Pio Hates Demons

…

"It can't be! Those are…!!!"

Spinning cutters penetrates the nightly air, but something was amiss and the demon general noticed it in the few last seconds. His demonic red eyes spotted auras of faintly enchanted mana energy coating those shurikens. Witnessing Pio's enchanted weapons ignited a faint memory in his mind, one that was not even long time ago.

Toma attempts to avoid by charging his feet right below him, giving him a boost that should give him enough power to dodge the incoming throws. But as he jumped, a horrid sight immediately burns out his thought of winning. The shurikens were not simply thrown, but also controlled magnificently by the little girl at fourteen years of age. She changes the direction of her rope darts as of Toma's dodging attempt and unexpectedly, the shurikens' travel speed increases significantly, making them much deadlier.

"Pio thinks you are stupid to underestimate Pio!" the girl said as she swung her ropes to chase the demon general.

Toma realizes he had made a fatal mistake by jumping into the air. He has no platforms to jump onto. He has exposed himself to the sharp edges of the spinning cutters.

"Crap…! Not going to make it—!!!"

Pio's shurikens spins as if they're propellers of an aircraft, causing loud noises while charging through the air. Finally, they get in contact with the defenseless demon.

Toma tries to wash off the shurikens but unfortunately leading to his hands getting completely destroyed. Toma tries to dodge but ultimately fails due to their extreme speed. The first shuriken sliced off a partial of his left shadowy figure, while the second one lands the ultimate blow. It vertically dissected the demon's head, making half of it gone.

There were no explosions. There were no smokes, only the deathly sound of shredding noises caused by Pio's arsenal. Toma was heavily devastated.

Shurikens were used like darts, thrown into a target and stuck into them. But Pio utilized them unusually and even felt like she defied the laws of nature. Those shurikens' velocity were too overwhelming, leaving the demon general speechless.

That once arrogant demon general crashes into the ground along with his decapitated body parts. His body parts disintegrated slowly, forming into black smoke as if soot is generated from them before finally disappears completely.

"…Is he dead?" Pio asked herself while patiently waiting for the smoke to fade.

But shockingly, the demon general is not dead. Pio's pupils shrunk almost instantly as the demon general emerges in crouching position while morbidly staring at her with his half face. Shortly, Toma regenerates his entire body. Though in process, Pio could not charge at him, though it is a chance for her to annihilate him completely. A strike of fear tampered her will.

"—! You're kidding me…!" she said fearfully. She almost trembled, but she held herself together.

"No… Pio," she said to herself while caressing her head. "Sister told Pio to be strong and fearless! Pio… Pio must not be scared. Pio don't want to be alone anymore!"

Seconds later, the demon has successfully replenished his body, but the head is not fully recovered though. Soon, the demon speaks in a calm manner. His face, however, shows that of irate.

"The way you speak and try to encourage yourself is almost scary and disgusting to mine eyes," he said with a lowly voice.

Pio quickly counters his words, "—It is Pio's way to subdue the fear in Pio's heart."

"Subdue fear, huh?" said the demon while standing up. "I change my mind upon you, brat. You don't look like a simple human child."

Pio confused upon hearing him. "What are you talking about? Pio is still fourteen years old!"

Toma almost instantly talks back, "But the way you're acting frequently changes. From being childish, acting to be a hero and all, and then suddenly… you became a ferocious fighter, as if multiple souls are in you."

In a rather blank mind, Pio got confused. "Pio don't understand what you are talking about."

Toma continues on, "Not only that. The way you move so quickly and ferociously is inhuman. What are you? Who are you?"

Again, Pio fails to understand. This time, she retained silence.

"…Don't want to answer, huh? I suppose you won't do that kind of thing anyway."

Both of them stand cautiously, staring into one another with utter fierceness. Their distance is not far, so both of them prepare for any sudden strikes. But somehow, the demon resorts to talking. He sits down with his left kneecap arise. As of now, his head has fully recovered. His shadowy hair blazes like fire being blown by wind.

"You know… I always thought of surrendering to the coldness of the void. I have lost my precious minion, Doutha to those filthy dragons. My control over the village has shattered. My goal is probably just a dream that could no longer be achieved. My ability to copy an entity's form is temporarily sealed because of some strange holy element instilled upon me…

…I kept thinking about it, why am I still here, just to suffer."

A short silence fills the air between the two. Shortly afterwards, the demon talks more, "But to restore my pride, I must not fail here. Not only wanting to avenge my minion, but also to prove—"

"Shut up."

Pio harshly cut his words. "Why are you telling Pio things like that? Pio already said that Pio don't understand. Pio don't want to hear your stories either. Why you keep talking?" she stated with vengeful eyes.

The demon sighs, "Because I feel like we're the same. Those eyes of yours replicate exactly what I felt right now. Hatred, anger, and sorrow,"

Pio grits her teeth. Her emotions are mixed up as what the demon said to her. "Pio always hate demons. They are the ones who made Pio separated with sister. If only demons don't exist, Pio's sister wouldn't have to separate! That demon… that scary demon with bat wings… I wish he just die."

