BOOM!!

A strange, tall figure burst out from beneath the water. The rays of light reflected its scarlet red skin which looked scaly and slimy. Its face then became clear. It possessed about five eyeballs in both sockets that lay on both sides of its head, its razor sharp teeth gave a silver gleam and its powerful hiss almost caused Shyza to lose her footing.

"W-W-W-What is that!?", She fell on her butt.

The giant, wierd-looking serpent stared us down. We also returned stares, leaving silence to create a vacuum of suspense.

"A red serpent?", I thought to myself. "No... it must be some kind of demon. Shyza, try to keep quiet.", I whispered.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!"

"SHYZA!", without even taking a second to listen, she had bolted towards the way we came from.

Alarmed, the demon serpent lunged towards us and grabbed Shyza's legs with a slimy tentacle that burst forth from its skin. Shyza shook violently as the creature pulled us closer, splitting its mouth open into four and exposing numerous groups of sharp teeth that seemed to extend into its throat.

"I-I-I-I DON'T WANT TO DIIEE!!", she twisted and turned, wriggled and stretched but nothing could make her escape from the monster's strength.

"CALM-", I stopped the moment I noticed dead silence. "Shyza?", there was no response. She had lost consciousness through shock. Her grip on me loosened, causing my descent onto the grassy ground. "SHYZA!! YOU BETTER WAKE UP!!!", it was useless now.

The serpent began to secrete a gooey substance from its tentacles and began to lubricate Shyza's body.

I just stared, being unable to move, "At this rate!", the thought beamed in my head.

"Heh.", Shyza grinned.

"H-Huh!?"

Shyza had somehow suddenly regained consciousness and had this evil look on her face. Swiftly, she escaped the serpent's grip and activated her scythe as she lunged towards the monster's head. In a second, the demon slammed her into the reddish water.

"ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!!!"

The huge monster's roar reverberated throughout the entire forest. It then set its eyes on me as it was about to enter the water. Something about me seemed to attract it. Just then, it began to draw closer to me with ferocious eyes.

"Oh no! I barely have enough moon power left!", I tried sparking a flare to ward it off but it wasn't working at all.

The moment the monster got close, it instantly stopped and slowly moved all its eyeballs towards the back of its head. Behind it was Shyza who held a huge oval-shaped rock that had red vein-like structures that surrounded it.

"Make a dumb move and I'll kill it.", Shyza threatened and proceeded to poke the rock with the tip of her scythe.

A glimpse of fear and rage covered the serpent's face as it turned to face Shyza.

"Yes", she grinned. "It's your beloved- no, disgusting offspring."

"Offspring? ... that rock's an egg???", I just laid there confused.

In a flash, the serpent burst towards Shyza but its direction was completely changed after she had thrown the egg into the air. The monster lunged up, trying to reach its baby but Shyza had jumped higher. She grabbed the egg in the air and dug her scythe into the serpent's head as she skated down its skin along with her weapon.

The monster's body split into two halves the moment she landed next to me and its blue coloured blood ejected forcefully into the air and fell in droplets as if it were raining. Shyza didn't seem to be moved by the blood drenching her clothes... her eyes bearing some kind of wickedness as she stared at the monster's body falling into the water.

Right after that Shyza fell on her knees, pressing her head as if she had been hit by a herd of bulls. Clearly, she was going through a sudden unbearable pain but it had stopped immediately as well.

"Hmm?", Shyza raised her head. Her eyes had returned to its childish state. Slowly she looked around at the egg before her, at me, her scythe, her clothes and finally at the dead serpent.

"W-WHAT IN THE SUPERNOVA IS THAT!!??", a glimpse of horror filled her face. "IS THAT THE-", she calmed herself, "Is that... the monster that... but who killed it?"

Shyza had never killed anyone before according to my 'discover' skill and I never knew how she'd react if she found out that she was the killer. Something deep within me immediately causioned me to keep silent.

"I did. With my last bit of moon energy and if was thanks to the egg which I used to distract it.", I replied.

"Oh, that means...", Shyza kept silent for a while. "YOU KILLED THE MOTHER OF THIS UNHATCHED BABY!?"

"... Y-Yes, I did.", I stummered.

Shyza carried the egg in her arms,"How could you do such a thing!?"

"That monster almost killed us and how else do you expect us to leave this place alive!?", even though lying was horrible, I just had to.

"Humph", her cheeks puffed up, "I'm going to raise this baby. Maybe its mom's soul will forgive us."

In my clan, animals were seen to be natural tools provided by the gods for man to use as they pleased and were never controlled by souls. When they died, they'd simply be tranferred into another animal form. They were basically useless in terms of the realms of the spirit and even though this serpent looked extremely wierd, it was still an animal. Even demons that looked like animals were laughed at by both children and adults, making them lose their confidence.

"That's ridiculous! That Serpent's just old shell now!", I spoke up.

"How could you say that!? From where I come from, animals are on the same status as humans.", her face suddenly expressed pride, childish pride.

"Huh?", I was confused.

"You're very funny!", with the egg still in her arms, she proceeded to stand on her feet.

...

...

...

"Eh?"

"Shy...za.", I stared horrified.

Her lower body had been twisted and her right limb pulled out with a lining of flesh connecting it and all she did was giggle.