Pestillence, Part 3

Pestilence is snapped out of his wallowing when a voice snaps: "AND WHO ARE YOU?!" Pestilence looks up, seeing a hunched-back old man slowly waddling towards him.

"Grandpa, it's alright, this man is a friend!" Clarabella exclaims as she jumps in front of Pestilence, holding her arms out wide to shield him. "This is my grandpa, the village chief," Clarabella explains as she turns and peers over her shoulder at Pestilence, who nods in understanding.

"You know the rules, no bringing strangers into the village!" The village chief snaps. "What would your late parents think?!"

"But grandpa, this is Pestilence, he saved me from drowning!" Clarabella pleads. "He's a lone traveler, so I offered him to spend the night."

The village chief grunts at Clarabella, before peering behind her towards Pestilence and raising a suspicious eyebrow at him. Pestilence gulps in response.

"My "lone traveler" isn't too convincing these days…" Pestilence thinks to himself.

After leering Pestilence down for a few brief moments, the village chief turns away from him and spins around. "He's alright," the village chief admits, causing Pestilence to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"He's intimidating, I know," Clarabella whispers as she flashes Pestilence a smirk, who smiles back in response.

"Damn demons…" the village chief grumbles as he folds his hand behind his back and begins strolling away. Clarabella leads Pestilence after him. "If only we can master this Cursed Power crap soon…then we'd never have to worry about them again!"

"Um…Cursed Power?" Pestilence asks. "What's that?"

"Oh, that's right, you don't know!" Clarabella begins to say as she turns to face Pestilence. "Come on, I'll show you!" Clarabella exclaims as she grabs Pestilence by the wrist and drags him away.

Clarabella leads Pestilence to an open clearing in the middle of the village, where a group of pitchfork-wielding men stand on stage, the tips of their pitchforks glowing with a colorful aura.

"After being attacked by demons so often, we found a way to fight back!" Clarabella proudly explains as she smiles at the men on stage, watching them train with their pitchforks. "We call it "Cursed Power." Humans who are attacked by demons have this aura awakened inside of them, which makes them so much stronger!"

"Ah…it's like our demon abilities…" Pestilence thinks to himself.

"Pretty cool, right?" Clarabella asks as she turns to face Pestilence with a giddy smile.

Pestilence opens his mouth up to respond, but before he can say anything, an echo of screams and neighs erupt from the gates of the village.

"Oh no, they're here!" Clarabella cries.

"Who are here?" Pestilence asks.

"THE DEMONS!"

Pestilence's eyes widen.

"It must be because I took too long to report back to Lord Death…" Pestilence thinks to himself.

"Come on, we have to hide!" Clarabella cries as she grabs Pestilence's wrist and attempts to drag him away, but the man doesn't budge. "Pestilence!"

Without another word, Pestilence yanks his wrist free from Clarabella's grasp, then takes off towards the font of the village.

"Pestilence, where are you going?!" Clarabella calls after the demon. "It's dangerous!" But Pestilence doesn't answer.

"I'm the reason you're in this mess, so I'm going to solve it!" Pestilence shouts. "I've never shown anyone my "human form." I'll just have to use the Hiding technique to make sure they don't recognize my aura…"

After a brief jog, Pestilence makes it to the front of the village, where he sees a gruesome sight. The wooden meeting hall in the center of the village is on fire, with bloodied, managed corpses strewn around it. Two Demon Knights riding on horseback (demonic horses which look similar to Valkyrie's devilish form) circle around a group of villagers, cackling madly as they poke them with their spears. The humans try to fight back with pitchforks bubbling with various shades of Cursed Power, but their attacks don't leave so much as a scratch on the Demon Knights' armor.

"Alright, well it looks like I don't have a choice in the matter," Pestilence sighs as he brings his hands together, charging up a sphere of lime green Cursed Power in between his two palms. "I can't use my poison, because that will give me away."

With a roar, Pestilence then thrusts his hands outwards, firing off an emission of lime green Cursed Power, which flies towards the nearest demon, shooting a hole through his chest, and killing him instantly. Blood explodes from the demon's chest, which douses the villagers below him, causing them to scream

The second demon's eyes widen as he turns to have Pestilence. "Just…who is this human?!" The demon cries.

