The Antidote

Zooming over, Zane stood beside Kai who was intently watching the cage shake around. As if waiting for it to explode.

"Kai. Can you do something for me?" Zane asked with a weak smile, hunching over while he avoided looking at the remains of Anne.

Kai stayed silent while he watched the expression on Zane's face turn into a sour one. His eyes were red and bloodshot.

"Protect Ophelia for me. Please. She has to make it out alive." Zane begged, he was about to drop to his knees if Kai were to say no. 

"I will." Kai replied. Getting strangely irritated. He had a gut feeling he knew where the source of all these negative feelings came from. He glanced at the cage that was beginning to form cracks.

Zane breathed in and out heavily, looking at the monster as if he was in his last life. He had to kill it. The bones beneath his shoes began to shake and tremble.

Wind formed at the bottom of his shoes while electricity and fire rose at the tip of his swords. 

His sword gleamed in the light, shining from the tip to the hilt with a blue tint.

His eyes also seemed to be in sync with his sword. Sharp and steady.

Faster than Kai could react, Zane vanished into thin air. 

Moves that were suited for an S Class Adventurer.

The earth cage cracked, the barrier that built it fell and rained to the ground with a crash.

The snake bursted out from its shell and was more aggressive than ever. The whole place was shaking up and down as if they were on the ride of their lives.

Zane remained unbothered while he charged and looked for openings. His jump was high and had a range. No panic could be seen on his face at all.

Soon once the rage of the monster died down while it looked for its next meal.

It felt a sharp object stabbing between it's scales. It didn't feel like the poking earlier, this time, it felt like it was going to cut open it's whole body.

Zane used his other sword and slammed it down on the sword that was attached into the snake's body. He didn't let go, no matter how shaky the ride was. 

With flame and electricity intertwine together at the sharpest of his black blade. It crackled and heated up the whole atmosphere.

Zane's hair started standing and he felt a zap piercing through his hand. He forced out an abundant amount of his mana and felt everything becoming a blur around him except his target. He locked onto the target.

And in one rough and hard strike, Zane cut through the scales and dragged his blade through. It was all or nothing.

If he messed up now, there was no redemption.

He could feel a splurge of unknown burning liquid being splashed on his face. It burnt his skin but he continued to push through, he never lost grip on his blade.

His muscles bulged and his veins made themselves prominent on his face and arms. Both of his big arms were shaking vigorously in an attempt to correspond with the insane amount of strength he was forcing out.

Finally, without hearing anything else. As if he was living in his own world. He heard a distinct clang that was different from all of the chaos that rang in his ear.

He smiled and pushed through, seeing the silver linings being torn apart as if it was paper. 

He could feel himself losing momentum as he crashed into the ground with nothing his blades could grip onto.

A white snake laid on the ground with its long body cut into half almost entirely. Only leaving a small piece of flesh that hangs on as it attached the head and the tail together.

Just when it looks as if peace has been achieved, the open flesh begins to shiver and wiggle.

As if they had a mind of their own. The big chunk of flesh had now been separated into circles of flesh that began to spill out from the shell of silver.

Ophelia rushed front, not letting go of her wand as she lit up a ring of fire as she made a pathway to Zane. It seemed like she regained her sanity afterall, being able to take such precautions.

She hugged Zane and held him tightly in her arms. Touching every spot of his bare skin to check it wasn't dropping in temperature. She gently wiped away the blood as she smiled, knowing he was safe. 

Zane reached out and combed his fingers through the sea of red hair. He had done it.

They could sell the snake's corpse for a fortune. The money would be used to pay off  the pounds of debt and provide them with more than enough means of living.

"I'm alright. So don't make that face." Zane reassured, picking up his swords as he noticed something from the corner of his eyes moving.

It was a red chunk of wiggling organism at first but it started to change into a familiar shade of white. Eyes started bulging out along with a segment of sharp fangs.

Multiple of those tiny wiggling organisms began to fall and crawl out of the half cut snake body. Smoke steamed off them as they passed the line of fire.

They seemed small in size compared to the monstrosity they had come from but they were as big as one's whole leg.

Many had formed much faster than the others. Being the sneaky creature they are, they swam in the dirt of bones and latched onto a leg of fresh meat.

"Argh!" Ophelia yelped, flinching away and using her other leg to step on whatever had just bitten her. Looking down at the calf of her leg that now had two dark holes punctured into.

Zane didn't hesitate and began to grab at her leg, squeezing out the venom that had entered. With a gentle tilt of one of his fingers, he electrocuted the snake beneath to dust.

He looked up at Ophelia and saw her face getting slightly paler. He had hope his sight was getting worse. Maybe the panic was making his brain confused.

"Sit down." Zane whispered, his voice shaking as he kept a close eye to the ground around them. He put out his hand and a wave of electricity struck through the ground. 

Ophelia felt her calf muscle tightening and numbing the right side of her body. She fell and winced. She glanced behind and looked at Kai. 

She had to find something to distract her from the pain while Zane was desperately squeezing out every last drop of the venom.

"Ophelia. Do you still feel it?" Zane asked, putting his mouth on the wound and sucking out the green boiling liquid. He spat it out and felt a bitter taste lingering at the back of his tongue.

"I'm fine! It was nothing.." Ophelia said with a smile; the side of her mouth trembling. She could feel the right side of her body control drifting away from her.

Zane bit his lips and looked around. "Kai! Do you have any water on you? Please." 

Quickly, Kai walked in front and spawned a bottle of water in his hand.

Just as Zane was going to grab the bottle, he felt the left hand that was on Ophelia's leg dipped in temperature. He snapped his head back and saw the warm porcelain skin of Ophelia turning to an Ash gray color.

"No.no. I took it all out. Why is it reacting so fast?! " Zane yelled in a whisper. His eyes wide open while his irises shook in horror. 

"It's the Inetflutrious Flare Venom, isn't it?" Ophelia stated, her eyes getting red while she felt it getting watery. She was so close. They were so close to victory. Why? Why her? Why now?

"No! No it isn't! Stay calm. I'll think of something." Zane replied at a fast pace. He wasn't good at hiding his emotions when it involved Ophelia.

"Zane.." Ophelia reached out her hand and grasped his face. "It's alright." She whispered into his ear. Her right hand dropped.

The whole place went quiet. The slithers and hisses of the snake's went silent as they felt a terrifying atmosphere creeping up on them.

A current of electricity raced through the ground like a thunder strike. It lit up everything in its way, zapping and immobilising the snake's.

"There is a cure for it." A voice said. It sounded exactly like Anne's just raspier.

Shocked, Ophelia eyed the snake head that seemed to be staring straight at her. The voice of Anne mixed with that unusual use of speech. 

Zane didn't look. He knew exactly where the voice came from. He focused all of his attention on Ophelia. 

"My heart and tongue is an antidote, you know?" The voice sung in a chirpy tone.

Zane casted a barrier around Ophelia. He gripped onto his sword.

"Why are you telling me this?" Zane asked, his voice taking on a darker tint now. One click and he might just snap. The string he was grasping onto now was so thin. If that thing dared to lie, he'd crush it into an atom.

"For fun. Talking is fun. So is seeing humans in conflict. Entertaining." The large snake head hissed in joy. 

"What?" 

"That boy there wants the antidote too! I can see it in his eyes! The greed! You too!" The snake exclaimed with overflowing excitement, it's yellow eyes that had gone out now twinkled with a new light.

Zane slowly creaked his head towards the white hair boy who was still holding out the bottle. From the bottle, he looked up and saw a look he was unfamiliar with from the boy.

A dead tired expression that looked worn down. And the bottle of water now held a sword.