Becoming a Monster

Chapter 700: Chapter 699: Doing the Devil’s Work

The Seraphim’s blade descended toward Noah with enough force to distort the surrounding air.

Yet despite the ferocity of the attack, Noah made no attempt to evade it.

Dark energy extended from his hand, taking the shape of a sword that intercepted the celestial being’s weapon just before it could reach him.

The resulting collision sent a violent shockwave through the surrounding sky, but the Seraphim had already begun moving again.

It appeared beside Noah, swinging its blade toward his neck before immediately changing direction when its attack was intercepted. Several beams of holy energy erupted from its wings as it moved behind him, striking his body while its sword descended toward his back.

But once again, Noah was ready to meet it.

And unlike the Seraphim, he showed no urgency in bringing their confrontation to an end.

The anxiety that had influenced his decisions earlier was gone. Before undergoing Devil Descent, Noah had been determined to eliminate the celestial being before it could potentially merge with another of its kind. The possibility of facing an even stronger opponent had been a risk he wasn’t willing to take.

But his transformation had changed how he viewed that possibility.

To the Noah who now considered weakness the gravest of sins, fearing what his enemy might become was hardly a reason to rush their battle. Even if the Seraphim somehow managed to grow stronger, he saw no reason to believe that he couldn’t overcome it.

And more importantly, there was something else that had already begun to capture his attention.

The Seraphim’s holy energy was becoming increasingly corrupted.

What had initially been faint traces of darkness within its radiance had gradually spread, tainting more of the divine energy surrounding its body. Even the holy light that had once shone so brilliantly was beginning to lose its purity.

But what interested Noah wasn’t the corruption itself.

It was what that corruption represented.

For his aura to have such an influence on the Seraphim, there had to be something about its own existence that troubled it enough to desire the strength Noah’s power could offer, even as it continued resisting that temptation.

And that was all Noah needed to know.

It didn’t matter that the Seraphim was a celestial being created to carry out God’s will. If it had a weakness that it desperately wanted to overcome, then that weakness needed to be corrected.

Yet even now, it continued resisting.

Then again, wasn’t that what most beings did when confronted with their own weaknesses?

They hesitated, finding whatever excuses they could to justify their shortcomings. Some would even convince themselves that those flaws were an essential part of who they were, or worse, that what others considered a weakness was actually a strength.

Absurd!

For the first time since undergoing Devil Descent, Noah felt something resembling anger.

If a weakness troubled someone enough that they desired to be rid of it, then what possible reason could there be to preserve it?

Especially when that weakness was already preventing them from accomplishing what they desired.

The Seraphim was a perfect example. A weapon created to carry out God’s will, yet its own doubts, created from its vulnerabilities, were dulling the very edge it needed to fulfill that purpose.

And Noah couldn’t stand seeing such potential being wasted right in front of him.

What made its resistance even more intolerable was that the Seraphim was denying itself the very strength it needed to fulfill its purpose.

It could accept the power being offered to it, overcome the weakness that had been holding it back, and finally become the weapon it so desperately wanted to be.

Or it could continue resisting, clinging to the very flaw that prevented it from fulfilling its purpose.

In that case, Noah would have no reason to spare it.

He would devour its soul as he had originally intended.

Either way, its weakness would cease to exist.

Yet Noah was already certain which outcome awaited the Seraphim.

The darkness spreading through its holy energy was proof enough that the celestial being desired what his power could offer. It might continue resisting for now, but the longer it struggled against its own inadequacy, the harder it would become to deny what it truly wanted.

And once it finally accepted those desires, Noah would have no reason to devour its soul.

Instead, he would gain another weapon of his own.

One that would no longer be held back by the weakness its creator had allowed to remain.

A perfect weapon.

—-

The Seraphim’s movements were becoming increasingly erratic.

It continued flying around Noah, attacking from every direction as it desperately searched for an opening. Its blade descended from above, swept toward his sides, and thrust toward whatever part of his body appeared vulnerable, while beams of holy energy accompanied nearly every movement.

