"Never wound a snake; kill it" - Harriet Tubman
Ular must have taken the boy right after I exited his mouth. I pulled out my Tiger Wind and lunged at Ular. The serpent quickly vanished into the darkness of the swamp. I pulled out the Orb of Light with the intention of simply blowing the whole swamp away, but then I remembered I could not risk harming the boy as well.
"Do you realise where you are now, Hollow?" Ular's voice echoed through the swamp.
"Your domain, I suppose?" I cautiously moved through the swamp.
"Indeed. Just a moment ago, you might have had the chance to defeat me, but here? You are my prey."
"So, was the whole soul thing a lie? Just to get me to lower my guard?"
"Oh no... no, no, no. The other gods did hunt the boy's soul."
As I was moving through the swamp, I felt a bump on my leg, something solid and heavy, and yet powerful.
"But by fate, the boy's soul entered my realm, and most of the others knew better than to enter another god's domain. Those who don't..."
I took a closer look and realised it was a giant elephant skull, deteriorating.
"Well... you have met one of them," Ular continued.
By the law of nature, a battle between an elephant and a snake will most likely end with the elephant's victory. The battle between the two gods should have the same outcome. This just goes to show how much more powerful a god is in its own domain. Well... this is not good.
"When you said the body and the soul were connected, you used the boy's soul to locate the body, didn't you? That was why you could find me in the middle of nowhere."
"Exactly, what a clever god you are. A slow one, though. A realisation far too late," as Ular began to do its weird laugh again. I held the elephant's skull and drew some sigils into it.
"As we speak, I am combining the two components of the boy, body and soul, into one. Once he is whole, I will consume him and take his powers as my own," Ular continued.
"Well, someone is getting a bit too chatty; maybe it is a good thing snakes can't talk in general."
Ular laughed, and its laughter grew louder and louder. I can not get used to how disturbing the laughing noises sound. I traced its location by following its laughter, but it seemed to have no use; its laughter was coming from everywhere. Snakes began to appear around the swamp and began biting me, injecting thousands of different venoms into my body, trying to slow me down. The swamp's vegetation began to close on me, covering my view and obstructing my path. But despite all of that, I can see it from a distance, the boy's golden, radiant soul is as bright, if not brighter than the sun. I quickly used Tiger Wind to force my way through the obstacles to reach the boy. The boy's soul is re-entering his body. The ground started to tremble, and reality seemed to be very wobbly. Ular is about to devour him at any moment now, and there is nothing I can do about it... Well, not really...
As an immortal who has existed for centuries, I have learnt many abilities along my journey. One of, if not the most important one, is the teleportation ability. I have mastered its use, whether by spell, sigils, tools, or other methods. It is very useful as I have used it to retreat, chase, and turn the tide of countless battles. But one usage that will be important in the current moment is retrieving something, in this case, someone.
"Can't you see? I have won. In just a few moments, I will become one of the most powerful beings in all the halls of creation, and there is nothing you can do about it, not while we are in my domain. Fate is on my side."
I smirked, "Fate, you say? Do you forget who I am?" At the precise moment the combination process succeeded, I activated the teleportation sigil I placed on the boy's body beforehand, thus retrieving the boy to my arms, away from Ular.
"I am the servant of fate; to fight me is to stall the inevitable."
"You thief!" Ular screamed out.
Giant snakes with multiple heads began to erupt from the ground, each plunging its heads towards me. This is usually when I start blowing stuff up. But unfortunately, most of my arsenals are very powerful because they pose a great danger to the user. If I use any of them now, the boy will get hurt. But there is one tool, a gift from an angel. It has been decades since I used this shield, since I don't really need it, but here goes nothing. I pulled out Gabriel's Divine Shield and slammed it to the ground, emmiting areal bright yellow aura. Our surrounding environments began to be pushed away by the shield. Neither the snakes nor the vegetations can reach us.
"An angel's weapon in the hand of a god, now that is laughable!" Ular finally showed itself, now taking the form of mountain-size snake. Its eyes looked like a pair of red moons from the ground. It is advancing towards me, slowly moving through the shield's protective aura.
"But now you have nowhere to go. As long as you are in my domain, you can not escape through teleportation. You are finished!"
I smiled, "You don't get it, do you? With this shield, now I can really blow stuff up." I trigger the sigil I placed on the elephant skull, unleashing all of the remaining power inside of it in a massive explosion. The explosion went off and destroyed the entire environment around us, pushing Ular back. It was not enough to deal significant damage to Ular, but it created an opening for me to escape to my previous checkpoint through teleportation.
We immediately landed back in the desert, only to realise that Ular was right behind us. "Two can play that game," as its tail caught and wrapped around us.
It is currently much weaker than when it was in its domain, but still a god, nonetheless. I struggled hard to break free, but it was pointless. Most of the available methods are self-destructive, and again, the boy is in the way. However, there is a missing piece here; gods aren't supposed to interfere directly in the mortal realm. That is why they have champions to represent them. I am an exception because I am also the champion of The Third of All. They can manifest but not interfere significantly.
This can be considered a significant interference, which means... A bright beam from the sky pierced through Ular's body, splitting it in two. From above, a horde of entities with golden wings and golden armor descent. They were the angels, The Third of All's personal creations. Leading them was none other than Gabriel.
"Ular, you have interfered directly in mortals' affairs, breaking the rules that have been established by Lord The Third of All. Leave at once, or you will receive divine punishment," Gabriel proclaimed.
Ular regenerated its body and was prepared to fight, but outside of its domain, no god besides perhaps the king of the gods can win against the angels, and it knows it.
"We will meet again, Hollow. You'll see. The boy is mine," it said as it slithered out of the mortal plane. Crisis is averted, or at least that is what I thought. Gabriel turned his gaze towards me and descended fully until his feet touched the ground.
"Hello, old friend," he said with a gentle smile. "We have much to discuss."
To be continued.