Becoming a Monster

Chapter 516: Chapter 515: It Finally Clicked

Noah’s Nexus Eye began to glow the moment Gwen’s palms made contact with the tree.

His focus sharpened as he locked onto the connection she had formed, not because he believed her claim, but because even the smallest possibility wasn’t something he was willing to ignore.

He didn’t see Pandora as corrupted, but he understood the difference between corruption and something being tainted.

And from what he had learned when he first acquired his fallen status, the two weren’t so far apart. One could easily be inferred as the other under the right circumstances.

His existence alone was proof of that.

If turning the dryad, a being that was meant to embody purity itself, into a Fallen, had any chance of causing it to become what the elf called corrupted, then it wasn’t something he could dismiss without understanding it completely.

That wasn’t the only reason he was watching.

His attention remained fixed on the flow of mana between them as he observed every detail. He wanted to understand exactly what the elf intended to do, and if there was something to gain from it, then he would take it.

A method of stabilizing or dealing with mana that carried corruptive properties was not something he could ignore, especially when it could be applied beyond this moment.

If he could understand it, then he could use it, and if there ever came a time when Pandora truly began to lose control, he would have the knowledge and measures to deal with it.

He wasn’t the only one watching, either. The moment she saw Noah’s eye activating, Ailetta quickly used this chance to connect with him.

She could see what he saw through his Nexus Eye. However, the ability to analyze and decipher spells and mana was independent of Noah, but that didn’t stop her curiosity.

As their mana began to connect, visibly, both Pandora and Gwen’s bodies radiated a combination of their mana around themselves.

Through his Nexus Eye, Noah could see it clearly, because Gwen’s mana entered cautiously at first, extending into Pandora’s like a probe.

But the moment she released the last of her resistance, he saw the shift. Her mana flowed fully into Pandora while Pandora’s mana flowed into her in return.

Inside, their mana began to circulate in a continuous cycle as if there was no longer a clear boundary separating the two.

Gwen’s body stiffened as she remained completely still, yet her consciousness continued to move as she extended her senses further, pushing deeper in an attempt to confirm what she was feeling.

It became harder for her to organize her thoughts the longer she searched for something that wasn’t there, because the absence of corruption was not what unsettled her the most, but what she was actually sensing in its place.

The energy within Pandora was nothing like the dryads she had known. It wasn’t serene or gentle, and it lacked the calm, nurturing presence that defined the nature of her kind.

What she felt instead carried an intensity that pressed against her senses.

Within that flow of mana were traces of emotions that should not have belonged to a being like this, because there was hostility, hunger, and something that resembled rage intertwined with something that felt like despair.

And under it all, there was death.

All of it existed together within the dryad; all of it should have caused the dryad to at least lose control of itself, or at the very least caused the rest of the life around it to be tainted by its energy.

That was what made it impossible for her to understand, because everything she was sensing aligned with what she had been taught to recognize as corruption, and yet Pandora’s mana had not fractured or spiraled out of control under its influence.

Instead of being consumed by it, Pandora was containing it, and the more Gwen focused, the clearer it became that those conflicting energies were not spreading outward or affecting the forest around them.

They were being drawn inward and absorbed, held within Pandora’s existence without ever reaching a point of instability.

That realization disrupted everything she thought she understood.

She, just like the rest of her race, believed that dryads were to be protected, that they needed to create an environment that could help nurture them so that the dryads could then proceed to cleanse the world.

But if all of the dryads were like this one, then the dryads wouldn’t need outside interference at all. They could single-handedly restore the balance of the world.

As their connection deepened, Gwen found her perception shifting, and the weight she placed on Pandora’s existence began to surpass the purpose she had dedicated herself to for so long.

She had always known that her goal would take time.

Lifetimes, even. There was a high possibility that she wouldn’t be alive to see it fulfilled.

People did not change easily, and the world did not bend to ideals simply because they were right.

Most hearts were guided by selfish desires, and only those who had lost everything, or had been forced to confront the reality of the world through suffering, were able to see the path she had chosen to follow.

Through their connection, Pandora felt it just as clearly.

Gwen’s emotions were no longer distant or uncertain, and instead carried a clarity that pressed against Pandora’s own awareness in a way that she had never experienced before.

Pandora didn’t understand it the same way Gwen did, but she felt its meaning.

It was not admiration that stirred within her, and it was not pride. What she felt was something far more instinctive, as if the way Gwen perceived her aligned with something that had always existed within her but had never been given form.

The emotions within her began to shift, not because she was being lifted by how Gwen saw her, but because that perspective gave shape to something she had questioned during the time when she had first gained awareness of herself.

Before she met Noah.

—

It was some time after Gwen undid the connection. There was nothing that she could do, and she was unsure whether the laws that the other dryads follow would be the same rules that this one would have to.

There was a sense of melancholy on Gwen’s face when the connection faded. She stood there for a moment, her hands still resting against the bark before they slowly fell to her sides.

Because just when she thought she had finally found her answer, something that could give meaning to everything she had devoted herself to, it had slipped out of her reach.

Tears dropped from her eyes as she turned to Noah.

"I was wrong... she’s not corrupted... she’s... she’s the hope of the world."

Gwen lifted her gaze to meet his, not expecting Noah to understand, and she wasn’t going to try to explain herself. She couldn’t bring herself to tell Noah how Pandora would do it, afraid that he would prevent her if he knew.

There was an intensity there that she had never shown before, something that didn’t come from defiance, but from conviction.

Was she afraid to die? She was. There was no denying that.

But even with that fear, there was something she wanted more.

"If you plan on killing me, then... then at least bury me next to the dryad so my body can nurture her growth."

Her voice faltered slightly, but she didn’t look away this time.

It wasn’t a plea to live.

It was the only thing she felt she had left to offer.

Noah wasn’t surprised that Gwen’s claim came up empty, and perhaps his lack of reaction towards her failing led Gwen to accept that she was going to die even more.

Even then, he didn’t know what Gwen had experienced to bring about such a reaction.

Or what she discovered that she would go as far as saying Pandora is the hope of the world.

What he did know was how the elf made Pandora feel.

"Tell me something, elf." Noah’s tone didn’t give away his intentions, leading Gwen to flinch in place, ready to hear her verdict.

"Are you choosing to die in order for your comrade to live? What if I told you that you could live, in exchange for his life?"

Gwen’s eyes widened; there was a clear sense of terror in those eyes, but at the same time, there was a despairing recognition.

During her time among the human nation, she had heard the faithful speak endlessly of their God and their angels, but there was another name that was never spoken as freely, one that lingered in whispers and warnings rather than praise.

A name that carried a different kind of fear.

The devil.

A being who could taint the purest of souls. A being who could grant undeniable power, but in exchange for giving your soul.

And a being who embodied the darkness and the evil of the world, and yet didn’t succumb to it, wielding it as if the darkness was one with it.

And as she stood there now, looking into Noah’s eyes, she finally understood why that name was feared more than the demon king, even though she had never seen any proof of the devil existing.

Because what stood in front of her felt no different.