There was inhaling, followed by exhaling, inhaling, and exhaling. The cave breathed as if it was alive, and Arthur could feel it shrinking and expanding.
Everything appeared to be a dream, but Larza's existence made it more like a nightmare. Her words struck fear in his heart, and a sense of urgency overtook him.
"Where is the child?"
"We were right," Larza gave a grin, her slim and twirling tongue sticking out. "You know about the hydra. The surprises are endless with you, and you always find a way to hinder my plans."
"What plans, exactly? Your sole purpose seems to revolve around me. I remember," he took a step forward, "warning you about ever appearing in front of me. You should have hidden in your mansion instead of digging your own grave."
His voice was brimming with rage, and his knuckles grew pale as he clutched them. The time he spent as her slave deprived him of his humanity, and he was used as a tool time after time. He escaped twice, and the first time he lost an arm, the second he almost lost his life.
Now, she was standing in front of him, weaving her next plan on how to reclaim him. Arthur wasn't self-centered in thinking this matter was about him because he could conclude that from her current appearance.
Larza has changed. She used to carry herself with pride and dignity, but that appearance has turned to nothing but a memory. The scales seem to be a result of external buffs, and they broke out of her skin. As a result, her eyes lost whatever humanity they had in them.
"You are right," said the snake woman with her smile disappearing. She stretched out her hand, having prominent nails and sharp nails, before clutching her left chest. "I never forgot about you. How you tasted, and how it felt to be with you. I don't want anything but you!" she shouted hysterically.
"You don't want me. Power is what you seek," he said with disgust. The snake woman was the person who consumed his power the most when he was at his weakest, and it was no wonder that it sprouted greed within her.
"And yet," she ignored his words, a heartbroken expression appearing on her face. She furrowed her brows with pain as green tears streamed down her face. "Yet, you refuse my love, and you keep pushing me away. Have I not saved you from slavery and treated you with kindness? Have I not taught you when you knew nothing?"
The conviction in her voice made him sick. Arthur knew she was trying to gaslight him into thinking that he was ungrateful and that he should have never tried to run away.
"Tell me where the child is," he said as his golden dagger appeared in his hand. When the golden mana surrounded it, Larza finally snapped out of her so-called heartbreak.
Arthur could almost envision killing her. The process could be slow, and it can be fast. Either method he chooses, he would feel liberated from the hatred he held in his heart. The injustice he suffered and the pain of losing his arm will never be washed away, but he could start to move on after killing her.
"Ah, My Beloved," she shivered when she saw the bloodlust in his eyes. "You want to end my life; I can feel it. But, we are forever intertwined by fate, and you will never truly let go. I have you within me, and you have me on your mind."
"I can say with confidence that I have more than one person to kill, so don't you worry," Arthur said as he raised his arm to the side and twisted his dagger. "Answer me."
"The child you seek is right behind me, isolated from the world," said the snake woman as she waved her hand at the sphere behind her. "As long as I wish for it, it will never be a part of this world again. That's why you have to beg…"
Before she could finish her words, Arthur slashed using his dagger. The unbridled and rageful mana followed the path of his attack, and it cut away the arm of the snake woman.
The attack was effortless, without hesitation, and ended in less than a second. The arm flew in the air, drawing a beautiful arc before landing beside the dried-up corpses.
"AAAAHHHH!!"
Her bloodcurdling scream would have sent chills down his spine if it had come from anyone else. But, instead, Arthur found himself detached from the reality of his actions as if he was watching something unrelated to him.
"Release him, and I'll make it swift," his words were those of villains, but he didn't care. After all, she was still bleeding because of him, so he wasn't exactly the good person here.
"Ha, ha, ha," she was breathing rapidly, and Arthur frowned when he saw her sweaty face twist into a grin. "Being a vessel has made you far too arrogant, My Beloved."
As her words finished, Arthur realized that there was no blood coming out from her arm. It was then that he felt the air change behind him, and he side-stepped to dodge the incoming arm.
The arm flew toward her and attached itself to her body, and she stretched it with a victorious smile. She moved her arm as if the earlier events never happened, and it made Arthur apprehensive.
"King Solomon has artifacts," she began. "They are the reason that he became a king and that Freda can even hope to contend against Alva. Have you never wondered what Alva has to stand on equal grounds against him?"
"The thing you are using now, and what the Duke of Fire used against me in the battlefield. A way for Demis to transcend their traits."
"…" Larza stared at him blankly, gritting her teeth shortly afterward because Arthur stole her thunder. "You can never kill me. No blade can hurt me because I'll just isolate my body and reattach it before you can hurt me."
Arthur fell silent as he watched her throw away her cloak for it to land on the corpses. He frowned when he saw her body because lines covered her skin from head to toe as if she was a jigsaw puzzle.
"You have abandoned your humanity. Is this the price for your power?" Arthur looked down on her.
"You did the same a few weeks ago," Larza stretched her body, and it gave several successive cracks. "I never cared about my humanity. My ancestors made contracts with powerful serpents, and here I am to use their power."
"A short-lived power," Arthur gave a ruthless grin as he dashed forward again, slashing apart her shoulder. However, like a doll, she detached it and reattached it the moment that his dagger passed.
The dagger exploded with fire as it passed through her, but it got extinguished in an instant. Arthur frowned as he realized that she was using Isolation and decided that if slashes don't work, then blunt force would.
His dagger disappeared, and his ethereal arm appeared. Her smug expression was gone, as if she knew how destructive this attack could be. When the golden rune supplied his arm with infinite power, burning away his mana, the snake woman threw her arm for a giant glass panel to appear in front of her.
The glass panel grew by the second, trying to create a cage around her. Arthur realized that this was the manifestation of her isolation, and she was using it to protect herself.
'There has to be a limit, how much force she could isolate,' Arthur believed, but the feats she showed until now were nothing less than miracles.
His fist traveled toward the cage as the latter raced to surround Larza. Before his attack met the glass, he could see a smirk appear on her face. When he struck the glass panel, there was no rebound force, only destruction of whatever was behind her.
"You are powerful, so powerful," she said with a smile, leaning on the glass panel. "And soon, you will be mine."
The cave was torn apart, its walls crumbling as it met the aftermath of his attack. Arthur's ears buzzed, and the smell of soil filled his nose. A portion of his mana disappeared instantly, and the hasty usage of it made him dizzy.
The two stared at each other, their eyes both tired, vengeful, and full of wariness of what comes next. The seconds stretched until there was a distinct cracking voice coming from the sphere of light.
It was then that the two realized the consequences of their fight. So, they turned toward the sphere, which worked to separate the child from the world.
It might have been because of Arthur's attack or that Larza had to use her powers to protect herself, thus weakening the child's isolation. In either case, the barrier was broken, and blinding light filled the cave. Arthur's ears almost bled because of the cry that followed, and it was the beginning of a war.
