10. The Demon of Praying Mantis

The frog's muzzle as tough as a steel mace grabbed Singgala's incarnation, shattering the creature's shawl. Yellow cloth flakes change scales. The female body was thrown hard and hit the rock. The original figure of Singgala appeared, slamming to the ground turning into a black scaled praying mantis creature.

The other two were hit by the frog arm's fury. The oldest demon's body was broken. Its form was equally weathered with two wings spread high above.

"You are demons! Claiming to be a yellow witch!" cursed Lorr En, can't be fooled. The toad cultivator's vision captured the true forms of the three sentient beings. The two of them lay down unable to get up. One more left behind, jumping and flying low, circling Lorr En alert in his eyes following the movement of another stealth nimble.

"The Black Praying Mantis!" snarled Lorr En, a giant frog's deep croaking voice. Bulging begged his neck. Ready to launch something from the depths of the mouth.

"Fugh!" poison spit from Lorr En's snout. His eyes were as sharp as nine arrows aiming also at the demon. It flew swiftly and nimbly, but was defeated by the speed of the frog's saliva that rained down on its body.

"Waaargh!" the demon fell. She had blisters on her body. The pain was thrashing. Roll around. The wings are full of scales, broken in several parts.

"Praying mantis in yellow witch disguise! You must have killed!" rebuked Lorr En, stoutly approaching the three demons trying to get together by dragging each other's bodies.

The broken wings on the ground twitched and formed another creature, flying towards Lorr En.

"Unlucky!" Lorr En parried all the broken wings of various shapes. Every time it bounced off, the scaly wings splintered again to attack.

"Woooorgh!" this time Lorr En pulled out his Shield of a Million Wasps to fight off the wing splinters. Countless wasps ignited flames from his body, colliding with the flying bits of wings. The wasps fell down with bits of wings, both burned.

"Zzzrkh!" the three demons hissed together. But can't get up. Their bones were broken from clashing with the Frogmen.

"How dare you come to my residence in disguise like this? I will punish you with death!" shouted Lorr En.

"Forgive us!" the demon incarnation of Singgala slumped on the ground. Disappeared as a grasshopper, more like a stump lizard.

"You dare to eat my child?! I won't spare you!" replied Lorr En angrily.

"It's useless for you to live already crippled like this. To recover, you will kill again!" continued Lorr Eng. His body slowly transformed into a fully-built human form.

"Just like you. I need nutrition to feed my children. Have mercy," moaned the middle demon.

"We only ate worms for years, but not enough." Singgala slowly had a half human face.

"Would you be generous ...," Singgala begged.

"Hundreds of our children will die if you kill us ...," said Singgala also shed tears under Lorr En's feet.

"For the sake of life, you want to kill other creatures that are not actually suitable for food," said Lorr En lowering his voice. Somewhat melted too at the end of Singgala's cry.

"We promise, we will not kill humans or creatures that don't deserve to be killed just to be eaten," the oldest demon also pleaded.

"Our apologies, Lord Lorr," the three of them said wearily.

"From now on, we and our descendants will be your servants," the third begged while kneeling begging for forgiveness.

"Don't hurt anyone anymore, especially humans! Remember that!" insisted Lorr En on their promise.

"We promise!" said the three together.

"If you violate, bear the plague and calamity yourself for all your descendants,"

"We don't dare ... we don't dare ...," cried Singgala and the other two sobbed in fear.

"So far, we just want to live like humans ...," said Singgala.

"Your lives, the result of inherited evil. If you don't stop it, you will suffer forever. Turn into better beings. Lorr En patronizes with important advice.

"You also know the story of the Queen Moth. How it happened, a moth who was jealous of the fate of a butterfly. Then she wanted to become human. You must know the end of the story that happened to her, the enemy of Jawata. Her jealous heart was controlled by the devil. She died horribly!"

Lorr En warns the three demons about the fate of the other demons. Once he was an insect, then became a demon, allied with witches, and incarnated half human. Devoured by extreme jealousy of fate, he turns into a ruler known as The Jealous. The big war in Jawata, due to the behavior of the Moth not accepting his destiny. Satan rides on the heart of the Jealous.

The three demons bowed their heads obediently. Of course they already knew about the end of Queen Moth's life. The world of stealth is full of stories of breaking into Jawata and ending up in the hands of humans.

"You don't have to be my servant. You live in your own world," continued Lorr En. Seeing the tears on Singgala's cheeks.

"We are short of food, this dry season, worms are becoming scarcer, most of our people have died," Singgala said weakly. Seeing that these three demons were actually quite thin, it wasn't because they were grasshoppers. But the neck bones can't hide the thinness of each body.

"Demons are malnourished. Tsk ... tsk ... tsk ...," Lorr En chuckled briefly. Fingers meet chin. Thinking of a way out for the three stealths.

"You should have said from the start that it was only a worm problem. I have a herbal compound to increase soil fertility. Worms will thrive," said Lorr En. Singgala and the two demons were sparkling with joy.

"But not for free!" Lorr En hastily said that, again dampening the hope of the locust demon.

"We don't have money like humans," said Singgala, looking down.

"It's not money I want. You have to serve three days here," Lorr En ordered Singgala, "Help cook and manage the herbs. Be good to the locals."

Singgala stared at the oldest demon. Can't afford the old body that has broken the wing bones.

"Ah, it really troubles me," said Lorr En overwhelmed.

"Treat your grandmother and mother," said Lorr En, shaking her head as she turned away from the three of them.

"You spend the night in that big tree!" ordered Lorr En, pointing at a large tree, "There's medicine available! And don't try to act all kinds of things with the people around here!"

Lorr En rushed to where her baby was lying in the grass. Baby Lorr En doesn't cry. The wet marks on his cheeks indicated he had cried enough to fear the world on the first day of his birth.

"Poor father's child. You are great, born without father's guidance," said Lorr En, talking to her sweet and adorable little baby. The baby's soft voice holds thirst. Not far away, Sakawuni seemed to be lying unconscious. He was injured quite badly.

"You are disobedient," said Lorr En grumbling slightly as she approached Sakawuni without moving at all.

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