The residence where Shirohebi-hime stayed in the Oasis District was called the White Snake Abode. Currently, the situation inside was beyond bizarre.
Shirohebi-hime's face had shifted; half of it now bore the features of a man, accompanied by a high-pitched, terrifying cackle.
Is her consciousness fractured? Shiraishi wondered. Did I hit her that hard?
His previous punch had been monstrous. The physical force generated by the Seven Heavenly Breaths combined with Inorganic Reincarnation had effectively pulverized her internal organs.
For a Sage of Ryuchi Cave, such a wound was manageable, but the stress of the repair had inadvertently triggered the emergence of a third soul within her body.
Shirohebi-hime's expression was grim. She had only intended a simple spar with Shiraishi; she hadn't expected this troublesome fellow to wake up.
He had been dormant for so long that she'd assumed he would sleep forever.
"Haku-o, what do you think you're doing?" she hissed internally.
"Jie-jie-jie! Big Sis, you're being unreasonable. You've been in control all this time. It's only natural I'd want to come out and see such a fine specimen of a human," a feminine, yet male voice replied.
A man with a face nearly identical to Shirohebi-hime's emerged on the right side of her head. He was delicate, with features that looked like Orochimaru wearing heavy makeup—even more flamboyant.
Haku-o was male, yet he possessed a grace that put many women to shame. As the original "cross-dresser" of the snake world, he had been coveting Shiraishi from afar.
Seizing the moment of weakness after the punch, he was now attempting to seize control of the Great Sage's body. In fact, the sudden lethal shift in Shirohebi-hime's combat stance earlier had been his doing.
"I think you're all moving too slowly," Haku-o cackled. "Besides, while this human is young, he's already qualified to be the eighth of us."
Their true form was a massive eight-headed serpent, but Haku-o's words confirmed Shiraishi's suspicion: the "Eight-Headed Serpent" actually only possessed seven distinct consciousnesses. The eighth head was a hollow vessel, a "dead" weight.
Haku-o clearly intended to merge Shiraishi with the seven of them to complete the White Snake Sage's form.
Unintentionally, Haku-o had revealed the Sage's secret. Shiraishi had always assumed the White Snake Sage was a perfect, unified entity with eight heads representing different attribute combinations.
Now he saw the flaw: Shirohebi-hime primarily utilized Yang Release, while Haku-o's chakra felt heavily weighted toward Earth Release.
The old snake he had met first was likely a Yin Release user. The eighth head, far from being a source of strength, was currently a strategic deficit.
Sensing Shiraishi's calculating gaze, Shirohebi-hime roared, "Haku-o! You've exposed all our secrets!"
Haku-o didn't care. His laughter was eerie. "So what? He would have guessed eventually." He looked at Shiraishi with a burning intensity.
"To evolve into the true Yamata-no-Orochi, we need eight complete consciousnesses. The eighth has never emerged on its own. We need him. Then, we will be complete."
Sage Art: Eight-Headed Serpent was the White Snake Sage's ultimate soul-splitting technique.
It was remarkably similar to Shiraishi's Heavenly Curse of the Five Phantom, except while Shiraishi maintained a dominant "Main" consciousness, the Split consciousnesses of Ryuchi Cave existed in a state of co-existence.
Shirohebi-hime was the most senior after the old snake, but Haku-o was the youngest and most unpredictable of the seven.
"And if I refuse?" Shiraishi asked.
"Heh, it's not up to you!"
"Haku-o, stop!"
Ignoring Shirohebi-hime, Haku-o forced a physical split. The body of the Great Sage seemed to tear in half. Absorbing the Earth's energy from the ground, Haku-o rapidly grew a new half-body. Shirohebi-hime, weakened by the internal struggle, watched with a pale face.
Though Haku-o's chakra was low from the sudden split, Shiraishi and Shirohebi-hime were also in poor condition. Yet Shiraishi simply stood there, watching Haku-o with a strange, numb expression.
Just as Haku-o prepared to strike, a pillar of scorching light engulfed him. Terrifying heat condensed in the sky like a miniature sun before diving straight down!
Sage Art: Earth Core Tremor!
Faced with the fireball, Haku-o instinctively used Earth Release to defend, but the sheer momentum of the heat shattered his defenses, sending him reeling as he coughed up blood.
As Haku-o scrambled to use Inorganic Reincarnation to heal, he saw a startling sight: standing amidst the flames of the explosion was Pakura, completely unadorned, her skin shimmering. Under her control, the sparks coalesced into a pair of flaming wings.
Fire Style: Dance of Fire!
The Dance of Fire was a purple-tier skill Shiraishi had collected years ago. He rarely used his collection of skill cards himself, but he wasn't about to let them go to waste.
Upon activation, the flames materialized into a protective coating and wings that boosted the user's "Special Attack"—in this case, the lethality of Pakura's Scorch Release.
The first dive-bomb left Haku-o with a massive, burning hole in his chest. As he frantically tried to regenerate, Pakura's aura grew even more feral, her power rising with every second of combat.
Is this woman a monster? Haku-o thought in terror.
The second dive came with a surge of high-temperature explosions. Haku-o's body was blown apart. Amidst the smoke, a tiny white snake tried to slither away, but Shiraishi's hand clamped down on it firmly.
"Your performance was great a moment ago. Why so quiet now?"
Pakura, completely unbothered by Shiraishi's presence, walked toward the weakened Shirohebi-hime. "Sister, how should we handle this thing?"
Though she didn't know the specifics, Pakura sensed that the Sage's weakness was tied to this "androgynous snake monster" that shared her aura.
"Heh... I'll handle it."
Shirohebi-hime's expression was ice-cold. She snatched the white snake from Shiraishi and, without a word, swallowed it whole, crunching down on it with her teeth.
Seeing Shiraishi's startled look, she smirked. "He and I are one. I'm just making him behave. He won't be showing his face again for at least ten years."
As one of the senior consciousnesses, being upstaged by a junior had ruined her mood—but looking at Pakura, who had since thrown on a cloak, Shirohebi-hime's face suddenly brightened.
She stepped forward and took Pakura's hands, her face flushing slightly. "Sister, thank you for saving me just now."
"You're too kind, Sister..."
Pakura actually looked quite shy, her usual sternness melting away. As the two women chatted, they completely ignored Shiraishi standing to the side.
"Maki, the Sage actually prefers Master Pakura..."
Back at home, a weary Shiraishi tried to explain that there was nothing going on between him and Shirohebi-hime.
However, as he told the story, he noticed Maki's grip on the kitchen knife tightening. She turned to him with her usual "perfect wife" smile.
"I see. It seems I misunderstood you."
Shiraishi felt a chill. Something definitely feels off with Maki... but I can't quite put my finger on it...
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