Demon Queen

' WARNING: This character's page contains spoilers for the final arc of the story. '

The  is a recurring character in I'm in Love with the Villainess.

Appearance
The Demon Queen's physical appearance is identical to that of Rae Taylor, save for longer hair and bangs which extend to partially cover her eyes.

She wears incredibly ornate vestments consisting of black-and-gold robes and a golden stole. She often wears an opaque veil, which masks her face. In addition, she wears gold jewelry (including a cross) as well as a golden wreath of thorns.

Personality
The Demon Queen usually shows very minimal emotion unless provoked, coldly sentencing her opponents to death with few, if any, matter-of-fact words. When provoked, however, she is prone to respond with angry outbursts. She also shows brief moments of sentimentality upon seeing Claire François, as well as following the deaths of each of her Archdemons.

She feels a very strong personal hatred and jealousy of Rae Taylor, and especially wants to see her suffer.

She is feared by her lieutenants, the Three Great Archdemons. In one instance she can be seen reprimanding Plato by simply asking if he has a problem with her orders, which elicits immediate compliance.

Background
' WARNING: MAJOR spoilers for the final arc of the story follow. '

The Demon Queen is, ultimately, the original Oohashi Rei, who was a researcher alongside Claire François working to develop a plan for the United States Government to save humanity from a climate catastrophe in the 22nd Century. Rei proposed a "Loop System" which would make use of a process called "soul quantization" to preserve human souls in stasis in a massive computer mainframe, while nanobots under the direction of TAIM would remake the world during dormant periods between loops. The nature of the world that humans physically inhabited would alternate between iterations of a "science world" and a "magic world," with waste products from one iteration comprising the raw materials for the next iteration. Human souls, while remaining connected as references stored in the mainframe, would be downloaded into physical bodies to live their lives in each loop. Through this plan, humanity could continue to live indefinitely on Earth.

Rei became the Loop System Administrator, but was unable to convince Claire to become a co-administrator before she succumbed to a mysterious illness. In a rush to save her soul, Rei activated the Loop System early, quantizing every human soul on the planet and beginning the first transition from a science world to a magic world.

Rei, as the sole administrator, would retain her memories from every loop, and would thus be prepared to configure the world during each transition. Her true goal, however, was to romance Claire again and again for eternity. Using her administrative powers, she could make minor changes to the planned outcomes of fate, enabling her to experience a slightly different romance during each lifetime.

Over time, however, Rei's feelings for Claire began to fade. As Claire, like every other human besides Rei, had her memories wiped between loops, she began to seem less relatable to Rei, and after many loops Rei could no longer enjoy a "happily ever after" with Claire. Rei continued to perform her administrative responsibilities, but after over a hundred loops spanning millions, if not billions of years, she began to seek a way out before she no longer felt any feelings for Claire at all. Ultimately, she resolved to end humanity in order to do so.

Because Rei could not bring herself to kill Claire on her own, Rei granted the demons of the magic loop the power to nullify quantized souls in the mainframe, which would essentially result in a "permadeath" for any soul that would die at the hands of a demon. She created and promoted the Three Great Archdemons, both to serve as leaders in battle and as powerful opponents each capable of killing Claire in one-on-one combat. Finally, Rei created and ascended to the role of Demon Queen, combining her system-administrative powers with unprecedented levels of magic power capable of wreaking havoc on the very landscape of the world itself. By having one of her Archdemons kill Claire, and by killing the remaining population of the world either through her demon armies or by her own hand, Rei would finally be free to end the loop system, and to find peace.

Powers and abilities
The Demon Queen is the most powerful caster in the world, capable of using all of the elements as well as Dark Magic and Light Magic. Furthermore, she is capable of casting without either a wand or, in most cases, an audible incantation. This allows her to cast spells both with incredible speed and in rapid succession. In battle, she often makes use of Dark Magic to summon large numbers of Crescent Blades which fly through the air to cut her targets.

