TW: Mentions of Homophobia, Transphobia, Sexual Assault, Abuse, Rape and Suicide

Chapter 17: Willow Sturlu & Valentino's Palace

We arrived outside of Willow's apartment.

"This is it?" Lars asked,

I looked at the address.

"This is it." I replied,

I knocked on the front door.

"Who is it?" A Feminine voice inside the apartment asked,

"We're here to talk to Willow Sturlu." I replied,

"Yeah, we're big fans of you!" Cattleya hollered,

Laughing was heard inside the apartment.

"Ok, here I come!" A Feminine voice said,

The door was opened, revealing a female Spider Demon with 4 little eyes around the 2 main eyes.

"Hey, I'm Willow Sturlu." She said, "Wanna come in?"

"Sure." I replied,

We all went inside and sat on Willow's couch. Willow looked at us.

"So, whatcha want?" She asked, "I'm trying to think of something to do."

"Well, we want to talk to you about your news articles." Cattleya replied,

"Oh? Let me see… Yeah, I got all day to tell you guys."

Willow grabbed a chair and sat on it.

"Now, we journalists from Wrath or Envy don't get popular here in Pride." She said, "One of the reasons is because of how toxic people can be in Pride. Almost as toxic as Greed."

"So, you get death threats like me?" Lars asked,

"Heh, I sometimes do it from big Overlord fans."

"That explains why…"

"Now, I used to be a man from Wrath. I wanted to be Gay, but my shitty family hated me for that, so they abused me. The 2nd time I came out, I wanted to be a Straight woman like my Mom since I kinda look like that bitch, they abused me again for it. Very horrible environment I was in."

"Oh my Satan…" Cattleya said, "We're so sorry, Willow."

"It's fine. I power it through, but the 2nd time they try to fuck me up, I fought back. Then I cursed them out and moved out. I never saw their faces again. I decided to transition to a woman here in Pride upon arrival. So I grew some boobs and ass, and here I am as a 20 year old Transgender journalist.

"Takes guts." I said,

"It does take guts."

"So why did you start making journals on the Overlords?" Lars asked,

"It all started when a porn star who worked for one of them, Valentino, wanted me to spread the message. Angel Dust was his name."

"That explains why you two are friends." I said,

"That's right. A day after he was abused and raped by Valentino, he told me to spread the message on Valentino being a horrible person. From abuse, sexual assault and the rape and suicide of a female porn star. That's exactly what I did through the internet, but people there and the real world treated me like a punching bag."

"Satan hell, this place just loves to hate here, huh?!" Lars said,

"Welcome to Hell."

"So now we got Valentino getting away with vacation times with Vox." Cattleya said, "That was your recent article, yes?"

"Yesterday I uploaded it. People are saying I'm lying when clearly I saw Angel Dust coming to my apartment, crying and hurt from that atrocious pimp wannabe!"

Lars sighed.

"This place is worse than I thought." He said, "And I was laughing at Charlie for wanting to change this place…"

"Charlie?" Willow wondered, "Charlie Morningstar?"

"Yes. Her. She wants this place to not be that terrible with a hotel."

"I saw it on the news, and I gotta say. It's embarrassing."

"Right?!"

"Right! Like, come on! Life ain't no musical, hun!"

"It sure isn't…"

"But still, with what I am making, I feel bad for her as well."

"Yeah…"

Willow got up.

"Anyways, is that all?" She asked,

"Is there a location to Porn Studios?" Cattleya asked,

"Why do you ask?"

We all were silent. Willow sighed.

"Alright, here, meet me outside of my apartment on May 14th." She replied, "Now I'm really curious on what are you three gonna do."

"Ok, we'll be on our way." I said, "Thanks."

"You too."

We left Willow's apartment.

"So, guess we gotta tell her that we're The Phantom Thieves, huh?" Lars asked,

"We'll tell her, but in secret." Cattleya replied,

"Secret?"

"Maybe as a surprise." I replied,

"Wow you two like to take risks."

May 14th. We were walking with Willow.

"So, where is Porn Studios at?" Lars asked,

Willow looked around in an alleyway.

"No one seems to be here." She said, "Alright, let's go."

"Why are you checking alleyways?" I asked,

"Just to see if any mafiosos from Greed even try to attack us. I heard that their leader is a close ally to Valentino."

"Damn." Cattleya said, "As a sinner from Greed, that place is fucked up."

"Sure is."

We arrived outside of Porn Studios.

"Well, here we are." Willow said, "What now?"

"Ok, let me get it out now." I said as I got out my phone and opened the metaNav app.

"What is that?"

"Something that you're gonna find out." Cattleya said, "Ok, so fill in the tags."

"Overlord Valentino." I said to the metaNav.

"Hit." The metaNav said,

"Woah, ok, that was weird." Willow said,

"Owner of Porn Studios." Lars said,

"Hit." The metaNav said,

"Abuses his employees." Cattleya said,

"Hit." The metaNav said,

"Now we need a word to describe his palace."

"Palace? What the hell are you three talking about?" Willow said, confused.

"Don't worry, just follow along."

"Alright."

Lars tried to think.

"I got nothing." He said,

"Let's see… We all know that Valentino is an Overlord and the owner and CEO of Porn Studios." Cattleya said, "Plus he abuses his employees and gets away from being fired back by going on vacations with Vox…"

"Gets away…" I said, "Vacation…"

"Huh… You mean like a resort?" Willow wonder,

"Results found." The metaNav said,

We were all surprised.

"Woah! Resort was the final term?" Lars said,

"Seems likely." I replied, "Alright, get ready everyone."

"What's going on?" Willow asked Cattleya,

"You'll find out." Cattleya replied,

"Beginning navigation." The metaNav said

We were then in the Cognitive World Of Hell. Me, Lars and Cattleya all changed to our Phantom Thief outfits. Willow remained the same as she looked at us.

"Woah! You three changed!" Willow shouted, "And where the hell are we?!"

We all looked around and noticed that we were in a vacation resort. There was a pool and a private bar. Far away from us was a 5-star hotel.

"This is the private vacation Valentino's mind was about in those articles." Cattleya said, "That hotel over there is definitely Valentino's palace."

"Palace?" Willow said,

"We're in the Cognitive World. And we're dressed up as Phantom Thieves."

"Phantom Thieves?! You three are the Phantom Thieves everyone is talking about?!"

"Yeah?"

"You three changed the heart of Velvette! How is that possible?!"

"You'll see when we change Valentino's heart. For now, we have a palace to discover."