Chapter 173: The Curse and Triumph of Demonhood.

I woke up with a familiar and comfortable weight in my arms. I hugged Moonwash a little tighter, and made no move to get up just yet. It wouldn’t hurt to just stay like this for just a little while longer. Well, it hurt in a way, because it was easier for my mind to wander and touch upon the many dark things I tried to keep only in the periphery of my awareness, but this was basically no different from my usual meditation. It was even easier on myself, with someone I loved so close by. So I allowed the time to pass in silence like that, as I took in Moonwash’s warmth while also accepting my endless desire to ruin her and everything else.Who knew that to wield curse magic was to be a literal curse upon the world? But I didn’t let even something as drastic as that define me.

Moonwash stirred an hour later, and our vastly different eyes met.

“Good morning,” she said

“I don’t think it’s morning,” I chuckled. We didn’t sleep together like this too often, just because neither of us had any form of a schedule anymore. Not to sleep, not to wake, not to eat.

“It’s what people say when they wake up,” Moonwash clarified.

“And I’m just fine with that,” I agreed. “Good morning.”

A comfortable stretch of silence passed, until I spoke again.

“Hey Moonwash.”

“What is it?”

“I think… it’s very safe for me to teleport someone else now.”

“I see. Can I join you for an adventure then?”

“Sure. It’s a date.” I smiled. It was the biggest reason why I bothered to make my teleports safer in the first place. “But not in Lost Reflections!”

“Why not? I want to go there. I’ve heard so much about it.”

“And maybe later we can go. I’m thinking we could get Elfrafim involved or something. But see, that’s what I’ve realized. I really do not want to try and protect someone else from Lost Reflections. It’s super dangerous and lethal. More so than other wonderzones. Stealth bullshit is insane. And then they’ve got so many other tricks too, on top of everything else!”

“Okay. I understand. We can go explore the place some other time if you don’t think it’s safe right now.”

“It isn’t,” I confirmed. “And you know, Moonwash… I’ll just say this, but I think I prefer to adventure solo now. I’m still down to have some adventures with you, of course! Hang out! But I don’t intend to… make a career(?) out of it anymore. I’m not looking for a party, nor any number of people to accompany me. I prefer to be alone. It allows me to truly let loose without worry of hurting anyone around me. It’s a fun and engaging challenge. I can take more risks, I can go as fast and as hard as I went, without worrying about leaving anyone behind. I am free!”

And, admittedly, my decades of adventuring with a party ended in the worst way possible. A betrayal. Maybe I could have escaped, had I been alone in that same situation with enemies on all sides.

I understood, of course, that not was out to get me, and I didn’t act like that was the case. I had true genuine friends. But the betrayal certainly didn’t help, when I already had so many reasons to go at it alone.

“That’s fine. I don’t want to hunt and roam as much as we used to either, or as much as you do now. I just have a small urge to go out there and see things for myself, especially after hearing of all that fun you’ve been having. So, can I ask you to occasionally take me places? It shouldn’t take long with your teleports.”

“Of course,” I kissed her, and the two of us finally got up and out of bed. We both got dressed for the afternoon ahead. Moonwash went through a side door in my underground bedroom, and into a series of tunnels that would eventually drop her into her lab in another building. It was super easy to set up something like that with Pandemonium’s help, and now my girlfriend could also come and go from my room as she pleased.

I flew up once she was gone, into the teleportation room above, and then the fleshy hallways beyond. I passed by bone white-walls, and then corridors made entirely of black stone. I saw Elfrafim and Berry reading in our big and frankly library.

I stopped for a second and waved. “Hey guys. Good morning.”

“Good morning!” Elfrafim smiled broadly.

“It’s the afternoon…” Berry said the same thing I did!

“Well, I just woke up, so this is my morning.” I walked in and took a seat across from them. “Who decided that the morning is when the sun rises anyway! I was never consulted.”

“Than’s right,” Elfrafim nodded sagely. “Seize your own mornings!”

“Hell yeah!”

