The Demon

**The Demon** (before 1854—May 13, 2015) was the title of an otherwise unnamed man who was the leader of the League of Darkness. He had inherited the title from his predecessor. He was also the widower of a late unnamed woman, the father of a late unnamed boy, a late unnamed girl, Dawn, and Talia. The Demon was the former mentor of Christopher Chance, the former best friend-turned nemesis of Damien Thomas and the enemy of Charles McLance.

## Personality

In 1960, The Demon displayed some humanity in him, releasing Sarah Sladen because he knew she was conflicted between being an assassin and her humanity. After realising Sarah had joined the League of Darkness in the future, he seemingly followed Sarah’s instructions to send his daughter, Dawn, there and trained Sarah even though he knew full well Sarah would not be able to follow through with her oath to the League. As a result, he never truly considered Sarah as one of them.

In his later years, he had a cold and stoic demeanor, he was ruthless, as he would not hesitate to kill his enemies, he was also known to be relentless, unflappable, impatient refusing to impose his will after he speaks once and undeterred, allowing nothing (the lives of multiple innocents, anyone) to stand in the way of his goals of ensuring the purpose of the League of Darkness lives on, as a result of being the Demon and having access to the Resurrection Pit for years. Astute and calculating, he was an effective leader, having commanded the League for at least a century and a half, and lead, inspired and fashioned some of the greatest killers in all of history. The Demon himself said, that he feels pride for the thousands of people he had killed by his hand, genuinely believing he created a better world with these men dead. Dawn mentioned the Pit twisted his mind, turning him into a ruthless monster.
Despite his ruthlessness and zealotry, he had a sense of honour, somewhat of a soft side and (if twisted) a sense of humanity. He was capable of respecting his opponents and even holding them in honour, as seen in his commending Charles McLance's combat skills and praying for him after stabbing him. As noted by Malcolm Hunter, the Demon’s custom after killing an opponent in a death duel was to leave his weapon in the arena of combat, as a marker to honour the opponent. He also let Charles pretend to be the one who killed Sarah despite knowing full well he did not and that Charles was simply trying to keep the people in his city from dying. He displayed respect and humility towards Eleanor, commending her courage and love for Charles when she spoke up and out against him when he made the "offer" towards Charles to become his heir, encouraging her to confess her feelings to him and say goodbye to him. Even despite all that he had done to him and his loved ones, Charles still acknowledged and respected The Demon’s honourable side enough that he noted that The Demon would have been ashamed of his daughter, Talia, working for the profoundly psychopathic Edward Chase. Even Lauren, who had personally been killed by The Demon had to acknowledge Demon had honorable qualities even if he was ultimately unredeemable.
In his final moments, before succumbing to his fatal injuries inflicted on him by Charles, he displayed no guilt, morals nor remorse for his actions, being only pleased that he made the right choice, by choosing Charles to become his successor, and he died somber with honour and dignity.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Longevity:** Due to his unrestricted access to the Resurrection Pit, The Demon was able to live for centuries while retaining his peak health, vitality, as well as the physical appearance of a middle-aged man. However, he mentioned the waters had started to lose their potency on him, meaning that in time, the Pit would be unable to stop his aging and extend his lifespan. Still, the Pit was potent enough to heal a deep cut on his hand in mere seconds, without leaving a trace of it being there in the first place.
* **Enhanced physical conditioning:** Due to the effects of the Pit, The Demon gained increased feats of physical prowess such as strength, speed, and reflexes; with a single hand, he was capable of overpowering Ruby Sawyer and pinning her to the ground, crushing Charles's windpipe, and managed to shatter Charles’ sword with a single blow from his own in their final battle. The Demon’s feats also included easily catching a knife thrown at him by Malcolm with one hand and effortlessly reacting to both Dawn’s, and Charles’ sword strike, something which bewildered the latter, showing no signs of pain in both times he caught the blade with his bare hands. The Demon’s speed was great enough that he was able to land the first hit on Charles before he could react during their final duel.

