This king invites all challengers upon the Land of Hellfire and Brimstone! The demon army of this king will eradicate all who attempt to make a claim to the vast treasures that are held by the ultimate race of demons!

No being in the world is unafraid of the power that this king holds, so this warning should be a reminder to you all, to the world, the very echelons of the universe!

This king is the almighty power and this king will not be taken down by ants! You all witnessed my power as I enveloped my land under thy tender hand, be afraid, as it is only the beginning. One day, this king will make the rightful claim on everything under the heavens, so come defeat me, this king dares you!

-Proclamation of the Demon Lord, Maou Maximus, Lord of Hellfire, known to the human race as a traitor to his kind and the ultimate chuunibyou, broken madman, 1721 FE

****************************************************

A lone, large tree stump sat in front of one of the numerous entryways at the back of Cripclaw Keep. Four Hobgoblins that acted as guards claimed this area as there own.

Currently, said four Hobgoblins were playing a simple game to pass the time. They were intelligent enough to hate being forced to listen to the mewling of Goblins and other lesser creatures all day, but not above joining their ferocity, raids, and **** conquests.

A Hobgoblin wearing a bandanna obscuring most of his face and a large cloak covering the rest of him silently tapped on the stump.

The next, Green Hobgoblin pushed a few Power Stones towards the center, and yelled out in a shrill, annoying voice "Raise, beeyotches!"

A Brown Hobgoblin, currently wearing an eye patch to cover the hole in his face where an eye used to be, threw his cards down and uttered one word in a deep, baritone voice, "Out."

The red skinned female Hobgoblin at the table winked at the eye patched one before she added more stones to the pile.

Above the quartet, Odd stood on a branch, watching the game. The bluffs, power plays, and simplicity of the game was pretty interesting, but he was here because this was the most quiet entrance into the keep he could find.

That's what he told himself, at least.

Odd was a Gob, albeit a complicated one. At his core though, he didn't do deception. Trying to hide his abilities was something he had to remind himself to try to do at least several times a day.

As a game though, he could do deception. It looked like fun.

That's for another time though, Odd was curious about finding how civilization worked, but he had a job to do. He hopped down from his branch and walked towards the tunnel.

The Living Ghoul figured that if he walked like he was meant to be there, the Hobgoblins would let him passed unhindered.

"Hey, look, is that a goddamn twig heading into our base?" the annoying Hobgoblin asked loudly.

Or not.

"Uhh, do I look like an elf?" he asked with a tinge of hopefulness. Elves were known across the planet to be attractive to pretty much all races.

"Not skinny 'nuff. Anomaly," Eye-Patch corrected.

The female Hobgoblin added her two stones, "Ugly fucker, look at that lopsided face! And that bland, baby skin and set of flat teeth makes him look like such a pussy. Are you sure its even a, 'him,' and not a, 'her'?"

"What?" Odd hissed.

The annoying one was holding his gut in laughter before he placed a hand on the female's shoulder, "Haha! Good one babe!"

Eye-Patch let loose some killer intent, "Possessive human filth."

"Nah, don't worry about it hun, you know you can fill all my holes later. Maybe right after we kill this freak? The thought of it is getting me going something hard!"

"Really?" Odd questioned. "I get it, beauty of the beholder and all, but you're saying people have been trying to kill me without letting me talk first because I'm literally too sexy?"

"Anomaly kill on sight order," Eye Patch stood from his seat and drew a knife. It wasn't anywhere near as cool as the Yin Shell-blades, but it was one of the most complicated weapons that Odd had seen the savages in the valley use.

"One second, what about her, you really think that's not hideous? Saggy, long, drooping tits, crooked ass teeth and lips that look like they are made for biting instead of sucking, and skin so wrinkled and rough that it would be uncomfortable to stroke it during post-coitus, obligatory displays of affection?"

Odd raised his hands in the air dramatically to appear as nonthreatening as possible, "I mean look at her!"

The dumb asses did.

Odd activated his yin lighting to cloak his presence and moved behind the most dangerous one, that damn eye patch wearing, scary voiced Hob that just couldn't let things go peacefully!

The female Red Hobgoblin screamed as the head of her comrade slumped against his chest, still attached by the skin from the front of his neck.

The spine and meat from the back half of his neck was missing in a spectacular show of brutality.

[Yin Lighting Affinity] rose from 2.7 to 2.8