He gazed at the tree in Deitre’s arms. He couldn’t even completely wrap his arms around it, burying his hands deep into the bark. It was so giant the massive snake seemed almost normal in comparison. Almost. “No, nope. Whatever you want to do I refuse. Connor, hold him off while I run away! With your life!” He was already running while shouting orders, Connor happy to comply with his master’s harsh demands. It was no use since Deitre just slammed the tree into the ground, shaking him off balance.

He was then picked off the ground by his legs, the whiplash causing him to slam his face into the ground. With no way out it was time to beg. “Oh fuck, please Deitre Let’s talk this out. You're not gonna make me eat the snake right?” He couldn't see Deitre’s face since he was thrown on his back while being held by one leg. He felt indescribable fear when he saw his incubus peacefully lay against a tree. Unconscious. When’d he do that!? Tiffany wasn’t here to heal him so he had no confidence.

With a thump he hit the floor, Deitre lording over him with no doubt evil intention. “I’m not going to make you eat the snake. This type of spell doesn’t work that way.” He jumped up the tree which had been pierced into the ground a good sturdy ten feet. “I’m going to have you fight it.” Derb watched on as Deitre detangled the snake from the branches. Everything he’d done had required such immense strength that it was starting to make Derb sick to his stomach. He really had nothing against this beast of a man.

“Why am I fighting that!? Couldn’t I just spar with, you know, something that won’t kill me?” Derb had to ask, risking his life against something that big was bad for his mental health. “Why can’t I just fight you?” Deitre shook his head at his students' confusion. “I’m too strong for your power to work on me, apparently. I had to look for something strong enough to train you with. I found this not too far away, fortunately.” He explained, halfway done with the untangling. “Wait, so the fact that it's a snake was a coincidence?”

“No,” Deitre answered, refusing to explain any further. “Get ready, I’m about to wake it up.” Derb jumped back, not wanting to be anywhere near that thing when it was awake. Deitre’s way of waking up the snake was simple, and he just dropped it from the tree. The force of the fall was enough to rouse the monster, and the first thing it saw was him. “Time-out! Tiffany isn’t here, you know!?” He started running but remembered Connor was still out cold behind him.

He didn’t want his demon to die like this, even if it could come back later. He took the sword in his stance, casually circling the monster. It didn’t move, it was already in range to attack after all. It was just waiting for the moment he panicked or let his guard down. He thought of using all the tattoos but he didn’t want to end up as bad as when he sparred with Connor. That’d mean his death. He thought of going for the boar but he had a feeling it Didn’t work on poison.

He had to fight fire with fire. Unfortunately, his flame looked like a match to a torch compared to the real thing. He activated the snake tattoo, nothing happening while they looked at each other. He knew it helped him spot opening from when he fought with Connor, something he realized should have been the first thing he explained to Deitre after he came back. The snake was doing the same to him, however. Both were ready to kill in one shot.

Derb felt the tattoo flare up occasionally, but they were gone too quick for him to make a move. It was like when he fought with Deitre, the snake had no opening he could take advantage of. That meant he had to make one. He used the rabbit tattoo and leaped at the snake, who suddenly became active. It lunged to where he seemed to be going, thinking he wouldn’t be able to change his trajectory. The moment everything slowed down was when he knew he won.

He turned off the rabbit spell, swinging his sword right where he was going to land originally. He saw the snake’s eyes widening in shock, its mouth opening to attack nothing. He used his boar spell right before the swing, maximizing every bit of strength into the one blow. The blow landed and from the silence Derb guessed everything was over. He felt the blood gush onto him, a testament to how massive the gross monstrosity was. He slowly moved in to finish it off, not sure if it was enough to fully kill it.

He was right since it immediately started moving and whipped him away with its tail. The force of the tail threw him almost 8 feet away, taking most of the wind out of his lungs. While he was gasping for air he saw the snake loom over him, looking victorious. He saw the gash and realized it turned right before the swing, so it didn’t cut as deep into its flesh as he hoped. With its prey incapacitated it lunged at him, ready to kill the thing that so badly damaged it.

