"Pathetic, I really thought I could do something heroic, hah!" Takezo laughed upon coming to the sight of a clearing with a well and nobody around. He allowed himself to fall onto his back, arms outstretched, just laughing at himself. Once he was completely out of breath, he just stared up at the sky... and saw smoke coming from somewhere relatively nearby. He paused, thinking about his next course of action. Should he investigate and try to play hero again? Or should he just lie there in some odd variant of self pity?

"...Dammit," the future sword saint mumbled, getting up off the ground and dusting himself off, "Father was right, I'm really am an idiot." Once he had thoroughly picked himself up off the ground, he ran towards the village getting attacked by the snake youkai.

In the village Mistress Serpant slithered through buildings and rubble as her tail whipped around and took out a large structure the villagers had built to hold their grains. Seeds flew everywhere. She made her way to the village shrine. It was small and well built. It was priceless to those who lived in the small town.



Mistress Serpant reared infront of the building, her jade eyes glowing with anticipation. "Get her! She's at the shrine!" Someone yelled. Men from all over the area came rushing at her with pitch forks and shovels. "Begone, Demon!"They shouted and shot arrows at her. The demoness turned, holding her hands out to her sides and in front of her she started chuckling. "You poor humansss.. You have no power! You ssshall fail!" A thick poisonous miasma sunk to the ground stretching out around her massive form. The men of the village started coughing and gagging.

"You ssstupid humansss.. Misssstress Serpant will sshow you! None sshall defeat me! I can smell it! The power from the ssshard, it callss to me!" A brilliant green glow exploded from the gas lingering on the ground. It sparked and ignited the land around the shrine. Sharp laughter could be heard over the roaring flames. "The sshard will be mine! Feel the wrath of Missstress Serpant!!" She burst into the building, her tail swinging wildly from side to side as she made her way to the shard of four souls.

Kasai heard crashing and screaming nearby. She said to Kairi "I'll go check out what is going on, you get help." If she had too, she'll risk her life for those people she hadn't known. She gave Kairi one final wave before running toward the village.

Sometime had passed before Asuka decided she would check out the demon matter after all. It was her duty after all and her mentor would probably schold her if she ignored the fact a demon was running loose. Equipping her weopons she left the Village in a hurry and began to head for the main one as fast as she could.

"Who do I get help, From!?" Kairi asked as she looked off after Kasai as she ran off toward the village. Looking around she started to head back into the trees and shook her head. "...I cant let her go down there alone..." She turned and raced after Kasai. "I'm coming with you!"

* * * * *

In the shrine, Mistress Serpant had broken through the protection spells and had claimed the sacred necklace for her own. The gem pulsed at the center of the beads. Jade eyes glowed brightly. "Sssuch power!!" She exclaimed. Pulling the shard from the beaded thread she tossed it into the air and looked up, opening her mouth.

Her jaws suddenly contorted and shifted stretching outward as they opened up and with a gulp, the shard was gone.. Mistress Serpant had swallowed it! Villagers screamed and began to run as the form of the demon began to change and take shape into a much larger serpant like body. "At last! My full power hasss returned!!"

As he reached the edge of the village, Kin saw the swaths of destruction that cut through the once quiet place. 'This..this place is tiny. Why would anyone waste their time attacking a place like this?' he wondered to himself. 'Whoever it is, they look stronger then me. I'm going to have to be careful; I need to find my Advent Deck before anyone else without getting noticed.' Taking great care, he crept into the village

The young samurai walked through the river of villagers running away off to safety. It seemed that much of the demon's chaos causing was centered around the town's center, and to be completely honest, the gloating was a dead giveaway that that was indeed where she was. Thus, walking casually against the flow of people, Takezo headed in that direction.

Once Asuka had reached the village she saw alot of people scrambling to get away from something. She shuttered as she senced a powerful demonic aura. "The demon is close.." She said as she continued onward towards the shrine and hoped she could do something about a much stronger foe then that cat demon she had killed. She also unsheated her katana being prepared for the fight ahead.