"It is done, after so much time it is finally complete." The cloaked figure who resided in Abaddon's circle spoke, their voice deep and gruff but otherwise sounded fairly normal.
After scouring so many wreckages for specific parts, after carefully removing so many electronic components and pieces from ancient technology, the suit that had been slowly constructed in Abaddon's circle was finished. And while this suit did bear some similarities to the infamous Slayer of Doom, there were a lot of differences most of which were quite disturbed. For unlike either his normal or Maykr suit this one was not meant to be taken off at any point, it had many tubes and apparatuses that would attach themselves to the wearer's body, grafting onto it while connecting to both arteries and veins.
As for the pieces that were nothing but armor they too would also fuse with the wearer's form, the metal assimilating with the flesh so if it were ever removed it would peel and tear the muscle and bone. The only parts of this armor that weren't entirely horrifying were its armaments and helmet, for just like the Slayer it too possessed a shoulder mounted cannon and wrist mounted blade. Then there was the aforementioned headwear, and while it did share the armor's ghastly trait of fusing to the flesh and bone of a person's skull, there were two distinct details that were specific to its maker. Armored sheaths for horns had been made which like everything else would become inseparable, and as for any protection for the mouth there was none, allowing for his lipless maw and strong bottom jaw to be seen at all times.
There was of course also a visor of some kind in place, though similarly to the optic the Slayer had with his Maykr suit this was very untraditional. Six small optics surrounded a symbol that sat in the middle of the helmet's face, what meaning or significance it held only he who crafted it knew.
However, as he finally removed the cloak that hid his form preparing himself for the pain and torture this suit would inflict once worn, he was stopped as something strange occurred. The fireplace that burned with full life nearby was extinguished, with it came a chilling wind that was so cold it managed to frost much of the room itself.
Knowing well who had just appeared the figure didn't need to ask who it was, nor did he need to turn around to face them as they slowly approached him.
"...Thank you..." He said as he looked to the floor, "Your circle was the only one that could offer me sanctuary...and with the power you wield my presence could be hidden from he who made me, as well as those also given flesh and soul by his hand...in return I swore to not disturb the peace of your dwelling and never bring with me any souls besides my own...and I shall keep that promise even as I take my leave and carry out my plans...no one will know you and I ever exchanged words or knew of the other's existence...your peace and isolation shall be maintained..." He told them.
In response to this his visitor placed an unseen hand on his shoulder, it being just as freezing as the room had quickly become due to their presence. But he welcomed this chilling temperature, it helped to soothe the fire that raged within him and the pain he carried always, and now as he faced an eternal torture of his own design, he would relish this cold as much as he could one last time.
Pulling away from their comforting grasp the figure proceeded to dress his body in the suit, which by itself was a simple and painless task. It was only after every piece was in its place with the final being the helmet he put upon his head, that he activated it initiating the process of their union.
As a result two separate things occurred, the silence of the circle was disrupted by the most anguished screams and cries anyone had ever heard, which in turn caused something that had never happened before to take place. From the skies above the gray landscape fell freezing rain which
turned into snow before it met with the ground, for the only soul in this entire realm that could hear this suffering was its ruler, who wept for the figure that had become its only friend.
"Alright, get a move on." An Authority ordered as they pushed the former noble along.
As said previously The Exterminators, now known as The Authorities, were the first actual form of peacekeepers Lucifer's circle had ever seen. So when Stolas told his guards to take her to the authorities, he wasn't just referring to police officers or something similar. He meant actual angelic beings who weren't afraid to smack a bitch if she stepped out of line, which was needed for his ex wife who was currently being taken to the devil himself. But it wasn't because Stolas and his daughter had become members of their group, it was due to the fact that she was a soon to be former noble and such matters required his direct attention.
Thankfully this so far had been a rather lax day for Lucifer, so they didn't need to wait for him to have a free moment to deal with this. For you see in light of the reformation his circle was going through, the protests that were happening in response to it, and sorting out family business what with his father finally returning, this had been the most hectic time in his entire life. But he knew what he was getting into the moment they started all of this, so for both these slow days and the ones that seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, he took them head on and with no regrets. Though as the doors opened to his office and Stella was brought in, she may prove to be the first.
"Finally took things too far?" He asked as the two Authorities who handled her brought her over.
Of course she couldn't answer him right away, due to the fact she still had a muzzle on her beak. And while for a moment he debated if it should be left on or not for his own amusement, he knew he'd be able to get through this fast if she could actually speak, so with some reluctance he gave them the go ahead to remove it.
"About time!" She exclaimed as it was taken away from her face, "Do you know how much that thing dug into my skin? I'll be lucky if there aren't permanent scars because of it!" She said.
