Demon King

* 8-Bit
* 16-Bit
* Eyeball

### Instruction Booklet Description

After being banished to another realm for countless millennia, the Demon King has returned to exact his revenge on humans.

> "*Burn it all! Bring the humans to their knees!*"
> ― *Demon King*
>
>

    The **Demon King** is a boss in The Messenger. He is fought at the end of Forlorn Temple. The leader of the demon army, the Demon King desires the total destruction of all humans and is responsible for the curse placed upon humanity. He attacks Ninja Village, setting off the chain of events that begins Ninja's journey to save the world.

## Profile

### Appearance

The Demon King is a red bulky winged demon with four heads, two muscly arms, and four legs. A golden crown sits atop of his second-to-left head (from his perspective). Many yellow horns are on his back.

During his boss fight, he transforms into a giant winged eyeball creature. His heads, arms, and legs disappear, and the front half of his body is replaced with a giant eyeball. His crown shifts to rest on the top middle horn on his back. Tendrils trail down from the bottom of his body.

### Personality

The Demon King is evil and wicked. He and his demon army massacred many humans in Forlorn Temple, and he inflicted suffering upon many generations of humanity, returning every 500 years in an attempt to kill the remaining humans. He commands his armies to destroy the human hideout and to eliminate would-be heroes, such as Ninja and Soldier. The Demon King corrupts the Clockwork Concierge, changing the robot's kind and gentlemanly demeanor into murderous intent.

## Boss Fight

### Phase 1

The Demon King flies at the top of the screen, raining fireballs from above; two random heads each shoot down a fireball simultaneously. Ninja must either Cloudstep the fireballs up to the Demon King in order to get within attack range, or he must wait for a rideable rocket to emerge from the ground and ride it up to the Demon King. While Ninja rides the rocket, the Demon King continues to release fireballs, so Ninja must maneuver left and right to avoid eight rounds of fireballs. If Ninja gets hit, he falls back down to the ground and must repeat the waiting process for another rideable rocket. If Ninja's rocket connects with the Demon King, the rocket explodes upon contact, the Demon King and Ninja go into a freefall, and Ninja can take advantage of this opportunity to attack the Demon King as they both fall downward.

Fireballs that touch the ground will set the grass on fire for a short period of time, causing damage to Ninja if he walks on it.

### Phase 2

Once the Demon King loses all of his health, he turns into a giant winged eyeball. He flies at the top of the arena where he is undamageable. For two rounds, he places five round energy balls in various locations in the lower section of the arena. The energy balls are arranged in a manner that allow for a chain reaction; the Demon King shoots one energy ball, triggering the energy ball to explode and release damaging beams of energy in cardinal directions, which contact with the remaining energy balls and trigger them to explode as well. Ninja must wait for a rideable rocket to emerge from the ground, then ride it upward. As Ninja rides the rocket, the Demon King fills the bottom of the screen with energy balls, and he explodes one of them to cause a chain reaction for all energy balls to explode and release cardinal beams of energy. He does this in four separate rounds; round one is 9 orbs, round two is 11 orbs, round three is 13 orbs, and round four is 14 orbs. If Ninja successfully dodges all four rounds, he wins the fight.

Failure to grab a rideable rocket in time will result in it disappearing, resetting the wait process. Furthermore, if Ninja gets hit while riding the rocket upward, he falls down to the bottom of the screen, which also resets the wait process.

## Main Story

Described in the Music Box cutscene, the Demon King and his armies invaded the human realm many centuries ago, killing the sky giants and taking over the human stronghold of Forlorn Temple. The remaining survivors of humanity escaped to the western edge of the island. However, Phantom, enraged over Muse's death, went back to Forlorn Temple to face the Demon King on his own. Phantom failed, and the Demon King corrupted the Music Box in Phantom's possession, turning it into a tether to the human realm. Every 500 years, the demons would return to torture humanity, until humanity would be eradicated. The Demon King placed a cursed Mask onto Phantom's face and inserted him into the Music Box, so that Phantom would play an organ that would keep the curse alive on humanity forever.

During the beginning of the game, the skies turn red and fireballs rain from the sky as the Demon King and his armies lay siege to Ninja Village. Ninja confronts the Demon King, but the Demon King remains unfazed and threatens him with death. Suddenly, the Western Hero arrives from the west, flying on a phoenix, and he shoots a magic barrage of arrows at the Demon King, pushing back the demon army. The Demon King summons Barma'thazël to his side and instructs him to keep an eye on Ninja. Barma'thazël agrees to do so and teleports away. The Demon King threatens Ninja once again, saying that his minions in Autumn Hills will make short work of him, and teleports away as well.