Telepathy -- The Demon Queen uses telepathy to communicate orders to her armies from her castle within the Demon Territory, as well as to broadcast her demands to every person in the world after her true identity is revealed. She is the only person (not counting TAIM) capable of addressing the entire world through telepathy with her own power, and can even use it to show "video" imagery in people's minds.

Telekinesis -- The Demon Queen is capable of suspending people in mid-air during battle, and "throwing" them. This can also manifest as if she were "catching" an attacker's blade in her hand, and then "throwing" both wielder and blade.

Dark Barrier -- The Demon Queen can summon a virtually-impenetrable Dark Barrier to protect herself. The Dark Barrier's power can be supplemented by siphoning power away from one or more of her Archdemons.

Teleportation -- The Demon Queen can teleport herself by generating a portal, although it is unknown if this requires any special preconditions or is limited to certain origins (such as from within her castle).

Flight -- The Demon Queen is capable of flight. This is likely a magical capability, as she lacks wings.

Obscured Voice -- The Demon Queen is capable of using magic to disguise her true voice, resulting in an eerie sound resembling a simultaneous blend of both a young child's voice and an old man's voice. When used in conjunction with her veil, this serves to further obscure her true identity.

Administrative Privileges -- The Demon Queen's administrative privileges give her the capability to alter the parameters of people's roles and fates during the configuration period in between loops. When inside a loop, she is capable of monitoring the speech and activities of TAIM, and can alter or suspend various aspects of the inner workings of the Loop System such as the process which captures and quantizes the souls of people who die.

Trivia

 * When Dorothea Nur was seven years old, she encountered the Demon Queen while training to hunt demons. The Demon Queen effortlessly slaughtered everyone in Dorothea's hunting party, but when asked why she spared Dorothea herself, responded that if she were to kill her "the story would change too much."


 * Multiple elements of the Demon Queen's character design borrow heavily from Christian symbolism. In addition to her cross necklace, the wreath of thorns is a symbol of a painful burden, and is strongly associated with the crucifixion of Jesus.  There are many interpretations as to why these are such prominent elements in her design, with a few examples including:
 * The administration of the Loop System over millions of years, while simultaneously both losing her feelings for Claire and bearing responsibilities for all of humanity, could be considered a painful burden.
 * The coming of the Demon Queen and her quest to destroy the world can be considered somewhat analogous to the "Second Coming" in the book of Revelations. The Demon Queen is going to cast her judgment upon the world, and destroy creation.
 * Whereas Christians believe that Jesus sacrificed himself to save the world, the Demon Queen seeks to sacrifice the world (including Claire, "her world") to save herself.
 * Between her soul's longevity, her skills and knowledge spanning eons, her administrative powers to shape both the world and fate, and her immense magical powers, the Demon Queen could be said to have usurped "divinity" for herself.
 * As an atheist, and having originally been a scientist, in addition to having used her deep technical knowledge to create the Loop System, the Demon Queen may view religion as a natural "enemy" of such a system, thus adopting religious symbolism as part of her incarnation as the Demon Queen.
 * The Demon Queen's castle is the center of the demons' power hierarchy.
 * Orders are sent by the Demon Queen to demons and her agents in the field from her castle, via her telepathic abilities. She is also able to make use of far-seeing crystals to spy on events as they are occurring (including watching over Claire).
 * The Demon Queen's living quarters can be reconfigured magically with a snap of her fingers, and represent an extremely rare instance of the use of wardrobes and similar furniture in use within the Demon Territory.
 * The outside perimeter of the Demon Queen's castle complex is ten kilometers.
 * The Demon Queen's lifespan is greatly lengthened compared to that of a typical human, in a similar manner to that of the Three Great Archdemons. This, alongside her powerful magic abilities and administrative privileges, allows her to continue to maintain her young-adult human appearance indefinitely.
 * Because she hasn't had reason to smile for decades, if not centuries by the time of the events of the novels, the Demon Queen's facial muscles have atrophied such that she has all but lost the ability to do so.
 * The Demon Queen’s power and magic reserves are so strong, that she could conjure an entire fortress out of nothing, if she so wished.