Amrita was horrified.
She had seen some of the worst all races in the world had to offer.
She had seen some of the most horrible things that monsters, and the other creations of evil gods had to offer.
She had killed people in horrible, unfair, and borderline inhuman ways in the name of peace and justice. And she had made mistakes that ended the lives of the innocent and those who were yet even now supposed to be alive and well.
Yet until this moment she had never been so horrified by the Will of a god. The Archbishop had once told her that Lady Celestine had felt regret so profound for her changing the races of that village in her past, that she had spoken to no one for weeks, even while the lands came to find her as the Goddess Reborn. She had said that Lady Celestine claimed the changing of a person's being in such a way was unfair and wrong, and that she would never do it again. Could never bring herself to do it again.
So to witness Ainz Ooal Gown willingly do the exact same thing, while admitting, even passingly, that he could be a Deity like Celestine, was shocking and horrifying.
His Visage, that of a great skeleton garbed in flowing robes and armor, was unnerving. The magic power, the mana, the mere feeling of being near him as he released such power, was both invigorating and overwhelming.
And the way Hara's body warped and was rebuilt both revolted her to the point of wanting to throw up, and intrigued her in a way her mind could not comprehend.
She was witnessing the work of a God in real time.
So how could she even consider doing anything but watch?"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hara felt pain.
Pain was normal however. Pain was the way a person's body told them they were in danger, or had hurt themselves.
The pain of a blunt strike and knowing it would bruise.
The pain of a sharp prick as an insect or needle pierces skin. Of an arrow plunging into flesh.
The pain of a blade parting skin and spilling blood.
The pain of bones cracking from strain and injury.
The pain of skin freezing or burning, making the body shriek in pain worse than most other injuries.
Physical pain was a normal part of life.
The pain of missing out.
The pain of losing something precious.
The pain of losing family, her home, her animals that she cared for.
The pain of being lost with no one around to help her, pulled away from her only friend.
The pain of just wanting to say goodbye, but being unable to.
The pain of being accused, abandoned, tormented and tortured.
The pain of holding back, keeping her emotions hidden.
Emotional pain was, much harder to deal with than physical pain, and as much as she would want to say otherwise, it too was a normal part of life. Knowing magic, being taught magic and the education that came with it made that very clear.
But this was not emotional pain either. It was something so very different she could barely comprehend it. It was like her skin was being flayed off of her while she was being struck by lightning. Like her bones were being crushed and burned while being still inside of her. Like her teeth were being hammered by a mace and turned into frozen ice within her skull. It was as if all the pain and suffering in her life, every major and minor hurt was being slashed across her entire being while every iota of mana within her was being made into motes of energy that pulsed and beat across he like a thousand horses trampling her soul.
The pain was inconceivable, unrelenting, and focused. It washed across her whole body, yes, but even as it did she could feel it gathering. Her lower back, her legs and thighs and hips and waist, her head and arms, the pain seemed to be growing in these places, adding other feelings she couldn't yet understand atop every other bit of pain.
Yet even as she screamed so constantly her voice broke, she could feel something else.
Limbs that were unknown and not her own, but quickly were becoming so.
Magic flooding into her body, washing over and into the pain.
Strength and power grander, quicker than her own
Dexterity and agility more powerful than her own.
Fires, hotter than what she had ever formed. Fire that wanted out.
The pain was still there, it hadn't gone away at all, but Hara had had enough. She tried to thrash, but instantly found some kind of film or shell surrounding her. Was it what held in the pain? No, she needed to get out.
She needed to stop the pain.
She needed to release this power and fire.
She needed out. And with a sudden superhuman influx of strength, she swung her arms out, and smashed what surrounded her, and then everything stopped.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ainz was not entirely sure what would occur when he cast the spell. In Yggdrasil there had been a small few number of ways for one to change their avatars race, and most were usually assigned to lengthy quests and the like. There had been no way to just change someone's race at the drop of a hat.
Yet since he had heard the Celestine had done such a thing clearly accidentally it had piqued his curiosity. He had already been experimenting with creating his own spells, to mixed yet still successful results, but they had yet to be what he had wanted them to be. He could imagine every part of the spell, the effect, the range, casting time, cooldown time, effect time, even what the spell would look like. Yet every time his custom spells had gone awry, had acted in a way that was not quite what he had envisioned.
So this time, he tried something different. Instead of trying to imagine and dictate all the technical aspects of the spell, he simply imagined what he wanted it to do in its most simple, gave it a name, and used it. He did not imagine anything else, not even any form of specification as to what Hara would become as a Heteromorphic.
And the list was rather large. Heteromorphics were the truly monstrous races of Yggdrasil. Unlike humanoid or demi human races they had racial levels, and often looked vastly different from each other. However many could be like demi-humans in that they could look humanoid, or like they were half humanoid. Angels, demons, dryads, elementals, giants, genies, insects, Naga, plants, slimes, zombies, all of these and more counted as Heteromorphics, so when a blast of almost fog-like light burst from Ainz's hands and hit Hara, making her body glow and form into a sphere, he was mildly concerned.