"But you have feathers, so even if it somehow did cause permanent damage which I'm entirely certain it didn't, it's not like anyone could see it." He pointed out.
"That's not the point!" She replied. "Then what is?" He questioned.
"I am a noble, and the treatment I have been given thus far is both an insult to my dignity and the respect I am owed!" She explained.
"Right, because nobles typically break through gates with cars and tear up a person's lawn like they're some drunk teenager." He said.
"Trust me, if I wanted to I could have done SO much worse..." She assured menacingly.
"...You...you do know where you are right now right?" He asked her while gesturing to the room, honestly taken aback by what she just said, "As it stands you've already been on pretty thin ice due to all the death threats and disturbances you've caused, and now not only did you add to it significant property damage but you're telling me, the person who will decide your fate, that you debated on doing something even worse to your former spouse." He explained.
"Your point?" She asked.
"Stella, you need to accept the fact that you and Stolas are over, he has gone through all the proper channels and has done all the paperwork to finalize this divorce." He answered.
"So what? I have to give my consent right? To willingly sign the papers as well to make it official, without that it can't go through." She argued.
"Maybe, if this could be debated as him being unfair or that there is a chance you two could work things out, but once people cause as much trouble as you have it seems pretty clear he's in the right." He explained.
"You're just saying that because he's in support of this ridiculous reformation of yours! This is a total abuse of power that is being used to screw me out of everything that is mine!" She exclaimed.
Letting out a frustrated sigh before putting his face in his hands, Lucifer thought carefully on how he should proceed as to not escalate things further.
"...Okay, so here's what I've decided." He said after a few seconds as he looked back to her, "It's clear to me that you feel as though the universe is conspiring against you-"
"BECAUSE IT IS!" She shouted cutting him off.
"...Right...but as it stands you really don't have many options, if you'd just kept a cool head you could have fought against this properly, made it seem like he was being a bit too rash in his judgement, but that all flew out the window when you flew through his gates, so now you only have two choices you can pick between." He explained.
"Let me guess, one of them is just to put a stupid smile on my face and let this happen?" She asked.
"Well yeah, in addition to serving a sentence that while not condemning you to a period of damnation, would still punish you for...well everything." He answered.
Upon hearing that she for the first time during all of this finally felt reality hit her, for it truly hadn't occurred to her that she could be face actual punishment for her actions. Though admittedly you couldn't blame her for this, she along with many others still thought things worked like they did not too long ago, where you could be as horrible of a person as you wanted and get away with it. But now as the devil himself told her she would be reprimanded for her actions, and not just by giving her some fine or a slap on the wrists, she knew that she had to be careful of what she said or did next.
"...You said there were two choices...what's the second one?..." She asked in a far calmer and quiet way.
"The whole purpose of this reformation of Hell is to both provide a place for the sinful to safely enjoy themselves, as well as help those who want to go to Heaven or just be not so sinful sinners, I will forgive everything you've done so far if you agree to become a resident at the Happy Hotel, and stay there until you have proven beyond a doubt you are redeemed, to what capacity is entirely up to you." He answered.
"...Fine...it's not like I've got anything left to lose..." She replied immediately, as she knew no matter what it had been it would be better than the alternative.
"Alright then, I'll call my daughter and ask her to get a room ready for you, these two will take you back to whatever your current residence is so you can gather some things, after which they'll escort you to the hotel." He explained.
With that this business was settled, and as a show of kindness before she left he had the Authorities remove the rope that bound her and keep the muzzle off too, for both he and she knew she wouldn't try anything.
"It appears that things are going smoothly so far." The Khan noted as she along with Samur observed Lucifer's circle.
As one may have assumed this portion of Hell wasn't the only thing affected by recent events, Heaven as well saw some notable changes. The obvious and most expected development was the formerly dubbed Exterminators now cooperating with their assigned circle, no longer were yearly mass genocides a thing which helped everyone breathe easier. But on the more shocking side of things, excluding the reappearance of the creator, Urdak was given a new role to serve in the overall order of everything. For now that Doom was no longer an issue they had no circle to govern, but instead of doing something odd like replacing it with a new one, they were given the task to oversee all of the circles. Yet this didn't imply that the other portions of Heaven were suddenly out of a job, their role was purely as an observer and consultant, offering advice or aid to their fellow Heavenborn as to try and improve the other circles, just like how Lucifer was doing to his own.
