Synopsis and Lore

Official Synopsis

Makoto has long been ostracized because of his odd hobbies and a sexual kink others would find disgusting. One day, he picks up a book on summoning demons and manages to summon the intimidatingly beautiful demon, Archduke J. The demon offers to grant Makoto's deepest, most twisted desires in exchange for his life. Once Makoto has sated his demented appetites, he fulfils his end of the bargain only to find he's been reborn... as a demon?!

Lore

Spoiler and Content Warnings. The book itself might be disturbing to some audiences by mentions and detailed imagery of gore, sexual assault and violence.

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Classism
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Incest, Self harm, Vomit

Lined up on a shelf are books on summoning demons, almost every one of them is fake. Makoto is successful in summoning J and promptly seals a document with his blood. It has been about a month and Makoto has been fulfilling his wish of eating J's intestines though he thought everything would be eaten in two or three days. Breaching the agreement is a crime so Makoto continues to take mouthfuls. After speaking, Makoto has eaten J's lower half and begins rubbing against him. With Makoto satisfied J thanks him for his patronage. Makoto sees he is still alive, J says his body has died but has taken a liking to him. From now on J says he will have responsibility over Makoto and he will raise him as a demon. The news that a high school boy had his head snatched spread widely as a rumor but this was no longer a concern to Makoto. J intends for M to become an archduke known within the world of demons.

J has Makoto's new body ready for him and takes him to his castle. He intends to have Makoto as his helper. Makoto considers his new home along with the extravagant meal and warm bed he receives and wonders what is going to happen here on out. Within his room Makoto sees that Baron Zvar and Datenshou are present as well. Three days earlier Makoto was studying at a desk when J said he would have a part time job with Datenshou. He explains that the higher-ranking demons are collectively skillful with words. In order to torment another's heart using their tongues they use language that would put them on a superior footing. The ones who have a good command of words dominate in this world. Datenshou shares that J is a man who devoured his own master using this skill. Makoto has been taking guests to rooms but now has his first job to tend to one. Entering, Makoto sees that it is J and he shares his nervousness at the situation.

Reminding Makoto that he would give him a reward for doing a good job J agrees to the request of an embrace. J then tells Datenshou what Makoto's second request was namely to eat his tongue. As J praises Makoto to Datenshou he is told that people will not choose to become a demon. Of all the people J brought here thoughtlessly it all ended with them going insane. Makoto joins them to share there is an incredible carriage parked outside. Fjord Hermod has arrived and reveals that he was summoned by J to be intimate with Makoto. Told this is how to become a demon Makoto is furious at J and says he will not become one. J holds Makoto's head as he watches his body with Fjord. On the balcony Fjord says how he came from this brothel but none of the things he does not want to remember matter anymore since he was retained by J. He adds that Makoto should expect there is not one good thing that is going to happen to him.

At dinner J asks how it went and how doing that with a human is impossible. Where he was crying before Fjord sees that Makoto has adapted fast to become "himself". Makoto asks J for the reward of becoming Fjord's friend. Makoto has only been here a couple of days and can say Fjord's name, yet since Fjord can also say his then Makoto has not surpassed him yet. As Makoto considers matters J kisses him and guarantees he will become a demon, the human world is too small for him. Makoto and J experience on day while living.

Volume 2

Having revised his request to return to the manor Makoto stayed at the brothel to learn more about demons and make J beg him to come back. Three years have passed since Makoto arrived and he has only been in contact with J via letters. One mentions how Makoto made the decision of his own will and has served out his apprenticeship well with Datenshou having informed him about his results. J arrives himself to retrieve Makoto and observes how Datenshou is able to call Makoto's name. J thinks Datenshou has not realized Makoto has reached his level and he is being deceived. J mentions that Makoto does not have to force himself to act like a demon then also adds that he himself is not going to suddenly grab and eat him.

