บท 80: 18.2 TLDR
Amelia gaped as she looked between the smiling woman and her now healed hand.
"Wha-how-" she was cut off by Ezraphel's finger touching her lip.
The other woman had an apologetic smile as she spoke "I understand that you have many questions at the moment and I promise to answer them but we should finish up in here first."
Amelia almost agreed however she managed to stop herself by swallowing a lump and really took the time to get her thoughts in order before she replied.
"A-are you kidding me!?" she shouted.
"Shh!" Ezraphel hissed "keep your voice down."
"I will not!" Amelia continued to yell "not after what you just did! We are talking about this NOW!"
In response Ezraphel rolled her eyes and sighed "very well."
*Snap*
For a brief instant the walls of the room lit up with purple sigils before dissipating.
"What was that!?"
"Since you are having trouble controlling your volume I have made it so that we won't be heard or bothered by the others" as she spoke she went to continue the task of preparing the meals "now ask your questions but keep in mind I intend to finish this meal on time."
At that Amelia paused as the situation finally dawned on her and she had to ask herself 'is this happening right now or am I being delusional right now?'
The next thing she did was to pinch herself hard and when she did not wake up it dawned on her. Ezraphel somehow healed her wound (which she took a moment to glance at and confirm was still uninjured) and did what seemed to be a legitimate notice-me-not spell. At least she thought it was but the brief lightshow was definitely not something she imagined.
"This is really happening" she muttered to herself before looking to the other woman.
Ezraphel had her back turned with her attention focused on the task in front of her.
Amelia's gaze went to the only door in the room 'can I leave?'
"You can leave if you want to" Ezraphel spoke up startling the woman who turned to see that the other woman has not deviated from her task "though you won't get any answers from me if you do."
Amelia frowned at Ezraphel's words made the other woman frown as she mulled the situation over in her head. Right now Ezraphel despite what just happened wasn't threatening her or anything and Amelia was very curious about the situation, too curious to risk not getting any answers. So with no other choice but to accept this new reality Amelia soldiered on and asked the most pertinent question at the moment.
"What are you?"
Ezraphel paused for a moment to look the other woman in the eye and turn away from her task. As she did this the utensils she used continued to perform the task of their own volition. As a matter of fact the entire kitchen was soon buzzing with activity without either of them doing anything.
"What in the…"
"Ignore that" Ezraphel dismissed.
"I don't think I can."
Like seriously how could anyone not stare at disembodied objects performing functions as if being wielded by invisible people?
"Please try" she insisted "and to answer your question, are you familiar with the multiverse theory?"
"Yeah."
The multiverse is something that's been used liberally enough in modern media for her to get the gist of.
'Then that would mean…'
"You're from another universe?"
"Dimension but same principle I suppose."
Amelia let that sink in for a moment while she calmed herself down. Caught as she was in a state of disbelief she still had the wherewithal to continue her line of questioning.
"Okay that answer's where you came from, sort of, well not really but that doesn't answer what you are and what you did to me just now."
"Are you familiar with the Monster Girl Encyclopedia?"
"It sounds familiar" Amelia hesitated.
"It would help with my explanations if you have some knowledge of it, use your phone search for it."
Amelia wanted to ask why but instead chose to take out her phone and do a quick search. What she got were a couple of artworks that were very familiar to her.
'Wait didn't I do a Smash or Pass once with these?'
She could vividly remember doing a livestream with a VTuber as a guest and basically did a smash or pass using pictures from this particular IP. The art looked well enough for the most part though she was not too deep in the sauce to find all of them appealing. What really turned her off from using the fandom more in her content however were the biographies attached to the art. Stuff like incest, heavy use of rape and a bit of research revealed that a sizeable portion of the content dealt with what can be constituted as child pornography and pedophilia as part of its official lore.
Those things are not conducive to her image as a streamer.
'Queen of degeneracy' she may be called but Amelia had standards.
"Yeah I remember this. What does that have to do with…" Amelia trailed off as it dawned on her "no way…"
"Yes way."
"That…" she paused as she gave Ezraphel a dubious look "are you fucking with me?"
"I am not."
"Uh-huh you expect me to believe you come from a world based on some collection of softcore hentai art of monster girls?"
"Imagine how I feel" Ezraphel shot back with a huff.
It wasn't something Ezraphel liked to dwell on but she did do her due diligence investigating how her home world was represented on earth and her reaction towards it was mixed. On the one hand there are many who love, admire and in some cases yearn for the concept of mamono and would seemingly happily embrace them should they turn out to be real. On the other hand those individuals are very much in the minority of earth's population and adoration of mamono was very much frowned upon by the majority.
