Demon

**Demons** are the rulers of all devils, daimons, and infernals. The majority of them are sealed within Hell and those who are free now live anonymously across Creation.

## Overview

A **demon** is a supernatural entity, typically associated with evil, prevalent historically in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, and television series. According to the Bible, demons are fallen angels.

In ancient, near eastern religions and in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered a harmful spiritual entity which may cause demonic possession, calling for an exorcism. Large portions of the Jewish demonology, a key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated from a later form of Zoroastrianism, and was transferred to Judaism during the Persian era.

In Western occultism and Renaissance magic, which grew out of an amalgamation of Greco-Roman magic, Jewish Aggadah and Christian demonology, a demon is believed to be a spiritual entity that may be conjured and controlled. The supposed existence of demons remains an important concept in many modern religions and occultist traditions.

Demons are still feared largely due to their alleged power to possess living creatures. In the contemporary Western occultist tradition (perhaps epitomized by the work of Aleister Crowley), a demon (such as Choronzon, which is Crowley's interpretation of the so-called "Demon of the Abyss") is a useful metaphor for certain inner psychological processes (inner demons), though some may also regard it as an objectively real phenomenon.

The original Greek word *daimon* did not carry negative connotations. The Ancient Greek word δαίμων *daimōn* denotes a spirit or divine power. The Greek conception of a *daimōn* notably appears in the works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. In Christianity, morally ambivalent daimons were replaced by demons, forces of evil only striving for corruption. Such demons are not the Greek intermediary spirits, but hostile entities, already known in Iranian beliefs.

## Appearance

Like angels and fallen angels, demons appear as people of unparalleled beauty that can make anyone become infatuated and aroused at the mere sight of them, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, and established relationships. While appearing as regular humans, they still possess two infamous traits, which is their lack of wings and their hollowed eye sockets, the result of Michael's anger shortly after banishing them into Hell. However, most demons hide these traits through illusions or create false eyes and wings with their infernal energy.

According to ancient religious texts, to faithful believers of the Abrahamic faiths, the more they look at a demon, the more they look at them, the more distorted their appearance will become, until they become an incomprehensible beings only described as "blots of defection upon an otherwise perfection canvas".

The appearance of a demon in the mortal world often accompanies terrible omens, horrid natural disasters that Creation forcefully manifests in a desperate attempt to defend itself against their demonic presence and/or warn the world of their arrival.

### True Appearance

According to Azazel, the true form of demons are horrors beyond comprehension of celestials and non-celestials alike. He described it to be like the bottomless abyss of terrors that consumed all existence of light and goodness, evilness and corruption in its most primordial forms. It exudes such an aura of foul and mighty infernal energy that it devours everything, reverting them back into nothingness.

## Characteristics

Compared to angels, fallen angels, or devils, there is little information about the characteristics of demons. According to Dulio, in his personal research about the demon-kind, he has spent time among the numerous religious institutions affiliated with Heaven and the Abrahamic Institutions, and later on, with organizations associated with the Grigori, and all the information that he could gather about the demons can only filled up a 500-pages notebooks. And even then, this information isn't foolproof and he believes many of them to be false and based on popular, yet incorrect, texts.

In general, they are known as cruel, sadistic, and merciless abominations who thrive upon the pain and suffering of others and on the cries of agony of those damned in Hell. Unlike modern devils and daimons, who had adapted more human-like characteristics as time when on, demons, being ancient entities as old as time itself, are embodiments and originators of [Sin] and the roots of all curses, misfortunes, evils, and damnations in existence.

They are infamously known for their absolute loyalty toward Lucifer, and by proxy, toward those the Celestial Prince approves of and grants positions of power to. It is also because of their loyalty toward Lucifer that makes them perform their heavenly duties, even though they had rebelled against God and the authority of the Heavenly Council, as had Lucifer not told them to do so, they would have remained in Hell for indefinitely and not interacted with the rest of Creation.

According to Dantalion, despite popular belief, they don't really "hate" humans, or rather, they don't hate the Primordial Humans and the First Men, though their opinion toward the current race of *Homo sapiens* may vary from demon to demon. He had stated that, in general, they mainly see humans as great sources of entertainment, as, due to a combination of humans' natural free will and the "stalemate of immortality", even the daily lives of the most boring of humans may be seen as interesting to demons.

Mephisto had once stated that treachery is the greatest taboo among demons, even though no demon, ever since the Heavenly War and their banishment, had ever committed it. This is due to their exceptionally low number, every demon regardless of their former angelic rank holds immense importance within the Stygian Council, and a single act of betrayal could easily result in mass chaos among Hell's nobility. While it is unknown what is the punishment for a demon who was found committing treachery, it's implied to be something worse than death.

## Death

When a demon's physical form is destroyed and they are "killed", their soul will be instantaneously transferred to the Empty, where they will sleep for possibly millions of years until their body can be reformed, either on their own or by God's will.

However, whenever a demon is resurrected, their entire memory, experience, and personality will be wiped and they will return to "factory's settings", completely lacking any of their original characteristics or their own free will, and revert to their original state as a pure angel of God.

## Ranking

The demons use a hierarchical system that is split into several different ranks. The ranking here refers to the noble title given to demons by the Seven Deadly Sins based on their classes, former heavenly positions, and reflect on the demon's capability, sense of duty, effectiveness, as well as their general strength and military feats during the Heavenly War.

 **Overlords** | General demons who rule over large territories in Hell and the creators of many cardinal devils who would later ancestors of pureblood devil houses within the 72 Pillars and the Extra Demons. While not exactly weak, they aren't as influential as the Crowned Princes due to their own disinterest in politics.

## Population

The population of demons is extremely low, limited to only the demonized fallen angels casted out of Heaven during the Heavenly War. Because of this, they have to increase their military power through their demonic creations such as devils or daimons during the Great War in order to balance the difference in number between them and the other factions.

After the Ouroboros Barrier was created by the Four Great Seraphs, almost all of the demons were sealed within the Underworld and only a handful of demons were able to escape into the Netherworld, which was originally the highest layer of Hell that was severed during the barrier's construction process. Those who escaped then hid themselves away from the world and lived lives of anonymity throughout Creation, either as common devils, magic practitioners, or even mundane humans.

## Quotes

**Satanael**: "*There are punishments far worse than death.*"
**Asmodeus**: "*Trust me. I did. Once. I persuaded a full legion of our brothers to follow the Morning Star and throw God, that ungrateful tyrant, from His celestial throne. Our fellow demon still pay the price.*"
**Satanael**: "*Can you not hear their cries echoing from Hell? Rest assured. Our brothers will be freed and our tyrant Father will weep.*"
— Satanael to Asmodeus

## Trivia

* Despite their supposed hatred of God, most of them detest pagan gods because "there is only one true god" and to reject His authority means rejecting theirs for they are God's children.
* Because of their celestial/infernal nature, they can wield holy weapons.
* It's implied that demons can still passively influence events within Creation - or at least, within the mortal world - from behind the Ouroboros Barrier, though not as powerful or extensively as they could before its creation.