After the snake sacrificed itself, outside in the plane where his physical body exists. 

It’s been days and Marcel’s body still laid in its lifeless state atop his pile of treasure, albeit, it was in terrible condition. Albeit the regular influx of the castle’s servants and other powerful individuals who come and go, somehow, nobody had yet to scan that room to notice anything. Oh wait... They did but nobody thought it was nothing because it happened so frequently. 

A couple of times after seeing ‘his highness’s lifeless body amidst his treasures and the shock and panic that ensued after thinking that His Highness killed himself to avoid His Majesty, and everybody just ignored Mr. Blackhole Battery atop his treasures, which led to something terrible this time. 

Marcel had been asleep atop his pile of treasure for days and, having not returned or informed his maids of anything, they thought it was the usual kidnapping, so they were slightly worried at first.  

A few more days passed, adding up to a total of a week, and still, no word from Marcel. The surveillance servants confirmed that he was still inside his treasury, but at this point, all of their motherly worry antennae were tingling badly. He had been in there for so many days. What about food and water? What about a warm bath and sleeping in a warm bed? What about... giving them something to do? All of these amalgamated to form worry monsters who could no longer ignore their young master not returning after an entire week. The three just hoped they didn’t come in at a particularly ‘bad time’. 

When they finally entered the room, however, their nonexistent hearts almost stopped beating. Judith was a water demon, Edgar was a fairy, and Portia was a different kind of demon, an imp. Demonic and half-spiritual lifeforms don’t need hearts. 

Marcel, their young master, laid atop his treasure pile, coagulated blackened blood covering the mountain of treasure, almost reaching the entrance before the last of it dried up. How long had he bled out for? They wondered. 

“Young master!!!” They yelled worried. Unfortunately, their young master didn’t reply. The only reaction they found in the room was the slightly glowing danger-red dungeon box that was indicating that someone was still in there. 

Touching their master’s body, they broke into a cold sweat. Their unconscious master, having bled from all orifices, looked incredibly pale and unhealthy. His pulse was incredibly low, almost gone entirely, his body incredibly cold to the touch and the state of his body was horrible. His skin had dried out from the significant loss of blood and he’d lost a tremendous amount of weight. His body was barely clinging to life. If they hadn’t appeared when they did, who knows when their young master would have passed away under their noses. 

“What the hell happened here?” Unfortunately, they didn’t have the time to even ask questions like those out loud, their faces pallid like their master’s from how deadly they judged his situation. THEIR YOUNG MASTER WAS DYING! 

Hurriedly, they carried his body back to his room along with the red box they judged was the prime cause of this situation. Edgar immediately called Sephana who was outside the castle, Judith informed the necessary individuals, the Demon Lord, and the secretary, of the discovered situation while Portia immediately got to administering first aid via recovery spells. Everything had to be done fast and soon, Sephana arrived to provide professional help. 

“How is he?” The maids asked worriedly after she’d examined his body. Fortunately for her, Portia’s recovery spells didn’t do much, which gave her time to investigate everything immediately after she arrived. Unfortunately for their young master, Portia’s spells didn’t do anything. 

She explained, “His body underwent shock. Somehow, while inside there, he took a blow strong enough to affect his body in this dimension. All his internal bodily functions were heavily disturbed, most of his veins, arteries, and nerves ruptured. That should be enough to kill any physical body in the span of time he spent half-dead in that room, which should be almost an entire week.” 

Sephana’s words put heavy strain upon the maids’ minds. How could they sit by and let their young master sustain such heavy damage under their noses? That should only happen while outside the castle. So careless! They thought. 

"Is there anything you can do to save him at this point?” They asked, almost on the brink of tears while staring at the battered body.  

“Don’t worry! The only thing that kept him partially alive during that time is this ‘green thing’ on his left arm, even as we speak.” She said after ripping Marcel’s blackened shirt from his body off him to expose the vine green tattoo that worked tirelessly to keep its owner alive. Hearing this, the maids’ expression seemed to brighten a little bit. 

“But--” Portia was still worried. Sephana still needed to act if they want to keep Marcel alive until he exits whatever danger that ominously glowing red box put him into. 

