Cael, still locked in his rigid stance beside the Xnihsp's skeletal remains, finally registered David's presence. He saw him sitting on the ground, his expression a mixture of shock and confusion. Then, the silence was shattered by a sound like a crashing wave, yet the movement was strangely serene. A wave of bright blue energy spread outwards from the flooded area, not violently, but with a calm, almost gentle flow. Within this wave, an amalgamation of thousands of colorful snakes materialized. Some were black and white, others black with vibrant yellow bellies. They coalesced with the bluish-green water, swirling and intertwining until they formed a colossal serpent, its scales shimmering with iridescent light.
The huge snake spoke, its voice a deep, resonant rumble that seemed to emanate from the water itself. "The vessel that wielded us is broken," it said, the words echoing across the ravaged landscape. Simultaneously, the water itself seemed to speak, its surface rippling and glowing with the same message.
Cael stumbled, falling to the ground. He clutched his burnt arm, wincing in pain. "My arm would have incinerated long ago if I hadn't used that spell," he muttered, referring to the incantation that had strengthened the flaming intestines. The bluish-green water from the now-giant snake began to flow towards his injured arm, slowly enveloping the charred flesh. The strange, glowing water began to mend the damage, though it didn't fully heal it. The smaller snakes beneath the surface of the water then flowed into his body, intertwining with his veins and muscles. The transformation was visible: his hand became marked with black and white stripes, like the scales of the snakes, his fingernails turning a bright yellow, and a yellow symbol, a crest of some kind, appeared on his palm. Runes, resembling a spiral pattern from the uppermost black portion of the snakes' body, began to etch themselves onto his skin, radiating a faint, warm light.
David, jolted back to his senses by the sudden appearance of the giant snake and the changes to Cael, looked at him with wide eyes. "Wait… that's your sword?" he asked, his voice filled with surprise.
Cael looked back at David, his expression still somewhat dazed. "What's your name?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
David, trying to regain his composure, adopted a slow, dramatic tone. "Raphael," he said, pausing for effect. "Raphael David."
Cael replied with his full name, a long, elaborate string of elven syllables.
David's eyes widened in recognition, then narrowed with anger. "You're that fat ass's son!" he exclaimed, using a crude nickname for Cael's father. He then repeated Cael's full name, mocking its length and complexity.
Cael's expression darkened. "Don't call him that," he said, his voice laced with warning.
David, unfazed, continued his taunts. "You're pretty short," he observed, looking Cael up and down. "Are you an elf, like… Frieren?"
Cael frowned, clearly confused. "I don't know who the hell she is," he replied. "And I'm a half-elf."
David quickly changed the subject, returning to the earlier topic. "How did you get that sword… inside that thing?"
Cael's gaze drifted back to the Xnihsp's remains. "It was a powerful seal," he explained talking about it being a manifesto even if it wasn't technically done right. He then had a brief flashback, remembering a time when he had encountered a slime who claimed it would devour the ocean, and a massive snake from the ocean depths. He had taken them in, offering them shelter, and they had, in turn, offered him their aid. "They promised they'd help me."
Back in the present, David looked at Cael with a newfound understanding. "No wonder," he said. "When you swung your sword, I saw illusions of snakes and water. I thought you guys were just mimicking Demon Slayer."
Cael shook his head. "No, like I said technically manifesto bring mere mirages to reality, in my case it was the already existing mirages and evidence of their existence I brought to life," he said. "I'm not nearly strong enough to hunt a demon."
David grinned. "Cool," he said. "So you're like… a demon hunter?"
Cael shrugged. "Not in this guild, anyway," he replied. "Only guilds with teleportation systems or dungeons leading straight to hell hunt demons."
"Raphael," Cael said, his voice regaining some of its usual confidence, gesturing towards the vast, ruined landscape. "We need to start our trek."
David looked at him in disbelief, his eyes widening as he glanced down at his mangled leg, the bone still protruding through the torn flesh. "Right now?" he exclaimed, his voice laced with pain and incredulity.
Cael pointed his newly transformed arm at David, the black and white stripes and yellow markings glowing faintly. "Look at you," he said, his voice laced with a hint of awe. "You're brimming with energy." He could sense the unusually high levels of mana radiating from David, a residual effect of the near-death experience and the subsequent transformation.
David blinked, his mind suddenly flooded with fragmented memories: the Wendigo's hand reaching for him, the icy water engulfing him, the adventurer's fiery intervention, the massive chunk of ice falling into the creature's maw. He opened his mouth to ask, "Hey, what happened back there…?"
But before he could utter the words, an unseen force descended upon him. An ominous, invisible presence reached into his right ear, a spectral finger probing deep into his auditory canal, touching the very edge of his consciousness, the abyss of his brain. David's eyes rolled back into his head, and he slumped forward, unconscious. No one sensed the presence, not even Cael, who was still attuned to magical energies. Only the bluish-green slime, now coiled around Cael's waist, detected a faint trace of dark magic residue lingering in the air after the presence had vanished.
Cael cursed under his breath. "Goddamnit," he muttered, glancing at David's unconscious form. "Now I have to wait in the snow."
By the time David finally regained consciousness, he remembered everything that had happened up to the point of the scribbles appearing on his body. The memory of the calligraphy, the black blood, the transformation of his eyes, the strange being with the owl eyes—all of it was gone, wiped clean from his mind. The giant snake, in its wisdom, had also erased Cael's memories of those events, including the change in David's hair color and the ghoulish blue aura, deeming it too dangerous for him to remember.
David blinked, his eyes focusing on the sight before him. He was wrapped and coiled within the massive body of the giant snake, its smooth, cool scales providing a surprisingly comfortable cushion. Cael sat nearby, leaning against a large chunk of ice, his transformed hand resting on his knee.
"Wake up, sleepyhead," Cael said, a slight smile playing on his lips.