Chapter 131

Chapter 131

Episode 131: A New Beginning A mirror stood in the room. Remembering this, I rose from the bed and approached the mirror. — Thud. Not only my arms, but my legs had grown back. As if they had never been severed, they were natural, without even a trace of petrification. …Is this also purple? My long, slender legs and the smooth, bare feet touching the floor were also tinged with a faint purple hue. Slightly bewildered, I gazed at them and slowly walked forward. — Thud, thud. With each step, a strange sense of unease washed over my entire body. It was an awkward, unfamiliar, and alien sensation that I hadn’t felt while lying on the bed. What could it be? I realized that the height of my vision had changed. Strangely, my line of sight was positioned higher. And my slender arms and legs were also longer than before. “…So the metamorphosis worked, it seems.” I let out a short, bitter laugh. I clearly thought I was dead, but I was alive, and the metamorphosis had even succeeded. I should be happy, but somehow everything felt strange and unfamiliar. What on earth was the reason? Even my own voice sounded more alien to my ears. If my previous voice had a childish, youthful quality, my current voice was alluring and seductive. The strangely resonant, high-pitched tone even gave the illusion that I might not be human. …Well, there probably aren’t any purple humans. I chuckled softly and quickened my pace. — Thud, thud. It didn’t take long to reach the mirror on the wall. Perhaps it was because I didn’t hesitate. No, it wasn’t. The steps I took forward were less about the courage to face my transformed self and more about the sense of responsibility to walk towards the destination I had to reach. Was it because I wasn’t ready to face reality yet? Finally, I stood before the mirror and met my reflection, and I was speechless. “…” The first thing that caught my eye was my hair, which had turned black. My hair, which I hadn’t dyed, was as black as pitch and scattered busily over my shoulders, hanging down long. “…Ah.” Next was my skin, which had turned purple. I had secretly worried that only my arms and legs would be purple, but fortunately, my entire body was dyed a light purple. Or, was that really fortunate? In any case, that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. It was only a part of the changes that had happened to me. I had changed from head to toe, everything. “…Oh dear.” My blue eyes had turned yellow. The yellow, amber eyes didn’t feel beautiful, but rather exuded a dangerous aura. The fact that the part that used to be white was now black, creating a seductive yet venomous atmosphere, also contributed to that dangerous impression. “…” Seeing that, a faint, bitter smile formed on my lips. White skin, golden hair, and blue eyes. I had lost all three colors that had proven my past. Now, what proved me were my purple skin, black and yellow eyes, and hair as black as pitch. All of it was unfamiliar, new… and felt like it wasn’t me. “Ahahaha…” I chuckled softly as I looked in the mirror. It was a laugh mixed with self-deprecation and lamentation, but in one corner of it, there was joy at having survived. I didn’t have any lingering attachments to my past, which was stained with disgrace, but I felt a little regret in one corner of my heart. My past self, who was white, golden, and blue, was quite beautiful even from my current perspective. There was no reason to feel strange about feeling regret at having lost it. That wasn’t the only thing that had changed. As much as my vision had risen, I had grown taller. Now I was similar to Emilia’s height, or perhaps a little taller. And, it was fortunate that height wasn’t the only thing that had grown. The voluptuous breasts revealed through the tattered clothes were exactly the size I had once imagined in my head. Not as big as watermelons or melons, but about the size of well-ripened pears. I checked the volume revealed through the torn brown cloth with my hand and murmured emptily. “…I might not need them anymore.” I muttered bitterly, caressing the soft flesh that was still soft even though it had turned purple. As I watched the full breasts revealed through the cloth become slightly distorted by my grip, I felt a slightly lewd sensation. “…Ugh.” I shuddered, disliking the feeling. …Did I say earlier that my past was stained with disgrace? That statement is the clearest sentence that proves my current self. I remember all of my past, and I remember the actions I took in the past. And, I regret them. “Haa, fuck…” The woman in the mirror sighed, clutching her black hair. Her distorted face was flushed red despite being purple. It wasn’t a blush caused by excitement. An unhidden shame permeated the woman’s purple cheeks, making them flush red. …Why is there sex appeal coming out here? Damn succubus art. I cursed inwardly and sighed again. Of course, that’s how it would be. Now I can make normal judgments. I can judge how crazy I was in the past from an objective point of view. The current me can criticize the past me without hesitation. That’s because I was doing such things, so of course I should be cursed. I must have been really crazy. No matter how much succubus art I had accumulated, there should be a line of common sense, right? “I really gave myself away like a slut… Ah, I don’t know. Fuck…” I was so dumbfounded and absurd that I was about to laugh. Looking back on my past actions, which would be absolutely impossible now, I could only laugh. Layla Freeman, you crazy bitch. You really messed up properly. I wonder why I came back to