And then time stopped. The adrenaline matched with the snake spell caused everything to stand still. The giant gaping maw of the snake seemed to be one massive opening for his sword, and he knew exactly where to shove it. He looked on as his hand painstakingly slowly brought the sword up, nowhere near in time for the kill. He activated the rabbit and boar, anything to make the sword go faster. He barely locked it in front of him in time before the snake reached him, sinking its fangs into his shoulders.

The pain was horrendous, he could feel the liquid pouring into him. It stopped soon enough though, as the snake limply fell onto him. The sword had reached its brain, and Derb made sure to rip into it as hard as he could. He ran out of mana because of it, however. “I got you, you stupid animal.” Derb groaned, the weight of the snake crushing the air out of his lungs. Before he passed out from lack of air it was pushed off by Deitre, who was carrying a crying and confused Tiffany.

“He doesn’t have much time, get the blood out of his neck.” Deitre ordered, his face looking rather severe. Derb wondered why, he’d beaten the snake after all. He felt like he was on cloud nine, that was the strongest creature he’d defeated alone, after all. It’d be a great story to tell Hannah- “AAUGH!” All of a sudden his head cleared up, the foggy pleasure he’d been feeling was ripped away from him as he felt something removing everything foreign from his body.

It had to be Tiffany, that magic of hers was causing all of it, how the hell dare she! “Get away from me!” He shouted, grabbing her throat and shoving her to the ground. There was no sympathy, he could still feel the chemicals altering his brain but he didn’t care. He wanted to feel happy again, he wanted to die. That was quickly stopped as Deitre ripped him away from her, stealing his kill. “I can’t knock him out, we need his heart beating as fast as possible! I’ll hold him down.”

Eventually, their shouts and whimpers became garbled and messy. What were they saying? He didn’t care. All he cared about was fulfilling his goal of dying. He bit down on his tongue as hard as he could, he remembered hearing that could kill someone in a tv show once. Instead of the pain, he expected he felt indescribable happiness, as if he was being rewarded for his actions. It was instantly ripped away from him as the worthless girl began her magic. What were their names? What was that strange magic? He remembered less and less, only one thing in his mind was left as he passed out. He needed to die.

____

“Why is this happening to you… why you...” I moaned between sobs. Derb was lying there gushing blood from his mouth, now being forced open by Deitre who had him in a grapple. The blood was trickling down his swollen and purple neck and shoulders. The sight was making me sick to my stomach but I swallowed and kept pouring my magic into him. If I was there initially, this wouldn’t have happened… what was wrong with me. Of course he’d choose his home over this hellscape if this was what happened to him at every moment. I’ve lived my whole life in the village, how could I know about what happened outside?

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” It was all she could say, even that was hard thanks to her ruined throat. He was delirious and his eyes looked angry and calculative, as if he was looking for another opportunity to… do something. She knew the poison was affecting him, or else he wouldn’t have tried eating his tongue. It didn’t hurt any less having him attack her with no remorse. They’d spent so much time together, she saw him as a brother and she didn’t want him to die…

“Stop thinking and heal him you worthless brat!” He yelled with a little mana intertwined with his voice, not enough to harm her but plenty enough to get her scared. The thoughts of guilt vanished and she purely focused on healing the brother she only just got. The tongue stopped gushing blood and his eyes glazed over, completely out cold. With him no longer struggling the rest was going to be easier. Her eyes sharpened as she realized he could be saved. She’d make sure of it.

___

Derb woke up in the middle of the process. He watched on as Tiffany healed him relentlessly, only realizing his jaw was being forced open halfway through. “Eeeuher wha ah uu doouu?” was what he managed to sputter out. roughly translated to ‘Deitre, what the hell.’ Night had come and he realized that Hannah was also there, sitting next to Adalia with tears in her eyes. That’s when the memories hit. Oh god, he tried killing himself!? Worse, he tried to kill Hannah! His face went pale with shock, a huge contrast to the dried black blood covering everything below.

“Hannah I’m so sorry… oh god...” That was what he tried to say, coming out no more understandable than the first. He tried to fight the grip Deitre had on him, Even using his boar strength but nothing let him out to explain himself. She looked tired, some of his blood was on her, but she didn’t even look like she noticed. The poor thing looked like she was in hell. What a terrible man he was to put her through that kind of pain.

