Death. Crippling. Decay. Pain.
Brain death. Soul collapse. Organ failure.
Few understood death as intimately as Serpentine, for he had neared it countless times. On several occasions, he had even experienced real death – in nearly every conceivable way.
Which was why, now, he knelt in a field of undeath, where mortality had been stripped away, voided in a realm of shadow. His breath came ragged, his body bruised and battered as he collapsed between the writhing bodies of a human and a kobold.
Seconds passed. Or was it minutes? Hours? There was no way to tell.
'Elçi wouldn't let us actually die... would he?'
As if answering his unspoken thought, the lightless domain twisted. Shadows stretched and writhed, forming into threads that sewed torn tissue, sealed wounds, and siphoned lost fluids back into their rightful places. Serpentine shivered as the shadows wrapped around him, their chill snaking up his spine.
'This... this level of control isn't normal.'
The shadows shifted, slinking into Surend's belt and draining the healing potions within. Their contents mingled with the darkness, injected directly into veins and wounds. Slowly, the mist receded, leaving behind living tissue regenerated, the injuries healed for good.
And it wasn't just one potion.
'Healing. Mana. Stamina. Focus.'
They had everything.
Strength surged through Serpentine like a dam breaking. His body rejuvenated, stamina flooding his limbs. Magic coursed through his veins, and his mind sharpened, clearer and more awake than it had been in years. Fatigue – of body, mind, and spirit – vanished entirely.
Ignoring the groans of the human and the hissing of the kobold, Serpentine sprang to his feet, rushing toward the nearest wall. He ran straight into it, then vaulted up and performed a flip, landing on the floor with a flourish.
He whistled, dusting his hands. "Those are some damn good potions."
Elçi chuckled. "Why, yes my lord. Surend personally concocts his potions, mixing his alchemical expertise and mastery in acupuncture to assure the highest quality."
Serpentine hummed, as if in thought, but did not say anything.
"You... what are you?" Adam rasped, still recovering.
"Hm? Oh right. I'm... imagine a Human but Evolved by Chaos and then Mutated by the Cosmos." Serpentine scratched his head, making up a terrible metaphor for his demonic birth and angelic ascendance.
"What... wassss that powerrrr?" Surend hissed, starting at him with constricted serpentine eyes.
Elçi leaned in too, his eyes trailing over the demon's long, slender fingers of onyx black, where the black flash once crackled. Adam gazed into his eyes, as if awaiting an answer.
"Well..." Serpentine twirled fiddled his horns.
It was an answer the demon did not want to reveal just yet.
"It's a power not of this world." He settled on a good ol' half-truth for his answer.
Elçi nodded, his eyes closing for a few seconds, before he muttered, "The Void..."
Surend and Adam's gazes snapped towards him, eyes wide.
Serpentine coughed. "Can you please try to unveil my secrets when I'm not around?"
Surend blinked his reptilian pupils. "Right... we apologisssse..."
The demon smiled, before changing the topic. "You two fought damned well. You're terrifying."
The compliment seemed to elicit a smile from both warriors.
"Genuinely. Throwing needles at the speed of light is already terrifying enough, but you make them zero in on me with your manipulation abilities. That's horrifying."
The kobold's body uncoiled with deliberate grace, each scale catching the light as he stretched to his full length. His tail curled with subtle pride.
'Aww, he's so proud,' Serpentine thought, suppressing a grin.
"That's not even considering your knowledge of pressure points and the toxins laced in your needles."
Surend's reaction wasn't what Serpentine expected. The kobold's forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air. His leathery scales flushed a faint shade darker, eyes darting to the ground as his tail twitched uneasily.
'Is he... embarrassed?'
Serpentine raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"
Surend avoided his gaze, his posture shifting uncomfortably.
Serpentine fixed him with a steady stare, waiting until the kobold eventually caved in.
"I… ussssed… the wrong poisssson..." Surend admitted, his green scales turning a pale purple as he shrank slightly.
Serpentine gaped for a moment before breaking into a fit of laughter.
"You– you mixed up your poisons!?" The demon howled, his laughter echoing around the room.