“This isn’t making any sense!”

The three of us laughed. “Well, never mind that. What are you guys reading?”

“Alien Balls!” Berry giggled. “It’s about an alien from space who landed here as a baby, and his adventure to grow stronger and eventually slay the angels.”

“Oh? Neat. the title. I might check that out later.” The angels known to be from other worlds, so the people of Varyala knew for a fact that aliens existed. But there were no other confirmed cases living here other than those prime assholes, so people’s imaginations were piqued by what else could be out there. It was a great novelty to write stories about, and I quite liked that it was one of the most popular genres out here.

I turned my glance towards Elfrafim.

“Julian and Romia,” she said. “It came highly recommended, and like, some sort of classic apparently. I always love things that stand the test of time! But I don’t get this one. It’s not even a century old, so how is it a classic? But I guess it’s almost as old as New Grandera itself, so okay, I get it. But then it’s all about this nobility bullshit and things! I thought the south New Grandera didn’t do all that! Why’s this so popular! Ugggghhhhhh!!! Just fucking kiss! Why does it matter that one’s this duke? It doesn’t mean shittt!!!”

“You know you can just… drop it, right?” I snorted.

“Well, yeah… Yeah, I can! Okay, dropped!” Literally, because she tossed it on the floor!

I scowled at her, just a little. “I don’t like the story either, but how about you don’t break my shit?”

“Oh, right! Sorry!” She dusted it off, and then carefully slotted it back among the many towering shelves. “ I drop it, though? I mean, it annoying, but I like the two main leads. It's like, none of them actually like how things work, you know? But they just keep doing it, because... I don't know, they're too weak to smash it all? It’s super weird! Everyone here is like that. Most people hate how this place is, but they just keep letting it be the same way anyway…”

"Just try to not break my collection here again." I smiled and shook my head when she started to pull the book back out.

“Do I need to do this?” Moonwash asked as I flew with her in my arms. She was wearing a set of mythril and deathmetal armor, as using a full set of the latter might’ve been a little too heavy. I was only able to do so without issue, because I could augment my body with magic in actual combat.

“Well, you’ve shut yourself inside Pandemonium for literal years now, right? You must be rusty. So we’re going to train a bit.”

“That’s not true. I go out sometimes to meet with the dwarves and some other friends. And to see the galleries and plays whenever there’s something interesting. We went just a week ago.”

“Okay, maybe I exaggerated,” I admitted with a roll of my evil eyes. “But you still haven’t fought in a while! So we need to get you back up to speed first before we do any actual exploring.”

“I fought against that last army that attacked us, which was only last year. And I’ve gotten attacked a few times in town, but Granuel’s agents took care of them. They didn’t need to though, as the assailants were weak enough for me to take on alone.”

“You gotten attacked,” my eyes darkened, but quickly regained their luster. There was no need to think too hard about long-dead idiots. “Honestly, I wasn’t really thinking about it during the last war, especially since Mom and Dad were there to guard you, but we really should’ve retrained you in physical combat before all the fighting.”

Moonwash paused. “It’s not my favorite thing, but I think you might be right.”

“I am! You should keep it up, at least a little! We can spar!”

“I’ll lose.”

“You will! But I’ll hold back enough that you actually learn and retain your skills.”

She thought about it for another second. “Fine.”

“As long as you understand,” I smirked, and then plummeted to the ground. I felt Moonwash’s grip on me tighten. We landed with a powerful boom that sent dust flying and roots breaking. There was a hole in the canopy where dead branches and leaves now fell.

Monsters were fleeing in all directions, and I set my girlfriend down so she could chase after them. I followed right behind her as she got up close and personal, before blasting them with her magic. Moonwash moved in her full-plate, while defending against the creatures that came for her. I taunted more monsters from far away, clouding their minds with magic, and then setting them upon my girlfriend. The pressure she was under grew, and I almost intervened so many times, but the decades of training and experience previously buried rapidly came back to her as she struggled on the precipice between life and death.

Moonwash had never looked hotter.

