After my nap where I find Desire snuggled next to me, I get up and yawn, the smell of blood apple pie and waste worm sausages quickly wakes me up from my half asleep state and I put on my shirt and pants as it seems Desire washed them while I was asleep.

I walk out my room and into the kitchen where the three chefs, an incupony, a succupony, and a goblin are preparing dinner for everyone in the manor. They also cook for the maids and butlers working here as well as their talents would be wasted on just me.

"Smells good guys," I compliment them as I sit at the large table.

"Thank you, Sir. It'll be ready in a few minutes!" Soft Touch the succupony replies and bends over to pull a pie out of the stone oven. I chuckle when she yelps from Silver Tongue the incupony slapping her ass making her blush and glare at him.

I wait for a few minutes as Desire walks in rubbing her eyes. "Feeed meeee..." she mumbles like a zombie and sits down on my lap. I wrap my arms around her waist and she hums as I feel her feeding off me.

"Good afternoon... or is it morning? You know I can't tell time here," I ask her.

"Afternoon is right, so what do you plan to do now that Kigorian is no longer a threat?" Desire asks me.

"Well, we'll have to wait for the others to bring back the resources of the other town to start making more homes for our increasing population. I need to start practising with my powers and then clear out the mine so we can make better and newer equipment with the ore," I reply as a whole eight piece pie with ten sausages is put in front of us along with two cups of rot wheat ale.

"Then I'm going to help you with your powers, watching you coursing with power gets me going so good," she tells me and licks my cheek.

"Right, just take this seriously. I want to make sure this town grows and is well protected, better weapons and armour is a good start along with a wall to protect us from ground threats and me getting stronger to fight the bigger demons is also a plus," I tell her with narrowed eyes, I'm not going to let her tease me when I'm going to practise potentially lethal abilities that could get her hurt or killed.

"Alright, I'll behave, but you'll have to fix that when we're done," she replies and circles her right index finger on my shirt covered chest.

I shake my head and reach around her for a slice of pie and take a bite out of it, Desire then takes a bite out of it herself and surprises me with a mouthful of pie kiss, sharing hers and mine together. 'This girl is going to be a bad influence on me later in life...' I think to myself and just let her have her fun.

---

---

I can now freely summon my scythe and throw fireballs further and faster than any of the imps, I've also learnt how to spray my darkfire out like a short ranged flamethrower. Desire almost got herself killed when she couldn't restrain herself anymore and jumped on my back whilst I was using my darkfire at the time, I scolded her like a naughty puppy and told her no fun times for a week, that got her to sober up fast.

Arachne fixed my coat and is also out of the manor with her arachniponies most of the day. She's been looking around for a good spot to build her own silk empire as she put it.

The demons I sent to bring back the metal of the town I raided has brought back a quarter of it already and have begun building new houses out of it. Just another month or two and we'll have new homes, businesses, and a wall built.

---

It's been nice and quiet the last two weeks, no rival demon attacks, my new demons are getting along well with the others and I believe I'm good enough to clear out the mine so we can start mining again.

Geneine has guided me to the entrance of a cave leading underground, I can hear noises coming from inside making me frown. "How many are down there?" I ask her.

"We believe about two-hundred waste worms, wild felhounds, and kobolds are inside, but that was months ago when Jidaan was running things," she replies.

"Alright, head back to Felfire and wait for my return, get a team ready for mining as well," I tell her.

"It shall be done, my Lord," she replies with a bow before flying off back to town.

I look back at the cave entrance and summon my scythe. "Well my friend, these may not be high quality souls, but there's over two-hundred of them in there for you," I tell my scythe and feel it anticipating the killing spree ahead.

With that I light my left hand with darkfire barely lighting the cave a couple metres ahead of me.

---

---

I pant as I exit the mine with a tired expression. There was a LOT more monsters in there than we thought, not only were there waste worms, felhounds, and Kobolds in there, but also large red centipedes the size of my leg, large flaming bats that tried to bite my face off, and these crab like rocks trying to pinch my ankles.

I burnt most to ash while Thanatos took the rest of their souls, I wonder what my scythe does with the souls? I'll have to find out about what my weapon can do later. I dismiss my scythe and look at my coat, fucking thing is torn to shit again... great, Arachne is just going to love me for this.

I fly back to town where I see a bunch of about thirty demons mostly goblins and a few arachniponies carrying pickaxes and harpies holding bags.

Geneine looks up at me and smiles. "Welcome back, my Lord. I've gathered those who wish to mine the ore for twenty decans a day," she tells me and I look to the gathered demons.

"Alright, escort them to the mines and get some of the metal we're bringing back from Kigorian's town to make a wall around the entrance for defences in case someone decides to raid the mine,” I tell her. They all head off to start their work and I smile.

