Reviews:
Alder Hill: I definitely see your point.
Gamelover41592: Yeah... It was sort of an awkward situation for both of them. Danny wasn't in the best place mentally during that whole interaction.
Akakiru: Uhh... Oops? I looked it up and you're right. God that's embarrassing. Sorry, I'm not Christian so I'm not exactly familiar with all the angels or their hierarchy and Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss hasn't really gone into it as far as I'm aware. I went back and fixed it.
Chaosh.H.A.O.S: Interesting ideas. I suppose it might be pretty cool to have a couple of his old enemies come for more casual visits rather than trying to outright kill him like Skulker.
3DJoker: Don't worry, I totally get it. I would use google translate for this sort of thing too. In fact, I did in response to a review in a previous chapter. That being said, Danny and Vlad may not be dead, but they aren't quite alive either. If anything they're in a state between both while not quite being undead. There situation is a bit strange. Anyway, I would say they would at least be affected while they were in their ghost forms even if they weren't while they are in their human forms.
The rest of the week passed rather uneventfully. Danny decided to have the bones from his left hand be turned into a shoulder accessory for his cape, making it look almost like a skeletal hand was holding the cape in place. That way he could keep the hand with him as a constant reminder. Similarly, he had the bones of his forearms mounted on the wall above his bed. He wasn't quite sure what else to do with the bones of his forearm. Octavia approved of the use of his severed hand as an accessory.
Danny also started training with Fright Knight. First Fright Knight started by teaching him strategy using his encounter with Skulker as an example. He offered several alternatives for how Danny could have temporarily driven Skulker into a retreat and had Danny attempt to extrapolate on them, correcting Danny whenever he said something that would not work. Eventually he started teaching Danny how to use his ghost powers more effectively and gave him some basic training on how to use a sword.
The Fright Knight used a spell in his book to contact Vlad allowing them to talk through a ghostly illusion. Apparently Vlad had been doing some investigating in the Ghost Zone and the knight who had been guarding the Devil's Orb confirmed it had been taken by an Arch Angel though he had been unable to specify which one, not that it really mattered which one had been involved. Vlad had also contacted Desiree and made a deal with her to ensure she would not help the angels dispose of Danny by granting their wishes.
The week passed by rather uneventfully. That was until Danny received a letter in the mail addressed to him specifically. Opening it up he saw it was a summons from Lucifer.
"What's wrong, Prince Daniel?" Fright Knight inquired.
"Uh… This…" Danny said, handing the summons to Fright Knight.
Fright Knight took the paper and studied it for a moment. "I see… The Lord of Hell demands a meeting."
"What should I do?" Danny asked.
"There is only one thing you can do, trapped here in Hell as you are. Answer the summons. Though I will not allow you to attend without guidance. I will accompany you as an advisor. Now, you should go get ready. In the meantime, I shall contact Lord Plasmius and inform him as to what is happening." Fright Knight stated.
"Alright, I guess… You don't think he's going to try to kill me, do you?" Danny inquired nervously.
"Obviously not. Your future potential and your connection to Lord Plasmius are both far too valuable for him to waste so easily. Think about it, if he could convince you to join him he would have Lord Plasmius' aid as well as your aid when you are older and have become as powerful as the three kings. Thus the next war would be heavily skewed in his favor. So, if anything he will be trying to convince you to side with him. So my main role in this meeting will be to prevent you from making any rash or impulsive decisions that Lord Plasmius will have to deal with later. As I said, I will be acting as your advisor in this meeting more so than your bodyguard." Fright Knight told him.
"That's… oddly comforting. At least I know I'm not going to die or have to fight for my life…" Danny muttered. He then turned and headed to his room to get ready. It only took a few minutes.
When he came out he saw a ghostly green illusion of Vlad standing there talking to Fright Knight. He waited until Fright Knight pulled his sword out of the ground and the illusion vanished before approaching him. "I guess I'm ready. We should probably go now, right?"
"Indeed." Fright Knight stated.
The two of them then flew through a wall before flying to Lucifer's castle. Landing in front of the gate, Fright Knight approached the guards stationed there and said, "I am the Fright Knight, and this is Overlord Daniel Phantom. We have received a summons from Lucifer." He then handed them the summons.
