Becoming a Monster

Chapter 522: Chapter 521: What is Your Love Worth

Varkesh looked up at Kratos, then down at his broken hand.

Behind them, Gwen stood frozen in place. Driving her comrade to such an extent had broken something in her. The act she had forced herself to maintain slipped away, leaving nothing to hold her steady.

Tears welled in her eyes despite her efforts to stop them. She wanted to move, to go to him, to do something, but her body wouldn’t respond.

She had gone too far.

Before she could gather herself, she sensed a presence beside her.

Noah walked right past her.

Her head turned quickly, panic rising as she watched him move toward Varkesh.

"I-"

Her voice faltered before she could form the words. She didn’t even know what she was trying to say anymore.

Noah slowed down just a bit, enough to glance towards her.

"You only just became a monster," he said as he passed her, his tone carrying a faint trace of amusement, "and yet you’re already more heartless than I am."

It wasn’t an accusation. If anything, it sounded closer to approval.

His gaze shifted briefly toward Varkesh, then back ahead, as if the outcome of everything that had just happened had already been decided in his mind.

For him, the situation had worked out better than expected.

—

Varkesh weakly watched the monster make his way towards him. There was nothing else for him.

He thought about just accepting his fate. Later, after he left, he could finish what he had just attempted to do.

But deep down, he knew he wouldn’t be able to go through with it. If he killed himself, he had to do it in front of her. His soul would never be able to achieve peace if he died without seeing her last expression upon his death.

Others would see a pitiful, dejected living being.

Noah saw a broken soul to bend to his liking. The tiger’s mana was just as lifeless as his expression. Thinking about what he was planning to do, Noah had to withhold a chuckle. He wasn’t trying to play the devil’s advocate; the circumstances just made it that way.

"To go this far for someone you love, I don’t know whether to call you naive or pathetic." Noah’s tone was a mix of admiration and sarcasm.

Varkesh didn’t respond. His eyes shifted slightly, but whatever strength he had left wasn’t enough to form a reply.

Noah watched him for a moment longer, studying his reaction as if the tiger’s reaction would change what he would say next.

"If it were me, I wouldn’t be lying here," he said. "I would take the opportunity given to leave, get stronger, and come back when I had the power to take back what was mine, or die trying."

Varkesh’s eyes moved slightly at that, but his body still refused to respond.

"Yet you chose to give up. You would rather take your life, even knowing that you would be leaving her like this forever. Pathetic."

Varkesh’s expression finally wavered, his eyes nearly snapping to Gwen to see her reaction before shifting to Noah to defend himself.

"...That’s no-" The words were about to come out, but he couldn’t finish what he was about to say. He recognized that Noah was right. His death would do nothing to save her. Just what did his love actually amount to?

His breathing grew unstable. At this rate, his sanity would be the next to go.

Noah didn’t rush to proceed. It was only when he felt that the tiger fully accepted the realization that he continued.

"If you understand that much, then there are only two things you can do," he said.

Varkesh’s eyes lifted slightly. He didn’t believe Noah for a second, but with nothing else to lose, he listened in silence.

"Go back... Tell them what you saw, tell them everything. In fact, embellish it if you have to. Get them to send as many people as they can."

Noah’s eyes narrowed in reaction to Varkesh’s reaction.

"You’ve seen my strength; you are at least aware of what I’m capable of. It shouldn’t be impossible to use that information to gather enough strong people to fight me. Perhaps... you already know of someone right who can kill me..."

Varkesh’s breathing grew uneven as the idea began to take shape. It made it even harder to maintain eye contact, fearing that his thoughts would be seen through.

"If you can bring them here, you’ll have your chance to save the person you love. And when they come, you can stand with them. Revenge is better when you use your own hands to accomplish it."

For a moment, Varkesh considered it. Noah was strong, but there were people in the guild, and even in other kingdoms, who were stronger.

The possibility of bringing in other adventurers or warriors from other kingdoms was low.

But there was also the Church. From what he saw, the church’s holy faith was a natural counter to him and his monsters. And then, there was Thalric. If he could bring them all here, there was a chance.

Noah saw that shift in his expression.

"But you might come to regret that decision." Varkesh unquestionably followed his gaze back to Gwen.

"If they succeed in killing me, what do you think will happen to her?"

"You see the love of your life, but... will they see her the way you do? Or would they see the monster she became?"

The color immediately drained from Varkesh’s face; the answer was obvious.

"They won’t care what she was to you. They will only see a monster they cannot trust, and they will not hesitate to put her down."

Despite not needing to be said, Noah brought it into existence anyway.

Varkesh’s hands trembled slightly as the reality of the dark truth took hold.

"So if you choose that path, you might as well kill her now."

Varkesh didn’t know what to do. He sat there, imagining what Noah had said. He tried to picture it all, conceiving in his mind a different path.

But his defeated stance was enough to see that even he believed that the outcome Noah spoke of would come true.

If he brought them, she would die. If he did nothing, then she would live on as a monster, and he would never see her again. Even ending his life no longer meant anything.

The tension in his body faded as his grip loosened against the ground, his gaze lowering as there was nothing left for him to hold onto.

Noah watched him without interrupting, waiting until there was nothing left in his expression before continuing.

"There is one more way," he said.

Varkesh didn’t react at first, but the words still reached him as his eyes lifted slightly.

"You can still go back. Tell them what happened here."

There was a brief pause. Varkesh nearly stopped paying attention. He no longer believed that anything Noah said would benefit him.

"And you lie."

That was enough to draw Varkesh’s focus back to him.

Behind them, Gwen stiffened as she quickly understood where it was going, but she couldn’t do anything to stop it.

"You tell them what they need to hear, and you leave out what they don’t."

"Me bringing you here, and the fact that I turned the people you care about into monsters... none of it leaves here."

Varkesh frowned slightly, his gaze unsteady as he tried to follow what Noah was saying. The more he tried to guess Noah’s intentions, the less he understood what he was trying to accomplish.

Noah didn’t take Varkesh’s confusion to heart as he continued.

"You only need to paint a version of me in their minds to make them think that I’m a threat, but one that’s manageable. Only then will it show me whether or not you’re serious."

"When they come, I expect you to be there with them. And before the fight begins, depending on whose side you’re on, I will give you what you want."

Varkesh’s eyes locked onto him as he could hear his own pulse ringing in his ears.

"I will make you a monster."

"You’ll become just like her. And once that happens, you’ll be one of us. And not only will you receive the power that you lack, but you also won’t have to leave her side.

Varkesh’s expression froze. This hit harder than anything Noah had said before.

He stared at Noah, searching his eyes as if trying to find any sign that this was a lie, or that he was being toyed with. But it was hard to discern it when Noah’s gaze already unsettled his soul.

His gaze shifted, almost involuntarily, back toward Gwen. The answer didn’t need time to form.

"You have to promise me," he said, his voice unsteadied as he forced the words out. "Promise me that you’ll keep your word."

He didn’t look away as he said it, as if breaking eye contact would give Noah the chance to take it back.

Inwardly, Noah smirked. He didn’t even have to do anything more than tell the truth.

"My word is already enough. But if it helps, then I promise to do what I said."

A brief pause followed before he added,

"What do you take me for, a human?"