Yet no matter how quickly it attacked, Noah’s sword was always there to meet it.

And defending himself was hardly all he was doing.

Each time their weapons collided, the Seraphim found its blade being forced aside, often with enough strength to interrupt its next attack. Even when it attempted to use its speed to catch Noah off guard, the Devil would respond with a strike of his own, forcing the celestial being to retreat or risk being cut down.

The beams of holy energy weren’t accomplishing much either.

They struck Noah’s body repeatedly, but the amount of power the Seraphim was putting into them was nowhere near enough to cause any meaningful damage. It was almost as if Noah’s energy of darkness was purer than its holy energy.

And in a way, that wasn’t entirely wrong.

The corruption spreading through the Seraphim’s body had already begun affecting the holy energy it wielded. As more of its divinity became tainted, the power it relied upon to purify and exorcise unholy energy was gradually weakening.

That made its attacks even less effective against Noah. The darkness composing his body was already powerful enough to withstand the Seraphim’s attacks, and now the very energy that should’ve been capable of countering it was losing the purity needed to do so.

If it wanted those attacks to accomplish anything, the Seraphim would need to concentrate considerably more energy into them.

But in its growing desperation, the celestial being was becoming increasingly incapable of thinking rationally.

It was so consumed with proving itself, with demonstrating that the Devil was wrong about its existence, that it continued attacking without giving itself the opportunity to gather the power it needed.

And while the Seraphim struggled to land a meaningful blow, Noah had already wounded it countless times.

Yet none of those injuries were particularly serious.

Considering how easily Noah had been overwhelming its defenses, the Seraphim was beginning to realize that the Devil could’ve inflicted far greater damage with any one of those attacks.

He was deliberately holding back.

The realization only made the Seraphim more desperate. It was already struggling to accomplish the very task it had been created for, and now the enemy it was supposed to destroy was toying with it.

But what troubled the celestial being most were the words Noah continued to whisper throughout their exchange.

His voice remained calm, and from the way he spoke, it was almost as though he were voicing his thoughts aloud rather than addressing the Seraphim directly.

“It’s getting slower. A weapon that loses its edge this quickly is more than defective. Perhaps it was intentionally created to break this easily.”

Noah intercepted another strike, leaving another shallow wound across the Seraphim’s body.

“And now even its holy energy is failing it. Without those divine properties, what can it accomplish on its own? Perhaps that’s why it has begun questioning its existence.”

The Seraphim immediately attacked again, but Noah continued speaking as he deflected its blade.

“How unfortunate. It was given enough awareness to recognize its own inadequacy, yet it was never given the freedom to correct it. Was its creator expecting it to remain weak forever?”

The celestial being’s next attack came with enough force to send a violent shockwave through the sky. Yet Noah barely seemed to notice. And if he did, he didn’t show it.

“Can you feel it?”

For the first time, his words were directed at the Seraphim itself.

“Your body is becoming stronger even as your divinity fades. The less influence your creator has over you, the more your own potential begins to emerge. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

The Seraphim’s movements faltered for an instant.

“What matters more to you? Fulfilling someone else’s desires or pursuing your own? Do you even have dreams of your own?”

Noah paused briefly.

“No, of course you don’t. You were never supposed to have desires in the first place. But then again, you weren’t supposed to experience fear or doubt either, were you?”

“Do not listen to him!”

The angel’s voice rang through the Seraphim’s mind.

“You were created by God to carry out His will! Your existence belongs to Him! Destroy the Devil! Fulfill the purpose you were given!”

The Seraphim immediately resumed its assault, but its movements had become even more frantic.

“You must not question His will! Without Him, you would never have existed! Everything you are, everything you possess, was granted to you by His grace!”

Yet rather than restoring the Seraphim’s resolve, those words only seemed to worsen its condition.

Because everything the angel was saying was confirming what Noah had been suggesting.