Ezraphel wanted to scream and if she were at the height of her powers the entire area would have felt the effects of her emotions right then.
'He is so infuriating!'
This entire scenario brought forth memories she had with her older sisters. They didn't meet very often but when they do they would always share little nuggets of wisdom. One thing they all had to say about humans in regards to first encounters is that more often than not their default emotion was fear and disbelief. So much so that some say it is more prevalent than lust. Oh sure they'd be curious and be drawn to them but as soon as they spot a horn, wing or tail they lock up in fear or run for the hills.
It didn't matter if they were a ferocious Hellhound or a demure Holstaur. Some of her sisters have claimed to see an entire town panic in the face of a wandering Weresheep…a Weresheep of all things.
Back then she remembered thinking to herself "humans are stupid."
But then the humans can't help but be afraid of Mamono sometimes since they've been at war with the Mamono's bloodthirsty ancestor's (monsters) since the beginning of time. Not to mention their enemies the Holy Order has seen to propagate false information about modern mamono painting them as the same bloodthirsty monsters they've been fighting but with a different form.
It is often said that humans fear that which they do not understand and it goes even beyond the scope of Mamono. She'd been taught by her mother Lilith that it would be up to her and her sisters as Lilim, to spread her vision of peace and coexistence to the humans through their actions. Ezraphel could admit begrudgingly that she has not really done much with her life to live up to the expectations most would associate with her sisters before her.
She had no particular stand out accomplishments to her name, she had no Kingdom, her magical prowess were average compared to the more impressive feats of some of her sisters, she had little combat training, she did not seek adventure into the unknown and though it embarrasses her she did not have any sexual experience with men.
The latter is a matter of personal preference than any hesitance or lack of want. Some of her sisters choose to indulge or over-indulge in sex while others choose to keep their chastity, only giving it away to the man who would be their husband.
What Ezraphel lacked in impressive feats, raw power and even ambition she made up for with her ingenuity. As one of the younger Lilim currently (being born in the latter half of the millennium of her mother's rule) Ezraphel had the unfair position of seeing her elder sisters succeed in almost every way imaginable. Growing up she had heard and witnessed her sisters conquer kingdoms previously thought impenetrable, build their own Kingdoms from the ground up, create pocket dimensions spanning an entire country, travel the world, discover new lands etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Ezraphel is the 27th daughter born and while she could be anything she wanted to be there wasn't much for her to be that wouldn't be rehashing or coasting off of what her siblings had already done. You can only see so many cities conquered, so many Demon Realms ruled until you start to desire something new and fresh in your life. It is for this reason why if one were to observe the actions of every Lilim starting from the first to the last there is a huge disparity in the pursuits of the older generation and the younger one.
It would go from queens, conquerors and warriors to travelers, artisans and scholars. A great example would be Mari, who had conquered a Kingdom and converted it into a successful Demon Realm then practically abandoned her throne to pursue her true passions: adventure and art. Ezraphel had actually spoken to her mother about this, despairing over her want to be acknowledged yet not wanting to follow in her sisters' footsteps and do what they have already seemingly perfected.
To her surprise or rather expectantly her mother encouraged her to find her own path and that she need not accomplish any spectacular feat. So long as Ezraphel is healthy and happy she would be proud of her. That was all well and good and Ezraphel needed to hear those words at the time but the truth of the moment was that Ezraphel wasn't happy. She was more content than anything but as the years went by she would lose more of that feeling of content and never be able to truly be happy no matter what activity she tried.
Ezraphel spent most of her life in Demon Realms, most times as the 27th Lilim princess and other times in Mamono friendly settlements under a guise. She had witnessed many Mamono with their husbands or children, observed how happy they were together and it had always made her envious. It wasn't until one particular day when she visited a Kingdom recently taken by one of her sisters that she realized something. It was a Dark Demon Realm filled with the love of so many couples, she had been visiting her sister and it occurred to her that they were alone.
She, her sister, was alone.
Almost all of her subordinates had found partners to be with during and after the conflict yet her sister had not. Ezraphel had questioned why that was and the answer shocked her.
"I suppose there was not anyone who caught my attention" she said in a dismissive tone.
