It engulfed the poor bastard in one swift bite. Its teeth were not involved in the matter, and it was a horrific endeavour. Artemis once considered stabbing the man on his way down the serpent's gullet, but was simultaneously afraid that interrupting Leon's meal would spell trouble for himself...
...more than that, he really wanted to see how much larger Leon would become after consuming another living being, so he ignored the guttural, strangled screaming.
The counter didn't seem to have a limit, simply going up by one every time a living being was consumed by her. Just how far could he push it?
His face paled. There was a giant ball in the center of Leon's form now, where the shadow assassin had been eaten.
Is the ability prone to the digestion of a serpent? How long did that textbook say it was? Several days? Weeks?
"Serpents only eat a few times a year, don't they? Is this the case for you?"
The snake stared at him for a moment, and then gently mimicked a nodding motion.
Sh-t! Artemis cursed. Hindered again by cruel Fate!
"Does this mean you won't be able to move very well for a while?"
Sadly, to his despair, the snake nodded once more.
Not only did I diminish fighting capability by being curious, didn't I also just cost myself?
He could sense the Daemonic Essence, that vile Core in his chest. It didn't brim with malevolence now, it was somewhat tamed and diminished. It was only at half-capacity now, like a glass that had been spilled.
Was this just how much his use of the Daemonic Traits and [Eye of Discernment] cost?
This couldn't have been the case... he had used it so frequently since he had obtained it. Not to mention that the Daemonic Traits seemed permanently bound to him...
Was it summoning Leon that had taken so much out of him? More than that, it seemed to be draining, albeit at a smaller rate, with each passing second that Leon remained outside of his body.
He was sure he would have to send her back soon, otherwise risking depleting all of the Daemonic Essence he had left. But there was still one more thing to be done.
He knelt down next to Leon, smiling gently. What did a good Leader do for someone that had done something outstanding? If it were his own Guard, he would have allowed them a night of drinking, or something similar... but what could he do for a Serpent?
"Okay! Good snake!" He spoke in a genial, soft tone.
As he attempted to pat the head of the beast, it immediately sunk its fangs deep into his hand. They were as thin as twigs, but as sharp as daggers, and so they slid cleanly into his flesh, spilling blood the colour of its scales onto the ground below.
Artemis let out a shrill yelp, trying to jerk his hand back. But the serpent's grasp on his hand remained taut and unmoving. Until another moment, when it did let him go, and peered up at him with calculating eyes.
Runes suddenly appeared in front of Artemis, causing him to take a step back, raising his pained, bloodied hand to his chin as his eyebrows flew up.
['Leon of the Godwater' has offered you a 'Cognitive Tether'.]
[Will you accept?]
"Ah... yes?" He instinctively replied to the runes.
Before he could even think to flinch, the serpent suddenly shot upwards, contorting itself as it shrunk, twisting away into several crimson strands before burying itself underneath his eyelid. It crawled through his head and settled in his chest, in the presence of the bright-red Core.
And then, a soft, tantalising voice spoke out. It sounded nearly identical to the crackle of electricity in the air when he would read out the runes of [Eyes of Discernment].
[???]: "Can you hear me now, Vessel of Prince?"
Well, it could be the case that he was finally starting to hear voices. Although, considering that Lark had already been burrowed inside his skull, it wasn't too hard to make a detailed assumption.
"Leon, is that you?"
[Leon]: "Good... I was tired of nodding."
"What is this?" Artemis asked, curious. He wasn't at all perturbed. Once again, he had already grown used to this...
[Leon]: "It's a Cognitive Tether. We can communicate through our thoughts now... since I can't speak out loud. Anyone can do this with a bit of practice, and an absurd amount of knowledge of another person's Essence. And this whole time, I've been circulating yours..."
It was much easier to look inside himself when he was using [Eyes of Discernment]. They allowed him to visualise each part of him. And although he had only been able to sense parts of himself before, like the crimson threads and the Daemonic Essence, he was slowly starting to get ahold of it, and could more adequately visualise parts of his internal world.
Now, apart from the Daemonic Essence, which was the most prevalent point of his body besides his heart, he could sense three other spheres of Essence. Right behind the blackish-red sphere of Daemonic Essence, there was another identically-shaped one that radiated a faint blue colour. There was also a bright-white one in the center of his head, and a pale-green one near his abdomen, although that one seemed particularly expended.
Outwards from the sphere of Daemonic Essence, black threads were being pulled away from it, outwards towards another part of his body, closer to the back of his head, where the crimson serpent's unwoven strands had settled. They were tinged with a dark, bitter colour. He couldn't quite discern it at first, but his senses had improved with the use of [Eyes of Discernment], and he had begun to adopt a feel for more than sight, but also smell. It was like faint iron, and that was the only thing he could smell, so he assumed that it was a very deep scent, to be picked up by his mediocre sense.
