Manga / Crimson Spell

Prince Vald of the kingdom of Alsvieth must take up a legendary sword in order to defend his people, but the sword is cursed: having taken it up and used it, Vald now transforms into a demon every night if he is not magically restrained. He goes on a journey to find a magician who can break the curse, and meets Halvir Hroptr, a powerful but arrogant mage who agrees to break the curse if Vald escorts him on his travels. So far, so boilerplate Heroic Fantasy, but on Vald's first night with Halvir, Halvir succumbs to curiosity and breaks the magical shackles restraining Vald's curse — and decides that having sex with Vald in his demon form will both restrain the demon and feed his own magical power. The next morning, Vald wakes up refreshed, but with no memory of what happened the night before... except for some reason he can't stop staring at Halvir's mouth...

And so their journeys continue, with Vald and Halvir acquiring companions and developing a strange bond as they travel through various fantasylands and encounter demons, dragons, and quarrelsome magicians. Depending on where you're coming from, Crimson Spell is either a fantasy with lots of gay sex scenes or a Boys' Love series with an unusually well-developed plot and setting; it's a genre hybrid that works better than most because it gives equal time to both elements.

The manga was serialized in the magazine Chara Selection from 2004 to 2021, and compiled into seven volumes. It's licensed in English by Media Blasters' Kitty Media subsidiary. Tokyopop Germany is releasing it in German.

Now has a characters page under construction.

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Tropes:

• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Havi frequently ruffles and strokes Vald's hair, which Vald finds condescending before he realizes the affection is genuine. Combined with a Headbutt of Love following their Relationship Upgrade.
• Affectionate Nickname / In-Series Nickname: Valdrigr is called "Vald" and Halvir is called "Havi".
• Alliterative Name: Halvir Hroptr.
• Alphabetical Theme Naming: The three named wizards from Celeasdile are named Halvir, Halceles, and Halrein. It is later stated that all wizards in Celeasdile have the "Hal" prefix.
• Androcles' Lion: Vald gains the help of a dragon he'd previously offended (see "Our Dragons Are Different" below) by pulling several spears from its side to free it from a poacher's trap, taking serious injuries himself in the process. The dragon is duly grateful, which doesn't stop it from telling Vald off for his lack of self-preservation.
• Angst Nuke: Demon!Vald goes on an incredibly destructive rampage after Havi apparently dies.
• Answer Cut: A non-television variation appears while Ruruka and Mars discuss the Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario playing out in front of them.
  Mars: It's my fault for provoking His Highness like that. If only there was something that could help cure the friendship...
  Ruruka: That's not the problem.
  (Cut to Halrein and Havi in a tavern)
  Halrein: Halvir, you're as stubborn as ever.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Vald and Havi fight off a horde of demons in Zenedora this way in a rare Battle Couple moment.
• Barehanded Blade Block: Demon Vald does a two-handed version when he's attacked by bandits in the second chapter, catching the blade flat against his wrist for extra heft.
• Battle Harem: Despite the series not being part of the Harem Genre, Vald's party essentially functions as a single-sex version of this. All of his traveling companions are interested in him to some degree, ranging from intense crushes to outright declarations of love, and all are more than capable of kicking ass in his defense.
• Beautiful Dreamer: Multiple characters towards Vald, but most prominently, it's while watching Vald sleeping off his injuries in an early chapter that Halvir vows to protect him always.
• Berserk Button:
  • If you touch Vald in front of Halvir bad things are going to happen in your vicinity. Most likely along the lines of fire and magical strangulation. God help you if he thinks he's dead...
  • This also works in reverse. Don't hurt Havi, or Vald will turn into a demon and gut you.
• Black Comedy Rape:
  • Vald vs. Naughty Tentacles in one of the extras.
  Havi: It's called "the truth-speaker doll". It was created in ancient times during King Loki's reign. A certain powerful artificer made it to discern his lover's true feelings-
  Truth Doll: I must never let Havi know how much I enjoyed being pleasured by that demonic plant.
  Vald: (crushes the doll) Looks like it's broken. It, uh...looks like they sold you a fake, Havi. That's too bad!
  • Poor, hapless Vald falls prey to this again when the governor of Valla attempts to get him to trade undisclosed sexual favors for a chance to meet the new sorcerer. When Rimris walks in on it, he wonders if it would be all right for him to laugh.
• Body Sushi: "Havi Knows Everything" has a dessert-based variant. It's hard to tell if Mars is drooling more over the food or the naked Vald.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Halvir and Vald's argument at the party. Halvir is right that in Vald's desperation to save everybody he can, he often disregards the safety (and sanity) of his friends, as well as that it's hurtful for him to reject Havi's affection one minute and then beg for it a moment later. But Vald is also right to point out that Havi's behavior was confusing, that he should have explained how he had decided to handle the curse, and that his freezing Vald out after a dangerous tangent adventure was unhelpful.
• Boys' Love
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Havi ends up doing another sorcerer's bidding after interfering with a demon's attempt to kidnap Vald.