Arriving home at J's manor he elaborates on the topic at hand. Retrieving a human's soul is the foundation of a demon's work. Hearing out their demands, and come what may, making them believe they are satisfied allow souls to be collected at the highest state of stimulation. J has a soul for Makoto to collect but no matter what he will not be satisfied so Makoto is just to exchange a word or two. When Makoto asks what happens to the souls he collects J replies if the quality is good it will become gold dust housing the bitterest of memories where it will evermore serve as currency in their world. Noticing his face J says if Makoto does not want to go he can refuse, it will be proof he has not separated himself from humans yet. Makoto means to collect a human soul and J sends him to gather Kinoshita Yuuji's. Appearing as a demon before him Makoto begins to talk before Kinoshita speaks how he was really allowed to see his son in the end.

Thirty years ago Kinoshita was informed by the police that the murder scene involving Makoto was some abnormal play between two homosexuals too deep in the occult. Makoto's father's soul has sickened with the feelings of contempt still remaining. After Kinoshita stabs Makoto he disintegrates. J is there to speak how even scum like that avoids being trash if they are fulfilled properly and he considers the gold dust left behind. Makoto addresses J as "demon". As J discusses Kinoshita falling into hell Makoto raises the thirty years passed. With the flow of time being different between worlds J mentions in another five years Makoto will not have even one acquaintance n the human world but with that he will be able to say goodbye and good riddance. Makoto is crying and not caring who it is he just does not want to be left alone right now. No matter how much Makoto may want to die there is only pain, that is what it means to be a demon. J says if Makoto needs relief then just to hate him all he likes and quickly climb up there with him.

Considering the gold dust he has, Makoto is joined by Fjord where he discusses his father. Makoto asks if demons can be killed with violence. Fjord replies no but the best that can be done is for Makoto to get his hands on the information he needs to unsettle them and use that to climb to the top. Handing Fjord some gold Makoto sees it as a way for J's downfall and drops a greater amount before him.

Source: Yaoi Wiki

Volume 3

Makoto studies the diaries of J he took from Wald's manor. J sneaks up behind him, wondering what he might be up to. J reminds Makoto that its almost his 5th year anniversary on hell. He offers him to hold a masquarade banquet. This masquarade is important for the plot, because it's a metaphor for people who try to escape classism in life. Humans often seek balance. Within this masquarade demons have hidden their identities, becoming one person in particular.

Makoto takes J for a dance. He insists that he won't dance with anyone but him. He tells J that he won't give up his spot next to J. He wants to be the only one J ever sees, forever and ever. After the event J and Makoto sit down together drinking. They talk of the past and how far Makoto has come since his "birth". J messages Makoto to give up on searching his past and surpassing him since it has been a long time and he hadnt't made a significant progress, but Makoto refuses to give up. Makoto continues to force the information he needs out of J by telling him that they are no one today, they can be anyone they want with the masks. He tells J to "show him a side he has never shown". Moments later, Makoto starts to feel dizzy. The liquor he drank put him into this state, the liquor that J gave. J still sees Makoto not as cruel and cold as he should be. Makoto begs him to stay, trying to compose himself. As his mask drops down, his vulnerable human state is visible to J. He has never became a demon. He was thrilled by his own obsession all the time.

J lays Makoto to bed and tries to reason why he still uses the body that he gave to him at his birth. Unconsciously he tries to choke Makoto in sleep. When he comes to his senses a few moments later, he realises a normal person would do this action reasoning Makoto is trying to surpass him. But he isn't "him", J purposely gives Makoto a chance to destroy, surpass him. He notices all this is caused by blur of the identity by the mask. He takes his mask of and takes a breather. The idea of being "no one" has mesmerized him.

