Hell, as it turns out, wasn't always burning.

There was a day and night cycle in hell. He wasn't sure how it worked, considering the sky was red, and then it just turned dark red. Then back to red. But, well, it was hell. There was probably some sort of black magic involved.

That being said, Plaze still needed a place to stay. He still wasn't sure how to close his eyes, the closest he's gotten was to lie face down and try to never think.

It didn't work very well, much to Plaze's dismay. His next attempt would be gaining some souls and using the power from those souls to shift his body to give himself eyelids.

Fortunately for him, though, Mehira seemed to have an interest in making sure he succeeded. Was she trying to use him somehow? It was likely. Plaze didn't even know what kind of Overlord Mehira was. Was he going to just deny her help? Hell no. Plaze would've never lived over the age of 18 without the aid of others.

Plus, Mehira was hot.

So, Plaze attained a small apartment whose rent would be paid to the landlord by Mehira. Mehira lived somewhere else, though. If Plaze had to guess, she was probably taking advantage of the fact that she's hellborn and could go to the other rings of hell.

Would rent down there be cheaper? Plaze wasn't quite sure. But it would be nice if he could go down the rings of hell one day.

Well, enough daydreaming. He couldn't go to sleep, so he had to occupy that time he's spending awake somehow.

…Wait, wasn't there something about how if someone stays up for too long, they'll start going insane?
Crap. Plaze really had to get souls fast, then.

Plaze wasn't sure if he could somehow get his hands on the temporary souls that Mehira talked about, the one typically gained through gambling or offering memberships. Nor does he know if the modifications he'll do on his body using those souls will stay even after the power of those souls go back to those owners.

So, he had to get permanent souls under his belt. But considering all the ways souls are exchanged, it might be hard to find a soul that would actually be free to be owned by him.

So, he needed to make a product that would cause people to flock from their previous owners over to him. And what did Plaze decide to try and create a monopoly over? Video games.

Plaze had only the slightest idea of how to create a video game. Or a console.

In hindsight, maybe Plaze shouldn't have declared himself to be the master of a domain he didn't even understand. But today is a great day to understand how the hell anything worked.

So, what did Plaze know?

He knew that game cartridges had some sort of small electrical outputs of 1s and 0s that would somehow all combine into what would become known as a game.

Maybe those electrical 1s and 0s had something to do with positive and negative charges he learnt off-handedly from a science major he was delivering to a few years ago. But even that, he wasn't sure about, considering how high that science major was.

So, he has no idea how he could create a console.

Maybe, just maybe, he could use magic or something to help create a console and substitute for all of the high tech stuff. But of course, he doesn't have the power to actually do that yet.

So, he either needs to get a bunch of souls on his side on vague promises, or somehow find a capable engineer to help him.

The currently more plausible option of the two was to find an engineer to help him. And where would engineers be at this shithole?

Plaze smirked, drawing up his proposal for the first engineer he found.

He was going to steal one of Hammer's employees.

So, the question was; Where would the engineers be?

Plaze didn't think that Hammer would be the type of Overlord who would source their production to someplace else, so, where would Hammer create her tanks and arcades?

As it turns out, Hammer loved labeling things, because literally just right next to Hammer's base of operations was a massive factory aptly labeled, "TANK AND ARCADE FACTORY! (AWESOME!)"

Somehow, he got the impression that Hammer was a total loser on Earth.

So, he walked around the factory, taking notes of where all of the entrances and guards were.

There were a few guards at the front and back. But the sides had doors that weren't guarded. Maybe they were emergency exits? Though, Plaze couldn't be sure if they were monitored or not.

Plaze doesn't know the average working hours of a worker in hell. It could be 8 hours, 12 hours, hell, it might be 24/7, it was hell after all.

Plaze also doesn't know when they started. So, if he didn't want to risk going inside, he was going to just have to wait outside for the next how many hours to try and get the jump on one of the workers inside.

So, he sat down in a nearby conspicuous alley, and…

Realized he was kind of hungry.

Mehira said that sinners were immortal, didn't she? Why is he hungry? Does he still have to eat?

"Ugh," Plaze groaned, "How the hell am I going to afford any food?"

A hand holding a sandwich suddenly appeared in front of him.

Plaze blankly stared at it.

Then, slowly, he turned towards the person holding the sandwich.

It was a young girl. Or, short? He has no idea if sinners could age. Either way, it was a youthful looking girl in a traditional worker's outfit, with the cap and goggles and everything. Except that her outfit, and even her entire body, was made of cotton.

Her eyes were just buttons, there were places where Plaze could swear he could just see through her body as the thread wasn't knitted tightly enough. And her color scheme was pink and white.

She was basically a doll.

And she was offering him her sandwich.

"Uh," Plaze stammered, not sure what to say to the girl, "You can keep it? I don't want to steal from, er… How old are you?"

