“Hello again class~!” Trina greeted, clapping her hands gleefully as Raphael and Stolas entered her “classroom” again. She was dressed as a “teacher” again, so it seemed she was keeping to the theme. “I see both my cute students returned today~! Nice to see you liked my lesson so much, Lassie~”
“It gets me out of work, so why wouldn't I?”
Raphael paused, glancing at their friend as both of them took their seats in Trina’ classroom. “You’re skipping work?”
“Yup. Don’t worry about it, I'm not about to get in trouble for playing hooky. I talked to Dapper and he was all about the whole ‘educational experience for our foreign hire’ or whatever, so now I get to hang out to help with the education.”
“Oh, so you’re going to be my teaching assistant?” Trina asked.
Stolas snorted, as smiley as ever. “Nope! I’m a bumpkin from the sticks, I know zero zilch and nada about fancy demon stuff.”
“Aw, that’s fine, you wouldn’t need to do much! Maybe just dress up too and pass out papers–”
“Hard pass, thanks but no.”
Trina pouted, before rallying. “Ah well~! This just means I still have two cute students to teach~! And speaking of teaching, I forgot something very important that I had planned from my last lesson! Namely, a quick showing of what a cambion’s full demon form looks like!”
Raphael immediately opened their notebook. “And what would a ‘full demon form’ be in this context?”
“Well as half-demons, cambions are obviously half demon and half mortal, though what type of demon and what type of mortal can vary! Devils and humans are the most common, but hey, who knows what people might get up to? Anyhow, this combination of demonic and mortal traits tends to express itself in different ways, with one common one being the mortal form and the demon form, two separate states of being for a cambion wherein they emphasize either their mortal or demonic traits.
“In my case, for instance, what you see now is me in mortal form!” She gestured to herself with a bright smile. “Gorgeous, I know, but in a distinctly human way. But what if I told you I could also be sexy in a demonic way~? And all it requires is just a little focus~”
Raphael could actually see the moment Trina started actively invoking the demonic side of her heritage. It was like a brief flash of flame flared up across her body before her skin shifted from its typical light tan to a vibrant pink hue, more magenta than any natural human coloration. Her nails blackened and lengthened, the whites of her eyes turned a shade of deep, dark pitch while her irises gleamed with a sudden glow, and her bright smile turned noticeably sharper as her teeth shifted.
And that wasn’t even getting into the more extreme changes, like the set of horns that jutted up from her forehead before some loud tearing noises echoed out throughout the room. Not the tearing of skin though, no, it was the tearing of cloth as a pair of leathery wings ripped through the back of Trina’s blouse, followed by a curling, spade-tipped tail that wound its way around her hip.
“Oh whoops~! Clumsy me, I completely forgot my wings are too solid to just go through my clothes~” From her tone, Raphael sincerely doubted Trina had unintentionally ruined her outfit. “Oh, but back on the lesson stuff, the funny thing is, as far as I’ve seen, pure luxurians don’t actually have this problem at all. Their wings and tails just phase right through whatever clothes they’re wearing. I think it’s because they’re more metaphysical than physical?”
“Angels can also do that,” Raphael noted.
“Angel’s have tails?” Stolas asked.
“That–No, I meant…” The disguised and tailless angel sighed and looked back over at Trina. “Please continue the lesson.”
“Sure thing, Vissy! So, as you can see–” She turned around, flaring her wings out to show them off without any heed for the massive tear in the back of her blouse. “–even a cambion can form what’s commonly regarded as demonic wings, frequently noted as resembling the wings of a bat, which technically attach to a bat’s arms so demons sort of have six limbs? Six or more, depending on the type of demon, whereas our tails tend to vary depending on what type of demon we are.
She lifted her tail for further emphasis, showing off the black, spade-like head. “Luxuians, like me, have these sorts of hearty, spade-shaped tail tips, while other devils tend to have sharper shapes. Iratans, for instance, getting back on today’s topic, have tail tips shaped like spearheads! I don’t know if they can stab with their tails, but I’m sure some have tried!”
“That’s really, really interesting, Tree,” Stolas commented, “So are you gonna teach us more about the rage demons, or are you just gonna keep shaking your ass for us?”
