Oni the brothers, collective portrait

Illustration for my series of books "Smoldering Hell", for the seventh book ("Smoldering Hell 7: Burning Paradise. 99 names of the God" author.today/work/160832 ).
The whole series of books: author.today/work/series/11980

A work from among the drawings made in 2021.
They are brothers, a collective portrait. From left to right: Akihiko, Goro, Hinomaru Jiro, Izamu, Ryuu. The second hall of Goro "Black Pagoda", Japan, one of the upper floors. A scene from chapter 9.

As people know, Oni are a kind of Japanese demons with fangs that protrude very far from the mouth; however, in fact, they are a name (by last name?) of the Japanese-Chinese demonic mafia organized by Goro and his four brothers. All five were originally human beings, and, as emperor, Goro was searching for a certain source of eternal life, which, according to local belief, was located on Mount Fuji. The expedition organized there, as a result, Goro discovered what he was looking for - however, after drinking water from the spring, he gains immortality by dying a human and turning into a demon after death. After that, together with his brothers who turned after him, he decides to regain the Asian East, in order to re-reign as its ruler, which he was, being a human.

<...> But first of all, Paymon looked at the fifth, frozen near the steps of the stairs, which directed the way down; taking a glass of crimson wine from the table with a clawed hand, decorated with golden rings, the baron leaned back on the back of the sofa slowly, leaning on a golden-black cane, with a knob in the form of a dragon's paw, grasping a glass ball, scarlet in color saturated; the demon was solid, dressed in a black silk kimono, his belly was impressive, terrible in appearance, like others, however — but somehow, even more, something evil lurked in the features of heavy, cunning, in the sly curve of the mouth and in the eyes of large, outlined circles, blackened-purple in color; impressive horns protruded from his forehead, white, pointed upwards, and a third eye sat between them in his forehead, turning the pupil from the other two separately; the sharp ears were decorated with golden rings and heavy earrings, black hair descended on the shoulders in a wave, untidy strands and individual fell on the forehead, and a certain hat sat on the head, which from a distance took Paymon for a tall top hat, but looking closer, he saw that this hat did not have a brim - "mianguyan" it is called, yes, it can be diverse in appearance; yes, in gestures this archdemon was unhurried, unhurried, thorough with a kind of status, but he seemed to be hunched somehow, besides, bending his camp forward, as if the weight of centuries lived sat on his strong shoulders.
"Goro..." — the name flashed through Paymon's head involuntarily, timidly, and the mayor himself froze hesitantly, watching the solid baron, the head of the Japanese-Chinese mafia, a demonic secret called "Oni". <...>

Goro is an archdemon, a baron of hell, and one of those who wants to get me for himself; in fact, I'm just telling this in the book. However, at the moment of my life in human incarnation, he managed to track me down in dreams: not so long ago I had the temerity to drop his name in a dream, and it was heard; after a while Goro appears in three of my dreams, chasing me. As a result, I simply woke up, so it did not pose a particular danger to me; but just a month ago, I began to feel that someone was interfering in my dreams from the outside, and I also heard a voice breaking into my dream, like a sound that happens in reality and therefore sounds in a dream. I thought it was Mammon's voice, because it is characteristically rough and low... but Goro's voice is similar, except that Goro lisps because of the fangs. After that, for some reason, absolutely, it would seem, for no reason, I began to feel that Goro was allegedly present in the second room, which is located across the corridor from my room. And then... having found myself through a dream in the superspace of my own apartment, I was forced to hold the door to my room from the demons breaking into it – and behind them, in that very room, on that very suspicious chair, Goro was sitting. Looks like I've been found. So far, they can't influence me in any way, although they try (they continue to interfere with my dreams from the outside), but who knows what way they will find next.