Then he came up with a plan ‘Connor, can you hear me?’ He asked in his mind. He remembered the incubus falling unconscious, but it was much later so he’d hoped it was awake. It didn’t take him long to realize the incubus had died. It’s soul inside his body. He remembered what he told it before they both passed out, and came to the conclusion that it tried killing them. Christ, things were only getting worse the more he thought about it. How did he fuck up so badly?

He’d fix it all up soon, for now he had to apologize. He summoned Connor once more, making sure to give it very specific instructions. In a glimmer of purple light, Connor appeared, and Adalia charged him. What the hell girl, I thought you were on my side? He ordered her to stop just in time for Connor to drop into a kowtow. It was a few seconds of stunned silence before the incubus stood up and shoved both hands into its mouth, holding it like how Deitre was doing to Derb.

They all looked at Derb at the exact same moment, nothing but a dead silence permeating the air. “Huwwahah?” Was all he muttered, and Deitre burst into mad laughter. “This is the first thing you do after coming back from the brink of death!? Ahahah!” He let go of Derb’s sore cheeks, not stopping his raucous laughter. He looked at the other with a smile, thinking they'd both laugh at the joke too. They didn’t. Hannah was looking at him with anger in her eyes while Tiffany latched onto his blood-crusted stomach, sobbing louder than he’d ever heard someone cry.

He brought her up to where her face wouldn’t get dirty with blood and hugged her. “I’m so sorry I had to put you through this Tiff… I promise I won’t do something that dumb again.” He said, consoling the poor girl. “Uuhh… no you don’t understand… uuah… it was my fault… my fault...” She yowled, a little too close to his ear to be comfortable. “If I wasn’t angry I’d have been here. I’d have been here… to save you… UAHHH!” Was that what this was all about?

“I was the one that acted so pretentious, I shouldn’t have acted like I knew more than you, it was stupid of me.” He remembered her walking off in a huff, and he assumed it was because he acted like she was nothing but a child who knew nothing about the outside dangers of the world. She looked up at him with confusion, and then anger. She blew her nose into his shirt before ranting. “No... y-you asshole. It was because you said you hated it here so much. You act like we aren’t your family. like you want to go away... ”

Her head was buried into his chest, could have been cute had it not been for the blood that was getting wet again from the sweat and tears. What the heck did she mean he hated it here. Every day was so fun and full of happiness. It was the first time in forever he’d ever felt so free to do as he wished. To release his energy in a way he felt mattered. Every day in the past world he always felt like he had to watch everything he said, since everything could easily be used against him. His pathological lying had a little something to do with that though.

Was that why Tiff and Hannah looked so angry? Because of his homesickness. Truth be told… “That’s not true. I think… meeting everyone here was the first time I’ve ever felt so happy. So alive.” For a second he thought he messed up again since everyone got silent again, even tiffany had stopped sobbing. He felt a giant warm hand fall on his head, rubbing it gently. “How ironic, the man with pints of poison injected into him is going on about feeling alive.” Hannah smiled warmly in the background, while Tiffany was having a giggle fit in his chest. “You alright, Tiff? Mana withdrawal?” She shook her head, shoving him away from her.

“Go wash yourself, you got so much blood and saliva on you that you reek!” She pinched her nose and Hannah did the same, much to Derb’s horror. “What are you going on about!? You smell just as bad as me, probably. Look at how much of a mess you’re in.” He was right, she looked terrible, especially after hugging him so closely. Hannah stepped in to stop the fight before things got too heated, however. “You both smell, both of you need a shower as soon as possible, or else the house will smell terrible.”

They both opened their mouths to complain, but closed and looked at each other mischievously. Hannah saw their faces and became nervous. “You know, I was just gonna die or something to a huge snake and everything right?” Derb asked, calmly. Too calmly. She nodded, taking an unsure step back. “It even poisoned my brain into making me want to die, terrible stuff really.” He and Tiffany took a step forward, each taking a predatory stance. “And yet Tiff was so worried she hugged me despite my looks. It was a truly touching moment.” Hannah realized where this was going and turned to run, instead tripping onto the floor. All she could do was scutter back from the two sweaty, bloody, saliva-covered people.

“You were worried about me too, right? So where’s my hug?” He asked. Both him and Tiff lunging at the poor screaming Hannah. Deitre could only watch as they sandwiched her between them, sighing at how immature the three acted. He pulled his shirt up to his nose and cringed back. Guess he needed a bath too.