Karnage: Not a big chapter, just something to end the cliff-hanger. Enjoy your night!
V2 Chapter 6-
The rainbow coiled serpent tattoo on Sol"s chest flashed repeatedly and the pain along with it, this wasn"t bodily pain and Sol knew it. It felt like it came from his direct soul, and it was indeed just that. His soul was currently being divided for a second time, the first soul was his original one which was born of light, it then split in order to accommodate his Fire element and became a second soul and then fused together; and now it was splitting for a second time in order to welcome it"s third element - Poison.
Little Greenie sensed the familiarity and resonated with the third soul, It was because of Little Greenie"s poison that caused the major change in Sol"s body and gave birth to the third element. The ground-work had already been laid in Sol"s genes and DNA and what it needed was a primordial awakening, the poison he created was very much that. Sol was becoming the first human to ever acquire the Poison attribute, despite the thousands of poison enthusiasts who tried both humane and inhumane means to acquire it.
The tattoo on his chest became a golden emerald color, his hair changed from it"s golden-magma like appearance to one of emerald gold. Inside of his eyes, a second pupil appeared; while the first one remained golden, the second one resembled a serpent"s, was emerald in color and it overlapped the first pupil. Rather than have red burning fire within them it was now dark green flames that filled his eyes.
The pain finally began to subside but all over Sol"s body still hurt and he felt sore and damaged everywhere.
Sol feeling these changes knew something was different, as he opened his eyes once more they flashed with a golden emerald color and now Sol looked even more fierce and beast-like. His eyes remained this way permanently as opposed to before when only angered, and now his beast-like eyes were visible for all to see.
If a human saw him now, they would be scared witless as Sol no longer looked completely human. Suddenly blood leaked down his lips and he noticed it as it dropped on his arms... He grew enlarged canines that very much resembled fangs, not only that but he had complete control of them and he immediately retracted them.
He closed his eyes, focused and when he re-opened them, only his golden pupils was displayed, he glanced at a puddle of water beside him and saw that only his hair color had changed and was able to retract his canines at will as well as his pupils, however it felt uncomfortable. He let out a sigh of relief as he was delighted he could control this change, he didn"t want to scare his fiance half to death when he met her for the "first" time.
Suddenly a light erupted from his chest and Little Greenie came tumbling out, it was dazed for a minute and then looked at Sol excitedly. Sol seeing this let out a laugh, he could now feel an intense bond with greenie; though not as powerful as the twins. Little Greenie was incredibly ecstatic when it became able to form a bond with Sol and now it could happily stay with him.
Two more bursts of light followed and the twins emerged, Sol looked at them both and was shocked to the core.
Both their colors changed and though their size still remained the same, the wings on their back"s started protruding and growing. They were now Emerald-Golden and Sol noticed Hydreas" fire was Dark Green as it leaked from her mouth and was astonished. Hydrian"s poison also increased to a greater extent thanks to this awakening and became much more dangerous.
He immediately opened his hands and focused mana to produce some flames; and as predicted the fire was dark green in color and carried a heavy poisonous scent. Sol understood he didn"t have exit points for poisons like beasts, and as such the poison fused with his other elements.
He quickly concentrated to summon his Light element, and sure enough it was Emerald Golden in color and gave off a terrifying baleful aura. If a Darkness element user sensed this, they would never believe this was a type of light element. The danger the light element produced now was something comparable to Darkness.
Sol felt along with this new change, his body"s strength had increased to the maximum level and could go no further condensing mana. He was now at the 10th Order Rank and could feel a blockage so he gave up on trying to cultivate it more and decided it was time to focus on his Dantian. No matter how powerful his body became, as long as his Dantian wasn"t able to rank up then in the end he would be at a disadvantage against stronger beasts.
Sol feeling these changes didn"t know what to think, he understood his parents made him this way and didn"t hate it. If it wasn"t for his parents, he wouldn"t be alive and with this sort of thinking even if he turned into a monster; he still wouldn"t care or hate his uniqueness. This was the divine body created for him and he knew this, even if the whole world turned against him; he would continue to enjoy living. Even if the world cursed him, he would enjoy anything he desired.
With this in mind, Sol brought out his enlarged canines and allowed his green serpent-like pupils to show. When Little Greenie saw this, he became elated and tried to hop around Sol"s neck.
