Chapter 86: King Paimon

We left Cattleya's apartment to check out what was going on. We saw a giant black and white crystal being placed out of a portal from Heaven.

"What the hell is going on now?!" Arthur shouted,

"Is that a giant fucking crystal?!" Blitzø shouted, "From Heaven?!"

"Extermination Day is upon us…" Bernie replied, "That's why."

"Can't Charlie or Lilith or any of Charlie's uncles or aunts do anything about it?!" Boris shouted,

"Unfortunately not… There's nothing they can do except let it happen once."

"Well we gotta do something about it!" Cattleya said, "This could be one of King Paimon's doings!"

"I don't understand though. Stolas's dead beat dad teaming up with some angels?" Blitzø said, "That's gotta be fucking wild."

"If you guys are able to take it on, at least be prepared until something happens." Bernie said to us, "Extermination Day is only 3 weeks away for this year."

"Right." Cattleya said, "Let's wait and see what happens then."

December 5th.

Charlie still wasn't in The Hazbin Hotel as she was still trying to do business with her mother, uncles and aunts alone. Alastor took over while this was happening. He was looking at the crystal.

"King Paimon…" He said, "A Goetia demon far greater than any other demons, sinners and Overlords here… And now he's teaming with the angels to try and take over everything down here…"

Vaggie came by. Alastor looked at her.

"How's Charlie doing?" He wondered,

"Still absent." Vaggie replied, "So I'm still not gonna bother her."

Vaggie looked at the crystal.

"This… This is fucking crazy…" She said,

"It is, deer." Alastor said, "Extermination Day is early this time."

"Only 19 days left until a sudden inevitable…"

December 7th. We decided to go into Mementos next to the crystal to see if anything is added there."

"Alright, Mementos." Cattleya said to the metaNav app on her phone,

"Beginning navigation to Mementos." The metaNav app said,

We were then transported to Mementos as some crystals were being created to form a path of some sort. We were in our Phantom Thief outfits.

"Well, look at those crystals." Arthur said, "Looks like that crystal has something connected to Mementos."

"Yeah…" Cattleya said as she chinned up, "Right, come on, we gotta see what's going on!"

We followed down the path of crystals. There were no enemies in our paths for some reason.

"These crystals do shine a brilliant color, but something about them is off." Selene said, "No enemies are appearing in our paths."

"Weird…" Astrid said as Jingu felt her head, "I can't find a single trace of any enemy Shadows…"

"Let's continue onwards." Cattleya said, "I'm still not liking where this is going."

We continued onwards. Midway, we come across a path of prison cells. There were sinners and hellborns trapped in there, but they weren't begging to be let out or in any emotions whatsoever.

"These sinners and hellborns…" Astrid said, "They're not feeling any form of emotion…"

"Guys, look!" Lars said,

We saw Overlords Velvette, Valentino and Vox in a cell together. They weren't batting an eye to us.

"The Triple V Overlords!" Willow said, "But… They're not doing or feeling anything…"

"Perhaps that's the cognitive forms of them that we changed the hearts of from long ago." Cattleya said, "But how are they here?"

"Looking for clues?" A familiar voice said to us,

We turned around and saw a cognitive form of Lucifer in his cell, alongside cognitive forms of Crimson and Stella.

"Lucifer?!" Boris said,

"And there's Crimson and Stella!" Arthur said, "But they have to be Cognitive forms of them, right?"

"They are…" Cattleya replied, "They're not feeling any sort of emotion at all…"

"Lucifer." I asked the Cognitive Lucifer, "What's going on here?"

"King Paimon is going to create a new version of Hell here." The Cognitive Lucifer replied, "A new Hell without any Phantom Thieves, feelings or problems here… It's going to be an experience."

"An experience?!" Lars shouted, "The hell are you talking about?!"

"If you want to stop that from happening, continue down the path you are all currently on. King Paimon himself will be waiting for you all."

"Uhhh, ok?" Selene said as we were confused, "Come on, this is getting freaky."

"Right, we gotta find Paimon and put an end to this!" Cattleya said,

We continued down the path as we came across stairs that lead to an upstairs part of whatever palace we were in, in Mementos.

We took the stairs to a space-like room full of crystals and a throne. We looked around as no one else was in there.

"So, The Phantom Thieves have finally come to try and stop me?" A Masculine voice said,

"That voice…" Cattleya said,

"Hey! Are you Paimon?!" Lars shouted, "Come out so that we can settle the score with you!"

"The only score you will be settling with is your demise!" Paimon's voice shouted,

A galactic magic swirled around us as we were about to slowly disappear.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Boris shouted,

"Stay out of my business, delinquents!" Paimon's voice shouted, "You shouldn't have ever interfered with the Ars Goetia family in the first place!"

