On the one side, his wounded friends; on the other, the huge dark demon, still stunned by his punches. A feeling of strong responsibility pervaded Yoichi's body, who tried not to tremble.

The snake's irregular breath lifted the sand before his feet and its huge head, wider in the back and narrower towards the muzzle, swung like a pendulum. ​​

If I kill it normally, he will come back to life. Shioko hit it on the head, her light arrow went through its brain, I'm sure... yet, that strange substance healed all its wounds in record time. I don't know how much longer I will be able to fight it, Yoichi thought.

The urgency of helping his injured friend and searching for survivors through the village rubble forced the young tamer to reason quickly. Looking at Kenji, he tried to communicate something with his mind.

He asked it to activate its new power, despite not knowing what it was. If the System had given him a second skill, how could he activate it? Not being a real Nekage, maybe Kenji had just learned its first dragon skills?

"Go, Kenji!" he commanded, continuing to look at his pet out of the corner of his eye, never losing sight of the enemy. Kenji looked back at him, doing nothing.

The little dragon was evidently confused by the orders of its tamer, failing to understand his request. "Kenji, activate your new skill! Go! I don't know how to do it… you must help me!" Yoichi boomed again.

To gain more time, he punched the snake demon's temple violently. Stunned but not too much, it began to no longer feel the pain while the dark gas wrapped its hanging jaw.

"We don't have long! Come on, buddy!"

"What the hell is he trying to do? Why doesn't he just kill that thing?" Shioko asked. Enatsu finished medicating her arm with the piece of fabric and looked at his friend.

He was talking to Kenji and keeping the wild demon who had attacked the village under control. The wind had been loud enough to be heard over his voice while he had trouble communicating with his Oracle.

"Yoichi never wastes time. If he hasn't been dealt the fatal blow yet, there must be a reason," the merchant commented. From his words, Shioko realized that Silvertide's young tamer has great admiration for his friend, blindly trusting him.

While Yoichi tried to activate his new power, moving his arms and making strange gestures with his fingers, the purple gas that enveloped the snake's mouth completely healed its wounds.

Piece by piece, that magical substance with incredible healing powers restored the missing part of the jaw. Each tooth returned to its place, and each fragment of cartilage tissue was welded.

Paying close attention to the snake demon, this time Yoichi was not taken by surprise. Although he had not decided the best way to get rid of that enemy for good, he could not wait much longer.

Suddenly, the screams of his friends alerted him to the imminent danger. With a silence anomalous for a creature of that size, the Hebigure opened its jaws and snapped forward.

The giant mouth of the snake demon opened beyond the limits of its jaw, like that of every reptile of the same family. Not having the bone pivot on the sides of its mouth, it could bite things much larger than it and then push them inside the body.

Ready to defend himself, Yoichi realized that if he tried to dodge the blow, those giant fangs would probably reach him. Raising his arms reinforced by Kenji's scales, he firmly grabbed the two long teeth.

*cling* - Echoing a metallic sound, the rough palms of his hands adhered to the snake's venomous teeth. Simultaneously, he placed both feet on the lower part of its mouth, blocking it from any movement.

"Oh, fuck! Yoichi!" Enatsu screamed, standing up in terror. "Stop!" Shioko interrupted, grabbing his ankle with her one good arm.

"What? Leave me! I have to help him and..." while Enastu tried to challenge his guildmate's order, Shioko pulled his ankle towards her. The merchant lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Before he could talk again, the red-haired girl grabbed his neck and turned his head towards the Hebigure's body. "Before you say gibberish, try to reason, Enatsu. If you tried to attack that snake, it would wipe you out with a tail strike. From what I know, Yoichi cannot think for himself," Shioko spoke, resisting the pain that afflicted her arm.

"What do you mean?" Enatsu gasped, his hands buried into the sand. Sora leaned against a wooden beam near Shioko, listening. "If you got in trouble, he'd try to save you. In the attempt, he'd get distracted by the grip, and that wild demon would devour him. I won't tell you again... don't get close to him," Shioko repeated.

Meanwhile, Yoichi's arms were still above his shoulders. By counter the strength of the Hebigure's mouth, any slightest release of tension would have been fatal.

The muscles of both fighters were stretched to the utmost, concentrating all the body strength in a few crucial spots. Just when Yoichi was sure he could resist, he realized he had forgotten a fundamental detail.

From the centre of the snake's mouth, its toothed tongue sprang from the darkness. "Holy bitch!" he trembled, managing at the last second to change the distribution of Kenji's scales. When the Hebigure's leeching tongue reached his chest, part of the upgrade moved from the top of his arms to the point of impact.

As if it had hit a metal surface in full, the snake's tongue, a very sensitive point, returned inside the mouth. The small teeth surrounding that bloody circular mouth scratched the scales on Yoichi's chest: he knew he had only slowed his agony, delaying the next attack.

In that position, the snake demon could have continued to attack him with its tongue without stopping. Sooner or later, it would find a free space and hit him, causing him to drop his grip on its teeth.

I can't give up right now! I can't die! Supreme Ryutaro! What would you do? How can I activate Kenji's new power? Why didn't you tell me anything? Sweating from his forehead and continuing to think, Yoichi tried not to breathe the Hebigure's mouth whiff.