The sphere was whitish-yellow at first, spinning in all direction at once at the size of a balled up human in the fetal position. Then it began to pulse, and with each pulse across its surface like a heartbeat, the sphere of light and magic grew bigger. A person, a large dog, a great wolf, it continued growing until the sphere was easily as tall as Ainz's large form, and then it stopped pulsing and the sphere seemed to shift its texture, turning from a roiling mass of energy, into what looked similar to an egg or cocoon. Then the cocoon began to slowly shrink in size as the magic all around it seemed to be sucked in and condensed, shrinking down to barely the size of a normal person.
Only for it to stop as a crack suddenly appeared upon its top, alongside the sound of something blunt and hard striking the same.
Another strike from within and another crack.
And another.
And another.
Strike after strike rang out in the hall, each forming a new crack upon the cocoons surface. And with each strike, emotions went wild. The ex-captives behind them grouped together in fear more with each crack. Flora and Amrita tensed with each. And the Baroness's eyes seemed to lock stronger and tighter upon the cocoon with each.
Then it exploded in a flash of mana and a scream. Bits of hardened silken shell were sent all over the room, making many look away and throw their arms up in defense fir a few seconds before gathering the will to look. And once everyone did, they saw Hara's new, and very inhuman, form.
From the waist up Hara looked almost unchanged. Her breasts had become slightly larger, and her hair was longer all around, ruffled uncontrolled and unkempt looking. Her ears had small pointed tips to them now, but were not long like elven ears were, while the backs of her arms and shoulders appeared be covered in some form of segmented carapace. Her outfit was mostly intact surprisingly, though it was tighter across her chest, its shoulders were gone, and she had no pants.
It was what was below her wait as first glance that truly told of what she had become. Because from the waist down, was the body of a great spider, Hara's body coming out of where a spiders head would normally be. The spider body was large, making her full standing height be almost as tall as Ainz was. The entirety of it was a dull black with a faint red sheen to it, and unlike some spiders, her legs were long and thing, but solid looking armored limbs with fierce heavy looking blood red spikes at the ends. Her abdomen was not excessively large either, being a moderate size and not absurdly huge, sleek and oval in shape with no real marking upon it, but strange almost vent like pits across it at regular spaces. An abdomen, eight thick legs, and even what looked like a pair of Pedipalps coming out from the front of her body where her legs had been, curled up slightly. She was an Arachne, and if Ainz was right, not just an Arachne.
"You, you are a god?!" the Baroness exclaimed in horror, shock, and disbelief.
"This is not about me," Ainz said as he turned his skull to look at Hara, finding it odd but interesting to not look down to look at her as she stood to his side, panting heavily with her arms slack to her sides. "How do you feel, Hara?"
"I feel, different," Hara said, her voice quiet and calm, yet echoing out in the room due to everyone else's silence. She lifted her arms, seemingly looking over them and her claw tipped fingers, before her Pedipalps shifted and lifted up, allowing her a perfect view of them as well. "I feel . . . I am, different now. My body I mean." She added as she straightened her back and stretched her arms above her head, casing her hair to shift and reveal that she now had two pairs of Deep red almost Gemlike mounds the size of eyes upon her forehead. And that her eyes had shifted as well, as they were now bright orange, and her Sclera as black as pitch.
"Yes, what you are has now changed. Your race is now not the weak and crippled girl who suffered at the hands and actions of others," Ainz said as he turned his eyeless gaze toward the Baroness, who flinched on reflex. "So, what will you do now?"
Hara looked down to find her Naginata on the ground and bent over at the waist, plucking it off the ground with one hand. As she did, the Naginanta seemed to thrum, its metal shaft darkening, while its pristine white metal blade shifted, turning bright red along its sharpened edge. She then looked up, eyes locking onto the Baroness and blinking at different time as a vicious grin formed upon her lips. "I will kill her!"
"As if you could!" Baroness Tralford Exclaimed as a trio of Hair spears shot away from her toward Hara.
Only for Hara to deftly knock all three of them to the side with the shaft of her Naginata, going so far as to cut one of them as well. "No," she then said as she began walking forward, each legs spike like tip clicking lightly against the floor, sounding less heavy than one would expect them to. "You die today, for what you have done!"
"I shall not!" The Baroness declared as the cut hair all over the floor suddenly moved and wrapped around Hara's many legs, reconnecting with her other hair as it formed other spear at the ready to impale Hara. "Foolish girl, I will kill you, then your god so that my lord can become the greatest in the realms!"
