Viola, the target

...…••••••••••••••••••••••....

Because the source of the trembling was detected early, the guards -with the aid of the Imperial Knights and everyone else, they were able to escort everyone out of the colosseum and managed minimal damage and injuries.

Only Esmeralda remained as the only member of the Council of Mages back at the colosseum to help Dante fight.

The Emperor with his family and the strange woman were escorted back to his palace immediately during the attack.

After the huge snake appeared, only Team Peregrine, Dante, Esmeralda, and Viola were left in the Colosseum.

...…••••••••••••••••••••••....

"You!! How did you find us here?!," Vincent asked the intruder, who was later discovered to be Endo -the bounty hunter Vincent and Jason faced off at the Forest of Black Miliks.

"It was a gruesome task, trust me!! I had to search every nook and cranny to pinpoint your location."

"Then I remembered you drank my blood, so I traced it here!!"

Endo then became quiet and looked at both Viola and grinning devilishly, saying, "However, I have another target today!! I'll do you all a favor and devour her first, then I'll come for you, vampire!!"

After he said this, he rushed with his snake body towards Viola.

"Time to die, demon!!," he yelled and used his snake body to shoot out venom from its mouth.

Fortunately, Dante was able to move Viola out of the venom's trajectory but was rather hit by the venom.

"Sensei,NO!!," were the cries from Vincent, Jason and Maki as they saw their Sensei seriously damaged by the enemy's attack.

Vincent specifically was enraged as he looked at Endo with a look that only meant one thing: kill first, ask questions later.

"I made a mistake by not killing you earlier on!! I won't make that error here again!!," he yelled and rushed for Endo.

But apparently, Endo had a trick up his sleeve and it was something that no one expected.

When Vincent placed damage on Endo's snake body, nothing happened to it.

"You're kidding me!! Not even a scratch on that thing!!," Maki gasped while adjusting her glasses.

Jason was also worried but then switched his attention to Damian, but he was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, Endo used the opportunity and lunged his snake tail to grab Vincent and began to constrict him.

"I was only tasked to kill that girl over there, but this revenge game is just too sweet to be ignored!!," Endo said in excitement while licking his lips.

As Vincent tried to use his superhuman strength to break free, the constriction became tighter and tighter, which was rather having a lot of damage on Vincent to the point that he started bleeding from his mouth.

"I guess vampires can bleed after all!!," Endo remarked after seeing this.

He then looked at Dante -who was seriously damaged by the venom- and looked back at Vincent, saying while laughing, "My kind of venom is unlike no other serpentine creature to have existed!! It slowly damages your body from the inside out, and puts those affected by it into an asphyxiation shock."

"The fun part is that, it slowly eats your Mana network and reserves, and immediately stops your heart from beating. Which means….."

Vincent gasped, and Esmeralda was stunned with fear as she gazed on Dante's body -who just became unconscious, both knowing what this meant.

"….your beloved Sensei will die no matter what!! All in the span of five minutes!! A beautiful cocktail of death!! Hahahah!!"

Esmeralda then had a plan after hearing about Endo's venom and how it worked.

She then took off her cloak, revealing her beautiful tanned body and had an inner garment underneath her cloak, and then placed her chest onto Dante's head, while chanting a spell in the process.

"This spell, Panacea Antidote, is a Beta-Class spell and only individuals who mastered the Divine Spells Class of Mage magic can activate this without any sudden effects."

"I can basically transfer my own Mana slowly but sufficient enough into Dante's body and sustain his heartbeat to continue until I make an antidote with my decoy back at the tower."

"Unfortunately, I cannot leave Dante's spot no matter what, or he'll…"

She paused thinking and looked at Dante's motionless body and was close to tears.

But she shook her head and continued focusing on her spell.

Then she remembered and snapped her fingers and a huge dome suddenly appeared around then entire colosseum.

"This may not be enough, but it will buy us some time and keep the intruder away from the civilians."

Endo saw the dome above him and looked at Esmeralda, and was very angry.

"That woman found out a route around my venom paralysis and sustained the knight's heartbeat and Mana flow!! I must kill her before she figures out an antidote!!"

All of a sudden, a bright light shone and was followed by a flash that was aimed at Endo as he tried to attack Viola.

The snake-human was able to block the attack with his huge snake body, but was displeased as he saw the culprit.

It turns out it was Viola who used her Cutting Enlightenment technique with the hope of striking a fatal blow on the morphed bounty hunter.

Unfortunately, she was still weak from her previous encounter with Trihexa and as such, couldn't maintain her posture to aim a direct hit.

"Don't worry, Lady Esmeralda!! I'll protect you even if it costs my life!!," Viola said with such passion and determination even though she knew winning against Endo in her current state was impossible.

"Foolish girl!! You had one shot to kill me, but you failed!!," Endo lashed out at her as he dropped Vincent on the ground angrily and went for her.

————————-/——//————————————

Esmeralda, still tending to Dante's wounds, started launching a barrage of attacks on Endo to distract him, but with one swoop of his tail, he dispersed her attacks all across the colosseum, placing everyone at risk.

Vincent was still unable to move, Maki was tending to Vincent, and Jason was unable to make a single move towards him.

Endo then grabbed Viola with his tail, began constricting her, and brought him close to his human body.

He then gazed on her as tightened his grip on her and then said, "I'm not taking any chances here. I'll just devour you now!!," and tossed her up into the air in a vertical manner.

As he did so, his snake body rushed towards her and opened its mouth wide, revealing his large number of serrated teeth.

"He's planning to swallow her whole to absorb her Mana completely. Stop him, or she'll die!!," Esmeralda yelled after deducing their enemy's motives.

Endo was surprised at her quick response but laughed, "Very good, Mage!! But it's too late!! I win!!"