Note: Chapter 4 is where it cuts off

Book 2: Demonkin Summary

These events don’t occur in exactly chronological order, but the idea is to go over the thrust of each character’s arc prior to the ending.

Soren ends up joining a new club that Mariko and Hiro have set up, dedicated to knitting and sewing. This is an approved activity, since it helps with flexibility of the hands, which is important for spellcasting. While there we meet Paul Wilson, a child of American refugees who left the school’s football club because he was smitten with Mariko. He realizes that she has a crush on Hiro, so he’s pursuing a long term strategy to win her over.

At the same time, Mariko has asked Soren for help pursuing Hiro. She feels awkward about it, because she suspects that deep down, she can’t take Yukiko’s place in her heart. Soren convinces her that not knowing will only be more painful, so they agree that she will make her move soon. She settles on an upcoming child’s birthday party at the Serving Wizard’s House, a charity where she volunteers on the weekends.

Rose Cooper is offended when she is declared to have poor magical control still, despite all of her personal growth. A mysterious storm that she can’t affect and swears she didn’t cause seems to emphasize the point. She continues to do one on one training with Ms. Edwards, as she had in book 1, but is desperate to prove that she has a handle on her magic.

Yukiko Sato reveals to Soren that the reason she rebuffed Hiro is that she has been forbidden from associating with her old friends. Her bad behavior in the War Games was declared unacceptable. Soren suggests that since she’s their only heir, she has the negotiating power. She won’t go against her family, though, and asks Soren periodically how Hiro and the others are doing.

Kiyo Jones is over the moon to be with Soren. Soren notices that she has begun offloading socialization that she doesn’t want to do to him, which he finds worrying, but he comes to enjoy her presence more and more. He tells himself that a devil doesn’t need such entanglements, but it’s clear to the reader that he is lying to himself.

While the two of them visit a gaming museum in Tokyo, Soren is reminded of a demonkin when a homeless man accosts them, spouting conspiracy theory babble about them. A demonkin is a human who secretly worships and sympathizes with the Grim Horde and devils in general.

Haru Obe, an archer that Soren fought in the War Games, bears a hell of a grudge against Soren. He is constantly sniping at Soren verbally in class, and is enraged that he can’t beat Soren in individual duels. Soren assumes this is just sour grapes. He also calls Mariko a demonkin for being a pacifist, which hurts her feelings.

A teacher, Maggie Edwards is split on how to treat Soren. On the one hand, her mysterious friends are interested in recruiting Soren, since they can often recruit from refugees of fallen human countries (like he seems to be) and he has shown some talent. On the other hand, she knew the real Soren Marlowe, so she strongly dislikes him. So, she alternates between tormenting Soren and helping him develop his talents.

Her insight lets him expand his Mimic affinity a bit, as does meditation. He starts to be able to perceive the flow of magic in others, but it isn’t terribly useful just yet. He keeps slipping into states where he is cut off from the outside world when using his affinity more deeply.

In one such incident, he gets soaked by Rose to try and rouse him from his coma. While he goes into the storage area in the outdoor training arena to find a replacement uniform, he stumbles across Maggie and Haru being intimate with each other. After a skirmish with the two of them when they realize he’s been spotted, they agree to a ceasefire. He doesn’t have to do every little thing Maggie tells him to do in exchange for his silence.

Soren receives a letter from a mysterious source, but he puts it aside, figuring that he doesn’t need to think about somebody else besides Maggie Edwards who could expose his cover.

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Meanwhile, Soren’s improved Mimic lets Hiro realize how to use his Immortal Form talent more efficiently. He suddenly goes from going full bore all the time with his talents to being selective. He still has poor magical reserves, but he can participate in class much more now.

The day of the birthday party rolls around. Everyone except Rose and Yukiko are there, as is Mr. Maki, who is the hero of the child they are celebrating. Just as Mariko is about to take Hiro aside to reveal her feelings, and arrow flies through the window and hits Mr. Maki in the chest.