It was really only through the global interconnectivity and anonymity of the internet that a monster girl 'fandom' was even able to be established and propagated in the first place. Ezraphel herself has kept up with several communities that celebrate and venerate monster girls and even she can admit there were some real weirdos in those communities. Not that she was against it or cast aspersions on those individuals but she can see why such a community has a less than stellar reputation to the wider public.
"Prove it" Amelia finally demanded causing Ezraphel to tilt her head at the woman "you saying you're a monster girl, then prove it."
For a moment Ezraphel met her gaze before shrugging "if you insist."
When her eyes opened they were no longer a crystal blue but a bright red and the whites of her eyes bled into black. With the effect of shadowy particles a pair of obsidian horns that curve at the sides of her head like a crown, a pair of white wings materialize next from the small of her back and an equally white sinuous tail with a heart shape tip sprouts from just below of her wings all of which are pure white. Finally her bright blonde almost platinum colored hair was turned to an ivory white.
Words could not describe how Amelia felt in that moment. As if Ezraphel was not already one of the most beautiful and sexiest women she's ever met somehow the addition of her inhuman features only seemed to emphasize her beauty bringing the quality of her appearance to a completely new threshold. The aura she only mildly felt increased in proportion to the point where it seemed as if Ezraphel has ascended to a state of beauty that has never been or ever will be obtained by mere mortals.
In her line of work she constantly heard about certain men who dedicate their entire lives to the worship of certain streamers/influencers. In fact Amelia was pretty certain that she has at least a few fans who are that dedicated to her despite only knowing her through a screen. It's always confused her and made her question just what was it about these women (her included) who only entertain through a screen that cause these men to latch onto them to the point where they practically worship them like idols.
Looking at Ezraphel's form right now Amelia in that moment could not help but sympathize with those men. The fear, uncertainty and panic she felt before at the situation gave way to love, lust and adoration as she beheld Ezraphel's true form. Amelia felt like she could dedicate her entire life to the veneration of the Goddess standing before her. Amelia felt unworthy to even be within her presence and in a fit of compulsion, as well as the fact that her legs gave out, she fell to her knees ready to prostrate herself at the feet of the bewitching Goddess.
"Nope, I won't have any of that."
Or rather she would have had Ezraphel not grasped onto her shoulders at the last minute, easily holding Amelia up.
She gave the mortal woman a wry smile as she observed her reaction "it has been so long since I've revealed my true form to someone other than my Stanley. I almost forgot how severe a regular human's reaction can be."
Amelia tried to find her voice to say something anything really but failed spectacularly and only managed to flap her mouth open and close like a fish out of water. Looking at Ezraphel was like staring at the sun, she couldn't help but want to turn away due to the brightness as if feeling unworthy. But she was just so lovely Amelia for the life of her just could not look away. She wanted needed to burn the image of her into her mind.
"Can't have you staying bewitched for our talk" and with that she lightly flicked Amelia's forehead.
The effects were immediate and Amelia was finally able to think about something that did not involve worshipping Ezraphel in any and every way, shape or form. Unfortunately that little reprieve was not too effective considering Amelia was still in the presence of what was for all intents and purposes a real life monster girl.
"W-what a-are you?" Amelia croaked very aware that she was literally in the other woman's clutches.
"I suppose reintroductions are in order" she began before gently releasing her hold causing Amelia to stumble back into the counter which she used as a brace whilst her legs were still recovering. Clearing her throat Ezraphel spoke "Hello Amelia I am Ezraphel a Princess of the Royal Makai and wife of Stanley Berkowitz."
"…"
Amelia stared at Ezraphel for a very long time mostly because she was still recovering from whatever the hell happened to her when she first revealed her true form, something she was still coming to terms with. In any case she did latch onto something and unlike most of her thoughts in this moment it refused to fade into the background like white noise.
"You and Stan are married?" her eyes instinctively went to the other woman's hands and how noticeably vacant they were.
This caused a minute crack in Ezraphel's otherwise impeccable façade that Amelia saw as a slight twitch of her facial muscles "we may not be married according to your human customs however by the standards of mamono we have been married for well over several months" she sniffed.
"If you say so" Amelia hazarded.
"I do say so!"
"Okay!" Amelia raised her hand at the expression on the other woman's face.
The eyes make her look much more threatening…and so damn beautiful.
Feeling herself finally gain a bit of momentum with her scrambled thoughts Amelia asked another question "so you're a princess?"
This was the right move as Ezraphel's expression turned warmer though she gave dismissive wave "I am though frankly the title is a bit meaningless outside the Royal Makai in all honesty."
