Published at 4th of August 2026 8:37 am

Chapter Interlude Choices V (+Announcement & MILES Art)

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INTERLUDE-CHOICES V

Never did I think this could happen to me. Since I first woke up as a monster, stuck in a body that a madman crafted, I have been a predator. Today, I have been made into prey. Swallowed whole by Ouroboros, his throat muscles pushing me further down his gullet as I am drowning in spit. I bite into the weak flesh surrounding me, but my fangs cannot pierce it. My claws and pointed limbs cant find purchase when everything is slick with saliva. My fur is falling off, scales and skin sizzling, as the acidic juices eat away at me. I should become intangible and fly out of his body. But Im too weak to hurt him; Im not strong enough to kill him. Yet.

Being dissolved by acidic digestive might be the worst death so far. Suffocating is a close second, with crushing and drowning due to oceanic pressure third. But being dissolved sucks the most because of one thing: my regeneration. My bodys healing powers are potent, able to regrow from any level of destruction as long as part of me remains. I suck in air as I emerge out of the lake of acid inside his stomach, even as I feel my lower half being melted down to the bone. But eventually even my bones are broken down, plunging my entire body back into the putrid waters. The caustic liquid flows through my gills, chunks of my body turning to mush, all of my eyes withering away, until it reaches my brain.

Ouroboros acid is only worth five deaths. Only five. The true downside of this is that my ability to grow through rebirth, gaining power through death, only works if I am killed. The fifth time I come back, my regeneration completely outpaces the damage. The previous death, the stomach acids struggled to liquify me, to the point where it took days before I actually died.

Now, reconstituted back to peak form, I fly out of the monsters stomach without him noticing. All of the remaining acid falls off my body as Im intangible. This is going to be harder than I thought. For all of Ouroboros many strengths, his ability to kill me is sorely lacking. His Mentalist ability cant give me an aneurysm, and his venom isnt strong enough to digest me anymore. Im going to have to get creative if I want to die. I let out a snort at my arrogance. When did I become so confident? Hovering above the giant dumb snake, I let out a roar to get his attention. The massive serpent stops slithering along, rising up until he is looking down on me. Maybe arrogance just runs in reptilian blood.

Interesssssting, Ouroboros said.

YOUR REIGN OF TERROR ENDS HERE! I shouted.

I dont know what he did, only that the skyscraper-sized snake seemed to blur for only a blink of an eye, and then every bone in my body was obliterated.

Ser un hueso duro de roer. You are tough, Vicente remarked, whistling.

My body is slowly reforming, the bones snapping back together and readjusting. Muscle fibers reach out to each other, knitting together, before the skin stitches itself back together. Scales sprout out of my skin, interlocking into the harder shell-like surface Im used to. Spikes and fins come next, then the large volcano-like clusters form on my back. The man makes another comment in Spanish, and I instinctively try to bite him, but he jumps back. Thank God he dodged. The Beast wants to eat him because he's a chatty gnat hovering around me. No, I can't eat any more people. I dont know if I could deal with the guilt if I eat another innocent person.

You are an annoying little man, I replied angrily.

Pequeno? And here I thought we were becoming weons. Dont worry, Im not sensitive enough to be turned away by your gruff demeanor. Inside you are suave por dentro, lindo. I wont abandon you, weon, Vicente said affably. Do you need assistance?

I ignore him, pushing myself out of the hole Im in. Looking around, were in a heavily forested area. Theres a trail of destruction that might go on for a mile that is from my body destroying everything after being hit by that snake bastard. HUNT. Shooting up into the sky, I follow the scent. Vicente keeps talking to me, but Im focused on catching back up to my quarry. My flight is smoother and faster; everything is easier to control, and I feel much more powerful. Im coming after you.

Ouroboros hit me so hard that even with the minuscule increases to my powers, it takes me over an hour to get back to him while flying at full speed. Keeping my main eyes trained on his body, my smaller eyes look ahead to figure out where hes headed. My heart sinks. Beyond a small set of mountains, theres a small city nearby, one thats populated. So many lives. They need to get away. They need to escape.

VICENTE! I screamed, hoping he was still around somewhere.

Yes? He said from above me.

I swing one of my tails at the source of his voice, but as always, hit nothing but air.

Look. Hes headed for the city. You need to tell them to evacuate. NOW!

Mhmm. Ovalle. Tsk. It is unfortunate for them, Vicente remarked.

What are you waiting for? GO, I roared at him.

Its too late. Demasiado tarde, weon. Uroboros: la serpiente se devora a si misma. It earned that name because it is a cycle. He awakens, eats until he is full, and then tunnels down for a year or so before appearing again. Sabe to rotate his feeding grounds. Theres no point trying to save these people. Todos moriran, Vicente sighed.

