he had only just begun to touch it.

There was still more.

More to understand, more to uncover, more that existed beyond what he could currently grasp, and that alone proved that what he had become wasn’t the end, but only the beginning.

Which meant there was no possible way that Noah could have created him.

Noah had only broken the cage.

Nothing more.

"You misunderstand... What you call creation... was never yours to begin with."

The rings around him began to accelerate, their rotation no longer remaining in balance as the flow of mana feeding into them increased beyond what they had originally been sustaining.

The pressure inside the cocoon rose sharply as the vortex intensified. The inner walls began to crack under the force as the storm pushed against its confines with increasing violence.

"How can you create what you don’t understand? You stood at the top for so long... you have forgotten that there are powers that are above your understanding... above your existence..."

The fractures spread further as the flames surged higher. The entire structure began to destabilize from within as the mana feeding into it continued to rise.

"...you were never the one in control."

At this, Ethaniel began to release everything.

As the destruction continued, the miasma that had already begun to form didn’t disperse with it. Instead, it thickened as it was drawn toward the very mana that was tearing the cocoon apart.

At first, Ethaniel didn’t recognize it for what it was, because to him it was no different from the narcotic mana that undead such as Vampires wielded. And the same dark energy that he himself now held.

So he continued to push his spell further.

But as more of the structure broke down, the miasma continued to grow denser.

What had once been a faint presence began to take form as it spread through the space, interacting with the mana rather than clashing against it.

The flames began to dim where it passed through them, while the wind lost its force as if it was being stripped away.

Even the lightning that had once torn through everything without resistance began to fracture as it came into contact with it.

It was then that he began to notice the change. The control over the spell hadn’t changed, and it was because of that he noticed that the mana within the spell was being siphoned away.

What was happening didn’t align with anything he understood.

As he continued to push more power into the spell, the space around him grew heavier as the miasma continued to gather. His spell was no longer capable of destroying it as before.

And that was when he finally understood what was happening.

The more mana he released, the more it fed what surrounded him, breaking down the very thing that was now enclosing him further.

There was nothing left for him to adjust or control. The space around him had already been overtaken by an existence of mana that was outside his understanding.

He could understand what the mana was doing, but it was something that was outside the scope of their world. A parasitic mana that devoured and grew stronger.

Mana such as that shouldn’t exist. Not because it wasn’t possible. Reality had decided that much.

But if a mana like that existed, how could any form of energy coexist? That kind of mana should only exist in its own plane of existence.

Otherwise, it would corrupt the balance of the world.

—

"Nooo!" Ethaniel burst out in a broken war cry. His existence was supposed to have been that of a creature whose emotional attachments were severed.

But when he was left to accept that he was about to perish, his soul was filled with denial.

He wanted to live!

It was far too late to undo what he had done. The only path left to him was to force out more mana than the encroaching miasma could consume, to overwhelm it before it erased him completely.

So he poured everything into it.

Every last fragment of mana he had left was forced into the spell at once. It forced the vortex to swell as the rings spun faster, losing what little balance they had as the storm erupted with a force that should have torn the cocoon apart.

The sound alone made it seem like it would.

But it didn’t. The miasma had grown too dense.

The storm still raged, but it no longer expanded. It could no longer reach the cocoon’s surface.

It was being consumed far too fast now. And even then, he didn’t stop.

He couldn’t.

But as he forced more into the spell, the truth became impossible to ignore.

This wasn’t something he could overpower. It wasn’t something he could outpace, and it wasn’t something he could stop.

There was nothing left he could do to change it.

—

"I will not die here... I will find a way to return... and when I d—"

"Shut up already."

Noah cut him off before the words could finish forming. There was nothing left in those words that held any meaning.

He had already seen enough of the world to know better.

He believed in reincarnation and hell after meeting Anubis. He believed in heaven after meeting the angels. And he even believed in life beyond their universe after meeting the entity within him.

Which meant that Ethaniel returning outside of death was never outside the realm of possibility.

And because of that... he wouldn’t leave it to chance.

His gaze remained fixed on the cocoon as he watched the final remnants of Ethaniel’s spell collapse from inside. Any hint of mana used to uphold the spell was consumed in its entirety.

And once the spell was gone... it didn’t stop.

It pressed in toward Ethaniel’s form, as it began to consume the mana that made up his very existence. It left no room for resistance as it stripped him down piece by piece.

Even then, Noah didn’t interfere.

Only when more than half of Ethaniel’s body had already been erased did he finally move.

The cocoon began to unravel at his will, its structure breaking apart in controlled layers as he reached for the miasma spreading within it.

Before releasing it fully, he tried to draw it back into himself.

He had no intention of letting that kind of energy spread unchecked through the forest.

But the moment he tried, he felt the difference.

Once released into the world, the miasma no longer belonged to him.

It resisted as if it had its own sentience. It was no different from trying to absorb the natural mana of the world itself, vast and indifferent to his will.

Even so, he forced what he could back into himself, taking in as much as possible before the strain began to rise.

He didn’t stop until he felt the limit approach. Only then did he finish dismantling the cocoon completely.

The remaining miasma dispersed outward, thinning as it lost its density, but he didn’t spare it another glance.

His focus had already shifted to Ethaniel’s body, which had been almost entirely consumed. Part of his cloak still existed, leaving behind the core within it.

—

Everyone watched as Noah retrieved the core. The core was entirely black, making it impossible to see through it.

The moment he touched it, he sensed the soul inside of it trying to taint his mana.

It was rare for a core to do such a thing. Any other time, Noah would’ve been shocked that Ethaniel could still do this even in death.

However, it wasn’t the first time he experienced a core’s soul still being active even when without a vessel.

The first was the lich that had escaped back at the mall. But its existence was different from this one. Its existence was the core itself, while it used its vessel more as a tool.

And then there was the core that Noah had taken from Ethaniel not too long ago.

The soul within that core was perhaps stronger than any being he had faced before. And yet he was hesitant about what to do with it.

Because the soul was trying to tempt him to devour it.