Dark Lord

Dark Lords are creatures conceived by one of the Gods to be the most powerful beings in the mortal realm, with the Demon King being at the top of the pyramid of power.

Despite the scary name, not all Dark Lords are destructive or evil. Quite a number of them are capable of compassion and sympathy, while some are completely apathetic or have no interest in violence.

Physique
Dark Lords are created out of ordinary creatures, by giving them the blood of the Demon King. The process of turning into a Dark Lord may (or may not) transform the appearance of the creature, and there is no common physical traits to visually identify them.

At any given time, only 24 Dark Lords (not including the Demon king) may exist. Dark Lords do not age, and unlike the Demon King who only get their powers for 1000 years each, an ordinary Dark Lord would remain a Dark Lord indefinitely. If a Demon King wishes to make more Dark Lords, it must kill off some of the existing Dark Lords to make space.

Dark Lords are protected by an invincibility field, protecting them from harm by ordinary means. Currently only the following may dispel the invincibility field to harm or kill a Dark Lord:
 * The Holy Sword Nikkou
 * The Demonic Sword Chaos
 * The Guardian Hero of the World
 * Other Dark Lords (including the Demon King)
 * Devils
 * Gods (including Angels)

When a Dark Lord is killed, it turns into a Demonic Blood Soul. When the blood soul is consumed by another creature, the creature may be turned into a new Dark Lord and retain itself, or the self of the original demon may take over and resurrect the original Dark Lord in a new body. The Demon King can also re-absorb the blood soul back into the Demon King's body.

Chain of Command
Due to the powers of the Demon King in their blood, Dark Lords are unable to disobey the Demon King. Even if the Demon King who created the Dark Lord dies, the Dark Lord would still be absolutely obedient to the new Demon King.

Directly beneath the Demon King is the Supreme Dark Lord, a single individual that is elevated to a higher status by the Demon King. The current Supreme Dark Lord is Hornet.

Beneath the Supreme Dark Lord are the Four Elite, four Dark Lords that are older, more powerful and more experienced than most of the other Dark Lords. The current members of the Four Elite are Kayblis, Kesselrink, Silky and Kamilla.

Similar to how a Demon King may use its blood to create Dark Lords, a Dark Lord may give its blood to other creatures and create Apostles. There is no limit as to how many Apostles a Dark Lord may create, but the Dark Lords' power gets spread thinner as the number of its Apostles increases. Also, the more Apostles a Dark Lord creates, the weaker the control the Dark Lord has over them.

List of Dark Lords
Italicized Dark Lords are dead