*SMACK*
However he was sent flying with a swipe from an emerald colored tail, he went tumbling in the air and finally flapped his wings to regain balance. When he looked he noticed Hydrian around Sol"s neck glaring at him ferociously, he suddenly had an intense fear built up and looked at Sol with embarra.s.sment on his tiny face. Sol laughed and motioned for him to come over, and he immediately flew over all smiles.
[Hydrian won"t give you that spot you know, you had best stop attempting] -Sol
Sol firmly told little Greenie as he knew the latter was quite troublesome and mischievous and he knew Hydrian"s temperament. She rarely ever joked and was the more serious of the twins, that spot around Sol"s neck was her spot alone and she would certainly brutalize little greenie or Hydreas if they tried to claim it.
Hydreas just looked at Little Greenie as if saying, "You should definitely try again at a later date, you might succeed, who knows?". A terrible hideous expression appeared on Hydreas" face as she looked at the cowering little emerald guy, before he would have had a chance to defend himself from them but not anymore. Hydreas and Hydrian had both become immune to his poison and he knew this, he could feel it on them and it was a product of his own doing.
Hydreas and Hydrian were both Winged Golden-Blooded Basilisks and they possessed a natural high evolution rate, and that coupled with Sol"s X-Factor that they were born with amplified it several folds; it wouldn"t be a joke to say they possessed a higher rate of evolution than Sol.
When little greenie decided to enter Sol"s soul during his soul splitting process, it immediately acted as a graphing for the Poison element and it studied little greenie"s const.i.tution before taking it"s form. As the Primordial Awakening for this element required a catalyst, who was better than little greenie?
When all of these benefits were gathered and directly stored into Sol"s soul, his body began the merging process of the three souls and like the particular instance with the Fire Affinity which Sol gained, the twins took what they could from this process and made it their own. Their souls were merged with Sol"s and no matter what changes he received; they would too. The same could now be said with Little Greenie and in the future he would definitely receive something from Sol the same way.
All in all, Sol had become the first human to ever possess the Poison attribute as well as a Second/ or Rather Third Soul Beast. If Old Black were here, she wouldn"t be surprised Sol gained Little Greenie as a Soul Beast, however she would be more than surprised to the changes in his body.
Sol exhaled a cold breathe, he now felt much better than he ever had and only now did he notice that before gaining his Poison Affinity he was breathing in too many toxins and that is what had caused him to feel slightly ill for a while. If he were a regular human, he would have long been dead.
However, he didn"t stop here. He continued brewing more poisons, now he used his own personal venom which was a bit less formidable than Little Greenie"s but still very dangerous. Along with his venom, his blood and Little Greenie"s poisons, Sol created a few variant "Invitation of the Skeleton King" poisons to be used on weaker individuals in a wide area of effect and named them.
He spent at least a week within the cave and none of the others had seen him for a while and was quite curious as to what he was up to. Little Greenie"s parents came for him a few times, but was barred at the door by Little Greenie for their own safety. Naturally they found out he had become Sol"s Soul Beast and for days on end, green clouds left the cave giving off a frightening feel.
In Truth Sol would have left the cave a long while ago, however along with Poison Affinity came a lot of negative and dark emotions that Sol needed to learn to suppress. As a person"s soul directly affects one"s personality, it would strange if one"s personality did not change along with their change in soul. Poison Affinity, like Darkness affinity possessed several corrupting elements due to their nature and needed quite some time to be suppressed.
Quite a few other S-Ranks were curious but their instincts told them to stay away from the cave and they decided to wait. Glowy and Old Black were restless as they knew something extraordinary happened when they saw Hydreas leaving the cave as usual everyday to hunt. Obviously they noticed her emerald golden color and dark green flames, and were utterly astounded. They had never seen green fire before and was something new to see, Glowy in particular was incredibly fascinated and couldn"t wait to see what the "source" of it looked like.
**
Zeshala, Old Black and Glowy were currently seated having a chat. Glowy had her head on Zeshala"s lap like an obedient girl even though everyone knew her mischievous nature, Old Black sat facing Zeshala and the three were talking about many different topics. One could see by the respect and love in the Guardian"s eyes how much they loved Zee and it was only now in this private environment did they show their real feelings.
