Zophiel looked at the keychain in dismay and squeezed it tightly until the topical circulation to his hand was cut off. He had no choice but to use this infamous object. He hadn't anticipated Asmodeus being bold enough to both lead the group and expose their whereabouts.

Mephistopheles's bloodshot eyes glared at the keychain and snatched it from Zophiel's hand. "ARE YOU SATISFIED NOW??! YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

But the keychain could no longer function. Taken by suppressed anger, Mephistopheles threw the keychain into the air and shot it three times, hitting it three times until it fell to the ground.

"Mephistopheles!" Zophiel looked at the demon in disbelief.

"What? Don't tell you you'd spare him," Mephistopheles glared at the angel, who glared back and gritted his teeth.

A couple quarrel?! The rest of the group widened their eyes, momentarily forgetting the unsettling situation they were facing.

"I wouldn't! But I wanted to shoot him first!" Zophiel fumed.

Oh. The rest of the group thought it would be a couple quarrel, but, in fact, they were disputing who'd shoot the keychain first. That was unusual but understandable… I guess?

The keychain, thrown on the ground as if it were trash, was soon caught by the vines hidden in the bushes. They acted so quickly that the group couldn't even see what kind of plant it could be. However, they didn't need to confabulate much as more vines appeared, crawling on the stone floor and surrounding the group.

"E-erm... guys... what do we do?" Lydia asked, holding a bunch of trembling leafy buddies.

The vines blossomed, and several colorful flowers bloomed. They were round and plump, whose stamens seemed to struggle to see the world outside the cocoon of petals.

A sound caught Zophiel's attention. It resembled a hiss or something like that, followed by a bell sound. His eyes widened in a gasp, and he covered the younger ones more with his wings.

"Cover your noses and eyes!" Zophiel shouted, praying for that sound to not be what he thought it would be.

A cloud of pheromones covered the group, covering their eyes and noses as best they could. The sweet smell of these pheromones was sickening but also dangerously pleasurable, causing the group's hands to shake, almost acting on their own to smell the strange scent in the air.

Mine couldn’t cover his eyes in time. Amid the cloud of pheromones, he realized they were being surrounded by something that resembled a large, hissing snake. When that creature's eyes met Mine, it let out a long hiss and stood there staring at Mine, who couldn't close his eyes or move a muscle because he was so paralyzed.

This snake then began to move seductively towards the only member with his eyes open, hissing calmly and warmly as if telling him to calm down and get closer, as it would offer him the necessary comfort. Even though this seduction was really effective, nothing made Mine's legs move out of place, and it was none other than Addai holding him by the waist. He had his head pressed against the back of Mine's head, covering his face with Mine's short hair.

"The fuck is this sound?!" Mephistopheles cursed, itching to peek at what was going on, but his dear angel reminded him to not do so by stomping on his foot.

"Don't you dare look!! It wants us to be tempted and take one by one!" Zophiel scolded his dear demon, who nodded weakly.

"Did you like my dear pet's noises?" The omniscient being's voice resounded again as if he was chuckling.

"Fuck off!" Azazel cursed like his boss.

"And you, my dear beauty? Did you like it as much as I like you?" The voice said in a seducing way.

"What do you mean?" Zophiel felt his skin turn cold.

The voice no longer told a thing, only letting out a dark chuckle before vanishing. Still, the hissing continued seductively, and Addai kept holding Mine by his waist.

Mine tilted his head to the side, and he felt his body itch and burn. The snake followed his move, and he chuckled. At the odd chuckle Mine let out, Zophiel's heart raced, but if he moved, the snake growled and hissed louder.

"Sweetie, what are you chuckling about?" Zophiel asked, feeling his throat go dry.

Mine tilted his head to the other side, and the snake followed almost comically. He, of course, chuckled again but in a more joyful way. He nearly laughed when the snake mimicked how his head jerked as he chuckled. An unsettling soreness burnt his arms and back, but he couldn't stop laughing.

"M-Mine…?" Lydia stammered.

Mine's eyes glowed in golden as he stared at the snake, giggling like a kid who heard the funniest joke and talking to it in a foreign language no one knew. The more he spoke to that creature, the more his giggles turned uncanny. Addai held Mine even tighter, almost stiflingly, but Mine didn't stop laughing; on the contrary, he laughed even harder as his back arched and burnt even more.

"What the fuck is so funny?!" Azazel stressed, getting closer to his boss.