This was a very slow process of course, for the only way any major progress could be made is if the devils of each respective circle cooperated, and as it stood none of them had responded to the Maykrs' outreach for an audience. Though this was to be expected, from their point of view a lot of truly scary shit suddenly happened in a short span of time. The Slayer killed Doom and was moving into other circles only to wind up sealed away with them forever, Gabriel who was a sibling to most of them was gone and turned into a monster, Lucifer had a change of heart and was now doing something never before attempted, and oh yeah the first ever entity in creation was suddenly back. Speaking of Vega who had definitively made that his name, he was mainly focused on reconnecting with his children, and spending some proper time with his granddaughter whenever he could.
But this didn't mean he just lounged about and didn't help at all, he decided to resume residency in Urdak alongside the Khan and Samur, so while they observed and monitored all of Hell, he attended to the realm and did all he could to assist his son with the reformation. All in all this new arrangement was working out perfectly, there were still some things that needed to be sorted and they had a long ways to go, but it was going swimmingly thus far.
"Indeed, apart from the demons who seem quite opposed to it." He replied.
"That is to be expected, we can't assume every soul especially those who are intentionally evil will suddenly want to change." She said.
"True, on that front however what should we do about the rest?" He asked referring to the other circles, "Even with the mention that we are simply acting under the order of the creator they are steadfast in ignoring us, some going so far as to insult or belittle us." He told her.
"Unfortunately all we can do is be patient, the only way they would change is if our the Father forced them to which would not be met well, but who knows perhaps if all continues to go well within Lucifer's domain they will see there is merit to our actions." She suggested.
"Hopefully." He replied.
Returning their focus to their work the two Maykrs exchanged no further words, while elsewhere in the realm their creator was focused on something as well. Alone in a private sanctum surrounded
by materials, unknown to anyone even those closest to him Vega had been toiling away at some kind of invention. However not even he knew what he wanted to create, as not too far away in the same space were countless abandoned variants of this object's design. Strangely enough though there was one thing they all had in common, one odd detail that he seemed persistent in keeping present even if perhaps that could be the core of the issue.
The body of this unknown device he sought with all his soul to create, was shaped to resemble a cube of some kind.
With but a few final shots delivered the last of the Barons fell to the scum below, sinking slowly into its depths to be liquified and mixed together. The sounds of a motor slowly dying down and the barrels it spun coming to a stop were all that could be heard after, as the man who wielded the gun took this time to savor his victory. It had been a while since such numbers of powerful demons had been sent to fight him, even longer since a battle with them took this long. But now that he was on their turf this made perfect sense, nowhere else would their power be stronger nor would they be more resilient, as he not only needed to take apart their skin but also obliterate their bones to finally kill them.
Yet as he watched the last of them disappear into the muck of the marshlands he sent his weapon away, taking what would undoubtedly be a brief moment of peace to gather his bearings. He didn't need to worry about ammunition or power thanks to his suit, so all he really had to do was examine his maps and determine where his next destination should be, as well as how many of his stored powers were charged and ready for use. For the next few minutes he simply stood there near the edge of the small island he was on, not a care or concern to be had as no more demons seemed to be present. But then he heard it, at first a distant sound he initially assumed to be wind, only for it to reveal its true identity as it got closer.
Several rockets and/or missiles were flying at him from his backside, and within seconds they reached their target before detonating. Though if it were so simple to kill the Slayer then he would have been handled a long time ago, in fact he didn't even move as they made contact, as his suit was more than capable of withstanding their combined blast. Slowly turning around expecting to find several Revenants or perhaps some form of demon solider, what he saw on the far horizon was a creature that was entirely new to him. Much like a centaur its top and bottom halves were different, with the lower portion entirely mechanical and appearing to be some kind of rocket powered sled, which from what he could tell is where the missiles had been launched from.
Then there was the top, where a mangled cybernetically enhanced torso of a species he long believed to be extinct sat upon it, a high powered launcher similar to his own and a dual bladed chainsaw attached to its arms. However there was one more detail he could see even from this distance, on both the torso and the sled there was a thick blue energy that shielded both, no doubt to absorb and repel any attacks made against it.
"Artillery assault failed, munitions inferior, requesting upgrade upon return." A deep robotic voice spoke from it, though its mouth never seemed to move as it did, "Ranged assault parameters altered, proceed with cannon use only, begin chainsaw ignition and heat accumulation, new assault strategy formulated." It stated afterwards.
Filled with intrigue and a terrifying level of excitement at this new foe, the Slayer brought forth only his combat shotgun to fight it with, as he wanted to see just how long it could last.
"Slayer armament discerned, designation combat shotgun, current modification full automatic fire, adjusting shield strength and resistance, ready to engage." It stated as the glow
of its shield became brighter.
Letting loose a roar while increasing the output of its engines the creature then rushed forward, causing the Slayer to respond by doing the same so their battle could commence.