And one more

Ratatoskr landed on the ground, did a U-turn, and once again launched himself at the jade snake dowager. He seemed intent to bleed the serpent lady out. Death by a thousand bites or something.

Sadly, the second attack was already seeing a decrease in efficiency. Through a quick set of undulations the jade snake dowager managed to prevent Ratatoskr from latching on to her. Thus, she only received a few broken scales. With every repeat of their exchange the jade snake dowager got better at dodging the squirrel and even began to counter-attack.

Curiously though, the wounds left by Ratatoskr never stopped bleeding despite the high healing rate all divine beasts possessed. Still, waiting until that giant serpent bled out wasn't really an option.

Just then the jade snake dowager's tail lashed out and hit Ratatoskr right in the chest. He was catapulted into a nearby mountain but immediately emerged, still unharmed and raring to go.

Following up on her first attack, the jade snake dowager rushed down and sank her large fangs into the unsuspecting squirrel. Only to be bounced back upon contact with the fur. The jade snake dowager looked like she had just tried to bite some kind of indestructible object and one her fangs showed visible cracks.

'Don't tell me...'

"What is it, Eldar, have you figured out its second domain?"

'I'm not sure but it might be a domain of time and focus on the state of eternity. After all, few other domains can completely ward off an attack like that and even produce a backlash.'

The thing that had led to Ratatoskr's evolution had been a pill given by lady Aurelia. From what I remembered time was indeed one of the innate understandings she had been working on so it would make sense for her pill to help acquire such powers.

Still, the battle had entered into a stalemate. While the squirrel couldn't be wounded, his combat experience was so poor that his attacks mainly consisted of straight lunges and grabbing. The jade snake dowager had ample experience in fighting tough opponents and managed to evade those attacks after her moment of shock had abated.

"This isn't looking good for us Eldar, we can't win a battle of attrition..."

'Technically, the jade snake dowager's stamina should run out before Rat's so no problem there. The real threat lies in her realizing that she could just attack us. Fear not however for I have a plan.'

If I could increase that squirrel's power by a large enough margin then combat experience would become irrelevant. I wasn't sure if I could boost his power up to that level but enlightenment fruits were my only chance.

From the two different types I could produce he had already consumed one, the lightning attributed fruit in copious amounts. Using it again would probably not yield high results.

Thus, my only choice was the life attributed fruit. I peeled my nonexistent eyes from the battle above and grew a life enlightenment fruit with all my efforts.

By the time I was done I took another look at the battle hoping to find an opportunity to sneak the fruit to Ratatoskr without interference. Raising my gaze I found two enormous beasts staring at me with burning eyes.

"I will devour you and then kill that squirrel! Give me that sweet, sweet life so I can crush it between my teeth!"

With a whip of her tail Ratatoskr was sent flying. He wasn't hurt but too far away to intercept the approaching snake.

"Skreeeeeeeeeeee!"

Another bone-shattering cry rocked the ground as the space above me suddenly caved in and revealed a giant ball of fluff. Its appearance alone sent tremors through space, threatening to rupture reality itself.

Another divine beast had joined the fray and this one seemingly had an innate understanding of space. What was it here for? Me, the snake or the fruit?

Different from last time, the jade snake dowager didn't slow down and observe the new competitor. She kept on flying straight at me with nothing but murder one her mind. She would first devour the fruit then kill me and then the others. Nothing would make her stop now!

The giant ball of fluff above gave a "Tsk tsk" in disapproval, then reality shattered.