In front of Ann was a lightning snake several dozen meters long, easily big enough to swallow her whole.
Suited up in her radiant armor, she appeared to be a knight fending off a dragon, keeping it from feasting upon the innocent. Her orange hair still bellowed with the wind, and her orange eyes narrowed while surveying the beast in front of her.
She could not deny the increasing severity of the matter. Every time there was a clash, there would be a winner, but it never ended there. This fight hasn't reached its climax yet; she wasn't even sure this would be it. In fact, she had a sneaking suspicion that this was indeed the case.
However, the snake obviously wouldn't wait for someone else to attack, so as soon as it was created, it charged towards Ann furiously.
Ann used one of her enlarged arms to punch the head of the snake, and to counter it, it swung its tail at her.
The wind was pushed incredibly so by the tail, making it whistle, and when the two forces collided, the shockwave blew what little snow was around into the air like dust.
The short moment after however, a figure flew from the site of the shockwave; it was Ann.
She was sent a few hundred meters back, and the poor trees that got in her way were completely decimated. She ended face-first into a small hill that managed to catch her figure; not without it being leveled of course.
She coughed while getting up as some dirt and snow got into her mouth, and worst yet, when she looked down she saw her arm was bent out of shape.
In reality, her armor was the only thing keeping the arm together and was what prevented it from being completely mangled. Thus, Ann could only grunt as she forced her arm back into position, despite the broken bones, and let the youth serum cure it afterward.
This single interaction was enough for Ann to realize that fighting the snake in close combat was not a good idea. And seeing the monstrous figure of the snake topple trees to get to her, she also realized that laser beams wouldn't work either as they were too small to do fatal damage to a construct made of energy.
Thereafter, she could only come back to lob her balls at the snake while continuously retreating. Very quickly, the local environment resembled that of a ruined battlefield for about a mile. Pits were strewn all about; hundreds of trees were overturned or shattered; the ground was scorched black and fire seemed to spread from multiple points despite the current snowfall.
Unfortunately, despite its size, the snake was much nimbler than Ann first thought. Even using both hands wasn't enough to bring it down. Actually, it pretty much dodged all of her balls, and only when she got significantly closer to it did one connect.
The ball hit it square in the head, where it instantly ballooned to multiple times its size. The threads that made up the ball cut through the snake with its momentum like it was chopping onions. The head was split into dozens of pieces, but contrary to Ann's expectations, it did not disappear.
Rather, the pieces simply turned into snakes themselves before remerging with the rest. It let out an enraged hiss before swinging its tail, hitting squarely at Ann's side.
Sent flying once again, and the pain of broken ribs bursting into her brain, she could only sigh in frustration.
But, when she landed on another hill farther away, and saw the snake that forced its way to her, her eyes lit up. Indeed, her effort was not all for naught, for the snake had decreased in size slightly. Luckily, after all the stuff she's been through, her perception was more than high enough to see it.
With this breakthrough, she, a little too quickly, decided to sacrifice some more of her fetal organ to heal from the subsequent injuries that would come.
She continuously put herself too close to the snake to successfully launch her balls, causing it to rapidly lose its incredulous size overtime. Of course, because of that, she received consecutive injuries, which were soothed and healed with the youth serum.
Eventually, after a few minutes of reckless dog-fighting with the snake, it's size diminished enough where Ann grabbed it with her hand and crushed it.
By the end of it, Ann's expression eased for about a second before it became filled with terror.
She hurriedly returned back to the receiver where the group was, only to find that Kingsley was already standing in front of them with a grin.
Back during the fight, she had seen that to control the snake, since it wasn't a living being to be able to control itself, he pretty much had to stay still. It just needed that much focus from him. Granted, he could move, but it would definitely distract him.
But now she removed the thing that distracted him, and that the snake had even lured her further out, he was free to do what he wanted.
She wanted to call out for them to run, but before she could, someone else did.
"Mistress Queenie, please run from this devil, he's no longer your brother!"
From the direction of the fallen avalanche, a voice shouted loudly, though it sounded a little muffled. And at that exact moment, the snow that fell from the avalanche rumbled before it crumbled as a figure flew out from within.
The figure was that of a male human. He was middle-aged, forties or fifties; had short brown hair and a beard.
Most importantly however, he wore all red clothing… just like Kingsley and Queenie. However, at the moment, it was torn mostly to shreds, with some parts hanging on his person. Frozen blood covered him from head to toe, and he had multiple jagged burn marks.
His eyes were filled with unparalleled fury as he looked at Kingsley, and while his aura was weak, it was clearly that of someone who was rank-4.
"Eh? Lucerne, buddy, you're still alive?"
Kingsley's face showed no change in expression besides the smirk that had pulled on his mouth.
But the man called Lucerne was utterly infuriated. He clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his blood-caked and burned skin, drawing more blood. Soon after, though, he calmed down.
"Kingsley, I suggest you get away from the mistress."
"Oh? Playing favorites again? You never did serve me as good as you did my sister. Hmm… I wonder why that is?"
"Quit playing chic with me boy, now move," said Lucerne as he began walking towards the group. But, Kingsley stayed calm.
"Oh? Boy? You mean the same boy that almost killed you back up that mountain? That boy?"
"Yes, the same boy that ran away from home with his tail between his legs. I must say, you really are great at running away from me for all those weeks. And... I always doubted why you suddenly stopped up that mountain, but now I know why."
At this point, everyone had put it together.
Lucerne seemed to have been a servant of the siblings, and when Kingsley ran away after trying to kill his sister, his father sent him. This was the person that the father had sent to handle Kingsley, and allow for Queenie to return, but it was clear now that he failed.
After pursuing him for a long time, Kingsley stopped at this mountain and Lucerne caught up. A fight broke out, which looked at the kind of damage people of the upper ranks can cause, and it ended up triggering an avalanche. Nevertheless, Lucerne was almost killed and here they were.
But how did Kingsley know to stop here, at the mountain right next to the place where Queenie and the rest would emerge from eventually?
Despite all the talking and explanations of the plot, Lucerne continued walking towards the group. He eventually made it past Kinglsey, but he didn't stop him and maintained the same smile. Once Lucerne made it to Queenie, he sighed in relief before holding her shoulder gently.
"Lucerne, I—"
"Shush, don't worry about anything. I'll get you out of here."
He said those words softly to her, but in her eyes, something was different. He was… smiling. It was eerily similar to the way her brother was smiling as well. Even his eyes were different; they were previously a light brown, but they were completely black now.
He then raised his other hand, as if to pat her head, but before he could do anything he was shot in the head with a laser beam.
With a thud, he fell to the ground, right in front of everyone, absolutely dumbfounding them.