Chapter 86: Let's make a contract
Again the System sent a message ahead of you while the tremors only grew stronger, every second.
[You stand before the Spirit of Ouroboros, the King of the Abyss]
The message echoed as the residual dimension around him began to fracture, pieces of the environment cracking and breaking like glass under immense pressure. Strax looked around, his heart pounding as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He stood before something more vast and terrible than the Dragon.
Tiamat, until now a towering presence before him, remained still, observing with an expression that was hard to decipher what was going through the dragon's mind, something truly strange was happening.
The tremors continued, the darkness around engulfing everything, as if the abyss itself was materializing to claim its prey.
Tiamat, unlike before, was now silent, waiting, as if acknowledging the authority of the new presence.
Strax struggled to keep calm, but the aura emanating from this spirit was entirely different from Tiamat. Ouroboros did not exude Tiamat's pride; instead, it was an abyssal force, a presence pulsating with a devouring hunger and a fury that seemed to want to consume everything around it.
The tremors became even more violent, and Strax felt the pressure in the air intensify, crushing him.
Stax fell to his knees on the ground, trying to maintain composure, but it was an even harder struggle, even with the aura of a dragon, it didn't matter, he just fell to the ground, almost powerless.
The air was infused with a new and devastating aura, and Strax was forced to the ground by the overwhelming force of the new presence, and his knees gave way. A female voice, laden with anger, fury, and disgust, echoed again through the dimension, "How dare you ignore me, insolent human!?" She shouted as before.
As he struggled to rise, the ground trembled again. The sound of something colossal being dragged reverberated through the cave. Strax, with great effort, lifted his face slightly and saw something that filled him with a new form of terror.
A gigantic serpent emerged from the darkness. Its body seemed endless, a creature so vast and infinite that only a fraction was visible before him. The scales gleamed with a dark shine, each movement causing a new tremor that reverberated through the environment.
[You stand before the Spirit of Ouroboros, the King of the Abyss]
Strax read that message again, this time it seemed heavier than before in front of his eyes.
"Where have I got my hands on ..." He commented. "Damned whore." Tiamat commented again and Strax looked at her. "Release the Boy, if you're going to talk to him, be polite!" She shouted with a native spirit of justice, something that Tiamat didn't like was lack of education.
Strax looked at Tiamat confused, but saw that Ouroboros's colossal body began to glow with an ethereal light. The scales shimmered and rearranged themselves, the serpent twisting and shrinking, metamorphosing. In a matter of moments, before him, where once stood the colossal serpent, appeared a feminine figure.
"Talk about being polite when at least using a humanoid form to speak with a human, your Proud Whore" Ouroboros said.
Ouroboros now had the form of a woman of devastating beauty and look of pure strength, but with a tone of fury still burning in her eyes.
She had long curly black hair, and wore a large black dress as well as her scales, she had some simple ornaments on her arms, but what really struck Strax, were her eyes, two red reptilian eyes.
Her gaze fixed on Strax, but not in a gentle way. It was a penetrating gaze, one that seemed to undress his soul and examine it with disdain.
Tiamat roared in frustration. "Ouroboros, do you dare interpose yourself here? This human is already promised to my sword!"
Ouroboros smiled, a smile full of disdain and challenge. "Promised to your sword?" she laughed, her voice like bells ringing in tones of steel. "Tiamat, are you really trying to steal the boy from me? You who always thought humans were weak."
The two spirits faced each other, the tension between them almost palpable, Strax still on the ground, barely able to rise, feeling the wave of power emanating from the two entities.
Ouroboros glanced at Tiamat. "Come down here, proud bitch," she said, looking up at the Dragon, who for some reason followed what she wanted.
And soon after... "Ah, fuck it," Strax said, "Of course it had to be two crazy women who hate each other." He muttered, not that he was denying, but he couldn't waste time with two women who hated each other.
"He defeated me, he proved himself worthy! I have the right to choose who will wield my power!" Tiamat roared, her voice echoing through the cave, when Strax returned to the scene, it was two women in humanoid form arguing.