Where did your fight go? He ate your city; why let him do it again? I asked.

Because yo crei, I believed you could do it. Yo crei que el monstruo podria matar al monstruo. But you cant. Nobody can. Why try when all we will do is annoy Uroboros?

Watch me, coward. Hes nothing but an overgrown snake. I can kill him. I will kill him, I said confidently.

I wish I had more time for several more deaths, because truthfully, I do not think Im strong enough to kill him yet. No, I have to do this now. I failed once already; I cant fail again. He needs to be stopped right here, right now, before he gets to Ovalle. Before, I dropped out of the sky and failed to sneak attack him. Not this time. Instead of falling naturally, I dive. I turn intangible, using gravity and my faster flight to rapidly descend like a heat-seeking missile. This hunt will need to be the beast and I working together. Fighting smarter, if I die, it will mean everyone dies. I will be a hero.

An Olympic diver would kill for my form. I somersault perfectly, becoming tangible right as I unfurl and smash both of my tails into the top of Ouroboros head. He stops, his momentum halted by my hit that slams his snake skull so hard it buries it. The shockwave from our collision blows me back and annihilates the surrounding area. Trees are ripped out by the roots and blown away. Every piece of grass, particle of dirt, and trace of dust is gone, leaving nothing but his massive head at the bottom of the crater. He isnt moving, which is a very good sign. But theres no wound; I didnt even leave a crack on his scales.

The psychic attack is the first sign hes alive, coming long before he even stirs. Its painful, agonizing even, but its only pain. Pain is nothing to me. Not a single drop of blood comes from my ears or eyes. He pulls himself out of the ground, shaking his head in a distinctly human manner, rotating a few times to get the crick out of his neck. He looks up, but doesnt speak a word as his eyes watch me. Good; theres nothing else to say. Hovering above him, I see his tail blur as it whips toward me. Thats what killed me last time. The desire to meet his attack head-on and challenge him to a test of strength is nearly irresistible. NO. THINK. I dont dodge, becoming intangible so that it passes through me.

His tail pivots midswing, coming back around, but it doesnt hit anything. Is he stupid? He loos away from me, toward the mountains ahead, and takes off in that direction. Wait, what? Ouroboros is ignoring me, focusing back on Ovalle. The pain in my brain stops as he completely disregards me. No. This cant be happening. Flying after him, I rack my brain for a way to stop him or slow him down. Could I bury him? Soaring ahead of him, I land on top of the mountain hes most likely to cross. Digging straight down, I claw through dirt using my paws and insect legs to pierce through rocks and throw them behind me. I tunnel deeper, doing everything I possibly can to be faster, including eating the material in front of me. Stone, gravel, sand, bugs, roots, and minerals it all gets scooped into my maw by my mandibles. It is depressing how much happier I am to be putting something in my stomach. Disgusting.

I stop, becoming ghostly, to peek my head out of the mountain. Hes so fast. I have maybe fifteen minutes until he reaches me. Retreating back into my tunnel, I turn left and start tunneling around, creating loops and twists. I switch directions, heading up and to the right to repeat what I did before. Theres no way for me to drop a mountain on him; all Im hoping to do is weaken it enough that his weight makes him fall in. I doubt itll kill him, but it should buy me some time. Digging my way up and out as I feel the tunnel rumbling as he approaches. I shoot out of the hole, into the sky as high as I can while still keeping an eye or five on him. It isnt collapsing; I fucked it up. A couple miles up, I loop around and watch him as he slithers over the mountain. I need to make it collapse. A divebomb will do, but I dont target his head this time. I aim for his midsection. Or whatever snakes have.

I descend like a fist of God smiting a blasphemous sinner. My plan works, and I hit him hard enough to collapse the tunnels I made, pulverizing the mountain below us and sending a dust cloud billowing out for thousands of feet. I continue pushing the gigantic creature down as everything crumbles around us, chunks of stone falling on top of us. Some of them are larger than I am, but they dont break or pierce my flesh. Testing my claws against his scales doesnt release sparks; instead, it leaves a very faint mark. I can harm him. Even as were being buried, I slash and scratch the same spot. The mountain further collapses, and Im plunged into darkness. It doesnt do anything; Ive been able to see perfectly in the dark since I became Six.

Im making steady progress on the single scale when he starts to move. Holding on with my insect appendages, I continue to maul even as he pulls both of us out. No. Hes no worse for wear despite having a mountain dropped on him. Is this impossible? Am I going to fail? I see the city in the distance as we close in on it. A klaxon alarm goes off, the sound discernible from here, including the screams of panicking people. I abandon my current objective and fly forward, stopping a hundred or so feet in front of Ouroboros.