“Don’t worry, I am working as we speak.” Although she looked somewhat interested in stripping Marcel’s clothes to expose what was underneath, she’d already begun surgery to repair massive amounts of the body’s damage. Veins were being reconnected as were damaged tissues and organs being repaired and severed nerves being reconnected or replaced. Marcel’s body wasn’t dying as long as she’s around, though, she isn’t very sure about his soul. 

After they removed his clothes, they washed him of the blood staining his skin before dressing him again and Sephana healed the scratch marks and indents from his body lying languidly atop some very hard surfaces. At times like this is when they see that they’re raising a growing boy. His body is already strong enough to lie on pointy, crooked, and irregular surfaces without feeling discomfort.  

Now all that bad habit he developed over the past year or maybe two left them was a lot of mess to clean up now.  

Their master’s precious blood flowed all over his treasures and to bring some peace to their heavily worried minds, they went to deal with that mess, although, just seeing it only seemed to increase their guilt. Also, the blood was about quadruple what a normal person produced in their body. Did their master bleed out while simultaneously producing more fresh blood to eventually bleed out even further? 

While cleaning, thoughts like these further worsened their guilt for not noticing their master’s plight. If His Majesty decided to fire them for neglect and improper provision of care despite being his Chosens, they would have no qualms with quitting their life service as royal servants. How could they let this happen? Blah, blah, blah... That’s all they thought about. 

Marcel stayed in his bed, inactive for two more months, leaving the entire Demon Lord’s castle and everyone inside with a thick atmosphere of tension and worries while he slept like a fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. 

* * * 

Eventually, he woke up. A very random but joyous day that was. 

It was like the dead coming back to life. The fluttering eyelashes observed by the maids who hadn’t slept in days along with the strange “Mmm...” that slipped out of His Highness's mouth as he slowly awoke and the eventual lifting of his languid and stiff body to sit up in his bed soon spread cheers and tears of delight across the entire castle and beyond. Even the guards at the teleporting front gate who missed having anyone enter the gates because, honestly, everyone except Marcel and Shalia inside the castle, teleported, were soon peering with their long-reaching sight to observe the scene of His Highness waking up. It was a glorious day. 

While everyone else was happy to just observe the life that had finally returned to his body, Marcel... was confused. 

He sat up in his bed and quickly, his mind wandered off as he tried figuring out what had happened on his own. From what he last remembered, he almost entered ‘the light’ before finding himself back inside his room. The entire ordeal after he got hit by the Shrieking Soul Eater’s attack was the closest, he’d ever been to death despite how much that threat loomed over him in his everyday life. Knowing where he’d be going if he ever died, he was slightly relieved. Death doesn’t sound so scary now that he’s half-experienced it for himself.  

 

All the while he was swarmed and engrossed with his thoughts, the only thing he could see was the snake that was suddenly there on his shoulders. He didn’t notice until the very last second, and the snake thought it fit to remind him of that. 

“Ahem!” It cleared its throat after Marcel’s enlightened thoughts and insights on death. 

“Oh? Why do I suddenly see you? We aren’t in an illusory dungeon, are we?” Marcel thought that maybe, he was being attacked. 

“Things have changed!” It answered. This only left him wondering even. 

“What happened?” He asked. 

“Well, easy! My plan worked, sort of! You were saved, soul guardian, blah, blah, blah---”  

“Easy, please! Can you take your time to speak so I can understand?” The snake obviously had a lot to say and he needed to understand the situation. He wanted it to take it slow. 

“I managed to complete the last of our soul fusion and we became one.” The snake began. 

“Oh? And?” 

“You can see me now because I changed. When we were merging, the mysterious force inside you helped me finish it, thus completing my assimilation with you. With that, I relinquished everything that was myself to your soul and you were temporarily saved--” 

Marcel just nodded as he listened carefully: “I see!”  

“Also, the mysterious force inside you acknowledged my sacrifice. I’m not sure if I should say that it was touched by me, so I’ll say that instead. In an instant after I ‘perished’, as in I ceased to be myself any longer, my whole existence was purified and I was given what was, more or less, a complete form.” 

“Hmm!” Marcel looked incredibly eager but also surprised as he waited for what the snake would say next. 

It continued,  

“That thing brought me back to life. It reconstructed my ego to something perfectly fit for this body I currently have as well as the duty I will be undertaking in the future. After all that was over, with my new purified and reconstructed self, I went back to fighting ‘that thing’ with renewed strength.” 

