the yellow-gleaming blood-banded blade transformed in mid-air back into a snake , wrapping round the beasts neck , its head fanning up , rising in an s-curve , spitting venom dead-on into the cats eyes of the second demon behind it , blinding it , just as this first demon , which was clawing frantically at its snake-strangulated neck , lunged sword-first for the king and found nothing but airand a shiny four-foot-long green blade hilt-deep in its stomach .