I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 228

It was then.

 

“…!”

 

Dana saw a huge shadow behind Carl. A pitch-black shape sunk at the bottom of the ice lake… A chill shot up her spine. That must be the seven-headed serpent… But was it hurt? What’s wrong with its body?

 

Her eyes stung from the water, but she forced herself to look. She hadn’t seen wrong. The serpent’s coiled body was indeed half-destroyed. Was it because only the heads split in various directions remained on its mangled body? It didn’t seem as terrifying as she’d expected…

 

Wait a minute. What’s that?

 

Squish, squish, squish. Dana swatted away the hand fondling her cheek and looked below again, focusing. The coiled serpent’s body. And a woman lying beside it.

 

That’s… Yeon Dana! Me! That’s my body! That’s mine! I’ll get it back. This time, I’ll take it back for sure! A fierce desire surged in her. Just as she flailed her limbs to swim toward that body—

 

Twitch. One of the serpent’s heads convulsed. Just as she thought the stone-sealed head was moving slowly, creaking—

 

“…!”

 

It suddenly shot forward like lightning. Straight toward Dana.

 

Huwaa! Blub blub blub, bubble gushed from her mouth as she screamed underwater.

 

The serpent opened its jaw wide and rushed at her.

 

It’s going to bite me! The instant she thought that, her body flipped over. Dana’s eyes widened. Carl had twisted his body to shield her. Like a shield, he blocked her, and the serpent bit into Carl’s shoulder instead!

 

Eek!

 

Even so, she wasn’t completely unharmed. The back of her hand, where she was gripping Carl’s shoulder, was grazed by the serpent’s fang. It was a brief touch, but the pain was immense. It felt like a giant flame surged from her hand and engulfed her entire body. It hurts!

 

The shocking pain seemed to strike her soul. In an instant, all rational thought vanished, and the mind of a girl took over. The little girl fell into panic, thrashing wildly, eyes squeezed shut, screaming.

 

I’m scared. The serpent bit me and Carl. I don’t know. I want to get out!

 

Her vision blurred, her lungs hurt as if squeezed, when something yanked her waist and shot her upward with incredible speed. Up, up, up, up—

 

“Puhah!”

 

At last, her face burst above the surface. Dana erupted into coughing and tears.

 

“Cough, sob, ugh, cough, cough!”

 

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”

 

“Cough, cough!”

 

“Were you very scared?” The boy’s gentle voice echoed in her ear. He held her and swam toward shore. “You can’t swim, can you?”

 

“Hic, hicc.”

 

“Well, what could you do with those sausage-like arms and legs?”

 

“Sniff, sob, sob.”

 

“Ah, sorry. I won’t tease you.”

 

Sniffling, Dana wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him.

 

The boy chuckled low and patted her back. “Hold on tight. We’ll get out soon.”

 

Clinging desperately to the swimming boy, Dana wondered. What just happened? Is it safe now? Right, I survived. She was safe.

 

Dana panted, greedily sucking in air. And then a strange sense of déjà vu washed over her. This feels familiar. Somehow, it feels like this happened before. In the past. When was it? When she was an adult, someone pushed her, and then pulled her out again.

 

Her head spun. The serpent’s power that entered through her hand seemed to swirl through her body and strike at her brain.

 

I can’t remember… More precisely, she couldn’t focus enough to pull up the memory. Powers inside her clashed and collided, leaving her mind in chaos.

 

Yeah. Right. Yustio cast a sacred spell on me to preserve my memories. Now, because of the serpent’s power invading her body, that spell was on the verge of breaking.

 

A primal sense of crisis rose up. She had to hold on. She couldn’t let go. If she lost this thread of memory, she might never recover it!

 

“Up you go.”

 

The next moment, the boy wrapped an arm around her waist and carried her up to the lakeshore. Dana dangled from his arm, still sniffling.

 

I can do it. Get it together. Hold on to my memories! Summoning what was left of her adult mind, Dana looked around, then recoiled in shock. They’re all dead?!

 

All the priests conducting the ritual were dead. Grotesque corpses lay scattered in pools of blood. Every single one either had their head crushed or a hole punched clean through their chest. Their bodies torn apart as if seized and ripped open by something immensely powerful. But that wasn’t all.

 

What is that?

 

Two serpent heads floated on the lake’s surface. Who did that? Just a moment ago, they seemed perfectly intact.  Terrified, Dana clung tightly to the boy’s side.

 

Carl absentmindedly murmured, “Baby koala…”

 

Then it happened.

 

“Carl Windsor!” Rodrigo’s roar rang out. “Let go, let go of Dana right now!” He was stepping through a blazing portal of light from the sky.

 

Ah! That’s the door I opened! It hadn’t closed yet!

 

“Carl Windsor, you—!” At that moment, Rodrigo’s jaw clenched. His gaze landed on the still-sealed ancestor, then on the dead priests nearby. Finally, his face went pale as he looked at little Dana, held by Carl.