"The what?"
"My home, mother's kingdom" she corrected.
"Oh."
"But we are getting off topic. I did not reveal myself to you so that we can talk about me Amelia."
Amelia swallowed dryly "w-why did you do it then?"
"I'm sure you've felt a bit off since this morning yes?"
"Yeah" she didn't even need to think hard on it with so many out-of-character moments she's had, not to mention the weird stuff.
'Wait a minute' she looked to the clearly demonic looking woman as it dawned on her.
"Was that you? Did you do something to me!?"
Ezraphel made a so-so gesture "eeh~"
"Oh God" Amelia panicked "what did you do to me!?"
"Calm down" Ezraphel intoned and immediately Amelia felt a wave of calm rush over her "now answer me this, last night did you happen to drink from a picture of milk that was left in refrigerator?"
Saying this brought up the memory itself and the more she thought about it the more she could trace said memory as the genesis of the weirdness happening to and around her.
"I did" she answered.
"That was no ordinary milk Amelia" Ezraphel informed.
"W-what was it?"
"That milk was something I 'procured' to be consumed by my Stanley. It was not meant for the likes of you. Now you are corrupted."
"C-corrupted?"
'That sounds bad.'
"Yes" Ezraphel nodded gravely "with Demonic Energy."
'That sounds worse!'
Amelia felt a pit in her stomach form as Ezraphel continued.
"The process is slow going now however with enough time you will eventually lose your humanity and undergo a transformation."
Amelia was starting to panic now as the words reached her ears.
"You have already experiencing the psychological effects."
"W-what?"
"That heat you've been feeling is another step in the process. You core, your…soul if you will is beginning to fully be corrupted. All that is left is the physical transformation."
There was a beat of grim silence as Amelia took this in before a loud clap startled her out her thoughts and Amelia found herself swept up in a hug.
"CONGRATULATIONS!"
"…huh?"
Naturally this was Amelia's response along with fiercely blushing at the other woman's close proximity.
Ezraphel's smile widened as she explained "you are going to become a Mamono!"
"Mamo-what?"
"A Monster Girl!"
"Monster gi-" Amelia shook her head "what are you talking about? You said that I was corrupted! T-that I'm going to lose my humanity."
"Yes, you will lose your humanity and become a monster girl like me" she grinned.
"…oh…"
He lackluster response caused Ezraphel's smile to lessen into one of sympathy "I understand that this world has a negative connotation towards monsters and view 'corruption' negatively however I can assure you that none of those negative connotations apply to Mamono."
"What do you mean?"
"I…" she trailed off pushing away lightly while shaking her head "I won't fill your head with my bias words of platitudes Amelia. You have all the information you need right at your fingertips."
She then gestured to the phone that had been held in her grip the entire time which was a miracle given the situation. Or maybe not given just how attached she was to the device. Still looking at said device and remembering the last thing she used it for Amelia couldn't help but blink.
"Monster Girl Encyclopedia…" she whispered.
"I've found the information to be on a website called Miraheze."
"Miraheze" she repeated absently.
"Yes that place. Keep in mind that the information provided is incomplete."
"Right…"
"While you educate yourself I will be here preparing the meals. If you have any questions feel free to ask."
Amelia paused and bit her lip but speaking "do you…do you need any help with that?"
Ezraphel gave her an amused look "no, no I would not want to distract you from your reading after all once you have learned enough of my world and your circumstances to form your own informed opinion you have an important decision to make."
"Wh-what kind of decision?"
"I may not be able to cleanse you of the demonic energy however I can halt the corruption process and let you remain human for the rest of your life. I can even make you forget about this entire ordeal if you so desire."
It sounded too good to be true after saying it like her transformation was inevitable.
"If you can do that the entire time why didn't you?" Amelia demanded feeling anger creep up for the first time.
"If this happened a year prior I would have simply let nature take its course" Ezraphel began almost wistfully "I would have even 'encouraged' your transformation however that was the Ezraphel of old. I made a promise to my Stanley that I would be more considerate when it came to corruption and yours was caused by my negligence so I feel no-I am responsible. Also I consider you a friend Amelia and I want the decision to be yours."
Clasping her hands together Ezraphel finished with "personally I truly believe that you would make a wonderful mamono and I would ensure that you are fully prepared and properly equipped to function in this world as such, you would have my full support" she paused "however I would also understand if you wish to keep your humanity and forget about this entire ordeal. In any case the decision is yours and I will respect it either way."
Amelia was lost for words again and so rather than make a reply she instead nodded and turned away to begin her research.
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