"Oh, me? Why, I have friends on the other side, if you catch my drift. Always someone looking out for my family and me…"
-A once-inconspicuous quote from infamous tycoon Frederick von Eldritch, patriarch of the von Eldritch family, Hell's leading construction leaders. Though never recognized as a true Overlord, Frederick was nonetheless a feared leader, known for his cold demeanor and almost unnatural good fortune.
The tension was palpable. No one made a sound, apart from the frequent squelches coming from the tentacles that trapped the demons and Slayer alike. The demon slayer kept his rocket launcher trained on the malformed being before them, kept aloft by wicked limbs. Vaggie, Husker and Angel Dust managed to rouse Charlie before moving back behind the King and the Slayer, huddling near Baxter and his scientists.
The King, meanwhile, stood his ground, which was quickly turning to cinder at his feet. A thin red fog started to rise around Ego, as his blood started burning away his own flesh, only for it to reform. He spoke with a voice of pure hatred.
"Alastor… You bastard…"
The figure laughed, a noise somewhere between radio static and gargling. He made a bowing motion, his bones creaking in a cacophony of disgust.
"In the flesh, as it were! We must say, apprentice, we expected a more warm welcome!" The puppet scanned the timid faces of his former employees, making them recoil in fear. Eventually his gaze rested on the Slayer's visor, making his eyebrows raise. "Oh, we see you already had a guest! Our apologies for intruding." Alastor then rose up on his tentacles, looking over the horizon. Massive tendrils tore into the buildings and land around hell, tunneling into the soil and turning the magma lakes a sickly brown color. Up above the thickest tentacles slapped against the Pentagram, as if trying to break through. Slightly below that, a few stray appendages were being kept away from Heaven by squads of Angels. Alastor's smile just grew wider. "It is such a lovely day, isn't it? We would have never thought to see Hell's landscape again. Frankly, we think our presence improves the atmosphere. Don't you agree?"
Ego spoke through gritted teeth, blood oozing from his mouth only to strike the ground with a sizzle, igniting small flames in the courtyard grass. "I'm going to give you 10 seconds to crawl back to your hole."
Alastor's smile faltered as he turned to his former apprentice. "Now, now, Ego. That sounds like something your shadowy friend would have said! We're sure he's still in there somewhere, we suppose. At any rate, the Alastor you knew is under new employment…" As if to emphasize his point, a quick twitch of his limbs caused a deluge of black, maggot-like slugs to fall from his suit, splattering on the ground before slithering away. Ego and the Slayer remained unperturbed as he continued. "Yes, our new rulers offered my old self quite the deal! A taste of true power, and a chance to have some real entertainment in making you suffer! You can understand if they were a tad cross after you slaughtered their old emissary and told them to 'get fucked', I believe."
A flash of surprise washed over Ego's face. "Nyarlathotep… the Old Gods…" The being with Alastor's face grinned wider.
"Ah, you always did have a good memory. We never could recover Nyarl's soul; you blew it to smithereens." He shrugged with a creaking sound. "He was just a puppet, though. Besides, we have bigger fish to fry, as it were…" With that he snapped his fingers, and a tremendous boom could be heard from above. Everyone glaced upwards to see the source, and found that the tentacles on the Pentagram were now bashing against it with tremendous force. Already cracks had started to form in the barrier. The being continued gleefully. "It always has been a bit stuffy here in Hell. What do you say we open the door?"
One can say a great many things about the Doom Slayer, but none is more true than this: he knows all there is to know about demonic leaks. So it was no surprise that when the Old Gods were planning to open the gates, he was the first one to react. The barrel on his rocket launcher sprung to life, unleashing a volley of missiles. However, just as rapidly a wall of tendrils rose in front of Alastor, taking the brunt of the impact. The Slayer wasted no time, jumping forward into the cloud of smoke he had created, chainsaw in hand. He laid into the writhing mass over and over, yet as he slew one tentacle two more took its place. A wayward length lept from the shadows and crashed into the Slayer, sending him flying backwards into some hedges. Ego watched in shock before spreading his wings to pounce. Before he could, however, Alastor held up a hand.
"Ah ah ah, apprentice! We expect this to be a smooth transition, and as such we took precautions against your interference…" With a wave of his hand, a small, pink sphere materialized in his palm. Ego froze in place. The Sanguine King had long been able to see the essence of other's souls, and he never forgot a soul. Especially not the soul that the servant of the Old Gods now held in his hand.
"Niffty!" He screamed, tears forming in his eyes only to evaporate from the heat. The being grinned maliciously.