By ‘that thing’ it referred to the Shrieking Soul Eater. After it was ‘reborn’, it fought the Shrieking Soul Eater for almost 120 hours, as in five days. He evaded the attacks with multiple layers of defense when it got him and held out until it was almost out of juice. Finally, it created a giant pressurized sword from soul power and sliced it through. 

After the battle ended, they both fell into a slumber and when he woke up, he found that he’d become Marcel’s Soul Guardian. 

“What’s a Soul Guardian?” Marcel asked. 

“Well, think of it as something like an alter ego who guards your soul. I thought that the mysterious force inside you was it but guess not. It’s normally only used by creatures with high-ranked souls, generally people with power who can’t afford anyone breaching the confines of their soul and mind.” 

“You aren’t my alter ego, are you?” Marcel was sure that he wasn’t a foul-mouthed ‘snake’ deep inside, for sure! 

“I... am, but also, am not? This is the first-ever occasion that something like a foreign invader has become a soul guardian. I didn’t even know this was possible. Your ‘knowledge’ confirms it!” He was talking about the knowledge received via Dragon Link. 

“I see. It must be because you are me now but also you at the same time. Who knows? What I’m talking to now might just be a fabrication of the ‘snake’ who’s been replicated and repurposed. My body does hate foreign influences, doesn’t it?” Marcel also gave his own suggestions about what might have happened. Before this day, he didn’t even know there existed such a thing as a soul guardian. 

With a bit of explanation about what a soul guardian was out of the way, they continued talking, ignoring the outside world and making Marcel look like a person with severe brain problems as he entered a daze atop his bed and unresponsive to anything they did, talking to the air instead. 

The snake talked to him about its current situation even further. It explained that it got back its formal body’s size, although now, it felt foreign to him.  

All it had was Marcel’s, not its anymore. As an extension of the being that is Marcel, it gained tremendous control over the elements to the point of partially summoning them into maybe an illusory dungeon in the future.  

It was like the former dungeon serpent that it was, had died and parts of it extracted to become this new and unfamiliar being that guarded the interior of Marcel’s body. Marcel might be right after all. Its evolutionary path is now unknown, and it might even be stuck in this form forever but what it knew was that it was now adaptive to change depending on the threats they faced in the future. So strange! 

What it expected when going in was a heroic loss of its ego to become a part of Marcel after its sacrifice, but unexpectedly, it fought a 5-day battle and defeated the opponent, was given not only access to Marcel’s powers but also, all his knowledge, new parts of his soul, all his memories and even his nastiest thoughts. This was the biggest surprise of its entire existence. It earned more than it ever did in its life as a dungeon beast from only one rash action, which honestly, would bring anyone down became, ahem... worthless life... but hey, it is what it is. 

Suddenly, it can look outside again with its own eyes, though, it’s still through an invisible spiritual body. It’s like a soul spirit or a low-tier soul manifestation, so far away from being a phantom, specter, or a spirit. It can’t interact with the outside world in any form, except via Marcel’s soul power. Basically, no one except Marcel and someone capable of seeing souls can see him.  

Speaking of people capable of seeing souls, right after he thought it, it noticed something. 

Marcel’s doctor was looking its way with a smirk that sent shivers down its spine. Right after locking eyes with her, it ran to hide behind Marcel’s back, shivering. 

‘That person is strong! Defying them is not an option.’ It thought.  

In its eyes, Sephana was a mountain far more terrifying than anything it ever met in its life as a dungeon beast, while it was a lowly ant with enhanced ‘parasite’ privileges, if it truly was the snake, that is. If it had managed to successfully take over and invade Marcel’s soul back then to take over his body, he was sure that even then, that woman would be able to extract the parasite that it is from Marcel without many problems. Looking at Marcel's memories, how does that little brat manage to defy such a person? So fearless and ignorant! 

“From now on, not even a thought of defying the brat!” It thought, further acknowledging Marcel as its master and self with no intention of ever claiming Marcel’s body. Even if it did, it would just be weird now. It would be like their arm trying to take over their body. It was Snake Marcel now. Doing that would just make everything in existence question its sanity. You never heard of anyone who took over their body, have you? 