"I have never seen an alchemist mix up their concoctions!" he gasped, collapsing to the ground in laughter, before he broke into a coughing fit as his diaphragm seized up.
"God... that cough did more damage than you did." The ascended demon wheezed, warning glares from both warriors as Elçi laughed.
"Anyhow, what poison did you actually mean to use?" Serpentine asked, breathing deeply.
"Hemotoxsssins." Surend hissed, revealing a flask of dark red fluid.
Without hesitation, the kobold uncorked the vial and downed it in one gulp, his body immediately revitalized. Serpentine stared in blank confusion as the kobold groaned in satisfaction.
'Right, serpentine kobolds. He probably has Poison Immunity.' Serpentine reminded himself.
"And you, sir..." The demon turned his attention to the human on the ground, meeting his gaze.
"You have a freaking Almighty Power! Gravity Control is terrifying to face." Serpentine admitted, throwing his hands in the air.
"And the way you use it... For Devon's sake. You drag me directly to your spiked weapons, you freaking bite me with crushing gravitational force, and you pull a Force to crush my heart directly!" Serpentine ranted animatedly, gesturing cartoonish charades.
"How did you survive that?" Adam asked, his eyes shining. "Your heart being crushed, I mean."
"Oh, I have seven hearts. I am biologically something called a demon."
At his words, the temperature dropped several degrees.
'Oh devil damn it. What did those hecklers do this time?' Serpentine groaned inwardly.
"Excuse me, my lord, but if you really possess demonic physiology... How are you sane?" Elçi questioned, his eyes wide, not a hint of aggression in his eyes.
'Finally! Someone who reasons! Elçi, I love you!' Serpentine cheered inwardly.
"Well, I'm not your usual demon." Serpentine huffed his chest as a smile leaked into his voice. "I am an Ascended Demon, having long since outgrown my animalistic nature and conditioning."
As his words fell, everyone's eyes opened even wider.
"That issss.... possssible?" Surend stepped forward, maintaining a measured distance as his eyes scanned the demon.
"Of course. Just as chaos force can drive even Gods mad, cosmic energy can drive even Devils sane!" Serpentine exclaimed with a laugh.
"How... curious." Elçi commented, his eyes glazed as he analysed the demon.
"I think it is time we continue our journey, my lord. I believe you will be far more helpful in our quest than I had initially anticipated." He added, his voice unusually levelled as the shadows in the room seemed to grow darker.
"Uh, sure...? Where are we going again?" Serpentine asked, scratching an itch on his throat.
"Lord Progenitor, you must attend the meeting of The High Council." Elçi revealed, spreading his scaly arms, Surend's eyes widening, while Adam's only narrowed.
"All seven of them, Lord Elçi?" The human in the room questioned.
"Indeed." The kobold nodded gravely.
"Well, no point in worrying over it." Serpentine clapped, gaining everyone's attention. "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it."
"Don't you mean–" Adam tried to clarify.
"Nope. I'm definitely gonna mess up whatever comes next." Serpentine raised his fist to the sky confidently, rendering the human speechless.
Elçi laughed wearily, shaking his head.
Just as the group was preparing to disperse, Serpentine paused, a thought crossing his mind.
"Are these two allowed to come with us?" The demon's eyes shimmered.
Elçi's face turned strange, as did the aforementioned pair's. "These two, my lord...?"
"Why not? These two are strong, and respected warriors, are they not?"
Elçi hesitated. "Yes, but they don't have any reason to be there, do they?"
"Perhaps not, but I would feel comfortable having more people I knew around me." The demon shrugged.
Adam raised a brow. "You met us less than twenty minutes ago."
"What better way to know someone than to have a bloody brutal fight to the death with them?" Serpentine cooed.
Elçi sighed with a small smile. "Fair enough. Very well then, Surend and Adam may come with us."
"Perfect." The demon turned his attention to the pair. "So, are you coming or not?"
The kobold and human glanced at each other, before shrugging.
"We'll come." Adam declared.
""Great! By the way, ever considered never using flails again?"
"...huh?" The sudden, abrupt change of topics stunned Adam.
