Chapter 83: Darnell's Destiny, Lucifer's Treasure and Calling Card
November 16th.
While walking to Lucifer's castle, we heard the news that Goro is now dead.
"So, Blitzø finally killed Goro, thanks to Stolas." Cattleya said, "And his co-workers and daughter were safe after they were held hostage by Goro."
"Good!" Lars said, "Now we gotta deal with Lucifer next!"
"There's no time to waste! Onwards, team!"
"Yeah!" We all shouted,
In The Cognitive World Of Hell, we climbed up the walls of Lucifer's Palace and headed onto the roof to find a way in.
"This palace reminds me of another palace before I went to Hell." I said,
"Someone else had a palace like this one?" Lars wondered,
"Yeah, he was a gym teacher. A pervy one."
"Right, so that teacher of your's was a pervert."
"He's in jail now."
"Good."
"Hey, guys! Look!" Cattleya hollered,
We saw an entrance into Lucifer's Palace.
"Let's get in!" Boris said, "And hopefully we'll find the treasure in this palace!"
We all went inside. It does look like a palace that I remember changing the heart of when I was human, but instead of a pervy gym teacher from high school, it's the living embodiment of Pride.
"Huh, what a fancy castle." Lars said, "Too bad there's no guards here."
Then, police guards appear from a room in front of us.
"And I spoke too soon!" Lars shouted,
"Let's take care of them and hide!" Cattleya said,
We all got out our guns and quickly shot the cognitive guards to dust.
"Huh, they were weak to guns." Astrid said, "But it doesn't matter! Let's continue on with finding the treasure!"
We hid in sight as more guards then appeared. We looked at them passing by and returning back to where they came from.
"Ok, I think we're good." Cattleya said, "Come on, let's head up the main stairs!"
We went to the stairs, but the main door to the hallway leading to the throne room was locked.
"And it's locked." Cattleya said, "Plan B, let's find a lever!"
We head to another hallway where a stairway to the dungeon would lead us to. We went there and saw some of the Cognitive forms of the sinners rotting in their cells.
"Look at all of the Sinners…" Arthur said, "Suffering from Lucifer's recent corruption…"
"If what Charlie said is true, then Lucifer sure as hell changed after we were formed." Selene said,
"But didn't he say to his daughter not to take shit from anyone?" Boris wondered, "What if he also applied that to everyone else as well?"
"Including The Phantom Thieves…" Cattleya said,
"Which is us without him realizing." Lars said,
We saw a lever.
"Ahh, a lever!" Cattleya said, "Joker, turn it!"
I switched the lever as the cell doors to this dungeon were opened, freeing the Sinners.
"Oh! We freed them!" Cattleya said, "Maybe the other dungeon on the other side from here will have the lever that opens the door from the main entrance."
We went out and noticed that the Sinners left the Palace. The police guards of the Palace saw us.
"Them! They freed them!" One shouted, "Get them!"
Arthur stepped in and took off his mask to awaken his Persona.
"Montezuma!" He shouted as Montezuma appeared, "I hate to break it to you all, but this is where Hell is gonna change!"
Montezuma then formed an Assault Dive on one of the guards. Two of the other guards then fired at Arthur, but Boris steps in and protected Arthur.
"Thanks." Arthur said,
"Hey don't mention it, pretty man." Boris said,
Arthur blushed. Boris then awakened Ullr.
"Persona!" He shouted, "Kick their asses, Ullr!"
Ullr shot out Mabufudyne ice magic at the three guards, destroying them to dust.
"Right! To the other dungeon!" Boris shouted as Ullr was recalled, "Let's also make sure that these Cognitive Sinners can get their freedom!"
We went to the other dungeon. There, there were two levers. I switched both of them as the main palace's door opened, freeing the Cognitive Sinners. Then, the door to the main hall of the throne room was opened.
"Let's see if that changes anything!" Cattleya said,
We left and noticed that the door to the way out and the door to the main hallway were opened.
"Excellent!" Cattleya said, "We're almost there! Come on!"
We went through the main hallway and traps that this palace has until we reached the stairs to the entrance of the throne room. Surprisingly, we saw Darnell staring at the doors to the throne room.
"Darnell!" Arthur shouted, "I mean, Fossil!"
Darnell turned around and saw us.
"So… you're all here…" He said, "Please leave, I need to do this myself."
"Hey! We can help you!" Lars said,
"Help? I don't need help…"
"Why? Some of us can understand your pain." Willow said,
"Really now? Heh heh…"
Darnell sighed and turned away.
"No… This is different from when I wanted to be a man…" He said, "They acknowledged me as one of them, but they still treat me like a puppet to their strings only because I'm a detective from Greed."
"We'll help you break from your strings!" Arthur said, "Besides, it wasn't your fault or Joker's fault that Stella was almost killed!"
"But still! I've made this mess! Let me clean it up on my own!"