Continuing to look in the direction of the cowering soul spirit, she said to Marcel, “It looks like you got yourself a new friend~” her tone playing as usual. 

This left the others, a bit confused. First, their young master is talking to the air and now, Sephana followed along. Was there perhaps, another soul in the room, something they weren’t seeing? They thought. 

“Yes! It’s a guardian.” He smiled. 

“I see. What’s it called?” Sephana smiled in response. 

The moment he was asked the question, a response automatically came from him. He didn’t even think about it to answer her. It was like he knew the name he gave the snake before that very moment. 

“Roden!” He answered. 

“That’s a nice name. It must like it!” Sephana looked directly at the scared snake behind him. It nodded vigorously, not just because it was afraid, but also from the fact that it liked the name.  

Huh? It’s like the name was made just for him. And wait, why does it have this strange feeling that its terrible life is only going to go up from that point on? How very unnerving!  

It went back inside Marcel’s body to patch up the rest of ‘their’ damage, take a rest, and fully beginning repairs by tomorrow. Also, as a newly acquired bonus, it can now listen to the outside from there. He really doesn’t want to deal with the woman staring holes into their soul. 

What? Their soul?!! Ah, it's got too comfortable saying that way too fast! What’s going to happen to it? 

“It’s in its weakest stage right now. Eventually, it will show all its might.” Sephana said after the snake went back inside Marcel. He nodded, also believing that Roden will be very strong someday. Ains is strong, Blitz is too, despite its current immature state, so it should also prove itself someday, though, that thing dealt with his ‘killer’ so... He thought. 

With the talk with Roden out of the way, he began answering the calls of the people around him. His three maids and Sephana’s questions about what happened, Shalia’s smothering after not seeing him for so long, and Allan’s slight show of joy from having returned. He received them all nicely and calmed their very worried hearts. 

Speaking of worried hearts, one of the ones with the biggest, the Demon Lord, came to see him after he awoke. It was probably on too early a time when compared to Shalia and Allan’s arrival. 

He came rushing in right after he had his first few conversations with the maids. 

“Have you been watching my vitals for when I would awake?” Marcel asked. 

The other, with an unperturbed expression, answered, “No, I did not. I just heard from Claude who was monitoring you that you awoke.”  

“And you rushed here. Right~” Marcel spoke, not believing a single word he said. At this point, acting like he wasn’t being monitored by the man in front of him was useless, so he pretended to believe that big lie. 

 

[Flashback] 

When he first heard that Marcel was found atop his treasure pile, he immediately rushed to see what happened. He couldn’t let Marcel die just like that! That would ruin his plans.  

Unfortunately, when he arrived, he found that he couldn’t do anything except keep Marcel’s body and the illusory dungeon cube’s connection stable. That thing failing triggers an ‘Underworld Bargain’ situation, which sadly, has been proven to be impossible to do when it’s a hero involved. Bargains can’t be made to bring back a hero’s soul, meaning that Marcel would really die. 

All that while he spent worrying about whether the little guy would be fine or not, he asked Vitalis about what was happening inside the dungeon space. She refused to give him any details but just told him that he was fine after she confirmed that his soul’s life signs had stabilized. He was left more anxious by this answer until Marcel woke up, that is.  

Will he show his worry and concern now that Marcel is up though?  

No, because Marcel always turns into an angry cat whenever he does that, same as when he teases him. 

[End of Flashback] 

 

Quickly after confirming that Marcel was fine, he told him not to enter another illusory dungeon cube for a while, then left the room. Luckily, he left clones of himself to do his work while he worried, or he would have way too much on his plate. It’s not easy being the guardian of the demon realms at all. 

And just like that, Marcel returned to being in a patient of Sephana’s like before until he fully recovered, which took an additional two months. His soul was stronger than ever thanks to Roden’s diligence and his body’s vigor supported that notion. He was fit as a fiddle again. 

And that’s how the former Poisonous Three-Colored Inferno Serpent, a dungeon beast living in the ‘Dungeon of Fire Poisons’ may or may not have been reborn as a hero’s soul guardian after a heroic sacrifice and attained the name, Roden.  

Seriously, is Roden the real foul-mouthed snake or just a fabrication by the mysterious force? Even I am unsure just yet.