### Abilities

* **Peak of human physical condition:** With the longevity has given to him by the Pit, combined with countless years of training and experience, The Demon was in such exceptional physical form. He proved capable of easily overpowering the likes of Charles McLance (who he still beat to submission even after the latter had been trained by The Demon himself), Dawn, and Ruby Sawyer, in terms of strength. The Demon even crushed Charles’ windpipe with a single blow and then casually kicked him off a cliff before leaving a sword deeply impaled in the rocky terrain after having defeated Charles. He later on managed to outpace Charles to the Alpha and Omega despite Charles being closer to the two viruses and stun him with only two blows, along with later on knocking down Dawn with a similar amount of effort. Additionally, he did not immediately die after being repeatedly fatally stabbed by Charles, still having enough strength to declare Charles as his successor and pass on the Demon's Head ring before ultimately succumbing to his wounds.
* **Genius-level intellect/Master tactician/Leader:** The Demon was a great leader, as he had led the League of Darkness for more than a century with success since he accepted the offer of becoming its next leader. His extended lifespan enabled him to gain the wisdom of the ages and he is able to recognise and predict the actions of others, including their mindsets; The Demon was able to predict the future adversities (which he later helped to orchestrate) of Charles and used this while attempting to convince the latter to succeed him. He later performed killings dressed as the Archer to frame Christopher and make Starling City turn against him. Throughout his years of raising Dawn, he would always find the sweets she stole and hid.
* **Bilingual:** The Demon was capable of fluently speaking English and Arabic.
* **Master scientist**: He possessed considerable abilities in science, having been able to come up with a concoction capable of destroying the Pit if it fell into the wrong hands.
* **Master torturer:** He was an extremely feared torturer, to the point where Dawn believed that he could torture Malcolm to the point where "Hell would be paradise". Malcolm likewise expressed deep fear of this to the point of begging to serve him once more. The Demon indeed was able to successfully torture Malcolm to the point where he was barely conscious and severely bleeding without killing him. The Demon also knew how to kill a man slowly over a matter of days, which he taught Sarah Sladen.
* **Occult knowledge:** He possessed some knowledge of magic and mysticism, as he fully understood how the Pit functioned, including how to permanently destroy it.
* **Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist:** As the leader of the League of Darkness and with centuries worth of fighting knowledge, he was an unarmed combatant and martial artist of incredibly tremendous, almost unrivaled skill, having killed hundreds of men within his lifespan. He had undergone the same training like most League members do, but since he was chosen as the successor to the Demon's Head, his combat skills far surpassed that of most other assassins of the League since he had received the highest level of training any member could. His fighting style seems to be comprised of Kali, Krav Maga, Taekwondo, Karate, Kung Fu, Jeet Kun Do, Hapkido, Judo, Jujitsu, Panantukan, Muay Thai, Aikido, and Silat. During his leadership tenure, The Demon’s combat abilities were unmatched by anyone in or out of the League, save for Damien Thomas (who received the same level of training as he had), and possibly Reverse-Blur and Powerhouse. Even Malcolm Hunter stated he would rather flee than face Demon. In their first duel, The Demon managed to overpower and disarm Charles while the latter had two swords and the former had none while holding both hands behind his back with ease. The Demon easily countered any bare-handed moves Charles made and repeatedly hit and knocked his opponent down when they dueled with swords. Even after Charles surprised and disarmed him, The Demon regained a sword with his bare hands, easily catching Charles’ sword strike before landing a blow to the latter's windpipe that stunned him. He also effortlessly blocked each and every single one of Ruby’s attacks with a single hand, swiftly overpowering and restraining her. Even after Charles had greatly improved his skills after being trained by The Demon himself, The Demon still proved to be superior to him in skill, as he was able to defeat Charles in their final encounters, knocking him out in their altercation on a plane and nearly killing him in their final duel on the bridge, with Charles only winning through surprise attacks. Since The Demon would've won either way, it is unknown if he let Charles kill him, to force the latter to become his successor. The Demon was one of the most deadliest combatants in the entire multiverse.

## Appearances

### Saltire

* “Beyond Redemption”
* ”Suffering”
* ”A Journey Between Worlds”
* ”Mother”
* ”Gone”
* “Way of the Master”
* ”The Trials of Charles McLance”
* ”You Have Saved This City”
* ”Leap of Faith”
* ”Acceptance”
* “Hunter Returns”
* "Brothers in Arms"
* "Finding a Spark"
* ”Armageddon”