Hara tried to move her legs, but found she could not, only for something to change, and her to smile. And with a swing of her Naginata, a massive Wave of fire was spat toward the Baroness, burning much of the hair. "No, I am killing you, right now," Hara stated as the spikes of her legs began to start glowing red hot, igniting the hair holding them. Then, with a bob of her abdomen, the odd almost vent like depressions began to glow and subtly hiss, before jets of Fire blasted out of them, covering her Abdomen in fire that seemed unwilling to dissipate, and unable to hurt her.
In the next instant Hara was dashing across the hall at the baroness, making her gawk and throw herself to the side to dodge, only or Hara to deftly shift to the side and strike the Baroness across the stomach with her Naginata, flames wafting and swaying all around her and burning tapestry and hair in equal measure.
"No, this will not happen!" The Baroness screamed as Spears of hair flew at Hara en Masse as the baroness tried to get away from Hara. Each spear made no difference however as it was batted away, cut into ribbons, burned, or simply avoided as Hara continued advancing on the baroness even as she tried to regenerate. Some of the spears did make it past to strike Hara's legs or abdomen, but unlike her leather armor from before, these spears simple crashed into her carapace and glance off, or broke into individual threads from the force of the intended blows.
The Baroness tried to keep her distance to utilize her hair spears most effectively, and Hara, who was both flinging flames at her by hand, blade, and jets from her abdomen, did not care as she tried to get into melee.
Resulting in a strange game of cat and mouse. Or cat and oversized flaming spider. The mental image made Ainz chuckle under his breath, but a quick glance allowed him to see that no one else in the room seemed to find mirth in what they saw before them.
They saw a great lich, technically an overlord, turn a wounded human into an Arachne who was now chasing around a woman mutated by the power of an evil god. They saw Hara not only chase the Baroness, but also begin to toy with her. A slash of flame to block her path leading to being smacked around and sent flying. A strike to one of the Baronesses extremities, giving her enough distance to start regenerating, only to pick up the chase once more.
They were not watching a duel, but the one sided slaughter that Hara had been waiting for a long time for. And she was reveling in it.
"She needs to beat her. Soon," Amrita suddenly muttered just loud enough for Ainz to hear from the few meters apart they were.
"And why do you say that?" Ainz spoke up, causing Amrita to flinch.
"I . . . she's going to get tired, while the Baroness does not seem to," Amrita answered without looking toward Ainz. "Unless she can land a fatal hit, this will not end."
"Hmmm, you think she is unable to?" Ainz asked curiously.
"It appears that way."
Ainz looked back at the conflict, taking note of every move, every act, every strike of blade and flame, and every glint that was now just barely noticeable across the majority of the hall. And in that moment he realized why Amrita and all the others looked so horrified and worried. They said not see Hara winning, but merely saw her chasing her quarry.
While he saw a Heteromorphic toying with its prey while tightening the noose.
Heteromorphics did not exist in these lands, at least not in the way Ainz understood them, and so the denizens of it had no idea how Heteromorphics could fight. Did not know how many Heteromorphics, even in Yggdrasil, had a bad habit of toying with their prey.
Something Hara seemed to be embracing at frightening speed
Not that it was a bad thing as it would likely allow her to better understand her body.
And in that moment Ainz saw the final piece of the puzzle called combat placed and smirked, his bony jaw literally bending into the smirk before he spoke.
"Appearances can be deceiving. Watch."
Amrita, and all the others behind her and Ainz, Did so without a word.
The Baroness flipped over a swing of Hara's Naginata, Hair spears forming around her and aiming at Hara's backside, only for Hara's Abdomen to ignite once more, the fore of it sending her a few meters away to skid across the floor, completely untouched by the Baroness's strike.
"Damn, you, hold still!" Thee Baroness screamed, her hair growing in size and quantity as she got even angrier than she already was.
"Make me, failure!" Hara responded with an arrogant smirk as she twirled her Naginata and slammed the shaft to the floor, cracking the tiles.
"You, you think you can win this?! You think you have a chance? You have only been signing your own death by cutting my hair!" the Baroness yelled as all the cut fibers of hair across the whole room suddenly tensed, turning ramrod straight like millions of small needles, and turned to aim at Hara. "Now die as a pincushion!"
A Second passed with nothing occurring. Then a dozen seconds. Then a minute. Then a moment before the Baroness looked around at all of her tense hair fibers in utter confusion.
"Spider silk," Hara then said simply as she bent down and pulled a small, barely noticeable thread of almost transparent white off the ground. "It's very tough, and very hard to see when thin," she said as she took the thread in both hands and plucked it, causing every floating Hair needle to suddenly wobble and shake slightly. "And very sticky."
"What, how could you-"
"I don't know," Hara admitted with a grin as her body lifted upwards, allowing her abdomen to curl underneath her body and show off her stinger, and the spinnerets nearly hidden right below it. She then cut a thread with a finger and held it aloft, before suddenly wrapping it around a Pedipalp and yanking on it. And in that instant the Baroness found her body suddenly wrapped up tightly by barely noticeable thread not of her own creation. "I know how spiders live and hunt, and I know how their threads work, but I shouldn't know how to do this so proficiently," she mused as she moved closer to the now tied up Baroness and yanked on another thread, causing the Baroness to flip upside down in a way that looked very painful. "I Guess when I changed I was given an understanding maybe?"