One of the guards took the summons before glancing at it. "It's legit. Alright, go on through. A servant will be waiting for you by the front door." Said guard then proceeded to open the gate for Danny and Fright Knight.
The two of them went through the gate before walking on foot to the front door. As the guards said, a butler was already standing there waiting for them. "Master Phantom and his bodyguard, I presume?" The butler inquired.
"Indeed." Fright Knight confirmed.
"Very good. Lord Lucifer is already waiting for you in his throne room. This way please." The butler said before opening the front door for them. They entered, then the butler shut the door behind them before walking ahead and leading them through the castle to the throne room. Once they arrived at the door to the throne room the butler opened the door for them but did not follow them inside.
As soon as they entered they both saw Lucifer sitting on his throne staring at them. Once again Danny had the urge to turn and run for his life, but he restrained himself.
"Ah, Fright Knight… So it's true then. Purgatory really does have a new king. And the half-breed ghost child here is truly the prince… How interesting." Lucifer stated as the two of them approached him.
"Yes, Lord Plasmius has claimed the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire and has ascended to the throne. He is already in the process of awakening the other knights, who are not guarding artifacts in the Ghost Zone. Now, why have you called us here?" Fright Knight asked.
"A few reasons. First and foremost, I wanted to confirm if it was true that Purgatory has a new King, which I have done. Now that I have confirmed that, I'm afraid that we now have a minor conflict of interest. I was originally willing to allow the half-breed phantom to build his little city at first, as a sign of goodwill. Had this not happened, I would have been content with letting him continue on for a while longer before eventually contacting him and casually taking my time trying to earn his loyalty to me. However, I can't just have a prince from a foreign realm claiming territory here in my domain. That would be an invasion, and an invasion would be a declaration of war. And I'm sure King Plasmius doesn't truly want to start a war with me, now does he?" Lucifer inquired.
Danny's heart sank upon hearing this. So because Vlad had become the King of the Ghost Zone, Danny's entire project of setting up a city and a prison here in Hell had just become impossible. He was going to have to give them up.
Fright Knight hesitated for a moment. "This… seems like a conversation for Lord Plasmius himself. Do I have permission to use my sword to contact Lord Plasmius so he may speak with you?"
"You have my permission." Lucifer stated.
Fright Knight nodded before drawing Soul Shredder and stabbing it into the ground before stepping away from it. A few moments later, a ghostly green image of Vlad appeared in front of the sword. "I was wondering why Fright Knight was contacting me again so soon… Hello, Lucifer." Vlad's illusory image stated, staring at the devil.
"Hello, Plasmius. As I was just telling these two, previously I was willing to allow your son to build his little city as a sign of goodwill. I would have left him alone for a while longer before attempting to earn his loyalty and have him side with me slowly over time. However, unfortunately now that you are a king and he is a prince, claiming any territory in Hell or attempting to build a city would technically classify as an invasion thus I am forced to act early. After all, an invasion would be a direct declaration of war. Do you intend to declare war on Hell, Plasmius?" Lucifer inquired.
Vlad shook his head and crossed his arms behind his back. "No. I do not. As I'm sure you are aware, his plans for making a city and a prison were before I claimed the throne. Now that I have… Well, things have clearly changed. If Daniel must give up on building his city, so be it."
"Very good. Then we don't have any problems. That being said, there are still ways in which I can allow the boy to build his city here in Hell, if you are so inclined to listen." Lucifer offered.
Vlad's illusory image frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Where are you going with this?"
"An arranged marriage. My daughter is single and so is your son. If they were married I would be able to allow him to build his city." Lucifer stated.
"Absolutely not." Vlad stated.
Lucifer raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh? Why? It's the perfect solution, is it not?"
"No. First, your daughter is centuries older than Daniel, who is still only fourteen years old. Perhaps you might not see much issue with that but I certainly do. Granted it could wait until he is eighteen, but even so. And second, if Daniel is going to get into a relationship with anyone I will allow him to do so on his own terms. His birth parents would never forgive me if I forced him into an arranged marriage." Vlad told him.
