"Okay, everything is set. Now you just have to step in." One-eye said after finishing the magic circle. He stood over it and looked at it with pride like an artist admiring his artwork.
Raymond placed the last crystal in the box drawn on the circle.
"How long is this going to take?" Agnar asked getting up from his sitting position.
"Hmm..." One-eye stood in thought. "Four at once, and we have to do four more," he mumbled. "Normally this would take a few hours, but since it's you, ten minutes for the first one and ten for the second." He concluded.
"Ten minutes..." Agnar looked at his stopwatch again. "Okay then. Let's get started." He walked into the circle and sat in the middle with his legs crossed.
Somewhere in the forest behind them, two boys sent to survive against beasts beyond their strengths, were at the brink of death, if not already dead.
As Raten inched closer to the mouth of the beast, he moved his blade quickly and slashed as fast as he could.
"As I thought, your tongue isn't as tough as your skin." Raten said as his body dropped to the ground. He had made a cut to the beast's tongue when he was being lowered into its mouth. The snake reacted and instinctively let go.
Raten fell to the ground trying to get some air into his lungs.
"So when one of you feels pain, you all do?" He stood on his wobbly legs with his hand on his chest watching as the snake slithered about, crashing into trees and whatever was nearby.
Raten jumped out of the way at intervals avoiding getting smacked away.
*crahh! Hiss..ssaaah!
The snakes kept crying out but then turned at once and looked at Raten. The one with the cut tongue had a dark shade of blood dripping from its mouth.
Raten looked up at them and swung his sickles holding them firm.
"I can not beat you." He said after countless thoughts of how to get an edge in this battle.
"Well then, I just have to..."
He leapt backwards avoiding one of the heads. He saw two other approach him from the sides. He immediately placed his blades back in the sheath and bent his body back, placed his arm on the floor and did a flip causing both heads to collide.
He knew whatever move he made would not take him further enough from their large size, but would buy him enough time to escape. He made a flip, both heads collided and now he landed on the head of the same one he had cut the tongue off from - the python.
He held the horn on its head and hung on while the snake tried to shake him off its head. He did his best to hang on with both hands.
From the side of his eye, Raten saw the other heads come for him. The cobra dived in first. He pushed himself backwards a bit and then swung with the horn going up causing the cobra to miss him completely.
Raten swung off the python and grabbed onto the horn of the cobra.
Another head came at him. He immediately swung off the cobra and grabbed onto the horn of the viper.
Each time he jumped was a gamble. He could miss and fall into their mouths or one of them could grab him. But luckily for him, he landed right each time.
The cobra turned to Raten and spread its neck. Raten's lips formed a grin as he looked at the cobra. It opened its mouth and spat out venom.
"...use your powers against you." He completed his statement. He pulled on the horn of the viper and dragged it so it blocked the venom that came for Raten.
"One down,"
~SSSCRAHH!~
The viper shrieked in pain as it got hit. The scales on its head started to fall off. It shook violently. The other heads could feel the pain and writhed about as well.
Raten rolled off its tail but was sent back up by the movement of the snake. After a small ascension, he fell back down to the ground hard.
"Ugh.." He lay unmoving for a brief moment, but then groaned and turned. He got to his knees first.
"That was really painful. Any higher and I don't think I'd be getting up again, at least not without a few fractures." He said and got back up on his feet.
"Two more to... Huh?" He looked up at the snake in surprise.
The viper's head, although missing most of its scales and looked heavily scarred, was fine. If the beast could show emotion, he could see now they were beyond pissed.
The cobra spat its venom at Raten.
He immediately jumped out of the way. Coming from the mouth of a beast that size, the venom covered a wide range and Raten's right foot couldn't miss it completely. He fell to the side and immediately looked at his leg.
"GAARGHH!!" He held onto his right leg. It felt as if his leg was burning. His skin began drying off and his left foot shriveled up like a dried leaf.
The pain was beyond what Raten had imagined it to be and he was barely touched by the venom. He bit down on his lip to stop himself from screaming too much not so he doesn't attract other beasts.
Still, the pain was too much.
Raten kept screaming but it came out in muffled grunts. Tears that welled up escaped his eyes. He rolled from side to side, gripping onto his leg as if it would stop the pain, but it only got worse.
The snake began slithering its way over to where he laid.