The Holy Brotherhood of Mankind, a terrorist organization that Hiro’s friends have fought before, has arrived to pass judgement on the half measures of the Anti-Demonic League in how it deals with the Grim Horde. Mr. Maki is one of their greatest heroes, and they want to prove that they are mightier than the league. What’s confusing is that one of the attackers looks completely identical to Soren, while the other looks exactly like Rose. Soren himself being there ruins the disguise, but there is some question as to whether that is the real Rose or not.

The Brotherhood declares that the children and non-wizards may leave. Hiro tells Mariko to leave with the other noncombatants, which she takes as a stinging rebuke. He says that she will only get in the way, despite her skills in healing and defensive magic.

Over the course of the fight, our heroes face a number of Holy Brothers, and Soren learns about their past history with the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood had once been a fringe party, but completely legal. On a school trip to Taiwan, Hiro, Yukiko, Kiyo and Mariko uncovered a plot by Holy Brothers to trade those they considered the excess population (the sick, the disabled and so on) to the Grim Horde in exchange for demonic fabricata and other items. Following this reveal back in February of that year, the Brotherhood had been driven underground. This is the first anybody has heard of them since then.

Mariko takes the opportunity to call in Yukiko for help. The Brotherhood had used a demonic fabricata to shut down all electronics for miles, but Mariko had a magical signaling device they had shared from back when they were in the same club. Yukiko is instrumental in the attack, but there is still friction between her and Kiyo, especially because Yukiko believes that Rose fits the profile of a Holy Brother recruit.

At one point, with Mariko in danger from a superhumanly strong Holy Brother, Hiro breaks his neck as Mariko begs him to find a way not to kill him. Hiro declares that it’s fine to be that sort of soft in class, but the real world doesn’t work that way, which is the final sign that they will never work out as a couple. He thinks of her as somebody to protect, not a partner whose opinions he has to seriously consider.

In the end, it turns out that the weather wizard wearing Rose’s face wasn’t Rose, but simply somebody using a disguise fabricata to implicate her. The fake Soren turns out to be Haru Obe, and Soren gets confirmation from another Holy Brother that Maggie Edwards is part of the attack. Haru’s ability to control social insects nearly gets Kiyo stung to death and Soren, not seeing a choice, uses his long practiced Demonic magic to end the fight. He isn’t able to kill Haru, because Kiyo wakes up and tells him not to. He tries to argue his way out of it, but she declares that the man she loves isn’t a murderer, and he can’t bring himself to disappoint her, no matter how wrong he knows she is.

Soren thus has an issue. Haru is a loose end, since he saw Soren using forbidden magic while they fought. Any chink in his disguise could reveal the whole thing and get him executed, if he is lucky. Thankfully for Soren, the spell that maimed Haru has put him into a coma. Soren is sent home after questioning by the authorities, who then want to interrogate Kiyo and won’t let him wait around. He finally opens the letter, since he has privacy and it is something else to think about.

It turns out to be a letter from Fera daughter of Girdan, who is the devil he romanced and brought about his whole banishment. She declares that if he can strike a blow for the Great Horde, he will be allowed back home. He decides that can wait, since he is still enjoying himself with Kiyo. He then gets a cryptic message from Kiyo, who saw him use demonic magic, declaring that he is scary and he should stay away.

Soren, exhausted from the day’s fight and on edge, decides that it’s time to forget these humans who take from him and toss him aside when he’s scary. He goes to Maggie Edwards and makes an offer. He needs her to keep Haru quiet about him being a demonkin (he is able to keep his actual demonhood a secret), and in exchange, he will help rebuild her damaged Holy Brotherhood. She agrees, since they both have enough blackmail material on each other that they can almost trust each other. Almost.

Soren returns to his room, feeling free. And there’s Kiyo waiting for him. She is an awkward person, so she didn’t realize that her text messages had told him to leave and not come back. She had only wanted time to think. What she has decided is that she doesn’t care if he is a demonkin. She loves him and he decides that he doesn’t want to be without her either. However, he has thrown in with powerful enemies of Kiyo’s Wizard Corps, and he realizes that something will have to give.