Asmodeus Abraxas was on his righteous path to becoming the best specimen of his divine family bloodline that he could be. A part of that did not rely only on improving his own skills, but those of the children of Aerie - specifically, the litter his uncle had been paid to raise. It was an expectation that the pups would be trained while under Eligos' care and Deus took it upon himself to forward that goal - today, taking the odd, skull marked pup out for a lesson. "We have to be careful in these briars, wolves have bled to death thrashing in the brambles." He counselled the yearling, leading him through the briar patch with caution. They were on the hunt for something that would give the kid a run for his money, teach him not only how to quickly end the life of a rival predator, but also how to keep aware of his surroundings during the fight. It was not uncommon to be fighting one coyote, and to have a pack of them appear from the brush unexpectedly. "Do you see anything yet?" Turning his head, the yearling had vanished. "Acacius?" Deus' concern spiked and he ducked swiftly beneath the bramble branch behind him, speeding through the briar back to where he'd last seen the yearling. No, Pocus! The young voice reached his ears, calling out to (what Deus by now understood to be) his imaginary friend. He rushed through the patch, finding Acacius thankfully unharmed, but staring down a snake that was ten times his size. An anaconda, slithering across the floor of the briar patch towards him. Pushing the yearling aside, Deus drew himself up to his full height to catch the snake's attention. Once he as confident he held it, he jumped over to the right, leaping between two spiked bramble branches and encouraging the thing to folllow him through the deadly trap. "Acacius, try to get behind it! But be careful of the brambles!" He called out behind him. "Speech"

Acacius was disappointed to have been pulled out of pack territory not for a lesson in witchcraft, poisons, or even healing, but.. ugh, combat. Of course he understood the importance of self-defense and even initiating assault, if necessary, but couldn't he focus on that once he'd learned to properly sedate and drain the life out of an individual without touching them? The gold and white man's lesson was an interference in his true lessons, the ones he had every day with Poke and Prick, his porcupine tutors.

At least the area was an interesting one, covered in vines that grew sharp points off of them. A deadly looking assortment of foliage, if Acacius did declare. He wandered along behind his guardian-for-the-day, paying little attention to the lesson that had so far revolved around 'don't touch the pokey things.' One cluster in particular caught his eye, it's sharp bramble stained with blood that had only recently begun to dry. Could he harvest that blood, perhaps for his experiments? It would be interesting to see how the liquid juice of other species interacted to his various herbs. He leaned forward to cautiously sniff the point, unwillingly peering over the thick bramble branch and meeting the gaze of two large, golden eyes.

Pocus responded instantly, flying through the briar with ease to investigate the creature closer. Acacius gasped, his jaw parting to call his friend's name before he could stop himself. "No, Pocus!" But his spectral friend passed by the snake's notice, it seemed to move right through him as it continued its approach forward.

A crash of paws on brush alerted him to Deus' presence, and shortly after he felt the impact of the man upon his shoulder, throwing him to the side. Thankfully he'd missed the brambles, but he got to his feet swiftly as if worried they might enclose upon him where he lay. Deus gathered the creature's attention and leaped off to the side away from him, calling out instructions as he did so. "I don't know where his weak point is!" The yearling relayed, an obsessive quality to his tone. He practiced and practiced and perfected everything before he attempted it truly, how was he supposed to help Deus kill this giant murder snake if he didn't know which part of it's way-too-long body was weak to his fangs?? Why hadn't they talked this out before the fight??

Acacius stepped forward almost nervously, feining a few lunges at the snake's slithering side after it's head had passed through the bramble branches after Deus. It did not react to his feints, and so for the third movement he bit for real - slicing a gash across it's scales with his teeth. It did little, and Acacius' hope for the encounter lessened remarkably.

Having thoroughly enjoyed his sword-fighting lesson with Fern, Mercury decided to head down to Auster for the first time. He wanted to meet this sword-fighting Alpha, and experience the sight of his castle - if he was able to. Avoiding the scent of a pack on one side of a ravine, he made his way to the other. Finding an awful maze of briar lay between him and the land bridge.

He was busy navigating through the rough terrain when he heard the sound of raised voices. A yell, a note of caution. One wolf telling another to get behind something. Cautiously, Mercury turned in that direction and made his way further through the brambles. He hadn’t been far from the shout, and it wasn’t long before he found the owners of the noise.

There he found two very colourful toned wolves, and the biggest damn snake he had ever seen in his life. “Go for the underbelly, and never let it coil around you!” He said in response to the younger wolf's questions (even if they hadn’t been aimed at him) “Sorry, I don’t mean to crash your party” he added as he flanked the snake between the two boys. If they wanted him to scram, they’d have to tell him themselves.


"Speech"

Deus was leading the snake in a dance throughout the brambles, doing his best to stay just fast enough to stay past the jaws, but enticing enough to the predator that it would follow his path directly as he twisted and weaved through the brambles. His intention had been to use the enviornment against the reptile, who had to be just as careful as the wolves did to not impale itself on the bramble spikes. Another voice rang out behind Acacius' and Deus head jerked sharply up, the instinct to peer through the briar in defense of his charge too strong. A thorny lance pierced the top of his crown, sending blood down around his ear. Fuck. He had only a moment to quietly reprimand himself for the mistake before the snake was lunging. Deus skittered back in panic, clearing the space and watching as the snake threw itself into the very same cluster of brambles. The Abraxas man ran back along the path he'd come, following the snake's long body back to Acacius and the stranger. They'd not have long before it would find it's way back to them. "We have to hurry." He ignored the man's assumption that he was not invited. "Acacius, the man is right, aim for it's underbelly. If you can split it open well enough, the damn thing might disembowl himself for us. Don't let it bite you either, if it bites you, it will wrap around you." Turning toward the stranger, he continued. "If you can help me keep it away from the yearling, I'd appreciate it." And then the crash continued through the brush behind, and Deus moved to stand before his pack mate, head on a swivel and trying to anticipate from where in the brambles the snake would emerge. "Speech"

