Double Trouble Part-III : The Serpent Queen

Hiroshi stared at the Tyrant before him—the grotesque fusion of woman and serpent, scales gleaming under the dim light. For a brief moment, his lips curved upward, not in fear, but amusement.

“So, you really were a maggot,” he said lightly, eyes half-lidded. “Just a greener, longer and annoying maggot.”

The reaction was instant.

“Sstop calling me that!” Jinah hissed, her voice warped and demonic, overlapping itself unnaturally. “SSCALE SSSHOT!”

Her massive tail rose into the air, the tip locking onto Hiroshi like a living cannon. The scales along its length rattled violently, lifting and vibrating as if alive.

Then—
they launched.

Dozens of hardened scales tore through the air in a shrieking volley, each one spinning with lethal precision.

Hiroshi’s red aura surged, thickening and roaring like a wildfire fed fresh oxygen.

“FLAME SHIELD!”

He slammed his fist into the ground.

A new move was created.

Flames erupted upward in a violent arc, forming a curved, wave-like wall of fire just in time. The incoming scales slammed into it, clanging and melting as they were swallowed by the inferno.

Jinah didn’t hesitate.

“EGG BOMBSSS!”

She threw her head back and opened her mouth wide. Seven egg-shaped masses of pulsing purple energy formed in front of her jaws, humming ominously.

With a sharp jerk of her upper body, she launched them.

Hiroshi didn't even waste a second and replied with another attack.

“BURNING SKY!”

Hiroshi’s fists ignited as he punched forward—straight into empty air.

another new move was created.

Where his punch stopped, the atmosphere itself shattered.

Cracks of blazing flame ripped vertically through the sky, forming a thin, unstable wall of burning fractures. The bombs collided with it mid-flight—

—and detonated.

The explosions thundered through the battlefield, thick smoke swallowing everything in sight.

“SSWIFT SSSLASHESSS!”

Jinah moved.

Despite her massive size, she burst through the smoke like a supersonic jet. Purple trails followed the blade-like scales on her forearms as they carved through the haze, sharp enough to cleave anything they touched.

Hiroshi reacted instantly, leaping high into the air and clearing the smoke cloud entirely.

“The smoke doesn’t smell fully combusted, he noted mid-air, eyes narrowing.”
“Which means there’s a high concentration of carbon monoxide…”
His gaze hardened.
“And I know exactly what to do.”

“SCORCHING TERRAIN!”

He extended a finger toward the smoke. A tiny ember formed—small, condensed, impossibly hot.

A new move was created.

He released it.

BOOM!

The smoke cloud ignited violently, erupting into a massive explosion. Jinah was blasted out of it, her massive body crashing across the ground, fumes rising from her scorched scales and skin.

Hiroshi landed lightly.

“Carbon Monoxide,” he said slyly, his voice dry and cold. “Seriously? You thought if the bombs can’t kill me, suffocation can. So you send bombs that leave carbon monoxide behind, right?”
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
“Well, I guess your plan backfired.”

Jinah snarled, fury shaking her entire form. “You brat! What did you do?! How did you make it blast?!”

“Maybe you should’ve learnt basic science,” Hiroshi replied calmly. “Carbon Monoxide can form explosive mixtures with air when it’s in high concentration. I’m glad Bajuro also taught us during training.”

Jinah’s claws dug into the ground.

Her breathing grew erratic.

Rage and frustration burned in her eyes as she realized something terrifying—

She wasn’t overwhelming him.

She was being outplayed.

Jinah’s composure finally cracked.

A sharp snarl tore from her throat as frustration twisted her features, and she opened her mouth wide, extending both arms forward as if casting judgment itself.

“POISON DRIZZLE!”

The air screamed.

Thousands upon thousands of acidic droplets erupted from her at once, saturating the space between them in a lethal storm. The droplets tore through the air with murderous intent, each one capable of corroding flesh and bone in an instant. The battlefield disappeared beneath the poisonous downpour, the stench of acid burning the senses.

Hiroshi didn’t retreat.

He didn’t even blink.

“FLAME BODY!”

A new move was created.