• Bridal Carry: Havi has carried Vald like this on a few occasions, provoking a Luminescent Blush.
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Naturally. And not a significant female character to date.
• Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: After all their trouble in Serasudel, Vald catches Havi by his sleeve when asking him to stay while Vald recovers from his injuries, one of the first times he openly asks Havi for affection. He does it again when Havi tries to leave in the middle of their argument on the balcony. Both times, Havi can't resist the hint that Vald returns his feelings.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • At the beginning of volume 2, it's revealed that Havi stole a number of valuable Spell Books from the Wizarding School when he and Vald left, and has read them in the interim ("it wasn't as informative as I thought"). The books are soon stolen and subsequently destroyed, but near the end of the volume Havi uses a spell from them to resuscitate himself from the brink of death.
  • Havi's magical Chastity Dagger from the first extra. It fires during Vald's confrontation with Astador, allowing Havi to pinpoint his location and come to help.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Vald, to the point that Halvir, Rimris, and a dragon have all gotten on his case about it.
• Collector of the Strange: Havi. He and Vald first begin traveling together because helping him expand his collection is the price Havi requests of Vald in return for figuring out how to break Vald's curse.
• Cooldown Hug: Rather more than a hug, in this case. Also played completely straight at one point when Vald's demon side starts emerging while he's defending a village from monsters, and Havi embraces him to calm him down.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Havi and Vald, mutually. Each refers to the other as theirs (i.e. "my Vald"/"my Havi") and don't want anyone to touch the other aside from themselves. Havi is the more overt case - see "Berserk Button" - but Vald proves just as bad, only better at keeping it under wraps. It shows most obviously during his demon transformations; during the Personality Swap side story, he threatens to destroy the world if Havi leaves him. Even normal Vald has his moments, as when he cracks a wall with the strength of his grip while watching Havi surrounded by women.
• Curse
• Deadly Prank: Not quite deadly, but Havi's fellow students certainly didn't expect to be trapped in stasis for ten years when they dared him to try and break the spell on the time insect's egg without telling him what was inside.
• Destructo-Nookie: Havi and demon!Vald manage to bend the bars of Vald's cell when Havi is brainwashed. Human Vald gets in on this as well - when he first has sex with Havi, Vald slams him against the wall so hard it cracks.
• Deus Sex Machina: Halvir's solution to Vald's berserk demon-possessed rampages is to have sex with him, which both calms the demon and restores Havi's magical power. It turns out magic users rely on sex for all kinds of benefits, as seen below.
• Disguised in Drag: After repeatedly failing to get close enough to talk to Havi while he's impersonating the city sorcerer in Zenedora, Vald becomes determined to sneak into the party the region's lord is throwing in Havi's honor. However, he realizes that he risks being recognized as foreign royalty without a solid disguise. Cut to a fabulously-dressed noblewoman with her face partially blocked by a fan walking up to Lord Kavanel's manor.
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • Played for Drama following human Vald and Havi's first time together. Vald is too absorbed reuniting with Havi to find Ruruka, who was badly injured battling his demon form. By the time he finally notices Ruruka's absence, the bunny has slipped into a coma, and Vald blames himself and cuts off his relationship with Havi to avoid losing focus again.
  • Played for the typical laughs in the Lotus-Eater Machine extra. Havi simply can't resist an uninhibited version of his beloved prince.
• Distressed Dude:
  • Vald, several times, often requiring rescue from Havi. Overlaps with Badass in Distress; Vald is a skilled swordsman, but many of their opponents are mages, making Havi the better match.
  • Havi also falls victim to this in a Moment of Weakness, allowing Gile to capture him.
• Don't Go in the Woods: The aptly-named "Forest Of No Return", in contrast to the peaceful forests around Alsvieth. It's got swampy conditions, monsters with Lamprey Mouths where their faces should be, and at least one mind control-happy Evil Sorcerer in residence.
• Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: Both the plot premise (nobody was meant to touch Vald's family sword), and a general failing of the cast, especially Havi, who can never leave well enough alone.
• Downer Beginning: The series opens with Vald's horrorstruck reaction to demons rampaging through the Alsvieth palace and slaughtering his staff and courtiers.
• Dude, He's, Like, in a Coma!: Given that Vald remembers little afterwards and is apparently not in conscious control of himself, Halvir's nightly frolics with Vald-in-demon-form arguably qualify as this. Ruruka certainly expresses such an opinion, and also chastises Vald for seeming a little too interested in Havi when he's unconscious.
• Easily Forgiven: Vald seems relatively unbothered by Rimris trying to force oral sex on him, even expressing concern for the troubled sorcerer. Lampshaded by Havi, who snaps that nobody needs to spare a thought for Rimris.
• Emotion Eater: A few inanimate variants show up throughout the series.
  • The aphrodisiac plant from one of the first extras feeds on sexual energy. It captures Vald immediately and knocks out Ruruka before demon Vald makes his appearance to Barbarella the situation.
  • The hot spring from "Havi Knows Everything" is a more benign one. It lulls the cast into fantasies and lets them escape once they've enjoyed it enough to make the plants around the spring bloom.