“Hey now, this is entirely educational!” Trina insisted, right before her torn skirt finally gave up its vain struggle to stay in place and fell right off. “Gasp! Oh no~! What an unfortunate and unexpected wardrobe malfunction~!”
Stolas just rolled her eyes while Raphael raised an eyebrow at her roommate.
“...Feh, you two are no fun. But! Not to worry~! For I have a perfect and appropriate change of clothes for our topic today~!” With that said, Trina promptly stepped behind the changing screen she’d set up behind her desk for some reason–though Raphael supposed it was for this exact reason–before returning in a crimson military jacket with gold epaulets and tight white pants paired with black riding boots. The cambion, her white hair bound back in a bun, clacked her heels together and stood straight, affecting an expression of stern discipline as she gave an admittedly perfect salute. “Major Red-Tongue, reporting for duty!”
“...” Raphael raised a hand.
“Yes, Private Viswan?”
“Do you actually hold the rank of major in the Demon Lord’s army?”
“Nope! I’m not sure if that’s even a rank our military uses! But I got this cute little medal so I think I’m good!” The medal in question appeared to be a blue eagle, so...yeah, Raphael didn’t know what to say to that.
Then Stolas raised a hand. “Hey Tree.”
“Yes, Private Sitrin?”
She lowered her hand, using it to gesture at Trina. “The fuck is this?”
“A military uniform! Drenish, specifically, funny enough. My older sister Briza brought home some souvenirs one time from when she went up north and I thought the style would work good for this dumb thing I was doing. It was either this or dress in furs and while I thought the idea would be at least a tad sexy, it’d be way too breezy for either of you two to pay attention properly.”
“...First off, since when is that a problem for you? Secondly, those pants look painted on.”
“Ah ha, but they’re not~! Or maybe they are~? I guess you’ll have to stare a bunch to find out~”
“Shit, she’s learned subtlety…”
Raphael cleared their throat, trying to get the conversation back on track. “Trina, you had a lesson planned?”
“Oh right!” The succubus grinned, clapping her hands together, before gesturing to the blackboard as a chart folded down over it. “Daah dah-dah daaaah~! Iratans~!”
The new chart looked similar to the previous chart, right down to the “Anatomy of Iratans” title written across the top–right beside where the words–
[Lesson 2: Iratans]
–were scrawled on the blackboard in jagged red letters–though the demon displayed on it definitely looked different from the incubus displayed the day before. It was still largely masculine in appearance, but broader and more muscular with horns that jutted upwards and only slightly curled at the top, legs that ended in hooves instead of feet, and a slightly thicker tail ending in a sharper point that indeed resembled a spearhead.
“So, as you might notice, compared to luxurians, iratans have smaller di–“
“Trina.”
“Fine, fine. Anyhow! Iratans! Also one of the more common demon species you’ll see on Estus because people keep summoning them! And why would they do that? To enact violence, of course, which iratans are very good at!
“For you see, iratans, as demonic beings, are born from Wrath, the big red sin all about anger and hatred! Hatred more than anger, really, though there’s a pretty big spectrum from one to the other, going along the line from indignation and irritation to rage and fury then over to malice and contempt. You could probably count contempt as an entirely different emotion unto itself, thinking about it, and Wrath skews more towards that on the emotional-sinful spectrum. It’s not completely like violence, since that’s a separate domain with similar, but still different connotations and rules to them. Think of it as crimes of passion; wrath’s a passionate sin, the same as lust, but it emphasizes the enactment of harm and cruelty. Pain instead of pleasure, in a sense. Though not receiving pain, that’d be sadomasochistic and that's more a Dolori thing.”
Raphael raised a hand. “What differentiates Wrath from Violence then, in your opinion?”
“Hmm...in my opinion, wrath’s weaker. Partially because wrath tends to linger around the middle circles instead of one of the lower circles, but also because Violence has more direction to it, in a sense. Wrath can definitely be directed, and it often is, but Violence as a sin exists in the enactment of bloodshed. Most typically, it expresses itself through Pain and Terror, violence against the body and mind, though it has other forms, and tends to have an element of sadism born in them. I’d say it’s almost a mix of Lust and Wrath, where harm done unto others is done for the sake of self-gain. It can certainly be associated with Greed too, same for Envy, but my main point here is that Violence is more bloodthirsty, while Wrath is more aggressive. A Violentian can be a careful predator, but an Iratan will be a raging berserker or aggressive thug.
