Chapter 84 — Rejection
Inara was in deep suffering, so much that she couldn’t even form rational thoughts anymore.
Her mind was fragnted, her will cracking little by little, and the only thing keeping her grounded—keeping her from losing herself completely to the endless mutations tearing her apart—was her ever-mantra.
Weakness is a sin.
Words spoken by a boy around her age, yet far more powerful than she could ever imagine.
A boy who had seen her at her lowest, when she was crying, begging so beast to spare her life.
It had been pitiful. Embarrassing, even.
But that red-eyed boy hadn’t mocked her. He hadn’t looked down on her. He hadn’t killed her, despite knowing the twisted history between humans and beastkin.
He didn’t even pity her either.
Instead, he spoke those words. Words she believed were ant to push her. To make her better.
And that’s exactly what she tried to beco.
Her mana had been pitiful low and her origin was just common rank one.
An utter disgrace, considering she was the sole heir of dusa, the Queen of Serpents.
But she hadn’t backed down. She trained her mana, yes—but her focus had been sowhere else entirely.
Her body.
She had trained it obsessively for five long years. So intensely, in fact, that the other snaken believed she would die from exhaustion.
’All that... for nothing? ’ Inara thought, brokenly, as her body mutated once again. Her head twisted into a giant, black-reddish eye, while the rest of her beca liquid—amorphous, like so grotesque sli.
It was horrific.
But even then, Inara was no longer focused on her body.
Sothing else surfaced in her mind...sothing from the past.
A mory.
Words her mother had once said,
"Sotis, you have to destroy who you are to beco who you want to be."
Pause.
Inara’s thoughts froze around those words.
’Destroy who you are...?’
They struck deep.
And that’s when she rembered the na of the first trial.
Rejection.
Destroy. Reject.
Different words, but in so context... maybe not so different after all.
And this mont right here?
Was that context.
Inara’s mind cleared instantly. Like a fog was lifted.
She had been going about this all wrong.
She wasn’t ant to resist the mutations.
No.
She had to embrace them.
She had to reject her forr self. Reject her old body. Reject her "normal."
She had to accept what she was becoming.
She...had to accept the monster.
Only then could she ever hope to beco the heir of the one known as The Mother of Monsters.
Instantly, Inara let go of all resistance.
It wasn’t easy as her body instinctively fought against the mutations, screaming to preserve what was familiar. She had to fight her own instincts now.
And how easy was it, really, for a beast to resist its own nature?
Not easy at all.
But Inara didn’t give up.
She couldn’t afford to.
She wanted to prove to her mother and that red-eyed boy, that she wasn’t hopeless.
But more than anything... she wanted to prove it to herself.
That she could do this.
That she deserved this.
And finally, after hours of relentless pain, of a body that burned and twisted with every monstrous shift with each mutation more brutal than the last,
Inara succeeded.
She welcod the change. Every grotesque transformation. Every unholy shape.
And when she did, the mutations intensified becoming more horrendous, more monstrous, more... true.
Her body changed faster now, and so did her mind, breaking under the pressure. But she held on, held onto that fragile thread of self, until finally..
"First trial completed."
The sa voice as before echoed in the void, and imdiately, all the mutations stopped. Inara’s body reverted back to its original form with her green hair flowing freely, her serpentine eyes slit and gleaming.
"First lesson: To be The Mother of Monsters... you must accept to be a monster yourself."
"Your body has now been altered."
A pause.
Then—
"Second Trial: Control."
"Create monsters with any part of your body and control them."
Inara lay there, staring into the darkness surrounding her.
There was already a second trial, and this one was more precise in its instructions.
But there was no ti limit, so maybe...
"Ti limit: 3 hours."
The voice echoed again.
And...
"Fucking shit!"
Inara cursed.
...
Let’s rewind ti for a bit.
anwhile, in the endless dark space where ti held no aning—
Kaden had just finished digesting the knowledge fragnt he obtained.
And that knowledge... was about the white-gold crystal, about how it functioned.
"And if you know how sothing works, you can surely find how to counter it," Kaden said calmly, sitting cross-legged in the void.
He didn’t need much, really.
He just needed insane blood control, and a perception so deep it could let him see inside his own body.
Then, he would manipulate the blood and direct it exactly where it needed to go.
Sothing he couldn’t do yet... but—
"I have enough stat points to max out two stats. And the choices are made. Perception and Intelligence," he decided.
The reason was obvious.
"Death, can I do it here?" he asked.
[You can do anything in this place, Host.]
Kaden smirked.
It was like having his own personal training ground. A place where ti stood still, where he could do anything, everything, and still return after he was done.
"Incredible, really..."
"Do it. Put 150 points in Perception, and 150 points in Intelligence."
He was going all in.
Because in this place...
He couldn’t feel pain.
"Ah damn... Death, I’m starting to like you," Kaden muttered, genuinely impressed.
[The feeling is not reciprocated.]
Death replied flatly.
Then—
[DING! Stats distribution complete.]
[You have gained two Extre Skills: True Sight and Mind of Ascension.]
Imdiately, the information rushed into his mind, filling it with knowledge about the two skills and their sub-abilities.
For True Sight, he had intuitive reflex, instinct alarm and piercing glance
For Mind of Ascension, the powers were accelerated cognition, perfect control and arcane enhance,
Their nas alone told most of how they work and the deeper Kaden understood them, the more amazed he beca.
"Crazy..." he muttered with a huge smile.
Now, he was ready.
"Death, revive ."
Tick—!
...
"Only purple will be accepted," Hael said with a smile.
Kaden imdiately felt it—intuitive danger. His Extre Skill warning him about the crystal.
Still, he placed his hand on the white-gold crystal.
As before, it turned into liquid and entered his body.
And just like a seasoned actor, Kaden played along feigning surprise, feigning pain.
He cried, scread and writhed like a dying man.
But with Piercing Glance, he followed the blood inside him easily. He tracked it, waiting and watching. It wasn’t ti yet.
But soon...
Hael began to relax.
Seeing Kaden’s state, he let his guard down and started to dissolve into golden dust, putting his consciousness into the white-gold within Kaden’s body.
Now.
Kaden’s eyes snapped open.
Now or never.
His instinct scread, and using Mind of Ascension, he seized full control over the blood.
With perfect precision, he redirected it—forcing it away from his soul and straight toward his heart.
Hael’s nonexistent heart skipped a beat.
"W-WHAT?! WHAT’S HAPPENING?!" Hael’s voice thundered in Kaden’s ears.
But Kaden just smiled wickedly.
"Didn’t you want to consu and take my place?"
His voice turned colder than death.
"Then let give you a taste of your own dicine."
"You fucking hypocritical bastard."
—End of Chapter 84—
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