  • Vald finds Rimris trapped in one that amplifies negative emotions. Rimris almost gets swallowed by it while rambling about how insufferable Vald's certainty and impulsiveness is. Once Vald frees him, he apologizes so profusely that Vald almost gets trapped too because he's so preoccupied reassuring Rimris that he needs his self-absorbed attitude checked.
• Enemy Without: The Big Bad Astador came into being when Rimris was captured, tortured, and used for dark magic rituals by an enemy nation. His magic was corrupted, and combined with the emotional damage, Astador was the result.
• Erotic Dream: Vald has one while Havi is captured, provoked by his anger at someone else touching Havi coupled with his confusion from Havi kissing him. Halrein sees him twitching and whimpering and assumes he's having a terrible nightmare, much to Vald's relief.
• Erotic Eating: Invoked by Ruruka in "At The Traveler's Inn". He feeds Demon Vald the magical preserves by hand to get Vald to suck the syrup off his fingers.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Havi, Ruruka, and Rimris all have confirmed or near confirmed feelings of love towards Vald, Marse has a soft spot towards Vald because he reminds him of his prince who died, and Halrein has been shown to get flustered around Vald whenever he compliments him or gets really close to him, as well as when asked if he “peeked” on Vald and Havi together.
• Evil Overlooker: One of the openings combines this with Evil Puppeteer, depicting Rimris holding up a slumped, shirtless Vald with marionette strings.
• Evil Sorcerer: All the major villains are this, in order to stand as a credible threat against a magical prodigy and the channeler for a demon god. Astador in particular epitomizes this trope.
• Explicit Content: The sex scenes just happen to be layered onto a really interesting premise... (honest!)
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: The demon who captures Havi for Gile has an eye in the center of his tongue.
• Facial Dialogue: Demon Vald is mostly The Voiceless, so this is common for him. It's most noticeable in the Personality Swap side story, when he manages to have an entire argument with Havi without saying a word.
• Fantastic Light Source: A fairy in a jar. (Vald sets the fairy free almost as soon as Havi's not looking.)
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Vald, Halrein, and Mars while traveling to save Halvir during the Brainwashed and Crazy arc.
• Forced to Watch:
  • Inverted when Gile forces a mind-controlled Havi to attend him while he tortures Vald. Havi barely has the faculties to stand, much less to absorb what's happening, but Vald responds immediately to the humiliation.
  • Used in a more traditional way when Astador threatens to rape Vald in front of Rimris just to make Rimris watch Vald suffering at the hands of somebody who looks exactly like him.
• Forceful Kiss: Used three times, once successfully and twice...not so much.
  • Havi pushes Vald against a wall and kisses him after a successful Cooldown Hug. He hasn't yet found out what his demon form has been getting up to with Havi, so Vald reacts by shoving him off and shouting at him.
  • One precedes Havi and Vald's make-up sex at the party. After several pages of alternately arguing with Havi, ordering Havi to stay by his side, and crying despite himself, Vald finally opts for this. It works.
  • Rimris forces a kiss on Vald while propositioning him. Given that he's in love with Havi by this point (not to mention that Rimris had him tied down and he'd just escaped an Attempted Rape), Vald is less than receptive.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Both Havi and Vald seem to have forgotten that they met once when they were children when Havi helped Vald get over an illness and the two slayed a demon that was possessing Vald's father. Havi seems to have buried the incident in his consciousness, possibly due to embarrassment (he wanted Vald, who spent the story cross-dressing as a girl, as his reward). Vald genuinely just forgot about it as he grew up.
• Freudian Trio: Between the three main adventurers, Vald, the most concerned with ethics and social mores, is the superego; Havi, the self-indulgent and amoral misanthrope, is the id; and Ruruka, the Not So Above It All shrine guardian, is the ego. When dealing with his transformations, Vald and Havi switch places, with Havi serving as a chilly, decisive superego and Vald's instinct-driven demon form serving as the id.
• Functional Magic: Several varieties show up, most prominently inherent gift, force magic, device magic, and theurgy. The inherent gift aspect also seems to affect the types of magic each practitioner specializes in.
  • Halvir is The Red Mage, using elemental combat magic and Healing Hands most prominently, but also displaying an aptitude for alchemy, scrying, and use of enchanted items. It's implied that his energy exchanges with Vald's demonic side are considered a form of theurgic Black Magic, with Halrein saying that the council of elders will "find [him] guilty" of tainting his magic by having sex with "that beast".
  • Halrein has White Magic-adjacent abilities, being able to freeze Vald at the point of death and revive a near-dead Halvir. He also uses Summon Magic to call the dragon while traveling to Gile's lair and mentions using combative force magic in his backstory.
  • Gile, as the resident Evil Sorcerer, uses primarily mentalism and Blood Magic, as well as scrying on the protagonists.
  • Rimris specializes in precognitive divination, but also uses theurgic Summon Magic for self-defense purposes, as seen when Havi blasts him with a fireball to test his abilities.
  • Astador uses black Summon Magic, curse magic and mentalism.
