Chapter 245: Play With Me Snakey.

Time passed.

Kael’s grip remained locked around the serpent’s throat as the grey aura continued pouring into its body. Slowly, the massive white serpent began to lose its physical density. Its scales became increasingly translucent, its enormous body fading until Kael could see through portions of it.

What he saw beneath that translucent shell was far worse.

The grey aura was tearing through the serpent from within.

It crawled through its body like an unstoppable force of decay, stripping away layer after layer of its existence as the serpent’s spiritual form began to deteriorate under the destructive force.

The serpent had stopped thrashing by now.

Its movements had become sluggish, its enormous body barely twitching as the strength continued leaving it. Its eyes, once filled with fury, had begun to lose their light.

"Am I about to die?"

The thought came with something dangerously close to fear.

"No, I can’t die here."

Its gaze shifted toward Kael.

Although the serpent had lost the battle against Kael’s destruction, but it hadn’t lost its instinct to survive. If Kael had disrupted its meal and forced it to the edge of death, then perhaps it could simply find another source of nourishment.

And there was one standing directly in front of it.

A decision was made.

The serpent’s body suddenly began to break apart until the enormous serpent collapsed into a swirling mass of invisible mist. The mist slipped through Kael’s fingers before shooting toward him, seeping directly into his consciousness.

Kael froze.

For a moment, he simply stood there, staring at the place where the serpent had disappeared. He couldn’t sense it anymore. Not even a trace remained.

He turned his attention toward the parasites.

The surviving eggs and worms that hadn’t been destroyed by his grey aura were gone too.

Kael frowned.

"Did it die?"

He searched the surrounding area with his consciousness, carefully examining the clearing for any remaining trace of the parasite but he found nothing.

After searching for several moments without finding anything, Kael eventually dismissed the matter.

Whatever had happened, it seemed the serpent had finally been destroyed.

His attention shifted toward Ezra.

She was still lying peacefully at the center of the clearing, her eyes closed and her breathing slow. The parasite was gone, yet she still hadn’t awakened.

Kael stared at her for a moment.

"So what now?"

He didn’t have an answer.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere within Kael’s consciousness, the serpent was celebrating.

It had escaped.

The moment its body had broken apart, it had abandoned Ezra and entered Kael’s consciousness instead. Kael had been so focused on confirming Ezra’s safety that he hadn’t realized what had actually happened.

The parasite had survived.

More importantly, it had found a new host, and Kael seemed to have even more abundant spiritual power than Ezra, making him an even better host.

The serpent’s consciousness trembled with excitement, though it lasted only a few seconds. It suddenly stopped, looking around.

There was nothing but darkness.

An endless darkness that stretched in every direction without any visible boundary.

Ezra’s consciousness had been a world. It had had fields, trees, wind, and even a sky. It had been soft and warm, filled with things that reflected her personality.

This wasn’t a world.

Calling it one would have been generous.

It was a void.

A massive, seemingly infinite void that contained nothing.

Then a groan echoed through the darkness.

"Seriously?"

The serpent froze.

A tired voice drifted across the endless space.

"This kid really doesn’t know how to stay out of trouble, does he?"

There was a brief pause.

"Now what? A mind invasion?"

The serpent’s entire body tensed.

There was another existence here.

Its forked tongue flickered as it slowly raised its head, anger replacing the fear that had begun creeping into its mind.

Who dares?

Its eyes narrowed.

Who dares try to compete with it over his food?

The serpent’s pride returned in full force.

"Who dares?" it hissed into the darkness. "Show yourself!"

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then a faint glow appeared in the distance. It slowly grew brighter until a golden orb of light materialized within the darkness.

It was the same golden light that had appeared earlier and helped Kael fend off the Supreme Being.

But now, something had changed.

The light was considerably dimmer.

Because of that, the serpent could faintly see what existed beneath it.

A creature.

Its shape resembled a moth, with a small body surrounded by enormous golden wings. Strange magical inscriptions covered those wings, countless intricate symbols spreading across them in patterns far too complex for the serpent to understand.

The moment the serpent looked at it, its entire body froze.

The serpent suddenly felt as though death itself had appeared before it.

Every instinct within its consciousness screamed at it to flee.

But there was nowhere to run.

The moth-like creature calmly looked down at the trembling serpent.

"Hmm."

Its voice remained tired.

"Well, it’s not all that bad."

The creature seemed to consider the situation for a moment before continuing.

"At least I have some company now."

Something about the way it said those words made the serpent even more uneasy.

The golden creature slowly drifted closer.

Its wings moved gently within the endless void, the countless inscriptions across them glowing faintly.

"Alright," it said, its voice shifting to become a bit playful. "Come over here and play with me, snakey."

The serpent’s body trembled as it suddenly realized invading Kael’s mind hadn’t been the best choice.

***

Meanwhile, completely unaware of what had entered his own consciousness, Kael remained inside Ezra’s mental world.

He walked toward her resting form and stopped beside her.

And for another minute, he simply stood there, observing Ezra while carefully scanning her consciousness for any remaining problem. He couldn’t sense another parasite. Her core was still intact, and there was no outside presence interfering with her anymore.

Everything seemed stable.

She simply wasn’t waking.

Kael eventually decided there was nothing more he could do here.

He needed to consult Varek.

Kael reached out toward the connection linking his consciousness to the Hive Mind.

"Stop the dreamwalk."

The order traveled through the link.

This time, the process was nothing like when he had entered.

There was no violent tug.

No strange sensation of being dragged through some intangible substance.

His consciousness simply went dark, and when it returned, he was awake.

But Kael didn’t immediately move.

The process of separating his consciousness from his physical body and then returning it was far more complex than simply closing his eyes and opening them again. His mind felt strange, almost disconnected from his body, as though the two needed time to properly settle back into place.

So he remained where he was.

For a while, Kael didn’t move at all.

He simply lay there and allowed the lingering sensations to fade.

Eventually, the strange feeling disappeared, prompting Kael to move. He slowly sat up, his gaze immediately shifting toward the nearby bed.

Ezra was still there.

However, unlike before, some color had begun returning to her face. Her complexion was no longer as pale, and her breathing appeared steadier.

She was recovering.

She simply hadn’t awakened yet.

Then Varek’s voice broke the silence.

"It will take some time."

Kael turned his head slightly.

Varek seemed to understand what he was thinking before he even asked.

"Her spirit and soul suffered considerable damage," Varek continued. "Even though you’ve dealt with the parasite, recovering from that kind of damage isn’t something that happens instantly."