"A head for a leg." He huffed, pulling himself up with the aid of a tree. He stood on just one leg while glaring at the beast.
"Just when I thought I could end this." He was beginning to lose his will to fight or the pain was getting to him. Either way, he hadn't made a move.
The python then moved in to bite down. Raten jumped to the right just in time. He pulled out his blade and cut the beast in the eye. It crashed into the tree and began moving in pain again.
Raten was on the floor bearing pain of his own. The venom was spreading. From his foot, it had now gone past his ankle and kept making its way up.
He and the snake both were on the ground writhing in pain.
"I have to survive this. Seeing that man disappointed is scarier than this legless ugly." Raten pushed through the pain and pulled his body up on one foot.
The snake caught him with its tail and wrapped him up. It lifted him up in the air and this time rushed in to eat. After almost losing a head, and wounded an eye, it must at least reward its stomach. This meal was proving to be too much trouble for its worth.
The python opened its mouth and moved its tail, bringing Raten closer. The cobra was ready to spit again in case Raten tried anything.
"This is risky, but what other option do I have?" Raten gulped looking into the snake's mouth. He shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. He lifted his free arm and put it in front of the snake.
Raten's body emitted a glow. A magical beast would sense magic, wouldn't it? The snake immediately closed its mouth and the cobra was about to spit but was too late.
Out of Raten's arm came a lightning bolt that struck the snake. As large as it was, not a single part of the snake was saved from it. The beast was covered in the white light of heat and shock, followed by burns and pain. When the light died, Raten saw the snake frozen and missing most of its scales. Its eyes looked dead.
"Is it? Did I?" He wondered. His body then slipped through the snake's hold. He fell to the floor and turned immediately to look at the snake.
A grin stretched on his face, but was soon wiped away. The tail of the snake began moving slowly. He looked at it both in worry and shock.
"I-It's moving? Why? How are you moving?!" Raten struggled to push himself back up to his feet. The snake heads that were frozen then turned at once to face him. If they showed emotions, now they would be beyond furious.
"Ha," Raten sighed. "I took that risk for nothing." He placed an arm on his chest feeling a slight tinge of pain and it wasn't from the snake's venom.
The cobra bared its fangs. This time, the venom spat covered a wide range and Raten escaped by the skin of his teeth. He jumped on one foot to the side. He lost balance and rolled off into the distance.
The fall was hard and had put pressure on the affected leg.
"AGHH!" He held onto his leg and screamed but immediately bit down on his one arm to stop himself from making any more noise. He bit so hard, blood was beginning to drip from his right arm. He pushed himself up again, hopping on one foot.
He turned and saw the three-headed snake launch at him. Its body slithering its way to him. He turned to move but was caught by the mouth of the python.
"Oh, no."
It was about to swallow, but the greedy viper came in. In that split second, Raten bent his body back with his legs holding the mouth of the python. He caused the viper to miss and bite down on the python.
Its fangs went in to the python sending waves of venom into its head. The fang pierced down almost touching Raten who now slid out of the mouth and fell to the floor.
He looked up at the snake that now removed itself from the python and wiggled about in pain.
"Well, you ended you." He shrugged.
The snake writhed about, slapping Raten with its tail in the process, pushing him further into the forest.
He groaned in pain after colliding with the bark of a tree. He tried pushing himself up again but was met with a horrendous fate.
The snake looked barely affected by the venom. Just the python's head was. The cobra in retaliation began spitting venom in different directions. Raten could not escape this one.
"AARGHH!" He shouted as the venom touched his other leg. He hurriedly placed his arm over his face to cover it, but now his right arm was hit.
"AARGHH! AAAARGHH!" He shouted again and rolled around. His arm was now shriveling. He was being spat on everywhere. His screams were very loud, they scared the birds in the trees away.
While in pain, he still tried to scurry away by dragging what was left of his body on the grass. The snake slithered close to him.
Raten turned to look back. His vision was blurry. He couldn't tell if it was from his tears or his consciousness slipping away.
He panted and struggled to move once more before collapsing to the ground.
Right beside him, the heads of the snakes sliced off cleanly and fell to the ground. Raymond placed his sword back in its sheath in one swift move.
One-eye picked up Raten by his shirt and threw his shrivelled body over his shoulder.
"So, is it a pass?" He asked Agnar who had Kiyan's badly burnt body over his shoulder.
He said nothing and walked off. They went with him.
____________
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