Billy sat alone on the rooftop of his apartment building.
The night wind blew across his face, cooling his skin, ruffling his messy hair. The city spread out before him—lights flickering, traffic sounds distant, the world continuing without him.
Beside him sat two empty ramen cups, the remnants of his dinner. He'd just finished the last bite, the taste already forgotten.
Billy stared blankly at the night sky. Stars were barely visible through the city's light pollution. Just a few dim points struggling through the haze.
"Damn life," he muttered.
He sat in silence for a moment, then spoke again. "Mom? Why didn't you stop me from taking revenge?"
The question had been gnawing at him. Before he'd killed the Viper, and especially after. As far as he knew, no guardian would encourage their child to commit murder. They'd advise letting it go, moving on, being better than the people who'd hurt you.
But Eva hadn't done that.
*I think the answer should be obvious,* Eva replied. *After all, I'm the wife of the Devil.*
"Yeah, I know." Billy paused. "Tell me... why did you leave him?"
*I didn't leave him. He's the one who left us.*
"Us?"
*I think it's pretty obvious that a Devil can't have just one wife. Clearly, he is the Devil.* Eva let out a sigh before continuing. *We were seven. Seven wives.*
"Where are the others?"
*I don't know. Everyone's doing their own thing now. I don't even know what their 'thing' is. Besides, it doesn't matter anymore.*
Billy was about to ask another question when he heard something behind him.
A sound. Wet. Wrong. Not human.
His instincts kicked in before his mind processed the threat. Billy threw himself to the side just as something crashed into the spot where he'd been sitting.
*BOOM.*
The concrete cracked. Chunks of rooftop scattered.
Billy rolled to his feet and turned.
A demon stood across from him.
It was the size of a large dog, but shaped wrong. Its body was like a spider's—eight legs ending in sharp points. But its head was too small for its body, with two huge bulging eyes that reflected the city lights. Dark red, scaly skin covered everything. And behind it, curled over its back like a scorpion's, was a long segmented tail ending in a barbed stinger that dripped something viscous.
Where Billy had been sitting a moment ago, a long thin tongue retracted back into the demon's mouth. The tongue was at least six feet long, covered in barbs.
"You're quite the quick one, aren't you?" the demon said.
Its voice was multiple children speaking at once—some boys, some girls, all overlapping in a way that made Billy's skin crawl. Like a schoolyard full of kids, but wrong. Distorted.
"I wonder what a human is doing alone at this hour?" The demon's eyes fixed on Billy. "At night. On a rooftop. All alone."
*This one can talk too,* Billy thought. *That means it's intelligent.*
*Right,* Eva confirmed. *But remember—don't use your transformation.*
Billy's hands clenched into fists. *It's going to be tough. Fighting an intelligent demon without my full abilities.*
*You can do it. Use your speed, your strength, your combat training. Just not the transformation.*
*Alright. Let's do this.*
The demon's tongue lashed out without warning.
Billy dove to the side. The tongue shot past him, close enough that he felt the air displacement. If he'd been an ordinary human—or someone without pure combat instincts—that would have been it. Game over.
The tongue retracted in a blur.
"My turn now!" Billy shouted, launching himself forward.
The demon fired its tongue again, faster this time. Billy twisted his body mid-run, the tongue passing inches from his ribs. But he didn't stop charging. Kept his pace. Increased it.
As the tongue began to retract, Billy's right hand shot out and grabbed it.
The texture was disgusting—slippery, covered in mucus, with barbs that scratched his palm. But Billy's grip held. His left arm swung free as his body was yanked forward by the retracting tongue.
Using the demon's own pull, Billy accelerated. Closed the distance in seconds. Drew his left hand back, forming a fist, waiting for the right moment—
When they were three feet apart, Billy swung.
Something dark blurred in front of him.
The scorpion tail.
Billy aborted his punch, throwing himself backward. The stinger whistled past his face, close enough that he felt the wind of it.
He landed hard, rolled, came up in a crouch.
His right forearm burned. Billy glanced down. A thin cut ran along his arm—shallow, but bleeding. The demon's stinger had clipped him during his dodge.
Blood welled up and ran down to his elbow, dripping onto the rooftop.
*I need to finish this fight now,* Billy thought, getting to his feet.
"Aren't you the bold one?" the demon said, its multiple child-voices overlapping in that horrible chorus. "Playing with me. Dancing around. But you're bleeding now, human. Can you feel it? The poison?"
"Damn, I hate that voice!" Billy shouted, driving forward again.
The tongue lashed out. Billy sidestepped—barely. His reactions were a fraction slower than before.
He closed the distance. The scorpion tail stabbed toward his chest. Billy twisted, the stinger passing through the space his torso had occupied. He was quick enough to avoid any scratch this time.
But he was breathing harder now.
Billy backflipped, creating distance. Performed two more flips to put space between himself and the demon. Landed, caught his breath.
His forehead was drenched in sweat. His uniform stuck to his skin. He felt warm—unnaturally warm—and not in a good way.
"What's happening to me?" Billy gasped.
*It's the poison,* Eva said urgently. *When the stinger cut your arm, it injected venom. It's spreading.*
Billy looked at his arm. The cut was turning black at the edges. His fingers were starting to tingle. Going numb.
*How long do I have?*
*Minutes. Maybe less. Billy, you need to—*
"It was quite a showdown!" the demon interrupted, laughing in that chorus of children's voices. "But it's over, human! You're already dead. You just don't know it yet!"
The tongue shot out again.
Billy saw it coming. Could track its movement. But his body wouldn't respond. The poison had spread through his bloodstream, making his limbs heavy, his reactions sluggish.
The tongue wrapped around his chest like a python and yanked.
Billy's feet left the ground. He flew through the air at incredible speed, pulled toward the demon's waiting mouth. Wind tore at his face. His vision blurred.
This was it. He was going to die.
Then something inside him shifted.
Heat. Familiar. Wrong.
Billy's hair became even more disheveled, standing on end. His skin rippled, turned gray—hard, almost stone-like. His eyes changed, the brown draining away until they were perfect white circles with no pupils.
His hands moved on their own, grasping the tongue wrapped around his chest. Black flames erupted from his palms.
The demon shrieked—not in children's voices anymore, but in pure agony. A sound that echoed across the rooftop, that probably woke people in the apartments below.
The tongue spasmed. The demon tried to retract it, but the hellfire was already spreading, burning through flesh.
Billy tore the tongue in half with his bare hands.
The severed end fell to the rooftop, still twitching. The other half dangled from the demon's mouth, leaking black blood.
Billy landed on his feet, the gray skin making him look like a statue come to life. A wide, damaged smile spread across his face—too wide, splitting his face nearly ear to ear.
"Shall we?" he said. His voice was calm, carried on the night wind, but somehow more terrifying than the demon's had been.
Billy drove himself forward.
He was faster now. Much faster. The demon couldn't track his movement. Billy crossed twenty feet in less than a second.
The demon could feel it now—the power radiating from Billy. It was familiar. Ancient. Almost like the Devil himself.
*What is this human?* the demon thought desperately.
It no longer had its tongue to attack with. Only the stinger.
The scorpion tail stabbed down at Billy's head.
Billy didn't dodge. Didn't need to.
The tail froze mid-strike. Stopped as if it had hit an invisible wall.
The demon looked back in confusion—and saw chains. Black chains covered in writhing symbols, wrapped around its tail, holding it in place.
*What the—?* the demon's thoughts were cut short.
It turned its head forward just in time to see Billy's fist, wreathed in black hellfire, inches from its face.
Then,....the punch connected....
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