In Buddhist cosmology, the Asura realm supposedly is between the human realm and the godly realm.
Though, IMO asuras are demons. Here's why:
"Because of their passions, Rebirth as an Asura is considered to be one of the four unhappy births (together with Rebirth as an animal, a preta (hungry ghost), or a being in Naraka (the Hells)). The state of an Asura reflects the mental state of a human being obsessed with force and violence, always looking for an excuse to get into a fight, angry with everyone and unable to maintain calm or solve problems peacefully."
The obsession with violence and confronting life with it reminds me more of demons than gods.
Ergo asuras are so low a form of "god" that they could be compared to all the anti-heroes and enemies of Greek gods, including the many mythical creatures that the gods played a practical joke on i.e. centaurs are probably a joke Zeus played by taking the form of a pretty horse just to seduce a virgin.
Likewise, the Minotaur, a bull-headed man-beast is a joke played by Zeus when he took the form of a bull to seduce another virgin.
Getting back to asuras as demons, this is only a mental landscape, because the Six Realms is a mental construct designed to educate Buddhists about the evils of passions and other slipper slopes we really don't need to venture on but usually do because of our ignorance.
Essentially, the Asura Realm is where Buddhists who obey all the precepts but were not very nice in the human realm are reborn. If they mess up there, then it's the Hells for them.
Reference:
Asura: http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=Asura
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