The sword came down fast, aiming straight for my neck. I couldn’t move. My middle section was still totally stuck from the ten boxes of medicine, and the system warnings were blinking a bright, angry red right inside my eyes.
But before the sword could cut my throat, somthing stopped it from reaching to my neck.
Clang.
Suzy’s dagger blocked the blow just an inch away from my neck. The force of the hit was massive. Sparks flew into the room, and her expensive weapon shattered into a dozen useless pieces that scattered across the rug. The impact knocked her backward, and she crashed against the bedpost, dropping her remaining broken hilt into the dust.
"Lady Suzy!" the Commander yelled from the hallway, trying to break free from the spears holding him down, but a guard struck him across the face, silencing him.
The five royal guards stepped closer, their blades pointed directly at Suzy’s chest as she sat on the floor, clutching her bleeding wrist. She was breathing fast, her hair messy across her face.
She looked down at the faint, watery outline of my helpless snake body on the cushion.
"I’m sorry, Barry," Suzy whispered, her voice cracking completely as she looked right at my hidden face. "This is all my fault. My family’s guild... my stupid pride... I dragged you into this corporate mess. You were just a strange, clever creature trying to survive, and now I’ve gotten you killed too."
’Don’t talk like you’re writing a final resignation letter, manager,’ I thought, my snake teeth grinding together inside my mind. But the weight of the soul stone was paralyzing my core. I couldn’t lift my tail.
The Inspector with the monocle let out a nasty laugh, stepping over the shattered pieces of her dagger. He raised his sword, pointing the sharp tip straight at Suzy’s throat. "A touching speech, Director. But your independent charter is officially revoked. Guards, execute the girl and secure the rogue serpent for the Prince’s laboratory."
The lead guard raised his sword a second time, stepping right over Suzy to finish us both.
But as his foot came down near me, my yellow eyes caught something sticking out from his belt loop. It was a small, crystal flask filled with a glowing red liquid—the exact same royal blood alterer that Marcus had used downstairs to trick the palace lock. It was packed with the raw, ancient lineage magic of Lord Raymond’s royal bloodline.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Missing Catalyst Identified!]
- Asset Located: Royal Lineage Blood Catalyst (Tier 4).
- Distance: 2 inches.
- System Advice: If you do not audit this asset right now, your contract with life is officially terminated.
’Suzy!’ i screamed directly into her mind, using every ounce of mental energy I had left.
’ The flask on his belt! Grab it and smash it on my mouth! Right now!’
Suzy didn’t ask questions. Even with her wrist bleeding and her weapons broken, her rogue reflexes didn’t fail her. She lunged forward, her hand flying out like a whip, and snatched the crystal flask right off the guard’s belt . Before the soldier could even swing his sword, she slammed the glass down directly over my hidden snake jaw.
Smash.
The crystal shattered, and the thick, glowing liquid flooded right over my teeth and down into my open throat.
The moment the royal blood hit my stomach, the freezing ice of the Founder’s Soul Stone met the boiling fire of the king’s lineage magic. It was a total chemical explosion inside my gut. The ten boxes of royal potions inside my pocket-dimension inventory suddenly dissolved completely, turning into a massive tidal wave of raw, unfiltered biomass that filled every single cell of my body.
[ Alert: 100% soul compatibility achieved!]
[Reptilian schema : liquidated]
Commencing total system overwrite: system code human]
BOOM.
A white light exploded right from the center of me , illuminating the entire room like a falling star. The force of the magic blast wasn’t just loud—it was a solid physical shockwave that slammed into the five royal guards and the Inspector, sending all of them flying backward. They crashed into the walls and tables, the entire bedroom filled with a thick, swirling cloud of dust and magical fog.
The red light on their swords went completely dark, neutralized by the massive wave of ancient energy.
"What... what is this power?!" the Inspector shrieked from the floor, his sword rolling away as he tried to shield his eyes from the blinding glare.
Through the fog and the settling dust, a figure began to rise from the center of the room.
The snake body was completely gone. Standing on two solid human legs was a tall, fit young man. The fog was too thick to see his body clearly, but his outline was sharp and imposing. Running all across his chest, shoulders, and arms were dark, matte-black scale markings that looked like ancient, protective tattoos. His hair was black, blowing wildly in the sudden draft of wind coming through the broken door.
I stood there in the center of the ruined room, my face turned slightly upward toward the ceiling, my eyes closed and this feeling that I feel after a long time.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, I felt the cool air moving through my actual human hair. I felt my own shoulders. I felt the incredible sensation of having arms, legs, and thumbs again. I took a deep, slow breath of the smoky air, feeling the massive, unbroken power settling deep into my new human lungs. Now I had everything I wanted.
Slowly, deliberately, I opened my eyes. Two piercing yellow snake eyes cut straight through the fog, locking directly onto the trembling royal guards.
A deep sound came from my throat. It didn’t sound like a snake anymore. It sounded like a human.
The sound got louder. It changed from a small mean laugh to a loud, crazy laugh. I threw my head back and laughed loudly in the whole penthouse. It was not a good, hero laugh. It was a crazy and evil laugh, full of power and no care for anyone.
"HAHAHAHA! HAAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The sound was very terrifying. The five royal guards got scared and moved back on their hands and knees. Their faces went white. They were staring at the shadow in the fog like i was a demon king who came out of an old jail.
Even the Inspector was shaking so much that his glasses fell from his hand. He could not speak.
On the floor near the bed, Bae Suzy sat still. Her mouth was a little open. She was looking at my new human face through the dust. She didn’t care that her wrist was bleeding. Her eyes were wide open with shock and amazement.
But when she heard my crazy laugh in the room, she slowly started to smile.
She thought in her mind, ’I knew it. From the start, I knew you were different, Barry. I know there was something different about you.’ Her heart was beating fast.