"Fossil…"
"Fossil, listen to us!" Astrid said, "The past is the past! We can create a better future together without Lucifer or Paimon controlling you!"
"I said I don't need your help!"
Darnell then started to put his hand on his mask in frustration.
"You leave me with no alternatives…" He said as he took it off, "Persona!"
A brighter blue flame surrounded Darnell as a new Persona appeared behind him. It was a more monstrous shark.
"Is that a new… Persona?!" Selene shouted,
"Where did he get that?!" Lars shouted,
Darnell looked at us with disgust.
"I've evolved Dakuwaqa." He replied, "I've evolved him into a new Persona. A powerful one good enough to take on Lucifer and Paimon. If you want to stop me, then come at me!"
I walked forward.
"J-Joker!" Boris said,
"We don't have a choice." I said, "We gotta have Darnell come to his senses."
"...Fine, whatever. If it's the only thing to do!"
Darnell then pointed at us.
"Wash them away with your rage!" He shouted at his newly evolved Persona, "Pontus!
Pontus roared as he shot out Mabufudyne ice magic at us. Some of us were hit while some avoided.
"Damn!" Lars shouted as he saw Cattleya, Selene and Arthur hit by Pontus's attack, "His Persona isn't Dakuwaqa anymore! It's a whole new power of his!"
Lars looked at me.
"Go deal with Darnell!" He said, "Me and Astrid will get the others up!"
Me, Willow and Boris were face-to-face with Darnell.
"I'm warning you all." Darnell said, "This will end ugly!"
"Darnell, listen to us! I never had a good life at the start during my transition to womanhood!" Willow said, "But look where I'm at! I got a boyfriend, a job and friends that accept me!"
"I have acceptance too, but they used my acceptance to control me to do bad shit to you all! This is my justice! To rebel against those that controlled me!"
Pontus then shot out more Mabufudyne ice magic at us. Boris then fired back with Ullr by shooting our arrows at Darnell. Darnell avoided the arrows.
"You're making this a big deal!" Boris shouted, "I made a big deal, Astrid made a big deal, hell, Arthur even made a big deal! But we can grow out of it and change, damn it!"
"I can change without you guys!" Darnell shouted, "So get out of my way!"
Pontus shot out more Mabufudyne ice magic at us. We avoided more of his attacks as Willow took off her Persona to summon Neith.
"Neith!" She shouted, "Now!"
Neith shot out Ziodyne lightning at Darnell and Pontus, stunning them.
"He's weak to Lightning!" Willow shouted,
"Crazy that he is!" Boris shouted, "Joker, get him!"
"Right!" I said,
I took off my mask to summon another one of my Personas.
"Oberon!" I shouted,
Oberon appeared and shot out Ziodyne lightning at Darnell and Pontus.
"GAHHHHHH!" Darnell shouted in pain,
Pontus was recalled as Darnell was then on one knee, weakened. He was taking deep breaths.
"Fossil!" Cattleya shouted as we went over to check on him, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah… I'm… fine…" Darnell replied as he was about to faint, but was caught by me, "I'm sorry… I really am…"
"Don't worry about it." I said,
Cattleya opened the door to see the treasure on the throne in the throne room. It wasn't in its final form yet.
"Well there's the treasure." She said as she closed the door, "Let's head back and take care of Darnell. And then we'll think of a calling card to send to Lucifer."
"Right." Lars said, "Come on, Darnell, let's get out of here…"
At The Hazbin Hotel, Darnell was resting on a bed as he was still weakened from what happened. We were watching over him and discussing about how to send a calling card to Lucifer?"
"Right… So, how do we move on to sending a calling card to Lucifer?" Selene wondered, "He's THE ruler of Pride and THE king of Hell!"
"Yeah, we can just send him mail." Arthur said, "That would be shady of us."
"Whenever he's with Charlie, he acts normal…" Darnell replied, "But when he's with me and Paimon or any other Sinners here in Pride… He's cruel. Heartless. A tyrant. He wants them to suffer, but to his daughter. He feels like he grew up with a disappointment only because of this hotel…"
"...I think I can do something around Hell." Astrid said,
"Really?" Cattleya wondered,
"Remember my hacking skills? I can try and hack the servers of Hell and try to advertise ourselves as Phantom Thieves to give Lucifer a big calling card."
"Huh, ok, I'm liking this…" Boris said,
"Same…" Lars said,
"Yeah… You know what? We can roll with it." Cattleya said,
"I feel like you all need to do research before doing something big." Darnell said,
"That's what I'm thinking of too." Willow said, "We need to do our research before we could send Lucifer and a calling card this massive."
"Please, change Lucifer's heart. You're the ones that can make Hell a somewhat better place for the Sinners. And for the has beens like me, a one helluva better place."
Darnell chuckled a bit.
