…This is getting suspicious. I could sense a hint of deception, but nothing should be capable of enduring the flames past a certain point

  The flames can be manifested from literally anything. There must be at least one energy used that this creature is susceptible to… And even then, she should have reached the point where divine flames should have been in intervention

  The self-proclaimed ‘Judge’ was starting to grow a little bit anxious. Had its fool-proof judgement met its match? The thought was deeply worrying. It was the entire source of why it had been worshipped as a deity of vengeance and retribution. If its tool to enact punishment was proven faulty, what would this mean for its right to godhood?

  It was still but a mere, earth-bound idol! Such an event, before it could even pretend to the right to ascend to the divine realm, would be sure to leave it stuck here for many more centuries to come!

  No, this is not possible, I could see, I could tell… This woman-beast does not even have that high a fire resistance. But then… How does she still live? I trapped her whole, neither her soul, spirit or anything else was able to escape my attention…

  The supposedly divine monster circled the pure black dome, its ability had manifested into existence. Within, at this very moment, Mara Nebulo, a fiend the likes of which it had rarely seen, should be burning to death most agonisingly.

  It had created this punishment, so it knew well that by now, she should be done for and the dome should have disappeared… In fact, it should have disappeared a long time ago already!

  Mmh…? What is happening?

  There was a crack in the dome.

  I knew I should have gotten myself human worshippers! I am lacking divine energy to maintain my punishment!

  The abomination growled with ire, unwilling to expend every drop of divine energy it had worked hard to acquire. It decided to cancel the punishment right now. If this steel sinner insisted on not dying, then it–The Judge, who would eventually rise as a proper deity alongside Nemesis, then it would just need to solve this problem using its own hands!

  With a swipe of one of its many hands, The Judge cancelled the punishment, causing the dome and flames within it to vanish altogether, revealing the sinner hidden within.

  What is this…?!

  ___

  “I–I–I–I–I AM HEEEEEEERE!”

  Oh my, my voice sounds awful right now! Sounds like I'm drowning whilst choking with a knife through my throat.

  But I don’t actually have much time to question the massacre that is my voice. I instantly lunge at the self-proclaimed god, and frankly, it is quite disgraceful for a divine being to be so scared of me… I can feel its fear pouring into me.

  Snakey-Bear-Arm Boy is positively scared out of its wits. If I had to guess, it’s because its divine repertoire is limited to just the punishment thingy. Not that I actually care, this vile thing isn’t going to just let me walk away, with its spiel about being an adjudicator, representing justice and whatever nonsense. There isn’t a snowball's chance in hell that it will allow a ‘sinner’ to get away, and the room is blocked off anyway.

  So whether devil, god, or whatever else, I have to murder it right now.

  Without hesitation, I lunge forward, tackling directly into the serpentine abomination as the ugly thing cried out in pain, trashing its body against the walls and ceilings in a hurry to get me off, but alas–That will not happen, as much as it may try to peel me off by using its abundance of hands, all that is accomplished is self-harm.

  I felt so tiny and weak in front of you before, but how the tables have turned!

  “S–C-CCC–R–E–A-M! L E T M E H E A R Y O U B E G”

  It hisses and roars, losing all of its earlier stature and almost noble presence. At the end of a day, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. A feral beast, even with a divine power, remains a lowly beast nonetheless.

  The ability to speak meant nothing as to its true level of intelligence. Once push comes to shove, it immediately falls back on its instincts rather than logical reasoning.

  It is as simple as that! I am just INHERENTLY superior to this thing to begin with.

  It does not have the means to deal with me now that it has expended its punishment and that I have acquired this new form…

  Now, my system panel bore a new entry. That of my different shapes.

  Currently, there are only two.

  Base Form - Most balanced, equipped with the means to properly use tools, a humanoid form, a strong frame, and full access to the array of upgrades

  Molten Steel Form - Acquired from pushing the ‘Flame Resistance’ upgrade to the advanced stage, as well as enduring a seemingly hopeless trial by fire

  This form granted heightened resistance to various damage types, in particular, to fire and physical damage. When assuming this form, the majority of the steel making up your body will melt and become malleable, allowing you to manipulate your body in much more flexible ways

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  You can also project a stream of molten steel from your searing maw

  Upon assuming this form, the physical and non-physical will meld into one

  The size of this form can be enhanced by spending consumed steel at the moment of the transformation

  For the inauguration of this new ability of mine, I didn’t hesitate to spend some steel when I transformed, allowing me to ram into the bear-faced serpent and actually wrestle it into submission through my sheer weight.

  It was important to note that the few parts of me that did not melt and instead took on an incandescent shine as they were heated to incredible degrees were my arms, maw, and head.

