"You two are coming with me," The old man spoke.

Neither were quite sure what to expect out of this situation, but the geezer aimed to be efficient. Within a few seconds, the stone structures dashed towards what was left of the team, and slipped underneath them.

It only took a blink for the couple of snakes to find themselves on a pile of honed stone. Before they could even accept that fact, their eyes were suddenly overwhelmed with darkness!

"Huh," William mumbled.

For once he was scared, his stomach felt as if it got heavier, and was enslaved by countless tingly sensations as well! He was nervous, and rightfully so.

A rough, continuous rumble encumbered their ears afterwards, which just deepened their panic as their very souls shook along with this mess! 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

They were clearly underground, which was the root of all their fear. Sure they somehow remained unscathed, but the experience alone baffled them!

This sour fate met with an end just about fifteen seconds later. The snakezoids emerged from the ground along with that one lizard, but didn't quite make a comfortable entrance at the end.

"Woho, wohoho!" William hollered.

After they erupted from the ground, the couple of friends were forced to fly about three meters high! The momentum they've built up underground, now forced them to fly!

It was fair to say that the youngest hero grew beyond agitated after this point, and it wasn't just because he crash-landed on a thorny bush along with the brunette. No, he was pissed because his freedom, and sense of free-will was messed with!

So he swiftly stood up, sought the old man and threatened. "You've gone too far, you old bony bastard! Fuck out of here or I'll rip you up!"

It was uncharacteristic for the boy to warn someone, as he usually attacked right away. But this situation demanded caution, as the opposing fiend simply was too strong!

At last, but with a very cool head, the same draco-lizard answered. "I've gone too far, ha? Look at your friend over there, strangling an innocent child... I should have killed all of you."

What Kanteek referred to, was the army general who had taken a child as a hostage. Some little lizard's neck was close to the big man's sword, and death seemed inevitable!

Before anyone else could say anything, Hakoon broke into the debate with a firm, hot-headed demand.

"Show us how you do that creepy mind thing! The whole city of Fik is in danger, you can help us, quit hiding down here already! We're kin!" He said.

"Kin? Ha! You're even dumber than I thought." The dark-skinned lizard answered.

William watched this conversation unfold, and had space to become angrier throughout those few moments. For a second he couldn't find any more reasons to avoid a battle, especially since his friend had already taken the offensive against the enemy, blood-shed should be close by!

However, there were a few specific words which helped him stay neutral. His passive cooperation was inspired by the army general.

The boy thought, "This loud cunt finally did something smart..."

He wanted to properly list out the details of a new plan, but resisted to do so. The enemy can read minds after all, so a deeply thought out plan would not be effective!

So instead, he decided. "Time to show this cunt what a demon can do!"

Initially, William wanted to deliver an aggressive message, but now he could link the same intent with a proper plan. It was best to be efficient!

For that matter, he finally decided to transform. It felt easy to shape-shift, as the procedure itself was instinctive. However, the true battle began after he transformed!

"Ha-ha-ha!" He confidently laughed.

As the young man's light skin turned red, his size buffed up quite a bit and materialised an eight-foot tall monster!

William's head met with that intense shift, as it both stretched in size and grew out a pair of horns too!

"Bow to your master, you incompetent peasants!" He demanded.

It was clear to see that the overly narcissistic characteristics of this body-type, refused to leave. They kicked in strong, and he had enough motivation to push these self-centered beliefs forward.

He wanted to unleash that death-assuring mist, just to fiddle with the souls of anyone around, friend or foe. But thankfully, that was when his firm consciousness kicked in!

"No! Not now..." William muttered.

With a firm grasp across his own head, the over-powered boy sought for any bit of proper reasoning. At the same time, his true conscience barged towards the rest of this body, and asserted further control.

Yet a ray of self-debate still raged, so he muttered. "Emotions... gah! I may not be the best, or am I? No, impossible!"

In the meantime, everyone around watched the red-scaled man, and tried to make sense out of his mental breakdown. They got so distracted by this display of slight power, that they forgot about the other issues!

Regardless of that, William helped everyone get back on track. He finally stood up straight, and locked eyes with the same geezer who posed a threat.

Quite boldly, he demanded. "Old one... tell me your secrets, brain powers. Teach me the draconian tricks you know, now!"

This was the plan which the youngest hero had built up, under short notice that is. This enemy possessed great power, and the best way to learn the same attributes was through force! Cooperation had been stripped as an option, far before this issue!

"Why would I teach you anything, demon?! You've betrayed my trust... I thought we were kin, but you clearly got these powers somewhere else. Mimicry maybe? You mock our draconian ways, fool!" Kanteek bickered.

William continued to demand what he wished for, and his wordplay continued to be assertive, it was properly constructed. He seemed stable, although he undoubtedly was a ego-maniac.

It was important that the rest had bought this facade, this display of power. They were convinced of who reigned superior. Little did anyone know, the system within the boy's head, guided him towards further control.

Punctually and carefully she cited, [Your emotional intelligence has been recently improved, so you can handle the intruder conscience that's trying to erase your identity.]

[Find reason between your raging emotions, it'll help dismantle what's solely illogical. You'll sew down a dependable fabric, which will help you untangle any knot in this battle.]

Advice of that matter continued, the system became more specific by the second. But William had to divide his attention, the enemies had to be handled as well!

His dominant approach didn't work so far, as the geezer on the other side kept talking about how bad demons were, and how stupid the snake kind proved themselves. In simple words, progress had not been made.

"Hmm... I see that you failed to grasp my message, mortal fool." The demo-snake stated.

Hakoon still held a child as a hostage, and awaited for what his teammate had to say next. It was tricky to figure out any advances, especially since the situation accelerated to this degree!

The youngest man decided to take the initiative, he had to lead the debate once more.

"I want your powers! Teach me, or I'll learn them myself!" He demanded.

As his feeling of self-importance grew violently, the demonic boy reached towards yet another instinctive power. A different ability, suddenly made perfect sense to him!

"Your soul is mine..." He muttered.

Afterwards, he looked through the target's body, and found the frail soul which lurked within!

William senses that this lizard wanted to attack, but he wasn't about to give the other that opportunity!

He lifted an arm forward, clenched his talon-like claw and had the target's soul on a clutch-hold! Although he didn't initiate any physical contact, an upper advantage has been gained.

Without the slightest hint of mercy, the demo-snake taunted. "Yes... struggle! Let me hear your whimpers, your cries. Let me burn your feelings for this jungle, they shall purge into nothingness!"

Perhaps this ray of deep, emotional cuts was overdone, but it gave a hint of just what emotional intelligence was capable of. This situation showed that it couldn't always be used for good!

Anyway, since the huge snake had a grasp of the other's soul, the upper advantage that came along with it, proved itself bountiful.

With that same pace of dominance, he lifted one arm upwards, and the enemy rose above the ground through forced cooperation!

Once more, William demanded. "Tell me what you know!"

"You coward! Why run?" The general scolded.

He had ignored all the solid points his teammate made, just because he focused on one specific thing.

Characteristically, he didn't shy away from expressing his reasons either. "Fuck that damn lizard, we have rights to be here! Either if he likes it or not, our ancestors came from this place!"

Such a motive was hot-headed primarily, but also shared a sense of ego. Hakoon felt that his snake-kind was besmirched throughout this day, and that was something he could not tolerate!