The clouds slipped away, chasing the sun as it set towards the West. What was left behind was a single demon. It was also a tortoise. Both a demon and a tortoise at once. There weren't many changes to the tortoise. It wasn't suddenly able to use magic or twist the laws of reality at will. Instead, the changes were surprisingly basic. Longer claws, a reddish tint in the eyes, and its entire body seemed to be a shade darker than before. At first glance, it was an ordinary tortoise. And even after a few more glances, it was only a slightly odd tortoise.

In front of the tortoise, the mirage reappeared, promising an easy life with food and drink. It began to walk forward, towards this optical illusion. Not for the promises it lied about but for the illusion itself. It saw through it and wanted revenge. Nothing held a higher position in its heart than destroying this mirage that had fooled it for so long. After a few hours and the loss of sunlight, the mirage left the tortoise hanging. The tortoise continued onwards, to the spot where the mirage had gone away.

A fruitless effort as the mirage was everywhere and just a result of heat rising from the ground and the tortoise's own emotions. It still searched and dug around at the ground. The new claws granted to it easily cut through the land and the very earth parted for it. One by one, new holes cropped up in this area to no avail. Later on, the tortoise would go to sleep to let the night pass then see the mirage come back in the morning. That is if it was a normal tortoise. A demon tortoise was not willing to give up as easily nor did it need to rest as much.

Right as the fifteenth hole was made, something left the ground and jumped away. It was hard to see in the darkness and blended in quite well due to its similarly dark color. However, it had a distinctive gloss to it that the moonlight reflected off of, revealing its general position. For a few seconds, it stayed in one spot, hoping it had gotten away and the moon bore down on it, showing off what this creature was. A cricket.

What was a cricket doing underground or in this part of the wasteland at all? The tortoise walked towards it, intending not to find out but close the investigation up for good. As it got closer the cricket began to furiously rub its back legs together. A very low chirp came from it, barely audible to the tortoise. Above the cricket, mist and moonlight swirled and condense into an image. A very small mirage was formed, bearing a resemblance to the oasis the former tortoise desired so much. The only difference from before was its size and that the image was distorted and weak, fading away on the edges and rippling ever so slightly.

Why would a demon care about a silly illusion? It continued forward and raised its claw, its eyes glued to the cricket while ignoring the image it brought with it. Noticing this, the cricket hopped away, easily dodging the strike. The mirage shifted, changing into something else. Another tortoise standing in front of the tortoise. If it was still a tortoise it might have hesitated but now it was a demon. It swiped at the mirage, destroying it. Both the crickets back legs fell off while making a snapping sound. Somehow, the mirage's destruction directly affected its caster.

It tried crawling away, unable to jump like it had before. The demon took its time, watching it squirm on the desert sands and passing it leisurely before turning to face it. A primordial fear took the cricket as it turned in another direction where the demon cut off until it gave up. It realized it had no chance as it could not jump nor make other illusions to get away. Its fated road had come to an end and it accepted that. The demon smiled and extended its hand, seeming to offer something new, another path. In return, the cricket perked up, trying to take this deal.

Only for the hand to come down and crush the cricket. The possibility for a new demon to enter this world was ruthlessly crushed by the very thing that brought that possibility into being. Not that the demon possessed this ability yet, it had only mimicked what it had seen before to wring out some final hopes from the cricket before finishing it off. This was revenge for the mirage cricket leading it astray back when it was a tortoise. That isn't to say it wouldn't have done so if the cricket hadn't led it off into the wastes. Now the only thing left to consider was if there was more.

The illusion was much smaller than before. That could be attributed to the fact that it was night time when the light was weaker and when many creatures would sleep and be less active. However, there was a chance there was more. The very thought made the tortoise thirsty, not for water but for blood. Every few centimeters it dug a hole around the area where the original mirage once was. This search brought fruit quickly as another cricket was dug up.

Unlike the other, it did not leave the safety of the underground willingly and got skewered on one of the demon's claws. In an instant, it was dead, leaving no time for the demon to play with it. The tortoise felt no regrets about this as its ultimate goal was to kill all of them anyways and resumed its search. A few more were found, some killed instantly while others put up pointless mirages before being killed off. the hunt lasted all night, only ending when the morning came.

Then, much to the tortoise's annoyance, the mirage reappeared though much smaller than before. It took a single step forward and the mirage split apart into several smaller illusions that scattered. While it had not killed them all, it had embedded a fear into them. They did not wait to become like their comrades and moved onto an easier target. After all, they weren't demons despite being able to use some sort of unexplainable magic that resembled a natural phenomenon. They valued their lives above all else and weren't as stupid as normal insects were. And like that, the mirage that had misguided the tortoise came to an end.