"Well, you suck. If I'm right, your thought process was that heavy weapons would be even heavier and deal even more damage with gravity control. You don't have any actual affinity to flails."
"...is that the not correct path?" Adam blinked, a frown gracing his face.
"Not when you dictate the very weight of your weapon. In your hands, even a whip could weigh as much as a neutron stars." Serpentine clarified.
Indeed, it was an Almighty Power that he wielded. Adam's imagination was simply too limited to make full use of it.
"What weapon are you good at using? That you enjoy using?"
Adam paused, thinking back to his training. One by one, he had tried them all, used every weapon for at least two weeks, searching for what worked the best with his powers.
But what was it stuck out to him the most?
Strangely, he did not have to think for long, as the memory and sensation was still vivid in his mind.
"A rapier."
A one-handed stabbing tool, a lightweight bladed weapon that he had begrudgingly tossed aside after he deemed it compatible with his power.
Serpentine grinned. "Then you have your answer."
"But how would a rapier work with gravity control?" Adam hastily rasped, his pupils slightly shaky. A subtle crack laced his voice.
Serpentine shrugged. "Lots of ways. You stab forward and pull their vitals toward you with gravitational force. The rapier can pierce through their defenses with ease, and you can control how deep it goes. If you're in close range, gravity control could make it like a supercharged spear thrust."
Adam's eyes widened, the idea taking root in his mind.
"That's... actually brilliant," Adam's voice shook. "But what about long-range combat?"
Serpentine's grin only grew wider. "Oh, that's easy. With gravity manipulation, you can pull projectiles straight into your opponent with devastating speed or redirect them like they're nothing. It's all about using your environment. You could send arrows or throwing knives through walls without even needing to aim."
Pausing, he added with an eerie grin, "You can even fill your clothing with pocket sand – or even better, glass shards – and shove them into your foe's eyes during combat."
Adam fell silent, his eyes sunken in thought. Several seconds passed, before the man rose to his feet, bowing deeply, hand on his heart.
"I thank The Progenitor." He said, voice trembled slightly.
'He's happy.' Serpentine smiled.
The desperation, the hint of hope in his eyes, the demon did not miss the slightest hint of it. And now, he had shown the man a path he could walk with desire and purpose.
Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't remain as mechanical as he was anymore.
"And you, Surend." Serpentine's gaze shifted, locking onto the kobold.
"!?"
The serpentine kobold immediately straightened, countless thoughts coursing through his minds.
Would he receive some of the Progenitor's wisdom too? Have his flaws pointed out? What flaws did he even have? Would he have to change his weapons? But he loved his tools. He didn't want to change them. What if–
"You have mastered acupuncture, no?"
"...huh?" The kobold blinked.
"Acupuncture. Have you mastered it?" Serpentine pressed on, eliciting a blank nod from the kobold.
"Good." The demon nodded.
"Teach me." He added.
"...what?" Surend felt his world spinning, unable to keep up with the demon's pace.
"Teach me the arts of acupuncture," Serpentine continued, his tone unwavering. "Share your knowledge on its applications – both in healing and combat, and everything else. In return, I will bestow upon you the art of reading the motions, anatomy, and energy flow of your enemies before they even realize it."
Serpentine's smile deepened. "I will sharpen your practical skills – not just for healing, but in poisonous fields, anatomical contexts, close-quarters combat, and even projectile warfare. I will make you a master."
"And in return…" Serpentine's smirk was almost predatory. "Share your knowledge. Teach me everything you know – the theory of everything, your insights, and more."
His eyes shone with a gluttonous gift. "Teach me everything you know. I'll devour all of it."
Surend's eyes widened, as did Elçi's.
Perhaps the serpentine creature did not realise the implications, but the ancient, old kobold understood.
Serpentine was no mere demon; nothing like the Ogres they were so used to fighting. Not even remotely close.
Rather, he was a creature of insatiable curiosity, hell-bent on devouring knowledge.
For Serpentine, it wasn't just about simply attaining power. It was about devouring the essence of arts and commerce, becoming adaptable beyond measure. That was the true power behind his ever-evolving skillset.
Elçi felt his old bones shake.
'This man... he is a true monster.'