"I'm sorry, I had to make that sorta joke." He said in embarrassment,
"It's cool." Cattleya said, "Anyways, let's tell Charlie about what we're doing and get to work!"
"Yeah!" We all replied,
November 25th.
After 9 days of research, we were ready to deliver the calling card to Lucifer all over Hell.
At downtown Hell, Tom Trench was explaining the news recently.
"Stolas and Stella Of Ars Goetia has officially ended their 17 year marriage due to abuse coming from Stella herself towards Stolas and their daughter, Octavia." He said while Sinners and Hellborns were watching, "And Stella has recently turned herself in for her crimes and will be spending 20 years in prison. Her brother Andrealphus will be serving house arrest for 5 years due to his assistance with helping Stella in taking over the Ars Goetia family's inherent fortune. On top of that, an interview was made with Lucifer Morningstar on–"
Then, the big TV and many TV screens from all of Hell started to static as a giant hack occurred. A logo representing The Phantom Thieves has come on.
"YOOO, WHAT'S UP, CITIZENS OF PRIDE AND BEYOND?!" Lars's voice shouted as his and the others voices were pitched and glitched.
"We are known as The Phantom Thieves, for those that never heard of us." Arthur's voice said,
"And we're still alive and kicking! Surprising, isn't it?" Cattleya's voice shouted,
"Those fucking abusive assholes in power have tried to expose us in order to hide the truth!" Boris's voice shouted,
Some of those who are experiencing this, were confused.
"What the fuck is going on?!" One sinner shouted,
"The Phantom Thieves?!" One hellborn shouted, "They're still alive?!"
"I thought they were done after they caught the leader and after the attempted assassination on that Stella slut!" Another hellborn shouted,
"Which is why we would like to borrow time in order to tell you all our next target!" Astrid's voice shouted, "Thanks to some research we have all done together!"
"These dramas by the Overlords and royalty and the accidents caused by psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns, weren't caused by some random bullshit, but rather by a certain individual, right here in Pride!" Willow's voice said,
"This man was afraid of his own power being taken away from him by his own crimes, so he decided to take the blame on us!" Selene's voice shouted,
"He also manipulated the police to make lives harder, and his only daughter since she wanted this place to be better!" Arthur's voice shouted, "The same goes for us!"
"We steal the hearts of criminals, and only that, but unfortunately this individual tried to erase all evidence of all of this!" Willow's voice shouted, "This proves that he doesn't have any care for the victims! Not even his own daughter!"
Then, someone cut off the hack. Astrid meanwhile was at home and smiled during it all.
"Oh ho ho ho!" She said, "They think they can cut us off like that, huh?! Well, they don't know that I have a backup!"
Astrid then puts the hack back on with her amazing computer skills.
"Huh?! It's back on?!" One hellborn shouted,
"The man behind it all is someone you all know! He is the one, the only…" Astrid's voice shouted as they showed them a picture of Lucifer, "King Of Hell and Ruler of the Pride Ring, Lucifer Morningstar!"
"He's the All Around Definition of Pride! Everything he said about The Phantom Thieves and the hearts that we stole was all a lie just to defend his power!" Boris's voice shouted,
"To prove it that he lied, have a look at us!" Cattleya's voice shouted as the hack then showed us in the shadows, "We're still alive and kicking! I'm sure that everyone else knows that this is no lie!"
"Lucifer himself will soon confess all the crimes that he's committed." Arthur's voice said, "Please, have the time to look forward to it in the future."
"Oh yeah! We're not gonna sit back and let this man continue to suffer the lives of others and make them all evildoers!" Lars's voice shouted, "It's just like a certain individual we know of would say, "Inside of every demon is a rainbow!" Ain't that right, Leader?"
I showed myself in my mask as a Phantom Thief.
"Yes, but before that happens, we will take The Pride Ring!" I shouted,
The hack then ended on its own. Everyone was confused and concerned.
"Shit! Are The Phantom Thieves gonna change Lucifer's heart?!" One sinner shouted, "I sure hope so! I wanna go to Lust and fuck some bitches!"
Lucifer himself meanwhile was in his throne room as he looked out the window and saw it all. He looked down at his personal calling card that he received. He read the following to his soldiers,
"Sir Lucifer Morningstar,
The Egotistical Tyrant Of Pride.
Your abuse of power recently has changed you as a person and your relationships with others. Your tyranny over the Sinners and Hellborns of Pride and beyond have proven your justice as injustice. We will not let that slide anymore as we will steal away your desires and make you confess your crimes with your own mouth. This will be done tonight, so you best be prepared.
From, The Phantom Thieves."
Lucifer then crumbled up the calling card he had personally received and turned to his guards.
"Go find them!" He shouted, "They must be hiding somewhere to create this bullshit!"
The soldiers nodded their heads as they left. Lucifer turned away as static occurred, showing his Shadow in the void in a different outfit.
"I will put an end to all of this!" He shouted,
