RECLAIMING THE SERPENTS AND THE TREE
"The Mother of Serpent became the Mistress of Temptation after she became the guardian of the Garden of Eden. The Seven Deadly sins were the Temptations that evolved from her, and I am one of them- Greed", Ratatouille told us about his origin.
"So, she is your real mother?" I asked him.
"In a way yes but also no. Temptation does not come from the Serpent mother, it exists in nature all along. We were just called into existence by her", he explained to us.
"No wonder your loyalty to the Mother is deficient", I said to him.
"Loyalty? Are you serious? If you know the Unholy Trinity long enough, you'll know they cannot be trusted at all. Why do you think none of us Anti-Saints will willingly follow you after the Dark Angel's return except me?", he told us.
Ratatouille was the only one among the Seven Deadly Sins that I recovered from the Temple of Deadly Sins who decided to join me in my journey. All the other Anti-Saints refused and went into remission.
Even then his loyalty was half-hearted at best. It took a long time before we gained each other's trust and friendship.
"Damnit, you should have told us about that before", I said.
"I was afraid of the Dark Angel's souls in you before so I never said much about it, but I can tell now because they became useless", Ratatouille told us.
"What makes you so certain they couldn't be our match?" I asked him.
"Because you have help from the gods. First it was the ancient gods of Valhalla, then the chaos god Delirium and later, the Ayen monkey god. Even the girl in the Rubix cube is favoring you. I'll take a bet on your side if you have these gods as allies", Ratatouille told me.
"That and the fact that nobody runs scams better than this fool", Sara added.
-----
We released Rinna from her chains and began exploring the prison chamber of Lilith.
"Is there a way out of this place or should we return to the surface", Ratatouille asked us.
"There is a secret entrance in this prison", Sara told us suddenly after she found a secret exit.
After Lilith was gone, an exit appeared in the prison.
"Shall we go?" Ratatouille asked us.
Before we replied to him, Ranas asked us, "May we follow you from now on?"
"You two headed snakes? No way", Sara replied to them.
"We are loyal to the Mother of Dragons and she is gone now. You are not her enemy. So, you are not ours either", Ranas told us.
"Lilith's mark on these snake women is gone. They may be cunning, but they wouldn't hurt you if you mark and accept them into your ranks", Ratatouille said to Rinna.
"Are you sure you can accept these Lililiths into your soul realm? Would they be under the Mother of Serpent's spell and control?" I asked Rinna.
Rinna thought about the matter for a while before she replied, "the Mother Nahase does not possess my children. They are safe in my soul realm," before she addressed Ranas, "Will you serve me?"
"Yes, you shall be our new Mistress from now on", Ranas and the Lililiths replied to her.
Rinna touched the bell on her neck before she marked her soul magic on the Lililiths and they soon disappeared. They entered her soul realm for refuge.
She ensured the mother of Serpent would not be able to affect her serpents. The Bell of Separation made sure of that.
-----
Suddenly, the prison chamber pulsed with a strange, powerful aura. Magical lines illuminated the ground and walls, all originating from Rinna.
She was casting a spell—a familiar one.
Before her, a cube materialized, floating within the circle of magic she had summoned.
"The Tesseract of Delirium"
Without hesitation, she released the Bell of Separation into the air, ignoring our warnings. This artifact had protected her from the soul of the Serpent Mother, Nahase. But Rinna was no longer afraid.
She had shed her fear of Nahase.
All at once, massive withering growths sprouted throughout the chamber. They were the branches of the red withering tree—Rinna's inheritance from her Trial of Temptation.
Nestled within the branches were her loyal serpents: Neheb, Nehess, Nihile, Naraie, Medusa, and her latest recruits, the snake-women, Lililiths. These serpents were not just allies but her devoted servants.
A furious scream echoed through the chamber.
"Arrghhhh!" It was the voice of the Serpent Mother, realizing that her grip over Rinna was slipping.
Instead of controlling her, Nahase was the one now being restrained.
In a startling move, Rinna let her dress fall to the floor, leaving us stunned marveling at her naked silence.
Then, the entire chamber seemed to dissolve into swirling magical ink, which circled around Rinna before sinking into her skin.
As it did, the ink formed intricate tattoos—markings of the Serpents in the Tree—branding her body with their power.
-----
"What have you done? You are my daughter, all I did was for your betterment", Nahase said to Rinna.
"No, all you wanted was for me to help you realize your resurrection with your husband and his other concubine later, using our ascension as the Trinity of Revelations. You do not care about me at all", Rinna told the Serpent Mother.
"That is not true. All I did was for the Revelations. For you. You need my guidance to unravel the Revelations", Nahase protested.
"Your time is gone. Even if I may be a part of the Revelations, it will be my Revelations and not yours anymore. You are no longer needed in my Revelations", Rinna told Nahase.
Nahase tried to take control of Rinna's soul but somehow, she couldn't. Rinna's control of her soul magic became much stronger.
"How can your soul be this mighty all of a sudden?" Nahase asked Rinna.
"You think that way because you have underestimated me. I've been living for thousands of years and my time in this soul realm is far longer than yours. In my realm, you shall hold no sway and besides I have help from Divine artifacts that can limit your hold on me", Rinna told Nahase.