Chapter 8: Class about general knowledge about demons

The class was starting and the subject was about demons. The students were ready and waiting for the teacher to arrive. Hannibal had lost five silver because even Kyle had shown up in the class. The class was over capacity, which meant that there were more than 30 people.

Then Lucas finally showed up as he said "Take your seats" but it was not necessary since all were sitting already. Lucas found this odd, but brushed it off. He was a bit surprised about the amount of people in the class. Even two of the teachers were in the audience.

Then Lucas started by saying "Before we start talking about different types of demons, do any of you know where the demon race comes from?" People raised their hands and Lucas picked Elias who then said "Didn't they inhabit the demon realm first after demon gods created them?" Lucas said "Close, but not quite. You are correct about the part where they were first put into the demon realm. The part where you are wrong is that it wasn't the seven demon gods that put them there, but it was their originator, the god Naga. Naga was once the god who first created demons and monsters alike. He first put them to the demon realm as to see how his own creations would fare. It was only when Naga split into seven demon gods that the demons were granted the permission to enter the mortal realm. The types of demons and monsters that could enter were picked together with demon gods and other gods. This is the reason why this realm existed before demons and monsters "invaded" it. I put the word "invaded" in quotations, since it was something that the first inhabitants of the mortal realm said and recorded. The great invasion was in fact something that was allowed by the gods, which technically makes the word "invasion" wrong, but at the same time, it doesn't."

One of the history teachers, professor Hansel, asked Lucas "Where do you get this information from?" To which Lucas said "If you don't already know, I lived in the time of demon king of abomination's reign and I was, in fact, a close friend to the old Ranan."

Professor Hansel asks "Do you mean to say that demon territory once knew of this part of history without sharing it to the other races?" Lucas says "I don't think it was ever a secret that the demons held. It just was never accepted by other races that when demons and monsters came to the mortal realm, it was in fact something that the gods permitted and in fact wanted. As to why this knowledge is not even discussed in today's history, it was probably when the city of Gnosi was burned by the claim that it held heresy. Demons stored much knowledge in that city and it served as a great symbol that demons were as important of a race as any other humanoid race. I used to chat a lot with the scholars of the city about many things both mundane and complex."

Then Lucas looks at Fiona for a second and then says "Let's get to the topic of demon lords, or as you understand it, noble demons. Can anyone tell me the names of the families that are considered noble bloodlines?" Fiona raises her hand and Lucas lets her speak. She said "There is Basilk family, Avar family, Ranan family, Gorgos family, Tizat family, Elifito family and Inertia family. Each bloodline has the blood of their respected demon god running through their veins."

Lucas then says "Correct. Each demon lord family has the right to earn the title of a demon king. The demon king is decided through a battle of wit and strength. First is the test where they test the smarts of the person by writing a study of the current circumstances and how they would be able to be improved. The second test is a fight between two demon lords. The aim is not to kill the opponent, but instead it is to make the other submit. If the two become tied, then an election will be held. The winner of the election or the one who wins both tests has earned the demon king title. This process can be held between a total of seven people, in which the winner will be selected by a point system. If points become tied, then a vote will ensue. And as for demon queen, if the demon king trial was won by a woman, then demon territory would become matriarchy for the duration of her reign. So in other words, depending on who won the demon king trial, demon territory would be either matriarchy or monarchy."

Lucas then pauses for a moment and then says "The demon king trial was prevalent in the times when the three houses were formed. In the time when the demon king of ashes, Dorian Ranan, was the demon king, there weren't that many demon king trials. And when there weren't any demon king trials, the title of a demon king would be passed on to the child of the current demon king or queen. And then we reach the era of demon king of abomination Legul Ranan."

Lucas pauses again and then he says "Legul Ranan. Heir of two noble bloodlines. He was a child between the Ranan family head Dorian Ranan and former Elifito family head Polia Elifito. It was seen as taboo to mix the blood between two demon lord bloodlines, hence when Legul became the demon king, he gained the title of demon king of abomination. Ranan was the bloodline of demon god of wrath Iram and Elifito was the bloodline of demon god of envy Invidia. Legul was born as a race called demon mimic like her mother Polia and shared many things with her. This didn't mean Legul didn't get anything from his father Dorian. He gained an incredible aura like his father and amazing magic power. Both of those combined made Legul's power level much higher than any mimic before him."

Then a student raises her hand and Lucas lets her ask a question "Which noble family has blood of which demon god?" Lucas answers, "The Basilk family has the blood of the demon god of pride, Gloria. The Avar family has the blood of the demon god of greed, Avariti. The Gorgos family has the blood of the demon god of gluttony, Satious. The Tizat family has the blood of the demon god of lust, Meretrix. And the Inertia family has the blood of the demon god of sloth Lowell."

