Awakened: Evolving to Godhood

The pond water turned scarlet. Blood scents wafted into the air, reaching someone's nose, causing him to wrinkle it reflexively.

Elliot stood at the inner edges of the pond, but as the bloodied water came towards him, he took a few steps backward, stepping out of it, showing that he didn't want his clothes to be dirtied by someone else's blood.

He looked at the pond, waiting for It to come out and strike him again. For a brief moment, nothing happened, then the surface of the pond rippled as the twin-headed snake surfaced. Its heads were redder than a baboon's ass, to say the least, with cracks all over them. It was as if Frankenstein had stitched different parts of monsters into one to create both of its faces; that's how horrendous and repulsive the monster looked right now.

The good news was that even though Elliot overdid it, the monster's wounds were healing rapidly. Maybe it was because it was a powerful monster and had a regeneration rate far incredible than magicians or because its vitality was nearly endless. Killing it would net Elliot a lot of essence of life, but he had no desire to do that. Instead, he had something else planned for it, a plan that would help him deal with the serpentine devils.

"Do you want to go for round two?" Elliot said with a smile, showing that he was all set and ready to amuse it again; that's if it wants to strike him again.

"No." Although severely wounded, it managed to keep its calm. Nothing less expected from a spirit monster that had been alive for 5000+ years. "You've already proven yourself far better than me. Fighting you will be pointless. I accept my defeat and concede to you. From now on, I will not hurt you or your kind just like I promised."

"That's great."

It had let bygones be bygones and hence entered Elliot's good book.

"Though, why didn't you kill me? You could have slain me if you had me attacked while I was muddled and out of it. Why didn't you do so? What was holding you back?" It said while looking at Elliot with surprise and shock. It knew full well that its body was a treasure trove that even other monsters would want for themselves. It would've surely died if it was someone other than the one before It.

Elliot was equally shocked, and he had good reasons behind his widened eyes and gaping mouth. After all, only now did he realize that It was talking in his language. Instead of giving it an answer, he responded with questions of his own.

"How are you speaking my language? Just when did you learn it? Moreover, how are your words directly sounding in my head? Is that telepathy?"

He shot a lot of questions towards It, expecting it to answer them.

The twin-headed snake wasn't offended by his attitude. In the world of monsters, the weak ones obey the strong ones. It was weaker than him—that it knew quite well. However, that wasn't the reason behind its sudden humbleness. The fact that Elliot had spared It was the real reason behind why It was suddenly subservient to him.

"Firstly, I am a creature of great wisdom, and learning a language or two by just hearing others speak of it once or twice isn't hard for me. Besides, the language of your kind is far easier than ours as our language has more than a hundred thousand characters. To answer your last question, I just conveyed my will to you by encoding my thoughts into spiritual energy. It's easy, direct, instantaneous, and good for long-distance communication, albeit hard to learn if one doesn't have a high level of control over their spiritual energy."

After hearing to Its words, Elliot started looking at the monster in a new light. Spirit monsters were better than the ones back at home: there was no doubt about it in his mind. Monsters back home were dense and dumb, and only the ones that the association entitled as Lord, King, and Emperor had above-average intelligence.

"Then, can you teach me how to do that?" He was talking to an intelligent species. Of course, that meant they could talk it out instead of duke it out, and he might even reap considerate benefits by doing the former.

"I can, but it would take you years to understand it." The twin-headed snake learned this way of communication only after living for 3200 years. In truth, she created this skill by herself, and she knew how hard it was for a person to encode thoughts into spiritual energy present in one's body before controlling said energy with text to the ears of another.

(Yes, the twin-headed snake is a female! So, I'll be using the feminine pronounce to represent her from now on. Calling the monster It again and again is tiring, limiting, and exhausting.)

"Well, just tell me the jest of it, and I will figure out the rest by myself," Elliot responded.

"Before I do that, can you tell me what made you spare my life?" She asked, her three scarlet eyes staring at him in curiosity. Honestly, in front of him, she felt no different than an ant before a mountain or a baby before a giant.

"Isn't it obvious? I had no intention of killing you." Elliot said, "Besides, you're more useful to me alive than dead."

"I see." She nodded her head before saying, "I vow on my soul to serve you for a hundred years and repay you for the benevolence you had shown me."

Elliot's eyes widened in pleasant surprise. He wasn't expecting someone as prideful as her to lower her head and submit to him, that too for a hundred years. He hadn't imagined such a thing happening to him in a hundred years. He didn't know that she a simple being who would become a guardian for beings that worships and feed her and become a servant for someone that proves to be stronger and kinder than her.

"I accept your vow of servitude!" Elliot said without regret, a happy smile appearing on his face.