Chapter 15: IN THE FIRST AGE…
"What an awfully boring conclusion to the epic battle between the Doom Slayer and these demons."
Alastor paced around the outskirts of Hell, where not a single soul lingered. It was his favorite spot to think, as it was void of any distractions, be it living or not.
"I was so expectant that a variety of unfortunate events (for Hell, that is) were to come to fruition through my aid. I was excited to see a GORE FEST ensue, for these pitiful excuses of demons to be wiped from this plane of existence. I set SO MANY traps for them all to fall into! And yet, somehow, we've reached this compromise that didn't end in the slaughter of everyone and everything! How pathetic…"
Alastor looked to Lucifer, who was quick at work on the giant invention laid out before him.
"And you, Lucifer…" Alastor said with a sneering undertone. "I expected many fierce demons to fall to fear when it came to the Doom Slayer, but YOU?"
He shook his head in shame.
"You've lost all respect of your subordinates, and from myself as well. Hell, I almost LOOKED UP to you! What in the blazes happened?!"
Lucifer continued intently at his work, his eyes dilated and shaking.
"Shut up, you blabbering fiend." He muttered, his voice quivering with fear. "That man is the real devil! If we don't put a stop to him, he will...he…"
"He'll WHAT, Lucifer?" Alastor mocked him, waving his staff around. "Blast your head off? Tear you apart? You've witnessed every kind of torture, every kind of evil, every kind of horror and degeneracy and despicable act that humanity has had to offer! What could he POSSIBLY have in store that could be worse than what you have already encountered?"
"SUFFERING!" Lucifer screeched at him, revealing his true form for a moment, which almost unnerved Alastor. He couldn't describe exactly what Lucifer's true form looked like, but the imagery was something that resembled the most personalized terrifying things to him.
"Suffering, you shit!" Lucifer spat at him. "Eternal torture and suffering! I am the ruler of Hell! I impose the sentences, I deliver punishment upon these degenerates! I have such insurmountable bastions of power at my fingertips, and yet, when I shook that man's hand...I felt powerless. I felt that, if he were left unchecked, he would slaughter every demon in existence. I felt his unending rage, his dogmatic desire to kill and slaughter demons, his terrible power and undying determination. I knew that, when the time came, he would subject me, the ruler of all demons, to the worst and most prolonged torture and agony that can be found. And no matter what I threw at him, no matter what obstacles I put in his way... I would be unable to stop him."
Alastor was taken aback by that sentiment. Coming from Lucifer, whom he had known for some time now as the incarnation of terror, this was in no way a light statement.
"Well, nonetheless…" Alastor continued, looking up at the great structure before him. It was monstrous in size, over fifty meters tall, with an archway through the middle that suggested a gateway. His little minions were working on construction of the beast. Alastor's face contorted into a menacing grin.
"I think it's about time we spice things up."
"Come one, come all, come and get your free pass to redemption!"
Niffty handed out gift-wrapped bags of various small items to each demon that entered into her hotel, most of them wearing reluctant and miserable expressions on their face. It quickly changed to fearful compliance when the Doom Slayer began to reload his shotgun, standing only a few meters away from the long line of demons entering the hotel.
Charlie skipped over merrily to the Doom Slayer as he was staring at the line of demons.
"This is AWESOME!" She squealed, her eyes dazzling as she looked at the display. "Finally, my dreams are coming true, and finally, I can help these souls once and for all!"
She looked up at the Doom Slayer, and tilted her head in curiosity.
"Wow, you changed a lot. Where'd your horns go? And your red eyes? And the stains on your armor?"
"It was purely for decoration." VEGA beeped outwardly. "I had only then noticed his change in appearance at the pond, but I quickly dismissed my fears. After all, my sensors did not go off about a nearby demonic presence when he adopted these features."
"Wait, what about his 'aura' and everything?"