In the morning Makoto wakes up being hung over from last night liquor. He hears rattles and sounds coming from the suitcase beneath him where he keeps Kieran's head. -Kieran has made the first appearcane in VOL 2, as J himself with a few flaws in shapeshifting. Him and Makoto made a pact where Kieran helps Makoto to surpass J for him to not kill Kieran in exchange.- They stick their tongues together as the seal on Kieran's tongue releases and he could finally talk again.
He explains what J tried to do to Makoto last night as he was passed out. As Makoto revises last night banquet he realises that J has finally noticed him and his power as he laughs maniacally.
J comes to check up on Makoto in the morning. They talk about what happened last night for a while but J doesn't give a certain answer on why he tried to strangle him. Makoto notices that J has taken the control back with the words and mind games. He tries to regain ottority on J by trying to seduce him to fall in love, telling J to stay with him. But, it doesn't work. J calls him charming but continues to his words with "So youve climbed up the ladder. Let's see who can kick who down first."

Makoto and Kieran do more reasearch about J. They try to learn more about names ending with "nathan". Makoto has figured out that J can be connected with the name "Yeonathan" which is the son of Saul. Kieran tells him that someone who is duke level can figure out J's name for him that being Shax, the bartender. Kieran mentions that Shax and Datenshou had an "interrelation" when Datenshou was under the name of J. Hearing this, Makoto is interested in the conflict.

Makoto meets with Shax in his bar. They have a small talk. Makoto confronts Shax, telling him that the knows that love brings ruin to demons. He has figured out that Shax has ran away from others and opened his bar away from Datenshou to not bring doom upon both of them. Makoto tells Shax to forge a pact between them. Makoto tells Shax that he can "save" Datenshou in exchange of Shax helping him out finding J's name.

J's name is redacted for readers own good! When i got his name from a spoiler i wanted to erase my mind! The rest of the book contains MAJOR spoilers, so i won't be writing any more lore content from now on.

Characters

Spoiler Warning

M/Makoto

Beginning as a high-school boy with abnormal inclinations toward the grotesque and the knowledge that this deviancy makes him an outsider, Makoto takes to his bookshelf to try his hand at summoning a demon. Once his desires had been thoroughly enacted onto the willing demon J, Makoto is spirited away to Hell where J bestows upon him a new life; this time, as a fledgling demon. It's in Hell that Makoto, later referred to by his initial "M", learns to navigate this new realm and to understand what kind of demon he strives to become. He eventually amasses such power and influence as an Archduke that his name would eclipse J's.

Source: Yaoi Wiki

J

As one of the Archdukes of Hell, J rose to the top of the food chain with an "eat, or be eaten" principle. Renowned for his fluency in both the heart and the tongue, J utilises both either as a means to comfort or as his weapons of choice, which may prove to be one and the same depending on his target. Typically reserving his noble presence only for the most skilled of summoners, J with such urgency that he neglected his clothes leaped out from his bath and into the bedroom of Makoto, a cute Japanese boy who abruptly dismissed J's milder assumptions about him. Catering to his client nonetheless, J unravelled the boys every desire, the voiced and the unspoken, afterwards feeling a deep amusement for being given an experience that humans seldom provide. To that end, he vowed to love and abide by Makoto's perversions as Makoto is raised into becoming a fine demon of his own accord. A demon's approach to love contests that of a typical humans, J serving as a fine example of such with his trials, tribulations, reward and punishments being issued toward those he takes under his wing.

Source: Yaoi Wiki

F/Fjord

Courted by more than just a singular Duke or Marquis is the premium prostitute Fjord, a demon close in age to Makoto. Fjord introduces himself with a melodious voice, which is a signature of his services, and is soon thereafter escorted by Makoto to one of the brothel rooms. It's outside of this room that Fjord reveals it to be where Makoto will shed the last of his humanity as ordained by J who remains a voyeuristic presence throughout the whole ordeal. Fjord's cheery disposition doesn't at first imply any weight placed on the hierarchy of names as evident by his friendly treatment of Makoto. During dinnertime, however, Makoto returns the equality he had been extended and mistakenly makes a show of it in front of J by asking to take Fjord as his first friend.

