'Tis but a Scratch

"What the frickin' hell is going on here? Where's the Curse Host?" One of the demons groaned harshly. He has a pair of extra-long horns and bipedal legs like a rooster.

"He's not here, bud. But looking around us… This place ain't cursed no more!" the other demon added. He has a spiky hair that looked like crab foot piling up on his head.

"The curse has been eliminated, moreover… in an instant?!" another demon stated their surprise. The demon has eight arms resembling that of a spider.

"Impossible. Such feats cannot be achieved by those mere humans. Must've been the Curse Host, he must've left off with the curse being weak," the last demon yelled in rage. He has long claws that serve as his fingers.

Those demons all have black sclera and red glowing pupils emitting the sense of evilness from within their bodies. They, whom standing close to Marco, Nina, and Scias already emanate tense aura that can be sensed simply by human's five senses.

"Hey, these humans here… are they the ones who destroyed lord's magic?" asked one of the demons that looked like a spider.

"Hahaha, your shitty head can't be much weirder, huh? These humans are capable of annihilating our lord's curse?! Don't make me laugh! Big guy had told ya, the Curse Host must've run away."

Marco is confused greatly, "Who are… these demons? Are they affiliated with Mothrui? Are they connected to the demon that assaulted Alidia? Curse Host? What is that?"

Bombarded by thousands of questions, he feels an immediate headache. A few moments later, Marco gets shaken as he looked at the demon with spider hands. He remembered something from before…

…

*Hey, boy, I want to ask something. Were the demons commanded an army of bug-like creatures?*

*I don't think so, mister. They did bring an army, but none of them look like bugs. Well, actually, there's one demon that look like a 'spider'*

…

"Ahh… that demon with eight-armed and scruffy fashion, so that's the demon that kid is talking about, isn't it?" Marco thought. Knowing so makes him raise his guard up.

Scias secretly activates his mana sensing ability, "These creatures… they share that of the same aura of that demon general, Dantalion. Each of them houses incredible powers. I fear they might be far beyond our strengths… this is bad. Moreover, who is this Curse Host they're talking about?"

The demon with a spiky crab-like hair walks menacingly towards the humans. He asks, "Hey, you there! Be cooperative and tell us who the impudent creature that dared to disintegrate our lord's magic wholly."

Marco reflexively replies in a casual voice, "Dunno. Me and my friends here were simply having fun… until those 'things' there surrounded us."

"M-Marco?!" Scias yelled in his mind as he twitched while he gazed Marco in an instant.

The demon stops his move and says, "Oh, oh, really? I'm honestly surprised to see a human like thee being able to speak bravely to an extent of insolence even in front of me, although you're very~ scared."

Nina's lips twitched unstably in fear of their current situation. "…Our problems have skyrocketed. These demons… I feel an ominous aura within them. They… they must be powerful," she thought. "But Curse Host… I felt like I've heard that name before…"

"Scared, huh?" Marco replied while forcefully attach a brave smile on his face. "Yeah, right, I'm freaking in my boots like hell right now. Aside from that, who and what do you want in here?"

"Hey, hey, who do you think you are to speak in such a way?" the demon questioned arrogantly. "You're a human. Only a human, you're all humans. Weak and fragile, and it will stay that way for eternity," he added.

"…But since you're quite the amazement to speak up to me bravely, I suppose you deserve an answer. After all, not many humans would speak daringly like thee. Tee-hee-hee-hee," the demon giggled creepily as he spoke.

"I don't take that as praise or a compliment, man." Marco retorted.

The demon stops his move and says, "Well, to put it simply, we ain't gonna be kindhearted. To simplify it further, we shall exterminate these grounds."

"W-WHAT?!" Nina retorted. Scias slightly trembled in his boots as he turned his gaze back to the demons.

"Hey, hey… don't get yourself too surprised. Isn't it what we had 'promised' a month ago?" the demon shrugged while speaking arrogantly.

The rest of the demons walk into his sides. Each of them gazes smugly.

"Even though you humans had signed a 'blood pact' to our lord, you'd dare break it unilaterally," said the demon with spider-like arms in a glumly voice. "As if… you were deliberately willing to defy him," the demon added.

"Huhuh, those shitty humans really wanted to die, huh?" the demon roughly stated. "Well, if there's an asshole bravely claiming themselves as savior or whatever the hell that is and that moron lifted the curse… then that bastard must've been a 'newcomer' here, am I right?!"

