Poison

Under the watchful eye of the man and the two snakes acting as his arms, Nathan began to walk slowly around him.

"Who are you?" the man asked with a slight chuckle.

Nathan closed his eyes slightly looking at him attentively and did not answer.

"...Never mind, I could use another body"

Saying that, the man pushed his arms forward and the snakes flew quickly towards Nathan, who dodged one of them and cut the other one.

The man grunted slightly as the snake that functioned as his right arm was cut off cleanly, then seconds later the snake's head regenerated again, and it hissed aggressively.

'Regeneration... how annoying'

The man pushed his arms forward again, so Nathan again dodged one of the snakes and cut the other, however, this time the man regenerated the snake faster and it opened its mouth trying to bite him.

Nathan jumped back without taking his gaze off the snakes, then his eyes widened in surprise as a couple more snakes came out from under the man's tunic.

'Shit...'

They now totaled six total snakes three formed his left arm and three formed his right.

The man smiled slightly.

"Let's keep going"

This time Nathan had to increase the essence he used to dodge each attack, however the snakes had not only increased in number, but in speed.

He was forced to back up even further, until his back hit the wall of the room, then as a snake was about to bite him, Nathan turned his neck and the snake hit the wall, creating a cloud of dust.

Nathan was already far away again when the light dust cloud disappeared, and then he was able to see a hole in the wall.

'They are also strong...'

The man didn't stop his attacks at any point, so Nathan couldn't see a way to get close enough to finish him off. All he could do was keep cutting snakes that continued to regenerate relentlessly.

Nathan began to think that the fight would drag on and end in a fight of attrition to see who had more stamina, however while he was dodging, he suddenly felt a sting in his left leg.

Looking at his leg, Nathan opened wide to see how one of the snake heads he had cut off was still moving and had bitten him.

'Are they still alive?!'

Nathan clicked his tongue as he kicked the snakehead away from him, but then grunted slightly in pain as he felt a cramp in the bitten area.

However, he didn't have time to think as more attacks were coming his way, forcing him to keep dodging.

He could barely move his leg because of the cramps, so it took him a little longer to dodge the man's attacks, plus now he had to watch out for the heads on the floor.

Little by little, the room was filling up with not-so-dead dead snake heads, something that gave Nathan a great disadvantage for being in an enclosed place.

A couple of seconds later, when the cramp stopped, Nathan realized that his leg felt slightly numb, only to see how his skin in the area of the bite had turned purple.

'Tch, poison'

Without pausing, Nathan raised his sword and sliced a couple more snakes.

Poison was one of his worst weaknesses, as he could not counteract it with his premonitions. So he had to be more careful than ever.

Running out of options, Nathan kept running in circles around the man, looking for an opportunity to get close to him and attack him. But no matter how hard he looked, the snakes were like an impenetrable shield... at least in a direct confrontation.

While smiling at the sight of his opponent being affected by his poison, the man continued to attack Nathan with his snakes, and although he felt slightly tired, he still had enough energy to continue.

It was then that he heard a slight sound of something falling on the wooden floor, he looked down at the ground and saw a black orb slowly rolling towards him.

'What?!'

The man reacted to the black orb, but when he realized that it was still empty of essence, he found that Nathan was already in front of him.

Nathan cut the man down by his robe, taking advantage of the fact that his distraction had worked. He then landed behind the man and without pausing went back to trying to cut him down.

"Damn you!"

The man growled in annoyance and turned his body next to his arms trying to hit Nathan with his snakes instead of trying to get him bitten.

Nathan stopped abruptly and nimbly lowered his body letting the snakes pass right over him.

Rising quickly and propelling himself with his healthy leg, Nathan cut the man a second time, this time cutting his tunic and finally revealing him.

The man had two large cuts, one on his chest, which had been the result of Nathan's first attack, and a second from his right shoulder to his hip.

The man was thin and bony, so much so that he looked quite malnourished. But that was not what stood out the most about him, but his purple skin over most of his body, as if he was being poisoned by his own venom.

Nathan also saw how his arms turned into snakes from his elbows and more or less understood the man's technique.

It was the first time he had encountered such a technique, so it took him a while to understand how to deal with the man.

Looking at him angrily, the man cursed him and pushed his snakes at him again, this time increasing his strength, speed, and endurance.

Nathan frowned and also strengthened his legs, pushing himself forward instead of dodging to the side.

Nathan passed several snakes and cut others, then found himself face to face with the man, who instead of being frightened had a smile on his face.

"Idiot!"

Nathan caught a glimpse of the man's facial muscles contracting, then he closed his eyes for a moment before the man spat venom directly into his mask.

"Ughh!"

Even with his mask on, Nathan felt his face burn, then quickly jumped to the side getting as far away from the man as possible, suddenly he heard the snakes hiss and was forced to dodge without being able to see, which caused him to get a bite on his left arm.

'Damn it!'

Nathan had his eyes closed but couldn't open his eyelids as every muscle in his face felt numb as did his leg and now his arm.

Backing up, he leaned against the wall not knowing which way to move, then sensing a window right behind him, Nathan didn't hesitate and swung his body backwards, crashing through the window and falling outside the warehouse escaping the room.

Nathan knew that there were dozens of calamities outside, but he trusted that the barrier would help him survive. For now, he needed to get away at least until he regained his sight.

Hearing a hissing sound approaching from above, Nathan swung his katana, cut off the heads of a pair of snakes and quickly moved away.

The man looked out of the window and watched Nathan walk away from the warehouse towards the calamities, then he smiled revealing his yellow teeth and turned around, taking Nathan for dead.