"You are perceptive, child! Finding her soul in the miasma was no small task, we assure you. It was almost as if she were hiding from us, scurrying away like an insect." Ego clenched his fists tights, his nails digging into his palms, letting loose a deluge of molten blood onto the scorching soil. Alastor continued, eyeing up the Slayer, who was already revving up his chaingun for a new attack. "Oh, and we suggest you stay out of things as well, Slayer! You're in no better a position!" Alastor opened his other hand, and there, dangling from his index finger, was a golden chain with a rabbit's foot on the end. The King could sense a soul within it, but it was unlike a typical mortal soul. To him it seemed more like the soul he saw within Fat Nuggets years ago. The soul of an animal.
The Slayer paused, his barrels still whirring. Alastor continued evilly. "Ah, so you recognize your beloved lagomorph even from her paw! You were a loving owner after all. You could be again, as Daisy's soul can be put into new flesh, provided you stay out of our affairs." It was impossible to tell what was going through the Doom Slayer's mind, but the result was clear. His weapon lowered and slowed to a stop. Alastor let out another sickening laugh before sliding the two souls into his pockets. "Excellent! Glad we all have a deal, then. Now then, we'll leave you to your passivity. May we suggest a game of tiddlywinks?" He laughed again as he was pulled backwards into the writhing tower of tentacles, disappearing into the blackness.
Only a moment of silence passed before the King fully lost his temper. He fell to his knees screaming and clawing at his torso in anger. The ground around him quickly became a small pool, as his blood and melting rocks welled around his feet. Everyone knew better than to interfere, including the Slayer, who was going through his own form of grief. The godlike being sat in a far corner, polishing his guns over and over in contemplative silence.
After about thirty minutes of raging, clawing at the ground and self-immolating, the King's heavy breathing slowed to more reasonable levels. He got to his feet and slicked his long hair back, coating his horns with blood and turning his locks a violent crimson. He turned to his friends with a look of determination on his eyes. Charlie spoke to him in a somber tone. "I'm… I'm sorry, Ego…"
For the first time in a long, long time, The Sanguine King laughed, startling all in attendance. "Sorry? Why are you sorry?! This is the best news I've had in years! Niffty is so close!" He cackled again, climbing out of his pit, both metaphorically and literally. Husker raised an eyebrow at him.
"Uh, hate to break it to you pal, but that smiley son of a bitch and his puppet master friends don't seem too eager to give her over." Angel Dust nodded and chimed in. "Plus he's got us surrounded, outnumbered, outmanned, and out-crazied."
Ego just smiled, a new life filling his eyes. "Oh, I'm well aware. That's going to make it all the sweeter when we send him back screaming into the void. Now…" He turned to the Princess. "Charlie, do you have the address of the Von Eldritch family?"
Miss Magne scrunched her face in reactionary disgust. The home of her rival and her ex boyfriend elicited nothing but contempt. She flipped open her address book and flipped through it as she responded. "Ugh, yeah. Why? Do you think they can help us?" She handed out the page, which Ego gladly took.
"I assure you they'll have no choice. I can be persuasive, as can our friend the Slayer. Baxter-" He tossed the notebook to his friend, who fumbled to catch it. The King kept walking and talking. "-can you teleport us all there?"
Baxter scoffed. "Oh, easily. This whole castle was laid on top of conductors of my own design. Should take us about 10 minutes to fine tune it." He nodded to Wership and Pentious, who got to work fiddling with devices.
The King walked over to the Slayer and stood before the beast. For his part, the Slayer didn't stop polishing, staring at his weapons intently. Ego sighed. "I wasn't aware you had lost something you cared about as well. Guess we're alike in that way too." No response. "Let me guess. You'd do anything to get her back. You've fought and killed, but it doesn't make the pain go away. It only makes the emptiness hurt more." The Slayer's polishing stopped and he looked at the underworld king from behind a dark visor. Ego continued. "I know you haven't known me for long, but if you're willing to trust me, I promise you that we'll both get back what was taken from us. So please…" The Sanguine King extended his bloodied hand. "Help us." The Slayer looked at him in silence for a few seconds, perhaps weighing up the situation. He had been betrayed countless times. He knew better than to trust anyone, let alone a demon. Yet maybe he saw a kindred spirit in the King. Another wanderer driven by pain. Maybe he felt like he had nothing left to lose, and everything to gain. Whatever his reasoning, the Slayer nodded once, grunted approval, and shook Ego's hand. The King grinned and turned back to his friends with newfound vigor.
"Now, does anyone have anything to eat? I finally have a reason to stop fasting!"