I have plans for the hell iron ore that will give my demons an advantage against even deamons. I'm going to bring firearms to Tartarus!.. Now I just gotta figure out how they work and how I'll make the bullets... bugger.

Desire walks up to me in her new black dress made by Arachne, but she's not as excitable as usual, I guess her near death experience has shown her that not everything is a game. "Hey, I see you got the mine back," she says rather calm.

I sigh as seeing her like this is depressing, I love her bubbly attitude but it was not needed when I was playing with darkfire. "Look, I know I was harsh when I was training, but I don't want to see you hurt, Desire. If I hurt or Tartarus forbid kill you, I'd never forgive myself... You can mess around when we're home and just lazing about, but when I'm training or coordinating the town, please restrain yourself..." I tell her and hug her tightly.

She sniffles but hugs me back. "Okay, I'm sorry," she replies.

I pat her back and kiss her cheek. "It's fine, you're unharmed and that's all that matters. I need to see Arachne about fixing my coat again and begin making plans for a new weapon I want to make," I tell her and we walk back to the manor hand in hand.

---

---

I've begun my work on making a crude musket rifle, I remember it just needs a powder charge and a metal ball stuffed down the barrel with a flintlock hammer to ignite the charge, it's not an M4A1 Carbine or an AK47, but it's a start. So far I've had the stock carved from a blood apple tree branch that fell off months ago, and then had the barrel smelted and forged by the imps and goblins with the new ore coming in, little guys are great at crafting stuff. Only snag I've hit is the gunpowder and hammer parts.

I've kept my end of my deal with Arachne and fertilised her last four clutches, having... intercourse with her was a strange experience to say the least. She lays about ten eggs a month and so far we've got forty new arachniponies growing in an underground nest made by the arachniponies under their new silk store, at least I don't have to raise them myself... the thought of being a father figure to forty children just terrifies me. The demons in town are now well clothed instead of in rags and the town is growing very well thanks to the new additions.

We now have our wall built with three gates and many homes built from the remains of Kigorian's Town. Though lookouts on the wall have reported demons observing our town from a distance, I've sent out harpies to find out what they want or if they're hostile to keep an eye on them, though when they got close the demons ran.

With the new hell iron ore we've now got new equipment and gear, sharp swords, pointy spears, sturdy armour, and I've even got bows and arrows made for the lookouts on the wall, I think they enjoy taking shots at the roaming monsters in the wastes a little too much as they now have weekly competitions seeing who has the better aim. I let them do it as it gives them something to do and look forward to, keeps them happy and a happy demon is a loyal one.

Desire is back to her happy go lucky attitude and we've also had a few demons getting pregnant and forming families now. I just hope we can grow to a point where we'll be able to repel an attack easily before someone strong takes notice of us. I don't want this flourishing town bursting with new life and ideals to come crashing down from some power hungry asswipe looking for a quick score. I'll also need to start looking for deamons to add to my demon horde for more protection and more brute force to raid with if we need to. I've learnt quickly that if I want to raise an army I'll need to raid other towns and claim their demons and wealth, but I'm going to do it my way and spare the weaker demons and only kill their master if I can. The more I claim the faster I can get this army up.

My training is also paying off as I've nearly mastered my darkfire power, I can now shape it into objects, my favourite one is where I make a small dragon no bigger than two feet tall and make it fly into my target and explode, though this takes quite a bit of energy to perform. Sufficed to say Desire had her way with me that night after my display of power.

---

I yawn in my workshop that I've had added to my manor as I tinker with the hammer mechanism for the rifle, but I just can't seem to get it to make a spark to ignite the gunpowder we've finally got right, the fact there’s no flint here is halting our work.

"Alright, I'm out of ideas... is there anything we can use to make a spark?" I ask my small team of imps and goblins who are helping me to make this.

"What about thunder crystals? Only problem is they grow in the Thunderfury Mountains to the north," a goblin suggests.

"What are these crystals and how do they work?" I ask him with intrigue.

"Well, when struck, they release a charge of lightning and then slowly recharge after a few seconds. The smaller the crystal the smaller the charge they release," he explains to me.

I start grinning and laughing. "Perfect! I'll need to gather some harpies to come with me and bring some back," I reply and get up. "Continue to make more barrels and stocks so we'll be ready to add the hammers later," I tell them getting affirmatives in reply as I leave.

I gather a group of six harpies with imps on their shoulders for protection, new razor sharp hell iron claws attached to their talons and light armour plates covering their legs, they also have harnesses on their backs to allow the imps to hold on to. "So, we're heading to the Thunderfury Mountains to collect some thunder crystals for a project of mine," I brief them.