 

“You wretch, what have you done?!” Rodrigo shouted, ashen-faced. “Don’t tell me! You tried to offer the priests’ souls as a sacrifice to make a pact with a demon?!”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I knew it you’d commit such heresy some day! You vile creature! Put Dana down at once!”

 

“Ugh, my ears hurt.” Carl hugged Dana tightly and smirked. “Hey, Little one.”

 

“Y-Yes?”

 

“I’m about to run away. I’m taking you with me.”

 

“…”

 

Taking me…? Was that a notice?

 

“You’re so cute. I’ve always wanted something like this. I’m taking you.”

 

Dana stared blankly up at the boy. What did I just hear?

 

His green eyes sparkled like emerald stars, innocent and crystal clear…

 

Scary! His eyes are too clear! That eerily pure gaze completely overwhelmed Dana. She couldn’t even respond.

 

“Let’s go.” As he declared, Carl tucked her under his arm and started running. His speed was so extreme that her neck nearly snapped back.

 

Behind them, Rodrigo’s scream echoed. “Nooo! Dana!”

 

It was that moment. Ah. An immense wave of exhaustion slammed into her. Was it the serpent’s power? Or just the nature of a child’s body? An intense drowsiness washed over her, her eyelids growing heavy in an instant. I want to sleep… I’m sleepy.

 

Dana began nodding off, and thought. To be able to sleep in a situation like this… a child’s body was truly something else.

 

I really hate having a child’s body. She wanted to return to an adult body as soon as possible… If she loses her memories, she’ll truly become a child. And above all…

 

Ignis… He’s waiting for me in the room. With that thought, Dana truly fell asleep.

 

* * *

A short while later, Rodrigo’s eyes were swollen from crying. It was because he had been crying for days on end.

 

“To think the church leader is such a cry baby… I thought he was heartless…”

 

“Shh, quiet. He’s still crying.”

 

Rodrigo didn’t hear the priests gossiping.

 

Carl and Dana had disappeared at the ice lake. The belatedly arriving paladins and priests were gathering the corpses.

 

Staring blankly at the scene, Rodrigo thought. Dana barely opened her eyes in a new body. Dana’s soul had entered the body of young Dana, the close he had named ‘Danayu’, because Danawin was at death’s door.

 

Rodrigo had barely managed to extract the child Danawin had conceived through surgery. But he was sure. Danayu’s body will die soon as well. Because Carl would kill her.

 

When Danayu died, Yeon Dana’s soul would be bounced out again. Which body would she enter next? At present, only Danayu and Danawin’s bodies were complete enough to accept her. All other bodies were still incomplete.

 

Danayu will soon die at Carl’s hands. To prepare for that, Danawin’s body needed to be treated quickly. That way, Dana would have a place to return. Back to him, once more…

 

“It must be Lord Carl’s doing.” At that moment, a paladin who had examined the priests’ bodies approached.  “Eight of the fifteen had their jaws torn off. That’s Lord Carl’s usual method.”

 

“…”

 

“He killed them with no care or enthusiasm, as if it was bothersome. I’ve never seen such a halfhearted slaughter except from Lord Carl.”

 

The rest had died with their heads crushed or their chests pierced, killed instantly by a sheer grip strength. Certainly, these weren’t murders anyone could commit. Of those present, only Carl was capable… No. There was one more.

 

Rodrigo looked at the sealed stone. The seal had been unchanged for over two centuries. Having watched over the stone all his life, Rodrigo could tell. The ancestor’s posture had changed. The position of the fingers covering his face was different.

 

Rodrigo was certain. The stone had moved. The seal must have been briefly undone, allowing the ancestor to move. Could it be… Could it be that ancestor…

 

“C-Church Leader.” At that moment, a paladin’s trembling voice rang out. “Please look over there.” With eyes widened in shock, he pointed at the Ice Lake with a shaking finger.  “The serpent’s heads.”

 

“…”

 

“There are… t-two heads.”

 

What was he saying? Rodrigo turned where the paladin pointed and froze.

 

The paladin was right. Two serpent heads floated on the surface of the Ice Lake.

 

All his thoughts stopped. How? How were the serpent’s heads cut off?

 

That wasn’t just an ordinary serpent. That was a demon. One that had existed since the beginning, that had opposed Ramun. A being akin to a god. But defeated by Ramun, it fell from a godhood and became a demon. And now, fragments of that great being’s body, surely the very essence of immense power, were floating in the Ice Lake. Broken, as if someone had forcibly severed it.

 

To destroy a demon’s body, such a thing was impossible with human power. Even the Sun God Ramun wouldn’t dare do it. Ramun couldn’t do it, and that’s why it had been sealed in this Ice Lake, so it could never rise to the land.  

 

The serpent is strongest on land. That was why it had been sealed here, forever submerged, unable to touch ground.

 

How? Who? Why? No, it didn’t matter.

 

“Quick.” Rodrigo’s cheek trembled. “Retrieve those heads immediately… and move them to the lab. Begin experiments at once.” Joy surged up inside him.

 

A gift… I’ll give her a gift.  He would extract the demon’s power and give it all to Dana. Because all the precious things in this world should belong to her.