How could she say that?
Then it occurred to her. Lilims are thought of as the envoys of the Mamono Overlord and as such their every action is as much an extension of the Mamono Overlord's will as it was theirs. The consensus was that they try to fulfil their mother's vision of coexistence but is that really what their mother wanted? For her it was a radical thought but she just could not get it out of her mind.
Their mother in her early days was as invested into making her vision a reality as most of her sisters. Then she met their father, started a family and suddenly others began to see less and less of her on the battlefield until she stopped going altogether. Even the more political duties of her station were delegated to her first born daughter who now practically ruled the Royal Makai.
There is no doubt that Lilith was the Monster Overlord and her power more or less rivals the Chief God if not eclipses it but she seems to spend less time as an Overlord (none as a 'Mamono God') and more time as a mother and wife. Ezraphel has heard the saying enough times from the few Mamono alive who has been with her mother since the beginning to know that she has never been happier in the entire time they had known her.
They were winning the war against the Chief God at their own pace now but Ezraphel couldn't help but feel that her mother, the Mamono Overlord, did not care so much about winning the war as she did about the safety and well being of her family. With every accomplishment they have, whether large or small, and with every Lilim born she becomes that much happier.
Wasn't that the entire point of Mamono and human coexistence to find a human husband and raise a family? The very thought of such a thing mentioned to most of her sisters would have them pause wistfully. She would know because she felt the same way when the thought ever occurred. So why is it that despite all that they have accomplished most of the Lilim aren't even married yet? Even worse, out of all the Lilims only a single sister had managed to become pregnant.
It says something about a group of higher tier succubi who have great power, the responsibility of fostering a new age of coexistence among all the races and the disposition for sex and child bearing that only one of them had succeeded, truly succeeded, in life. Finding a husband was the key to any Mamono's true happiness but birthing a child formed of their combined love was opening the door to a Mamono's highest fulfillment.
Ezraphel wanted that, she did not care for accolades or success, she wanted happiness with her husband and to this end she spent decades working towards that goal. What started as a search turned into research then a spell but not just any spell, it would be the most coveted spell in all of Mamono history. A spell that when cast would seek out a man who has the most potential in being that castor's mate and teleport her directly to him.
She told no one of her venture. She studied, experimented and consulted many experts in spell crafting and other areas both magical and even scientific. She spent more than half her life in creating that spell, telling only a few of her desire and none of them had been her family. She wanted it to be a surprise, to see the look on their faces when she handed them the key to their own happiness. Casting the spell itself was tricky and she may have underestimated its requirements and its reach.
She accounted for being teleported anywhere in the world but she never thought the spell would carry her to a different dimension. It had worked though, the first man she saw upon waking was not what she expected but the moment she tasted his spirit energy she knew he was the one. She had found her husband and yet here she was, hours later sitting alone in a dark room having taken one step forward and two steps back in regards to the progression of their relationship.
Gods know she'd tried but between his spirit energy, adorableness, stubborn attitude, reluctance and her instincts, growing want, desperation caused by said instincts and growing want Ezraphel was getting very frustrated.
'If only that spell had not completely drained me of magic we would already have sealed our matrimony.'
Well why not just push him down and rape him?
The fact that she was even considering something so crass and uncivilized spoke volumes of how desperate she was becoming. But no, while the appeal for that sort of thing was there it would pale in comparison to the embarrassment of having to tell her family that was how she claimed her husband.
'If he doesn't stop being foolish it might just come to that' she darkly thought.
"Argh, why does he have to be so stubborn!?" she yelled to herself then turned on her side enjoying the smell of his spirit energy permeating the sheets "although I kind of like that quality about him too~"
Damn adorable little man.
In the end she sighed then sprung to her feet with a fierce resolve.
'Fortune favours the bold as the saying goes and whatever wall holding him back from simply taking me (preferably on this comfortable bed) I will break down with the strength and swiftness of a Dragon going for a castle's treasure vault. This I swear!'
And so it was with this pledge that Ezraphel, 27th Daughter of the Mamono Overlord clothed herself and ventured outside to be by her husband's side.