The red aura surrounding him trembled violently, as if responding to his will, before igniting all at once. Flames surfaced across his skin, licking upward and folding around his body until the aura itself transformed—no longer light, but living fire. It wasn’t wild or unstable. It clung to him with perfect control, forming a blazing mantle that radiated overwhelming heat.

The poison met the flames.

And lost.

The droplets evaporated on contact, vanishing with violent hisses as if erased from existence. The few that slipped past scorched the ground instead, burning deep holes into the floor, smoke rising from the wounds they left behind.

The fiery aura of the new move faded shifted back to the red glow.

Jinah’s frustration boiled over.

Her jaw clenched, and a guttural growl escaped her lips.

“TAIL WHIP!”

Her massive tail lashed forward, tearing through the air like a steel cable swung at full force. The impact alone should have crushed anything in its path.

Hiroshi didn’t move.

He didn’t brace.

At the final moment, his hand snapped out and closed around the tail’s end.

Effortless.

The force that should have sent him flying vanished, absorbed completely by his grip.

He tilted his head slightly, as though mildly inconvenienced.

“Passengers are requested to fasten their seatbelts,” he said calmly, a faint, almost amused smirk forming. “And prepare for the ride.”

“PYRO VORTEX!”

A new move was created.

With raw physical strength, he spun her body around. Jinah’s massive form was dragged into motion like a helpless object, her weight meaning nothing as Hiroshi became the axis of destruction. Flames surged from his hands, racing across her scales and flesh, spreading faster than she could react.

Fire swallowed her.

Her body ignited as the spinning accelerated, the flames twisting together into a roaring vortex that towered over the battlefield. Heat distorted the air, and the ground trembled beneath the sheer violence of it.

Jinah screamed.

Her wails echoed endlessly as her scales cracked, her skin burned, and pain tore through her entire body.

Then, without ceremony, Hiroshi released her.

She was flung away like discarded debris, crashing into a far wall with bone-rattling force. The impact shook the arena, fragments raining down around her broken form.

“And that concludes today’s ride,” Hiroshi said mockingly, his voice flat and merciless. “Please come again if you enjoyed the experience. Thank you.”

Jinah struggled.

Her legs barely obeyed as she forced herself upright, smoke pouring from her scorched body. Half of her face was burned beyond recognition, flesh charred and peeling, the pain so intense it made her vision blur.

Her tail wrapped around her instinctively, lifting and steadying her trembling body.

She raised a shaking hand and touched her ruined skin—slowly, carefully—like one would touch something precious, something irreplaceable.

“You pesky little brat…” she hissed, venom dripping from every syllable. “You burned my precious skin.”

Her eyes flared.

A violent red light ignited within them.

In the next instant, her flesh regenerated. Burnt scales reformed, torn skin sealed itself, and the damage vanished as if it had never existed.

Her voice dropped, sinking into something deeper—older, more feral.

“You won’t get away with this so easily…”

She closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, her breathing slowing as power gathered within her.

“My hybrid form isn’t enough for you…”

The air grew heavy.

Oppressive.

Her declaration echoed across the battlefield.

“FINAL FORM — SERPENT QUEEN!”

Her tail began to extend.

Longer.

And longer.

And longer.

It coiled around her body in tightening spirals, wrapping layer after layer until even her glowing eyes vanished beneath the living coils. Her form disappeared entirely, sealed within her own tail.

She became a cocoon of scales.

The cocoon writhed.

It trembled violently as the scales rattled and twisted, turning over one another while their color drained away, shifting into a cold, gleaming white.

Then it began to grow.

Slowly at first.

Then rapidly.

The mass expanded, swelling to nearly ten times Jinah’s original size, the pressure of her power distorting the air around it. The ground groaned beneath the sheer weight of what was being born.

And then—

With a sudden, explosive jolt, the coils flung open.

Her final form emerged.

Jinah was gone.

In her place stood a colossal serpent, her body fully transformed into a massive white-scaled snake. Each scale gleamed like polished armor, flawless and merciless.

At the center of her forehead, a large purple gemstone pulsed ominously, glowing with tyrannical energy—as if announcing her dominion over the battlefield.