• Generation Xerox:
  • Halvir's teacher Halceles served Vald's ancestor King Fleivangr, who was also cursed by Yug Verund; while there has not been much detail yet on what exactly their relationship was like, Halceles was clearly very fond of him.
  • In Chapter 37, Rimris reveals that he also served King Fleivangr, and implies that they had a sexual relationship. He uses this as an argument to try to persuade Vald to sleep with him, to Vald's great consternation.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: When particularly enraged or aroused, demon Vald sprouts long, batlike wings. However, as he and Havi grow closer, Vald's mid-sex transformations are increasingly interrupted by the appearance of luminous, feathery wings.
• Gorgeous Period Dress: Pretty much everyone, thanks to the fantasy setting. It takes several different forms, from Halceles' kimono-style wizard's robes to the sharp frock coats worn by Vald, Halrein, and Gile's demon assistant to the Rococo-influenced Pimped Out Dresses seen at Lord Kavanel's party.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany: Downplayed. By the time Havi is kidnapped, Vald has already begun to suspect that there's something not-so-platonic between them, but has mostly denied it. He has a harder time with that after seeing Gile groping and kissing Havi makes him so angry that he starts transforming involuntarily (and leads to an anxiety dream featuring Havi getting very snuggly with Gile).
  Vald: (snarling) Don't touch him! He's mine!
• Head Pet: The flashback to Halvir's childhood in Celeasdile shows that, due to a botched summoning spell, for a while he had an odd little googly-eyed creature riding around on the top of his head. It died protecting him from the effects of the dimension bug, and Havi didn't so much as attempt another summoning for ten years.
• Healing Hands: A standard ability for magic users (even Gile has it). Havi combines his with a Dope Slap when Vald's recklessness gets to him too much.
• Hellish Horse: Havi's, named "Fang." It has clawed feet, More Teeth than the Osmond Family, and it's omnivorous.
• Hellish Pupils: Vald has slit pupils when in demon form. Along with the markings on his skin, his eyes are usually the first thing to change when the demon starts to take over.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Vald flips his shit after he thinks he's killed Havi.
  • He also responds this way when a particularly bad blackout leads to him slaughtering a group of robbers in the second installment. Havi eventually has to drag him away before spirits drawn by the scent of blood kill them both, and it's implied that he doesn't speak for several hours afterwards.
  • Havi suffers a subtle one after Vald rejects him in Oyozo's village. He spends the next few installments dazed and off his game, enough that it allows Gile to abduct him.
• Heroic Fantasy
• Heroic RRoD: Vald continually pushes himself to this point, much to Havi's distress. He would have died after his rampage in Serasudel if not for Halrein putting him in stasis, and passes out for an indeterminate period of time following his Angst Nuke and battle with Ruruka. Then he almost immediately does it again to get the berries to heal Ruruka, leading to Havi giving him a tundra-level cold shoulder for several days.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A temporary one. In order to break Gile's mind control and avoid hurting Vald, Havi impales himself on Yug Verund. Fortunately, he gets better.
• Hidden Depths: Mars, a vagabond and thief who claims to be a simple swordsman, takes on Gile, the sorcerer who brainwashed Havi and abducted Vald, off-panel while everyone else is dealing with demon!Vald's rampage. He wins handily, unscathed.
• High-Class Glass:
  • Havi briefly dons a monocle in chapter 28 while working in an official capacity at a checkpoint into an imperial capital.
  • The wizard Astador, posing as Rimris in the imperial capital, wears a monocle in place of the real Rimris's round-rimmed glasses.
• Honorable Marriage Proposal: Vald's first impulse when he realizes what he needs after Havi has spent three days in a coma.
  Vald: (pinning Havi down) Don't worry, once we return to my kingdom, I'm more than capable of providing for you.
  Havi: What are you talking about?!
• Hot Springs Episode: The extra "Havi Knows Everything" shows the group stumbling upon a hot spring that induces vivid, sexual hallucinations in people who bathe there. Homoeroticism and Ship Tease ensues.
• Idealized Sex: As expected for the genre. There’s no issue with unprotected anal sex with little to no preparation and there’s an improbable amount of natural lubrication for two men. However, much of this can be potentially hand-waved because, quite literally, a wizard did it. It does somewhat avert the common mistake of reducing male/male sex acts to only anal sex; manual and oral sex are frequently shown (in loving detail).
• I Did What I Had to Do: Combined with an implied Mercy Kill in the case of Halceles and King Fleivangr, the original bearer of the curse.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Excepting the Always Chaotic Evil demon mooks, it might be easier to list the villains who don’t partake in a little of this. Even the highwayman who tries robbing Vald in the second chapter takes the time to grab him by the jaw and note how pretty he is.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Used to compare and contrast how Havi and Halceles approach their relationships with their respective Alsvieth partners. During his time as a Court Mage, Halceles is shown giving King Fleivangr a traditional kiss on the knuckles, demonstrating his loyalty and deference. When Vald offers his hand, invoking the respectful version, Havi flips it upwards and gives him a more unusual and intimate kiss on the palm. Their positions are also reversed; Halceles kneels before the king, but Vald is lying down with Havi standing over him.