“A big part of it though is the desire to basically kick downward in life. Whoever’s lower than you gets the boot as you get kicked in the head by whoever’s above you. Like a lot of demons, iratans are hierarchical, but how the hierarchy works actually depends on where they’re from. At the most basic, iratans operate on a strength-based hierarchy, might makes right, where they’ll follow someone so long as that individual is stronger than them. They do have prejudices though, because iratans naturally trend towards prejudice, and they prefer those strong people to be other iratans or demons they can ‘respect’. Culturally speaking, that includes Haereticans and Violentians; anybody else is probably going to get called a pussy, weakling, or whatever else.”
Again, up went Raphael’s hand. “Why those two types specifically?”
“Mainly because Iratans are assholes. They’re not as easily resentful as Invidian, that’s envy demons, who tend to take anyone having it even slightly better than them as an affront, but they get annoyed by just about everything. Luxurians are too horny, gulans eat too much, avaritians cling to ‘worthless shit’, invidians hate iratans about as much as iratans hate invidians, acedians sleep too much, superbians are arrogant assholes, tristitians are too mopey, and you can’t trust dolusians or perfidians for obvious reasons.” Those would be the demons of fraud and treachery then. “We can get into more when we’re on those topics, but basically, iratans are aggressive assholes towards everyone and it’s a miracle they even have anything resembling functioning communities. They also suck in bed, but we’re not focusing on that.”
“Sounds like you wanna focus on it,” Stolas drawled, prompting Raphael to clear their throat.
“You didn’t actually explain the–”
“I was getting to it!” Trina huffed, before flicking her wand/pointer stick at the wall again, actually bringing down a new pair of charts. Or, well, less charts and more rather rough sketches. “Okay so I didn’t prepare these quite as well because I wasn’t sure if the topic would come up, but boom! Haereticans on the left, Violentians on the right, the two types of demons iratans can actually tolerate!”
The sketch on the left was still rather well done for something that clearly had less work put into it. It portrayed a pair of figures in religious clothing, cassocks specifically, with one having the normal features of a devil–generally humanoid face, pointed ears, short horns extending from the forehead–while the other was either wearing a ram’s skull for a headdress, or simply had a ram’s skull for a head. It was difficult to tell.
Meanwhile, the rightmost sketch was another naked demon, similar to the iratan, though it carried an air of being far larger, despite being on a similarly sized sheet of paper. Maybe it was the slightly hunched posture, the even larger muscles, the more solid, horse-like hooves and broader, bull-like horns, the wild mane of hair, the four arms, and the thicker, sharper, barbed tail, but the distinctly female Violentian definitely looked rougher than the standard Iratan; the wide, almost sadistic grin she had on her face further added to the impression. There was also the curious fact that Trina had added a note to it: “Thanks to Tenvoc for modeling”.
“Now we’re technically super off track at this point, but I do think it’s actually important to talk about these two types of demons, just real quick, to explain why Iratans trend towards working for them,” Trina explained, before pointing to the pair of pitch-black devils, “Haereticans, to start us off, are demons of heresy. You might’ve gotten that from the name, but it’s important to note that heresy, in essence, means a deviation from religious norms, meaning just about any faith can be considered heretical if it contradicts any other faith. You’d need an overarching doctrine to establish what can and can’t be done that everyone accepts for there to be one true definition of heresy, so Haereticans in general can be considered demons of not just heresy, but zealotry, the desire to enforce one’s principles unto others, heedless of their own values. And thus, therefore, forthwith, you get the big bad combo of Haereticans and Iratans.
