Demon oc art is done 😼😼 I have 2 more projects I'm working on for this book (For 300K & for the 1 year anniversary that has either already passed or is soon)

-> Idk if I'll ever finish those but yk 🕺🕺

Have a good time reading besties <3

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Mike Ratri chewed his thumbnail anxiously, an angry grimace on his face. He shuffled more papers around on his desk, trying to read through them but he found himself too distracted to retain a single word.

"Stupid brats." He muttered, pausing his pointless paper-scanning at last and pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to relieve his stress.

"Agents, leave the room." The Ratri sighed suddenly, placing his hands on his desk and standing up from his chair. The bodyguards standing on either side of his doorway perked up, staring at the man for a moment before exiting.

"I need to make a phone call."

——-

I watched the demons leave the clearing via a tree as I'd instructed, quietly opening my satchel and placing a piece of herb in my mouth.

My hope was to delay any scouts that might be sent for me, and to send a message to Sonju without risk of it being disrupted.

Once everyone had climbed up the large tree I began my own climb, nimbly crawling up the trunk, finding purchase easily under my fingers and boots. As soon as I reached the top, I glanced around myself, waiting for a moment no one would be looking at me and then removing Mujika's necklace from under my tunic and draping it over a small broken branch.

I prayed the message would be clear to Sonju; that I was unharmed and didn't need immediate help. It might be a bit much to expect that from a necklace, but Sonju knew while I was reckless, I wasn't so careless to lose something so precious to Mujika.

As such, that I had chosen to drape it on the branch myself and expected it to be found would be inferable. The fact that I didn't leave a more obvious message would spell I was being watched.

I then scurried to catch up with the others, who were already carefully scaling to the next tree, the elderly (though there weren't many of those ) and the children climbing across first.

Our group was heading to the abandoned farm of horrors, the one-and-only Lambda.

The night before I'd asked Cozbi if she had any idea about the location of the newer experimental farm. Thankfully, while in hiding, the demon clan avoided heavily-populated areas- and Lambda was one of the ones they knew about, especially because of how trafficked the area had been, until brother dearest blew half of it off the map. 

After finally getting everyone to give me a map, which didn't come before some name-calling, I was able to get them to point out the approximate location. From my own knowledge of what the farm looked like and it's surroundings, thanks to a few sparse manga panels in my memory, I was able to narrow down the location. 

The journey to Lambda would take 8 days.

"Why Lambda?" I'd been asked a few times here and there. See, if I'm to save these demons, I can start working on a cure there- after all, the goal of Lambda was to find a way to artificially modify humans. Even if the goal was to find a way that even mass-produced humans could have the same brain and body development as high-grade farms, there was sure to be some material there regarding genetic modification.

But even better than the materials there, I can use the village nearby- built to house the once-workers of the now-abandoned farm- to send a letter to Sonju and Mujika to let them know the details of my situation. And another option; to message some other creepy douche currently exploring genetic modification and ask for help.

He's genetically modifying pigs, but same difference- Especially when looking at these demon's douchebag of a leader.

Hell, I'd pay money to see that motherf**ker fly over a pig any day.

I glanced over to Cozbi as she sat down beside me, interrupting my thoughts. We were four days into our journey- halfway, and most of the little demons were now asleep, as it was getting late. The campfire crackled quietly and adults huddled around it in small groups, chattering peacefully. To them, being attacked by wild demons was more of a rarity.

"Soo...." I saw Cozbi's eyes glance from mine to the knife in my hands as I sharpened it against a whetstone Sonju made me keep handy. "Whatchu thinking about?"

"About how much easier my life would be if I used this knife a little more often." I answered simply, dragging the blade against the stone once more for extra emphasis. 

Cozbi sweatdropped while I pulled out my belt and stuffed the stone back into the satchel. I then prepared to put my knife back into it's case, but paused for a moment. "Hey," I spoke, apparently too suddenly, as Cozbi jumped a foot in the air the second I exhaled.

"OhmygoddontdothatithoughtyouwereabouttoSTAB me." The she-demon gasped for breath, then sighed in relief.