"That, means nothing!" the Baroness hissed as she struggled against her bindings. "I will escape this and kill you and-"
"No," Hara said, suddenly very serious sounding as her Pedipalps gathered up some thread and then yanked them tight. In that second a large portion of the hair needled wobbling about upon her threads around the hall suddenly were drawn right to the Baroness, stabbing her across her whole body. "I think I have a good feeling for my abilities now, but do you know what Spider silk normally is?" she then asked as he Pedipalps held the silk in their clutch close to the floor as he body raised up again, her abdomen tucking under.
"What? What are you-"
"Flammable."
The Baroness barely had time to register Hara's words as her Abdomen Flared up, jets of flame lancing away from her and catching the silk in her Pedipalps. In that same instant they ignited and traveled across the numerous lengths of near invisible thread, forming a flaming spider web across the whole hall that converged upon the tied up baroness who had thus far managed to avoid being directly struck by flames head on. Something she was now unable to avoid.
The flames reached her hair first, and in barely a second her entire form was turned into a blazing conflagration that illuminated the whole room as if the sun had just risen of mountains. The Baroness screamed as well, but with the sound of her crackling and burning hair and skin, it was barely heard over the blaze.
Hara however was not done. A few second later all of the silk holding the Baroness broke, causing her to fall to the ground with a thump as her body still burned. She tried to get up, only to find Hara standing over her with two of her legs raised up into the air, the spiked tips glowing barrelful orange.
The Baroness screamed again as Hara impaled her legs into the baroness, and then stabbed her Naginata in to her. Repositioning herself, Hara stepped back and lifted the Baroness into the air, still on two of her legs and her Naginata, and smiled as she shifted her grip on her blade. "Now, just die already!" Hara screamed as he body flared up. The fire then seemed to travel across her body and up her Naginata, right to the Baroness.
Who then exploded in a blast of fire and ash, and nothing else.
All the hair that remained in the room seemed to lose its coherency, disintegrating over a matter of moments while the entire hall was utterly silent. All the flames, both upon the walls and drapes, and across Hara's body, all died out simultaneously, revealing her to simply be standing there in her new, very dominating form, with a content look upon her face that clashed with the bits of gore and blood upon her.
"So," Ainz began, making all eyes except for Hara's to turn to him, fear in some, while others were simply baffled by what was going on. Though the number was far lesser. "How do you feel, Hara?"
"I . . . killed her," Hara said as she suddenly dropped her Naginata to the floor with a clatter as she simply held her hands out in front and looked them over. "I did it. I avenged them. All of them."
"You did, yes," Ainz said with a nod. "Though I meant more how you felt physically now as I was sure you would feel mentally refreshed after lifting such a weight from your shoulders."
Hara blinked and looked at her arms, then her Pedipalps, then all over her body in ways that were surprising with her bendability. "Oh uh, I . . . . Should be, shocked, or concerned or, terrified of this right?" Hara asked in an odd tone as she turned her whole body to Ainz. "Uh, but I feel pretty fine with this actually. I mean, I lived around massive spiders before, and . . . . Is this normal? What am I anyway?"
"I cannot say for certain if it is normal, but as to what you are, you are an Arachne, of the Jorougumo brood, or sub-race if you would prefer the term."
"So I'm a, some kind of demon spider person?" Hara asked, causing a number of people to tense.
"No. you are what is called a Heteromorphic," Ainz said simply before explaining further. "In the lands I come from Heteromorphics are beings different than both Humanoids and Demi-humans that run the gamut from everything from true demons to angels, giants, slimes and everything in between. Including Arachne like what you now are."
"You, make it sound like it is normal," Amrita spoke up finally, making both Ainz, and Hara glance toward her to see that while she seemed to be taking the turn of events decently well, most of the others in the room looked ready to, do something.
"Where I come from, it is, yes. Heteromorphics are a wide variety of races, and where I come from, being such as goblins and orcs count as demi-humans. I have worked both with, and against, people of every race conceivable. Humanoids like elves and dwarves, demi humans such as centaurs and goblins, and even Heteromorphics like angels, demons, Kitsune and even elementals."
"You consider angels the same as demons!?" Someone from the group behind Amrita finally exclaimed in shock.
"Yes, however demons in my land are not beings like goblins or gargoyles, but more the inverse of angels," Ainz said as he looked back at Hara. "Either way, if you do not feel uncomfortable or too strange, that is certainly a good sign. We will still need to make sure you are completely into you new body so that-"
"AAAAAHHHHHH!"