  Havi: I am not your servant. I owe you no kiss of loyalty. This is a kiss of promise. I promise you that I will surely break your curse.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Vald versus Brainwashed and Crazy Havi.
• Important Haircut: Vald cuts his hair short when he leaves his kingdom to search for a means of breaking his curse.
• Insufferable Genius: Halvir, to the point where the only person who can actually stand him is Vald. Everyone else merely tolerates him for Vald's sake.
• Inter-Class Romance: Specifically, a gekokujou between the first prince of a prosperous country and a commoner wizard exiled from his birthplace. Both are very aware of it, which makes Vald nervous for his honor and Havi delighted at the chance to be so "disrespectful".
• Intimate Healing: When Halvir is poisoned, Vald passes the antidote to him mouth-to-mouth.
• I Will Find You: While Gile is holding Havi captive, Vald drops his quest to end the curse and puts all his energy towards tracking Havi down and freeing him.
• Jerkass: Halvir, whose affection for and loyalty to Vald is basically his only redeeming quality.
• Lap Pillow:
  • After his fight with the highwaymen in the second chapter puts him into a Heroic BSoD, Vald falls asleep on Havi's lap for some touch therapy. He does it again while recovering from his injuries in Serasudel, even hugging Havi's thigh in his sleep.
  • Used more ominously when Vald and Rimris are trapped in the dimension outside Zenedora. Vald, upset over losing control of the curse, curls up in a Troubled Fetal Position against Rimris. The contact prompts Rimris to realize that his dislike of Havi stems from jealousy, leading him to proposition and then try to force himself on Vald.
• Lecherous Licking: Gile shows his Villainous Crush on Havi in classic form, first by licking his neck to taunt Vald, then by administering his mind-control Blood Magic via Mouth To Mouth Force Feeding.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: In a side story, Vald appears to have returned to his kingdom happily and tells Havi they can stay there together forever. He has no problem admitting his feelings for Havi and wants to spend pretty much all his time having wild sex. Ruruka is unconcerned for his prince and blissfully eats berries and lies in the sun all day. Mars and Halrein are preoccupied with gardening and pay no attention to Havi's conviction that something's up. But Havi being Havi, it takes him three months to get around to seriously investigating what's going on. Good thing for that Year Inside, Hour Outside...
• Love at First Punch: Not so much for Vald's human form, but demon!Vald greets his future lover by trying to choke him to death. Havi returns the sentiment by clocking Vald with his staff. They're going at it only a few minutes later, and devoted enough to risk their lives for each other a few months after that.
• Love Confessor: Vald inadvertently puts this trope into action while rejecting Rimris' advances, admitting that he doesn't want to let anyone else touch him because he's in love with Havi.
• Love Father, Love Son: Rimris, having lost King Fleivangr a long time ago, tries to recapture his power through a similar connection with his descendant. It remains one-sided, as Vald is severely turned off by the idea of having a family legacy in his sex life. Havi criticizes Rimris as looking for a Replacement Goldfish, but Rim insists that his feelings for Vald are based in genuine gratitude and admiration for the prince himself, not just displaced memories of the king.
• Love Redeems: While the ultimate resolution is as yet unclear, Vald's love for Halvir seems to be having a redeeming effect on the demon god, throwing a wrench into Astador's entire plot - Astador sabotaged the creation of Yug Verund intending to join forces with and take advantage of the demon's power, but when Astador finally manages to put the demon fully in control of Vald's body, it's not interested in anyone other than "[his] beautiful wizard."
• Magic Knight: Demon!Vald is capable of using magic, albeit far more likely to just tear things apart with brute force.
• Magnetic Hero: Vald keeps acquiring followers. Lampshaded by Rimris, who says it's because he inspires an urge to protect him.
• The Magocracy: Serasudel, the land of the sorcerers. It's run by a council of Wizard Classic elders with the help of archmages like Halceles, sports a security force staffed by wizards, and has the only mentioned Wizarding School in the setting, Celeasdile. When the party meets Rimris, they're shocked to find a wizard who doesn't come from Serasudel.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Vald and Havi have a penchant for this. Partially justified in that, as adventurers, they have limited access to actual beds. But they can find a cave, a half-destroyed shrine, a tomb, and on one memorable occasion, the balcony right outside a crowded party.
• Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex: It's downplayed during most of their sex scenes, but when Havi's extended coma causes Vald to lose control of the curse, Havi's concerned that Vald's superior strength and ferocity could kill him. As it is, he's so covered in bites and bruises the next morning that Vald thinks they got in a fight.
• Marked Change: The first sign that Vald is transforming into his demon form is the appearance of black markings on his skin.
• Mind-Control Eyes: Halvir's eyes are uniformly blank and unfocused while under Gile's control.
• Morality Pet: Halvir is this for the demon Vald. He may be an amoral force of rage and chaos, but his primary concern is the beautiful wizard who "embraced" him and made him briefly happy.