“See, Haereticans and Iratans mix like oil and fire; the vicious zeal that Haereticans tend to have attracts Iratans to almost act like their enforcers, bringing down the ‘wrath’ of whatever faith they hold down on nonbelievers. It’s part of why the Sixth Circle, Duidan, is basically a perpetual and literal hellscape of endless wars between black-iron cities amidst plains of flames and rivers of lava; the two just mix super well and it means they feed into each other. Haereticans provide a sort of reason, a justification, all sorts of prejudice for Iratans to go on crusades and butcher each other, while Iratans provide the endless violence that helps Haeretican faiths grow bigger so they can keep on going with crusades, inquisitions, all the fun religiously-tinged violence, and that’s not even getting into the bigger ones giving them state-sanctioned validation.
“And speaking of violence~!” Trina’s tone was perhaps overly cheery as she turned her wand the other way, towards the second drawing. “Violentians are basically the natural bosses for lots of Iratans, to the point that I’ve even heard it said Iratans who achieve higher power and focus can actually become Violentians!”
Raphael immediately noted that one down, while also noting Stolas sat up slightly straighter at that, her eyebrow raised in apparent interest. Curious.
Trina didn’t notice though, continuing onward, “I might even have proof of that because my model for this sketch mentioned she used to be a wrath demon, but that aside! Violentians are bigger, meaner, and rarer than Iratans, so they immediately carry more of a sense of authority with them, especially because the bigger ones become full warlords with their own warbands, usually down in the Seventh Circle, which they’re native to. These warbands can also include Dolori and Timori, those are demons of pain and fear, respectively, with Iratans rounding out a trifecta of unpleasant emotions, though I guess there’s also tristitians–Okay, saving that one for later, we need to stay on topic.”
Raphael raised a hand. “So, in essence, Iratans are willing to follow demons of heresy because they provide reasons to be angry and aggressive, while demons of violence are their natural superiors?”
“Basically. I know it’s awkward to think of one type of people being superior to others, but think of it like dragons and drakes. Objectively speaking, one starts out way stronger and with more advantages than the other, but if the other puts in enough effort, and maybe extra stuff like patronage, magical empowerment, or alchemical enhancement, they too can become super powerful!”
Raphael, being an angel and thus a servant of a god, didn’t actually find it all that awkward to consider some beings to be naturally superior to others. The only time that got silly was when members of the same species tried to claim superiority based on aesthetic nonsense, like elves getting into tiffs over antlers, tails, or skin tones.
“Anyhow,” Trina continued, “Iratans have that handy dandy ability to ‘evolve’, even though that’s not really what evolution means, but it’s what we’ve got because metamorphosis is too wordy. The process is actually pretty interesting too. See, take the standard Iratan.
Trina raised a hand, forming an imp like in the previous lesson, though this one was distinctly iratan, with crimson skin, sharper horns, and hooves. “Most major demon types are associated with the elements, like I mentioned before. In general, since demons were born from the dreams of the sleeping titan, their magic is almost always a corrupted version of existing elemental energies because they can’t actually channel the powers of gods in the ways mortals can, mostly because a lot of the elements come from Rakuli gods and they’re antithetical to demons.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“That’s all establishing stuff to lead into the fact that iratans are demons of fire.” The imp promptly lit ablaze. “Hellfire especially, though that particular flame tends to come from archdevil iratans, usually ones who work for Haereticans. Anyhow, their flames are, as you can see, pretty standard fire. Kind of redder than natural fire, but red is their color, so it makes sense. However, what if I told you they could change that?”
“So they can?” Stolas asked, raising an amused eyebrow.
“It’s a rhetorical lead in, shh. But yeah, basically, like fire, iratans can be altered if they’re ‘burning’ with the right fuel. While the basic iratans are all the red bitches I mentioned earlier, all anger and rage built into buff packages about the size of orcs, the flames they burn with can take on different hues if they make it to archdevil level, or if they just really screw themselves up in the case of a Wildfire Iratan.”
With a snap of her fingers, the imp burst with green flames that writhed across its skin and formed its “hair”. Its nails became claws as well, both fingers and toes, and a mouth formed to bare sharp teeth and tusks. “These little guys–well, big in reality–are also called Greenflame Iratans because obviously. They burn brighter, they rage harder, and they tend to be the result of an iratan completely losing themself to their innate anger. Every iratan is born from rage, but most of them aren’t complete maniacs, just unpleasant assholes. Wildfires though are complete maniacs, the maddened mad, angry beyond all rational thought and ability to reason.