They look at each other with shrug before we all take off north.

---

---

After a long flight north, we arrive at a tall mountain range with thunder clouds over head discharging periodically, well... that'll be a problem with the harpies wearing metal. Fortunately I see crystal formations near the base of a cliff face and fly over to it. The crystals are light blue with static electricity sparking off them.

I reach out and poke it gently and I get a mild zap but nothing painful. I grip it tightly and pull it out of the ground. I carry the crystal back to the harpies and place it in one of the electric proof silk bags before gathering five more crystal chunks.

Once gathered we turn around and head for home, but a fireball from an imp who isn't one of mine shoots down one of my harpies.

"Quickly! Kill them all and take everything they have!" I hear a deep voice call out and a group of twenty demons mostly imps and goblins attack us with crap equipment.

"Take her back home and get her treated, I'll make these bastards sorry for attacking us." I tell my harpies and they take off while carrying the injured one and the bags in their talons. My imps throw a few fireballs at the incoming demons before they're out of range.

"I don't know who you are, but you made a mistake attacking us," I threaten them and summon my scythe.

"You ussselesss imbecilesss! You let the harpiesss essscape!" a tall demon with the lower half of a snake, torso of a man and a head of a cobra yells angrily at the imps and goblins.

I frown at him for ignoring me and conjure a small darkfire dragon in my left hand, I send it out where it flies up into the air and comes back down, exploding on the imps and goblins turning seven of them into ash.

"I don't know who you are but you made a grave error attacking my demons," I tell him and spread my wings as I begin walking towards him.

The imps and goblins start backing away as the snake guy glares at me. "I don't care who you are, you'll leave that niccce looking weapon on the ground and sssurrender yourssself to my missstresss," he tells me and draws two long curved swords that almost look like a katana.

"I don't think you understand the situation you're in," I tell him and swing my scythe at a goblin who tries to stab me in the leg. My scythe splits the goblin in two as his soul is sucked out and into my scythe. "For attacking my people I will claim your soul," I tell him with an eerily calm tone.

The imps and goblins that watched their ally's soul get torn out run off behind some rocks knowing that they're outmatched.

The snake demon hisses at them. "What are you doing you cowardsss! Get back here and kill thisss bassstard!" he yells at them but they don't comply.

"It seems that they have more sense than you do if you can't feel the amount of energy I'm giving off," I tell him with a cruel grin while twirling my scythe around effortlessly.

Before the snake demon could even speak, I dash forward and quickly cut off both of his arms. "GAAAAHH!" he screams in pain as he writhes on the ground soaking the ash covered dried up dirt with his blood.

I kneel down and grip the side of his head and force him to look at me. "I'm going to give you two options... Option one, you tell me who your master is and I grant you a death that doesn't take your soul. Option two, you resist and I just burn you into ash before ripping out your soul in the most painful way I can imagine... So? What would you prefer?" I ask him.

He glares at me and spits in my face burning my left cheek. 'Did this prick really just spit venom or acid at me!?' I think with anger as I slam him face first into the ground. I wipe off the acid with my coat's sleeve and the burned skin quickly heals. "That hurt, mother fucker," I tell him and slam his face a second time into the ground.

I then put my scythe down and force his mouth open and then pull out both of his fangs. He screams again in pain as I pick up my scythe and raise it up, I swing down and impale him to the ground through his lower back making him cry out in agony.

"So option two it is then," I tell him and walk over to the tip of his tail, I then ignite my hands with darkfire and set his tail alight and watch as he slowly starts burning alive into ash. His screams of pain and anguish echo throughout the mountain range for any nearby to hear.

Once the fire reaches his waist, I pull out my scythe and pierce his heart. Thanatos sucks out the bastard's soul and the rest of the demon's body shrivels up and crumbles into ash.

"Now then," I say and turn to the imps and goblins staring at me in fear. "Come out and I won't hurt you," I tell them and they comply. "Who is your master?" I then ask them.

"Mistress Medusa," one of the imps replies.

"What kind of demon is she?" I ask next, if the name is any indication then I think I have an idea of what she looks like.

"S-She's a gorgon deamon w-who uses a demonite b-bow and hell iron a-arrows, she can a-also turn any lesser d-demon who looks at her i-in the eyes into s-stone," a goblin then tells me.

I thought so. "I see... and which direction from here is she?" I ask them.

"T-Twenty miles w-west," another imp replies.

"Thank you. Now, I am demonlord Damien Jackson and I'm giving you a choice. Return to your mistress, or become my demons," I tell them.

They look at each other and then back to me. "You're a d-demonlord?" a goblin asks me with fear in his eyes.

