The bad-thing closed its mouth around me, and I found myself pulling free from my scale-flesh once more.

And again.

Again.

Again.

My failures - our failures - repeated ad nauseum, each loss pouring into the next. My frustration mounted, and it showed. Each attempt became more and more reckless, despite the foreknowledge that my previous lives gave.

The battle with the bad-things that came before the fire-water had become routine, each step in the process having been beaten into my scale-flesh again and again. The Coreless continued to play their roles in that regard, following the instructions that my illusions provided them.

Each time, the flame-gaze bad-things died in the same way that they had before.

Each time, we died immediately afterwards - every death slightly different, but the result the same.

I was burned in fire-water.

I was crushed against stone.

I was torn between teeth.

The Coreless were no different. Strong as they were, the bad-thing that hid within the fire-water was stronger. Even with the warnings that I provided, they failed. Just as I was, they were dashed against the rocks, they melted in the fire-water, and they were swallowed like a simple meal.

Each time, they looked at me in their final moments, terrified and betrayed.

I had come to recognize that look.

I had come to hate it.

The bad-thing’s tail whipped to the side, crushing me underneath its weight, and I pulled free again. Hissing with frustration, I tried again - careful to follow the exact same steps that had originally led me to the Core. As annoyed as I was, it would be worse to sacrifice what I had gained; changing anything would mean starting from scratch.

The next while passed in a haze of practiced motions, the steps that were required having become so ingrained that I hardly even paid attention. We sneaked past the Flame Formicans, defeated the stone-tendril bad-thing, and claimed victory over the flame-gaze bad-things in the same way that we always had.

And then, I warned the Coreless once again.

I brought forth illusions of the past, each starting from the beginning - each displaying the paths that we had tried.

I showed the way that the fire-water serpent pulled itself free, the way that it struck with blinding speed, snapping up the Unrepentant One and swallowing him whole.

Then, I pulled it back. I showed the way that the Unrepentant One had sought his revenge in the next life, sinking his ore-flesh deep into the bad-thing’s flesh before it could pull itself free from the fire-water - and the way that his attack failed to defeat it. How we were defeated in its place.

I brought it back again, bringing forth the illusion of a more successful attempt. We stood as far back as possible, while Needle attacked from a distance. It slithered out from the fire-water, sending us fleeing into the large-tunnel.

It crushed us against the walls with its enormous body.

With each illusory death, the Coreless shrank into themselves. They realized something: despite all of the deaths that I had pulled forth, there was something missing.

Not once did I display a path to victory.

We had never come close, after all.

I pulled free from my scale-flesh again, frustration having long transformed into incandescent rage. Still, I followed the path that brought me before the serpent again.

As I stared at the ridge of scale-flesh that snaked its way across the fire-water, the flames of my rage only grew. The lesser Core was so close. And yet, it had never felt further. Every attempt had faltered, and every plan had gone astray.

Behind me, the Coreless jabbered as they always did, the sounds having long become familiar to me - if not the meaning. I hadn’t moved to the next step yet; I hadn’t told them what lay ahead.

What was the point?

They had injured it, but little more than that. It was too fast, too strong.

And even if we did defeat it, how would I reach the Core? I had only seen it by plunging within the fire-water, pulled into its depths on the back of the bad-thing itself. I hissed, and the scent-taste of the Core taunted me with its flavor.

My rage grew.

My frustration peaked.

And in that moment, I gave up on plans entirely. I gave up on warnings, on battle, and on the Coreless.

Instead, I slithered onto the ridge of scale-flesh that rested before me. I buried my fangs as deep as I could.

Then, it pulled me into the fire-water. We tunneled into the depths, and it slammed me against the walls. My scale-flesh melted.

When I returned, I simply tried again.

And again.

And again.

There was no defeating the bad-thing that lurked in the fire-water. Not as we were. Not as I was.

So I stopped trying. Each time I failed, the Great Core brought me back. That, if nothing else, kept me going.

With the Great Core behind me, there was no other outcome but my success.

Eventually.

So, rather than attempt to end the bad-thing’s life, I searched for the Core again. I could only hope that something would change if I succeeded. I was sure that the Great Core would reward me for its defeat. Even without that, I knew that the fire-water was created by the lesser Core’s power, just as the Great Core had created the slow-spots and the fast-spots.

If the Core was gone, then the fire-water might finally cool.

The bad-thing would lose both its greatest weapon and its greatest defense all at once.

Maybe then, we would be strong enough.

With every new attempt, I changed things slightly. I moved a little further, or I waited a little longer before causing the bad-thing to pull me into the depths. The bad-thing’s course shifted with each adjustment, pushed this way and that by my own choices.

I found the patterns.

Bite in that spot, and I would be slammed against the fire-water almost immediately - never catching a glimpse of the Core itself.

Sink my fangs there, and the bad-thing would veer off course, away from where I knew the Core must be.

Clamp down on that scale, and my grip would hold longer than in other places.

Until, finally, I saw the Core again. It passed by me in a blur, but I had seen it - without any of the Coreless dying in the meantime. When I pulled free from my scale-flesh again, it was with a hiss of triumph.

The next time I saw it, I was ready. I let go of the bad-thing, flinging myself towards the waiting Core.

I missed, but it was a close thing.

Just as before, I was consumed by the fire-water again and again in the course of my repeated attempts - but unlike before, there was no frustration at my failure.

Until finally, my mouth closed around the Core. The drops of fire-water that still clung to its surface seared away at my mouth-flesh, setting fire to my tongue.

After so many deaths, that wasn’t near enough to make me flinch.

I forced it down slowly, a trail of fire-pain marking its passage towards my throat. It was bigger than the Great Core, but that, too, didn’t stop me.

At this point, I didn’t think anything could.

Then, my scale-flesh began to burn as power began to flood me - as the Core shifted into something else.

The thought-light flickered.

Integrating Dungeon Core (Aspect: Flame)…

Hot-fire trailed from my stomach, traveling up my length. The fire-pain grew, overpowering the feeling of the fire-water that rested just a short distance away from me - held back by the giant bad-thing’s strange ability as it slithered by.

Dungeon Core (Aspect: Flame) Integrated.

Core Skill Created: [Chrono Fire].

Around me, the fire-water stilled - and with the Flame Core gone, its heat began to quickly disappear.

The thought-light flickered one last time.

Condition Met.

Core Skill - [The Endless Cycle] Renewed.

Creating New Cycle Start.

My scale-flesh tightened.

I left it behind.

Name: Paradox

Species: Snake, Ouroboros

Major Title: [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail]

Minor Titles: [Minor Mana Core][Venomous Retribution][Touched By Fire]

Innate Traits: [Venomous II]

Blooded Traits: [Paralyzing Venom IV] [Poisonous Blood III] [Illusion Spark IV]

Resistances: [Piercing Resistance - Basic IV] [Venom Resistance - Intermediate II]

Level: 17

Trait Points: 7

Core Skills: [The Endless Cycle] [Chrono Fire]

Lesser Core Skills: [Mana Manipulation XI] [Mana Venom X] [Mana Fire IV]

Description: A growing Ouroboros, symbol of the eternal.