“Due to their green flames, they’re sometimes associated with invidians, but there’s not really a connection beyond a surface level. Wildfires are just pure, uncontrolled rage, they’re not actual hybrids. They could be set off by another demon driving an iratan insane, but they’re not tied to other devils like our second type of archdevil is.
“And those guys would just so happen to be Hellfire Iratans, otherwise known as Blackflame Iratans. You might be noticing a pattern at this point,” Trina said as she flicked her hand again and the imp’s flames darkened to a pitch-black, matched by the black wings extending from its back and the black fur covering its lower body while its head took on a distinctly more bestial cast, “And you’d be right to! Iratans like to stick to fire and flame, generally speaking, though I can name at least one type that doesn’t.
“Anyhow, the basics here is that Hellfires are born from overwhelming zealotry and religious fervor turned into violent intent. They’re archdevils, a step above regular devils in case you need reminding, and they tend to achieve that status through wholeheartedly serving their cause and imbibing enough power to get jacked on the darkest flames of Hell. They also tend to have lots of tats, usually associated with whatever faith they’re following, and have even less chill than the average iratan because they have heresy to motivate them. Motivated wrath is always more dangerous than directionless rage, and the Hellfires are pretty much the directed fury of the radically faithful against everything they don’t like.”
“So they’re crusaders,” Raphael noted, while still taking notes. They’d honestly assumed iratan archdevils just naturally had black flames; the fact they were actually a subtype was interesting. “Hm...if Wildfires are insane, uncontrolled rage and Hellfires are influenced by Haereticans, what would a ‘pure’ iratan archdevil look like?”
“Good question! Great question, actually, since that lets me segue into the last one here~!” And with another flick of her hand, the imp shifted again. Its harsher features smoothed out, the head taking on a more distinctly humanoid cast while hints of fur vanished. The flames around it shifted in color again too, turning from a deep black to an azure flame. “Ta dah~! These here are our third type of iratan archdevil, the Blueflame Iratans! Otherwise known as the Sapphire Iratans~!”
“Fuck you, no they’re not,” Stolas contradicted in probably the most displeased tone Raphael had actually heard her use. Her still present smile was noticeably strained too, as though she were actively fighting a desire to frown. Or perhaps trying to frown despite being unable to?
Trina didn’t notice again, just giggling. “Nope, they are.”
“I refuse to believe that! That’s–I don’t think that’s a pun but it sucks and I hate it.” Note: Smile is still present. She genuinely may be incapable of frowning.
“It’s some sorta wordplay, and it still totally is real. Source, me. And the fact I actually dated an iratan.”
Raphael raised their notebook and pen. “You did?”
“Yeah, I–You don’t have to take notes on that part, Vissy.”
“So that’s why you’ve been commenting about smaller dicks and being unsatisfying in bed?” Stolas inquired, her tone shifting to more interest as the subject changed.
“Gasp! My careful hinting has been figured out!” Trina mock-gasped, before giggling, “Yeah, I’ve been poking some fun at a certain someone from my past…who, now that I think about it, could spice up this lesson, hm…”
“…Cotrina, what are you thinking?” Raphael asked, though not quickly enough to interrupt the succubus as she twirled her wand and quickly etched what was clearly a summoning circle into the floor.
“Right, quick side lesson, my cute students! Namely, demon summoning!” And with a flick of her wrist, the words [Lesson 2.5: Summoning] appeared on the board.
“Trina–“
“Now demon summoning in general is sort of a ritualistic thing, involving a circle, like this one, and an invocation! The runes in the circle are for specificity and containment; a blank circle means you could summon in basically anything and that’s a really bad move because the only demons interested in an empty circle are bound to be assholes looking to con or kill a novice that doesn’t know any better. Meanwhile, the invocation is what calls on the demon and brings them over; essentially, it’s the way of catching their attention. The invocation varies depending on the type of demon, like the circle, and just like the circle, higher status demons require fancier stuff, usually in the form of sacrifices.
