The Snake's Hidden Secret
The demonoid was sprinting up the stairs and down the corridors at breakneck speed, clearly trying to escape through the roof. Anyone who crossed his path got shoved aside without mercy.
“Whoa, what the hell!”
“Kyaaaah!!”
“No running in the hallways!!”
“...This is seriously annoying.”
If he made it to the roof and slipped into the streets of Gracion, things would get messy. I had to catch him before that happened. In my original body, I could have closed the distance easily. But these clothes and shoes I’d put on for the first time today still felt awkward, and dodging the people he’d knocked over slowed me down even more.
“...Tsk. Sorry about this, Integrida.”
I waited until he was racing down the corridor, then quickly kicked off the shoe I was wearing and snatched it up.
“Hrrryaaaaah!!”
I put my full strength into my shoulder and hurled it at him. The shoe flew straight down the hallway, weaving between the other people, aimed directly at the back of the hooded bastard’s head.
“Bullseye!”
Whoosh—BANG!!
The flying shoe caught the edge of the robe’s hood that covered his entire body and slammed into the opposite wall with a thunderous crash, pinning it there like a stake.
“...Huh?”
But what had been nailed to the wall along with the shoe was only the black robe he’d been wearing. Then where was his actual body…?
Slither—slip—
Amid the screams of people dodging out of the way, I caught the faint sound of something slick gliding across the floor. I followed it upward with my eyes.
“What the hell is that?”
A massive snake-like demonoid was writhing in a bizarre position on the corridor ceiling. Its dark blue scales and flickering forked tongue were unmistakably those of a snake. But there was one glaring difference from an ordinary serpent.
“So. Is that your true form?”
Even as his serpentine body twisted and crawled along the ceiling, his upper torso remained upright, staring straight at me. The sudden chaos had left the believers and a few clergy members stunned; when they saw the snake, they screamed and rushed past me.
“Don’t take it too hard. A snake with arms? Even you have to admit that’s grotesque, right?”
I hadn’t expected an answer. After all, a demonoid shaped like a snake shouldn’t have been able to speak human language.
“...Watch your tongue.”
But he did. Somehow. Despite a mouth structure that looked completely incapable of speech, he spoke.
“Ha, what? So we can actually talk?”
To be precise, it didn’t sound like proper speech. It felt more like someone swallowed inside his throat was speaking on his behalf—an eerie, distorted effect.
“That makes things easier. Hey, who the hell are you? How are you strolling around Gracion like you own the place when you can bypass the Barrier of Rejection?”
But the snake suddenly pretended he couldn’t speak anymore. He just flicked his tongue and stared at me blankly.
“Tsk. So you want to do this the hard way…”
I casually slipped off my remaining shoe and kicked it behind me. The snake must have realized I was ready to fight, because he suddenly opened his mouth wide and shoved a hand inside.
“Ugh…”
When he pulled his hand back out, he was holding a sword dripping with his own saliva.
“A sword, huh… I was expecting some weird curved blade or bizarre weapon, but that’s surprisingly classic.”
“...Do you always talk this much before a fight?”
“Ha.”
A familiar warmth gathered in my palm and took the shape I loved most.
“Not usually, but my body feels a little off today. So let’s wrap this up quick so I can go rest.”
The moment the completed axe caught the sunlight streaming through the window and flashed, I leaped toward the ceiling.
BANG—!!
The axe sliced through empty air and embedded itself in the ceiling, but I wasn’t surprised. That strike had been meant to make him dodge in the first place.
Slip—
Using the axe handle as a pivot, I spun my body and gathered holy power in my free hand, swinging it hard toward the direction of the sound.
CLANG—!
His sword and my axe collided. Sparks flew, and the powerful impact sent both of us flying in opposite directions. Naturally, he was thrown much farther. Still, this guy was tougher than he looked.
“Two axes in both hands…”
The snake demonoid lightly dropped from the ceiling to the floor and muttered lowly while staring at the axes in my grip.
“What, you want to try it yourself?”
“...That crude, brutish style? Hmph, how ridiculous.”
He adjusted his grip on the sword with both hands, coiled his serpentine tail like a spring, and lowered his stance. Then he pointed the blade at me and angled the sword diagonally above his shoulder.
‘A thrust? Wait, that sword technique… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before…’
“Ah.”
The instant my mind wandered, the snake’s body bent like a spring and snapped forward. The speed far exceeded my expectations.