"Hm… Are those the only problems? In that case, I will mark that option as a 'maybe in a few years'. Regardless, there are other possibilities as well. I am fully aware of the ridiculous rumors of him being my bastard child. As if I would ever betray my dear Lilith… So if you were willing to give him up, I could certainly take him off your hands." Lucifer stated.
"I'm not going to be evil." Danny interjected.
"What was that?" Lucifer inquired, looking at Danny.
"I said I'm not going to be evil! I saw what that future version of me was like. I watched him murder everyone I know and love. I will not become him." Danny said, clenching his fists.
"And whoever said you would have to be evil like that version of yourself? I know you've met my daughter Charlie. She is about the furthest thing from evil that one can get, almost naively so, and I have no issue with that. Mostly, anyway. Furthermore, if you think Heaven and the angels are good, well… you are sorely mistaken. They are orderly, sure, but order does not equate to being 'good'."
"But you're evil." Danny stated.
"And your point is…? When have I ever forced anyone to be like me? I let my daughter do what she wants despite me disagreeing with her. And in the months that you've been here I haven't once tried to impose my will upon you or your territory even though I very easily could have. Well, up until the point you became a prince and your plans to build a city suddenly became plans for an invasion from a political standpoint but that's different. The same could be said for the rest of Hell. I only have a select few laws that I actively enforce. Sinners have to stay in my ring, there are a few business related laws, some basic tax laws, a few laws to ensure the quality of food and water which are admittedly for my own benefit more so than the benefit of the commoners, and that's it. I don't care about anything else. And that includes individuals creating laws of their own in their own territory to the benefit or detriment of those living there. So be as good as you want and run your territory however you want, I don't care."
Danny couldn't think of any counter arguments against that so he just shut up and remained silent.
Vlad almost scoffed at the idea. "You want to adopt him? Daniel's own objection's aside, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to refuse. I know the only reason you are making such an offer is due to the power he will gain in the future and you only want to use his power for your own ends. I will not agree to give him up to someone who merely wishes to use him as a pawn."
"Fine, fine, be that way… Then here is my final offer. Just give him up. Neither one of us will claim him and he shall live on his own having zero political ties to either of us. Thus he would be allowed to continue on as he was before you claimed the throne of Purgatory." Lucifer said.
Vlad hesitated at that. "While that option would be more acceptable I'm afraid I'll have to refuse that as well on the grounds that my position as King of Purgatory is the only thing keeping him alive right now."
Lucifer leaned forward curiously. "Oh? And whatever do you mean by that?"
"It seems that there are… individuals who are actively trying to kill him. And my position as King of the Ghost Zone and Fright Knight guarding Daniel is preventing them from doing so." Vlad informed him, seemingly avoiding mentioning Heaven specifically for some reason.
"Is that so? Which individuals?" Lucifer inquired.
"I… Would rather not say." Vlad said in a cautious tone.
Lucifer chuckled. "Oh my… I can think of only one reason you would want to keep such a thing hidden from me. It's Heaven, isn't it? Oh, those holy fools… Well, that changes everything."
"Now, hold on a moment! I never said it had anything to do with them!" Vlad growled.
"And yet you have made it so incredibly obvious. After all, there are only three reasons why you would need to be the King of Purgatory or why Fright Knight would need to be involved. Either a very powerful demon was targeting him that only a being as powerful as Fright Knight could deal with effectively, which I know they are not because I have given a 'hands off' order to any demons powerful enough to warrant such a response. Or he is being targeted by ghosts. However, any ghosts who are powerful enough to warrant such a thing either serve you directly or would prefer to remain as neutral as possible in such situations. And I see no reason why any of the Knights would be targeting Daniel even if you were not the king. That just leaves Heaven, and they do have more than enough reason to try to destroy him."
Lucifer then leaned back on his throne. "I'm not stupid, Plasmius. Do not insult me by acting as though I am. Anyway, I don't suppose you have any proof this is Heaven's doing, do you?"