“That’s where you’ll hear about stuff like ‘just get some goat’s blood’ or ‘use newt eyes, no not eye of the newt, that’s just mustard seed’, though as you can probably guess, different types of demons require different offerings to catch their attention. Certain animals do better as sacrifices than others–goats, for instance, actually work best for calling on luxurians–but you can use objects too, like a knife to call on an iratan. And speaking of, here’s the best invocation for getting one of those~!
Trina spread her hands before clapping them together in prayer, her shadow spreading on the wall like wings as the circle glowed with a hellish red fire. Raphael nearly stopped her, nearly stood to cut it off, but...they had to admit, they were curious. “Infernal beast of wrathful flames, heed my call unto this realm! Let thine flames rage and scorch at the behest of your master so all may know our fury! I call upon thee: Kuilsagoz!”
And then it was too late to stop her. Trina’s summoning circle flashed a deep crimson and a figure appeared within the circle. A figure that heavily resembled the chart behind them; indeed, the newly summoned demon was a very large and muscular iratan, easily taller than Trina or Raphael by at least a foot. Crimson-skinned and black-haired, the fiery-eyed devil was broad-shouldered and covered in scars that traced down his muscular chest, presumably from several different conflicts. All of which Raphael had a full view of because the iratan was completely naked.
Stolas wolf-whistled as Raphael felt their face get warm. “Hey Tree, pretty sure you were wrong about the dick size thing. Your man here’s looking real big to me.”
The demon’s eyes snapped open at her voice, his eyes burning a fiery crimson as he slammed a thick fist into the barrier the circle formed. “What the fuck is this!? Where the fuck am I!? And who the fuck summoned me!?!”
“In order, a summoning circle, my classroom, and me.” Trina grinned as she gave the demon a wave. “Heya Kuilsy~!”
“...” Kuilsagoz’s furious snarl slowly turned into a slightly less enraged sneer while he regarded Trina. His thick, dark hair and beard added to the menace he exuded as he loomed over the shorter succubus. “What dumbass put you in as a teacher, you half-breed swamp hag?!”
“Someone smarter than whoever gave you a job, you goatfucking asshole~”
Raphael cleared their throat, drawing the demon’s attention towards them as the temperature began to build in the room from the obvious hostility between the two. “It’s not an official classroom, more a result of our friend electing to mentor us on a subject she is knowledgeable about. You were summoned to aid in elaborating on Iratans.”
Kuilsagoz snorted, his nostrils flaring with smoke as he glared back at Trina. “You stole me away from winning glory at the siege of Ahrudeim to teach your dumbass friend in fucking fake classroom?!”
“Aw, are you mad about it~? Big boy can’t be patient~? Though I suppose you never did last all that long…” Trina’s smirk had a malicious edge to it as she tapped her chin, pretending to think. “Stamina has never been your strong suit~”
“...Okay, hey, also here,” Stolas spoke up, “And I got two questions. First being, do you actually fuck goats? And second being when the hell did you get actually hot, Tree?”
“Heh, nice to know what interests you, Lassie~”
Kuilsagoz, meanwhile, levied a glare at Stolas. “I don’t, you fucking halfbreed moron. Cottie’s just racist.”
Trina stiffened, actual offense coming to her face. “I told you, don’t call me Cottie! It’s Trina!” That’s the part she’s offended by? “And you’re one to talk!” Ah, there it is.
“Am I? I’m not the one who thinks having hooves and horns makes you a goat!”
“I don’t–Ugh, this is stupid, we’ll be at this for hours if I let you–“
“Like you can stop me!”
“Pretty sure I can dismiss you, asshole–Look, we’re talking about iratans, you’re an iratan, I thought your perspective on the topic would be a good idea.”
“Then this is entirely your own fault, dumbass!”
Raphael smacked a hand against their desk, drawing attention. “What do you know about Blueflame Iratans?”
“You mean the sapphires?” Kuilsagoz’s scowl twitched briefly to a smirk as Stolas facepalmed. “Ha! Always one! And why the fuck should I tell you anything, bitch? You reek of angels!”
“Because she’s my student and the entire reason I summoned you,” Trina answered, “So you don’t get paid if you don’t play along.”