• Mugging the Monster: In the second installment, a group of robbers makes the mistake of assuming that because Vald is alone, he's a negligible threat. Wrong.
• My Greatest Failure:
  • Havi stubbornly refuses blame for unleashing the dimension bug on Celeasdile, but he avoids going back until Vald's quest makes it necessary. More tellingly, he doesn't even try another summoning for ten years, demonstrating that - if nothing else - he feels a deep personal guilt over the summoned Head Pet that died protecting him.
  • Halrein mentions that his was failing to save his lord from a severe wound. Like Halvir, it makes him reluctant to use the healing magic he couldn't channel properly before.
• Mystical White Hair: Halvir, the aloof and incredibly powerful wizard, has floor-length silvery white hair.
• Named Weapons: Yug Verund, the crimson sword.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Many, many times. It can combine with a Don't Touch It, You Idiot! sentiment, or just reflect the huge amount of property damage that seems to reoccur around the protagonists. It would also be very helpful if Havi didn't have a way of angering most entities in existence. Even the basic premise ends up with a dose of it. Havi's influence allows Vald to achieve a form of Symbiotic Possession with the demon, eventually leaving his mind and memories intact when he transforms. This turns out to be exactly what the Big Bad wanted: a host who could combine his own strengths with demonic power. He sees this potential in Vald and becomes even more fixated on him.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: Vald and Mars, the melee fighters of the party, have this dynamic. Mars is a former member of the imperial guard, now a scruffy thief and Vald is a proud, genteel Warrior Prince who usually looks pristine. Somewhat unusually for this trope, Mars doesn't express much interest in women (or men, for that matter, aside from his magic-induced dream of Vald in one of the extras) and Vald, while not promiscuous, secretly has quite the sex drive.
• No One Gets Left Behind: When Havi and Halrein are compromised in a tavern in Zenedora, Vald refuses Havi's suggestion that he leave them surrounded by enemies. The gesture triggers the first time he shows his angel wings outside of a sex scene.
• Not Right in the Bed: Havi's most obvious clue that he's been trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine in one of the extras is that bashful, repressed Prince Vald is suddenly all over him.
• Not Staying for Breakfast: Played with. After he sleeps with Vald in human form for the first time, Havi wakes up alone. It turns out that Vald only went to go clean up and doesn't lead immediately to a break-up, but it still reflects his uncertainty about the relationship.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Between Mars and Vald when the thief tries to advise Vald on his love troubles. Vald attempts to explain his confusion over Havi kissing him, but Mars thinks he's talking about Ruruka.
  Vald: My heart is beating so fast....There must be something wrong with me. Perhaps because I was looking at his lips in such an impure way.
  Mars: (thinking) Looking at the bunny's lips in an impure way...
  Vald: What do you think I should do?
  Mars: That is a sickness. You should be checked out by a doctor.
  Vald: ...I changed my mind. You can stay in there.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: While Perp Sweating the dragon to get the location of the berries he needs to revive Ruruka, Vald acts like no human nor demon version of him seen prior. He's so violent that even Havi is visibly unsettled, but remains articulate and conscious throughout.
• Opposites Attract: Vald and Havi, in almost every conceivable way. Vald is idealistic, naive, extroverted, and very conscious of how he's perceived; Havi is cynical, sexually aggressive, lives in isolation, and doesn't give a damn what anybody thinks of him.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The first dragon they meet is starving to death and easily killed; the second is vast, and vastly powerful and refuses to help them because he can smell the death of the previous dragon on Vald. Vald doesn't help matters by declaring that he ate the previous dragon so as not to waste the body.
• Painted-On Pants: Most of the characters have this to some degree as a consequence of the art style, but Vald's Unlimited Wardrobe seems to consist almost exclusively of the tightest trousers available in a Heroic Fantasy setting. Semi-justified; if anybody would have access to expensive tailoring, it would be Vald. Doesn't explain why he wears them to travel and fight, though.
• The Peeping Tom: Ruruka gets an eyeful shortly after meeting Havi and Vald. Despite being the sacred guardian of a shrine, Ruruka is very much Not So Above It All and takes the opportunity to watch a return performance whenever he can.
• Perma-Stubble: Mars, of the rough-and-tumble variety.
• Physical God: Ruruka is close to this. Everyone else just doesn't realise it until he unleashes his true form and tries to fight Vald without killing him. ...Still doesn't stop Halvir from trying to kill him when he gets too close to Vald.
• Personality Swap: In the Lotus-Eater Machine side story, Vald and the demon switch personalities.
• Pet the Dog: Havi's moments of kindness toward Vald help to soften his otherwise disagreeable character.
• Pocket Dimension: Havi has one where he stores his rarest acquisitions. He takes both human and demon Vald there near the end of the manga, warning them that nobody else has ever been there and he can't be held responsible if either one of them touches something and dies.
• Poke in the Third Eye: Havi gives Gile one repeatedly to stop him spying on a divining ritual (and then on the comfort sex he offers a crying Vald after the ritual turns out to be painful).
