Whispering Poems

Chapter 3803 The Battle of the Three Serpents
The sudden return of the surrounding noise signified the complete end of the card game. The black-robed Mr. Snake stood in the tavern without attracting anyone's attention. After releasing his grip, he took a step and vanished from the tavern, leaving behind a rather obvious spatial trace—clearly an invitation for Shad to pursue him.

"Ms. White, are you alright?"

Instead of immediately giving chase, Shad asked a question, and the red-eyed guardian stood up and shook his head:
“You should agree to its agreement, even though it’s not in its full state right now. But with the candidates and other holders of the Ring of Fate not yet present, now is not a good time to fight it.”

Xia De also had his own reasons:
"If everything goes according to its plan, we will eventually be forced into the script it has set for itself. Since it has already disrupted the game of Act VII, it cannot allow things to develop as it wishes."

Ms. White nodded gently:

"Okay, let's go."

The two figures disappeared from the tavern at the same time, and then appeared at the Time Wheel City dock at night.

It was only at this moment that Shad noticed the anomaly, but what he noticed was not the starry sky being torn apart by several black cracks, but rather the semi-transparent spherical barrier that enveloped the dock area centered on the Drowned Tavern.

Outside this barrier, thick fog and heavy snow were spreading. From the direction of the ocean, the flashes of artillery fire could be seen from time to time, while from the direction of the snow-capped mountains and the eastern part of the City of Time, a continuous range of elemental reactions could be felt.

The unstable environment has reached or even surpassed the levels seen at the end of previous Chosen One battles. The presence of something terrifying hidden deeper beneath our feet is palpable even without conscious effort.

Apart from the absence of more violent earthquakes and the lack of a dim, yellowish light covering the sky, the current state of the area outside the barrier is exactly as the church and the Prophet's Association had predicted.

But within this area enclosed by the barrier, there was neither fog nor snow, nor any other unusual activity. Even the people in this area continued their nightlife as usual, appearing completely normal except for avoiding the area's boundaries.

So Shad realized that the snake had sealed off the area before it appeared, and that the snake never intended for Shad to leave before 1 a.m.

The snake did not appear on land, but rather on the sea south of this isolated area. Because all the warships of both countries had left port, only a few cargo ships were still unloading at the docks tonight.

The snake stood on the vast sea, watching Shad and Ms. White appear. There was no thick fog here, and they could see each other clearly from the water. So, just as in the War of the Lovers, Ms. White transformed herself into a white snake once more and coiled herself around Shad's arm.

The guardian temporarily lent his power to Shad, who then realized that the woman here, Ms. White, was not her true form. However, since the seal still existed, it was indeed impossible for Ms. White's true form to appear directly in the outside world.

The man with snake-like eyes asked one last question in the pitch-black night:
"Summoner of the Gods, are you sure you want to fight me here? All your preparations and plans should be useless right now, right? You're not even carrying any weapons."

"It is night now, and the moonlight is with me."

Shad's right hand grasped the silver moonlight greatsword that had appeared in the void:
"Now that we know you also have the power to control destiny, do you think I would follow your arrangements?"

Beneath the water behind the snake, a massive black shadow is approaching the surface:

"But if you don't follow my instructions, how will you defeat me at this moment?"

A giant black python emerged from beneath the sea and swallowed Mr. Snake whole. As the python opened its blood-red maw at Shad, which was skimming the sea surface, Shad flew higher into the night sky.

The giant python then stretched its body upwards, and then crashed head-on into the moon wheel that was buzzing and vibrating in the air.

When the light wheel made contact with the giant python's body, sparks flew out amidst a piercing friction sound. Then, the snake's head swung and bit the light wheel, crushing it with a snap.

Roar!
Amidst the roar of the dragon echoing from high above, silver moonfire poured down, but even though this moonfire could burn the black python to a crisp, the python still lunged upwards and coiled around the magnificent moon dragon.

The snake and the dragon plunged into the sea together, and the resulting waves violently crashed against the pier, but the people in the area remained unmoved.

The seawater churned violently, and then three snakes, almost intertwined, leaped out from beneath the surface.

The white and silver snakes bit the black snake together, but the black snake suddenly developed two heads, one at the head and one at the tail, which then bit the bodies of the white and silver snakes respectively. It's worth noting that the "blood" flowing from all three snakes was not red.

The violently churning giant snakes stirred up the seawater, and if it weren't for Lady White's power to stop them, the aftershocks of the battle would have almost triggered a tsunami at the Time Wheel City docks.

