Demons of Death- Hunted

Chapter 8- The Origin and Complexity of Magic

Yuki took one of the cups. The soft heat coming from it made her feel at least a little comfy. Soon, the other members of BA came joining them. While Shurax sat down next to them on the couch- he seemed to know that this was their house and so could sit down wherever he wanted- while Assaku took a seat in a big armchair. The others remained standing. With them was a blonde-haired demon they hadn't seen before. She had a kind of creepy aura, that was for sure. "Alright", Assaku said and crossed his legs. "So I bet you got no clue what for fuck's sake is going on right now.", "That summed it up quite well", Hiko said. "Mhm." Assaku sighed. "Well, actually, it's like this: The gate of Rauco has been sealed. So that means it's not gonna open up, even when using a dimension spell. Trying to is wasting your time." They both kept quiet. "In fact, that's the doing of Kami, that'd be the most logical conclusion. She must've used a spell to close the gate. Only if the seal could be broken somehow, opening the gate might be possible again, if there is a way to do so. There's no way to be sure about that. However, that is not the greatest of all the problems right now.", "And what does that mean?" Yuki asked. "Those people we've been fighting against earlier. As I said already, these are demon hunters who have allied up with exorcists. Those are people who have gotten to know about demon existence for a while now. Our existence might still be a secret officially, but those people could leak it any moment. And not only that. They've created special weapons which could indeed deal harm to us.", "Such as?", "There are just a few ways to seriously harm a demon", Majoria continued. "One of them is magic, as you might have guessed. The second one is black metal, the material all of your weapons are made of. This special metal has its origin in the holy fires of Ainu.", "That's true." Assaku nodded. "Lucifer was the first demon to ever possess such a weapon. Forged in the golden flames of heaven, these black metal weapons were capable of hurting supernatural creatures with ease. Tir'an was able to re-create this sort of metal from Lucifer's trident using his magic power, so that's why the black metal now is commonly spread around you guys. The blades of your katana are black, ...Yuki was it, right?" Yuki nodded. "Yeah.", "Just like the tips of your arrows." He looked at Hiko. "However, there's a third material that can injure us, and that's silver. That's the most common of the three that humans can get their hands on. In tales and stories, silver had always been considered a material capable of killing supernaturals. The sad part is, that, in fact, it's true. Silver can harm us when used in weapons. And they made use of it. In addition to that, Excorcists practice holy white magic, which is also pretty bad for us.", "But there's one thing I don't understand... Why do they own magic? It is not common around humans, that's what the others said.", "It isn't, that's true. Rarely to almost never, humans are capable of using magic. Only some are lucky enough to have been born with a special quality that enables them to gain magic. We call it 'crests'. However, even possessing a crest doesn't mean being able to exercise magic. For that, the crest has to be activated. Exorcists use artifacts that bear magic power, I bet they've received them from an angel or something. Naturally, the belief that exorcists created the barrier around Starfell is bullshit. Kami created it. Now, there's one thing important to know. As soon as humans turn into demons, their bodies change, which allows Aether and Nether, of what magical power is made, to enter their bodies and create and activate a crest automatically. Supernaturals are blessed with the quality of being determined to own crests, while it's no commodity among humans. Magic has been around ever since this world existed." She folded her arms. "The crests determine the magic usable. Mostly, we start using the magic out of instinct or accidentally or it just manifests without our will. It takes a while to be fully aware of our magic and use it properly. It can also rarely occur that an individual possesses two different crests with two different magic powers.", "I see..." Yuki folded her arms. "So Etana has two crests?", "That's correct." Assaku nodded. "Shurax too.", "Really? What can you do?", "...Mind Magic and Telekinesis", he answered. "I am able to teleport myself without effort, too... ", "Mind Magic? What exactly does that do?",
"I can read other people's minds or manipulate them.", Wha-?!" Yuki flinched. "You can read thoughts?!", "Mhm." Shurax nodded. "Don't worry, I don't do that right now. But I mostly do when I need to assess whether someone is an enemy or a friend.", "Anyhow, we are sliding off the topic", Assaku remarked. "Fact is: The demon hunters lured you to Oblivion for exterminating you. If you received letters from them, it means you're not save, even at home. Wherever you are, these people know who you are and that means you have to be cautious." He stood up. "Actually, Black Asylum exists to... undo the demon hunters. That's our true goal.",
"You mean 'kill'", Yuki corrected. "Not necessarily. That's a last-resort drastic measure. But here, right now, we slowly start losing the upper hand because they keep showing up in groups. As for now, the risk is quite high that Kami will send them help, as well. Now that Lucifer, their strongest enemy, cannot leave the dimension of Rauco, they can act on us as if we're easy targets. Lucifer's presence has long since overshadowed our own. Now, his shadow is gone and we're all targets. The truce that has once existed between him and Kami has been broken, that's why we gotta deal with this mess. Exorcists have learned to distinguish humans from demons, that's why they work together with the demon hunters. If the starts don't align and everything ends up to be a whole chaos, we have to get rid of them, for our survival's sake.", "But don't they do that to protect themselves?" Yuki asked. "You can't kill them because of what they do, right?", "Shut the fuck up!" Assaku hissed and glared at her. "They kill us, regardless whether we return the favor or not. It's them or us. I don't care whether they are just innocent humans with a false belief because they never got to know the truth. I don't care AT ALL. You haven't seen what I saw! They are responsible for Lerayuna's death!" With these words, he went away. "I didn't mean to-" Yuki started, but he was gone already. "...", "Don't mind that", Sytria said. "Since Azuni has died, Assaku's mood flips from one state to another. He's started to be very sensitive about things." She shook his head. "Yeah, unfortunately." Majoria chimed in. "He hates the demon hunters for a long time now, just like he hates exorcists. They are capable of doing cruel things to us, which they do once they get the chance. Assaku internally wants them all to die, but he has learned from Lucifer that negotiation sometimes is the key to sow peace between two parties. That's why he is hesitant to just... attack them like we potentially could." Yuki looked into her cup. "... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... hurt him like this.", "You didn't." Shurax shook his head. "He just overreacted.", "I'm still gonna apologize.", "If that's your wish." Shurax stood up as well. "Excuse me now." He lifted up the tray and carried it back into the kitchen. Majoria also left, just like the blonde-haired demon- Skeletron, as Yuki suspected- which only left them with Sytria. The former Arashi princess tilted her head. "You're free to decide what you do now", she said. "I highly recommend to you to stay away from home. Or town. Or whatever. At least for as long as that damn Rauco gate doesn't open. You can stay here for the moment. We don't care what you do then." She turned away and left them sitting.