We disappeared completely from Paimon's area in Mementos.

We then reappeared in the real world, in our normal clothes again.

"What the?!" Willow shouted, "We're back here?!"

"Whatever Paimon did to us, he's probably a wuss to try and fight us!" Boris shouted,

"I don't think he's a wuss, Boris." Arthur said, "We're up against one of the most powerful demons in the Goetia family."

"Well he's not even gonna fight with us! Maybe he wants to wait until Extermination Day to try and exterminate us then!"

"That's probably the only logical explanation… For now, let's head home. My head feels fuzzy…"

It was nighttime. I was sleeping when all of a sudden, I woke up in The Velvet Room. I haven't been to this place in forever. But there's something different. I wasn't in my prison uniform and I was in my Phantom Thief attire instead. I looked around as everything was empty. Igor, Caroline and Justine weren't there.

"Are you awake?" A familiar voice said to me,

I came out of my cell and turned to a young woman holding a book.

"Welcome back, to The Velvet Room." She said, "My name is Lavenza. I am a resident here, like my master, Igor."

"Where is he?" I wondered,

"He's not feeling well… His voice has changed ever since Prince Stolas has fused Caroline and Justine together to recreate me."

"Stolas…"

"You know him? He is the son of King Paimon, the man that controlled my master when you went to Hell."

"What do I do now?"

"You must take care of Paimon on December 24th, exactly on that day."

"But that's Extermination Day…"

"Yes, but with me on your side, I can use The Velvet Room to protect you all during that time."

"Will Igor be alright?"

"He will be, but he'll return here in the new year."

"Right… I'll find my friends."

"And bring Stolas along too."

"Him as well?"

"Yes, there's a lot to do…"

"Got it."

December 6th.

I gathered my friends as the crystal was still in place.

"So… You met a human named Lavenza in a Velvet Room of some sort?" Astrid wondered, "And she wants us and Stolas to be here on what day?"

"Whenever, but until there's 2 weeks left until Extermination Day." I replied,

"I guess I gotta go talk to Octavia and tell her that I need to see her father on something." Arthur said, "Got it."

"This is getting serious, but if it's for taking on King Paimon, then I'm all here for it." Cattleya said,

December 9th.

I was granted access to The Velvet Room from down here in Hell thanks to Stolas.

Me, my friends and Stolas then entered The Velvet Room to meet with Lavenza. Me and my friends were in our Phantom Thieves clothes when we entered.

"Lavenza, I have brought them here." Stolas said to her,

"Excellent." Lavenza said, "That's everybody."

"Huh, this place isn't as velvety as I thought." Selene said,

"So, what are we doing here?" Cattleya wondered, "It has something to do with Paimon, yes?"

"Correct." Lavenza replied, "Stolas's father has stolen a giant crystal from Heaven with other angels to try and take over Hell with it on Extermination Day."

"So he stole it instead of making one…" Willow said,

"But he used his magic to change it as if he created it." Stolas said,

"Well, your father truly is a maniac." Lars said,

"Yeah… He never cared about me during my life… He made my life worse…"

"We can see why." Arthur said, "But don't worry, you won't have to deal with him anymore now that you got your boyfriend and daughter. Also us to settle the score with."

"Much obliged."

Lavenza then opened her book.

"You all must seal the crystal away before Paimon starts to harness its power on Extermination Day." She said, "Me and Stolas will help you with what we have, but we won't be there with you all during the time."

"But, I will be there once you managed to succeed in taking down my father." Stolas said,

"Sounds like a plan." Cattleya said, "But, what do we do now since we have 15 days left?"

"I will grant you all some new powers." Lavenza said, "So that you can all use them when the time comes."

"Right now or…?"

"Right now. Come with me."

Stolas looked at me as the others went to be with Lavenza.

"Good luck." He said to me, "The fate of Hell rests upon your hands and souls."

"Thanks." I said to Stolas as I caught up to my friends,

In another room, Lavenza used her book to grant my friends something special by powering them with blue sparkling flames. Then, I saw them, they have new Personas all of a sudden that appeared for a few seconds before being recalled to their masks.

"Woah! I feel different all of a sudden!" Lars said,

"I have evolved your Personas." Lavenza said, "The bonds you have made with The Trickster have given you all hope to take on Paimon on Extermination Day."

"Oh, so our bond with Joker is what made you evolve our Personas?" Cattleya said, "Neat!"

"You must use the newfound powers I have gifted you all to take on King Paimon. As for you, Trickster, it's up to you to lead them into how you're gonna defeat King Paimon."

"Right." I said, "Until December 24th, let's save Hell!"

"Yeah! Let's save this shithole!" Lars shouted,

"Yeah!" The rest of my friends shouted,