I had traveled with Ira to a demon village that was relatively nearby. During our travel I asked him questions and got... some questionable answers. One such question was why they named their generals after the seven sins. Apparently the humans began it first with the Seven Virtues, so to not fall behind their enemy, the demon king formed the Seven Sins. Such a childish reason… the demon king was 10 years old at the time. The war had been going for 86 years, and demon king Kel’thul had ruled all through it since he was 8 years old. Basically Kel’thul was 94 years old.

Ira was easily angered by numerous things during our travels. Fortunately the demon knew a modicum of restraint, for every time I angered him one way or another, he would just grit his teeth until he calmed down. If it was anything else, he would pulverize it. There was a point in our journey that a tree had fallen over, and spouting some insane nonsense about assaulting his ears, Ira turned the tree’s corpse into splinters.

At one point Ira even asked me a question. He wasn’t a very curious guy, a muscle-head trope through and through, so this did not happen often. He had asked about how I killed his forces in the cave. I told him the embarrassing story of how I am a manna spirit and I used primal mana to will the earth to pierce his troops, causing the pending cave-in. In response, Ira didn’t even get angry about his slaughtered unit, and just nodded solemnly as though he understood.

We had reached the demon village Julak in six days. It was a modest village with a high number of stationed troops, and was in the process of erecting stone walls. Upon our arrival, the demon army soldiers greeted Ira warmly and welcomed him, and I followed him, earning curious stares.

“Are you sure I don’t need to disguise myself Ira?” I was still in my manna spirit form, and spoke telepathically to Ira. I discovered, by remembering my time as a humanoid, that I was unconsciously speaking with my mouth rather than telepathically. It’s easy when you remember you were once human, I guess.

Ira just nonchalantly waved his hand in response. He couldn’t care less about what other think huh? Judging from the soldier’s stares though my being with Ira must be an oddity. Arriving at what looked to be a command center located near a barracks, I followed Ira inside. Within the command center stood a demon in a black scale armor from head to toe, like Ira’s men were. Her helmet rested on a table next to a large map which seemed to depict the mountains we just traveled from, the Twelve Pearly Gates. She had pale skin and soft brown hair. You could mistake her for human if you did not see her eyes, which were snake-like and the color of amethysts.

“Ah! General Ira! What can I do for you?” she spoke as we entered, as though she were expecting us.

“Commander Julie, do you happen to know of Zavus’ current location?” Ira got straight to the point.

“Uhn. So it’s about that? The general was searching for the last few weeks a beast fitting the description of that one there. To think you had such generosity to find it for him, General Ira… He has just returned to Pandemonium, last I heard.”

“Thank you commander, keep up the good work.” Ira said in a nonchalant manner, and turned to leave with me close on his heels.

“So we are heading back to Pandemonium then?” I asked anxiously. I was not exactly thrilled about going back to that place.

“So long as you want to deal with Zavus, yes. Besides, this way I can introduce you to the king and any generals who happen to be at Pandemonium when we get there.” Ira gave me a beaming smile. It was a little creepy because he had some not-so-subtle fangs. Hell, if he had two more arms, you could call him a Shokan. We made our preparations and set off for Pandemonium.

During this journey there was even less talking. I did ask Ira if there was a demon magic school I could attend. Ira scoffed at the mention of school, something he typically did when you ask him about something he didn’t know, as if the knowledge were below his existence.

I also asked whether the armor colors had any significance within the demon army, and apparently they are color-coded to the Generals they serve. Red for Wrath, black for Greed, green for Gluttony, white for Pride, blue for Sloth, and violet for Envy. Supposedly Lust’s subordinates did not wear armor, as they were solely a force of mages who wore robes. They had many colors but Ira did not know any reasons behind them, and scoffed once more.

In a rather silent and quick passage of four days, we arrived at the gates of the obsidian castle known as Pandemonium. Apparently there was a city, but it was about two miles from the castle itself, somewhere to the west. As the gate opens, I see waiting to leave the castle from the other side was Zavus. Our eyes met, and Zavus let out a shout of surprise.

“Ira!” he quickly tossed something to Ira, and followed up with “Quickly! Put this on the beast!”

Ira caught an ivory band, and while looking it over asked Zavus, “Why? What does it do?”

“It will make the beast subservient to the possessor of its sister ring, here, so do so quickly!”

“I see.” Ira responded, and made a dash, not for me, but for Zavus, and slapped the band around his neck. With the sound of a latch locking in place, the band fitted itself to Zavus’ neck, whilst Ira grabbed Zavus’ hand and ungraciously tore an ivory ring from Zavus’ hand. Zavus had no time to react to the sudden attack.

“W-what are you doing! Zavus ineloquently screeched.

“Giving our new companion a gift.” Ira said with a malevolent smile as he tossed the ivory ring to me. I caught it with a malicious grin similar to Ira’s. This man makes good on his word quickly.

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