The Curse Host

…

"This may be of late, but allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Toma Zil. I am but one of the demon generals."

The figure in front of them has spoken. Listening to his creepy voice, all except Ognist portrayed a massive shock in their faces. Nina, whom recognized the name 'Zil', showed far greater disbelieving shock within her.

"Y-You…" she stated in horror. Much to her surprise, her sister, Aily does not share the same horror. She appears to more of a confused state rather than horrified.

In Aily's thoughts say "Demon Zil… what is he doing here?"

Nina generates several sweats on her forehead, deep within her she says to herself, "Demon General Zil… a high level demon like him appearing here? I did expect the boy before to be inhuman but who could've thought that a leader as high as demon general was behind that concealment of a human child? Dantalion was already a mess for us, now another one rose into action? Zil… Toma Zil… a demon that mastered the arts of curse…"

Ognist has had drawn his long sword with one chipped edge that shaped like fire. With utter seriousness he speaks, "It piqued me that my Fire Sword Art was not enough to incinerate you to ashes. But learning of a high level demon such as a demon general is quite reasonable for my attack to fail. Why are you here of all places?"

Tens of fangs grits in utter annoyance, the demon was unhappy. "I feel no importance of answering to your question, dragon,"

"Why?" Ognist solemnly asked.

Hoarsened voice, yet high pitched and distorted, the demon replies, "It was in my expectations that you dragonians would be the massive thorn in my grand plan. If only you and your underlings never came here… I would've been able to carry out my entire plan."

Ognist remarks to the demon's words, "We've done almost nothing when we reached this humble village. Our presence can hardly be any trouble to you. In fact, those humans being would pose a greater threat to you if you're not careful."

"Argh, don't toy with me, dragon. I've heard all the stories from Dantalion. You are the one responsible for the death of Mothrui. That alone tells me of how highly threatening you dragonians are!" Toma's rage makes his body that looks like a silhouette blazes like wildfire.

Marco and his friends listen as the demon and dragon argues.

"If only you didn't come, I would've succeeded in capturing those stupid unsuspecting humans!" Toma shouted hoarsely while pointing his blackened finger towards Marco and his friends, causing them to shock.

"They are stupid enough to come into this village, not knowing that this village's true curse was my mind control ability. If only I had more time and you dragons did not come, they would've fallen into my control! But you… you ruined it all!" Toma shouted with all his might, causing him to gasp.

Ognist, calmly retains his composure, gives out his words, "Blaming the others for your mistakes is just your way to protect your own ego. Blame yourself for all the failures and sloppiness you had. We came here unaware of a demon general appearing here, so do those humans. We also unaware if the village was mind controlled until some events we noticed as odd. If only you kept yourself calm and composed, you might've gotten the upper hand and defeated us all successfully. From what I perceive so far, your plan was working perfectly, but it went out of order when you saw us here."

The demon general calms down, but remains irritated after hearing the fire dragonian words. "Perhaps, so," said the demon while forcing a grin unto his face. "But I refuse to call myself lost. Even with my plans failing, I will fix it and make it worth the while."

"I guarantee it will not work," Ognist assuredly said.

"Ohoho, you know nothing, dragon," the demon replied while turning his attention towards the human party.

"I have to thank you humans, for making it easier for me."

"Huh?" Marco wondered what he meant by that.

The demon shrugged once, "Dantalion's underlings that went through the trouble of going here, and you humans annihilated them from existence. I must thank you, for they would be a hindrance to me."

"What? They're not your friends?" Nina asked.

"How could they? They're just Dantalion's pawns who only wanted to serve their master foolhardily. They've no connection to me."

"Then, why did they come here?" This time, Scias asked.

"They wished to destroy me and the village. Dantalion sent them, though. They came here to destroy the curse I activated remotely without Dantalion's knowledge."

"A discrepancy within your words," Scias stated coldly. "They were angry that the curse was gone."

"Indeed!" the demon replied with a higher tone. "It's because you, human lady, destroyed both MY curse and HIS curse. Must I tell you that I remotely used my own curse to this village? Because you removed his, they became angry."

"Hold on a second!" Nina yelled. "You were a demon with curse ability, but how on earth you mind control people?"

"Ah, that?" Turning into a scary smile, the demon continues, "I was working together with Demon General Dantalion. He wanted a surplus of subjects to test his mind control ability while I also share the same wish except that I want to test my curse ability."

Ognist and his fellow dragonians listen through the demon's words. His sense of danger is rising up to its peak. Ognist discloses this fact, making Taizun and Zeugen wishes to strike, but Ognist halts them, saying that they should observe and listen.

"These livestock, the villagers of Yugos are the perfect choice for the both of us, thus we put our cooperation into action. But just before things could get started, Dantalion stated that he didn't want to be found just yet for his mind controlling ability. Because of that, we switched skills. I got his mind control ability while he got my curse ability. It's a win-win for both of us, after all. We can expand our skill tree by doing so."

Letting out a breath, the demon's smile melts, "But everything turns upside down. I realized Dantalion wanted to grab something in this village, so I decided to break our alliance. He was angered, no doubt. I knew he would send his best underlings to hunt me down, but a surprise to see them dead before they even found me here. Funny, I decided to use his mind control ability to change the villagers' actions to discover what was hidden in this village and have it for myself."

Marco appears to be trembling in his boots. "And you… you were doing that for a month?"

"Correct. But still, I'm surprised you humans would go far to save this forsaken village."

"Hey," Marco called. "You were impersonating someone, weren't you?" he asked.

The demon closed his eyes, "Ah, that is true."

"Where is the boy now?" Marco quickly asked.

"Huh?" the demon wondered. "Ah, that? Heheh, that boy is nonexistent anymore. It was surprising to me that the boy shared the name Toma, the same as I have. Because the former form I took was disintegrating, I must take a new one. And in order to change into someone, I must 'consume' them," the demon explained thoroughly.

"Since when did you do that…?" asked Marco again in a stuttering voice.

"Over two months ago, before I even came here. And yes, there was no boy named Toma in this village. Everyone wasn't curious because of the mind control ability I use."

"Then… the person you called uncle…?"

"He's not even a human. Let me tell you this, 'mister'. Your nauseatingly kindness made me want to hurl. Multiple times I had to act out of my character to fool you. It irritates me."

The very first person he met in the village aside his friends was Toma. In the very beginning, Toma told everything that happened in the village, but not even once Marco put any sense of suspicion towards the boy. He believed the child to be a good boy. He believed the boy was innocent, even in the chaos that happened in the village. But his belief turned out to be a sword to his back. He's been had.

His years of experience being an explorer never showed him that someone would go far as impersonating a kid to reach their goals and fool everyone around them. But tonight, he learned. Tonight, he gained the first trust issue.

Marco has paused for minutes, neglecting his friends' call.

Scias realized what his best friend suffered. In return, he remarks to the demon, "You dare to pull a cowardly move?!"

"It's not cowardice. It's underhanded sneaky tactics. I don't care for human's cheap emotions. I only wish to hunt for my goal. I believed that it would be easier if I had used my curse ability instead of Dantalion's mind control. Besides…"

"…I am the one they call as the Curse Host, after all."

From the dark meadows, a figure of a middle-aged man emerges. It was the one that referred as Toma's 'uncle'. His body generates purplish aura, his eyes emit reddened flash, and he walks like a zombie. He even sounded like one.

Shortly, the man collapsed himself to the ground. And like Toma Zil, he disintegrates the flesh and bones off his body, reforming himself into his actual self.

The midnight has become far more serpentine than ever.