The Serpent Queen had awakened.

Hiroshi’s gaze narrowed.

Among the vast, white coils and overwhelming presence of the Serpent Queen, his eyes locked onto a single point—the purple gemstone embedded in her forehead. It pulsed faintly, almost nervously, as if reacting to his stare.

“That’s where you hid your weak spot… right, maggot?”

The serpent’s entire body convulsed.

“SSSTOP CALLING ME THAT!” Jinah bellowed, her voice distorted into a demonic hiss that shook the air itself. “SSSNAKE TACKLE!”

Her colossal body surged forward.

She slammed against the ground with terrifying force, her massive form crawling at impossible speed. The floor cracked and shattered beneath her weight, stone pulverizing into dust as pressure waves rippled outward. Every inch she crossed screamed with destruction.

Hiroshi didn’t retreat.

He stood still, eyes locked with the charging monstrosity, unblinking.

Closer.

Faster.

The impact was seconds away.

Instead of bracing, Hiroshi stepped forward.

Calm. Deliberate.

As Jinah’s jaws opened wide enough to swallow him whole—

“FLAMING TALON!”

The explosion was instantaneous.

It wasn’t just a punch.

It was detonation compressed into flesh.

The impact thundered like a bomb erupting at point-blank range. Jinah’s massive body bent unnaturally, her serpentine frame folding in on itself as the shockwave tore through her from the inside out. Her coils rippled violently, rising in a wave before collapsing unevenly onto the ground with a deafening crash.

The battlefield fell silent.

Her body lay still.

Unconscious.

“Let’s finish this children’s play now,” Hiroshi said, his voice stripped of mockery, cold as ash.

He raised his hand, fist aligned precisely with the gemstone.

“FLAMING SUPER PUNC—”

The ground moved.

No—exploded.

Jinah’s head smashed into the floor with brutal force as she twisted violently and vanished underground. Stone and debris were swallowed as her body burrowed deep beneath the battlefield, leaving behind a collapsing crater.

Hiroshi stopped.

His eyes scanned the cracked terrain around him.

“Huh?” he said, deliberately provoking. “Trying to evade death? Not possible for you, maggot.”

“SSSURPRIZE ATTACK!”

The ground beneath Hiroshi ruptured.

Jinah erupted upward from below, her jaws stretched impossibly wide as she engulfed him whole in a single motion. The earth collapsed back into place as her massive body slammed shut.

Far away, Shinzo and Krooke froze.

Their voices tore through the air together.
“HIROSHI!”

Inside her body, Jinah shifted, satisfaction twisting her voice.

“What a feast!” she hissed, her tone dripping with pleasure. “My acidic digestive juices will melt his body down in seconds!” She turned her massive head toward the two onlookers. “You guys dead meat now!”

Then—

Her stomach growled.

Loud.

Confused, she stiffened.
“What…?”

A voice echoed from deep within her.

“THERMAL MELTDOWN!”

And then—

Pain unlike anything she had ever known erupted inside her body.

Orange-blue flames detonated from within, flooding her insides with heat far beyond what her flesh—or regeneration—could endure. The energy surged violently, ripping through muscle, organs, and scales alike.

Her scream shattered the air.

In the next instant, her stomach tore apart into countless fragments as Hiroshi burst free in a violent arc of fire, landing far away without even turning back.

Jinah collapsed.

She writhed, her massive body convulsing as regeneration fought desperately to keep up. Flesh reformed only to burn again, nerves screaming as pain layered upon pain.

“It HURTSSS!” she wailed, voice cracking, feral and broken. “It hurts so much! I’ll kill you, brat—!”

CRACK!

The sound was sharp.

Final.

Her voice died mid-scream.

The gemstone on her forehead fractured.

A spiderweb of glowing cracks spread across its surface before it shattered completely, fragments raining down like dead stars.

Her eyes widened in absolute terror.

“W-wait… No…!” Her voice trembled, suddenly small. “How…? When…?”

Hiroshi turned to face her.

“While I was inside you, I aimed that attack toward the jewel’s position,” he said calmly. “The heatwave was concentrated on that exact point. And luckily for me—your jewel was weak.”