"Likely something that came with the power coupled with resurrecting demons for his own army. To be a leader, one must have a charismatic aura to them. The Doom Slayer, on the other hand...doesn't have that charisma, especially not for demons. The important conclusion is that the Doom Slayer was never in any danger of becoming a demon. In fact, I don't believe it's possible for him to become one in the first place, and in fact I think that, if it weren't the Doom Slayer, any other person who had adopted this power would have likely turned into a demon themselves."
Charlie scratched her head, somewhat confused by what VEGA was saying.
"Alright, I'll take your word for it. But also, what did you do with the demons under your command?"
"We released them from the binding spell on the Doom Slayer, which is probably why the Doom Slayer's features returned to normal."
"'Normal'? That hurts." Charlie mumbled, but nonetheless she was happy.
"In the meanwhile, once these demons have gone into this 'hotel', the Doom Slayer and I will be looking for an entry out of this world…"
Charlie nodded, looking up at the hotel sign.
Hazbin Hotel
"You know...I know that you killed a lot of demons and you were kind of a terrifying monster for a while, but...I'm happy that you showed up. Now, there won't need to be anymore mass genocide. All I have to do now is find a way to contact the Exterminators and tell them that- huh? Oh, he left."
Charlie watched as the Doom Slayer ran towards the north end of the city at ridiculous speeds.
"Damn it, I didn't get to talk to him!" Angel Dust said as he came out from the hotel. "I was too busy directin' people to their rooms and shit. Oh, well."
"He's likely not going to be saying much." Charlie said. "He never spoke a word to me, but there was a little computer thing in the suit that spoke to me instead."
"Wait, really? That's disappointing. I guess he can't talk dirty to me then~. What a shame."
The two watched as the Slayer zoomed off into the distance for a moment.
"Hey, how is...how is Vaggie doing?" Charlie asked hesitantly. Angel Dust sighed.
"She's doing better than before, but I could see the trauma in her eyes. I don't think she's going to be functional anytime soon, but...let's hope for the best, ya know?"
"Yeah." Charlie muttered.
…
…
…
"Wait, where is he going?" Angel inquired, squinting to see the Doom Slayer running. "Jesus, he runs fast."
"I don't know." Charlie responded simply. "Maybe he's checking something out?"
"Well, he seems in quite the hurry…"
The project was complete.
Alastor marveled over the grand invention before him. He knew it wouldn't have been possible if he didn't grab a few of the possessed demons from the Slayer's army during the whole event that had went down at the Capital only a few days ago. Just a few empty threats of being returned to this 'horrible place' they rambled on about, and they were willing to talk.
"The gateway is ready, boss!"
Alastor gave a thumbs up to one of his henchmen, then turned his attention back to the gateway. The possessed demons had ranted on about a 'tether' that had been attached to them when they were resurrected, and Alastor had spent a lot of time and effort into researching this 'tether', to find a way to access this dimension. He had Lucifer slow down time in this area so that he could spend months upon months of research and work, with his henchmen building the gateway the entire time. He had gone to the original crash site of the Doom Slayer and studied the area, looking for artifacts and information that could help him, and he had found plenty. By the time that Lucifer had resumed the passage of time to its normal march, it had only been a few days. And all of the wonderful things he had learned in the meantime.
Argent Energy. A separate planet called the 'Argent D'Nur', and all of its most recent history involving some group called the Night Sentinels. He had learned of how Earth, from an alternate universe, hundreds of years ahead of modern day, had gone to Mars, had discovered this power, had established a base with a man by the name of Samuel Hayden leading the research.
And now, Alastor had brought it all together.
"I should have pursued a career in some scientific field when I was alive." Alastor muttered to himself. "This was far more entertaining than any number of conflicts. Nonetheless…"
He waved his staff around, beginning the ritual to open the gateway. He looked at his henchmen, who had set up the 'gore nests' that had been outlined in the scriptures he had found, courtesy of an embittered imp named Blitzo, who was woefully affected by the deaths of some random friends of his, and was more than willing to lend a very useful book after being told by Alastor how he could bring down the Doom Slayer.
