They both circled each other slowly, their eyes scanning the other for the slightest sign of an opening so one could act. Shi's eyes weren't the only thing in use though her every sense heightened to the point where she could pick up on the slightest clue.

Such as the creature getting more agitated.

'It's going to act its heart is beating faster, its body is tensing more.' Shi thought to herself as she got ready to react once it made a move.

Just as Shi had expected, its impatience led to its rushed attack without getting an opening— pouncing at Shi directly from in front without even trying to do something special.

Unfortunately for it, Shi's senses were sharp enough to pinpoint the moment it moved. Allowing her to avoid such an obvious attack by jumping to the side, causing the creature to once more fly by her.

However, it seemed the creature was expecting this from Shi, as it arched its tail to the side mid-jump— slamming it into Shi's body without her being able to react.

'What the hell is that tail made out of.' Shi complained in her mind; as her body was forced back.

The impact from the tail crashed directly into her chest— resulting in her body being forced back from the tail's force. For some reason, the tail was extremely hard; it felt to Shi like she was being hit with a hammer with how hard it was.

Both were disoriented by each other's actions. The snake was disoriented because it missed its initial jump and slammed into the wall of the cave, whereas Shi was disoriented from the sudden impact on her chest that sent her backward.

Shi was the first to snap out from the disorientation— thanks to her heightened reaction time and act. Lunging towards the snake as it shook its head on the floor from the pain— slamming her right shoulder into it.

While the creature had hard scales that covered its entire body— and while it did feel like she was ramming into a wall— it wasn't able to take the ram from Shi and stay in one place; causing its body to slam into the cave wall behind it; shaking the wall in the process.

The wall cracked from the impact, which caused some parts of the stone to break off and fall down, causing Shi to jump back in a panic. She didn't want the wall to cave in and impede her here just because of her own actions.

The snake, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky. Unable to move quickly due to the injury— parts of the wall fell onto the creature, injuring it further.

A beastly roar with a hint of a hiss under it echoed through the cave tunnel as the creature screeched out in pain and defiance. It didn't want to die just as much as Shi didn't want to die— but it was either it or Shi— and Shi wasn't going to submit to some snake.

Angered— the beast slithered along the ground using the dust the falling rocks caused as a cover. Leaping out from the dust suddenly, it didn't try attacking her head like it was previously trying to do— instead it bit directly into her ankle.

Sinking its thin but sharp fangs deep into her flesh, causing some blood to trickle down the wounded area. The pain instantly assaulted Shi's body as she yelled out in response to it.

"Argh— shit!" Her voice filled with pain and anger echoed out in the cave.

Without thinking, she kicked her foot forward— flinging the snake along with it. The snake couldn't hold its grip on her leg and released it, slamming into the wall once more but without the same force as before.

Whether it was Adrenaline or her Bloodline that acted, Shi didn't know, but before she could even stop to assert her situation, she lunged forward at the snake. Correct— lunged.

Shi's body moved without her mind willing it but she was very much aware of her actions. She grabbed the snake that still laid on the floor— one hand being used to hold down the snake's tail while the other held down the head.

No matter how much it tried thrashing around or wiggling to get out— Shi didn't let it. Her vampiric strength went in to override to do what she wanted— keep it down.

Opening her mouth, she clamped her jaw down on the snake's body— sinking her pointed fangs into the snake's body. Her fangs were so hard that they weren't even hindered by the snake's hard scales, simply sinking through it like butter.

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As her fangs sank into the creature's body, the blood of the beast gushed into her mouth like a flood. Not hesitating to drink it, she fed on the creature she was fighting to get even stronger.

The creature was in pain— this was evident from how violent its thrashing got. It was getting hard for Shi to keep the creature pinned down even with her enhanced strength. She had no choice but to release it.

Her fangs left the body of the creature as she jumped back— making sure she got far enough that it couldn't reach her if it decided to retaliate.

Retaliate it did. Even with all the pain it was in, it was far angrier. Rocketing to its feet in an attempt to bite her, not realizing she was already far away from its attack range.

