The royal python's head advanced from the bottom of the cave with extreme speed, burning away the distance between them. It took no notice of the collapsing cavern; on the contrary, its rush hastened its defeat.
The wrath in his piercing eyes like a sharp sword was directed at the human before him. It would devour him with relish without even leaving any bones behind.
As for the pup, he had a feeling it was peculiar, it would surely help him in his evolution.
It had to be known, that with special exceptions, for cultivators and possessors everything was based on their own strength and how much they could interact with their power.
But it was different for the beasts, they only needed to assimilate the core of other beasts to evolve. How much they could assimilate, well, that depended on how strong the assimilated beast was.
The core, then, was the very essence of a beast's life, and the same was true of any other living thing, but on different levels. For beasts, the core was their heart, for cultivators, their Dantian, and for possessors, their Pearl.
These were all concepts that Rada learned while studying with Cody, but nevertheless found very familiar thanks to the countless stories he read in his world.
As for the python that was chasing him, he knew very little. All he knew, he owed to Kiba's explanations; for everything else, he was in a minefield.
Still caught up in the excitement of the moment, Rada was completely unaware of what was happening behind him.
A bad feeling immediately brought him back to reality.
He looked back for a moment, bleached by fear, in a cold sweat.
The python's fangs, the size of kitchen knives, were only a few sizes away from him.
"Shit!" He exclaimed terrified.
In the desperate situation he was in, he could only rely on himself, anger and frustration began to fill his heart.
He knew he didn't stand a chance in a head-on collision against the python, however, the cave was in full collapse, plus the space was narrow enough for a large snake.
In that split second, Rada made a choice. A mad determination was reflected in his eyes, like a terrorist ready to blow himself up.
"Hey little guy, I'm sorry about how things turned out," she smiled at the puppy in her arms.
"Forgive me."
But what she did next would have left anyone speechless.
With the puppy in the palm of her hand, Rada threw it like a baseball straight for the exit with all her might. Thanks to the centrifugal force, the puppy became a veritable ball of fur that hurtled out of the cave at an impressive speed.
He was relieved to know that at least one of them would survive. Fear of death was one of his greatest fears, yet risking his life for others did not frighten him in the least.
What strange creatures humans are.
Determined to sell his skin dearly, Rada turned without hesitation; the python was right in front of him. He vowed that this would not only be the end of him, if he died, he would take the lizard with him to his grave.
"DIE!"
With a cry of immense roar, Rada threw his right fist at the python's big snout. He didn't care in the least if his gesture was useless or not, all he wanted was to stall until the cave collapsed completely.
But something happened that he hadn't expected at all, his right hand clenched into a fist, began to glow bright red. Sinuous veins stretched across its surface.
At the same instant:
"Boom!!!"
A flaming explosion spread between Rada and the python.
"SHAAA!!!"
The explosion did serious damage to the already weakened cave. The entire structure collapsed, burying the python in its rubble.
The python took the brunt of the blow to the face, while Rada was swept away by the shockwave. His body was shot out of the cave like a bullet, where it impacted against a tree. The impact was considerable, so much so that the tree could be heard creaking, it was as if it was groaning from the blow it received.
"Ouch... What the hell..."
Dazed and in pain, it took him some time before he regained his clarity.
The royal python was buried in the rubble.
Seeing the situation, he breathed a sigh of relief; although the odds were against him, he had managed to survive.
He shook his head to give himself a wake-up call and tried to get up.
"Ah!"
A sharp pain shot through his entire body, he felt weak.
After a few seconds, he noticed smoke coming from his right hand.
"The glove..."
Rada looked at his hand which was still radiating heat, the bright red from before was slowly fading away.
Unexpectedly, a tremor coming from the cave roused him from his thoughts.
"I don't believe it..." he said incredulously.
He looked towards the trembling rubble, despair taking over his heart, it was not over yet.
From the remains of the cave, rubble exploded away, leaving room for a nefarious figure, the royal python was still alive.
It emerged in all its length and power, despite the burn on its face that brutally disfigured it and the wounds it had sustained from the collapse, the python lost none of its fury.
An innate frenzy took hold of him, humiliated and frustrated, the proud snake swore in the name of his entire race that he would repay the affront a hundredfold!
He scanned his surroundings for a few moments before noticing the object of his hatred, which was just over ten metres away.
The python's extreme speed surprised Rada again, and he didn't even have a moment to think about his move.
The python's action was lightning fast, but so was Rada's response.
There were no manuals or courses that could prepare him for such a thing.
The only thing he relied on was the memory of his body, a memory he had honed hard over the years of training. He had no idea what he was doing, no time, all his instincts screamed was to sharpen the fingers of his right hand.
One step away from devouring the unworthy human alive, the python rediscovered an unexpected emotion for its breed, one it had never felt before, fear.
How could this be? Yes, it was true, he had suffered a severe blow, but not so severe as to frighten him, and all of a sudden.
Where had all his fury gone?
In that single moment, the python found itself without answers.
Why was it feeling so scared?
At the same moment, the python had its answer.
Rada, unmoving on his position, made his move, his joined, pointed fingers stretched out like a spear towards the python's eyes.
"RIIP!!!"
His hand, sharp as his determination, pierced through one of the python's eyes. But its stroke did not stop there, it continued to advance until it reached the python's brain, then clenched like a claw and tore it away.
Silence fell. Not a sound, not a cry, nothing.
All that could be seen at that moment was the silhouette of a boy with a bleeding right hand and a large, defenceless snake at his feet.