A nightmare demon was flung back in a forest as an explosion occurred, slamming into the trunk of a nearby tree. He felt an immediate sharp pain in his back after striking the tree, but he didn't hear any snapping. This made him feel somewhat relieved, as he knew he hadn't broken his back. However, the feeling of relief left as soon as it came as he let out a groan while he forced himself to stand. He leaned back against the trunk as he looked towards where the explosion had taken place and watched as the smoke and dust cleared. There had previously been trees and grass surrounding the area, however, the explosion seems to have burned the grass both inside and around the area, knocking down all the trees surrounding it. There was blood staining on the ground where the explosion struck. The blood had a darker shade of crimson, so it couldn't have been human blood. Looking down at the stains he knew what kind of blood they were. It was nightmare demon blood. The demon had not been bleeding anywhere but he had been trying to kill another nightmare demon and it would seem he succeeded. The demon smiled and chuckled which soon turned into a laugh."How pathetic, the one that claimed to be the 'most powerful nightmare demon' was killed by merely an explosion." The demon proclaimed as if whoever he had killed would hear. He looked around for the corpse however there wasn't a sign of a body anywhere. "Perhaps the explosion had flung her away." He muttered to himself as he walked forward, seeking for the corpse of his target.
As he walked away from the blast area, he walked alongside the trees that were not harmed, but he felt something was not quite right. There was no sign of a nearby crash landing and no body anywhere to be seen. It wasn't long before he started feeling that nervous feeling of being watched. He stopped and peered around him cautiously. He couldn't see anyone nearby. His body trembled as a sudden sharp pain penetrated his limbs, like a bullet piercing straight through its target. The pain started with an intense sting that quickly turned into a burning sensation that felt like he had been lit on fire as the something that struck him pulled away leaving him to collapse onto the ground. He couldn't move. Even if he had tried to get up, it would only make the pain worse and he would end up collapsing onto the ground again. While holding back the urge to cry, he suddenly heard the sound of laughter which caused him to freeze. The voice was familiar. He forced himself to look up, seeing a figure emerge from behind a tree and walk toward him before stopping only a few feet away from him.
This figure turned out to be a nightmare demon as well, as she smiled as she gazed down on the injured demon on the ground looking back up at her. Her arms were behind her back as she looked at him with a smile. "It appears you are in an uncomfortable position. Let me help with that," The other nightmare demon offered as she lightly tapped her left foot on the ground. He was stunned as to what she meant but then the burning in his limbs spiked as he felt something stab him once again, lifting him to his knees. He looked down and saw what had stabbed him before, the same thing that had stabbed him right now. Black spikes appeared as though from the earth below, having impaled him, he watched as the blood from his wounds slowly drips from the spikes onto the ground, staining it. "Doesn't that feel more comfortable?" The female demon asked with a smirk on her face. The injured nightmare demon glared back at her. "How did you survive the explosion? It shouldn't have been possible!" He barked, refusing to answer her question.
She let out a sigh and shook her head. She responded with a small chuckle, "In that case, you must be even more foolish than I imagined. When we encountered each other before you threw that 'explosive', had you not noticed I could teleport?" "Well, I did, but" The female demon interrupted him before he could finish his sentence, "then how could you have been so stupid as to think that I wouldn't have been able to teleport out of the explosion radius?" The wounded demon looked down towards the ground, trying to find a good comeback in his mind, but couldn't think of anything he could say that would serve as a suitable answer. The female demon took note of this and smirked. "No response? Disappointing, but in any case when you threw that explosive I managed to escape just in time by then using teleportation although I was injured." As she said this, she held her left arm out to reveal a burn mark that covered most of it. He could see that her arm was still bleeding as he watched the blood drip down her arm which had explained the blood that had stained the ground at the area where the explosion occurred. "I'll give you some credit for hurting me — though it wasn't enough to kill me," She stated emphatically, "but regrettably for you, I cannot let this assassination attempt pass. Do not fret, your boss will know that you failed."
The female demon kept her grin. The injured demon grew irritated as he growled, "You know this is not the end of it, Pandora. You can't always win all your battles." The demon known as 'Pandora' simply shrugged in response. "True but I do know what could help when fighting someone like you." While she said this, she held her right hand out, her fist closed but then opened, revealing a glowing white opal-like crystal sitting on the palm of her hand. Her hand was coated in burn marks as the stench of blood lingered from the palm of her hand. As the nightmare demon stared at the crystal, his eyes began to widen. They both knew what the crystal was. It was one of the nightmare demon's great weaknesses. A courage crystal. It was clear that the crystal was inflicting severe pain but he was surprised that she was handling it well. He also knew exactly what she was going to do with it. Fear was rising in the nightmare demon's eyes as he looked back at Pandora, exclaiming, "You wouldn't... you'd be considered a traitor!" As Pandora frowned at the nightmare demon, she stated. "We both know you have killed more of our kind than I have." This caused the nightmare demon, to fall silent as he knew that she was right. He speculated that she entered his mind knowing he'd been distracted, checking through his memories and perhaps noting how many demons he had killed. "But hey, look on the bright side, you won't be able to feel anything when this is all over." Although she spoke in such a bright and cheerful tone, he knew what she was referring to was far darker, almost as if the crystal in her hand didn't give enough hints already.
As Pandora approached the injured demon and crouched down in front of him so that she would be at his level, the injured demon tried desperately to free himself from the spikes, but his efforts were in vain for he only ended up hurting himself more. A smile formed on Pandora's face as she placed the crystal on the demon's forehead, pressing hard to ensure that it would stay there. This nightmare demon experienced an immense burning pain in his head, which was much worse than any other pain than he ever felt in his entire life, as he let out an agonizing scream. Standing up, Pandora turned away, saying, "Say hello to death for me, please." She then proceeded to walk away from the dying demon. The sound of the demon's screams and his plea for her help left her satisfied as she walked away. The echoes of the demon's screams didn't last long as the screams eventually turned to silence. She glanced down at her arm and said quietly, "I'll need some healing," Once she said this, she disappeared.