• Power Gives You Wings: Vald sprouts little bat-wings when the demon's hold over him grows stronger, though they don't reappear in subsequent, less severe transformations. Later on, he temporarily manifests feathery white angel wings during a transformation brought on by his feelings for Havi. He has these wings permanently in his spectral form.
• Power Incontinence: A problem from the beginning of the manga. At first, Vald's transformations seem to be limited to nighttime, but the more he relies on Yug Verund and the magic its curse offers, the more unpredictable he becomes. It's also complicated by Halvir's influence on the demon. Now that he knows what Halvir can offer, the demon has more than enough reason to assert itself during the daylight hours, especially if Halvir has left him to his own devices for too long.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Another side effect of Vald's more advanced transformation (along with the bat-wings mentioned above) is that his hair grows out. Afterwards he has to re-do his Important Haircut because of it.
• Power Nullifier: Vald's enchanted cuffs. Havi tries to enchant one of his necklaces to function similarly without restricting his movements, but it doesn't go quite as well; while upset and in pain from an impending transformation, Vald simply rips it off.
• Power Perversion Potential: All over the place, given the prevalence of Sex Magic.
  • Played for Drama when Astador first attempts to kidnap Vald. Using the connection of the curse, he paralyzes Vald and then magically compels him to experience arousal as he's being groped and taunted.
  • Played for fanservice in one of the earlier extras, when Havi uses his expertise to synthesize an aphrodisiac and then temporarily enchants the demon Vald so he can't orgasm unless Havi allows it.
• Property of Love: Vald and Havi refer to each other this way so much that other characters start picking up on it (such as Gile calling Havi "my lord's wizard" or Rimris saying Havi marked Vald as his property). When he sees a dragon attacking Havi after Their First Time, Vald's first reaction is to scream, "Don't touch my things!"
• Puppy Love: Eight-year-old Vald and twelve-year-old Halvir have a precocious version of their instant chemistry in "The Fairy Lantern".
• Really 700 Years Old: Halceles was around when Vald's sword was forged. That puts him at over a century at the bare minimum, even excluding the decade or so he spent trapped by the dimension bug. He does not look it.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Ruruka in his "rabbit" form.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Vald. Cursed by his family's sword, he goes out questing for a means to break the curse, and never fails to get involved any time he sees people in need along the way.
• Running Gag: Characters lampshading the Shmuck Bait presented by the cuffs that keep Vald's demon side under control.
• Screw Your Ultimatum!: Vald doesn't even wait to hear what Gile wants out of him before refusing:
  Gile: I asked you to come to me because—
  Vald: I refuse.
  Gile: I haven't told you what I want yet.
  Vald: You cannot possibly be up to any good. I have no intentions of helping you with your plans.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Ruruka, trapped at the site of his previous master's death until freed by Vald. Also debatably Halceles, who was trapped along with Halvir's fellow students by the dimension insect until Havi came back to clean up his mess.
• Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Vald is carrying a demon god around inside him. Good thing it's gotten attached to Havi's hot lovin'.
• Sentimental Homemade Toy: After he loses control around the bandits in chapter two, Vald finds a little poppet Henri hid in his pack. Seeing it brings him out of his melancholy and reminds him of the reason he wants to succeed on his quest: to return to his family.
• Sex–Face Turn: Combined with Love Redeems, as seen above. After experiencing genuine pleasure and happiness with in Havi's arms, demon Vald loses his taste for wanton destruction.
• Sex Magic: A major component of the worldbuilding, including:
  • The initial premise of the manga. Not only does sleeping with the demon Vald subdue him and help Havi heal him when he's in human form, it supercharges Havi's magic and appears to give him the ability to sense Vald's presence and the use of his power at a distance. It's implied that this would be true of anybody who slept with Vald (and possibly with Havi, as Gile asserts, given his prodigious magical power).
  • In one of the extras, Havi casts a protective spell mid-thrust that will send off a powerful Barrier Warrior attack on anybody besides him who touches Vald.
  • After Vald is initially kidnapped by Astador, Havi uses their simultaneous climax from Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex to disable Astador's connection to Vald and to transport them back to the human world.
  • Rimris also utilizes it, using sex to fuel his prophetic visions.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Astador impersonating Vald's little brother, Henri, in an effort to guilt Vald into fighting Havi. Vald is fully aware that it has to be a trick, but can't help getting upset.
• Skewed Priorities: Havi and Vald find themselves surrounded by zombified townspeople after they have sex in a mausoleum. Havi has only one concern about this scenario.
  Havi: Interrupting somebody else's pillow talk is just unforgivable.
• Skinship Grope: Vald does this daily when he and Mars start bathing together, giving Mars a "towel rub" and calling his chest "magnificent". Unlike most examples, Mars is downright cheerful about it.
• Slave Collar: Astador puts one on the manifested demon Vald "until he becomes more obedient", causing Ruruka to rage that he has no right to collar a prince like a dog.
• Slipping a Mickey: The townsfolk in Zenedora, under Astador's influence, drug the party's drinks when they meet in a tavern.
• Smooch of Victory: Vald gives Havi one in a flashback to their Forgotten First Meeting to thank him for freeing the king and helping slay a demon infesting the palace.
