Gensoukyou:Koakuma

The Bat-Winged Shetani of Panic
 Demon summoning rituals are the bane of any Makaian existence. As the creator of Makai could easily protect her people from such rituals, it’s a wonder why she allows the cursed things to remain a problem. Some demons embrace these rituals, taking amusement in them and even providing the naive humans ways to contact themselves specifically, but in the case of a powerful, high-ranked demon known as Komori, these rituals seem quite random in who they choose.

In 1968, a young, yet powerful, Shamen of the island of Pemba had grown tired of her tribe’s reliance on her for every trivial thing. They looked to her for guidance, while showing no will to help themselves. When she told the tribe of her concerns regarding this, the young mage only had the reply “you are the wisest of us, it is your duty to guide us to life forever! Find us our drink, find us our food, protect us from the nature that wishes us dead!” Her family, more of a burden, now saw her as nothing but a mere tool. In her anger, she’d decided to show the tribe there were things that even she could not help them with. With the power she had, she chose to unleash a djinn upon the rest of the tribe to terrorize them. She prepared a ritual, to summon this creature of smoke and ember from the pits of hell, a ritual that would summon the great demon Komori.

Though not of the most power, the demon Komori had truly a high standing in the realm of Makai. He was the chief demon of Hysteria and Panic, and his role in Makai was to calm the people should ever there be an emergency to cause civil unrest. He had favor of Shinki in this regard, and held a large Manor in his name. Though, the trust Shinki put in him was limited, so though he held such a high position, his power was small in comparison to the equally ranked, so he may not ever be cause of hysteria as opposed to the foil. This limit on power made him an easy catch for summoning rituals, which he cursed on high. He’d been the subject of many, and all have ended with the summoner going insane as part of his bitterness towards being dragged away. When the most recent ritual came to drag him out of his manor, forcing him to appear to some lowly mage, he was quick to attempt to strike down the insolent whelp, and quicker to realize the magical binds the shamen had prepared for him; something that at least impressed him, as no other had actually thought of binding him.

After the initial outlash of spite towards this summoner, which only prompted a taunting laugh from the clever Shamen, the demon reluctantly demanded what was desired of his presence. The shamen looked over the demon, certainly more handsome than she’d expected from a djinn, which she still thought him to be. She saw the wings that adorned his head and back, similar to that of a bat, and called him “Popobawa” for that fact. The demon, being forced into knowing this strange language, lest he lack any communication with his summoner, understood this name as “bat-wing”, which he was, admittedly, not too opposed to. The summoner explained why she desired the demon’s help; to frighten the people of her tribe without hurting too many of them. The demon, finding this simple enough, agreed if not to simply get out of this contract in as little time as possible.

Once the demon agreed, he was released, to an extent, out into the land the tribe inhabited. Immediately, the tribe fell into a great state of panic when they saw the demon’s form among them. The demon introduced itself as the name given by the Shamen, and in his sly, bitter ways, mentioned that he was a construct made by the Shamen to destroy the tribe. The tribe, of course, did not take kindly to this - the thought that their most trusted elder had turned on them. As such, they went immediately to find her, and burn her for her betrayal, only to find an empty hut with the remnants of the ritual left behind, and the demon having left their land, seemingly.

Still bound to his summoner, the demon was dragged away to a small boat with a none-to-happy shamen staring him down, the crackling of magic at her fingertips. The Shamen had seen the demon’s act of betraying her - going against what he’d been commanded so as to destroy her - and left accordingly. The demon wasn’t angry for this, though, rather his impression towards this clever shamen still grew. Few had ever managed to keep him bound like this… in fact, few closer to none. The Shamen went on to garner pity over how she never wanted the tribe to hate her, but merely leave her to do her job without having to do every other job atop of it, merely because she was capable of what the tribe wasn’t. The demon, somewhat sympathizing with the shamen, but more of growing tired at the thought of becoming a familiar, offered the shamen a place in his own home back in Makai, in exchange for his freedom. He explained that the magic the Shamen displayed, which she had explained was given to her by the gods in reward for her devotion to the land, could be worthwhile, which was perhaps only a half-truth. With nothing to lose, the shamen agreed and released the demon’s binds. Now, many would think that demons are deceitful, honorless creatures, but the higher ranked demons did live by a code of honor, and Komori, who introduced himself just before whisking the Shamen away, knew better than to go back on a deal.

The shamen settled in well to her new home, though much different than the tribal stay she had prior, as Komori’s advisor. A title that was truly just a title to be a title - a way to make this human feel like she hadn’t been cheated, as in a sense the demon did hold some measure of fear for this human mage that bound him once before. Over time, though, the closeness this position gave her to the demon led the two to grow used to each other’s company, and even form a taboo love between demon and human. ( mind, this is skipping a few years of fluff, because this is going on long enough )

It wouldn’t be long until the notion of a child came between the two of them. Though intrigued by the idea, the Shamen was incapable of bearing a child - having given it up to the gods that granted her power so she would not be able to give her power to future generations. To solve this, the demon offered the shamen pick among his servants one to bear a child for them to take as their own. The Shamen, knowing there was no other way, picked among them the most beautiful of the lower ranked-demons, and allowed for Komori to give this woman his essence so as to bear his child. The servant was reluctant, at first, but for a low rank demon to bear the child of her masters, such higher ranked demons, her reluctance turned to overjoyment and quickly agreed… willingly.

