The Serpent God Apophis looked at them standing in front of him with an expression of joy on his face. It had been several weeks without seeing other people because he had to hide in a cave where there was almost no sunlight to be seen. The darkness that shrouded the entire area in the cave made the mind feel dull and emotionless. But now he began to feel doubly energetic than before, especially fighting with these children, which made his body and mind come back to life again.
*A loud rumbling sound came from Apophis' stomach*, causing him to stand and clutch his stomach from hunger.
"Is there something for me to eat?" Apophis asked.
"There's bread and sausage sandwiches." Mariel replied, pulling out two large packages of supplies from her bag and handing them to Apophis.
"Thank you very much." Apophis said as he opened his mouth wide and took a large bite of bread.
Mariel and Segal stand starving as Apophis eats bread and sausage sandwiches. It didn't take long for everything to Apophis's stomach completely.
"Ah....it's delicious." Apophis said, gently rubbing his stomach in delight.
"Lord Apophis arranged for me to come to this cave. Do you have something important to tell me?" Mariel asked curiously.
"I'm hungry!" Apophis replied with a straight face. Both children were stunned by this answer.
"Just kidding. I want to see you, Mariel." Apophis replied with a laugh.
"If I remember correctly, it is as if Lord Apophis was being hunted down by the Northern Capital Alliance, right?" Segal asked.
"That's right, they've been hunting me for quite some time. That's why I must hide in various places like this." Apophis replied.
"But you killed the leader of that city. No wonder they are hunting you down," Segal said.
"I heard this from my dad and mom as well." Mariel added.
"Lol, I was slandered and blamed!" Apophis shouted.
"What?" Both children were suspicious.
"The Deputy Leader, named Zakidis, conspired with his acquaintances to secretly poison the wine glasses prepared for the reception of myself and the Leader that night. That's right...Curtis, the leader who is discussing an important mission with me. The poison is prepared from a variety of highly poisonous herbs and involves many steps in its creation which had no toxins to be left in the body and causing bruises all over the body as if it had been secretly attacked, causing internal injuries in many places." Apophis explained.
"Then why did they use this opportunity to organize? Even though there are many times that it is easy to secretly poison to the leader Curtis." Segal further inquired.
"To kill two birds with one stone. Because I don't be a good guy, especially when doing evil things or profit. They are the most important things to me. If they can get rid of both Leader Curtis and me, that's even better. They can easily blame it on me, but that's a pity." Apophis replied.
"You are immune to all types of poison, right?" Marielle asked.
"That's right. In fact, they knew this very well, but they tried to use the poison that they thought was as strong as me. It couldn't do any harm to me. How foolish." said Apophis.
"Did you still have to hide until now, even though it was such a long time ago?" Segal asked.
"They had many support groups in each main city using widespread distribution. They cut off my finances by temporarily closing my bank account and sent forces to chase me throughout every city again. That's why I had to use the technique to change my body to look like an old man and block all my Magic power from them who's tried to capture me." Apophis said.
(No wonder why I couldn't clearly see this old man's face because he had to hide his face, so he didn't get caught.) (Chai thinking)
"But don't worry. I have a plan, just wait for the right time to revenge, Lol." Apophis said with a sly smile.
"Thank you very much for explaining everything to us." Segal said.
"Alright! Thank you for coming to see me, it is time to learn the secret technique of dark magic, namely Illusionary Shadow." Apophis said.
"Illusionary Shadow?" Marielle said with doubt.
"That's right. This technique is a technique that I invented myself, using dark magic combined with my personal serpent skills, resulting in an illusionary figure that I am very proud of. I used it once when I helped you fight the dark mage Dekiran, remember?" Apophis said.
Mariel nod.
Mariel and Segal both stared, wondering why Apophis, who was in the body of an old man wearing a full robe, stood still, but... suddenly, what they were both wondering about appeared.
Old Man Apophis' body slowly trembled until it looked deformed. His hands, feet, arms, and legs twisted left and right until they were changed. The body expanded until it became larger and then shrank alternately until it was strange.
*Apophis shouted and roared*, causing black smoke to come out of his body and cover the entire large hall.
"Stay behind me, Mariel." Segal said, covering himself in front of Mariel in case danger occurred.
Black smoke scattered throughout the area. The black shadow slowly became more and more visible. The body of a man, nearly two meters tall, stood out imposingly under a pitch-black robe.
Mariel and Segal were both stunned by the large man standing in front of them. From his appearance, he didn't look like someone who was hundreds of years old because his face still looked young and handsome, short black hairstyle and eyes bright red like blood. There was something on the left side of his neck, it was a tattoo of a black snake symbol. Underneath the long, pitch-black robes, the personality was even more terrifying. But the thing that drew everyone into a trance the most was his smile, which looked as charming as the divinity.
"I would like to reveal my true identity. This is me, Apophis, the legendary serpent god." Apophis said.
"Just saw the real thing for the first time. You don't look like someone who is hundreds of years old." Mariel said.
"I didn't know that he was hundreds of years old, I thought you was not yet 50 years old." Segal added.
"These two are just as eloquent, Lol." Apophis laughed at the flattery from them.