Now, however, he paid attention properly... Tiamat, a woman with a surreal body, long yellow hair, a black dress that accentuated her curves and a pair of very beautiful horns... "Fuck it, I want both," Strax thought quickly, for some reason he didn't even know.
[System Restriction Broken] He read before turning to them.
The conversation between them was still going on, Ouroboros rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning slightly forward, as if she was about to give Tiamat a lesson. "Ah, Tiamat, always so attached to these formalities of honor and dignity, pride blah blah blah. Who cares about that?
True power doesn't need permission, it is taken!" She then turned to Strax, her eyes gleaming with dangerous intensity. "You, boy, you will be mine, for you possess something that no sword can offer: a soul worthy of being tested in the abyss." She said proudly.
Strax, feeling the growing pressure of the situation, tried to intervene. "Wait, wait! I..."
Tiamat interrupted, stepping forward, "Don't be fooled, Strax. She wants to consume you, to use you for her own idiotic abyssal purposes. I offer power, yes, but also a partnership!"
Ouroboros laughed again, a sound that reverberated through the cave. "A partnership?" she mocked. "You're really desperate, Tiamat. What I offer is true power, without these chains of honor you impose. It will be forged by the abyss, reborn in its primal strength." She said like a great fairy tale villain.
Tiamat snorted, her patience clearly wearing thin. "And you think he'll just submit to your abyss without a fight? You underestimate this human, as you have always underestimated everyone else."
"You speak as if you have any control over him, Tiamat. But the truth is, he chooses who he will take with him! And it seems you can't handle the competition."
Tiamat advanced as well, her chests were already almost touching, but she remained upright! "This is not a matter of competition, it is a matter of principles! I will not let you drag him into your idiotic darkness!"
Ouroboros cast a disdainful glance at Tiamat, then turned back to Strax. "So, boy," she said, her voice now sweet, quite sensual "The choice is yours."
"Which one of us will you choose?" The two shouted together... Strax... who managed to get out of Ouroboros's aura looked at the scene and just wanted to go away... "And I thought I was going to get a quiet spirit that didn't talk to anything and stayed by my side, I got two old bitches" Strax said, "Well, a man has to take responsibility" Strax said and stood up, apparently neither was listening.
Tiamat and Ouroboros were with their faces almost glued, sparks literally flying between their looks and the air was charged with hostility.
Strax arrived at the center of the dispute, and with an effort, he raised his voice to be heard above the turmoil. "Both of you!" he shouted, trying to make himself heard over the noise and tension. "Stop this shit now!"
The two entities turned to Strax, their surprised and angry looks fixed on him now. Tiamat and Ouroboros seemed almost hateful for having been interrupted, and the silence that followed was deafening.
Strax stared at both, "I'm not a prize to be fought over between you. I am a man, a being with my own will. The prize here is you! Not me!!"
Ouroboros stepped back slightly, her expression of anger softening into something more thoughtful. "You are bold, boy," she murmured.
Tiamat took a step back too, "You have courage, Boy," she said, "And maybe, that's what really matters."
Strax was already getting nervous, he was the one who should be the winner here! He was to be the person who won the prize! When the values were reversed ?! Who is sealed were they! Why are you turning it into an object!
He was furious, he had been a long time, for all possible reasons, but now? Now he broke.
"I came to this shit to choose a sword for me to kill a fucking son of a bitch who kidnapped my wife, and you two... You damned bitches are messing with my mood."
Ouroboros and Tiamat exchanged brief glances, but he continued. "You know what? Fuck it." He said and raised his hand.
"Both of you come with me, Both are mine." He said, his anger was already at the limit and he had no more time for that. Tiamat had already agreed with him and Ouroboros seemed favorable then. "Do this shit of Contract, I Have to Kill a Rude and Save My Wife!" He shouted at the women who were left unreactive.
[You've made a contract with two Higher Entities from Sector #######]
Autor Note: The images of Tiamat and Ouroborous are in auxiliary chapter 3! It could be that the bot is blocking the images, so go to the discord server for more details, no big problems!