As it thrashed about, the black snake's head opened its mouth first, and then both heads sprayed thick black mist at the two silver snakes.

Then, a purple semi-circular halo appeared on the silver snake's forehead, while a white halo emerged on the white snake's body. The black mist was blocked by two destinies. The two snakes withstood the black snake's destructive power and continued to tear at its body, but this was not essentially destroying its body on a material level. Rather, it was using two different destinies to counteract the snake's destiny.

Seeing that their fate of destruction was not working in the short term, the two-headed snake stopped spewing air and began to inhale. The next second, a dim yellow light mixed with sand was exhaled from their mouths.

This was not the power of fate, but the absolute power of doomsday. Though the dim yellow light obscured the purple halo, the silver serpent was not afraid of such power.

However, within the spreading dim yellow light, the halo around the white snake's body shattered like glass. When the dim yellow light touched the white snake's body, sand and dust immediately emanated from it.

The white snake then exploded into a ball of light and disappeared, and without Ms. White's help to restrain it, the two-headed black snake instantly wrapped itself completely around the silver snake.

Fortunately, [Resurrection] had a glimmer of hope, and the silver snake exploded into a large cluster of red butterflies.

Two black snake heads spewed light into the air, attempting to engulf the red butterfly, but the red butterfly nimbly dodged, transforming into streaks of light. The white snake, which had just disappeared, seized the opportunity to leap out of the sea, its white scales radiating a miraculous golden light as it coiled around the black snake's front head.

The snake's head immediately showed signs of petrification, but then the snake's head rammed into the white snake, and a dazzling ray of moonlight from the swarm of red butterflies in the air struck the black snake's head.

Black, white, and silver light churned the sea. As the waves gradually subsided, Mr. Snake, who appeared unchanged, still stood on the surface of the sea, while Shad, with a white snake coiled around his arm, pressed his glowing right hand against his chest.

His nine rings of destiny were now fully revealed, and without weapons or any help from anyone other than Ms. White, Shad in his normal state was indeed no match for it.

Fortunately, the snake was afraid that if it pushed Shad too far, it would have to face the gods. Therefore, it did not fight with all its might. This clone seemed to be unharmed, but it dared not directly face Shad's moonfire. In fact, the body's interior had been severely damaged by the pure silver flames.

Ms. White, who was wrapped around Shad's arm, was saying in Shad's mind at that moment:

“Give me some time, and I can open a one-time exit so you can leave from here. There’s no need to waste your time here with it.”

The snake knew that continuing like this would only allow Shad to escape; behind it, the backdrop of night was gradually being filled with a dim, yellowish light. This wasn't a pre-apocalyptic scene, but rather the snake wielding a power akin to a maze.

Shad let the yellowish landscape stretch out to his feet, until even the seawater rippling under the yellow sky turned a sandy yellow:
"You know what? In this kind of environment, I can also use some unconventional powers."

The snake then asked:

"You mean the illusion lock you used in the Battle of Moon Bay?"

"Do not."

[Calamity Card - Shadow of the Deep Sea] flew out of Shad's pocket, and the black key that Shad had taken off transformed into a staff, striking the card that emanated an ominous power:

"Mrs. Lemaire, please help me!"

Roar!
A gigantic, rotting black fish-man emerged from the yellow seawater, its upper body rising halfway out. All light seemed to dim upon touching its form. And this very appearance transformed the world from a labyrinth into something more real.

"You are making me more and more happy."

The snake praised, and several black shadows darted forward along the sea surface beneath its feet. Its true form transformed back into a giant snake and headed towards Shad.

Ms. White, focused on breaking through Mr. Snake's barrier, was unaware of what was happening in that dim, yellowish landscape. She only felt that the apocalypse was appearing in a way that was more realistic than ever before, but out of trust in Shad, she continued to do her best to break through the barrier.

The clash between the dark calamity born from the apocalypse and the serpents remains unknown; it is a secret belonging to those who wield the power of the apocalypse. But when that hazy, yellowish landscape shattered, it was clear that neither side in the battle was in a good position.

The playing cards had been retrieved by Shad because they were on the verge of getting out of control. His right hand covered his left arm, which had temporarily lost sensation. Even the fate of [Resurrection] could not immediately heal the bloody hole on his left shoulder caused by the snake bite.

On the other side, the front of Mr. Snake's black robe was ripped open at an angle, revealing exposed black flesh beneath. A circular hole ran through its abdomen, the area around the wound covered by a strange black layer—a deep, eerie color that even the snake couldn't completely erase.