The fragments hit the ground.

And Jinah screamed.

This time, it wasn’t rage.

It was despair.

The floor trembled violently as her body began to collapse in on itself. Her colossal form shrank rapidly, scales peeling away, power draining as if ripped out at the root.

Smaller.

Smaller.

And smaller.

Until only a tiny, writhing serpent remained.

she was now the size of a literal maggot.

Hiroshi walked forward slowly, his red aura flickering weakly now, dim and unstable.

“Well,” he said mockingly, looking down at her. “I guess I was right calling you a maggot. So weak and patheti—”

His words cut off.

His body staggered.

And he collapsed face-first onto the ground, unconscious.

“HIROSHI!” Shinzo's scream tore through the room.

Shinzo sprinted across the ruined battlefield, his voice tearing through the lingering smoke. He dropped to his knees beside Hiroshi’s collapsed body and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him urgently.

“Hey—hey, hey!” His voice cracked as panic set in. “Hiroshi, wake up! It’s me, Shinzo! I’m alive! We won—you won! You beat two Tyrants! Wake up!”

There was no response.

Hiroshi’s body was warm, his breathing shallow but steady, yet his eyes remained closed—unmoving, distant, as if he had already drifted far away.

Footsteps approached from behind.

Krooke stopped beside them, his expression grim as he looked down at Hiroshi.

“He won’t reply,” he said quietly. “He’s in a coma. The extreme output of the Berserk form wasn’t meant to be sustained by his comparatively weaker body.”

Shinzo looked up sharply. “What do you mean by weaker body?”

“I said comparatively weaker,” Krooke replied without hesitation. “The Berserk form was never meant for him. He can’t handle it. It’s that simple.”

Shinzo clenched his fists. “Then heal him,” he snapped. “You brought me back to life!”

For a split second, Krooke stiffened.

“Damn it… what am I supposed to say? I can't tell him about that...” He thought with urgency.

“Hello?” Shinzo pressed. “I asked you something!”

Krooke exhaled slowly. “My powers can only bring the dead back to life. Hiroshi isn’t dead. He’s alive—just unconscious. I’ll need to treat him at my house.” He adjusted his stance. “I’ll take him there. You bring Ryumi-san to Dwarika.”

Shinzo froze.

“Wait… am I dreaming?” He thought, confused.
“Is this really the same man who was abusing Ryumi-san not long ago? am I in some sort of dream? am I really dead and this is what comes after death?”

Before Shinzo could say anything, Krooke lifted Hiroshi with practiced ease, resting his arm over his shoulder.

“Don’t waste any more time,” he said firmly. “I’m taking him. You bring Ryumi-san.”

With that, Krooke turned and walked toward the previous chamber, Hiroshi’s limp body supported against him.

Shinzo remained kneeling for a moment before slowly standing up.

His eyes drifted to the golden door where Ryumi was imprisoned—then shifted to the far end of the room.

Yataro’s melted corpse lay there.

“…I should get the key first.”

He approached the remains, stopping short as the reality of it hit him.

The stench of burned flesh assaulted his senses.

“Eugh… so stinky…” Shinzo muttered, quickly turning his face away. “The way he died must’ve been painful.”

He paused.

Then realization struck.

“…Wait. The key would be in his pockets.”

His gaze slowly returned to the melted mass.

His stomach lurched.

“…Nope. Not a chance.” He backed away immediately. “Ain’t touching that crap. I need a stick.”

His eyes fell on Belial’s destroyed body nearby. The molten lava that once formed its frame had cooled, hardened into jagged black obsidian.

Shinzo walked over and snapped off a long shard.

“May you rest in pieces—” He stopped, grimacing. “I mean… rest in peace.”

With visible reluctance, he returned to Yataro’s corpse and used the obsidian shard to prod through the remains.

The flesh squelched.

Shinzo gagged, turning his head away as he fought the urge to vomit.

Two objects slid free.

A key.

And something else—glowing faintly green.

“…The Green Blaze Ember.”

He nudged both away from the body and quickly picked them up, shuddering.

