Demon

### Summary

Former angels who fought alongside Lucifer and were banished from Heaven for their rebellion. They are rulers of the Underworld and all demonic creatures.

**Demons**, also known as **Archdevils**, are the rulers of all devils, daemon, and demonic creatures. The majority of them are sealed within the Underworld and those who are free now live anonymously across Creation.

## Overview

A **demon** is a supernatural being, 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.

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 were 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, a demon 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 Irianian beliefs.

## Appearance

Like angels and fallen angels, demons appear as people of unparalleled beauty that can make anyone - regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, and established relationships - to become infatuated and aroused at the mere sight of them.

However, to 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 being beyond the understanding of mortals and immortals alike. They are difficult even for angels and fallen angels to look at, as their aura is "both too bright and pure, and too vile and corruptive" for their celestial mind to comprehend.

Unlike angels and fallen angels, demons don't have wings, as theirs had burnt away when they were banished from Heaven into the Empty, being torned and destroyed beyond oblivion because of the primordial nothingness. They can, however, create astral-like wings from their demonic power which appear on their shadow upon any surface behind them, with the number of wings they possess correspond with their former angelic ranks.

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

### True Form

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 demonic energy that it consumes everything, reverting them back into nothingness.

## Characteristics

Compared to angels and fallen angels, there is limited information about demons. According to Dulio, in all of the religious institutions associated with Heaven and the Abrahamic religions, there are only a total of seven tomes about the demons' characteristics. However, the knowledge inside these tomes isn't foolproof as most of the information revealed to be false and based on popular, incorrect texts.

They are cruel, sadistic and merciless abominations who thrive upon the pain and suffering of others, on the cries and agony of the damned in torment. Unlike modern devils and daemon who are deemed "humanane enough to live" by the Celestial Prince Raphael, demons are embodiments and originators of Sin - The original transgressors of the Enochian laws established under God's will - and the roots of all curses, misfortunes, and evils in existence.

They are infamously known for their absolute loyalty toward Lucifer. Unlike fallen angels, who are burdened by their banishment from Heaven and their supposed loss of favor in God's eyes, demons showed outright anger when asked if they regretted accepting Lucifer's calls and will lash out in destructive manners. For them, as long as Lucifer still has use of them, they will be in eternal servitude to him.

Despite this, they still follow the heavenly duties given to them by God to maintain the balance and order of Creation, though it's implied that they are only doing this because of Lucifer's commands. Because of this, they tend to do their duties with a lackluster attitude and only put in efforts when they personally find any entertainment in their duties. As such, the only duties they whole-heartedly perform is the eternally torment of the souls damned there because of their crimes when they were alive, or the tempting humans into committing sins as part of Heaven's test.

They despise all mortal beings, especially humans who they claim to hate more than they hate the Heavenly Council and the Enochian laws. According to them, their hatred of humans came from the fact the Primordial Men, Adam and Eve, were "wrongly" claimed as God's greatest creations instead of the Celestial Prince - or rather, more than Lucifer - which directly caused the Heavenly War when the Morningstar became offended and insult by his Father's claims. As a result, they came to dedicate their immortal lives to condemn humanity to eternal struggles and torture to partially soothe Lucifer's sadness, which Michael and Gabriel both raised eyebrows at.

According to the original Gremory, the greatest taboo a demon could commit - one that isn't directly associated with Lucifer at least - is betraying their fellow demons. This is because of their low number, already limited by the circumstances behind their birth, every demon regardless of their ranks holds immense importance in the Underworld and in the infernal hierarchy, and the aftermath of their death could only be described as "apocalyptic". If any demon is found guilty of this taboo, all of their authority will be taken away and said demon thrown into the Abaddon Castle in the Circle of Pride, beneath the temple dedicated to Lucifer.

However, due to many circumstances, the majority of demons are now sealed within the Underworld because of the Ouroboros Barrier and the remaining demons in existence seemed to have all decided to lay low and pretend their deaths. Many even commanded the cardinal devils they created to replace their name and position as if they are the same ones mentioned in religious or occult texts, and they scattered themselves across Creation, not just the Netherworld, living quiet and anonymous lives. Like most of their major decisions, this is one made by Lucifer, who asked them to live as quietly and peacefully as possible if the Great War ended not in their favor.

## Weaknesses

### Harming

* **Witchcraft**: Due to its nature as a bastardization of the demons' infernal magic, witchcraft holds the power to oppose all those of celestial origins, including the demons themselves (much to their embarrassment). There are many witchery spells and rituals that can be used to trap and weaken demons, with some even capable of banishing them back to the Underworld for an extended amount of time.
* **Enochian Magick**: As the original and most powerful kind of Ancient Magicks, Enochian Magick is capable of a variety of powerful and primordial phenomena and can affect all those of celestial origins, regardless of their alignments - angels, fallen angels, and demons alike. However, depending on the amount of angelic power a demon retains, the effects of Enochian Magick has upon them may differ, as the greater the amount of one's angelic power, the less effective Enochian Magick will be upon them, and vice versa.
* **Holy Attribute**: The holy attribute is the bane of all demonic creatures, the demons being no exceptions. Symbols, scriptures and prayers from the Abrahamic religions are effective when defending oneself against demons but are generally useless when used offensively. By being christened with holy water at birth, a person will become immune to all demonic manipulation for their entire life.
	+ **Hallowed Ground**: Demons are incapable of entering hallowed grounds, such as churches, synagogues, mosques or other religious places.
	+ **Holy Weapons**: Demons can be wounded by weapons bearing the holy attribute, like holy swords or Sacred Gears with divine properties, such as Blade Blacksmith or Twilight Healing (Asia's the single exception).
	+ **Heavenly Weapons**: Demons can be easily wounded with weapons of a heavenly or divine nature.
* **Divine Weapons**: The celestial weapons of the gods, imbued with their users' divine power and made out of the highest-quality sacred metals can be used against the majority of supernatural beings, demons included. However, the amount of damage that can be caused by divine weapons on them is usually little to none.
	+ **Symbols of Power**: The gods' Symbols of Power are the only known divine weapons capable of dealing semi-serious damage on lower-ranked demons.