Mine's laughter interrupted abruptly, and his body relaxed. Addai caught him and brought him closer, still hiding his face in Mine's hair. The snake hissed louder and started growling at the man holding his prey and interrupting its feast.

When Addai's bloodshot eyes met the snake's, it shivered and hissed in return, not giving up on its prey. The young professor took a step further, not breaking eye contact with the snake and still holding Mine in his arms. With each step, the angel tensed more, but he couldn't touch the boy because he was releasing miasma, burning the angel if he approached! Mephistopheles, Azazel, and Abannak refrained from interrupting (they weren't nuts). As for Lydia… she was busy trying not to faint.

The snake tried to attack the duo, but Addai dodged it and didn't break eye contact. As he got closer to that crawling creature, it became desperate for unknown reasons, and the more it hissed and moved its long body violently until Addai growled something in a foreign language. Dropping its guard, the snake lowered its head and stopped hissing.

Addai hissed something and the snake's eyes changed, turning softer and friendlier. Its fangs retracted and its body relaxed, crawling closer to the boy and nuzzling on his legs while making puffing sounds. When Addai hissed something else, the snake curled around him, acting as if he was its owner.

Even though the snake calmed down and began to display behaviors contrasting with its previous posture, Mine did not wake up. His face had some small darkened spots, similar to the ones on Addai's hands and forearms. Noticing those spots on Mine's face and arms, Addai frowned, and the snake softly puffed.

"You can open your eyes, guys," Addai informed.

"What was- AHHHH!!!" Lydia fretted at the snake's sight, hiding behind Azazel.

"Wow!! This snake is so pretty!" Azazel said in awe, looking at the proudly puffing snake.

The huge snake before them was white and had a pinkish tail and scales. At first, it looked innocent due to its large, black, shiny eyes. But the group couldn't be fooled by those pretty eyes because they saw how it could be ghastly and frightening. A small red mark between its eyes added to the charm of the snake, which somehow "smiled" at the group.

"Eden's snake..." Zophiel echoed, looking at the snake now nuzzling on Addai's legs. "I thought that-"

"Yes, it's hers," Addai interrupted. "It's Lilith's pet."

"What does it mean?" Lydia asked, now hiding behind Abannak.

"Eden's snake can send people's souls to another realm with their pheromones," Abannak started. "It uses its hisses and puffs to hypnotize its prey and intoxicate them with their pheromones, but..."

"It does not wander away from Lilith. Agarath might have captured it," Addai completed, letting the snake nuzzle on him as it pleased. 

“Wait, wait, wait…” Lydia said, shaking her head. “So, Mine was sent to another dimension? Are we split again?”

Addai looked at Lydia and his eyes laid on Mine again, precisely on the dark spots on his skin, mostly on his face and arms. “No, he’s just sleeping because of the poison, but I’m taking care of it.”

Abannak frowned. “How hadn’t he been sent to another dimension?”

That question might have caused an electric current to cross Addai’s body as his eyes sharpened in a brief startle, and then he refused to look at the people. When he was about to say something, the snake posed proudly before him and opened its fangless mouth.

"He 'scented' the little one. My poison can’t react to master’s pheromones, so, if he’s eventually afflicted by it, he would only sleep," the snake voiced in a soft and delicate voice resembling a woman's. "But my master’s body is resistant to poison side effects in general, but the little one… isn’t. I’m sorry, master."

Everybody stared at Addai, who hid behind the snake as it puffed proudly.

Zophiel wobbled, looking at Addai. His mouth twitched and he attempted to speak, but the snake, once relaxed, turned alert and looked at the tea table next to them. The angel gave up on speaking up and followed the snake's gaze.

At the tea table, some teacups started swirling as well as the other utensils. On the chairs, shadows appeared and the snake hissed, protecting the group.

“We need to hide from the devil’s eyes. I sense a place where his puppets can’t reach us too fast, follow me!” The snake hissed and crawled in the opposite direction of the tea table.

The group silently followed it as Addai took the lead beside the snake, avoiding looking back and firmly holding Mine in his arms. They didn't know whether to be shocked by what exactly. First, Addai said that the snake never acted like that towards him, demonstrating a certain familiarity with a mythical creature that is difficult to encounter. Second, they were still trying to understand what the snake meant by that. Third, the snake spoke. Fourth, the snake had referred to Addai as "master," but only Lydia did not know the meaning of this question. Fifth, WHAT THE HELL DID ADDAI DO TO MINE?!