After Ninja defeats Barma'thazël in the Underworld, he rides Manfred to the future version of Ninja Village, a village of soldiers that is under attack by the Demon King and his armies. The Demon King is confronted by a lone Soldier. Paralleling the Western Hero's performance, Ninja arrives and launches a magic barrage of shurikens at the Demon King, pushing back the demon army. The Demon King is irritated with Ninja's interference and Barma'thazël failure to stop Ninja. Ninja announces that the Demon King's reign is over, but the Demon King laughs and states that the curse upon humanity is never-ending. The Demon King threatens that his minions will make short work of Soldier before teleporting away.

Ninja encounters the Demon King once again, sitting upon a large throne at the end of Forlorn Temple. The Demon King attempts to summon Barma'thazël to his side, but he does not appear. Barma'thazël's absence distresses the Demon King, and Ninja taunts him for being afraid to deal with something himself. This angers the Demon King, and the two engage in battle. As the fight progresses, the Demon King eventually transforms into a large demonic eyeball creature. Ninja rides a rocket up the tall tower, dodging attacks from the Demon King, until he reaches a rounded glass ceiling. He leaps off the rocket before the rocket crashes through the glass. Light pours through the hole, which burns the Demon King's eye and causes the Demon King to slowly fade away into dust, leaving behind only his crown. The crown falls down from a tall height and lands next to Ninja, who collects it. Although the Demon King is destroyed, his voice is heard, and he declares that that the curse upon humanity will endure and that their world will fall.

### March 22, 2019

In the official The Messenger Discord server, the Clockwork Concierge posted messages that were related to the Demon King that were swiftly deleted by SaboTeam.

 **Clockwork Concierge** | [deleted message: I apologize, I was certain everyone knew that the Demon King they fought was just a weak copy.]

### April 4, 2019

In the official The Messenger Discord, the Clockwork Concierge held a big trivia quiz to celebrate Sabotage Studio's birthday. One of the more advanced questions pertained to the Demon King.

 **Clockwork Concierge** | CORRECT!!! Congratulations Messengers, you have earned 2000 Time Shards!!!

### April 26, 2019

In the official The Messenger Discord server, the Demon General located the Demon King's prison in Clockwork Castle, which prompted the Clockwork Concierge to recruit a couple of moderators earlier than scheduled.

## Trivia

* In the "Sabobo Direct - March 2019" video, Thierry Boulanger showed off a piece of concept artwork of the Demon King boss fight. The artwork displays a one-headed Demon King raining bombs from the sky as the player rides a rocket while dodging the bombs. In the video, Thierry explains that the Demon King should have four heads in the concept artwork, but he opted not to draw the details. He goes on to explain that the bombs were replaced by the Demon King heads shooting fireballs, since it was cooler to make it more organic rather than using tools.

## Achievements

*For the main article, see Achievements.*

## Gallery

The Demon King's 16-bit talk portrait icon.The Demon King's 8-bit spritesheet.The Demon King's 16-bit spritesheet in future Ninja Village.The Demon King's 16-bit spritesheet while sitting on his throne in Forlorn Temple.The Demon King's throne.The Demon King's 16-bit falling spritesheet.The Demon King's eyeball form as it's about to be dissolved by sunlight.The Demon King's 8-bit toy.The Demon King's 16-bit toy.The Demon King's description card.The Music Box cutscene, depicting the Demon King cursing Phantom's Music Box.The Demon King's Steam trading card.The Demon King's Steam trading card artwork.Official T-shirt design for PAX East 2018, which depicts the Demon King at the top.Special Reserve Games key art, which depicts the Demon King razing Ninja Village.
## See Also

* Fleshmancer Acolytes (Sea of Stars Wiki)
* Dweller of Strife (Sea of Stars Wiki)

## References

> "*So the short of it is, that four headed monster who would have killed you earlier if that cooler than you hero hadn't intervened, that's the Demon King. He brought his armies to the human realm many centuries ago, and destroyed their stronghold, forcing them to retreat into hiding...*"
> ― *The Shopkeeper*
>
>
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GhRospmGv0&t=379