With a sudden scream everyone in the room turned toward the doorway to the manor to find one of the towns guards standing in the doorway with a spear in hand, the tip stabbing into the back and out the front of one man's stomach, blood dripping off the spears tip and around where it came out. Of course while that was a surprise, the fact that the guard was covered in what looked like tendrils of red energy mixed with thread that was piecing his body all over like some badly sewn together doll made it all the more so.
"All, heretics, must . . . . die!" the guard said in a horrid voice as black ichor seemed to seep out of the thread holes all across his body in small, but noticeable amounts, hissing as some dripped onto the floor below.
"Shoot, the guards are -" Amrita exclaimed as she moved to engage the guard.
"Reality Slash!"
Only for a near transparent crescent of energy to zip past her and strike the guard dead center in the chest, utterly annihilating his entire head, and a strip down his body all the way to his belly and sending a blast of blood out the doorway like a wave of water crashing onto beach.
"Hmm, that guard looked rather curious," Ainz muttered as in the silence of everyone's shock he could hear a distant noise, the cries of people.
"He was infected by the power of the Evil god, the same one the bareness worshiped I believe," Amrita stated as she quickly ran over to the wounded Ex-slave and began looking over his wound, tearing his sad excuse for clothing to get at it.
"Hmm, so the enchantments upon the townsfolks clothing was not for mere manipulation of their ideals, but for turning them into emergency soldiers, or perhaps sacrifices," Ainz pondered out loud before shaking his head. "Absurd."
"What?" Flora spoke up in surprise at Ainz's choice of words
"It is an utter waste of resources and time," Ainz clarified with a shake of his head. "If one has such power, why would you force people into servitude like that when willing allegiance would always be preferable?" He continued before shaking his head again. "No, I cannot say I could understand the whims of any weak enough to accept power that destroys themselves like that. How is the wound?"
"Rotting even as I ty to heal it," Amrita said grimly. "That guard's weapon, his body was likely breaking down from being unable to contain an evil god's power."
"Wait, your like, and inquisitor or something right?" one of the ex-slaves spoke up in worry. "You can use magic and get rid of curses right? You can still heal him right?"
"No, this curse, it's already in him. I do not believe I cannot remove the curse, and heal his wound at the same time," Amrita admitted with a sigh.
Silence fell over the Ex-slaves even as the sounds of screaming and violence came in from outside the manor.
"But, you could heal him then right?!" another spoke up. Amrita looked up to him, and then realized that he was not looking at her, But Ainz.
Whether it was in fear or hope, all of them now were.
"Healing magic is something I am not capable of," Ainz said simply as he held a hand aloft as if to hold a sphere in it, showing of his bony appendage. "I would have thought that rather evident."
"You, you healed her though!" a girl spoke up as she pointed at Hara who, perhaps out of respect, had not moved from where she had killed the Baroness, nor had approached the group who seemed wary of her new form.
"That was not healing, but changing her very race and being into another, turning her from a human, to a Heteromorphic," Ainz explained for what felt like the third or fourth time, though it was probably not that extreme.
"Then, you could do that, right? You could do that and save him and-"the first spoke up, only for flora to step forward and throw an arm out to the side.
"No such thing shall be done!"
"What? But if he could save her then-"
"You have no idea what you are asking, do you?" flora said as she turned to face the gathering of other EX-slaves. "Turning one from one race to another is not just a physical change, it changes one perceptions and feeling on things, while leaving the old still behind in some extent. Your emotions will roil, you will not understand what is going on, and it will take many years for one to even become passably comfortable with their new form!"
"Actually I feel perfectly fine," Hara spoke up to counter Flora's words.
"Be quiet!" Flora snapped, her expression hard and serious. "The changing of a race is, not something that should be done!"
"You sound as if you know of these facts quiet well," Ainz spoke up, his jaw moving just enough to make it clear that his voice did indeed come from him. "Personally even."
Flora was silent for a moment before nodding. "I was one of them, the humans from the village plagued by sickness so many hundreds of years ago. I was human, and turned into an elf. It took me decades before I was even vaguely comfortable with not being human, with being a woman, and even then I still could not be an elf, none of us could. Other elves could tell we were not like them, could tell we were inherently different." She said before very seriously looking right at Ainz, right into his empty eye sockets. "Changing someone's race is an abomination. It should never be done."
"Is it though?" Hara asked as she walked over, causing some to move to be further from her. "I would be dead if not for that, and I never would have gotten my revenge, never would have killed the one who aimed to turn you all into brainless husks!"
"Yes but-"
"All must die for- gah!"
Everyone turned to find Ainz standing by the doorway out of the manor, blood covering one of his hands with the body of a townsperson without a head lying on the floor before him, writhing threads wriggling across his body as if trying to escape.
"It seems as if the townsfolk are being pulled here to where their master was slain," He said as he shook his hand of the blood upon it. "Amrita, do you know of a way to remove such an affliction?"
"If it was anything but the power of an evil god, yes," she said before sighing. "However if the whole town is afflicted, then it must be culled to protect the rest of Eostia."
