The movements stopped and finally the duke finally had the time to focus his eyes and catch his breath. The claw that was holding him moved again until he was a few inches away from the young man. He saw him tilting his head from side to side before he finally looked him in the eye.
"You won't? That doesn't matter though because I can always replace you. I think it is better to dispose of you then I will create a copy of you. It would be very obedient." One of the tentacles rose to the sky and changed into something with a pointed end.
Ulysses panicked and in the blink of an eye, he was already above the tentacle and used his sword to cut it off. A loud 'clang' echoed in the space as the duke's sword made contact with the tentacle. He was surprised and before he could retract, he could already feel his body flying. One of the tentacles swiped at him and hit him on his chest which sent him flying.
The pointed tentacle continued in its direction and when they thought that it would pierce through the duke, it collided with something hard instead. The impact caused the shield to appear. It was a silver shield that resembled the scales of a snake and it was around the duke. Cygnus laughed when he saw this situation. It finally appeared.
"It seems that your guardian hasn't abandoned you and that he was not really sleeping," Cygnus couldn't help but comment.
"I won't let you hurt the duke," a deep voice followed by a hiss invaded the place.
A crack suddenly appeared above them which slowly grew bigger which eventually gave out as a force from the outside broke through it. A large black serpent's head appeared from the crack followed by it's large black body. The serpent's fangs bit the claw which destroyed it instantly. The serpent then coiled its body around duke Galahad.
"I thought you didn't really care about the Blackwell and yet here you are," Cygnus looked at the serpent with glee.
This was out of his expectation but the test was worth it. Although he already said that he wouldn't meet the serpent yet, the urge to test it overcame him. And now, the serpent was here and glaring at him.
"You've gone too far," the serpent answered. "You, whose fate is already sealed and yet you are still here, walking amongst the living." The serpent's golden eyes retracted and returned to its original shape.
Cygnus laughed, the black veins on his skin slowly disappeared as he began to be amused by the serpent. "Deities are really different, you could destroy my barrier and even invade it. Ah, how envious is your power."
"In exchange for letting this child go, I will give you information regarding that witch hunt that happened a thousand years ago," the serpent ignored his snide remarks and instead proceeded to the main core of the problem.
"Oh, to go so far for a mere human, you seem close to their family," his gaze shifted to the duke who was sitting on the ground and glaring at him.
"The Blackwell family had been under my protection even after they betrayed me. It is an oath I made with the heavens and the earth as my witness. I cannot rescind what I already promised. Besides, the duke's direct ancestor was someone I considered a friend." The serpent answered and clarified at the same time.
"You know, I haven't had a deity as my pet before and you possess knowledge that I do not have. Serve me and I will make sure that the duke will live a long life and this land will remain under his rule," Cygnus suggested which earned him a gasp from Ulysses and an intensified glare from Galahad.
The serpent maintained its silence. Both of them stared at each other for a couple of minutes before the serpent looked down at the duke. He had been alive for a long time now and he admitted to himself that his power had grown weaker thus the appearance of more and more evil spirits.
The man who was offering him a deal that he couldn't ignore was a person who would only come by in a hundred or even a thousand years. He was someone who had defied so many laws and was still alive. A person who even the lower deities like him would think twice before offending him.
"If I am going to accept your offer, I will need a contract and not just your verbal words," the serpent answered.
"That won't be a problem," Cygnus grinned. He snapped his fingers and a scroll appeared before him.
It was no ordinary scroll, it was a piece of paper that could bind him and the serpent into a contract wherein the violator would die. Cygnus did not hesitate to sign his name on the paper and he pushed it towards the serpent. Even for a deity, it was still normal to get curious so he looked at the name signed on the contract.
He closed his eyes and angled it to the side before opening them again. Even the man's name radiates death that just by looking at it, the serpent had a glimpse of what the man had gone through throughout his life. He avoided looking at the name again and instead used it's tail to make a mark on the paper using its blood.
The serpent pushed the contract back towards the man. Cygnus smeared a little bit of his blood on the contract. The paper glowed white and black then the glow slowly subsided. The deal was done and now the serpent would be under Cygnus.
"Oh, we can talk slowly about that matter after you meet someone from my side. He had been nagging me to meet you." Cygnus knocked on the air beside him and a swirling black energy appeared where a tanned man appeared.
His black hair cascaded behind him coupled with a silly grin on his face, one would not associate him to a dragon with just those bases but his eyes were a different matter. He walked towards the serpent and inspected it from head to tail. He then patted the duke who was still under the snake's protection.
"This serpent isn't bad. Although his power has significantly dwindled to the point that I can't call him a deity and all he has is negative energy, he is still a good catch," he commented after he assessed the serpent's condition.
"He is still a deity though," Cygnus nodded. "I still have a use for him and maybe I can bring him back to his peak and let him ascend. What do you think?"
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom "That can be but are you really going to do that?" Ignius expressed his doubts because his master was notorious for not keeping all his good promises.
"You are right, I might not do it. It will all depend on my mood," he looked at the serpent with a meaningful smile.
He then snapped his fingers once again and the barrier disappeared. All of them were now back to the dining area. The view inside would shock anyone who would enter and that was what Sigma and the other two with him felt after opening that door.
The serpent's body almost occupied the whole place while Duke Galahad was a mess. Ulysses was behind the butler who remained indifferent on the side. Cygnus was calmly sitting on the chair with a half naked man standing beside him.
"You are a dragon," the serpent finally spoke after he was scrutinized by the other person.
Ignius nodded, "How did you know?"
"It is very obvious just by the power coming from you and by your eyes," the serpent answered, "you are one of those fearsome creatures that the humans fear."