A messenger had come. I answered the call as promised. I kissed Moonwash goodbye, and gave my regards to everyone else who was present.

“Ooh! I could help!” Elfrafim pointed at herself.

“Do you want to? This isn’t Eden or Gardine. It’s just some city. And I’ve kind of agreed to help them take a whole bunch of those.”

“Hmmm. Well, I did want to see a little bit of all-out war. But maybe some other time. The next one?”

“Sure.”

“Okay!”

My parents frowned, clearly unhappy that I wouldn’t be getting the help of the very powerful elf.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

“Maybe we should go with you as well.”

“I’m sure there’s a quest, right?”

“Yeah!”

“ I’ll be fine.” I gave them a hug, and squeezed tight.

“Okay, but be careful!” Mom cautioned.

“Remember that you can always run away,” Dad advised.

“,” I rolled my evil eyes. “You’ve fought with me in an all out war. You know I’m good at it!”

“Yeah…”

“We do.”

“But we’re your parents. We’ll worry about you even when you can slaughter archangels.”

“So I just have to kill a dragon then.” I nodded to myself. They stared at me in disbelief, and I just waved and smiled.

“I know you’ll be fine, so… take it easy?” Berry advised as we bumped fists.

“I’ll take it under consideration,” I chuckled.

Pandemonium rumbled its own goodbyes, meanwhile Grandpa stared at me resolutely.

“You’re about to fight the nation I’ve fought and bled for my whole life.”

“I am.”

He grinned. “Give them like they’ve seen before!”

“You got it!”

And with that, I finally took off. Arisen City quickly disappeared into the distance as I flew. I didn’t go too fast, to refrain from announcing my presence everywhere. It wouldn’t have been sustainable to go supersonic long-term anyway.

Finally, after only some minutes of flight, I saw the green colors of New Grandera being flown high by an army even larger than the one that once assaulted Arisen City.

“AAAAAAHHH!”

“WHAT!?”

“HOLY SHIT!”

The soldiers and adventurers around freaked out upon my thunderous landing that sent dust flying everywhere. Weapons had already been drawn, and a particularly trigger-happy archer had shot me. Her face paled the next instant as everyone else rejoiced.

“It’s Haell!”

“YES! She’s here!”

“I told you she would be!”

“Idiot! That was a fucking rumor!”

“That turned out to be true!”

“Unlike the last SEVEN times!”

“Idiot!”

“Fool!”

“Angelshit!”

“Shut up, children. It’s just one person! War is still war and we will still die.”

“Oh fucking cry me an ocean, old man! She singlehandedly destroyed a force as big as ours!”

“Do you actually believe that?”

“Uhh, yeah.”

“Gullible dumbass.”

“Nuh-uh! I heard Council Speaker Orin say it!”

“I was there when it happened, and it’s true!”

“My uncle told me the same!”

“Hear hear!” I shouted, and people’s gazes slowly turned back to me. “What? You guys seemed like you were having fun, so I joined.”

“Ah…”

“Well…”

“YEAH!”

“Ahahahaha!”

“Haell Zharignan!” A human as tall as I, if not as wide, approached and saved his soldiers from the awkwardness that had come from my remark. How would they brave the pressures of war if that was enough to faze them?

“Oh? Are you the general for this operation?” I assumed based on the fineries added to his armor. He was also a little bit higher level than me. Not that it meant much. I would destroy him in a fight.

“That’s right!” He smiled broadly. “I’m Brody Karn. Thank you for coming. Please, join us in planning for the upcoming battle.”

“Sure thing,” I took my mask off and smiled. I followed him into the command tent, and found it filled with strong fighters and weaker bureaucrats alike.

“So…” he hesitated for only a moment, "Queen Haell."

"" I clarified. "That part's super important."

"...Of course." He recollected himself and looked over the battlemap on the big table. “I’ve been led to believe that the rumors about you are no exaggeration, and you are actually that good at bringing the fight to our enemies.”

“I am.”

People began to murmur.