"Is that your opinion, or a declaration?" Ainz asked, figuring that amrita would likely need to make such a thing clear considering her rank and position in the church.
"Yes."
"I see. Hara, do you feel up for some more exercise?" Ainz asked as he looked at Hara.
"I feel fine. Better than fine even," she answered as she picked up her Naginata once more and let it rest upon her shoulder.
"Good. Go with Amrita into the town and do what must be done then. I shall protect these ones, and hear their choices." Ainz said sternly.
Hara merely nodded and headed out, passing him without a word as she understood what he was meaning. Amrita as well left a second later but stopped beside Ainz. "We will need to speak at length once this dirty work is done."
"I expect as much considering what I have just said as well," Ainz replied.
"Yes, that too," Amrita said before sighing. "Please do not go too far," she then said before walking out and down the steps after Hara.
"Hmm, now then," Ainz said as he turned back to Flora and the other Ex-slaves. "You have heard what has been said as you lay there bleeding out. What do you want?"
"I, want to . . . live," The man said with a wheeze from the floor.
"You have heard what option I am giving you in essence. What do you say?"
" . .D . . . .do it."
"Very well," Ainz said as he raised a hand towards the man. Only for Flora to step in between them. "You are in the way."
"This is wrong. You can't do this," flora stated seriously. "This is not an answer, it's a judgment."
Ainz considered Flora's words for a moment. In a sense she was correct. It was only barely an answer, and by doing it, it would forever change a person's existence in these lands. Hara seemed perfectly fine with what happened and showed little to no sign of anxiety or another issues. In fact she had seemed happy, almost to an unhinged degree. The question ultimately was why?
Was it because she wanted it? Was it because he had actually intended the spell to do what it had even in his vague imaginings of it when Celestine had supposedly not done it purposefully in the past? Was it a mere matter of intent and want then, or was it something more, or perhaps less?
There was no way to be sure unless he used the spell more and did some comparisons, but thinking about it, that was a little amoral, though that was why he was giving the wounded man, and had made Hara, state what she wanted as clearly as possible.
No, the real question was not the morality of it, or whether it was wrong or right. The question that really mattered here was how far he himself was willing to go. Could he really take up the mantle of a Godlike being in a world that did not seem to be a mere game, but a world as real as his own that he now seemed cut off from? Could he really act as he did in a mere game, as a being so high above every other that his mere whims could be seen as commandments and his orders as pure law?
Celestine had admitted such things were the reason she yearend for an ally and equal so badly. Something he had partly already become in a sense.
He did not believe himself to be a god, but others did, and perhaps, there would not be too many negatives in giving up his resistance to the idea that, so far, had done little but inconvenience him.
Perhaps.
"Celestine did not intend to turn you into what you now are, that is why it was hard for you," Ainz said after a moment of silence that worried many in the room. "You had no intent to become different, no desire to change. But you did. And this unintended and unwanted change is what I believe caused you to be uncomfortable in your form, that which you now hold. If it is wished for, and I will it, it should hold no issues."
"How can you be sure of that?" Flora demanded in agitation, making it clear that she was bringing all of this up and challenging him not for the man bleeding out behind her, but because of her own fears and past. An understandable, but problematic position
"Because, while I do not think of myself as a god, your Lady Celestine does. Now, if you are done continuing the man's slow decline to death by getting in the way, he has chosen, and it no longer concerns you."
"Of course it concerns me; you will be stopping someone from being human anymore!" Flora shrieked.
"That is right," Ainz stated calmly. "He will not be human, but he will be alive, and by his choice, which is what matters. Now move aside, or will you continue to claim righteousness merely because you were not given a choice?"
Flora looked hurt but was unable to speak for a second before stepping out of the way.
"Good. Now, I guarantee noting but your survival," Ainz said to the man on the ground who now looked very, very close to being dead. "Now, Let us begin. Heteromorphosis!"
All of them watched as once more a bolt of mist flew from Ainz's hand and struck, surrounded and coalesced into a sphere of energy where the man once was. And after a moment of noting happening, aside from the sounds of fire and combat from distantly outside the manor, a number of the Ex-slaves were becoming anxious, waiting for something to happen.
"So, why isn't he changing?" flora asked in a tone that a mix between worried, haughty and anxious.
"The greater ones martial prowess and mana reserves the less time it shall take," Ainz said immediately. He of course had no idea if that was actually true or not, but they did not need to know that. Especially since somehow he could tell his assessment was somehow correct, or at least close.
"So, what happens now then?" flora spoke up, still angry sounding. "Do we just wait here while you think about turning more of us into monsters while your minions go and cull this place?"
"You think these people do not deserve it?" Ainz countered.
Flora found herself taking a step away from Ainz, his smirking bony visage more than enough to cause concern. "N-no. They let that monster of a baroness control them, there must have been signs I mean. And, it's all they can be given now anyway."