With a roar, Pestilence charges the demon, his fist bubbling with lime green Cursed Power. In response, the demon aims the tip of his sphere at Pestilence, and fires off an emission of black Cursed Power, which bounces right off Pestilence, not leaving so much as a scratch. Once in front of the demon, Pestilence launches his fist outwards, slamming it into the demon and piercing his chest with a rush of blood, killing him instantly as well.

The two horses let out a starleged "NEIGH" galloping away, dragging their masters along with them.

"AND STAY OUT!" Pestilence shouts.

But when he realizes what he's done…Pestilences's eyes widen.

"What have I done…?" He thinks to himself. "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"

The human villagers begin to clap and cheer as they circle around Pestilence, who awkwardly looks around and he tries to get away from the horde.

"So you…can use Cursed Power…" Clarabella softly says as she approaches Pestilence.

Pestilence looks up to face Clarabella, and then without another word, he turns around and begins running away.

"Pestilence, where are you going?!" Clarabella cries, but Pestilence doesn't answer.

***

"I need to get out of here!" Pestilence frantically cries as he kneels down besides Valkyrie and begins preparing his steed. "I need to report back to Lord Death immediately, I need to-"

But Pestilence is cut off.

"Pestilence…?" A voice sadly asks, causing the demon to flinch. Pestilence then slowly turns around, seeing Clarabella walking up to him. "Why…did you run?"

Pestilence lets out a small sigh then turns around without answering Clarabella's question.

"ANSWER ME!" Clarabella snaps as she grabs Pestilence by the shoulders and spins him around. But when Clarabella sees Pestilence's eyes…she takes a step back in fear. For Pestilence has reverted into his demonic form.

"Because…I'm a demon," Pestilence sadly answers, causing Clarabella to cover her mouth with her hands. "But don't worry, you'll never see me again," Pestilence then says as he turns around and reverts back into his human form.

"Don't worry. You don't need to transform around me, I'm not afraid of you," Clarabella replies.

"You…aren't?" Pestilence asks as he turns around to face Clarabella again, and reverts back into his demon form.

"Why would I be?" Clarabella answers as she walks around the edge of the lake towards Pestilence. "You did save my life, afterall. Twice, in fact! In one day!"

"That was a fluke, nothing more," Pestilence replies as he turns around and begins attending to Valkyrie again.

"But you said it yourself!" Clarabella snaps, causing Pestilence to flinch. "That not all demons are bad! Even my grandpa -who can perfectly read anyone but thinks everyone is evil- knows that you're good! You're…one of the good demons…aren't you…?"

"A good demon…isn't the same as a human one," Pestilence replies as he turns around to face Clarabella one last time, causing the woman to frown.

"Can you…revert back into your human form for a second for me, please?" Clarabella asks. "And close your eyes."

"Why?" Pestilence asks.

"Just do it," Clarabella orders.

Pestilence lets out a small sigh and closes his eyes, reverting back into his human form. But Pestilence's eyes then widen when he feels a pair of arms wrap around him, and opens his eyes to see Clarabella's lips pressed against his.

After a few moments, Clarabella pulls away. "I told you…to keep your eyes closed…" she blushes.

Pestilence recoils as a bright red blush flashes across his face. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" He cries.

"Because you waved my life…" Clarabella sheepishly answers.

"But I'm a demon?!"

"So?"

Pestilence's eyes widen even further.

"Come back with me to the village, please," Clarabella pleads as she extends a hand out to Pestilence. "You may be a demon, but you're nice. You're sympathetic towards us. My parents were killed by demons when I was little, but I can tell you're different. Please teach us what you know about Cursed Power, and help us stand up to the unjust demons in the world!"

With a blush of his own, Pestilence takes Clarabella's hand as well. "Okay," he answers. "But tomorrow. I have to return home tonight."

Clarabella smiles, which then fades when she looks past Pestilence, and notches Valkyrie. "So you do have a horse after all!" Clarabella says as she takes a step towards Valkyrie.

"Oh yeah, her name is Valkyrie," Pestilence replies. 

"So why did you lie about having a horse?" Clarabella asks. Pestilence opens up his mouth to answer, but before he can do so, Clarabella answers her own question when she shouts: "Holy crap, why does it look like that?!" Pestilence turns around to see Clarabella ogling Valkyrie's horns, claws, and Devilish eyes.