"Ohmygod stab you?!" I exclaimed abruptly, fanning my face with worry. "Oh I would never do that! It would be so out of nowhere! I mean, what sort of problems would stabbing you solve? Of course, never mind that stabbing people is a great way to relieve from stress- but I don't know you're just so important to me I never even considered it!"

"Y/N please stop you're going to scare the children." Cozbi's voice quivered and I turned to her, my eyebrows drawing together curiously.

"The children? They're all sleeping, though. Oh, look. Another couple of demons off to bed. It's nearly just you, me..." I looked down to my blade sweetly, running my fingers over the edge. "And Via here..."

Cozbi sobbed. "It's me, I'm the child so please put the knife away."

"Her name is Via." I pouted, placing the blade back in the satchel.

"Via?" Cozbi raised an eyebrow.

"It's short-form for the acronym VITS ITQ ATAIY."

"...do I want to ask?"

"It stands for Violence Isn't The Answer, It's The Question, And The Answer Is Yes." 

"And that's what you named your knife?" Cozbi's face broke out into a small grin. She reached to her waist and gripped her sword, pulling it slowly out of it's sheathe. "This here's name is Frederick the III. A much better name than Via." She rolled her eyes jokingly. She continued speaking while she carefully re-sheathed her sword. "Oh, Benny's spear is named Buttface, by the way- and Aurelia has a knife named Patricia.

I shook my head with a smile. "Of course they do" 

-

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-

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We arrived at Lambda on schedule, after experiencing demon attacks few and far in between durinh our travel. Wild demons just aren't as interested in other demon booty, I guess.

The abandoned farm was as desolate and deserted as my soul. The west entrance of the place had been blown wide open, and a cool breeze blew from that entrance.

"It's huge!" The kids exclaimed and I turned to them with ready grin.

"You know what else is huge?" I responded instantly, without thinking.

The children turned to me with curious eyes. "What?"

I caught Cozbi's and Aurelia's eyes too, and coughed. "Ahem. The palace."

"WOAHH the palace is this big?? I wanna see it some day!" The kids clamoured excitedly, beginning to walk into the entrance. "Was it really that big, Cozbi?!"

Lambda was thankfully dry, and the lack of tracks through the building showed that other citizens rarely came to this area. And, I found, as I toyed around with the generator, electricity was available in the southern corridor.

"Wow. Where'd you learn to do that?" Cozbi asked, peeping over my shoulder.

"While recovering from an injury, I read a crap ton of books. Most of which were supplied by a total nerd." I hummed, closing the breaker box after checking to see if I could get electricity anywhere else. 

"You learned that from a book?" 

"Benefits of being high-quality farm-food, I guess." I grinned, knocking on my head. "No matter how many braincells I lose, I've still got plenty left in storage."

"Ugh." Cozbi muttered as we walked back to where the civilian demons had gathered. "I wish I could say the same. Whenever I talk to Benny it feels like they're being sucked right out of my brain, never to return." I snickered in response before turning to the others.

"Alrighty. You're welcome to house here, for the time being. It should prove warmer and dryer than your tents. I'll write to Sonju and Mujika for permission for you to live on these grounds. In the meantime, I'll be contacting a little b*tc-" I cleared my throat. "Associate of mine to conduct harmless experiments to see if he can find a cure for your situation. I'm busy myself, so I won't be able to grace you with my prescense for long." 

"-Then what about our confirmation? What if this "associate" deserts us and leaves us to die?" The leader spoke again, standing to their feet. 

Dirtied from our travels and covered in grime, they hardly looked like much of a threat anymore. 

I shrugged. "Not really my problem, but considering the incentive I'll be giving him, I doubt this associate will desert you before his tasks are complete."  

"Incentive?" A young demon echoed from the audience.

I sighed. "Have you heard of Baron Leuvis?" The crowd squirmed uncomfortably- the usual response from anyone whenever the top-hat demon was mentioned. "Yeah, him. I fought him once and personally destroyed his ass myself. Oh, and his first core. I destroyed that, too." 

"Oh." The crowd echoed, seeming to decide I had a total death wish.

"Yeah, so, I promised the perve– guy, unintentionally, of course, that if he made pigs fly I would spar with him again. A rematch. I'm sure you've heard how crazy Leuvis is about fighting, so..."