General Brody raised a hand to silence them. “That’s good. I expected as much. Especially after the entrance you made earlier. That was faster than anyone of your level I’d ever seen, and you’re completely unharmed after!”

I only shrugged. I did actually get hurt. I just healed it. But I was going with the idea that any wrong information about me was good. Whether they overestimate or underestimate me, so long as their understanding was false.

“Alright, so,” General Brody turned back to the map, and placed a cute demon piece on it. I smiled. The actual planning followed, and I had some input on how I could be best deployed, but I didn’t know much about regular military formations otherwise. I should try to learn more about that later.

, the armies were finally about to clash. I watched from above as the two separate seas of people moved through the uprooted rainforest down below. From the gold, white, and blue colors of the Angelore Empire and their vassal, Edengar; to the green of New Grandera, the varied colors of the crustecar kingdoms, and the different colors sometimes flown or carried by the dwarves and harpies.

My evil eyes roamed away from them, and towards the one thing we were all here to fight and die for. There in the distance was the City of Irakos, and it still proudly flew the flag of Edengar. That was why I had come. It was the same symbol loved by the ones who had once clipped my wings and taken my freedom away. Now I would take their land. I would take their country. I would take their people. I would take their queen.

Today, I go on the offensive.

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

With that scream, the bloodshed began. A dozen different species looked to the sky to see Devilcalibur raised high by my hands. I glared at the Edengarian’s below, and my gaze trapped them in a maze of terror. My aura crushed their hearts, and my blade too sapped away at their resolve!

They shook, they froze, they fell. It was enough to outright kill a fraction of them. Their inhex vanguard was quickly crushed as way too many of them had frozen in fear, even if they managed to survive the opening dread. And then the rain of my magic came. The enemy soldiers began to regain their wits about them, as their shepherds whisper-shouted sweet into their ears. The harpies joined me, and together we opened gaps in their defenses. I drew them mad with pain and curse. I crashed down and literally crushed their elites under my hooves. I cut down everyone in front of me, especially those in more decorated attire. They were kind enough to color-code who was the most important, so how could I not reward their hospitality!? I rose back up into the air under a hail of spells and arrows, but I dodged and swatted down most of them. The harpies helped too, and I smiled at the proud people, but they couldn’t see it because we were in the midst of battle now, and I always wore a mask to protect my face then.

“Good job!” I found the time to say some nice words, before turning my attention back to To them, I showed no mercy. I spread death upon their ranks. I crushed their spirits and their hopes. Even the shepherds could no longer convince them that everything would be alright. I did not stop even when they began to flee. I took that opportunity to attack their central column. The place where they kept the people most important to them. Another shepherd like those who had once thought they could violate my mind. The templars who were such loyal dogs to those mutts. The soldiers who were below even them, and the adventurers who chose to be here. I killed them all without exception. I ran as they did, mowing down their lines. Even as they frantically clawed for the gates of their city with increasing urgency. I followed them in and killed them in the streets. I painted the walls of their homes red. Their blood ran through the roads instead of feet and vehicles. This was the consequence of crossing me so badly. This was only the beginning!!!

“That was not the plan!” the general bellowed once I went to meet with him and some others in the town hall we’d just captured.

“I know,” I admitted. To be honest, I did feel a little bit… ashamed about it. I had completely forgotten to go up their walls and clear the ramparts of enemy hostiles. I was too preoccupied killing the fleeing soldiers in urban combat. Because of that, a bunch of the common civilians ended up creating makeshift militias to resist us. I… understood why, as misplaced as their loyalties were. “But it worked, didn’t it?”

“That’s not the point! What if it didn’t!? You could have endangered my soldiers! They endangered! Your actions created so many new enemies, and you forced my soldiers to come with you!”

That was… also true. A good chunk of our army did choose to follow me as I rushed through the streets of Irakos City. And that kind of messed with the established plans.

