Chapter 3: Dance with Death

As the darkness got closer, Blade saw his life flashing before his eyes, all of his memories from childhood till now. He stated having flashbacks and his mind entered an unprecedented state of calm.

He saw his Mother's face once more, a face so close yet so far. His father's rebuking for failing to find the right clues to simple mysteries and the magnetic storm that finally separated he and his parents from the world.

Everything kept flashing and even the actions of the snake seemed very slow in comparison to his life's review.

Blade had a bitter smile on his face as he thought of his end, he actually didn't want to die yet.

He still had some of his long term wishes. He had the desire to rise to the level of an Emperor one day, he wanted to stand at the peak and look down on the world. He wanted to stop being an infamous man at the corner of a division in a domain and become a famous man across domains but, it seemed that all those were wishful thinking.

He was still seeing his life reviews and having regrets when all of a sudden the snake stifened inches before his head and then started groaning as it's grip on him loosened.

Blade still didn't notice, but the continuous groans of pain coming from it's mouth was testament to an accident. Blade's eyes recovered and he realised the situation he was in.

Blade's back was covered in cold sweat. The first thing that came to his mind was to break free and thank his saviour for his timely assistance.

He turned around and scanned his surroundings swiftly with his swollen eyes.

'Today, this person has saved my life, I must repay him in the future' Blade thought.

As Blade looked around to find who saved him, he saw one of the two disruptors that he threw at the snake still blinking red. The two disruptors were lying just inches away from the snake's body. Due to the blast of magnetic energy and the counter force of it's anti Magnetic field, the disruptors ended up not to far away from the beast after it's contest of power.

It was then that it dawned on Blade that the disruptor was the reason for his head still remaining on it's neck. It seemed that the disruptors were broken through but only one was damaged. It was this damaged disruptor that activated at the moment the snake completed it's breakthrough and was vulnerable to outside magnetic interference.

Blade felt fortunate that the disruptor activated on time. Any later and he would have been with his parents in heaven.

Blade's first thought was to run before the snake regained it's mobility and flee far from this place. He had just began to struggle, when he felt a tremor run through the snake's body.

Blade instantly felt another taste of despair and his eyes started dimming again. Why? Had he not tried enough? It seemed the snake had just been momentarily disturbed and it's movement and energy were still present. He was loosing all hope of escaping and he started to release his regrets and say his last farewell to the world already. That was until the snake's mouth opened, and a large amount of black blood poured out on him.

The snake was actually coughing out blood an bits of it's internal organs!

Blade's eyes lit up! No wonder one disruptor could make a difference in that situation. The snake was already wounded internally and was suffering from the backlash of it's forceful upgrade to Grade 3.

It seemed that the disruptor worked at the best and critical moment when the snake completed it's evolution.

Slash!

Blade struck while the iron was still hot. The defenses of the snake was as weak as paper before Blade's determined slash.

Because, it's energy was lost, due to it's forceful upgrade and disruption, it's defenses now had a hole in it and Blade took advvantage of it to cause serious damage.

But after all, a Grade 3 was still a powerful beast to the current Blade. It's physical fitness had been improved to barely the standard of a Grade 3 beast. Even it's dying strike wasn't to be trifled with.

Cautious as Blade was, he almost lost his life twice which were actually represented by the huge peel in the upper layer of the skin on his scalp.

During his slashes, the snake had struggled vehemently to survive and it's tail had whipped randomly with no particular order.

It was during the tail whipping session that he lost part of the skin on his scalp.

If he hadn't ducked hurriedly, his head would have been smashed into a pulp but still his hair was also shaved off.

The second time was when it struck the sharp end of it's tail at him and he was sure he was about to get hit, but luckily for him, the fatigue and weakness of the snake caused it's tail to slightly go off target and bruised his stomach.

It was one hell of a fight the snake raised but that was expected as a dying creature would always do it's best to cling to life especially if it wasn't a natural death.

Finally, after a groan from the snake, it's body stiffened, relaxed, and lost all signs of life.

Blade heaved a heavy sigh of relief, and collapsed heavily on the corpse of the snake. He was seriously exhausted and drained. It wasn't easy to take on a Grade 3 alone.

Crap! That actually required a lot of calculating, planning and serious adaptation.

If he didn't try to adapt at critical moments he might as well go back and sleep in base. Adaptability was an ability necessary for human survival throughout ancient times until now.

This battle was a battle that tested his limits, adaptability and also involved elements of luck.

Without any of these qualities, he would be a dead man today.