“I swear,” he muttered, “I’m taking a full-body, deep-scrub bath after this.”

Then his eyes widened.

“…Wait. If Yataro had the Green Ember, Jinah must’ve had one too!”

He rushed across the battlefield toward what remained of Jinah.

Her body lay motionless—tiny, shriveled, no bigger than a dead maggot.

Shinzo stared down at it.

“Well,” he said dryly, “look at the irony. The bigger she lived, the smaller she died.”

He scanned the area and soon spotted it—a scarlet-pink ember lying nearby, still faintly warm.

“There you go.”

He picked it up and slipped it carefully into his pocket.

“Time for Ryumi-san to get out of this hellhole.”

Turning, Shinzo walked toward the golden door. Intricate carvings lined its surface, ancient curves and symbols catching the light as he approached, glimmering with every step he took.

He reached the door, the key clenched tightly in his hand, its cold metal pressing against his palm as he aligned it with the keyhole.

For a brief moment, he hesitated.

Then the key slid in.

Click!

Shinzo twisted it slowly. The mechanism inside the golden door stirred after centuries of silence, and with a deep, resonant sound, the lock disengaged.

GRRRRK!

The door began to open, inch by inch, its massive weight scraping violently against the floor. Layers of dust and hardened sediment—deposited over nearly two hundred years—crumbled and scattered as the ancient hinges groaned in protest.

When the door finally opened fully, a small, dark room was revealed.

Cold air seeped out.

In the center stood a massive machine, its metallic surface dull and aged but still humming faintly with power. Behind it loomed two giant cylindrical chambers. One was filled with a strange, translucent liquid that refracted the dim light in slow ripples. The other held a dense gas, glowing cyan under the internal lights, swirling lazily as if alive.

Six thick pipes ran from the chambers, feeding both substances into the central machine.

Shinzo swallowed.

He stepped forward, every footstep echoing unnaturally loud in the enclosed space, and placed his hand against the machine’s cold surface.

“…A cryogenic chamber,” he whispered, more to himself than anyone else.

His eyes shifted to a small metal lever mounted on the left side of the device.

After taking a breath, he pulled it down.

HISS!

One of the pipes detached violently, releasing a burst of freezing mist that poured into the room before fading away within seconds.

Shinzo flinched, stumbling back slightly.

Then—

HISS!
HISS!
HISS!
HISS!
HISS!

The remaining pipes disconnected one by one, each releasing plumes of cold vapor.

The machine began to move.

Locks clicked open. Hydraulic joints hissed and shifted. With a deep mechanical rumble, the top of the cryogenic chamber slowly parted, revealing its contents.

Inside lay a girl.

Pink hair framed her face, untouched by time. Her skin was pale and smooth, as if she had merely fallen asleep. She wore a gray hoodie and blue jeans—clothes completely out of place in this ancient ruin.

Suddenly, her beautiful pink eyes opened.

She jolted upright with a sharp gasp, clutching at her chest as she sucked in air desperately, her breaths uneven and panicked. Her gaze darted around the room, wild and confused.

Then it stopped on Shinzo.

“Krimson?” she said, frowning. “When did you dye your hair white? And what kind of stupid clothes are you wearing?”

Shinzo froze.

For a moment, he couldn’t find his voice.

“R-Ryumi-san…” he finally said. “I’m not Krimson. I’m his great-great-great grandson. My name is Shinzo.”

She scoffed. “Oh yeah? Sure you are. Quit messing around.” She looked around sharply. “Where am I? And where is Hirosh—”

Her voice cut off.

Her eyes widened as memories surged back all at once.

Images flashed through her mind—pain, fear, Hiroshi’s face, the chamber closing as Gorokko put her inside.

“…Wait,” she whispered. “Hiroshi…”

She turned sharply toward Shinzo.
“Where is he..?”

“H-He—he’s…” Shinzo hesitated, his throat tightening.

Ryumi swung her legs over the side of the chamber and stepped out, her movements sharp despite the shock.

“Krimson,” she said slowly, her tone dangerously calm, “where. is. Hiroshi.”

“He’s… with Krooke,” Shinzo admitted.