“I didn’t force anyone. I never told them to follow me. They just… did, for some reason. That isn’t my fault. As for me choosing to chase after the fleeing army You’re a soldier too. You know this. But the situation in the field of battle is dynamic and ever-changing. Hence, I had to make my own calls. And the enemy forces just didn’t resist as hard as I thought. They got spooked. There was no reason for me to suddenly retreat from the very advantageous position I was in.”

“You should’ve asked, then,” he said less angrily. “Or waited for command. Acting on your own can and will cause problems for us.”

I shook my head. “Too slow. The battlefield is no place to be having calm discussions. And whose command? I am not subordinate to anyone here. There’s no one to make those judgment calls for myself, but me.”

He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it in a thin line. “That’s true. But surely, you have seen by now that there needs to be proper command. Even our adventurers are placed under command! So I ask that you put yourself under someone’s command next time so that we can actually coordinate properly.”

“No,” I refused. “I’ll take things under advisement, but I’ll always have the ability and the freedom to make my own decisions in the moment. Take it up with your council if you’re still unsatisfied.”

“...I know they’ll allow it.” He looked out the window, and towards the chaotic city outside. It was both dreary and celebratory in equal measure. “You are, plain and simple, extremely effective in war. Today I saw it for myself. So even if you act out of line, even if you’re given special treatment, they… will accommodate you for your power.”

“A decision that they made for us as well, apparently,” Cait, the crustecar representative, complained. “I represent the Kingdoms of Eliana and Janedaughter, and the Empire of Aldugar. We are very displeased with Haell’s actions regarding the unilateral execution of the soldiers we have sent here to aid in your war.”

“Those were only the ones who raped and tortured.”

“So you say. But how are we to know that when they cannot speak for themselves because you killed them?”

“Are you calling me a liar?” I glared.

“Perhaps you are. Perhaps you’re not. We would’ve appreciated it if you’d only reported such infractions to us, but instead you act like you have any jurisdiction over us, when you do not! I don’t care what stupid idiotic deal you’ve made with the New Granderans, we of the crustecar kingdoms are not subordinate to your laws!”

“But that’s the entire point. I am not subordinate to those laws either.”

Her mandibles clacked, speechless.

I did not fill the silence.

“We cannot allow this to stand. I demand that you stop, or else it might mean war for that little hamlet of yours, Demon

“I suggest you do not. It will only delight our common enemy, Edengar, if we fight among ourselves.” But if we fight, between me, Pandemonium, and possibly Grandpa and Elfrafim, I was pretty confident that we could hold against most armies. Even if the city were to be taken, which would be unfortunate, my actual home would never fall. My friends would be protected. And I could attrition the hell against the invading force outside. Oh and shit, Moonwash might be even more impactful than any of us four in that situation if she just created rituals upon rituals while under our protection. For more chapters visıt novelhall.com

“The choice is yours then,” Cait said. “Either you do the sensible thing, or we put on a show that our greatest enemy will love.”

I

I needed a few seconds to think it over, before shaking my head. “I will not just stand by and do nothing if I see those kinds of atrocities being commited by anyone.”

“What about by yourself?” she spat. “You self-righteous That fire of yours is crueler than any torture we could ever conceive, and you have turned it against innocent civilians. Literal Stop acting like you are a better judge than any of us. If you were to claim that you truly hold those principles, then you would kill yourself right now.”

My aura escaped me for a moment. I allowed it to, and everyone here suddenly felt the tension thick in the air. “That’s different. I did it once. My regular use of that fire notwithstanding, you cannot fault me for using everything I have at my disposal in active war. But the one time I turned my ire towards those who are not active combatants would be when I was tortured and imprisoned for an entire fucking year……. when my identity as a demon was first exposed. But I made sure that most of the regular people could escape those fires!” I paused, realizing that I was making excuses, and seeing for the first time the judging expressions they looked at me with. They didn’t know the depth of it. I was the origin of the current goblin crisis too. I was the cause of so much suffering. “You’re right,” I amended. “I’ve done terrible things. That does not stop me from stopping them when I see someone else doing similarly terrible things.” It filled me with such deep anger and malice. I did not wish to hold myself back. I didn’t have to.