Vlad sighed and said, "As a matter of fact, we do. They stole an old demonic artifact that was under a seal that only an angel could break and was guarded by one of my knights who would stop any angel that attempted to break said seal, and a rather powerful knight at that. The knight in question has confirmed that it was indeed an arch angel that attacked him and stole the artifact, but he could not specify which one. Plus the ghost that the angels gave the artifact to and sent to kill Daniel had two angelic artifacts with him as well. According to Fright Knight, one was rather weak but dated back to your rebellion against Heaven and was still in their possession at the end of the war while the other was significantly newer and upon further inspection was designed to work with advanced technology so the ghost in question could effectively design his own holy weaponry. Quite solid evidence, in my opinion. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Indeed I would. Now that I know for a fact that Heaven is targeting him, let's be honest, I can keep him far safer from the angels that will be trying to kill him than you or Fright Knight can, considering he is trapped here in Hell." Lucifer stated.
"What?! Are you questioning my ability to defend a single child?!" Fright Knight demanded in an offended tone. "As the most powerful of the Ghost King's knights, I am more than capable of defending the boy against any angel barring Michael himself! The same applies to any ghosts the angels send after him!"
"Oh? You aren't aware of the extermination day yet, are you? Well, allow me to explain it for you. Hell is currently overpopulated. So every year Heaven sends angels to come and kill as many demons as possible. And there's nothing in my agreement with them stating they can't send arch angels. It's more of an honor system in that regard as they know I will start actively destroying them if they do start sending arch angels to target myself, my family, the other six sins, or the Ars Goetia. So with the ghost they sent having failed to do their job for them and with them having been discovered as a result, at the end of the year I imagine they will send quite a few arch angels specifically to kill him. So you can fight Michael's second in command on equal footing. Good for you. But can you fight his second in command while also fighting off a dozen or more other arch angels all at once?" Lucifer inquired.
"No… I can not… But with my brothers in arms assisting me—"
Lucifer cut him off mid sentence with a gesture. "Allow me to stop you there. I will not allow any more than six of you in my realm at any one time, and that is me being generous. Anymore than that and I will consider you an invading force and shall deal with you accordingly. So no. Your brothers in arms would be of little help in this scenario due to their limited numbers. Thus the boy is in grave danger without my protection."
"They wouldn't dare attempt to harm Daniel again so long as I am the Ghost King! They will know that by doing so, they will be declaring war on the Ghost Zone by attacking the crown prince! They wish to avoid having someone as powerful as the Ghost King siding with you and waging war on them, thus the reason they were trying to kill Daniel to begin with. So they will not risk provoking me now that I have claimed the throne." Vlad hissed furiously.
"Are you so sure? No, of course you aren't otherwise you wouldn't have been trying to hide the fact they are trying to kill him from me. Well, let me tell you what I find more likely. Even if you threatened to go to war with them should they harm Daniel, they won't care. They will simply think they have a better chance against you and me rather than you, me, and him. In the end, it's a matter of numbers for them. Two is less than three, therefore eliminating the third variable now and immediately starting a war with only two variables is better than having the third variable in play when the war starts later. As far as they're concerned war is as good as inevitable, even if it isn't truly inevitable." Lucifer said.
He then chuckled and continued, "You don't quite seem to understand what's going on here, so let me spell it out for you. You don't have any power in this situation, Plasmius. You may be the King of Purgatory, but with Clockwork keeping the boy imprisoned here in Hell and now that I'm aware Heaven is actively trying to kill him, you are backed into a corner. I am the one holding all the cards as I am the only one that can truly guarantee his long term survival. If I wanted to force him to have an arranged marriage with my daughter, I could do that. If I wanted to force you to give the boy to me, I could do that too. If I wanted to just let the boy be torn apart and destroyed on extermination day when the angels inevitably try to kill him, I could do that as well and there would be nothing you could do to change my mind. But since I'm the one holding all the cards, I'm in a relatively good mood, and I don't want to end up alienating the boy, I'm simply giving you the option to choose in which way I win. So we can keep discussing more options as long as you want, or at least until I start losing my patience and I decide for you, but make no mistake things are going to end in my favor."