“And who’s that?”

“I can’t explain everything at once!” Shinzo blurted out. “You just woke up after two hundred years!”

She stared at him blankly.

“…Wow. That’s the dumbest lie I’ve heard.” She rubbed her temples. “Drop the act, Krimson. And what even is a cryogenic chamber?”

Shinzo took a breath. “First of all, I’m not Krimson. And a cryogenic chamber is a machine that freezes your body while keeping you alive. Those two containers supplied oxygen and nutrients.” He paused, choosing his words carefully. “You were in cryo-sleep for two hundred years. And we need to leave—there’s a door behind this room.”

Ryumi groaned in frustration.

“You seriously expect me to believe that?” she snapped. “Take your stupid story somewhere else. I’m out.”

Without waiting for a reply, she stormed past him, heading straight for the chamber behind—the one containing the portal.

“Wait!” Shinzo called, rushing after her. “Listen to me!”

She didn’t even look back and rushed straight for the room.

Shinzo was left behind as Ryumi was surprisingly faster.

Shinzo's eyes caught something. the Fenrir daggers. 

He instantly picked them up and rushed back.

She reached the room, her eyes instantly seeing the blue portal and the word 'EXIT' carved in the wall near it.

She stepped into the portal without hesitation.

Shinzo reached the room as well, rushing in the portal immediately.

The blue glow swallowed them both.

[Back at Dwarika's mines]

The two of them emerged from the big portal gate in a burst of fading red light.

Ryumi barely spared it a glance. Her eyes immediately scanned her surroundings as she started climbing out of the circular shaft where the portal had opened—an opening carved deep into the stone of the mines.

“Wha—wait!” Shinzo called out. “I can’t climb as fast as you!”

She didn’t slow down.

Shinzo picked up his backpack, which was torn before whilst entering the portal, and put the Fenrir daggers inside it, and tied its torn straps to his waist.

Ryumi moved with surprising ease, her hands finding grips in the rock as if instinct guided her. Shinzo followed, struggling to keep up as the backpack was slightly heavy. his fingers slipped as dust crumbled beneath his grasp. By the time she leapt out of the hole and landed cleanly on solid ground, Shinzo was still dragging himself upward, muscles screaming in protest.

He finally hauled himself out, collapsing to one knee for a brief second before scrambling back to his feet.

Ryumi was already moving.

She rushed through the mines without hesitation, weaving through narrow tunnels and past dwarven miners carrying tools and ore. The dwarves paused mid-step, their eyes following her in confusion—then shifting to Shinzo, who was chasing after her, clearly out of breath.

“Don’t worry,” Shinzo said hurriedly, waving his hands as he passed them. “Everything’s fine. Just—uh—keep working. Peacefully.”

The dwarves exchanged doubtful looks but returned to their tasks.

Ryumi burst out of the mine’s exit.

And then—she stopped.

The underground city of Dwarika unfolded before her.

At its very center stood something impossible to ignore.

The Kalp-Vriksha.

Its colossal trunk rose like a pillar holding the cavern sky aloft. Leaves shimmered with a soft, ethereal glow, bathing Dwarika in sacred light.

Ryumi’s steps slowed.

Then halted.

Her breath caught as realization washed over her all at once.

Shinzo finally reached her side, bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for air.

“Finally…” he wheezed. “You… stopped…”

She didn’t answer.

Her eyes remained fixed on the city, on the tree, on a world that should not exist—yet stood undeniably real before her.

“Th-This place…” Ryumi whispered. “Dwarika…?”

The cavern hummed softly around them, ancient and alive.

And with that realization—

To Be Continued…

Note from Author: well, I said that I'll publish two chapters today on the occasion of my b'day... Sorry, but instead of 2 different chapters, I have uploaded one longer chapter. The next chapter will come on Sunday, so stay tuned 🥳

Update: Sorry... I'm extremely sorry that I couldn't upload the next chapter this sunday... there is a lot of academic pressure on me right now, and my yearly examinations are nearing... but I promise, the next Two chapters will come on next sunday. yes, two chapters. So, see ya guys on 2nd Feb.
Baii~!