Then a professor Hansel asks "If I understand correctly, each noble demon bloodline has its own type of subrace. Can you tell what each of their family's subrace is?" Lucas then says "I am from a branch of Elifito family and they consist of demon mimics who can mimic other things, both living and nonliving. The Basilk family consists mostly of demon gargoyles that can turn themselves into a material of any kind. The Tizat family consists of succubuses and Incubuses who can steal the life essence of others through intercourse. The Gorgos family consists of demogorgons that usually eat many things. The Inertia family consists of demons known as somnum that barely ever move. The Avar consists of a goblin-like race called knass that are far more advanced than goblins and look more elf-like than goblins. And the Ranan family consists of illuminated demon beasts called deilum, which all look different but still mostly humanoid similar to beastmen but more beast-like. I will get into detail of what each bloodline specializes in at a later date."

Then Lucas fell silent for a moment. After ten seconds, he said "Unfortunately, the demon lord bloodlines have been reduced. The Gorgos and Avar bloodlines have become extinct. If any of the two still exist, there must be a reason why they are hiding themselves. Perhaps they have become distrustful of other races and they want to take revenge against other races. Or perhaps they simply wanted to disappear from the common eye."

Then another small pause was held before Lucas said "Now that the knowledge that was once common knowledge has been passed down, what do you all want to learn about?" Kyle raised his hand and asked "Can you tell us more about your aberrant race?"

Lucas then said "Of course. I'm happy to tell people about the mimic race. First of all, let's make the distinction between regular mimics and demon mimics. Regular mimics have the average intelligence of an octopus whereas demon mimics have intelligence akin to elves. Generally speaking demon mimics can mimic larger or more complex things that they have seen. For example, demon mimic could mimic the inner and outward appearance of an entire building like this one. And as I mean complex things, I mean complex things such as the living body. Regular mimics can mostly only change their outward appearance whereas demon mimics can mimic the inner workings of a living body and even the soul of a person."

One of the students raised their hand and asked "Doesn't that mean that demon mimics could essentially become another person?" Lucas says "In fact, demon mimics can become an exact copy of a person. Where mimics have the skill "mimicry" or "perfect mimicry", the demon king Legul had a skill called "beyond mimicry" which made it possible for him to become even more of that person than the actual person themselves could. But let's leave the demon king out for now and focus on the mimics in general. When demon mimics were more abundant, they were used as spies for the most part."

People started talking amongst themselves and then one student raised their hand and asked "Is there any way to distinguish a mimic and if they can mimic a person to the extent where they can become equal to the person they are mimicking, is there a battle strategy?" Lucas then says "While I think you can rest easy as all demon mimics besides me have most likely perished or are in so few in numbers that they have to struggle to survive. But if you are asking about regular mimics that didn't have as big of an ego as demon mimics, then I can give you some pointers. First and most effective counter to any mimic is to carry a pure and fine silver powder with you if you are facing one. "Why is silver powder so special?" You may ask, and the answer is simple. If any silver gets into mimics "bloodstream" then they will feel almost immediate pain. You would need at least half of the mimic's true body mass to actually kill the mimic, but the most sensible option is to make them absorb some silver and let them feel the immense pain. Once mimics are in pain from silver, they can barely move and the little movement they can do is only some twists and turns. When the mimic is stunned or distracted from the pain, then it is the best chance to attack."

Elliot asks "Would this work on you?" To which Lucas says "Oh absolutely. But since my true body mass is so large, it is close to impossible to cause me to die from silver poisoning. The trade for me is that I will have a much larger range to feel immense pain." Iris asks "Aren't you worried that some of us would use this knowledge against you?" Lucas smiled and said "The mimic race has always been known for this weakness. Back in the day when Legul was around, he had to fight against opponents that could spew a cloud of silver powder at any moment. If you want to cause me some pain via silver powder be it for selfish gains, then sure, go on ahead. I'm willing to accept the challenge. But I'm sure the Marx household already knew of mimics weakness already. Isn't that right Mr. Marx?" Kyle answers "While I haven't personally read it, I know that there is a section from a monster encyclopedia that talks about mimics. I wouldn't be surprised if they had that weakness recorded there."

Then Lucas nods and continues his lecture "This depends highly on whether or not the mimic is advanced enough to completely mimic their opponents body, skills and knowledge, but if they can become someone of equal might against the opponent, there is one simple thing that you can do. It is to have at least one person or more in your group. Even most advanced demon mimics can only mimic one person at a time. Well that is if the mimic in question only mimics the person in your group and not some more powerful thing. As for which type of mimics can do that kind of mimicry, some lower level mimics could learn to mimic to that extent if they are abnormally smart. Which does happen, but it is likely that only an above expert level mimic can do mimicry of that caliber."

The other professor Colley comments "You mentioned before that regular mimics didn't have as big of an ego as demon mimics as if to imply that it was a weakness amongst demon mimics. Could you elaborate?"