“You can bring it to us, so that clearer heads may decide.”

“...No. I cannot trust military bureaucracy to handle it fairly.”

“And yet you trust yourself.” Her words were half a question, and half a statement. “More than all the people actually trained and educated in these matters. who by your own admission, is also guilty of so many things.”

“If I literally see something happening in front of me, then yes. Of course. Plenty of things can be lost with time, deceit, and the endless politics of an organization.”

“...You are an insane hypocrite.”

“I have for my allies, even if I myself have broken some of them in the past. Which makes the solution for this simple, if our differences here are truly that irreconcilable. I’ll have my representatives contact you, and if you want, we can make sure that we are never deployed in the same place.”

She hesitated. I struggled not to smirk evilly. Whatever their bluster, they recognized the value in my power. That General Brody had the right idea. It remained highly illogical to not just give me something as small as this. Let me satisfy myself in killing the worst your own people, and watch me slaughter infinitely more of your enemies.

“I suppose that’s the most reasonable thing you’ve said so far. We shall receive your people when you send them.”

“Great!” This time I did grin, and ran out the door.

A harpy bard sang as people wept. The next song was more energetic, hopeful, and the soldiers answered in kind with enthusiasm of their own. Adventurers knew how to take the bloody battle, and turn it into a tale of heroism. I listened to it all, with piles of plates both empty and full stacked high on my table. I was still in the newly conquered Irakos City, despite how my mood had soured earlier. I chose to spend at least some time with the people who fought with me today. As stupid as it was for them to follow me into the streets to bring the war there, I did appreciate the bravery and sacrifice they showed for myself.

It also wouldn’t hurt to feed their perception of me as a great ally of theirs. I hated to think in those terms, but it was true. I couldn’t unlearn the politics of war. I couldn’t learn it, when I lived that reality.

“Whoa Haell!”

“The Demon Queen!”

“Hear hear!!”

“Great work earlier!”

“It was amazing!”

“I was terrified.”

“When’s our next break. I wanna visit her city. What is it again?”

“Arise City?”

“Hell yeah Arise!”

“It’s Arisen!”

“Eh? Are you sure?”

“Sounds like you’re making shit up.”

“I AM NOT–”

“I was right there earlier! You remember me!? Right around the gate, I caught up, and we fought side by side there! Side by side!”

“Holy shit, I can’t believe I ever doubted her.”

“I didn’t.”

“Wha–You did! You so did! More than me even, you shameless–”

“Hey, ah, Demon Queen Haell, right…?

“Shhh! Don’t bother her right now.”

“But…”

I smiled at the words thrown lovingly at me by the people, sometimes giving a wave, and at other times giving a good “HELL YEAH!” with a pump of my fist. I turned to the peculiar people in very mismatched armor consisting of one human man, an ogre man, and finally a fountan woman. Definitely adventurers.

“Hey. It’s fine,” I called, staring at the human woman beaten black and blue on their arms. “I stayed here specifically to chat and just… be here, after that harrowing experience we all had. So you have my attention. Now, tell me, why have you brought to me this half-dead woman?”

Their lives might depend on the next thing to come out of their mouths.

“Ah, well,” the human man answered for their group. “We saw her trying to take advantage of one of the few store clerks who kept their shop open–”

“As in rape him!” the fountan of their group supplied.

“Yes, exactly that. And I know that you’ve been cracking down on that kind of behavior hard. So I thought to ask if you wanted to kill her!”

My eyebrow raised. A smirk tugged on my face. They brought something like this to me instead of the authorities.

I was already getting angry at their captive, but I swallowed it, for a myriad of reasons.

“Well,” I addressed the adventurer party, “I would’ve killed her if I was the one who caught her in the act you described. But I’m not. Not to call you liars, but I can’t say for certain if that’s what happened. I have people for investigating. I don’t like to do those kinds of tasks myself.” “So, well, I won’t tell you what to do. It is your decision to make.”