• Spanner in the Works: Halvir's self-indulgent decision to have sex with demon Vald ends up tossing a massive spanner into a villainous plan over five hundred years in the making, well before either he or Vald is remotely aware that villain or plan even exists.
• Spell My Name With An S: There are surprisingly few examples despite the series gaining much of its following via fan scanlations prior to its licensed release. However, the official romanization of Ruruka's name, "Rulca," has not caught on with much of anyone (as demonstrated on this page).
• Spit-Trail Kiss: The Forceful Kiss Vald gives Havi, of the passionate rather than the awkward/gross variety.
• Spotting the Thread: While trying to get Havi's attention at Lord Kavanel's party, Vald realizes that he Casts No Shadow. Sure enough, the real Havi is sulking outside on the balcony.
• Staking the Loved One: Halceles was forced to do this after King Fleivangr transformed and murdered several other sorcerers working for him. He calls the experience a "nightmare" and advises Havi to keep his distance from Vald lest he have to do the same thing.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Vald's curse makes him the vessel for a demon god, which affects his behavior increasingly as he gives in and uses the power to defend himself and others. Vald's horror at the careless, bloodthirsty nature of his blackouts is the main drive for much of the early plot.
• Supporting the Monster Loved One: Havi makes this his mission (for a certain, somewhat self-indulgent value of "supportive"), helping Vald keep his demon side under control and tending to him when he injures himself during transformations.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Type 1. Vald can deal a huge amount of damage in his own right but give Havi enough time to work the incantation and he'll call up a creature from an alternate dimension to do his bidding. That or Kill It with Fire.
• Symbolic Serene Submersion: Havi's brainwashing is visualized this way, with the water pooling around his boots when the demon first attacks, then with him sinking helplessly into the depths after Gile gains full control over him.
• Tsundere: Type A, Havi toward Vald. Type B, Vald toward Havi.
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: The Lotus-Eater Machine side story ends this way, with Havi plus Vald and demon!Vald in separate bodies. Also happens near the end of the manga, when Astador forces the demon to the fore, allowing him to take over Vald's body and casting Vald's consciousness out and into a spectral form. After Astador disappears, the twin Valds begin bickering over who Halvir likes better. Havi declares that he loves them both and he'll prove it by, well. Loving them both. Complete with Screw Yourself.
• Two-Person Love Triangle: Between Havi and the demon and human halves of Vald, particularly after Astador makes him into a case of Literal Split Personality. If they aren't actively having sex, the two Valds are either sniping at each other or glaring at Havi and demanding he choose between them.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: We never see much in the way of luggage (although he mentions having some after Mars steals Havi's books), but Vald seems to have brought along an armoire's worth of clothing, including a Badass Longcoat, a cloak, multiple pairs of boots, and accessories like gloves and jewelry.
• Violently Protective Boyfriend:
  • Havi will become engulfed with flames of anger when he sees someone has hurt Vald, and Ruruka, while not Vald's lover, becomes incredibly violent when something bad happens to Vald; interestingly, both refer to him as "my Vald."
  • Vald's demon is equally possessive of Halvir, and just as violent and destructive in his defense.
• Wham Episode: The Brainwashed and Crazy storyline, starting in the ninth installment. Vald gets his first confirmation that he hasn't imagined a sexual connection between himself and Havi. Then Havi is kidnapped. By a henchman of the previously-unseen Big Bad, who eventually shows up in person himself. Vald shows a new aptitude for magic at the price of binding himself more tightly to the curse. He begins to retain memories of his actions as a demon, but struggles to keep control of his transformations more than ever. And of course, it culminates in Vald having sex with Havi while still human, permanently altering their dynamic.
• What Does She See in Him?: None of the main cast can understand what Prince Vald wants with Halvir. For his part, Demon Vald wants to know why his beloved wizard is so hung up on somebody who claims not to return his feelings.
• Wizarding School: Celeasdile, the academy where both Havi and Halrein studied.
• Years Too Early: Vald, under the influence of the demon, informs the dragon he's fighting that it is "a hundred years too early."
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: After their first meeting, Vald refuses to call Havi by anything but his Affectionate Nickname, with only one exception: while trying to free him from Gile's brainwashing.
  Vald: Tell me, Halvir Hroptr. Tell me why you kissed me. I won't forgive you if you leave me in confusion like this. [...] You can hear me, can you not, Halvir?
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Parodied mercilessly during "Ruruka's Claim". Ruruka tries to intimidate Havi by threatening to show his true form, but it doesn't have the desired effect. Vald interrupts the argument before we can find out if the sight is really as terrifying as he says.
  Havi: I don't see how you can talk so big considering you don't even have a cock to satisfy Vald.
  Ruruka: I...I have one! A magnificent one...! [...] If you doubt me, why don't I show you? My true form! When you see it, you'll regret it! Can you handle it?
  Havi: All right, let's see it.
• You Sexy Beast: Halvir towards Demon Vald, naturally. He even calls Vald "my cute little beast".

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