Lucas says "While demon mimics had the capability of mimicking even the most legendary of creatures, the problem that most demon mimics, including me, have is that we want to prove that we can be a better version of a person who we are mimicking. Even if they had a more powerful thing that they could mimic, this arrogant mindset made most demon mimics mimic the opponent they were facing to prove that they can be a better version than the said opponent. To prove a point, as many of you know, me and teacher Logan had a match against each other. In which I decided to mimic his being to prove that I can better utilize his skills than he could. I ended up winning, but since I was so arrogant to prove a point, I lost an arm in exchange for the victory. For me missing an arm wasn't that big of a deal, but if I would have just used a bit of my own strength, I could've dodged or even parried that attack. This mindset was bypassed in group battles, however some demon mimics wanted to go to the extreme lengths to prove they don't need to go all out. I believe this is the primary reason why demon mimics are, at the very least, close to extinction."

A moment of silence goes by before Lucas says "Now how about we talk about the apex of all mimics, Legul Ranan. But to tell you how powerful he is, I have to get into the way that mimicking works when mimics are dealing with more powerful beings than the mimic. The general way mimicry works is that the more powerful the being that the mimic is trying to mimic is compared to the mimic themselves, the more tiring it is for the mimic to do the mimicry. The strengths of the mimic's willpower is also a factor to the level they can mimic. Lets say, if a regular mimic tries to mimic a god, they can do that for a fraction of a second, after which they lose their life since their lifeforce got sucked out of them the moment they tried to do that. But let's say that the mimic in question has the power and willpower to mimic a god, how dangerous would that make the mimic to said god's existence? This is the question gods had to ask themselves when they dealt with the demon king of abomination, Legul Ranan. The mere fact that he could mimic a god for a prolonged amount of time just by witnessing one just for a moment made even the gods shiver for a moment. This was the man known as Legul Ranan."

The class fell silent for a moment and Kyle said "You can't honestly expect us to believe that he was that powerful." Lucas says "Then why did the gods do nothing when Legul conquered more territory for the demons even if it led to other races' suffering?" Kyle fell silent. Lucas said "The answer is that they were scared to let any of their champions meet Legul to then be mimicked more efficiently. It is only after one hero who wasn't even blessed by the gods rose up and stopped the advance of the demon king of abomination. In fact, the way that I look comes from the said hero of that time. I of course asked his permission beforehand and he agreed to let me mimic his appearance so as to never let his memory die."

Professor Hansel then says "Do you mean the hero Ronan, the bearer of thousand swords and thousand wills? The bearer of the title "One man legion"." Lucas says "That very person." Hansel asks "Can you tell us more about the hero?" Lucas says "I'm afraid that what I know won't give much more insight to any of you. The best that I can say is that he was a self made hero who opposed the demon king of that era and earned the demon king's eternal respect."

Hansel says "We only know that the hero fought the demon king, but the details about the battle were lost. Do you know anything about the battle?" Lucas says "What Legul would tell me is that he actually did go all out on Ronan and didn't hold anything back. After Ronan and Legul exchanged their most powerful attacks, the two stood firm and a friendship was born. If I recall correctly, for Ronan the attack was called "Legion strike" and for Legul it was "Welcome of hell". Thankfully there weren't any other people in the area, since the area was completely destroyed. I believe the place is now called locally as the valley of a fallen lord."

Then Sonya raises her hand and Lucas says "Yes Ms. Sonya?" Then Sonya says "How does reproduction work with mimics?" Lucas says "Good question. For a regular mimics reproduce through binary fission similar to bacteria. What that means is that one mimic will split into two mimics and they live their life separately after that. It does require the mimic to consume enough things to reach the point where they can do that. The two mimics that come after that are usually a lot weaker than their parents were and they are extra weak after the split. Demon mimics can do the same, but it requires a lot more for us to do so, so we often just reproduce normally. Demon mimics can create a certain type of thing that allows the reproduction to happen like other races do it. And just to clarify, regular mimics are asexual where demon mimics are born asexual but they usually develop some form of sexuality after they mimic a person enough so that their persona bleeds out to us a little."

Drace asks "Can the bleeding effect have a significant effect on mimics?" Lucas says "Demon mimics can choose to separate the persona that they are using while mimicking so that it won't affect the main persona. The thing is that demon mimics can grow attached to a certain persona or personal trait and then let that part of them become one of the mimic's persona."

A student asks "Does this mean that you absorbed another person's persona at some point?" To which Lucas says "That is true. I was more of a wild child when I was young, but when I grew up a bit and got a taste of different personas, I became a lot calmer and calculating. If my understanding is right, the other races can do similar types of growth."

The class then ends after Lucas gives books about demon races to most students. He didn't prepare enough books for everyone, so some were left without. The books were written by Lucas himself and he spent last week getting the book published and copied.