my senses in the first place. No, isn’t it normal for demons to become corrupt? But on the contrary, I was already corrupted when I was human, and my corrupted mind cleared up as I transformed into a demon. What kind of fucked up harmony is this? “Hoo, this is so fucked up…” I cursed in Korean once again and calmed my mind. I know the reason for the disharmony between corruption and purification. Rather than knowing, I could deduce it. My head still seemed to be working to some extent. There is no natural essence in this world. To build even the basics of martial arts, you have to accumulate natural essence, which is as rare as argon in the atmosphere, over many years. Of course, you can’t learn martial arts with that kind of method. So in the past, when I accumulated succubus art, I made the most of essence. Literally, I learned martial arts by accumulating essence by receiving men’s semen. Of course, I wasn’t such a crazy pervert at first. I didn’t like men either. But as the level of martial arts increased, I naturally changed. So I enjoyed it with goblins, was spawned by lizards, no, salamanders, and trolls too… Oh, fuck, is this some kind of Hitomi? “…Should I just kill myself?” As I recalled the changes I had experienced from Lakers to Karaldin one by one, I felt like I was about to have suicidal thoughts. What would I do with my life if I lived after doing such dog shit? “…Well, that’s a bit much, right?” I ask, looking in the mirror. The woman standing in the mirror had a mournful expression on her face. And that was the expression I was making now. I looked in the mirror for a long time and sighed. // I sat on the bed, sitting cross-legged for the first time in a long time. After examining the external aspects, I needed to contemplate my inner self. My current state had changed so bizarrely that it couldn’t be expressed with the simple four-letter word “metamorphosis.” My purple skin was obviously not human. Of course, since I used a demon’s core for the metamorphosis, it was obvious that I was now a demon. The important thing was why I became a demon. …And I was able to realize the answer only after unifying contemplation from the perspective of martial arts and logical reasoning. “Should I be thankful for this…” No, I’ll correct that. This is something I should be bowing down to, it’s such a grateful thing. Even now that I have a reluctance about sex, it’s such a great grace that I think I should gladly give my body to Josef if he asks for it. Currently, the doppelganger’s core that I had swallowed before was in my body. I clearly swallowed it, but it had somehow settled in the dantian, emitting magical power as if it had been my dantian from the beginning. And that magical power had no negative impact on me. Metamorphosis. Among them, it was a realm that could be called the opening of the gates. It is a phenomenon in which the body, which had been performing the role of a human, changes to suit the martial arts as the martial arts and the body become one. Like the poison people or demon people of the Murim, I adapted to the magical power emitted from the core. It was truly an amazing opportunity. The exact diagnosis will have to wait a little longer, but I no longer had to extract essence from men to learn martial arts, and the purity of my inner strength was so high that it was incomparable to before. This could be called the demonization that Josef so desired. And the role of the doppelganger’s cells, which he said he had cultured through my blood, would be great in that background. This is why I can’t thank Josef enough. Metamorphosis is ultimately the phenomenon of recombining one’s body. No matter how much I borrowed the magical power of the core, if my genes were human, the change would naturally be limited to within the human range. Perhaps my subconscious and body mistakenly thought that the doppelganger’s cells that entered my body were part of me. Since he said he cultured it through my blood, it’s not unreasonable to be mistaken, but the reason why I achieved such a dramatic change to the point where my race changed is probably because those cells were restored through the doppelganger’s core. It was truly an opportunity that would only happen if several coincidences overlapped. And, the reason why I am now convinced that my body is due to the doppelganger’s cells is because there was a reason for that. “Hoo.” I take a deep breath and calm my mind. Then, I raise my magical power and make it flow towards my arm. — Swish. Then, my purple arm changes as if it were being bleached white. It was clean and pure white skin, just like before. The doppelganger’s ability to change the body. That was also transferred to me. “…” The adjustment allowed for changes not only in color, but also to some extent in size and shape. I could grow my breasts, which were as big as well-ripened pears, into watermelons, or reduce them to the size of nectarines. I’m not used to handling it yet, but if I get used to it, it wouldn’t be impossible to transform into my old self. …Of course, it would be a more grown-up version. And, there was a price to pay for the metamorphosis. The Iron Shirt Qi Gong that I had trained with the Succubus Art had collapsed. I no longer had the hard skin like before, but there was no need to worry about that. Since there is a core that constantly emits magical power, I can learn martial arts at any time. It was truly a joyful thing, but I couldn’t just be happy. “This damn bitch…” I sighed, feeling the foreign presence sleeping in my stomach. Layla Freeman, you bitch. Leaving me with this shit.