“That so? Well guess what, you dumb fucking whore?” His smirk returned into a full force, teeth-baring grin as he jabbed a finger into a sliver in the barrier containing him. His finger dug in, turning a small sliver into an actual crack, before he tore the barrier open completely and pushed his way out as it shattered. The heat in the room rose dramatically as flames licked up his body and he stomped towards Trina, who met his grin with a scowl, pink-tinged flames bursting around her hands. “You did a shitty job like always, you pathetic half-breed failure! It’s no wonder your daddy abandoned your worthless ass! And now–”
Raphael stood and smacked their hand against their desk, instantly cutting out all fire in the room as their eyes gleamed with a holy light, wind whipping up around them. “Stop. Insulting. My friend. NOW.”
Kuilsagoz blinked, before snorting smoke from his nostrils. “Oh yeah? And what are you gonna–”
A few moments later, a far more bruised Kuilsagoz, now dressed in a furred loincloth that Trina owned “for reasons”, sat attentively on the floor, his legs folded under him. “So what would you like to know, boss?”
“Tell me about Blueflame Iratans. Otherwise known as Sapphires,” Raphael said, ignoring Stolas’s annoyed groan.
“They’re a bunch of coldhearted pricks, boss. They give up the heat from their flames so they can achieve ‘tranquil fury’. Granted, those blue flames still burn like a motherfucker, but they’re more like cold burns instead of the blazing rage our people should have, so lotta fucks back home think they’re pieces of shit. Course, those fuckers can also become Violentians if they stick to the path of violence or some shit, so they get a pretty good deal out of it. Takes long as fuck though, and patience doesn’t come natural to my kind, as you can guess, which means a lotta them break and become Wildfires instead.”
“Hey, side note, the fuck, dude?” Stolas asked with one of her slightly annoyed smiles, gesturing to Kuilsagoz. Or Kuil. Kuil sounded more convenient for a shorthand. “What’s with the subservience? Ray didn’t beat you that badly.”
Some blood trickled from Kuil’s nose. “I’m weak to people that’re stronger than me, boss’s friend. It’s an iratan thing.”
“...So it’s an iratan thing to be a total coward when you run into someone who can kick your ass?”
“Yes.”
Stolas blinked at his blunt answer, then glanced at Trina, who was sitting up on the desk and casually reading up on one of the books she brought. “I can see why you dumped him.”
“Nah, I dumped him because he was really bad with aftercare. Like, seriously, he’d straight up drop me on the floor afterwards.”
“I’m not apologizing,” Kuil said, before Raphael casually formed a tornado in their open palm, “I apologize for my words and deeds, Cottie.”
“Okay but stop calling me that.”
“No.” The tornado intensified. “Fine, Nana.”
“It’s not abuse if we’re not dating anymore, I can and will hit you.”
“Focus, both of you,” Raphael reprimanded, earning annoyed looks from both demons, “So we’ve covered Wildfires–”
“Complete psychos,” Kuil agreed.
“–Hellfires–”
“Zealous nutjobs,” Trina added, earning a frown from Kuil.
“–and Sapphires–”
“Who have a stupid name,” Stolas commented in probably the most irritated tone Raphael had heard from her yet, despite her smile still being in place.
“Does that cover all aspects of the iratan species of demons?”
“Well it covers all the archdevils,” Trina said, “Though if we’re talking about other related demons, we should probably bring up the Bestians.”
“HEY! DON’T LUMP THOSE SAVAGE FUCKS IN WITH–” Kuil jerked as Raphael smacked him upside the head. “I’ll be good.”
“Savage, huh?” Stolas leaned back in her seat, propping her feet up on her desk–Wait, did she take my desk? “So what makes them so ‘savage’?”
“Well, Bestians, as the name might imply, are beastly demons,” Trina answered, “And no, before you say it, the name does not imply they’re ‘the best’.”
Stolas rolled her eyes. “I can’t make bad jokes if you steal them from me.”
“Exactly. Anyhow, the basics for Bestians is that they’re Iratans that moved into the Fifth Circle some millennia ago, the Fifth Circle being the former domain of Tempest, the Ancient Storm, and now the domain of Therian, the Goddess of Beasts. Then–”
“Basically, there used to be two types of Iratans,” Kuil interrupted, “Fire and Thunder, the Fury and Sound of the raging titans, Rupture and Tempest. And as you can imagine, both sides fucking hated each other because fuck those other guys that look like me but aren’t me.”
