Scarlet

“To start off, the demon society is a lot more like the fae than the humans,” Tar says as I stare up at the ceiling. “There are the noble demons, who you know are all Class V, except for their children of course, and then there are the four Demon Lords, and the Demon King. And every last pure blood demon is required by blood to follow the orders of the current Demon King. It’s just in their blood. Instinct.”

I shiver at the thought of being tied down to obey the orders of someone else.

Wait, you said every last pure blood demon. Does that mean I’m safe from that?

“Indeed, you are,” Tar says, not explaining any further before he continues the topic of demon society. “Out of the demons, there are various noble races, and the only ones who can become a Demon Lord are the nobles. Meanwhile the only ones that can become the Demon King are amongst the Demon Lords.”

I lower my head to narrow my eyes at the tanuki for a few seconds.

How do they know that the demon king’s commands won’t work on me if I’m the only half demon to have ever existed?

“The seven noble clans consist-” Tar begins, but I cut him off by stating, “Tar. Answer my question.”

He opens his eyes and looks at me, conflict clear in his gaze before he eventually sighs.

“Father has known about you since you were born, and let’s just say you were given an order by the Demon King once as an infant, but the magic in the order simply bounced off of your human blood, failing to take any measure of a hold on you,” Tar answers, making my entire body stiffen up.

I… I was close enough to the Demon King once for him to be able to give me an order? Face to face?

How is that… even possible?

“I apologize, but I am not allowed to give you that information,” Tar says, burying his face underneath his paws on my chest. “Know that I have already stretched the rules set in place by father about what I can tell you on this matter.”

I scowl at the tanuki for several seconds, only to eventually let out a sigh.

Fine.

I trust you enough to know by now that you don’t outright lie to me. So if you’re serious about this, and you sound like you are, I won’t push it.

But it doesn’t mean I’ll give up on trying to get my answers.

“Understandable,” Tar says, lifting his head again. “Now. The seven noble clans. Do you know of them?”

Yes, I do know that at least. Or at least I know some of the clans.

The seven noble demon clans consist of the Oni, representing the Wrath demons, the Ghouls, representing the Gluttony demons, and of course the Blood Lycans, representing the Pride demons.

I blink at that thought.

Hey, is the reason I’m so prideful because I’m half blood lycan?

“Yes,” Tar answers before continuing the lesson, “the other four noble demon clans consist of the Succubi, representing the Lust demons, the Arachnae, representing the Envy demons, the Kitsune, representing the Greed demons, and lastly, the Mindeaters, representing the Sloth demons. But remember that these are just the demon clans that almost always become nobility. There are hundreds more noble demons. Basically any demon that reaches Class V.”

I grimace at the mention of the Mindeaters. Because now that he mentions them, I do remember learning about the demon clan that specializes purely in mental attacks. The demons often like to put their target to sleep before they enter their mind and begin devouring it from the inside.

They’re probably one of the most hated demons of all, purely because of their mental attacks, which not a lot of Guardians tend to get very many defenses against. Especially since skills that defend against mental attacks often need you to be attacked with a mental skill in the first place to be able to purchase.

“Also, the Demon Lords almost always come from amongst the demon clans. Take now for example,” Tar says, his tone shifting slightly at the mention of the Demon Lords. “The four Demon Lords at present time come from the blood lycan clan, the Mindeaters, the ghouls, and lastly, the oni. And the Demon King himself is a blood lycan.”

My eyes widen at that last bit of information.

By the stars... does that mean…

“Don’t take the information based on assumptions,” Tar says, stopping my thoughts. “There are thousands of blood lycans, some of them even having been exiled from the clan. And not all of the blood lycans are equal, nor are they all closely related. Even if they are all related in some way, albeit very distantly related.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

Good to know I’m probably not directly related to the Demon King, even if I’m partially of the same species as him.

Wait. He said thousands of blood lycans. As in thousands of noble demons of just a single species?

The hell?!

“Good to see that you noticed,” Tar says. “The Fractures aren’t just on Terra, or as the world used to be called, Earth. They begin on the home world of the demons, Tartarus, where the demons can pass through to your world. But the demons that are able to pass through are limited by the Fracture core, so they are often kept strictly guarded to help organize what you call Demonic Assaults better, since the weakest demons, the spawn, are often without sapience.”

That’s… horrifying.

“Yes,” Tar continues, his voice taking on a grave note. “Many humans, and even Guardians at the lower level, assume that the demons are not organized or are mostly unintelligent creatures bent solely on destruction. But that’s not true. Not in the slightest bit.”

Then why are they attacking us?

Tar opens his eyes and glances at me with a frown.

“We don’t know.”

That has me frowning as well.