"Correct, but unlike the others, I treat my demons equally, well fed, and even happy. So, if you choose to join my community or stay with your current mistress, I won't hurt you, you're free to go if you wish," I tell them making them whisper to each other. If I show them some kindness and that I'm sincere, they'd hopefully pick me.

"And you won't treat us like slaves?" one of them asks.

"No I won't, all demons in my care are treated equally, this includes the archinipony queen in my demon horde," I reply.

One of the goblins steps forward and looks up at me while dropping his poor excuse for a dagger. "I want to join you then. Mistress Medusa has been... well, extremely cruel since her mate was killed two years ago, she's been treating us as slaves or even turning us into statues for her own amusement," he tells me.

I frown and shake my head, that's just fucked up. "How many demons does she have," I ask him.

"Four-hundred and sixty-seven. Including her three daughters and two sons," he replies and looks at the ashes of the snake demon I killed. "One of which you just killed..." he tells me.

So I killed one of her children... That means if she ever finds out, Felfire will be a target of her wrath, I need to get my rifles ready and for a possible assault.

"Alright then, those who wish to join me step forward, those who wish to leave you may do so," I tell them.

Three of the twelve demons back away before running off. I probably should kill them to stop them from telling this Medusa, but I gave my word not to harm them. I look at the remaining demons and smile before replacing their marks with my own.

"Let's head back to Felfire. We got a long walk ahead of us," I tell them as they all seem to perk up and head out.

---

---

"Finally!" I shout out with a grin. The hammer mechanism for the rifle is now working perfectly! We've managed to chip away at the crystals slowly and replaced the original hammers with crystal tips, so when it slams down into the barrel's chamber, it pierces the 'shell's' silk outer layer and ignites the powder inside, burning the silk instantly and launching the bullet out with enough force to puncture shitty rusted armour, but not our new better armour we've had made.

"So does this mean we can start producing these now, my Lord?" a goblin asks with a smile, just as excited to have finally completed it.

"Yes, yes it does. Start making a hundred of these first and as many shells as you can make," I tell them getting nods in reply before they rush off to mass produce the rifles. I look to the completed one in my hands and grin, this will hopefully give my lesser demons a chance of even taking down a unarmoured deamon if they have to.

I've attached a sling to this one and I'll change it's appearance later, but for now I sling it over my left shoulder with a pouch containing thirty silk shells made by the arachniponies filled with gunpowder and a single bullet. I'll just practise later after I've had dinner and given Desire her daily snuggles as she calls them.

After eating and snuggling, I'm standing on the wall with an audience of demons watching where I have some harpies and goblins placing targets out in the wastes. I pull the hammer back and then load a shell down the barrel with a charging rod -which Desire called a ram rod and the other demons seem to like that better as well- I push the shell down the barrel and return the rod to its place under the barrel.

Once loaded I wait for the goblins to finish setting up the targets before they get out of the way with the harpies.

"Alright then, first field test of the musket rifle will now commence!" I shout out with a grin, I've fired an air rifle before and I'm looking forward to this. "Now a word of warning, this will be loud so cover your ears please," I warn the gathered crowd.

They comply and put their hands or wings in the harpies case, over their ears. I then take aim down at the closest target about twenty feet away and pull the trigger.

The loud bang makes a few demons yelp in surprise and jump slightly as the bullet hits its target and punctures the rusty armour easily.

I take a deep breath and sigh happily. 'Damn that felt good to do again!' I think to myself with a shudder before reloading, next design I'll have to try and make a bolt action rifle or a revolver chamber, the only flaw with this rifle is the reloading time. The demons around me look stunned at what the weapon can do from this distance and stare at the target with a hole now in the chestplate.

After a few seconds I've reloaded and I take aim the the fifty feet target. I fire the shot and the bullet veers off course slightly but still hit its target. I reload and take another shot aiming for the centre of the chest but the bullet veers again, seems like a half a foot spread from here.

I take a fourth shot at the seventy feet target but it misses completely. So the max range would be fifty to sixty feet then.

"Where did you get this weapon, my Lord?" an incupony asks me.

"I and a team of imps and goblins designed it, we'll be arming all of our demons with these along with swords, hammers, and spears, these will hopefully give you all a much better chance of surviving a battle, even against a deamon," I reply and smirk.

The demons start talking amongst themselves excitedly as I sling the rifle over my right shoulder. I look back and see Desire biting her bottom lip and squirming.

I smile and sigh knowing exactly why she's doing that. "Okay okay, I know what you want, but I get to be on top this time!" I tell her making her squeal before dragging me off as the demons around us chuckle at me.

Next Chapter: Chapter 8: The wrath of a demonlord Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 33 Minutes