Marco and the rest suddenly tremble. They were not warned of any sort of promise or pact that the village had made with the demons. They believed that the demons deliberately did this to plow the land and the inhabitants in it for their consumption. But now… they are struck by something that they don't even know.

"Hohoho… that makes sense," the demon with clawed fingers giggled.

The eight-armed demon stared at the humans in suspicion, "What's wrong? I smell… hmm… fear and desperation from within you. Or perhaps… you humans are, in fact, newcomers here?"

"Grgh!" Marco backed off a bit in a sudden move.

The demon then says, "So, it is true. Heh, well, you pitiful fools might have caused the demise of every human being in this region."

"If that's the case, then as the 'pact' that we had agreed on, we shall destroy everything."

"Why do you want to destroy this peaceful land? They just want to live peacefully, you know?!" Nina burst out angrily.

"Oh, do they?" one of the demons asked back. "In our eyes, they are nothing more than 'mindless' livestock that awaited their deaths solemnly. Don't you fools recognize that with your eyes, even though you've seen them?"

In a huge disbelief, Nina replies, "What are you… saying…? How dare you call them 'livestock'! They are all desperate, looking for a way to free themselves from you demons! They only wanted to live in peace, why would you say that they welcomed and awaited their deaths?!"

"They were trying their best to continue on living. We've seen that with our own eyes!" Marco added afterwards.

"Heh… huhuhuhuh… hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Naïve, insolent little humans! The village had never requested help from outsiders like you!" the demon mocked. "Even if they did, they just want to 'drag' you along into their sealed fate!"

With a mocking face, the demon adds, "They all have tricked you~! Indeed, they asked your help, but only to quickly end their lives ALTOGETHER!"

…

"Hah…ha…?" Nina's soul felt like shattered. She blandly stared into the grass that hasn't been soiled by the shadowy creature. Marco's eyes shudder in great disbelief. Scias' clenched his fist hardly as he began thinking that they were wronged by the villagers.

Marco thinks critically in his mind, "It started quite odd… the villagers were all desperate and gloomy. They were 'hoping' for something big to happen. They were all mages, strong and powerful mage. But none of them ever tried removing the curse. It's kind of odd if there's not a single soul that is capable of healing magic in par of Nina's Purify spell. Are they… really, really wanted to… die?"

Nina quietly blurts, "You… lia…r…s…"

"Nina?" Marco turned his view to her.

In her sense of despair, Nina thought about it. Were all she did was for their demise? Was she doing the wrong thing all this time? The villagers… did they lie to her? Being bombarded by those questions, she closed her mind. Her head is already felt like being torn apart, not to mention the massive fatigue caused by her purification magic is limiting her body movements.

"No… they… were not lying." She said quietly. "Each of them backed each other. They are willingly to go on living. They were desperate because of the curse. They all said it purely. I know it… I can… feel it!"

"Why these demons said so…? There's… something not right…"

"…Wait… I do remember this feeling before… a long time ago… when I was little, the first time I face a demon…"

"Ah… right… they were all good liars. Cunning, troublesome, and… evil, who was their leader in that time…? Ah… my memories are static. Who was that demon I hate so much… the demon that tricked us all, that led even to my mother's…"

There's only one creature in the entire world she can think of. And that is…

Dantalion, the most cunning demon general. Having the capability to assure anyone with ease, he's one of the scariest opponents to fight on. He's psychologically powerful. He can drive people into insanity. And now…

She feels that same emotion. "His words… are sharper than swords. He… never speaks truthfully. No… all demons… are all big… bad… liars!"

If that's the case… then these demons wanted to drive them insane, too, so she thought. "I saw their lives with my own eyes. They looked so happy when we said we will lift the curse, they were working together to achieve it. They want to be free, I know it, I can feel it. They never wanted to be killed by the demons."

…

..

.

Smilingly, Nina says, "You are all liars."

Nina conveyed it confidently. Her rocketing emotions caused her remaining mana energy to overflow within her body, causing unstable adrenaline. Her eyes are lighting up and down rapidly like a broken lamp.

"Ah… stubborn as per usual, huh?" one of the demon replied. "It is the truth that we said. Don't you guys think so, too?"