### Killing

* **Enochian Weapons**: Like all beings in existence, demons can be killed with heavenly weapons made out of divine metals.
	+ **Angel Blade**: All demons can be killed with an angel blade with their true angelic name engraved upon the blade with human blood and in Enochian hieroglyphs.
	+ **Original Longinus**: As the original 13 Longinus are exceptionally powerful Sacred Gears crafted from the most powerful divine metals and are imbued with immense power by the Biblical God, those with enough power and experience can use their Longinus to kill all immortal beings such as the demons.
* **Faustian Weapons**: Like all beings in existence, demons can be killed with infernal weapons made out of divine metals.
* **Primordial Regalia**: Weapons and artifacts belonging to the primordial entities can be used to permanently and absolutely destroy every and any being in existence, aside from other primordial entities, and erase their existence completely so that they can never be reborn or resurrected without the involvement of God.

## 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' will. However, when a demon is resurrected, they will return to their original state as a pure angel, with their entire memory, experience and personality wiped and they will return to "factory's settings", completely lacking any of their own free will.

In addition to that, whenever a demon is killed with an Enochian/Faustian weapon, their physical body will instantaneously combust, creating an explosion great enough to destroy an entire mountain down to its sub-molecular structure and imbued the land around it with an immense miasma that it becomes uninhabitable by any non-demonic being for possibly eternity.

## Population

The population of demons is extremely restricted. While there are hundreds of thousands of demons, due to the special circumstances of their creation, their number is permanently fixed at that exact number and it is impossible for them to raise their population. Because of this, they had to create numerous devils, daemon and countless other demonic creatures to serve as their heirs, concubines, servants and soldiers of each noble house's armies.

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 the Underworld that was severed during the barrier's construction process. Those who escaped then hid themselves away from the world and live lives of anonymity throughout Creation, either as common devils, magicians, or mundane humans.

## 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 strength. The ranks and their known owners are:

1. **God-Emperor**: Lucifer Morningstar.
2. **Emperors of Hell**: Divided into two groups based on their origins.
	* **Seven Deadly Sins**: Consisting of Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Lucifuge, Belphegor, Leviathan, Mammon, and Satan.
	* **Prime Evils**: Consisting of Lilith, Ahriman, Iblis, Yaldabaoth, and the Antichrist.
3. **Crowned Princes of Hell**: Cathariel, Ghogiel, Sheireil, Azariel, Usiel, Zomiel, Theumiel, Theuniel, Ogiel, and Nehema...
4. **Princes of Hell**: Amaymon, Ziminiar, Corson, Urieus, Aeryton, Nebiros, Satanachia, Agaliarept, Fleurety, and Sargatanas...
5. **Infernal Overlords**: Consisting of the remaining demons, such as the original 72 Pillars and the progenitors of the Extra Demons.

## Factions

### Emperors of Hell

**Emperors of Hell** (地獄の皇帝, *Jigoku no Kōtei*) are the twelve ultimate rulers of all demons and the gods of devils, daemon and demonic creatures. They lead the Stygian Council from Pandæmonium, the capital city and supposed center of the Underworld, while each of them also hold sovereign over large regions and territories of the Underworld, as well as the warden of the lowest circle which is an endless sea of nothingness that surrounds the Cage of Lucifer where the eponymous demon is imprisoned.

#### Seven Deadly Sins

**Seven Deadly Sins** (七つの大罪, *Nanatsu no Taizai*), or the **Seven Cardinal Demons**, are the original Emperors of Hell appointed by Lucifer before the other six emperors rose to power. They were Lucifer's greatest generals during the Heavenly War and each had hundreds upon hundreds of achievements and victories under their name. They are rulers of the seven circles of the Underworld and each represents one of the capital vices of mankind: Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Sloth, Envy, Greed and Wrath.

#### Prime Evils

**Prime Evils** (地獄の五鬼王プライム・イービル, *Puraimu Ībiru*), or the **Five Heretical Vices**, are the lesser demons who were granted the title of Emperor by Lucifer himself because of their immense power, influence, and authority. While not all of them are demons, they are treated on-par with other demons because of their status and due to the fact they were crowned by Lucifer, which itself was the highest honor any being could receive in the eyes of demons, fallen angels, and angels.

## Trivia

* Because of their angelic/demonic nature, they can wield both holy and demonic weapons.
* As shown by Belial and Astaroth, a demon can hold multiple different rankings.
* Due to the Underworld's unique characteristics, demons are invincible and cannot be permanently killed while staying within, as every time their physical body is destroyed, it will instantly reformed.