“I see. We shall do as you would then–”

The ogre man cut off the alleged rapist’s head with a dagger.

“--Her actions were undemonic, and therefore anathema to the Demon Aspires!”

“WHAT?” Only my powerful reflexes stopped me from spitting out my beer. I immediately healed what little remained in my system.

“Oh, we’re the Demon Aspires.” The human man pointed at his group with a smile, as if that explained anything.

Well, I at least understood that it was their party name… and they had some weird fixation on demons.

“Okay… Now, what do you mean by her actions being undemonic?” Because, I hated to admit it, but if there were other demons, then they might just be the ones engaging in those atrocities the most.

“Well, rape is against what being a demon stands for, right?” The ogre man cleaned the blood off his dagger. “So we’re against her and people like her!”

I opened my mouth, then quickly closed it. “You’re right. It against demonhood.”

I was the progenitor of demons. decided what demonhood was about.

“I thought so!” the fountan woman cheered happily, and then fidgeted. They all fidgeted, like children about to ask their parents for something

The human man finally asked. “Ummm, so, we’ve been wondering.”

“Yes? What is it?” I asked openly.

“Can we also be a demon like you, please!” he shouted in on rapid stream!

“...Huh? What makes you say that? What makes you want that? What makes you think it’s even possible!”

“Well… we just really want it… We feel it in our souls, since we first saw you burn down Licarl City a whole decade ago. That’s um, that’s what we want to be. A demon!” he began to pick up steam, after stumbling through the first words of his confession. “So we followed you into New Grandera. We didn’t want to be in Edengar anymore! In Angelore! You gave us the strength to make the move! Some of our party didn’t make it… but the three of us made it here, to a better world. Um, of course, we didn’t yet realize that we wanted to become demons back then. We just thought you were super cool, and we wanted to be , so we followed. And it was only as we stayed here in New Grandera,” he glanced at the flag flown from the tower of the central manor, which was now New Grandera’s own. The south and north did actually share the same one, making their whole deal even more confusing, “where we had actual , that we began to learn how we felt. We ummmm… did our research on you, and found out that you human before. You must’ve been human at some point! They couldn’t have hidden your demonic form from the start. It shouldn’t have been possible! And errrr, your parents, your grandfather, they’re all human. You are the only demon that we know of. The only demon ever, and you were once a human. So there must be a way, and we have come here to beg for it. Please!”

“PLEASE!” They all bowed a perfect 90 degrees.

“Huh.” I stared at them, my mouth agape.

It was a ridiculous a story, a ridiculous request. It was hard to react to something so… .

But… wasn’t this exactly kind of weird? Wasn’t this exactly how I felt once upon a time? For decades, for two whole lives. Their greatest wish was also my own.

It was a bad idea. It was a terrible idea to make more demons. I musn’t. But it was that same dream I seized for myself. I would’ve absolutely taken it if someone had offered me help. I

“What the fuck…”

“Oh shit, I know these guys!”

“Those idiot fans of Haell!”

“Fuck, who let them in here!”

“Get out!”

“You’re bothering Haell you freaks!”

“Can’t you fucking see that!?”

“Being a demon is not your fetish, perverts!”

“Goblins!”

“Fucking degenerates!”

“STOP,” I commanded, and the surrounding people slowly listened. I glared at them. “They came at me with a request. It is my prerogative whether I listen or not, whether I can fulfill it or not. But there is wrong with their desire. And it is brave, to have asked.”

I turned back to the Demon Aspires, only to find them rushing at me with tear-filled eyes.

““HAELL!!!!””

“You stop too!” I snapped and held back the level 20s with one hand. “I cannot tell you if your conjectures are correct. That information is classified.” Their faces fell. “if you make the journey to Pandemonium, then I might, emphasis on tell you what little I know.

“OOOHHH!!”

“Pandemonium right!?”

“That’s in your Arisen City!”

“We’ll be there!”

“FUCK YEAHHH!!!”

I just sat back down and laughed as they began making plans right in front of me.

Dorks.