A Sinner’s Chance

"How long are you going to pretend?" Ein asked, not towards me, but rather the unconscious body of Demonweb, from which a deep chuckle emanated as he stood up.

"I didn't want to give my poor daughter a fright, the more relaxed she is the easier it will be to proceed." He said pulling the string holding his hair together off, letting the once neat hair fall into a shoulder length mess. As he did so Ein kneeled, an arm crossing her chest, as she bowed deeply.

I was unable to understand what was going on. One moment Demonweb had been knocked unconscious, yet now he was awake and Ein was bowing to him, it felt as if I was missing an important piece of context. However, as he turned and looked at me, I realized that he was no longer Demonweb, or perhaps this was the real Demonweb. The once clear blue eyes had darkened, becoming something that resembled my own eyes. Black sclera like the void, slit reptilian pupils, and almost glowing red irises.

"I'm so happy to finally lay eyes upon you my daughter, I had thought that you would have been forever stolen from me due to the careless actions of that failure of a Vessel and the little puppet that once owned this body." Demonweb reached a hand out, somehow piercing through the barrier that prevented me from leaving and caressed my cheek. Despite the seeming warmth in his action and words, his eyes told a completely different story. They were excited, but not due to happiness or relief, but rather the thrill of having one's prey laid before it. They were the eyes of a predator that had successfully gotten its quarry.

"It would have been better if I never met you." I spat out venomously smacking the hand away from me, while directing a viscous gaze at him.

He simply laughed as he withdrew his hand. "It's good you're feisty, the stronger you are, the better it is for me after all. Ein, begin the ritual, I would very much like to be free from this inferior shell."

"Of course master." Ein said respectfully as she stood up and moved over to a small circular symbol that was part of the formation. Demonweb took up position on the opposite side in a similar symbol, a smile that sent chills down my spine plastered across his face.

"Don't worry about your friends. I'll take very good care of them, especially the one you call Steria. To think that an ancient thorn in my side has been reduced to such a state is wonderful."

I opened my mouth to ask what he meant only for a wracking pain to shoot through me. This was real pain, and was, for some reason not converted to pleasure, so the only thing that left my mouth was a scream.

"What a powerful Plate, and if I'm not wrong, fragments of Divinity from not only Sekhmet, but all those who were infused with a fragment of their father's power. The universe must be siding with me, to deliver not only one, but all of those who fought against me, and one has already been corrupted. I couldn't ask for a more compatible Vessel it seems."

Barely managing to endure the pain I glared at Demonweb who was standing triumphantly, a smirk on his face as if taunting me. Not only had he mentioned Sekhmet, Steria's name when she had been a Divine, but the other fragments he'd known as well. Without much thought I opened Amun-Re's Eye, a bizarre scene presenting itself before me. While my normal eyes saw Demonweb, Amun-Re's Eye displayed a massive black serpent, one that seemed to eclipse everything else in the ritual room.

I wasn't sure if he noticed the eye, or perhaps simply sensed my gaze, but the head of the snake suddenly lowered and brought itself near my face, its deep red eyes staring right at me. "To think you're capable of manifesting a portion of my greatest foe, how is it that you keep so much conflicting strength in you?" The head pulled away as the black scaled snake began to curl around the barrier area. "No matter, I'll find out soon enough." it said calmly.

Just as it's words faded I hurt the sound of Ein stopping her quiet chant. I turned to look as the magic circle began to glow extremely bright, just as Ein brought a blade to her chest. "My life for the Lord." she said, plunging the blade into herself deeply before withdrawing it and collapsing. Rather than the blood pooling, it began to run across the lines of the formation, dying the once white glow, deep crimson.

At the same time Demonweb collapsed and I could feel the barrier disappear, only for the snake's body to constrict around me. Despite the fact that I was sure that it wasn't a corporeal being, it had restrained me and brought its massive head above me. "Now give me your body, my dearest daughter!" it practically screamed as the head suddenly shot towards me and began to shrink before connecting with my forehead and I felt as if it began to burrow its way into me.

There was the sensation of my mind being invaded by a snake that seemed to be attempting to fill my every nook and cranny of me as it began to erode and override the entirety of who I was.

I found myself once again in the familiar endless black space, though unlike the other times, a massive black snake now overshadowed everything as it seemed to devour everything it could. Unwilling to go without a fight I steeled myself and rushed towards the beast. It was unfortunate that I didn't have any weapon, but I was undeterred as I rushed and slammed my clawed fingers against the black scales, only to have them bounce off, unable to leave even a scratch.

The serpent could safely ignore me as it continued to erode and devour the space, its own area beginning to form. A desert at night filled with black sand, small black snakes occasionally emerging from the black sand before slithering back in. I was extremely frustrated, kicking against the invading sand, only to have it break apart like glass as my expanse filled the area.

I only now realized that rather than an actual fight, this was a battle of attrition, I needed to destroy the snake's area while keeping as much of mine intact. However, that was easier said than done, the snake was far larger than I was and was able to take out massive swathes of my area in moments while I could only do small portions up to the size of my body at best.

I was destined to lose if I couldn't figure out a solution, so I looked through my Skills and Gifts, reading each description and trying to find an applicable use, and just as I had wished, a single Skill stood out, Devour. Part of its description was, a Skill used to completely consume the lifeforce and soul of a victim, and if that didn't sound like the perfect thing to deal with a incorporeal being causing issues inside me, I didn't think much else would help.

I hadn't used Devour much as it had never really seemed needed, but I now somewhat regretted that choice as I lifted a handful of black sand and shoved it in my mouth. While it had the texture of sand, its taste was incomparable to anything I had ever consumed before, even in the memories of the other lives I had experienced. Vellastria was the only one whose memories came close, but seeing as she was the source of the Skill, it only made sense.

The more I consumed, the larger I became in the area, yet I was still far from rivalling the size of the black serpent, who had finally taken notice of me. "Such a persistent soul, no wonder your Spiritual Sea is so massive. I can feel you siphoning my soul, but it won't be enough, I'll still completely overwrite the entirety of your being."

I paused, startled at the voice of the serpent and its words. When I heard it before, in the barrier, it had sounded just like Demonweb, yet now, its voice was feminine and tempting, like a succubus luring you into your demise. It took me some time to shake off the effect, realizing that it had used magic similar to a Banshee's Wail, only rather than pushing one into deadly despair, it was an intoxicating dullness.

"So resilient." she muttered, still feminine and tempting, though not laced with magic as her last words had been. "I suppose I'll have to play with you a bit."

I had barely been listening to her words, so I was unable to react as her tail slammed towards me and flung me away from her slowly expanding area. Almost as if the tail had a mind of its own it worked on fending me off and keeping me from Devouring as much of her space as possible, something it was doing quite admirably, as the pace I had once had was now pitiful, though I still managed a bite here and there, occasionally a flash of memories would come along, something that caused the she-serpent to shriek.