Achaieral

**Achaieral** is a nocturnal daimon who make its nest in abandoned churches and monasteries and become petrified when comes into contact with sunlight.

## Overview

In architecture, a **Gargoyle** is a carved stone statue in the form of a grotesque monster or creature with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building. Preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls is important because running water erodes the mortar between the stone blocks.

Gargoyles are said to scare off and protect places from any evil or harmful spirits.

## Summary

Like many other demonic creatures, achaierals were the creations of the original demons who used them to wreak havoc in the mortal world, especially on Earth, and bring misery upon mankind. They, in particular, are considered unique among other daemon, as they were created long after the Great War in the early 8th-century.

Shortly after their creation, the Vatican received many new reports about mysterious disappearance of priests, monks, and nuns across Europe, and they quickly became a nightmare for church-goers, especially for those who sought shelter at churches at night.

It wasn't until the late 9th-century when the Vatican was finally able to take the situations under control and eradicate the majority of achaieral daemon, with only a handful of them survived the purge by escaping into the Netherworld and become a favorite familiar among the pureblood devils, and during the Devil Civil War, hundreds of them were released and caused tremendous damage to the Netherworld.

According to Irina, many famous cryptids known in popular media such as the Mothman, the Dover Demon, or the Loveland Frog are all achaieral daemon whose sightings were caught by the mundane before exorcists and hunters were able to go out and exterminate them.

## Appearance

At first glance, achaierals appear as nothing more than the typical stone gargoyles, but if one enhances their vision with magic, their true demonic self will appear. They have teeth like razors, blade-like talons, and wide, leathery bat-like wings so black that it seemed to blot out the night sky. They are genderless and can parthenogenesis, laying eggs by themselves without the assistance of a partner.

In addition, due to their chimeric power to absorb the traits of the Monsters that it devoured, many can possess the traits of other species of monsters, such as fish tails or multiple heads.

## Characteristics

Achaierals are known for its ferocious yet simple minded nature, which combined with its immense strength and endurance makes these daemon dangerous enemies that only highly-trained and experienced exorcists can deal with. Their natural habitat are dark and cold places, with abandoned religious sites such as churches, monasteries, or convents being an achaieral's ideal habitation.

It is an omnivorous creature who would eat any living thing it can get its claws upon, even cannibalizing its own kind if it considers them to be weak. Though like many monsters and daemon, it has a natural craving for human flesh, especially those who are pious, religious, or hold religious importance such as priests or pastors. Because of this, it'd actively venture out at night to hunt down the faithful and bring them back to its nest, in which it would tear their flesh off their bones and then use said bone to build a new nest for it to lay eggs into.

It is a territorial creature who would attack and kill all other demonic creatures or even other achaierals that enter its territory. And since it is capable of asexual reproduction, provided that it has stored enough demonic power and consumed enough human flesh, it could push out dozens of fist-size eggs at once, making its offspring the only other achaierals allow in its territory, but this isn't for long, as once these daemon reached maturity, they will either be kicked out or become their own parent's newest meal if they aren't strong enough.

While it isn't immortal, it's long-lived and can live for a couple of centuries of years before finally crumbles down into a combination of rotten flesh and pebbles, though it can extend its natural lifespan through a process of petrifactive hibernation, in which it would petrify itself and transform into a stone statue and slowing down its aging process, allowing it to live for potentially a thousand years. However, this process requires the achaieral to concentrate all of its demonic power to do, leaving the achaieral vulnerable to all attacks from outside enemies.

## Weaknesses

* **Physical Damage**: Like the majority of supernatural species, achaierals can still be killed through normal means if they receive a large amount of physical damage or fatal injuries that their regenerative power cannot heal them in time.
	+ **Mortality**: Despite its longevity, achaierals are still mortals and can still die and be weakened by the effects of old age. The average lifespan of an achaieral daimon ranges from 100 to 250 years, and the older one becomes, the more durable their skin will be but their speed and strength would also be significantly dropped, thus making them a target for exorcists and other achaierals alike.
* **Light Element**: As dark creatures, achaierals are vulnerable against the Light element. The intense light, such as the one generated through Light Magic or used in the light constructs of angels and fallen angels are extremely deadly weapons against daemon like achaierals.
	+ **Sunlight**: Achaierals become petrified and turn into stone gargoyles when they come into direct contact with sunlight, a state that they can only escape if their petrified body is kept in the dark for a minimum of 4 days or if human blood is poured upon them. In this state, they are no different from ordinary statues and can be easily crushed into small pieces to be destroyed.
	+ **Blacklight**: It has been recently revealed that ultraviolet light can be used to detect which statue is a petrified achaieral and which statue is a non-sentient one. When shine an ultraviolet light upon a petrified achaieral, their entire skeleton and flesh will be shown beneath their petrified skin, and if the light is shone on the petrified daimon long enough, their flesh will be slowly be cooked and within roughly 10 hours, they will be burnt alive entirely.
* **Holy Attribute**: The bane of all demonic creatures. Religious symbols, scriptures, and prayers are extremely effective when defending oneself against an achaieral's attack, and items imbued with the holy attribute such as holy water or consecrated oil are the typical items used when fighting against achaierals. However, depending on the amount of demonic power an achaieral possesses, the holy attribute's effects have upon them may differ, as the greater the amount of one's demonic power, the less effective the attribute will be upon them, and vice versa.
	+ **Hallowed Grounds**: Achaierals are physically incapable of entering religious grounds, such as churches, synagogues, mosques, or other hallowed grounds associated with the Abrahamic religions. However, if the site is abandoned or filled with such potent *misma* that not even its religious connections with Heaven could purify, they would break through the holy defense and claim it as their new nest.
	+ **Holy Weapons**: Achaierals can be wounded or killed by weapons imbued with the holy attribute, such as holy swords or Sacred Gears with divine properties, such as Blade Blacksmith or Twilight Healing.
		- **Heavenly Weapons**: Weapons of heavenly origins can easily kill them.

## Population

While there are only several hundreds of achaierals left in the mortal world due to the Vatican's purge, within the Netherworld, there are probably thousands of wild achaierals running around and claiming abandoned buildings as their new nests, thus making them a serious problem that the devils have to face. According to Sona, based on statistics, there is an average of 27 deaths via achaierals happening in the Netherworld each year.

## Trivia

* After the Devil Civil War, the number of achaierals chosen to be familiars dropped by 68%.
* While **Gargouille**, the Evil Dragon defeated by St. Romanus of Rouen, is the namesake of the gargoyle-like stone statues the achaierals transform into when petrified, it is *not* the Alpha Achaieral despite popular beliefs.