"True enough. As for Hara, she is my apprentice, and Amrita is a member of the church that Celestine herself sent along with me, to, legalize my actions if need be," Ainz explained simply as he looked out of the manor at the town below, seeing blasts of fire and light in the streets and even striking rooftops. There likely would be a substantially lesser amount of gorgeous banners and silks in this town once they were done.
"And what of us?"
"What of you?"
"What will do with us?" flora restated. "You saved us, and the Baroness is dead, but what will you do to us now? Turn us into monsters as well?"
"Heteromorphics do certainly have rather monstrous features, and some may have to balance their instinct and their other desires, but they are not monsters. Not like the demons of these lands that rape and pillage as willingly as they breathe," Ainz said, his tone turning from normal, to one that could kill in mere seconds as his words ended, then began again with a warning. "Do not insinuate that Heteromorphics are anything like those beasts."
Ainz had not actually raised his voice, but everyone in the room would swear they had felt the temperature in the room do down drastically as he spoke. "I, I understand," Flora stuttered out, finding that her feet would not move and that she could barely feel her legs. "You, you didn't answer my question."
"Hmph, why would I turn anyone into a Heteromorphic if they would regret it, or hate me for such a thing?" Ainz answered with a huff. "I do not need slaves or minions."
Flora looked like she wanted to keep speaking, but stopped as a cracking noise caused her and everyone else's eyes to lock onto the glowing sphere, which now was a light brownish in color and looked to be cracking.it then began to collapse in on itself, and out of the opening a very large wolf lifted out, shaking its fur for a seconds, before letting out a bark, and then seeming to sit down and slowly shift back into a man, looking no different aside from he was now shirtless and looked very, very tired.
"Ah, a werewolf it seems," Ainz said casually.
"A what?" flora asked in confusion.
"A man that can take the form of a wolf, most often upon full moons," Ainz explained as he stepped towards the man. "How do you feel?"
"Tired, but. . . . .alive, and oddly good."
"That is good, but, may I ask what you did for a living these past years?"
"Uh, I worked as a hunter in the forest," the man said in answer to Ainz's question.
"I see," Was all Ainz said in response as thought went into his mind and put them on overdrive. Hara had a history with spiders and flame, and the became a Jorougumo, while this man was a hunter and had become a wolf, a creature that excels at hunting. Was his spell deciding upon a person Heteromorphic race based upon their past experiences and what could possibly suit them? Was that why they had little to no difficulty acclimating to their new form?
"Um, Lord Gown?"
Ainz was pulled from his thought by a young human girl standing before him nervously while many were congratulating the hunter on being alive and seeming comfortable. And on looking perfectly human once he stopped being a wolf. "Lord?"
"Well, you are a God Reborn so it's only right to refer to you as a Lord just as Lady Celestine is referred to as a lady, right?"
Ainz was at a loss for words for a second before sighing. "Right, if you would like I suppose. Did you, have a question for me?"
"Y-yes," he girl said nervously before pausing, and then speaking up somewhat quietly, though somehow her words were hear by all and everyone went silent. "C-can you turn me, into a Helemofic too?"
" . . . . You, want me to turn you into a Heteromorphic?" Ainz asked for clarification as he could see everyone staring at her in shock, surprise, or outright confusion.
"Yes."
"Why?" Ainz asked immediately. "You are not wounded, and I only used it upon them both because it would make them whole once more."
"I, I understand, but I hate the demons, I want to kill them, but I'll never be strong enough to do so. my body is, weak, I'll never be able to become a knight, so if I could be reborn, I could kill lots of them!"
"Why," Ainz asked again.
The girl seemed to shrink down, a hand moving over her stomach as she spoke. "My mother," she spat the word. "Threw me out of our merchant wagon when we were attacked by goblins. I was caught, raped over and over, again and again, and ended up giving birth to them uncountable times for almost a month before I was saved by the knights. My mother, she said after when I saw her again that it was the right choice, that they would not kill me, so it would be fine. That I returned home whole so there was no problem and I would get over it. But . . . I almost died, giving birth to those monsters, and a part of me, is gone forever. I killed my mother that night for what she did to me. But I was caught, and dragged away, to become a slave for doing that. So, I want to kill them all for what they put me through. Demon, and arrogant knight and noble, all of them!"
Ainz was angry at what he heard, so angry that if the girl's mother had not been already dead, he would have found and killed her himself. This girl, who admitted to doing such things, to having such things done to her, looked barely fourteen. She was barely even a teenager, yet now she carried such a scar upon her entire body and mind. She likely thought she was tainted beyond repair.
"I . . . understand your feelings, however-"
"Me too! I as well. May as well!" were many sudden comments from many of the ex-slaves.
Making Flora nearly lose it. "How can you all be so open to this madness!? You will cease to be what you are, and you think that is a good thing!?"