He then looked at Danny. "At this point you can be certain that you will have your city and your prison, Daniel, as you won't be the Prince of Purgatory for much longer. So that brings me to the third reason why I summoned you today. My Daughter wishes to speak with you about the specifics of your prison and the possibility of 'rehabilitating' prisoners. So I will give you an option as well. You can stay and offer your opinion on which choice you want and discuss it with her later, or you can trust Plasmius to decide for you and go discuss it with her now."
Danny was silent for a moment. He didn't know if this situation was better or worse than not being able to make his city at all. His fate was essentially at Lucifer's mercy. Not a comforting thought. "I… I think I'll stay. This is my future you guys are talking about. I want a say in it."
"Understandable. Then what do you propose? Surely you must have a suggestion of your own? As you said, it is your future after all." Lucifer stated.
"Uh…" Danny said hesitantly.
Vlad interjected, "Pardon my interruption, but I have a suggestion of my own."
"Oh? And what is this suggestion?" Lucifer inquired.
"A wager of sorts. We all wait until extermination day. If the angels send arch angels specifically to kill Daniel, then I will give him to you for his own safety. But if they do not and Fright Knight and five other of my Knights are capable of adequately defending him on their own, he stays with me and gives up on his city and prison entirely. Or I can disown him after he turns eighteen or so and/or becomes powerful enough to defend himself. Or if you would prefer, since your Daughter is interested in rehabilitating prisoners, she gets full control over the city and prison instead of Daniel, and we will still fund the construction of both." Vlad stated.
"Hm… Interesting… I will only agree to this on one condition." Lucifer stated, standing up from his throne and walking towards the illusory image of Vlad.
"What condition is that?" Vlad growled.
"We make a deal to not influence the results of the wager in any capacity. You can not tell Heaven about this agreement and I can not try to goad them into attacking. That way the wager is completely even and the results are unbiased. Much more fair of a deal than I am used to making, but I am absolutely certain that they will attack so this is one gamble I know I can win without skewing things in my favor any more than they already are. So, what do you say? Care to make a deal?" Lucifer asked, holding out his hand which was now enveloped by ethereal hellfire.
Vlad's illusory image grabbed his hand and shook it. "It's a deal. I will not attempt to skew the results in my favor, nor will you. We see what Heaven does without any outside influence."
Lucifer chuckled before turning and walking back to his throne. Sitting down again he said, "Easiest wager I have ever won… Well, in the extremely unlikely event that you win, how about we combine your two alternative suggestions? I'll allow you to disown Daniel when he is powerful enough to defend himself and in the meantime my daughter will have control over the city and prison while it is being constructed. It's not as though it will matter anyway."
Vlad nodded. "Very well… Is that all or was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"
"That is all. You are all dismissed. Daniel, my daughter is still waiting to speak to you about her rehabilitation plan. So go speak to her. As I said, the butler shall lead you to where she is waiting." Lucifer stated.
"Alright, I guess…" Danny stated.
Fright Knight stepped forwards, grabbed the hilt of his sword, and yanked it back out of the ground before sheathing it at his hip. Or more so attached it to his hip, considering there was no sheath anywhere on his armor. Regardless, with that Vlad's illusory image disappeared.
Danny and Fright Knight then turned and left. The butler then lead the two of them to a room where Charlie was waiting to speak with Danny. She smiled upon seeing him, that was until she noticed his missing arm and her expression became more concerned.
So who do you guys want to win the wager? Vlad or Lucifer? There's a poll up on my profile. The poll will remain up and open until the story finally reaches the point of it being extermination day.
That being said, uh... Yeah... I honestly couldn't see any way around this. From a political standpoint there was no way Lucifer would be able to tolerate a prince from a foreign realm claiming territory and making a city in Hell. That's just not how politics works. I mean, imagine if Switzerland or something tried building a city under its control in France or something. The French government would absolutely not be okay with that and would consider it an invasion. Same principal here. While he would have been fine with Danny making his city while he was just a commoner since Lucifer would still technically rule over him, the moment Vlad claimed the throne and Danny became a prince that all changed. Just how politics goes, I guess.