Born from the essence of Komori was a small demon child. Though he and the Shamen knew that this child would never live up to her father’s power, being impure with the weakness of a lower rank, they enjoyed the notion of raising a child together no less. They gave the child an apt name, one that described her best among the demons, and that was “Little Devil”, Koakuma.

The Little Devil
 Born into the lap of luxury, the small demon child was pampered greatly by her mother and father. However, knowing the limits to what this devil would become, she was not raised to become a successor to Komuri, but rather she was raised to be as any other demon - the middle class, as it were. Though most would become envious of the life of a higher-rank demon, wondering why their parents refused them this right, Koakuma grew to actually enjoy this treatment over the servitude that her mother and father had gotten. She was taught at an early age how to cook and clean, how to work rather than how to be royalty. Not strictly how to be a servant, but seeing how the jobs the servants did were so similar to what she had been taught, she quickly took to helping the servants around the large manor, who even watched over her in the times her parents were too busy.

A particular place of interest for the little devil was her parent’s library. Though not huge, the collection of books needed thorough upkeep, something that the devil was happy to provide. She would start cleaning up the library one day, with the assistance of the other servants, but soon she found that these books actually had some interesting names on the covers. One that caught her eye was a book called “Journey to the West”, which she went on to read… and enjoy. A lot. This sparked her interest in reading, and often her free time would be spent in this small library, reading books that interested her.

Later in her life, the demon had come of age, though still young for a demon. She was perhaps in her teens, but far from being a child anymore. She was to now find a career, doing something that other middle-class demons like her would be good at. Upon searching, perhaps a bit clumsily, she came upon a tavern in a great demon city that had an offering for drink servers. It was perhaps the first offering she came across, and was tempted to go look for any others, having been told that the first job is never the only, but temptation and curiosity took over the demon, and she quickly entered the tavern to apply. Being young as she was, she brought a bit of concern to the owner of the tavern who had put out the offering, but the way she caught the eyes of others made her a bit of an attraction. If he was still reluctant then, though, the mention she made of how she learned how to “serve” from her mother and father’s servants, her parents she named by name, made the man quickly change his mind, not wanting to upset the demon of hysteria. She got the job without further question, and went on to give the owner not an ounce of regret…

Following her allowance to be a drink server, she was quickly shown the ropes. Her job was not unlike a waiter of sorts. She’d take orders from the customers, go to fetch their drinks, bring them their drinks as politely and kindly as she could, then clean up after they were done. Easy enough, even if the constant attention she had was unnerving. Even so, that’s not to say that the company the tavern had was all bad, in fact it was quite enjoyable for the young demon. She would avoid the dastardly of the drunks, while share in idle conversation with the more calm of the establishment’s customers, something that earned her a good deal of favor. Though, the way she avoided the more… devilish of drunks earned her poor favor among them.

Spending her time around this sort of atmosphere not only granted her experience, but her time conversing with the patrons, much older and wiser than her, left her to gain more and more maturity as well from it all. Her hobby of reading was also brought up from time to time, by fellow readers to authors alike. The dastardly of patrons taught her something too, and that is to be weary of certain people. Eventually, she grew a bit tired and bitter towards the attention she received from these people, her maturing body becoming more alluring to them in their drunken stupor. It was mentions of this that the bar’s patrons, and even her mother and father, as busy as they were, started to teach her magic to defend herself with. It certainly came in handy when she experienced the first unwanted touch from a patron as she set their hair aflame. This… got her a bit of flak from the owner, but the rest of the patrons argued it was well deserved, and so not a huge deal was made of it. What’s a night drinking without someone’s hair set aflame, after all?

Like Father Like Daughter
 An excerpt from a devil’s writings; ''“Summoning rituals. One would think that something that’s such a common bother to demons would be made common knowledge by the time they were old enough to fall victim! No-one told me, though. Not that I could say I regret it. Writing this now and looking back, I could almost say it was the best non-decision of my life! I have this huge library that I can safely say that I’ll never be able to read the entirety of, a job that I enjoy and am so very good at, and, most importantly, I have master Patchouli. Master… sometimes I don’t know if that word fits anymore. She’s less of a master these days, and more like a friend. Aha, I remember when I first met her, which kind of goes back to the whole summoning thing I mentioned.