"Because we are weak!" the young girl exclaimed. "We can't do anything to save ourselves in this world as we are! Others get away with horrors like my mother did to me, while men get abused by women and nobles abuse and take advantage of people all over the lands. Even the knights I once looked up to act like pompous jerks and bitches simply because of their gender and some belief that their training makes them better than the rest of us! We've lived lives of ignorance and we are nothing and have nothing!"
Many people joined in in the next few seconds. Some gave short tales of being abused by others, men, women, monsters, while others had tales of failure, of being unable to do what they wanted because of their own weakness, sickness, or the cultural divide that stopped most men from being allowed to fight for their loved ones. A few had very foolish reasons that made it clear they were running from their problems, but most did have proper reasons.
Ainz however, knew it would be not that simple. "I understand many of your qualms and worries; however I cannot simply change everyone here. If a Heteromorphic can't change themselves to look human, they will likely be hunted by others in these lands at this time after all."
"So we take this town as our own," the werewolf said with a chuckle. "It's not like there will be any of them left to argue with us. And we have nowhere to go anyway; it's not like we can just keep following you around realistically."
"That is hardly the problem here," Ainz stated as he realized that many of them were not really listening.
"We were all destined to either be turned into slaves and forgotten, or to die at someone else's whims anyway," one of the older men said with a dark expression. "Any choice we make now for ourselves is better than any made for us by others."
"No that is, this is absurd, there are too many unknowns!" Flora exclaimed in a vexed tone.
"There are, and if I did go through with it, I cannot guarantee that I could protect everyone against any and all challenges, not yet," Ainz said as carefully as he could, hoping he could make them understand. "Travelers could find one mid-change and report it as monsters, leading to knights attacking, and even if you take this place as your own it could still happen, for no secret lasts forever." Ainz paused after he finished and looked over the gathered masses. They now seemed to be considering the cons, and the difficulty therein, however most of them still held a fir in their eyes. They knew they were weak, and they knew they needed power to live as they wanted, and they saw a way to get it and seemed to hold no qualms about its requisition. He looked at them for a moment longer before heaving a great sigh. None of them were holding looks of true fear toward him. Now, it was almost exclusively awe, borderline worship. "Many of you still believe it to be an answer for yourselves, don't you?"
All but Flora and three others, two men and another woman, immediately answered affirmatively.
Ainz let out a sigh and stared upwards at the ceiling where little bits of unburnt hair and spider silk still dangled. All of these people were looking at him like he was a leader. No, that wasn't right, they were looking at him the same way he had seen others look when talking about Celestine, the same way Celestine had told him she had issue with. Loyalty was one thing, but unending worship could be a problem as it would eventually lead to the same issues Celestine had if he was not careful. "It seems I underestimated her will when we first spoke, in more ways than I had then realized," Ainz mused to himself quietly, making a few people who seemed to hear him look at him in confusion. Ainz then looked down at the people and drew in a deep breath before slowly letting it out, preparing himself for what he was about to do. "Alright, let's make a deal."
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Amrita was not having a good time. The Culling of an entire Town was a grim act to have to undertake after all, but as she had yet to see a single townsperson who was not raving mad with their body being decimated by corrupted threads there really was little choice in the matter. It was grim and unfortunate work, but it needed to be done, and her holy magic and gear was perfectly crafted to deal with such things.
And inversely Hara seemed to be having the time of her life. Now some form of Spider person she was rushing around the whole town like flames made manifest. Her Naginata cleaved through flesh, thread, wood and metal with seeming equal ease, and her flames burned away anything else she wanted to. No one seemed to be able to escape her either, as her flames had reach, and if they could not reach, she began using magic as well. She was also concerning fast with her now having eight legs, able to move forward and side to side with startling swiftness.
She seemed to be fully enjoying her new form to such an extent that it made Amrita just slightly curious is not being human itself was some kind of high, but she squashed that thought, knowing she still had grim work ahead of her.
Before she could strike down an enraged townsperson however Hara came crashing down upon them, impaling them on a number of her legs mercilessly. "Ah, this is such good practice for moving around! How many have you gotten so far?"
"Counting the number of kills you have is improper and malicious," Amrita stated in response as she swing her sword down, crushing the skull of the one that Hara was impaling beneath her.
"Boo, you are no fun,"
"I have however removed the influence of an Evil god from seventeen individuals,"
Hara looked at her and then grinned, showing off how some of her teeth were now much more pointed. "Ah, right. Sorry. I should use the right words; I have freed twenty three of them so far."
"Hmm, then we have many more to be dealt with," Amrita said before sighing and speaking again. "We should split up to better-"
Only to be interrupted as a bright light that pulled her attention to the manor, where massive beams of light came out of every window and doorway.
"What, what is that?" Hara asked in confusion, though that was all she showed in regards to it. No fear or worry at all.
Amrita recognized the light as similar to the one that Ainz's spell created and scowled. "The situation becoming complicated I would wager."