[Saratava has been trying to steal Sol, I thought I should warn you master] -Old Black
Glowy upon hearing this flinched, became red and then became angry.
[Hmph! What are you talking about! As if I would ever like a filthy *cough* human, he should be grateful I haven"t killed him!] -Glowy
The two stared at Glowy as if they were watching a play or an act, revealing the falseness in her words.
[...You know I can read your mind right?...From the minute you had those thoughts I already knew...You better know your place] -Zee
As Zee spoke she pinched Glowy"s ears and made her squeal. Old Black let out a gentle laugh with her hands on her mouth then as if seeing something in the corner of her eyes; shifted her gaze to Sol"s cave in surprise.
[...What in the G.o.ds?...Is that Sol? Just what happened...] -Old Black
Zee and Glowy quickly turned to face that direction and were both dumb-struck. Even the S-Ranks who stood in attendance neatly like guards couldn"t help but look over.
[Bwahaahah!!! See what I told you!! He really is a snake!!] -Hydra
In a fit of laughter, the S-Rank Divine Hydra let out a boisterous laugh that drew the attention of the others and made them focus, what they saw they couldn"t believe.
**
As Sol stepped out of his cave, he stretched his arms and let out a yawn. Little Greenie went back inside Sol"s chest, or more precisely his soul and had to remain there for a while. It seemed his body was going through changes and it benefited him more to remain inside Sol"s soul for a time being.
Sol felt the golden bow on his back, Mitra was still asleep but showed signs of waking up soon. He felt happy about it as he hadn"t heard the little rascal"s voice in quite some time and missed his company quite a bit.
As Sol lifted his gaze towards Old Black"s waterfall, he noticed the gathering and their gazes just so happened to land on him as he yawned and they were clearly able to see the shining enlarged canines, the emerald change in color and most of all the permanent serpent like emerald golden eyes.
Seeing their beckoning gazes, Sol headed over towards them as he understood they probably had a lot of questions.
**
[...and so..this is how I ended up] -Sol
For quite a while they looked at him strangely and Sol could feel the awkwardness. It wasn"t an uncomfortable sort of strange but more of a "What exactly are you" kind of strange. Sol looked at them and then laughed, of course they would be shocked for a while.
A human that inherited Poison Affinity was no small thing, in the future, Sol"s descendants would be terrifying individuals. They felt a sort of pride as he was introduced to the Serpent Familia and not somewhere else. Glowy had a light in her eyes as she looked at the new Sol, and was swiftly pounded by Old Black in the head and let out an "oww" sound as she rubbed her head with teary eyes feeling wronged.
Little Greenie"s parents were the same as always and just nodded, as if saying "This much is expected from this guy, he"s the one our child chose to follow after all".
After chatting with them for a while, Sol returned to his cave and left the group to themselves.
Zee looked at the direction of the cave for a while and then asked Old Black-
[....What do you think about him? Your honest evaluation] -Zee
Old Black smiled warmly and then with a sincere gaze replied.
[...A pa.s.sing calamity...that just so happened to be one of our kin] -Old Black
Glowy nodded at this evaluation and also added her input.
[Mhhm, it"s a good thing master got him, hehehe when you"re done with him then--]
*Smack*
That was as far as Glowy got, the rest of thoughts left her brain with the "slight" nudge and fell out her ears.
[You"ve sure grown bold, little Glowy] -Zee
Zee admonished her and gave her a terrifying glare. Hearing the name Glowy, Saratava(Glowy) immediately became embarra.s.sed and Old Black let out a fulfilled laugh.
[Yulivashjr(Old Black), make sure to take care of him in the incoming battle and yourself as well as Glowy and the others...At the very least you all have to survive. Serpent Falls can always be rebuilt but you guys..] -Zee
[Rest a.s.sured Milady Queen, I will protect both your mate and Glowy to the best of my ability. About him though, I think you give him too little credit. Sol is as dangerous as any other beast out here and he will surely have his own methods to survive. I"ve seen him in action way too many times and came to the conclusion that killing him was much harder than it looks] -Old Black
Old Black gave Zee some comfort as she knew her master"s heart the best, and right now she knew that Sol was definitely in it.