She hummed, "30, maybe?"

"Oh I have no issue with taking your sandwich anymore, can I have it?" Plaze immediately went back on his words. After all, there was no shame in taking a sandwich from a full grown woman in comparison to a small child.

The doll girl nodded, and Plaze eagerly took the sandwich and wolfed it down in a singular bite.

He had no idea what the meat was, but it was delicious. It looks like hell has good meats and cheese.

"My name is Jessie," She introduced herself, "I work for Hammer. Who are you?"

Oh, wait a second, is he the luckiest person in the world? This was exactly the type of person Plaze was looking for.

Plaze put his hand on his chest, "My name is Plaze, a new soul in hell, aspiring to become an Overlord by taking Sergeant Hammer's place, and becoming the Gaming Overlord."

Jessie blinked (How the hell can she blink with those buttoned eyes but he can't?), "Oh, really? What year is it?"

"1986," Plaze answered with a bit of confusion. Maybe she just wanted to know how long it's been since she died.

Jessie lightly gasped, "Oh wow! It's been a while since I died! Hm, say, why do you want to overthrow Hammer?"

"She denied my suggestion to catch up to the technology on Earth, so I'm gonna replace her to make sure the gaming industry stays up to date," Plaze said.

Jessie's face soured, "Ooh, yeah, I see Hammer do that a lot. I usually get the ideas for the improvements by other workers telling what's happening up there to me, and not Hammer. She's a bit old fashioned."

Plaze nodded, "Right?! What a fossil! What era is she from?"

Jessie shrugged, "The 40s? 50s? I know I died in the 50s somewhere when I was a child. Then my mom, who died with me, got into a bad deal with Hammer, so I had to make a deal with her to become her head engineer forever so my mom could stop working for her."

Plaze's jaw dropped, wasn't that literally child labor? Or forced servitude? Literally slavery? "What? That's fucked up."

Jessie eagerly nodded, "Yeah! Isn't it!? Anyways, I hope you succeed in overthrowing Hammer, but unless you have any bright ideas, it's probably not going to work. Her tanks are… Well, I made them. They're really strong."

And this was why he stayed up late last night.

"So, I heard from a… Friend of mine, who said that Overlords usually specialize in a niche, right?" Plaze said, and getting no pushback from Jessie, Plaze continued, "Right, so Hammer has two things going for her. Her arcades, and her tanks. But I don't really want the tanks. So I'm gonna go find another, bigger, Overlord to help me take down Hammer. In exchange, they get the tanks, I get the arcades."

Jessie tilted her head, "That… Doesn't sound equal?"

Plaze shrugged, "It's not like I'm arguing from a position of power, you know. I just got here. Besides, I don't really care about the tanks. Anyways, I need to actually figure out the nitty gritty of actually making gaming consoles, so I thought I could poach one of Hammer's engineers to help me figure it out. So… You want in?"

Jessie put a finger on her chin, "Hm… Well, Hammer owns my soul, so if she finds out I'm working with you, she'll know all of your plans."

"That's a perfectly fine risk," Plaze said.

It's not a good or safe risk. But to make an omelet, he has to break a few eggs. He's not entirely sure if that phrase even works in this context, but he's been waiting to use it for a while now.

After all, he's trying to overthrow an actual demon and take its place. If it wasn't difficult, he doubted it would be hell.

Jessie pondered the deal for a few moments, "I don't really want to work for someone I don't like again. Or be forced to do stuff I don't like…"

"Alright, how about this. For now, you'll help me figure out how I can make the gaming consoles I'm trying to make. Then when I overthrow Hammer, your soul will be owned by me. In exchange, you can…" Plaze had to think for a moment of what would be a good deal for Jessie, "Hm, a month of vacation days every year when I create my company as Overlord?"

Jessie narrowed her buttoned eyes, "A month for me and my mom individually."

"Deal!" Plaze immediately shot out his hands, ready to make a contract.

Jessie shakes his hands, and the world momentarily shifts as Plaze feels his soul intertwining with hers.

Jessie smiled, "Alright, new boss! I'll talk to you when I get off work in 14 hours. Bye bye!"

14 hours? Jesus Christ what the fuck.

Plaze watches Jessie enter the factory, and feels a bit lost.

His next step was to find a sufficiently powerful Overlord that would help him take down Sergeant Hammer. But where was he going to find information about the other Overlords?

…

Yeah, it was time to go bug Mehira again.

AN:

4 chapters in 1 day, never done before! (It's 11:15 PM but it still counts.)

Jessie is from Brawl Stars, wearing her doll skin. Why is she here? Because she's my main.

[I have another month of backlog, and chapters for this is really easy because the chapters are all fairly short. However, it is competing for writing time against my other fics, so we'll see how long this backlog period will last.]