Source: Yaoi Wiki

D/Datenshou

The former Prince of the withering Incensate clan and the owner of the brothel that Makoto is first sent to employ, Datenshou is a demon who uses scented tactics to manipulate the emotions of others. Throughout his establishment drifts a floral scent that stirs arousal in his clientele with the scent discharged from this arousal being one that Datenshou feeds on. Although he has no orifices to speak of, every once in a while Datenshou's head will open up in bloom and out from it comes the minor Rafflesias, which are small plant monsters adorning flowers for heads which Datenshou then keeps to serve as his assistants. Datenshou has found purchase in Hell as the sole remainder of J's many apprentices who in one way or another could not withstand his treatment. Through his labor he has become one who mediates and tempers the unruly, a means to which he feels assured by the recognition that J provides. In the presence of Makoto, who in far less time had accomplished the feat of catching all three of J's eyes, his position in J's world becomes brittle and despite his sympathies toward the newcomer, Datenshou's insecurity rears it's head.

Source: Yaoi Wiki

K/Kieran

Kieran is a character first introduced in Volume 2 of MADK, who prefers to navigate through life in Hell with no regard for the intitialed. Courtesy of being raised in the slums, which is a place of presumed lawlessness wherein resides a crude population to match, Kieran first encounters Makoto by attempting to use the form of his dear saviour to swindle him out of what information he had. This attempt falls flat due to his fundamental inelegance and he is forced to revert back into his natural form. Frustrated, Kieran resorts to intimidation, threats of violence and eventually the disclosure that he is J's elder brother. After a fiery defeat that should have left him for dead, Kieran is then taken under Makoto's wing and throughout the course of the manga provides Makoto with an increasingly softer side of himself. In response, Makoto repeats his own tale by putting his insides on display and inviting Kieran to do the same, effectively adopting and taming Kieran into one of his own.

Source: Yaoi Wiki

W/Wald

Wald was the previous Archduke of Hell before J. He was J's master and the demon who shaped J into the ruler he eventually became. By the events of Vol 3, Wald is already dead. But his influence remains through the journals and diaries Makoto discovers in his manor. These journals are written by J and Wald himself, giving clues regarding to J's real name to Makoto and much more secrets. Although Wald does not directly participate in the present-day story, his relationship with J provides important context for J's loneliness. J once admired and crushed on Wald just like Makoto did to him, but after gaining the name of Archduke, he found himself trapped in the same endless cycle of isolation that Wald had experienced before him. This parallel foreshadows Makoto's own fate by the end of the series. In many ways, Wald represents the beginning of the cycle that defines MADK. He passes his role to J, J shapes Makoto, and by the end of the story Makoto becomes mentor of Geralumin, reinforcing one of the manga's central themes: that power and obsession are inherited just as much as they are chosen.

S/Shax

-insufficient information about character-
Shax was one of the former high ranked demons in hell. Aside Shax not being as mainstream as other main characters, Shax is one of the most important characters in the storyline. Without Shax, Makoto wouldn't be able to find J's real name. With that being said, Shax is one of the prime examples of how "love" affects demon lives. Knowing that falling in love brings ruin to demons, he distanced himself from his beloved one Datenshou, acting logically. Comparing his love and actions to Makoto's; the reader can see the difference between coldness and logic a demon can posess and perform and a "human" can perform. Normally, the feelings and emotions Makoto has been having this whole time would bring the demon to ruin, but he didnt bring him to ruin, showing that he is still a human beneath all these layers to hide his true reality.

Where to Read?

You can read MADK from official publisher, SuBLime manga. They publish all 3 volumes in English, both in print and digitally.

SuBLime MADK page

If you ever choose to read from unofficial sites, please consider supporting Author/Artist by his FANBOX.

Ryo Sumiyoshi FANBOX

Extras and Resources

About the shrine owner

I don't think this can even be counted as a shrine, but still. I'm C, my personal site is a little too personal and i don't want to link it here. But still you can contact to me via my email. >>> sinnersfray@gmail.com
Thank you for visiting!

Resources

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MADK Wiki page. A lot of character introduction text were taken from here.