The S-ranks

The S-ranks Nami is going to talk about now are different from the dukes. S-ranks can become a duke and govern a province, but there are more S-ranks then there are provinces in the demon kingdom. So, in a way, these are the S-ranks that are left over.

The first among them would be Jaron. He is a devil type demon and the former Demon King’s close friend. The two of them knew each other very well and had great trust for one another. Clearly that didn’t last. According to Nami, no one has ever discovered the real reason why Jaron betrayed the Demon King. But rumors suggest everything from greed to mind control to even a love affair.

The second S-rank is a male imp named Anzu, the thief. A crafty little bugger who is incredibly lucky. He was able to escape the trap Jaron had sent him towards and rumors are that Anzu is still actively sabotaging Ziges and his plans to this day. I wonder if we could find a way to work together with him.

The next one is Beleth, the brute. Supposedly, he is the S-rank with the greatest physical strength amongst the demons. A true testament to his nature as a bull-type fiend. Apparently, the rebels meant to ambush him got cold feet and left him a trail that would send him on a wild goose chase. By the time Beleth discovered what was truly going on, the Demon King had already been defeated 2 months prior. Beleth was apparently fine with staying neutral and letting the strongest side take control. But when he discovered his home province of Sheol joined the loyalist side, he felt duty bound to join them. Apparently, Beleth was on his way towards Purgatory to recruit Keres into the loyalists. But Jaron managed to personally lead an ambush against him and Beleth got captured. Ever since then, he has been locked away in one of Ziges’ prisons.

Another loyalist S-rank is Enzal, the dreamwalker. She is a succubus mage who idolized the last Demon King and had her body adjusted so she’d look as much like the Demon King as possible, but also had her skin turned red so nobody would mistake her for the real Demon King. During the civil war, Enzal was one of the more fanatical loyalists, never wavering in her support for the Demon King. But eventually she got defeated and placed in one of Ziges’ prisons.

Nami did not really want to go into details about Vitani, the scarred. Apparently he is a character with quite a history of being a turncoat, so it would be difficult to figure out when he was on which side. The things she was willing to let go about him is that he is a Lancer type adventurer, that he is an incubus and that he is currently on Ziges’ side.

The next S-rank Nami brings up is the most unassuming of the bunch, but we should not let her appearance fool us. She is called Helel, the unbreakable. A kobold female of the spellsword class. Due to the magic element she controls being the element of death, she could also be considered a death knight. Little Helel is apparently one of the bravest fighters the demon kingdom has to offer. Though most of that is as a result of it being impossible to hurt her. There are however ways to defeat her, which was done by Duchess Empusa. Since then, Helel has been locked in one of Ziges’ prisons

And finally, the last of the S-ranks. Katarea, the blood angel. A devil type woman who is also a spellsword with air magic at her disposal. Katarea not only excels at flying, but also uses her air magic to aid her during her flight. As a result, this turned her into a very capably anti-air unit. During the rebellion, she was able to take down many of the rebels’ flying units. But even though Katarea was never captured, her allies started disappearing one by one. Until eventually, Katarea had to go into hiding, lest she be captured as well.

Now, normally this would be the end of the list, Nami explains. But thanks to Ziges, it goes a little further. See, the Demon king has had direct leadership over 12 S-ranks, 7 of which Nami just explained to us. 1 Jaron who betrayed her and 6 others that remained loyal. But there were another 5, all of which were killed by the previous Demon King as they tried to kill her. But when Ziges took over, he didn’t like having the allegiance of only 1 S-rank while the other 6 turned against him. Hence why Ziges found himself some powerful A-rank demons and appointed them to being honorary S-ranks. It allowed him to claim he had 6 ‘S-ranks’ loyally following his commands. Here are their names.

The first of the honorary S-ranks is Morax, the sky knight. He is an A-rank succubus from a small mining village. For a long time he and his party were adventurers for hire. The civil war provided him the opportunity to work for both sides. Though eventually he was forced to pick a side and stick with it. He picked the side of the rebels and was rewarded for it.

Then there is Mara, the raider. She is a devil type demon and one of Duke Dagrol’s agents. Dagrol had set Mara and her party up to being some kind of special forces unit. During the civil war, the Mara squad were often sent onto special missions and they had a very high succesrate. As a reward for her services, Ziges gave her the title of honorary S-rank, welcomed her at his court and gave wings to her and all of her party members. An interesting thing about the Mara squad though, is that they all look alike. One of the rumors is that they are a set of identical septuplets, but nobody knows for certain.

The next honorary S-rank is Narfi, the sniper. Once upon a time, this little imp archer joined the Demon King’s legion and was appointed as leader of a special forces unit. She was quite involved with the food scarcity in the demon kingdom, so when Ziges made claims of raiding the human kingdom to increase the demon’s food supply, Narfi made sure to side with the usurper. Narfi then took out the 2nd cohort’s Tribune and replaced him. Nafri’s cohort was involved in some of the more difficult battles during the civil war, leading to Ziges promoting her to honorary S-rank status.

Preta, the banshee was born as an alp mage in Duat and was quickly discovered by its Duchess, Empusa. Normally dukes do this to motivate people into joining their legion, but Empusa instead wanted Preta to join the Demon King’s legion. The true reason was discovered when Ziges started his rebellion. At the start of the rebellion, Preta was ordered to take over the 7th cohort of the Daemonum Custodes by killing the Tribune and having him replaced with a B-rank loyal to Ziges, which just so happened to be Preta’s sister, Niya.

The last one is Andras, the Lionheart. He is a lion-type fiend of the raider class. Andras is a dominant man who doesn’t waste his time being diplomatic about things. People always know what he wants and when he wants it. One of the things Andras really wanted, was to be more like a lion. And so he had the flesh grafters adjust his body so he has the face of a lion. Before the civil war, Andras made it to become the 1st Tribune of Duke Vanth’s legion. During the civil war, Andras proved himself a capable enough fighter to earn a position as honorary S-rank under Ziges.

Disclaimer:
hey everyone. I just wanted you to know that i've listed each of the S-ranks again below, giving each their own chapter with more detailed information. yes, there are pictures, they have been made with the help of AI. Some of them may have special eye colors, but that's because of the AI, not because there is special meaning behind it. If this story does have characters with eye color that is special to the lore, it will be mentionned in the text.