Chapter 159: 157

The serpent's tail was becoming more and more of an obstacle as time went by. No matter what I tried I was unable to damage it in the slightest. The only luck I'd had was with Vibro, but after a single success the serpent became less careless and simply worked diligently to keep me away from its ever growing desert of black sand.

Slowly but surely I was losing and soon I was pushed back to the ring of statues that represented my past lives. All I could do was curse and struggle to the best of my ability no matter how fruitless it seemed. Just as the sand began to pour into the ring it was suddenly pushed back. "You've been involved in far too much trouble, honestly, it's far too early, but it won't do to have us fall here."

I turned to the side as a woman's voice suddenly spoke out, and saw a woman dressed in black scale mail. "It is going to be extremely unpleasant when you wake up, far more so than any other time you've evolved, but nothing to be done, just try to endure okay?"

I recognized the woman, Vella Nivalis, Demon Dragon Queen, according to the plaque that resided before her while she was a statue. To be honest though, the sole reason I said she was female was due to the fact that whatever power she housed had Queen in the name, otherwise I might have though her to be male, or perhaps genderless.

I didn't know what race she was, but she looked like a humanoid dragon, black scales covered her entire body, large wings unfurled from her back along with a thick tail, and that wasn't to mention the complete lack of defining female characteristics, although, for all I knew her race didn't have sexual dimorphism, or perhaps it was the men that would appear more fragile.

I had opened my mouth to ask her a question, when I suddenly realized how quiet it was. The giant serpent had ceased all of its activity and was now looking towards the center of the statue ring, where I and Vella stood. While I wasn't adept at reading the emotions of animals, I could tell that the snake was afraid. Its head had lowered meekly to the ground and its large red eyes stared transfixed, not on me, but upon Vella.

I could see Vella smile as she took a step forward and motioned for me to follow. "My dear little Apophis, what made you think you could take over the soul and body of the She-Demon's Shadow? Have you no respect for your ancient master?"

The serpent, Apophis, visibly shook, its large head gently shaking back and forth. "H-how was I supposed to know? I didn't mean to offend, please forgive me."

The sudden change of attitude surprised me. Just a few moments earlier Apophis had been arrogant and ruthless, yet now it was like a meek animal that was being scolded.

Vella shook her head, a cold, cruel, and authoritative look on her face. "It's too late, you've engrained yourself far too deeply, I'm afraid the only solution is death."

The serpent tensed, before suddenly lashing out. "I refuse! I've spent over a millennium planning my escape from this prison! Who cares if I offend Mynoghra, she's in a deep slumber still, so I doubt she'll even notice if a fragment or two is broken." Apophis continued to lash out, kicking up massive amounts of black sand, and trying to encroach into the small area I had left.

For the first time since we'd begun this strange battle, I could now feel the toll the serpent had taken on me. Memories were missing, and there was a dull ache inside my head. I placed a hand over my temple as my brow furrowed, before it subsided when I felt Vella's hand on my shoulder. "Scaled beasts are probably the most troublesome when they become powerful. I imagine you noticed how incredibly tough their scales are, however, they are not invincible, in fact, once you know their weakness, it's only a matter of being resolved."

I suddenly felt Vell's arm get lighter, and put less pressure on me as she started to become translucent, her form overlapping mine until it seemed we merged, however I didn't feel different, and from what I could tell I also looked normal as well. It was only when I heard Vell's voice in my head that I snapped out of the strange daze I'd been in. "A simple trick to find their weakness, jump into their mouths, or find another way inside. Unlike the outside, the inside is soft and easy to destroy, the Skill you got from Vellastria should help quite well, so get to it."

I tried asking for clarification only to receive silence as an answer, causing me to groan as I looked at the thrashing serpent. I didn't know how I felt about eating someone inside out, but if I wanted to retain myself I didn't have much of a choice. Thankfully Apophis was far more concerned with attacking whatever it could of my area that it didn't attempt to stop me as I scaled the tree trunk of a body it had and voluntarily tossed myself into its open maw.