The atmosphere seemed relaxed, not too tense. Combined with their friendliness of them, the intimacy has increased accordingly.
"Alright, come and sit in front of me, Mariel." Apophis said, sitting down on the ground and preparing to use his dark magic until it appeared as a black energy surrounded him.
"Can you trust him? Mariel." Segal asked because he still couldn't completely trust Apophis.
"It's okay." Mariel said, walking forward and sitting down in front of Apophis.
"Close your eyes," Apophis said, and Mariel slowly closed her eyes.
The black magic energy that surrounded Apophis slowly returned to gathering on the fingers of Apophis' right hand that slowly reached out and touched Mariel's forehead.
"With the power of dark magic and the ancient serpent god ancestor within me. Illusionary Shadow, show your power now!" Apophis shouted as the hissing of snakes sounded from all directions without stopping. Even Segal was trembling with fear because he was like himself in the middle of a forest of snakes that could not be seen with his eyes and were ready to pounce and attack any time that he was not careful.
Black magic energy shot through Mariel's forehead and down into the Qi inside her body, like a serpent, moving and slithering throughout her body. The pain spread throughout and was almost unbearable. Her veins began to bulge out on the face, neck, torso, arms, and legs until they were clearly visible. Sweat began to flow from the body without stopping until it was drenched. Mariel began to tremble. Her eyebrows knit together, and her concentration became unstable because of the increasing pain. She almost wanted to open her eyes and give up on practicing this Illusionary Shadow skill.
Apophis investigated Mariel's body and was quite surprised because the energy lines within this body were different from those of ordinary people which has a spiral shape and has red, blue, green, and light green colors arranged in an orderly manner without division.
"This kid is truly extraordinary. Just like that person, Lol." Apophis praised as he thought of another person in his mind.
Mariel, on the other hand, is enduring the pain she has received more and more because the power of dark magic is quite different from other types of magic. Fusion with other types of magic takes quite a bit of time.
"Concentrate." Mariel tried to calm herself so that her body could accept the dark magic that was flowing aimlessly through her body.
"Are you okay, Mariel?" Segal said with concern because he saw that his sister was shaking continuously.
"Accomplish it, you are my first disciple. You can do it!" Apophis urged.
*Ouch*.... Mariel spit out blood from her mouth until it was all over the floor. Her face became even more pale. The fusion of dark magic was still not as successful as he had hoped.
"Well, I think it would be a good idea to stop this practicing." Segal tried to beg them to stop training for the first time because he feared that Mariel would be in danger to her life.
"No! It would be success." Apophis denied harshly.
"But she won't be able to stand it any longer." Segal said, preparing to come in and stop the practice this time.
"Don't come in while she is training, it's dangerous!" Apophis shouted.
"Anyway, my sister's life is more important than her training. I can't take it anymore." Segal was about to touch Mariel to bring her back to her senses.
Suddenly....
Black light shot out around Mariel so violently that Segal was thrown back far away. Apophis trembled only slightly.
In front of them, Mariel regained consciousness as before. The bulging blood vessels on the body had completely disappeared. Her eyes changed from gray to red. At this time, the black magic energy had completely merged into one with the others in her body.
"Very good! That's my disciple. Exactly as I expected, Lol!" Apophis laughed happily.
"Mariel, are you alright?" Segal said, coming to take a closer look. He saw that Mariel's eyes were red, but her expression was calm, and she nodded once to him that she was fine.
"It's hard to find a child who can gain the power of dark magic. You are extraordinary, Mariel." Apophis continued to praise.
"I have to try to control my dark magic because it's a bit more unusual than other forms of magic." Mariel said, trying to keep her mind with herself as much as possible.
"Most definitely. Normally, people who can succeed must be 18 years of age or older or have strong enough magic power to learn this, but you are one of the few children who can complete dark magic under the age of less than 18, like me. Lol." Apophis said, looking at Marielle with delight.
"And will it cause harm to her body in the future?" Segal asked.
"If it can be controlled, there is nothing to worry about. Dark magic power is just like any other magic. You just need to control this power very well." Apophis explained.
"I'm beginning to control my powers." Mariel said.
"Very good. Now, it's time for some real training. My Illusionary Shadow, keep eyes on me." Apophis said as he slowly stood up and turned on his dark magic to the maximum power.
A huge amount of black magic power radiated from Apophis' body. This caused Mariel and Segal to walk backwards because they could not stand the pressure of this power.
"What kind of power is this?" Segal said.
"I could barely see anything." Mariel said.
In front of them, it appeared as a cloud of black smoke covering the entire area to the point where they could not see their surroundings clearly.
After a while, the black magic power scattered throughout the main hall slowly returned to the figure in the center of the smoke.
A voice shouted as if it had released something that had not been revealed for a long time. A pair of red eyes stared at these children, causing them to tremble in fear.
When the smoke had almost completely disappeared, Mariel and Segal stood still as if they had been mesmerized by a spell, almost forgetting to breathe. Because the black body of Apophis in front of them was terrifying and powerful at the same time. The cruel aura spread like hundreds of sharp knives, ready to stab them at any time.
"Take a look, this is my true form of Illusionary Shadow, Dark Apophis!"