"Uh-uhuh, these humans are the first in line to receive Lord Dantalion's wrath."

"Well, then. Let's give them what they want."

"Destroy them all."

Nina realizes that fighting the demons is inevitable. She couldn't measure their magical energy due to her fatigue, but she can tell that they are enormously stronger than them.

"Marco… l…"

"Don't ya worry, Nina do you think I'm gonna believe them so easily? My dad once said about demon lords that no longer existed in our world of Gaia. The reason for their extinction was no other than them being chaotic, selfish, and all big fat liars. And to these demons, they are no difference at all. So, let us make it the same. You ready, Scias?"

"Nh." The tall mercenary nodded as he grabbed his sword handle. "Anytime."

"Just make it simple. If these demons said that way, let us ask the villagers about the truth. Ain't that's much better? Whether they lie to us or not, we had done our best to save them, don't you think so, too, Nina?" said Marco as he loads a bullet into his gun.

"…Yes. Thank you, Marco."

"Goodity, now let's finish these demons off."

…

"Challenging us… will be your death mark, HUMAN!" The demon with clawed fingers charges at Marco in a blink of an eye aiming for his head.

But in an instant, Scias barged into his defense and blocked his charge, causing a minor shockwave around them. "Grrrr… Marco, now!"

"F-Fool! You want to kill your friend?!" The demon shouted.

"Eiyo!" Marco's eyes focuses into one point. With a bit of mana energy transferred into his gun, he activates his power.

"Gun Skill – Focused Shot!"

*BANG*

The muzzle flash from the gun can be seen breaking the sound barrier and causing massive recoil to Marco. His gun thwarted upwards because of it while the bullet travels in a speed of sound.

Just a few milliseconds before the bullet penetrate Scias's body, he uses his skill instantly.

"Sword Art – Shining Blade!"

His body warps away leaving only trails of light as the powerful bullet penetrates the demon's body. The demon tries to block it with skin-hardening ability, but alas he is too late. The bullet successfully poked a hole in his body, leaving nothing of it.

Scias's instantaneous movement blocked the demon with long horns from ambushing Nina from behind.

"Hoho, so you realized my movement, huh?!" the demon shouted.

Scias realized that there was a bulge shifting in fast speed within the shadowy creature that now looked like a sea of darkness. He made a quick decision to stop the bulge before ramming into Nina while simultaneously fooling the demon he blocked earlier.

"No matter how strong you are, we greatly overpower you. We also outnumber you! Resisting is just a product of human's weakness of not knowing when to give up!"

Suddenly, from behind, the eight-armed demon charges Scias from his left. Meanwhile, the demon in front of him is also attempting to strike him down.

"Shite, not going to make it…!"

Scias forcefully squashed the ground to break free. He barely escaped their combined attack. As a result, he received a few slashes to his back and some to his arms.

"Scias, are you okay?" Nina asked in concern.

"I'm… okay. Don't worry. Tis, but a scratch, errrgh," Scias stated while panting slightly. "We must get you back to the village, quickly."

"Hoo…. You can actually avoid our attacks. You deserve our compliments, human. Usually, any creature will be sliced to dicey bits after getting mauled by our strike." The demon smiled mockingly.

*SHHTARRR!*

*BLITARRR!*

*BOOOM!*

A series of lightning flash suddenly broke out. Marco is clashing hardly against two demons at once. He hit them with lightning magic while shifting away from their physical and dark magical attacks.

"Where's that… demon that he shot?" Scias tried to look quickly. He is surprised greatly to see the demon had regenerated so quickly.

"Hey, you fussock! Where you looking at?!"

Scias reflectively jumped away with Nina while avoiding the demon's bash to his head. He successfully avoided him.

"That's close." Scias stated in relief.

"Scias, your arm…!" Nina warned.

"W-Wha…?" Scias examined his arms that got struck by the demon earlier. "Decaying?"

He realized that his arms are decaying as if it is turning into a corpse. "Does it… happen to my back, too?" he wondered. There's no sense of pain at all, oddly.

"Har-har-har-har-har! You were too late to realize it, human! Our claws are imbued with corrosive acid that will melt your entire body within minutes! Your lateness to realize it shall be your downfall. Well, late to recognize it wasn't your fault, though. The acid was intended to cut off your pain quickly so that you won't feel it eating off your body."

"Tch! Isn't t-this just great."