“The difference between them was like red and maroon,” Trina added, “Two–”
“Two colors right on the same spectrum, but different enough to be distinct,” Kuil interrupted, again, “So when Tempest was sealed, the flameborn iratan obviously decided to genocide their counterparts.”
“...Why would that be obvious?” Raphael asked.
““Demons.”” Trina and Kuil answered as one, before Trina continued, “So the thunderborn hunkered down in the Fifth Circle and took on Therian as their divine back-up, ceding the territory they were fighting over to her so they had a chance at survival.”
“Buncha craven fucks,” Kuil groused, “Why not just die gloriously? We probably would’ve enslaved a few of them, kept ‘em around.”
“Kuilsy, you’re not even from Hell, you were born on Estus from the blood of a slain dragon, what’s with the weird circleism?”
“Hey, I’m staying in touch with my culture here!”
“Your culture sucks and I don’t know why I dated you. Well, I do, I have a thing for muscles and you were a cute guy my age, but anyhow, yeah, Bestians are now more bestial because of their ties to Therian and instead of the sort of pettier cruelty iratans are known for, they’re more wild fury and predatory instinct. And not like Wildfires, they actually do still have some sanity–”
“The bigger thing they’re known for is being thunderous, Nana–”
“I thought I told you not to call me that?”
“And I thought it was better than Cottie. Or did you change your mind–”
“I’m not changing my mind on that one, you know that’s what Zani used to call me when she was being an ass!”
"How am I supposed to remember what she said!?"
"Maybe you'd remember what my family members said if you stopped checking them out every time you met them!"
"And what do you expect me to do, ignore them? You of all demons shouldn't be complaining about luxurians showing off!"
"God, you're such an ass!"
“Oh yeah? Says the slut who can’t keep her eyes off mine!”
“Wha–That’s not even what–Go fuck yourself!”
"Real mature, Cottie–”
“Fucking asshole–”
“Fuck you! At least I know where I stand and I'm not being a hypocrite!"
"You know what–"
Raphael clapped their hands together, adding to the air to emphasize the sound. “I think we’ve exhausted this topic of conversation.”
“Aw, why’d you stop ‘em?” Stolas complained, “They were about one more exchange away from hate-fucking, c’mon.”
“...Stolas, did you not initially join these lessons to prevent sexual escapades?”
“Sexual escapades sounds like a sport, and yeah, that was specifically to cockblock Tree because I thought it’d be funny. Let’s not kid ourselves here. Besides, you can tell she’s into the idea.”
Raphael would have retorted there, but they couldn’t help but glance at Trina first. And sure enough, her face was noticeably redder as she pretended to just be casually staring at the floor next to her for some reason.
“…” Finally, she noticed Raphael’s disappointed look and huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “What?? It’s–Look, plenty of demonic flirting involves some hostility, it’s not a problem, I’m an adult here!”
“You deserve far better.”
“Oh I know that. But I want worse,” she said, quite matter-of-factly.
“...Let me rephrase that. You deserve better, he doesn’t.”
“Ey!” Kuil complained, though he backed down at Raphael’s glare.
“I knoooooow, but…c’mon!” Trina whined, “It’s just for one time! Just some catching up between exes! Promise! Swearsies!”
Raphael gave Trina a pat on the head, earning a squeak from the succubus. “No. He’s a terrible person, it’s a terrible idea, and as your friend, I would sooner beat him to death.”
“...so if she’s not going for it, I’m game,” Stolas commented.
Raphael turned to their human friend…then actually considered matters. “...Stolas, you…could also deserve better. If you tried.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to.”
“...” Trina had a look in her eyes that Raphael didn’t particularly like. “...So I’m just saying, how about the three–”
It was at that point that Raphael elected to just lift Trina over their shoulder and left the room entirely. Whatever happened from that point on was not their problem.
----------------------------------------
Lesson 2 - Things to Remember!
1 - Iratans will always bow to superior firepower! Or airpower, as the case may be.
2 - Trina and Stolas have terrible taste in men!
3 - If a demon breaks a summoning circle, they can’t leave the mortal realm!