'Get it's underbelly' was way easier said then done when the underbelly was fucking thirty feet long. Acacius didn't even have a moment to send an incredulous look the stranger's way, but he'd surely lecture at least Deus later for not better preparing him on the theory behind killing a snake. He stared wide eyed as the snake's massive body weaved through the foliage along after his pack mate, noticing that the stranger had placed himself in a flanking position as if to join in on their battle. Acacius was not the jealous sort, nor the type of wolf who wanted to hog the glory. If this wolf wanted the glory, he could have it. Acacius took another snap toward the snake's tail end, missing the underbelly once more and barely finding purchase in the thick scales upon it's spine.

Deus returned and the snake's tail disappeared into the growth, signalling that it had proceeded to turn and was moving back toward them. Acacius absorbed the information and whimpered. "But where on the underbelly?" Though he wasn't sure if it had been loud enough to hear over his fearful cries. He had seen snakes before, he had eaten snakes before, he had never even heard of a snake that was as long as this one was. Acacius could only hope that it had turned tail and left, annoyed with the difficulty of it's hunt through the thorny brambles. It was a hope he didn't get to hang onto long as it returned, maw parted in a hiss and blood dripping from it's gums.

The older wolf was clearly in charge of the fight, directing the yearling and agreeing with Mercs advice. He was clearly protective of the yearling, and the Ermis was quick to agree. “I will. I’m Mercury, by the way” he said, and a crash caught the attention of both of them. They turned to see the tail of the snake had vanished, and knew it could come from any direction - assuming it hadn’t decided to find an easier meal somewhere else.

The sound of slithering caught his attention, and he wondered if the yearling looked like too tasty of a meal to pass up. As the snake slithered back into their view, Mercury raced towards it. Straight at its head, in an attempt to catch it unawares. He threw himself in the air before reaching the snake, and threw himself over, landing on its scaly body,and digging a claw in as he attempted to pry a part of its underbelly off the ground. Attempting to hook a clear into the softer flesh.

"Speech"

The stranger - Mercury, his name was - did not argue against the importance of protecting the yearling in their midst, something Deus was exceedingly thankful for. It would be disasterous if after he had taken the initiative to bring one of the wards the pack was being paid to protect out into the field, and let him get eaten by the largest snake Deus had ever seen. Not a good showing of his skill, ambition, or loyalty. "Asmodeus." He replied simply, terse in the face of the anaconda. The snake returned in full force and Mercury began a daring frontal assault, shocking Deus where he stood. Did he not understand the danger of the snake's jaws, and how with that leverage upon his body, it would begin to coil with such strength that none of the wolves present could hope to interrupt it? He could not let the stranger put himself in danger alone, and shot a quick firm direction to Acacius before reentering the fight himself. "Come around it from behind, go beneath those brambles there where the brush is thickest but be careful, if you can get a clear shot, go for the underbelly as we try to reveal it." With the instruction given, Deus leaped in on Merc's flank. Merc somehow was upon it now, riding it's back in an equally as jarring a manuever to the Abraxas man. The snake hissed and attempted to strike out in retaliation, and Deus took the opportunity to throw himself at the thing's 'neck' while it's attention was diverted upon the wolf on it's back. He had a clear shot at the unprotected back of his head and aimed his jaws down upon where it's skull met it's spine. Once he had a hold upon it's skull, Deus threw his weight back, aiming to both keep the deadly jaws away from Merc and to roll the creature to give both other wolves a shot for the kill. "Speech"

Acacius was out of his mind with terror, and to make things even more wild, the stranger took the time to introduce himself! All nonchalant, like fighting giant thirty foot snakes in a deadly maze of brambles was just another spring day for him. Acacius' jaw hung in surprise and he alternated his gaze between the starry-looking male and Pocus, who Acacius deduced was equally surprised.

And then, proving that this was indeed just another spring day for him, the male launched himself at the snake head-on, ignoring his pack-mate's warning of the jaws and somehow diving straight over them, like they were no less dangerous then the teeth of a pup. Acacius could not match that bravery, but thankfully Deus did not seem to expect him to. He was directed to the thickest parts of the bramble, and instructed to watch for an opening if one appeared. It made logical sense - the thicker brambles would protect him if the snake could not be downed, and if not, they would be an easy way to access the underbelly should opportunity arise. He moved obediently, heart pounding hard in his chest as he weaved through the sharp foilage until he had a view of the fight.

With one wolf upon the creature's back, the other launched at the back of his head and threw himself backwards. Deus had succeeded in rolling it at least slightly, revealing to Acacius the underbelly that was noticable by a different color and texture. He crawled out from the brush as quickly as he could, slicing his shoulder on a bramble in the process, but making it to what he had been told was the snake's weak point. It was lower down on the creature then he'd like, but still the yearling bloodied tooth and claw upon it, fighting frantically to the point where he'd probably not notice when it did stop it's flailing.

Asmodeus Now he had a name to match to the cool-headed wolf who had taken charge of the hunt. As he attempted to flip the snake from part way down its body, Deus seemed to realise what he was attempting. The other wolf managed to get in at its neck, and together the two Dires were able to flip it at least a little. Exposing its weaker parts to the pup who crawled towards it through the brambles.

While Asmodus took the brunt of the weight, Merc started to dig into the underbelly as well, as best as he could. Until he sliced open enough of its flesh that it wouldn’t survive the blood loss. Already, between him and Acacius’s attacks, the creature's movements were slowing.


"Speech"