Working at the tavern was wonderful. Barring the opposite, most of the people there were great company, so it made the job I loved all the better. Imagine my surprise if you would have told me that one day I’d be whisked away for something better. I would have called you a liar - a deceitful wretch who only wanted to trick me, or even abduct me. Then that fateful day came around, and I still remember it so clearly. I heard the words “Yes, you’ll do perfectly…” as I was going through the books of my parents’ library. Looking back, I can see how that image would be so perfect for the person who I suddenly appeared before. She must have put a binding spell on me, as when she told me to kneel, I could do nothing but. At first I was scared, terrified as to what was happening, but perhaps to my new master’s surprise, the glimpse of my surroundings caught my attention, and I was drawn to the sight of the grand library that I stood in the very center of. At the time I’d guessed at least a million books. Even now I’m not sure if that number is far off, but it certainly caught my interest then. Still worried of why I was brought here, I was quick to ask. The mage before me showed a look of slight surprise at what I assume was my lack of anger or violence, and explained that she summoned me to help her in taking care of the grand library. No words could ever have sounded sweeter to me, despite my job before, as it combined my two favorite things - caretaking and reading.

There wasn’t much to it then besides Master Patchouli’s surprise. She still seemed weary, thinking I was up to something, and even more so when I asked to at least send word to my father. Perhaps not wanted to deal with a high ranking demon ( who would? ), she allowed me as such. Daddy was… a bit angry. Very angry, actually, but mama could only seem to laugh. She later sent me a letter telling me the story of when her and daddy first met, and I saw why he was a bit angry. He calmed down soon enough thanks to mama, though, but threatened Master Patchouli that if she ever harmed me that she’d spend the rest of her life in a--... well, I’m not sure what he said after that. The portal closed before he could finish, Patchouli having grown tired of his threats and loud voice.

That earned an earful later, but besides that I was shown the ropes of the library rather… immediately. Hardly any time to adjust, but the promise of handling and reading the large collection made it all worthwhile. I was introduced a bit later to the rest of the mansion this library was a part of, and told a good deal about them. The two vampires, Remilia and Flandre. The latter, I was told, was a bit… unstable. I don’t see her too much, but Patchouli assures me it’s better that way. The former seems nice enough, if not a bit… egotistical, I guess? Patchouli has a lot to say about her, but in fear of this text being found, I won’t go into detail. ( sorry Miss Scarlet! ) Then there was the head maid, Sakuya. She seems pretty nice, and is a very hard worker, but she comes off as a bit cold. She scared me at times, but I’ve grown used to her. I heard there was a gatekeeper, but I don’t see her around much, though…

Life went pretty well. I was still sort of weak magic-wise, so Patchouli helped me a good deal with that. She’s very good at the subject, which replaces her natural weakness - the poor thing… She doesn’t realize it, but every day I spend a bit of time trying to find ways to cure her of that dreaded disease of hers. Enough about that, though… The extent of her power I saw when Miss Scarlet tried to release a mist upon Gensoukyou to block out the sun. A few people came barging in to the library, threatening Patchouli and the like. It was a person wearing red and white, a shrine maiden whom I forget the name of, and a magician who still gives us… a lot of trouble. Marisa. Ugh, I hate her… She always keeps trying to break into the library to harass Patchouli. One of these days I’m going to tear her throat out… Anyway, Patchouli fought against the two quite well. It was the first time I’ve ever been afraid of her. Maybe she was angry because of how I got beat trying to keep them away… oops. If it was one of them, I’m sure Patchouli would have slaughtered them, but it was nowhere near a fair fight…

That aside, life in the library is fairly peaceful. Quiet, relaxing… Admittedly, by most standards it could be called dull. I like dull, though. Too exciting gets old fast, and there are times when me and Patchouli have our fun. Usually it’s in talking about various subjects that interest us, or even playing this game Patchouli found one day called “Dungeons and Dragons”. She always plays the GM, as I’m not really good at it. Life with her is great, and though my dad always offers, I don’t think I’ll ever go home."''

Personality
Very untypical of a demon, Koakuma at first displays kindness and almost childish curiosity, at times, towards many of the people she meets. Given time, she may even grow to become decent friends with most of the people she meets. She goes out of her way to care for people as well, perhaps a leftover from her time as a drink server, and will often act just like a servant without really noticing it.

Consequently, becoming friends with the little devil could sometimes prove troubling, as she has a habit of fondly teasing those she likes. Though done entirely in jest, and often meant in no harm, demons seem to have a lack of the same sort of respect that humans do, and her playful teasing can sometimes be mistaken for insults. When told off, though, she’ll more than likely apologize.

However, a big key on how she treats any given person is based on Patchouli. She seems to follow the mage’s emotions just as much as her words. Those whom Patchouli respects will, likewise, earn the devil’s respect, those whom she doesn’t mind Koakuma will form her own opinions to, and those that Patchouli despises will often be despised by her as well. In truth, Koakuma doesn’t really have much of a reason to hate Marisa like she does, but she does so merely because Patchouli hates her.

Magic
Koakuma’s main ability is, naturally, her magical capabilities. Though far from grand, and very flawed, Koakuma has minor control over the same magic that Patchouli wields - namely the seven elements. Thus, she will often use low-level spells in combination with Patchouli’s higher level spells. After all, it’s rare to find her fighting alone.

Mental instability
Taking after her father, Koakuma has the passive ability to make people see hallucinations and other phenomena or hear sounds that aren’t there. The effects of this increase gradually the longer that someone is around her. She herself doesn’t seem to realize this effect, and Patchouli more than likely suppresses the effects on herself.