The crowd muttered in assent and the leader finally sat their big b*tching butt back down.

"Then, I'm going to split you into groups. I need... maybe children and a few supervisors to go around exploring for me." 

"Exploring?!" The children echoed excitedly.

"You betcha! But while you explore I need you to look for vegetables and gardens and such. I heard that Lambda was self-sustainable from- ...and they're gone." I sighed. Aurelia stood to her feet and glided after the children.

"I'll keep an eye on them."

I nodded. "Alrighty, so the rest of you... Half of you look for a place to set up a sleeping area- hell, there should be beds around here somewhere, and the rest of you, look for a kitchen or somewhere we can cook. I say "we", but for everyone's sake, I will not be setting foot in the kitchen. In the meantime, I will be taking a nap because I have not had a proper bed to sleep in for days. If anyone disturbs me before dinner, I hope you like the taste of knife."

In truth, I did not, actually, plan to sleep. My hope was to lure out anyone who would try to kill me in my sleep- besides their pesky leader, of course. "Watch your friend over there." I gestured to the leader while I slipped past Cozbi.

The blue-haired demon nodded, seeming to have an idea of my plan already. "Alright." 

I found a room with a single bed that didn't reek of sadness, trauma, pee, or blood, and decided to rest there. Before climbing under the covers, I pulled my throwing knives out of my belt and laid them down on the bed. I then slipped under the sheets and closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath.

I rested there, extremely alert, but not exactly awake. Oh, how much I missed a warm bed to sleep in.

Something like 2 hours had passed by the time someone finally approached me. Barely-audible footsteps scuffed through the corridor, and soon arrived at my doorway. 

Whoever it was paused their for a moment before entering my room. Keeping my breathing steady and body still, I gripped my knife tighter. 

"Hey,-" The moment they were upon me I spun, flinging their mask off their face with my blade and then positioning the point above their center eye. 

Pink hair in ringlets shook and I stared at Aurelia's wide eyes. She blinked for a moment before recovering from her initial shock. "Sorry for disturbing you. We've finished dinner preparations, and I came to wake you." She spoke kindly, undisturbed by my knife in her face. After a moment she turned around, stooping to pick up her mask and reposition it on her face.

I lowered my knife and righted myself, chewing on my lip. "Right. Thanks." I sighed, placing my knife back into my belt. 

"Of course." Aurelia smiled softly before drifting out of the room, barely making a noise as she passed through my doorway. 

I shook my head tiredly and drifted to the doorway myself, glancing after Aurelia as she walked away. She was now hand-in-hand with a young blue-haired demon kid– though they seemed a bit reluctant to follow.

I frowned as I watched her leave.

Did she always make hardly a sound in all her movements? 

After finishing dinner, I turned to Cozbi with a question that had been on my mind for some time now. "Were your people behind the recent raids?" I asked, setting my empty dishes beside me. 

Cozbi's face twitched slightly and she sighed. "No. I'm sure you've seen it yourself- most of those here are simple people- children and young families. Save for myself, Aurelia, Benny, and a few others who are warriors and here to protect everyone. But that's not to say we aren't related to those behind the attacks. When we were found by the monarchs many years ago, my clan split into two. The warriors who wanted to fight back into one, and the youth, elderly, and warriors who were retired with children or wanted peace into the other. I've been thinking for some time that the group running attacks might be those from so long ago. But after they ceased attacking for so long, thought they were all already caught already and killed."

"Why are they suddenly attacking now?" I asked, leaning back on my hands.

"Probably because they're reverting." Cozbi shrugged. "Instead of looking for a way out of their mess like we did, they've decided to wreak as much havoc as possible before they inevitably pass." 

I hummed. "Sound like my kind of mindset, not going to lie." I pushed myself to my feet with a long stretch. "Aight, I'm gonna go to bed for real now."

"Night." Cozbi raised her hand in a wave. 

"Oh," I turned to the she-demo  before leaving the breezy common room the demons had set up for dinner. "I'll be heading into town at first light tomorrow to send letters to Sonju, Mujika, and Stinky before mid-noon. You up to come?"

