Eastern Snake

The snake, upon locking eyes with us, strikes in my direction, and Éder immediately steps aside.

"Watch out, Lucas!"

He shouts as he dodges. Somehow, I manage to evade the strike, and as I do, the snake sinks its teeth into the wall. It thrashes around like a whip, trying to dislodge its teeth from the wall.

"Lucas, I think I have an idea on how to defeat it. We need to wait for it to get its teeth stuck again," he says while moving away.

"I'll try to get its attention. Since you use fire magic, it's better if you prepare an attack while it's stuck."

I see Éder nodding in agreement. But in that moment of distraction, I see the snake lunging at me again. It's incredibly fast, its purple and black colors make it look like a speeding train. Time slows down again, but even in slow motion, I can tell it's fast.

"Take this, you damn snake!"

Without wasting any time, I dodge its strike and land a punch with my right fist on its side.

"That was amazing, Lucas! You have great reflexes. Just hold on a bit longer. It's hard to light up the whole area while I prepare the attack."

"Don't worry, if it keeps going like this, it'll die by my fists alone."

The snake, after receiving the punch, retreats to the wall, screaming in pain.

"GHHHYYYUYYYY!"

Looking at my fist, I see Dante's symbol more alive. I feel it pulsing on my wrist; it's incredible. The snake fixes its gaze on me and comes straight at me with a deafening scream. The noise throws me off balance, and it takes the opportunity to strike me.

"Lucas!"

I hear Éder shouting, and then I see him right beside me. He had run over and pushed me away to avoid being hit.

"You shouldn't have done that."

I see Éder with his left arm being bitten through by the snake's fangs.

"I owed you this, you know? You saved me; you had the option to find me and move on, but you chose to save me. We're even, Lucas."

The snake rips his arm off, and he falls to the ground. When he hits the ground, his fire magic that lit up the place disappears. Everything goes dark. I have no idea where it is. Is it near me? Did it move away? Is it finishing devouring Éder? I don't know, I have no idea.

"Lucas, it... went to the other side... I could see it."

With his last strength, he tells me its location. But what do I do? Until yesterday, I worked in a village where I was nobody, just another person. And now look at this? I'm facing a damn 5-meter-tall animal. I'm at a complete disadvantage. Should I just accept the "inevitable"? No, what the hell am I thinking? Éder lost his arm to protect me; I can't just accept this. I take a deep breath; I need to find a solution. I need to sense the right moment when it's coming. I have to use my hearing, but... A drop of blood falls on my shoulder, the damn snake's scream damaged my hearing. I have to find a way to overcome this. As I try to focus and use my hearing to the maximum, I feel something coming from the left. When I look, I see a huge mouth coming towards me. However, I managed to see its attack. I dodge it and move to the side of its body.

"Take this, my plan is to beat you until you can't take it anymore."

I start landing several blows on its body, and the snake screams in pain again.

"GHHHHHYYYYY!"

It starts to writhe, but to avoid being thrown off, I grip its body with my hands, and it starts slamming into the walls to shake me off. I won't let go. I use my left hand to hold on and my right to keep hitting. Looking at my hand, I see an enormous amount of purple blood. Something is coming out of its body, hitting my pants. It's dying.

"You'll pay for what you did!"

The snake increases its speed, crashing against the walls harder and harder. While it does this, I can no longer tell if the blood on my clothes is mine or its. It's clear now; I can't take it anymore. After it slams into the wall with all its might, I see the ceiling collapsing, and I fall off the snake, landing on the ground. I can't distinguish reality from fantasy anymore. For the first time in my life, I gave my 100% in something. I could use my time affinity to try to recover, but I can't move anymore. I'm completely broken.

"Thank you... for giving me another chance to prove I can be someone important!"

When I look up, I see the snake circling me.

"Enjoy your meal, Eastern Snake."

I close my eyes. I wait and wait, but nothing happens.

"Don't you think it's too early to die, Mr. Lucas?"

Opening my eyes, I see Hugo, and I notice he's carrying a torch that lights up the place again. Looking around, I see the snake lying still on the ground. I try to see Éder, but I can't; my neck hurts too much to turn it around.

"Don't worry, rest a bit... Everything turned out fine... Thanks to you."

My hearing is worsening; even with him so close, it sounds like he's light-years away.

"Where's Éder?"

"Don't worry, he's fine... You saved him."

Hearing this, I smile, satisfied. I saved someone; I'm not a monster. Justice favored me, can you see it? This feeling is so good, finally having my own merit recognized. I don't want to stop feeling this.

"You know... Hugo, I've been through a lot... To get here... But... This was definitely... The best... Of them all."

I'm not lying when I say this. Since childhood, I was labeled as weird, strange, ugly. Just for existing, I did nothing wrong to them; they just put me at the bottom, and I cruelly accepted it.

"I'm glad... Are you still conscious? I want to talk to you..."

While Hugo talks, my hearing no longer works. Every little sound causes me pain. I can see him talking but hear nothing. Without realizing it, an overwhelming desire to sleep comes over me. Seeing my current state... I'm completely worn out. Sleeping is the best way to forget my problems and deal with them later. So, I give in to this desire.