"Bat wings…?" Toma fumbled as he spoke. "Ah, that must be the devious Dantalion. That masochist always act the way he wanted. Because of him everything has gone haywire for you. He separated you from your beloved sister. He might've killed several of your people. Everything has gone terribly wrong for me, too, of course. I believed him, but I realized it was wrong to do so. If you hate him, then I believe we share the same feelings."

Toma held his hands forth to her, "Let us work together. I can help you achieve your goal if you want…"

With a smug face, Pio looked down on him. "Do you think Pio will work together with you?"

Toma changes expression into a sour one. "Ah?"

"Pio hates demons, Pio hates ALL demons, Pio hates all of them, including you," she clarified clearly. "Pio wants Dantaly-whatever to be dead. But Pio will never work together with demons. Because many demons had come to Pio's life and ruined it wholly."

"Your ability to control people's minds made Pio's head hurt so badly. Many people had empty minds. Sometimes bizarre, it stressed Pio. You also tricked Mister Marco. You mocked Mister Marco's kindness! He's a kind person to Pio! He is Pio's family!"

Pio clenches her fists hardly, "And because of that… Pio will never work together with you, you that insulted Pio's family—!"

A long silence befalls upon the two of them.

"Is that so, huh?" said Toma while standing up.

The demon general sighs, "Too bad. We could've been allies. But such offer is too incomprehensible for you I suppose," he said arrogantly.

He takes a quick stance, sending a blow to the ground, creating a miniature crater on the ground while starting a magic circle beneath him. He then casts.

"Demon Aspect – Accursio Malison"

Pio is slightly surprised by him already readying for battle. In return, Pio readies her shurikens at hand. "This magic… it's different from before!"

The demon grins, but implying his irate, "If you do not wish to cooperate, just die."

"Never think to escape from me, brat. I will slay you!"

The battle starts again.

Toma charges forth at Pio with full speed. Pio evades his incoming charge successfully. She proceeds to sprint away, not to escape, but to gain distance for her to throw her weapon.

"She escapes again? I will not let her!"

Toma chases her down. Being pursued, Pio tries to shift sideways in a quick turn in order to shake him off. She believes she is faster than him, but in an open field, she is pretty much defenseless.

"Come on…! Pio needs some range! Pio can't attack him in this state. Pio must make a diversion!"

Treading on the dark field seems dangerous, but with the widespread wall of fire, the field is lit and gives off location of the demon general. But in the same time, Pio cannot go past through the firewall. Not because she can't, but she will have no illumination to help her see.

Suddenly, Toma emerges right in front of her. With a creepy grin, he yowls, "No running now!"

Shocked, Pio attempts to use a hidden knife in her boots. But Toma quickly hits her with a roundhouse kick, causing her and her weapon to fling some distance.

Toma smiles widely, emphasizing his already scary fangs. But before the dusts even fade, suddenly, two shurikens swiftly strike through the air right at him. Toma tries to avoid it, but before they hit him, suddenly the ropes attached to the shurikens are swirled chaotically, making undulations and vortexes of rope.

The randomness of the rope movements made it impossible for Toma Zil to avoid. The shurikens shredded him to pieces.

Quickly, Toma diverts his mana energy into regeneration. Within a second, his entire body recovers.

"Oh, yeah… on second thought, her weapons do require some range to utilize. Is that why she kept running away from me?"

Shortly, he turns irate, "That brat…! She sneakily used the chance to attack me after getting hit?!" Toma angered.

Another rampage of shuriken strikes rained upon him relentlessly. He got hit several times, but regenerated quickly. After getting sliced and diced a few times, he finally learned her attack pattern and attempts to exploit them.

"If you think you can kill me with that, you're terribly wrong! I am a shadow demon! I am a shadow demon general! I will not be killed by this trick of yours!"

Toma shapes his arms into a bladelike appearance. He tries to cut the rope, but it didn't work. His arms disintegrated as they touch the rope.

"What the—! M-My arms!" he shouted.

Shortly, he realized his movement is getting slower.

"What is this? Why is it so heavy for me to move inside this chaotic mess of ropes?"

It is in that moment he realized that a strange power field is hampering his magical strength and physical energy.

"Accursio Malison is meant to increase my agility and strength, not weakening them. If my speed is slowing down, then that's because of this trick she did. If that's the case… then I will!"

Shortly, the shurikens swings horizontally from top and bottom, each from different directions. Toma flips sideways, meticulously avoiding the incoming strike. While in midair, he spots a gap in her chaotic move.

Meanwhile, in some distance, Pio is waving her arms endlessly while trying to take out the demon. "Once he's stuck in there, he will never get out alive. He's going to die, soon!"

But as time passes, she grew tired, but forced herself to keep waving it further. "He's getting good in dodging, but it won't matter! Pio will change pattern!"

Pio stretches her arms to her sides quickly and then whips the rope darts in an arc.

But alas, tragedy happens.

All of sudden, Toma Zil disappears from her sight and then shortly emerges right above her. He is close, so close that his red irises in his red pointy eyes are seen clearly by her.

Pio was unaware that the demon general patiently waits for her to change pattern so that he can snatch himself out through the tiny gap in her attacks.

"Got you, now, HAHA!"

The demon general reforms his right arm into a large drill. With utter fierceness, he aims for her neck.