"Oh, those poor souls." Alastor mocked as he gazed upon the gore nests, assembled from a variety of unwilling human sacrifices. "But what wonderful entertainment your passing will provide!"
He began to wave his staff, conjuring up the portal's entry into this dimension, as his henchmen formed circles around the gore nests and began to bow before them, raising their torsos up and down to 'worship' the gruesome idols.
GGGGGRRRRNRNNNNNNNNNRNRNRNRNNNNNNRNNRNNNNNNNN-
A spark, then the sound of grinding, the grinding of dimensions budding with each other. Alastor continued waving his staff, chanting the unholy words of ritual.
GGTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"
As the portal widened, the sound of cracking emanated from all around, as if the air itself were breaking apart. Screams of agony and terror broke out from the crevice of the portal, accompanied by the sound of demonic cackling.
"Yes! YES! MARVELOUS!" Alastor shouted in euphoria. "COME UNTO THIS PLANE, MY WONDERFUL TOOLS OF ENTERTAINMENT! WREAK HAVOC AND CHAOS, AND AMUSE ME-"
Alastor suddenly felt wrong. He felt...alien.
His skin began to bubble, he began to bleed out of every orifice, his mind was unsettled. He began to panic, wondering what was happening.
"Y-O-U, W-H-O S-U-M-M-O-N M-E, D-A-R-E T-O S-P-E-A-K W-I-T-H S-U-C-H C-O-N-T-E-M-P-T."
Alastor screamed in pain as it felt like his insides were a torrent of acid and explosives. His skin was filling with blisters and searing off, and his face was peeling away to the bone.
The portal continued to widen, and Lucifer, having seen what happened to Alastor, began to back away slowly.
"W-H-E-R-E D-O Y-O-U T-H-I-N-K Y-O-U-'-R-E G-O-I-N-G, F-A-L-S-E I-D-O-L?"
In horror, Lucifer watched as a monstrously large skull of a goat began to push out from the crevice that formed in the portal. It was a horrific sight, and it evoked every emotion in Lucifer at the same time. Lust, wrath, pride, horror, terror. All of those and more flew through his mind, encapsulated his body.
"Y-O-U S-T-E-A-L T-H-E T-I-T-L-E B-E-F-I-T-T-I-N-G O-F T-H-E R-U-L-E-R O-F H-E-L-L, W-I-T-H S-U-C-H P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C P-O-W-E-R."
Lucifer tried to resist, pushing against the frozen state, trying to evoke every attack he could against the skull. Nothing happened. He heard a bellow of deep, unsettling laughter echo through his mind, reverberating in his skull mockingly.
"F-O-O-L-I-S-H. T-H-I-S I-S M-Y D-O-M-A-I-N N-O-W, F-O-R Y-O-U H-A-T-H S-U-M-M-O-N-E-D M-E T-O I-T. I W-I-L-L C-O-N-Q-U-E-R T-H-I-S R-E-A-L-M A-S I H-A-V-E A-L-L B-E-F-O-R-E. B-O-W B-E-F-O-R-E M-E."
With no will of his own, Lucifer felt his knees bend and his head bow. He could barely look over to notice Alastor doing the same, still screaming from the pain he was undergoing. The sounds of demons cackling and screeching emitted from the gateway, and Lucifer felt a deep fear instilled in him, as if he had messed with something that should have never come his way.
"PLEASE!" He begged, realizing what he had done all of this for in the first place. "KILL THE DOOM SLAYER!"
"H-E S-H-A-L-L B-E L-O-C-K-E-D A-W-A-Y O-N-C-E M-O-R-E, A-N-D T-H-I-S T-I-M-E W-I-T-H-O-U-T E-S-C-A-P-E!"
"RRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Lucifer's head was forced up, and he watched as countless demons, unlike anything Lucifer had ever seen, spilled out of the portal and onto the ground, with the goat's skull emerging more and more out of the gateway as it widened.
"I
A
M
R
E
B
O
R
N."