I tumbled through the surprisingly soft fleshy interior, eventually coming to a halt as I felt the walls of flesh constrict around me. However, just as Vella had advised I began to Devour and consume Apophis. This was far more effective than consuming the area it had converted, and I could actually feel the progress of how much of this being I had consumed.

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Of course, just as with the area of black sand, memories began to flash through my head, wouldn't be the last time either, though most of the memories were just staying sedentary waiting for a fool to come along. What I hadn't expected was to also gain memories of Demonweb, or maybe he would have preferred if I called him Damian.

He stood staring at a life-like sculpture of a beautiful woman, a black snake wrapped around her body, though unlike the woman, the snake was an actual being, and had killed all his group, save himself and one other member who was badly injured and would probably die soon anyway.

The snake's deep red eyes stared into the man's eyes, a silent offer being transmitted straight into his head. "I can grant you extreme power, the power to accomplish the goal you seek. In exchange you must offer me your body, until I can find a suitable Vessel to inhabit. Should you refuse, you shall die like all your friends, do we have an agreement?"

He could only nod, while he didn't think the snake was actually telling the truth, it was better than death, and if it were to be speaking truthfully then he would be a fool to do otherwise. The name of the serpent reverberated in his head as it leapt at him and burrowed into his soul.

Apophis, The Sun-Eater.

He came to much later in the future, a beautiful Arachne woman that claimed to be his wife at his side. He'd apparently done much since returning from the expedition, though everyone said he'd become a different person, not something unusual for someone who witnessed the death of nine others who they'd called friend.

The beautiful Arachne called herself Ashara, and told him that everyone only knew him as Demonweb. He knew he was missing time and memories, sometimes days, sometimes weeks, yet he couldn't figure out where such a name had come from. It took some time before he realized that the one all the people knew as Demonweb was the serpent that had inhabited him. He began to hate the name and the serpent along with it and soon, unable to bear the stress, he told Ashara what had transpired and asked for her to call him Damian, his actual name, one he hadn't been called once since he'd made the deal with the serpent.

Ashara didn't believe him at first, but the more time she spent with him, the more she realized that it was the only possible explanation for his strange and sudden changes in personality. Demonweb, who was cold, calculating, and set on their path, and Damian, a soft and idealistic soul who enjoyed the simple things.

While Ashara never fell in love with Damian, she preferred him over Demonweb and often spent much of the time he was around with him. However, she was still young, and didn't truly understand Damian, which caused him to misunderstand and become enamored with her. However, despite the strong emotion he had for her, Demonweb was dominating more and more of his life, and it wasn't until he woke one night to the muffled sound of sobbing that he began to harden his resolve.

Demonweb had committed a grave sin, one that Damian would never be able to forgive. It had forcibly taken her first time. To prepare a Vessel, it had told her. The struggle between Demonweb and Damian would wear on and on until the fateful day Damian realized that Ashara was pregnant. Try as he might, Damian could not overturn the advantage that Demonweb had, and he knew that it was slowly encroaching further, infecting him as it refused to obey his will.

And so Damian did the only thing he could think of. Tasking a young Arachne guard he'd seen that held similar feelings for Ashara as himself to keep her safe and to flee the city with her. It was a shame that he would never be able to see his child, but better for them to be safe than to be under the thumb of the cruel and heartless snake. In his final act of defiance he chained himself in a special cell, hoping to delay Demonweb even a second.

The next time he woke, he was no longer in the cell, nor was he able to dictate any of his actions, he could only watch like a spectator from his own eyes as time passed, Demonweb not awakening once in the nearly two decades as his body disobeyed his will and hunted down Ashara and his child.

I screamed out as I found myself on the floor of the ritual room, pain wracking my entire body. None of my Skills worked and I couldn't even bring up my Status, but the horrid sound of snapping and cracking gave me a general idea of what was happening. Much like how Steria had gone through Corruption, it seemed that my body was being remade, something that probably waited until I molted usually.

I now understood why Vella had said it was too early, I'd molted only a few months ago, so it would be a long time before I would molt once again. I could only try and suppress my screams and pain as I was forced to endure the experience practically alone, only Renae watching, but unable to offer help, let alone words of encouragement due to her restraints.

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