pika318: I wrote this while thinking that weaker clans and vagrant demons are probably more emotionally attached to their clan members compared to larger clans, and are therefore more likely to sacrifice themselves for each other. As usual, female Lucifer is a lot more responsible here and is not at all like the canon Lucifer, so please keep that in mind when you read it

One shot: Sacrifice

Currently, the Demon King Satan was standing outside of the medical room. Any injuries he had received in their latest battle with another demon clan were already patched up. Having settled any urgent business and letting Camio handle the rest, he was now waiting for someone else who was still undergoing treatment.

He was not alone though, next to him stood a smaller demon, about one third of his height, he was one of the members of the vagrant demons under Lucifer's command. He was covered in thick fur and had long ears that flopped down to his shoulders. Except for huge swelling on one side of his face, he looked alright.

"That looks painful, you sure you don't want it to be looked at?" Satan asked.

The smaller demon jolted at the sudden address by Satan but continued to stare at the floor. "I, I already got it checked, they said it will go away soon… rather than that…... about Demon General Lucifer…"

"If she could still give you that kind of slap such that your face swelled up this much even with that injury of hers, I'm sure she'll be fine." Satan commented with a troubled smile.

"I, I hope so…" The smaller demon stuttered.

"By the way, I haven't heard about what exactly happened for Lucifer to get that injury, mind telling me about it?" Satan asked. It was rare for Lucifer to get this seriously hurt, so he was curious.

"Well…." The smaller demon looked guilty again as he recounted what happened earlier in the day.

It was close to the end of battle. Being a weak clan member, he was not even supposed to participate directly in the battle, only in charge of scouting around the battlefield, providing updates on the latest movements of the opposing clan and things like that. Their aim in this battle was not to kill their opponent, but to capture and restrain the clan members until the leader could be defeated. Things were going well for them, most of the opposing clan members have been restrained and the leader was about to lose.

But because things were going well, that was what caused his only other family left, Lirike, to become careless.

When he noticed, Lirike, who was supposed to be in hiding, was already standing in the way of what looked like a concentrated projectile spell.

No, Lirike!

Lirike had his back facing the beam and would probably not notice that spell until it was too late for him to dodge.

He did not think much at all, only rushing towards Lirike as quickly as he could. But when he did get to where Lirike was, he realised that neither he had no time to push Lirike out of range nor was he powerful enough to conjure any spells to block it either.

I can only do this!

So he stood in front of that projectile, hoping his body would be enough to shield enough of the impact so Lirike would not get too seriously hurt behind him.

I'll protect you even if I die!

"Rerika, what are you doing?!" Behind him, he could hear Lirike shout, but it was too late for either of them to do anything.

I'm sorry, Lirike…

But before the beam could hit him, a shadow around his height suddenly appeared in front of him. Hastily, a shield was put up, and the beam stopped.

The source of the beam was unknown, but it did not dissipate at all, the shield glowed stronger, but cracks appeared in the shield.

"Tch!" The figure in front of him tutted. Rerika finally recognised who was standing in front of him.

"Demon General Lu…"

"If you got that much time to speak, then get out of the way!" Lucifer snapped. Behind him, Rerika felt Lirike move, grabbing his arm and pulling him along.

What happened next happened in an instant. Both of them could barely move out of the way before that beam shattered the shield completely, but the shield seemed to have deflected it from its straight path, tilting slightly.

Splat

The gruesome sound of blood gushing out and hitting the ground was heard. Rerika watched in horror as Demon General Lucifer knelt on the ground a short distance away from him, clutching her side with one hand as blood seeped between her fingers.

"Demon General Lucifer!" Rerika shouted in panic as he ran up to her.

It's my fault, I need to stop the bleeding!

But as he approached within arm's length in front of her, before he could do anything at all, Demon General Lucifer looked up at him, anger in her eyes.

Slap!

Rerika's head turned to the side from the impact and he stumbled back a few steps. Holding his stinging cheek, he stared back at Demon General Lucifer in surprise. Then she spoke,

"What the hell were you thinking, you idiot! Rushing in like that, if I had not come in time, you would have died!"

Rerika's mind went blank at the sudden scolding, and he said the first thing that was on his mind.

"It was to save Lirike…"

"To save your clan member? Really?" Demon General Lucifer responded, anger still in her eyes as she continued to speak. "Have you seen the power of that beam? Standing there like that, both you and him would have died. You would have saved no one. Then that's the end of your clan."

Rerika's mind widened in shock at the implications, he had not considered that much at all. "I…"

"Next time, if you want to sacrifice yourself, think of a plan that actually works…." Demon General Lucifer gritted her teeth as she tried to stand up, but the wound was too deep, more blood gushed out from the open wound as she moved, causing her to fall on the ground again.

"Damn it…." The fallen angel cursed under her breath.

After that, it was a flurry of activity as help came to give Lucifer emergency treatment and send her back to the base to get treated. Which led to Rerika and Satan standing outside the medical room now.

"I just want to apologise to her. I was really foolish, and it caused her to get hurt. If she died…." Rerika concluded.

Satan showed an understanding smile. "I said she'll be fine, right? You can apologise to her after the others are done treating her."

Rerika only nodded uneasily.

Then the door in front of them opened, and someone from the healing team came out. Seeing Satan standing there, the female demon bowed quickly and greeted, "Lord Demon King."

"Enough with the formalities, how's Lucifer?" Satan asked.

"Demon General Lucifer is stable now. But she will need bed rest for the next few days." The female demon replied.

"Is she awake?" Satan asked.

"Yes, are you going to see her now? I would advise not to agitate her too much. The wound is rather deep." The female demon said with some worry in her expression.

Satan smiled and turned to Rerika, "Well, go on then." He said gently, then pushed the smaller demon forward.

Rerika gulped in nervousness, but he still made his way into the room.

A week later

Alsiel walked down the hall to the medical room. He had something urgent to discuss with Lucifer about the arrangements of the vagrant demons and knew he would find Lucifer here.

Given the urgency of the matter, Alsiel did not bother to knock before he opened the door of the room, seeing Lucifer and one of the female demons who worked as a healer there.

But even though Alsiel did see Lucifer as he expected, he still stood there in the doorway, clearly stunned.

For one, because Lucifer was getting examined, Lucifer was not wearing the long coat, and in fact, in order for the healer to check the injury, she was not even wearing a shirt at the moment, sitting on the table half naked.

Which allowed Alsiel to see that Lucifer clearly had feminine curves on her body. Which normally would not have been a problem.

If he knew that Lucifer was a girl in the first place, that is.

Suddenly, a small beam shot near his head, snapping Alsiel back to his senses.

"I don't know how it works in your clan, idiot scorpion, but we have boundaries between opposite genders here, so get out now. Before I make you." Lucifer growled.

Flabbergasted, Alsiel quickly backed out of the room and closed the door.

END

pika318: Yeah, I kind of sneaked in a "how Alsiel found out Lucifer was a girl" here. Because of the long coat, it hid all the "curves", so Alsiel never realised that Lucifer was a girl. Plus there was also a belief that female demons won't be as powerful as male demons, so he never doubted that Lucifer was not a guy.