Last Smile

The silver armor summoned by the serpent only lasted for a couple of seconds before it disappeared. His cultivation base was already on the edge of collapsing. If he took more energy from it, there was no reason to believe that it wouldn't just shutter in a thousand pieces.

Now, without the help of his Ghost Energy, Dakscale could feel his internal organs being squeezed so much that they were almost collapsing. His whole body was getting crushed under the tight grip of Godermo.

He screamed in pain, but he also didn't stop trying to fight against his enemy.

Because he probably understood that he would never be able to free himself from his arms, he started trying to make himself so dangerous that the warrior would not have any other choice but to stop what he was doing and let him go.

A maddened light shined in his eyes as he sank his sharp fangs into the flesh of the human and starting to rip out chunks of his flesh.

Godermo laughed weirdly instead of showing any expression of pain, a crazed look appearing on his face. He knew that this was the most important moment of his life and if he let go, he would be killed by the snake.

His insane laugh shook everyone who was assisting to the fight. It even caused the Forest Will Tribe hunters to stop their attacks towards the fleeing Fire Earth marauders only to stand in shock and watch the gruesome spectacle: the fight between Darkscale and Godermo.

A laughing warrior drenched in his own blood, laughing towards the dark sky while mists of blood exploded from his mouth.

A furious serpent trapped into a mortal grasp, digging in the flesh of his enemy while his eyes burned with an indomitable will.

"Heroes fighting" suddenly said by one of the hunters, many nodded in agreement in their heart. Looking with bewilderment, the ferocious fight continues. Yes, if they survived, that fight would truly become a tale to be sung during banquets.

They couldn't tell who of the two was winning, as they seemed both completely miserable.

I can finally see them moving... they are exhausted" commented a large man with a sparse white beard.

"Yes" added a thin woman with long brown hair. "Look at how much blood they lost... even the victor will already have a foot inside his grave" she continued a vicious light shining in her eyes. Numerous other hunters had the same idea: wait until one of the two warriors died, and then kill the remaining one. It wasn't a dream anymore, judging from how they looked.

One of the Hunters, a man with a nasty wound on his cheek, tried to attract the attention of his countrymen.

"Are you guys insane? Those are not normal people!" he screamed.

"We need to go, now!" he finally also added, starting moving away from the dirt path and towards the surrounding Blood Woods.

The first to join him in his escape was Winter Leaf who not only appeared to agree with the man's foresight but also seemed to think that it was necessary to move as quickly as possible.

Without waiting for anyone else to join, she began to run fast like a rabbit towards the edge of the forest.

The majority of the hunters, on the contrary, didn't move.

"They are killing each other! We can't leave the bodies of our friends... we need to bury them... plus the injured can't be moved" exclaimed by one of the hunters, looking around the battlefield.

The man with a wound on the side of his face shook his head. What burials? He knew well that the remaining hunters cared little about the dead and the wounded, and they want to stay to gather supplies and the spoils from the cadavers.

"I can still convince him to help me" Star Leaf suddenly said, keeping her eyes glued to the fight between the serpent and the raider. The other people of her tribe were stunned by her words.

"Him"? Was she talking about the black devil?

"Star! Are you insane?" Screamed the woman with long brown hair.

"Just because you're from the Leaf family it doesn't mean that we will all risk being massacred to indulge your insanity!" added a short and robust man.

"..." Star Leaf didn't even move her head, keeping her attention on the violent fight.

"ARGHHH"

A sudden scream made the Forest Will people send back their attention to the fight: The Fire Earth warrior was completely red, trembling as his muscles bulged so much energy that they almost seemed ready to explode.

The serpent between his arms was now abruptly crushed with more force that he could bear. A painful wail made it clear how much the sudden change in the strength used had been effective. The snake even stopped cutting his enemy flesh and vomited a large amount of dark blood!

On the face of the warrior, finally appeared a tired smile. Victory was his! He looked down towards the creature between his arms, expecting to see it on the verge of losing its mind.

Instead, two calm violet eyes met his. The serpent's mouth was clearly dripping with black blood and his flesh was getting crushed under the strength of the marauder, but the eyes of the serpent were like two serene pools of violet water. Tired, but serene nonetheless.

Godermo immediately sensed that something was wrong. That wasn't the countenance of someone that was going to die. A profound sense of uneasiness started to fill his mind.

And he was indeed right. The snake smiled but not mockingly. It was a simple smile of victory.

In rapid succession, the snake completely disappeared from its place, vanishing in thin air.

The only thing he left behind was a simple and crude looking iron ring that under the push of gravity fell towards the ground, escaping the grasp of the flabbergasted warrior.

Then at the exact moment that the ring touched the ground, it disappeared again and Darkscale appeared in its place. He was still exhausted, but his wounds had been healed. Godermo immediately understood that he used that technique of his to heal up.

'He's tricked me...' thought the raider, understanding that he had highly underestimated the snake. While he was vastly superior in close quarter combat technique, he lost to the serpent's tactics.

He suddenly felt his body grow tired, and could only watch as the snake pounced toward his head. He knew that this was his end, but he didn't beg nor he trembled. Puffing his chest, he smiled as his lips murmured his last words: "Good fight".

Then the jaws of the serpent closed on his neck.

A fountain of blood exploded toward the sky, while the head of the Fire Earth warrior dropped to the ground. His body remained on its feet for a few seconds, then fell too on the dark dirt path.

Between the head and the body, lied Darkscale, breathing rapidly while looking with a gaze full of respect towards the dead human he just slew.

'Yes, good fight' thought the serpent, nodding towards the corpse.

This was the first time in his life that he held someone he personally knew in such high esteem.

He was a human, and he tried to kill him plenty of times, but there was something in the way he fought that made Darkscale incapable of not appreciating the dead man. He continued looking at the large body of the raider with vacant eyes for a dozen of seconds, while his breath slowly calmed down.

'So... now let's go back to where we were'

The snake moved his eyes to the group of Forest Will Tribe people.