It gets intense, buckle in haha

You know it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying if i just typed out the answers 😉

Good point about the “kept in the dark” but I suspect it’s partly that they’re preschoolers. Nobody talks to them because it’s not worth the work yet, so they aren’t tied into the gossip.

About Al going by that name and not Stryder … this is where “how do demons even work?” comes into play.

We know that Al looks like Stryder. We also have reason to believe that he, and Adrian LaFayette, were killed. We know that he is UNLIKE the preschoolers in that he deliberately came for a soul. There’s no suggestion that the preschoolers get to keep the soul they bond to. (I am misusing the word soul here, but that’s to fit the terminology that Asmo has used.)

Which means that Stryder and Adrian were different. Stryder was sent to do more than learn not to play in honeytraps. If that’s the case, and we don’t know for sure what happened to Stryder, then it’s possible that he got Adrian’s soul. In which case … what happened to it?

I’m not convinced that he would just torture him. Torture seems to be a side-effect. In keeping with the hints of Screwtape I see in this, I suspect he may have “eaten” him. I.e. incorporated him into himself. Which could have profound effects on his ability to function as an ordinary soldier. It would also explain using Adrian’s initials as a name.

There’s also the possibility that Adrian somehow escaped hell, and that he reincarnated (and which 90% compatible soul would THAT be?) and that Al took that name as a CLUE to try to wake up some of that previous life memory. Or to play games with the Exorcists. If they don’t bother to check their records for previous demons, they deserve to not know.

Yeah, this reply is just me teasing at story bits in frustration because I’m impatient for the next pages. Which are apparently in a week.