Cozbi groaned, pushing herself to her feet. "First light? I guess I should get to bed then, too."

-

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I finished scrawling my letter to Sonju and Mujika in demon dialect- most demons nowadays spoke the "common tongue" anyway, so at least this way, I could try and be secretive. I looked over my penmanship once more before sealing the envelope.

'k̶i̶d̶n̶a̶p̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ Encountered a tribe of demons who would love it if I̶ ̶d̶r̶o̶p̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶r̶n̶ I spared some blood so they could survive. Instead I indirectly called them b*tch**ses and am going to trick Lu-Lu into creating a cure for them at Lambda. Might not be back for a while, I̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶h̶u̶n̶c̶h̶ r̶e̶l̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶p̶a̶p̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶S̶o̶n̶j̶u̶ ̶l̶e̶f̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶k̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶o̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶ c̶h̶a̶n̶c̶e̶. I have another letter inclosed I need you to send to wherever your stupid brother is.

XOXO, Y/N.

Once I sealed that envelope, I began writing Leuvis' letter. 

I have some experiments you need to run instead of on the stupid pigs. I'm at the abandoned Lambda farm. If you can find a cure to stop the degeneration of the demons living there, I'll have a rematch with you, so get ur stinky *ss over here. 

-Y/N
P.S. If you try anything on the demons there, I  will NOT find you and gut you like a fish. 

I sighed, sealing the envelope. It was so hard to threaten a demon who's greatest wish was to fight to the death with you. I then put the two letters into one envelope and wrote the address to the castle on it. 

"You ready to head back?" Cozbi asked me, peeking over my shoulder while I handed the envelopes to the pigeon-carrier demon dude. 

"Not quite." A smile spread over my face- although I doubted Cozbi could see it, considering I now wore my mask and had my hood up to avoid proclaiming to everyone that I was a human. 

Cozbi raised a curious eyebrow and I gestured to the road, implying that we should walk and talk. "I went through Sonju's papers regarding the raids and attacks once. Quickly skimmed them, mind you, but I very easily noticed a trend. Most sighting notices occurred somewhere in this area, and the time between attacked locations would include just over enough time to travel between there and here before heading out again."

"You suspect their base is near here." Cozbi elaborated, a careful grin spreading over her face, mirroring my own.

"They're causing a little trouble for my companions, and I've some time to kill before Leuvis is done with his cure. So whaddya say? Wanna wreak some havoc with me?"

Cozbi gasped in mock offence. "Would I?" She rolled her eyes boredly, although her wide grin betrayed the expression "Duh."

-----

Mike Ratri's peaceful sleep was disturbed suddenly by the fire alarm, screaming bloody murder. 

He sprang up from his bed, face white as a sheet. He'd turned to the window when his door was flung open by his bodyguards. "Sir!" One of them exclaimed. "The east annex is burning!"

The mayonnaise man's face paled even further. "The east annex?" He paused, his stomach churning in dread; he had a suspicion of what exactly what was going on.

And he didn't like it.

 "What are you blithering idiots doing here, then?!" He yelled. "Contact the fire department! Put it out right away!" He spat angrily, his bodyguards stumbling out of his doorway and down the hall.

The white-haired man watched them stumble, chewing the inside of his lip before turning to his window, seeing orange flames lick the air and sparks rise, the fire alarm still wailing in his ears.

How the hell did those brats find out about the gate so quickly?

-----

Hehe. 

~3,100 words.

ANYWAYS LOOK

AND I DREW THEM AS HUMANS

I JUST REALIZED THAT I MIXED COZBI AND AURELIA'S PRIDE FLAGS UP-- AURELIA'S TOTALLY BI WITH A FEMALE PREFERENCE AND COZBI'S A HARDCORE LESBIAN. ANYWAYS JUST HAD TO GET THAT OUT THERE.

MOVING ON, I DOODLED THESE 3 FOR FUN

the way I said "f**k it" for everyone's hands I'm dead. AND IDK SENTRY GUY'S NAME YET BUT HE'S SO CUTE PLEASE 😭😭

Guess who's supposed to make an appearance next chap? 👹💅

Ily bebs bye <3<3