Shi didn't let this chance go untaken. She moved forward in one swift motion and slammed her fist into the head of the snake— punching it backward with the full force of a Pureblood Vampire behind it.

The beast didn't even have the chance to react to what was happening; as it was launched back by the attack and slamming into the wall. Its hard scales couldn't protect it from the impact of the wall, nor could it protect it from the force of her fist. Causing a few of the scales where the creature was hit to break as a result.

The bone of the snake that acted as its spine broke upon contact with the wall— Shi could hear the breaking sound with her enhanced hearing. She could also hear the many soft cracking sounds that were most likely its smaller bones breaking along with the spine.

'Its internal injuries are severe, it's dying,' Shi thought as she stood there and watched as the creature started to spit out blood.

Shi could feel the wound on her ankle already healing from when the snake had bitten her— it was almost completely healed. She wasn't worried about the snake being venomous since it showed no signs of it. She also didn't feel any symptoms of being infected either, so she wasn't too worried about such an outcome.

Shi stood back as she watched the creature bleed out. While she knew it was going to die, she didn't want to get close to it in the chance that it tried a last-ditch effort to injure her along with it.

Instead, she just listened to its heartbeat slow down till it came to a stop.

Once she was sure it was dead— and then some— she moved closer to it with the intention of collecting the snake's body. Its blood tasted great, and since she was out of it from dropping her container, she needed its blood to replace it.

As she knelt down and picked up the creature to bleed it dry— black marks suddenly started to appear on the surface of her skin and extend out from her palm— wrapping around the creature's body.

The marks looked almost like veins except that they were completely black in color— snaking along with her hand like vines decorated with small thorns.

In a matter of seconds, it spread from the head of the creature where she had held onto the body— resulting in the entire creature being engulfed in a web-like black vine. The vines even burrowed into the body of the creature as it dried its insides up of everything— blood included.

Shi had no clue what was going on. She was unsure how she was the cause of this, but she didn't have the time to think about it either.

An aching pain suddenly assaulted her mind starting from the center of her eyebrows— where the marking was located previously— and jolting all the way to the back of her head. It wasn't like a normal headache that felt like a squeezing pain— this felt like someone or something was wrapping around the inside of her brain.

Her brain felt hot, her entire body warming up in the process.

In the confusion of the pain, she slammed her body forward on the ground— yet the snake didn't leave her hand. It was like it was being forced to stay in place.

Smoke visible started to leak out from her body and fill the already limiting air of the cave tunnel. A cloud of black smoke that hazed her body in its embrace— as if it welcomed her home once more. It even felt familiar to Shi, somehow.

"W-what is happening," Her lips managed to squeeze out some words to no one that could hear her.

No matter how much pain she was in— no matter how much smoke covered her— she didn't pass out. She couldn't pass out even if she wanted to— her body and mind felt wide awake. Not only was it her vampiric senses that were working, but something else as well.

She could feel everything around her.

Trying to focus her attention on what was going on to the creature in her grip— instead of the headache— she saw something that stunned her to the core.

The body of the creature was being completely engulfed by the markings. It was almost like it was eating the creature. It tightened around the creature's body— crushing it into a more compact size and yet not a single drop of blood or gore leaked out from the encasing.

In a matter of minutes— Shi really couldn't tell how long had passed— the entire creature was compacted into nothing more than a small bead— a black bead— that was then absorbed by the markings.

Which resulted in the markings that covered her hand to finally retreat into her body.

Everything slowly returned to normal. The pain in her mind vanished as if it was never there. The markings had disappeared like they didn't exist, to begin with. Everything was like before— except for one thing.

On the back of her hand, there was an odd marking.

It was similar to the marking she saw on her forehead before in the water's reflection, which made her link the two together. However, unlike that one which was a simple dot— this one was in the shape of a twirled serpent that wrapped around itself as if asleep.

She didn't know what it was— but something within her felt different. She felt like she could do something with it— she just didn't know what.

She wanted to know what it was, but she was far too tired. Her body leaned against the wall as she slouched down tiredly. Her eyes closed as she allowed herself to rest for a while— just a bit.