It must have been his own blood.
He consciously willed himself to access the Cognitive Tether. It wasn't too difficult to discern the timbre of the threads that were being pulled out of the sphere of Daemonic Essence. There were several connected to his own mind, and the sphere of bright-white Essence that sat there.
And as he formed a thought, he witnessed several of those black strings connected to the white sphere twitch. Was this the basis of the Cognitive Tether?
[Leon]: "Because we are both bound to Prince, his Essence is the conduit for the Tether. If you focus on making sure those vibrations of your thoughts reach the end of those black strands and enter the Essence Core, I can make sure they reach me from there."
She keeps talking about 'Prince', is this what she calls Lark? I suppose that makes sense, but why show him so much respect? Shouldn't she dislike him? Even I called him a bastard, and he didn't do particularly that much to me...
He did as Leon instructed. It was quite difficult to obtain focus. Many parts of him shook him out of his concentration. His fatigue, his endless thoughts, the pain of the slowly-healing wound on his neck... it was all too much for him.
But as he kept attempting to run his thoughts through the black threads reaching out of the white-coloured Core, the easier it became to run the vibrations farther and farther. And soon, after several minutes of silent attempts, the singular thought he had been repeating in his head finally echoed through the Daemonic Essence Core.
[Artemis]: "Is this 'Cognitive Tether' why you bit me?"
Somewhere inside of him, the crimson strands representing the serpent stirred. The black strands that followed it, reaching out from the Daemonic Essence Core moved as it writhed, as if attached to its very being.
[Leon]: "Blood is a popular and accessible medium of ritual... I apologise, Vessel of Prince."
His eyebrow twitched. He sent another thought towards the Core, and although it didn't take nearly as much focus, he still had to pay particular attention to making sure the thought didn't wisp out before it reached its destination.
[Artemis]: "And I have a name, Leon. It's not 'Vessel', I'm more than that. I'm a Prince myself, you know."
[Leon]: "I know your name, Bastard Prince of the Blackbaast. You are Artemis Lunastre, brother of August Lunastre, false Son of Jehellius Lunastre. I have seen your memories as Prince has seen them, there is nothing about you that I do not know and haven't comprehended. It's only a matter of fact that you are now merely a Vessel. I apologise if I've offended you, but in the end, it won't really matter what I call you. Your existence is particularly futile."
[Artemis]: "And how do you know that? That's quite offensive."
[Leon]: "Because mine is too. Because I was stolen by Prince just as you were."
She paused for a moment, swimming lazily through the space within Artemis.
[Leon]: "When I fought against Prince, for the first and last time, I was using my transformative abilities... I'm bound now, I can't turn back to the girl I once was, I've forgotten that feeling long ago."
[Leon]: "I presumed that when Prince died, I would be freed, or at least I would die alongside him-- a different kind of freedom. But I was a foolish girl with presumptuous plans. He had even calculated the barest details of his life after death, almost as if he was expecting it would happen at any moment. Did you know that Daemons can make Contracts, even without becoming a Spirit? When he forced me to align myself with him, there was a stipulation that I would always remain alongside him... I didn't think that it would mean even in death..."
[Artemis]: "Is he that scary of a person? He seemed... quite silly to me. And more than that, he's dead now. Why continue to act scared?"
The voice echoed in reply. Although, this time, it seemed much darker. Filled with a mixture of seriousness and graveness that cut through his curiosity.
[Leon]: "He's the most dangerous person who once walked the world. It doesn't matter that he's dead. You're a fool if you think that Prince isn't going to return. He's not the sort of person who would care how long it would take. Like that Creator of this Shadow, he's someone who has put effort into meticulously planning every contingency. But unlike that Creator, he cannot witness the annals of Fate. He has done so on mere prediction. When he killed himself for your sake, it was probably because he had determined it to be his best choice, and because he had already arranged for something later on that would allow him to revive himself. In this Cradle of Ash, there was no way for him to leave without a Vessel, which he found in you. Now, all he needs to do is wait for the right time, the right conditions..."
[Artemis]: "You seem to speak very highly of him."
[Leon]: "Why wouldn't I? He is the man who defeated me."
[Artemis]: "I... understand the feeling..."
He cleared his throat, returning to the subject. He couldn't allow himself to fall into his depressive, self-loathing thoughts. That might have been a danger greater than losing another arm.
[Artemis]: "So, you know a lot about Lark, then?"
[Leon]: "We've spent decades together now. Or, at least what seemed like decades. And yet I know as much of him as he allowed me to know. Or, even then, what lies he decided to tell. It is not a matter of knowing Prince, you cannot know him. I think that even if you were a being capable of peering into the souls of others, once viewing his, you would have realised he had already set up a countermeasure or method of concealment in advance..."
[Artemis]: "Then, lies or not, can you tell me more about my abilities?"