  As such, my two purple dots could still be seen amidst the white shine that my body now emitted, but most importantly, I could ruthlessly punch and claw at my enemy whilst I wrapped my molten body around it.

  My prey was proving resilient, but the snakey judge had no way to get rid of me. All attempts at tearing me off have resulted in burns that could probably be qualified as fourth-degree burns, though I don’t really know what the difference is between each degree in this case.

  I extended my neck to bite down upon its spine, my bite causing flesh to ignite as I puked molten steel directly into the wound, making the monster thrash even harder, but the only one getting hurt from hitting the walls was itself.

  I quickly took out its eyes and seeped into its maw, scorching him from the inside out… The dead flesh that arose from the burns was directly consumed by my body. I was eating that bastard alive.

  The agony could have been extended for far longer, but I took very little pleasure in hearing a mindless beast cry out in pain. It just lacked something that people had, a certain quality that turned mundane cries to a pleasant sonority…

  My molten steel coated the inside of its trachea and lungs, wrapping around and crushing its heart, as more seeped into its brain. Even then, the serpent proved resilient and resisted its fate.

  Ultimately, however, there was no way for a false god to survive this.

  “I–I–I–IF YOU’RE A G O D, TH E N WHA T AM I? F O O L W I T H D E L U S I O N S O F G R A N D E U R”

  With sick crunches, I swallowed its entire body into mine, leaving nothing but me within the underground chamber.

  The molten steel gathered and melded into, visibly cooling down, coalescing into my base form.

  Well… That was a worthy trip, don’t you agree, Nara?

  You nearly died, again

  Perhaps, but I absolutely couldn’t have expected that the statue would randomly come to life, right? You know, I feel that ever since I got myself squashed like a lemon, I have been running into far more odd coincidences and unexpected stuff.

  Any idea why that is?

  I know why, but I will definitely be smitten if I tell you

  Smitten by who?

  By THE System, or in more understandable terms, the equivalent of a mother to me

  Is that so? Am I the chosen one or something? No thanks, I would rather do my own thing… Anyway, since you can’t talk about it, would you mind explaining some things about my new form?

  What do you want to know?

  Most of it seemed to be explained, but what is the significance of the ‘physical’ and ‘non-physical’ melding together? Does it have to do with the earlier stuff telling me that my soul was melting?

  Precisely, the ‘Molten Steel’ form is a bit more complicated than steel heating up to a great amount

  Everything about you melts into a single substance, your soul, mind, spirit, inner energies, physical body, et cetera

  It all fuses into a single monolith, namely, the molten steel itself. It sounds complicated, but ultimately, it is a further defence and resistance bonus

  I’ll admit, I don’t see how a bunch of stuff fusing has to do with taking less damage from getting hit… I assumed that the fact that I was basically liquid was why I gained physical resistance, and the fire resistance was pretty damned obvious.

  It might seem overly complicated, but basically, the steel takes on the properties of everything at once, so theoretically, a physical strike also deals damage to your soul and the like. This sounds like a downside, but in truth, it is the opposite

  Although you technically expose yourself to more severe forms of damage, the fact is that when you are struck by a blade, the overall damage will still be reduced because it also strikes many things that it is not supposed to affect

  As you can expect, trying to punch someone's soul without the proper qualifications does not work

  So, in essence, you force your attackers to fight things that they don’t know how to fight, making every attack far less effective

  The same is true if you are targeted by a soul attack or whatever else

  To inflict sizable damage upon you in the ‘Molten Steel’ form, one either needs extreme firepower or the ability to strike absolutely everything that makes up your body at once… Of course, there are exceptions, as there always are

  So basically, this form is more about defence than offence, despite kicking ass?

  Basically, yes

  Damn, that’s pretty sweet.

  I felt quite upbeat about my new power, which seemed like a real evolution compared to the actual evolution I had gone through. I called on the nearest of my cute assistants, which turned out to be Elowen.

  “H–How long has it be–been?”

  The punishment had gone on for a while, but I had become a bit blind to the passage of time, which was both a blessing and a curse. I could do anything for any length of time without realising just how much time I was spending, but it also meant that I could easily get a bit lost.

  And at the moment, being in the midst of forging myself into a piece of folklore, I needed to be careful not to go unnoticed for too long, lest it hurt my rise to fame.

  “One…Month…”

  “Exa–xactly one month?”

  “Yes…”

  That’s not as bad as I thought. It had felt a whole lot longer whilst I was being burned alive.

  After I managed to clear the way out of the fallen rocks, I began walking back to my nearby cabin with Elowen, and apparently, even the tomboy wanted to hold my hand whilst telling me about the people they had scared and tormented during my absence.

  “The…Elders…And…Chiefs…Have…Remained…Obedient…”

  That’s good to hear. I guess I’ll go and give them a visit soon.