Sring—
All I could see was a flash of light. Too late to dodge. …Tch. Then there was only one option.
“Hrrryaaaaah!!”
I threw my body forward, straight toward the sword tip aiming for my heart.
Shunk—!
“……!”
A burning heat and stinging pain flooded my left shoulder where the blade had pierced. But the fact that it hurt here instead of my heart meant my desperate gamble had somehow worked.
“Krrgh… ugh…!”
The snake let out a pained groan and stared at the part of his torso that would have been his side if he were human—and at the axe buried deep in it.
“Heh… I didn’t plan it, but the result’s not bad.”
“You… little shit…!”
Schlick—
When the snake yanked the sword out of my shoulder, bright red blood sprayed everywhere, staining the white robe Integrida had so carefully prepared. Immediately after, a fierce slash came slicing diagonally from above my left shoulder.
“Haaah!!”
I forced my injured left arm—which didn’t want to move—into action with sheer willpower and barely managed to deflect his slash with my axe. Then I immediately poured strength into my right hand, which still gripped the axe embedded in the snake’s torso.
Riiip—riiiip—!!
The tough scales and hide screamed as they tore apart. Crimson blood gushed from the gaping wound.
“Damn, that skin is ridiculously tough…!”
“Gaaah!! Let go, you damn bastard!”
Writhing in agony, the snake kept swinging his sword. But wild, frenzied slashes from a mind clouded by pain were easy enough to block.
“That’s enough… now split apart!!”
Ziiiing—slash—!
With an ear-piercing tearing sound, the axe finished its job and sliced cleanly through the air.
“Kr… agh…!”
The snake’s labored scream hit the floor. Before me, his severed lower half—nothing but a stump like a tree after a lumberjack’s work—convulsed and spewed bright red blood.
“Hoo…”
Only then did the tension ease a little. I moved away from the spraying blood and sat down a short distance away. True to its reptilian nature, the snake’s lower half kept thrashing its tail wildly even without a head. The upper half was no different.
“H… how… did you…”
A normal demonoid would have died from that blow. Yet the upper body with the snake’s head still radiated burning hostility and slowly crawled toward me. I tore a strip from my already ruined white robe, debating whether to use it to staunch my wound, and spoke to him.
“Hey. In that state, you couldn’t beat me even if you came back from the dead.”
Whether he was ignoring me or simply couldn’t hear me through his rage, he kept crawling closer, flailing both arms.
“You… you…!”
“...I’ll ask one more time. Who are you?”
The snake finally reached me and swung his sword. But I didn’t even need my axe to block it. I caught his arm with my hand, twisted his wrist, and snatched the blade away. Only after the sword left his grasp did the snake finally stop resisting and collapse limply to the floor.
“How… did you…”
“Sigh…”
He just kept repeating the same thing. I’d left his head intact—why was he glitching out like this?
“H… how… do you… know… that person’s… axe techniques…”
“......What?”
For a moment, it felt like something was crushing my chest. Breathing became difficult.
“That person? Who are you talking about? Answer me!”
It felt as if something inside me had shattered like an eggshell.
“………Agilien… the Grand General…”
The merciless truth pierced my ribs like a thorn.
“Ah……”
Nausea rose in my throat and cold sweat poured down. When the wind brushed the sweat on my back, a chill swept over my entire body.
“You…”
The somehow familiar sword technique the snake had used flashed through my mind.
“No way…”
The snake’s head, calling out my past name, overlapped with a face from my memories.
“Are you… ‘Marek’…?”
The face of my former comrade, my old subordinate who had betrayed me.
“That’s enough!”
A sudden unfamiliar voice rang out from beyond the window, pulling me out of the swamp of the past. I instantly created a new axe, stood up, and aimed it toward the window.
“Who are you?”
Outside the window, something like a red shooting star streaked across the sky, trailing a bright red tail. A woman with messy red hair floating in the air frowned with clear disappointment.
“Ugh, I came to see you because I heard you’d been nicely cleaned up. But you’re a mess again.”
The red-haired woman hovering in the air clicked her tongue.
“Hello, prospective Saint. I’m Flamena, Head Guardian of the Secret Archives Chancellery. I assume you’ve already heard the name?”
I gave a small nod in confirmation.
“Good. Then do you know what I do?”
This time I shook my head slightly. Flamena’s lips curved into a smirk.
“Protecting the church’s secrets. That’s my job.”