The journey through Talulah's subconscious was suspiciously easy. There were no traps, no guards, and no mind-bending mazes. Jeanne was puzzled; could a thousand-year-old evil god, a parasite known for hijacking the souls of others, truly be this defenseless in his own domain?
She quickly corrected that thought. Kashchey—the Deathless Black Snake—was likely letting them in. This lack of resistance felt like a psychological game, making the trio feel as though they were fighting shadows until the very end.
They pushed open the doors to the central mansion. Talulah led them through familiar halls until they reached a grand seat. There he was: Duke Kashchey. Or more accurately, the entity currently wearing his face.
"Oh, my daughter. I didn't expect you to be so reckless as to bring your soul—and those of your friends—directly before me."
Kashchey sat with an air of relaxed elegance, his voice warm and fatherly, as if gently scolding a child for bringing strangers home without permission.
"Cut the crap! How are you here? You should be dead!" Talulah's composure was slipping. This man was the root of her trauma, the origin of the "wrongness" Jeanne had sensed. She remembered clearly: she had run him through with her sword in this very seat.
"How heartless. I raised you for over a decade and spent so much energy on your education. Why must you hate me so?" Kashchey was in no hurry. When it came to rhetoric, a hundred Talulahs couldn't beat one Kashchey. Given enough time, he could make her doubt her own existence.
"Shut up! Get out of my soul, you bastard!" Talulah lunged forward, her flames surging toward him.
But Kashchey merely gestured, and a black mist coalesced into a serpent, striking Talulah back. Her flames flickered and died before they could even touch his robes.
"You are still too impatient, my daughter. As my successor, you must maintain elegance. Look at you—you look like a country girl. You haven't even changed out of those old, patched-up rags."
(Jeanne's Inner Monologue: "What's wrong with being a country girl?! Stop attacking my lifestyle choices...")
"Stop talking!" Talulah barked, though she was shaken by his power. Kashchey's voice always felt like a snake's bite—venomous and unpredictable. She loathed him for trying to rewrite her life to match his own.
"It seems life on the tundra has made you forget my lessons," Kashchey continued smoothly. "You're acting like a Feline whose tail has been stepped on."
Talulah attacked again and again, but the Black Snake snuffed out every spark without moving from his seat. The firelight reflected off his pale, aristocratic face, yet he remained as immovable as a mountain.
"My daughter, your education was a success," he chuckled as Talulah stood gasping for breath. "In my presence, you reveal your truest self. By choosing violence to solve this, you prove that you have accepted my teachings on the nature of power."
"Are we just going to watch?" Alina whispered to Jeanne, worried. "Talulah is losing her cool. He's twisting her words."
"It's alright," Jeanne replied with calm confidence. "Talulah needs to face this conflict of ideals to grow."
"What are you, really?" Talulah asked, finally regaining her calm. The Kashchey she knew didn't have this kind of spiritual power.
"Oh, thank goodness. You finally asked a valuable question. I am the Deathless Black Snake. I am the Kashchey you knew, but I am also an evil god who has wandered the lands of Ursus for over a millennium. And you... you shall be the next Kashchey! You will inherit our ideals and ensure Ursus remains great!"
A cold dread settled in Talulah's chest. A thousand-year-old parasite was nesting inside her.
"I will never accept your path! I'd rather die than become you!" Talulah snarled, sounding like a cornered cub.
Kashchey laughed. "It matters not. I was going to wait for the right moment, but you've delivered your soul to me on a silver platter."
Talulah felt a wave of helplessness. Kashchey was using Originium Arts to anchor himself to her spirit, slowly eroding her until he could take over completely. She was like a mouse that had delivered itself to a cat. Her soul felt as fragile as paper before this master of spiritual manipulation.
I won't let him win. I'll take him down with me if I have to.
Steel in her eyes, Talulah turned to Jeanne and Alina. "Run! I'll hold him back as long as I can. Once you're out, if I don't seem like myself... kill me immediately!"
But Jeanne didn't move. She simply held Alina's hand and watched the "Evil God" with an unreadable expression.