STOP! YOU ARENT GETTING THROUGH ME!

It doessssssnt matter if I cannot kill you if you cannot hurt me, he replied.

No

Hes right, isnt he? Wait, theres something I havent tried yet. I fly at him, landing on his head, and I become intangible. Lowering one paw down into his skull, I deactivate the power and solidify my leg. My leg is gone, cut off completely from where it was inside his head. My idea is a failure. Damn. Tendrils of biological matter burst from my stump, transforming into bone, then musculature, veins, blood, skin, scales, then fur. Im out of options, and the screams of civilians are getting louder and louder. I leap off him, racing ahead to form some sort of last obstacle right before the first set of buildings on the outskirts of the city. I can see people hunkering down inside buildings, while armed soldiers and policemen have set up a barricade. The smell of fear from the people is overwhelmingly intoxicating, the beast screaming for blood and meat. FEED ON THE WEAK!

Ouroboros rises up, looking over the city he plans to devour and destroy. If it wasnt impossible for their anatomy, Id swear he was smiling. He blasts forward, his enormous maw stretched open, fangs dripping with acidic venom. I cant let him go through me, so I fly into his waiting mouth. Jaws snap shut around me. Well, he tries to. But Im standing on my back legs holding his mouth open. Im stronger than his jaw, but all Ive done is delay his feast a bit. His head shakes violently, trying to make me stumble so he can crush me, but my pointed legs are jabbed into his mouth, and my tails are wrapped around some of his smaller teeth. The dissolving saliva no longer works on me. The mental attack resumes, the sudden pain making my concentration lapse for a moment. But thats all he needs; the pressure on my limbs stops as his tongue darts out to wrap around me. Before I can blink, he dislodges me from his mouth, throwing me into the city like a toy.

Damn it. Turning intangible wont help; I need to bleed momentum, and I cant if I pass through everything. I blast through a brick building, bulldozing it without slowing. Three more buildings are obliterated by my body slamming through them. The next structure I hit isnt empty, and my worst fears come true. Like a fly on a windshield, I crush the two men hiding here. Nonononononononononononononononononononononononono. Their bodies explode into chunks; delicious, heavenly chunks. Before I know it, my insect legs are piercing through body parts and tossing them into my waiting mouth. No. Hunt the strong. Feed on the weak. Perish in battle. Grow stronger with every death.

Theyre so tasty. I burst out of the store, sniffing for more prey. Heading toward the smell of terror and weakness, I crash through barricaded doors, trampling over wooden benches. My claws rip and tear through the carpet and the stone beneath it, leaving gouges in the foundation of the place. Hunt the strong. Feed on the weak. Perish in battle. Grow stronger with every death. Discordant notes from a piano I crush beneath my paws as I reach the back of the building. A single smack brings the wall down, revealing the group of forty-plus prey. Screams of fear accompany several of them releasing their bowels at the sight of me. Multiple small ones, elderly, and others of all ages and means. The one in the very front, shaking in pure terror, his pupils dilated wide. Holds a book out in front of me like itll help him.

NO PADRE, one of them shouted.

Que Dios nos pille confesados, the man in front said, his voice breaking as he spoke.

I swipe at him, and my claws turn him into paint, painting everyone red. The smell of spilled blood only makes me even hungrier. My tails wrap around a group of three and four, respectively, squeezing them until they pop in an explosion of gore. My sharp-pointed appendages strike out, skewering the small ones as they run for the doors. With every bite, I get three and a half bodies at least. Their crunchy bones are crushed by my jaws, and every movement I make creates a casualty. Slurping up shredded limbs, ribbons of entrails, buckets of blood and brains, and piles of people pieces. People. Oh god, people.

The haze breaks, the bloody spell ends, but not soon enough. There arent any survivors. I massacred them all. There isnt a single spot in the room that isnt slick with blood. My green fur is soaked and rivulets of red run down my body. There are fingers stuck in my teeth, fingers too small to be an adult's. A bubbling in my stomach is the only warning before I burp out a mangled womans head. Half her face is peeled off. This is my fate forever. Even when I try to do good, innocent lives are snuffed out. The worst part of this, besides the loss of life, is that no matter how mentally and emotionally disgusted I am with what just happened, my bodys only response is hunger. The rooms scent is tantalizing and appetizing. The sounds of the city fighting back shake me from the pity party, and I realize that theres an ven worse scene outside here. I turn around to leave the bloody room behind, and something squishes beneath my paw. Its an eyeball. That gives me an idea.

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