Aside from being a low-level demon, there was one other main reason why Danny suffered ridicule from the demons around him.
Danny is a half-blooded demon. His mother was a human who followed his father into Hell, and his father... Well, he was...
"So my bastard son actually showed up! What did you pay that guy?"
The demon lord, Satan, asked Marcuse as the two teens entered the room.
His sarcastic tone and smug expression were infuriatingly familiar to Danny.
He, the demon lord, rented a house in the capital to have a private talk outside the palace during dinner.
How many years has it been since he last saw this shitty father of his? Two? Three? When did he first meet HER? Probably three years ago.
"What did you wanna talk about?"
Danny said impatiently. There was nothing he wanted less than to hear this asshole's yapping.
At the sight of Danny's frustration, the smug, red-eyed, white-haired man sitting at the other side of the dinner table grinned with sadistic satisfaction.
"If you just wanna cut to the chase, be it."
Satan said, and Danny felt like his father was going along with his demand to give him a blow later.
"You may be a genius among high-level demons, have one of the strongest magic controls, and my son, but you are a mere low-level demon and a half-human bastard. So you will not be able to achieve anything in your life..."
There it was. Danny knew his father would do this. Now, the next part of his talk would be a demand from Danny to do something.
Luckily, his mother didn't know about this meeting. If she did, she would push him to follow his father's plans.
"...But unlike useless old you, your brother got all the qualifications needed to become my heir... Well, other than the crowd's support, which is where you come in. You are the 'smartest low-level demon,' a celebrity representing the lower class. With your support, your brother's following will get much larger than without it."
Satan finished the explanation of his plan.
"And why is my brother being the heir relevant now?"
Danny asked.
He had a suspicion, but he wanted to hear if his father was really planning to quit.
"My father asked me to return to Eden and resume my old post. So I'll need to nominate a new demon lord sooner than later. And it just so happens I have a legitimate son that there should be no issue if I crown as my heir."
The devil explained his reasons, and Danny was happy his guess was correct.
"Wait, you're leaving?!"
Marcuse exclaimed in surprise.
He had no clue about this matter, and it seemed no one was planning to clue him into the conversation as they simply ignored him and continued.
"And why should I support your plans?"
Danny asked. There was nothing he preferred more than ignoring that piece of shit.
"You may hate me, but you do care about your brother. Don't you? And we both know that as the son of the previous demon lord, he would be targeted by any other person who will replace me."
Satan answered with the expression of someone who thinks he won.
"You shouldn't underestimate my hatred toward you."
Danny said and then stood up to leave.
Even though his father's words rang true, and he really did want to support his brother, his disdain for his father and unwillingness to go along with that devil's plans was greater than any brotherly love he felt.
"You would hurt your brother just to disobey me?"
Satan asked, surprised by his bastard son's conviction.
"Yes."
Danny said, his head still facing toward the door.
"I underestimated you."
Satan said with a mixture of delight and anger.
"You shouldn't have."
And with these words, Danny left the house his father rented for them to have a private place to eat outside the palace.
"What do you have against him?"
Marcuse asked with an annoyed tone.
"Nothing, really. I just wanted to see if he would put his pride first. I really can't understand why a half-human like him is so similar to me..."
The red-eyed, white-haired demon with two unbroken goat horns looked at the door with deliberation.
********
'I don't know why I decided to actually come and hear what this damned son of the All Creator had to say.'
Danny thought to himself as he walked through the streets of the capital.
He stopped for a moment and looked at the moon. It was as red as blood, as it always was.
If he wasn't mistaken, where he was right now was the Baal Clan's territory. It would do him no good to stay there for too long... And wasn't that senior he beat today from the Baal Clan too?
He would have preferred to go by bus, but his father requested he come to dinner for that exact reason. There were no buses active in the capital at this hour.
The buildings around him were as grim as always. Each building was slightly different. And they were all built to look imposing for passers-by. If it were only one house, it would have been fine and probably scary, but the fact that each manor and apartment complex in this neighborhood was like this was rather lame.
Out of nowhere, his purple eyes lit up, and he could sense a familiar aura. Without thinking about it, he started walking toward the source.
For some reason not known to him, his eyes were... different. Neither of his parents had purple eyes, but he did.
This pair of eyes was irregular in multiple ways. One of the more prominent examples was that they started glowing whenever he felt an intense emotion.
Another example was that they let him see magic. All demons had some level of skill at sensing magic around them. With this ability, they evaluated their enemy's magic level and the level of the attack used in battle, but Danny's eyes made his ability slightly different.
He could sense his enemy's level and the level of attacks used, just as any other demon, but he had no use for it.
His eyes let him see the movement of the magic energy around him and in other people. This greatly improved his control over it.
Every time someone used a spell, he could see the movement of the magic energy coming from the body and how it converged into the spell. This ability wouldn't have been especially powerful if he hadn't practiced controlling the movement of magic energy.
He walked until he saw a familiar red-haired demoness with green eyes wearing a maid uniform standing outside one of the manors to his left.
It took her a few moments to notice him, but once she did, her expression showed how embarrassed she felt and the great worry he would tell about it to other people.
And why wouldn't she feel embarrassed? They only met this morning, and he already saw her like that...
"What are you doing here!"
Mira exclaimed in surprise, and he sighed.
It seemed this day was not going to end just yet.