It's been over two months since the final battle between Adam and his Exorcists against the Hazbin Hotel residents with their cannibal allies.
After the defeat of the exorcists and the early end of the most recent extermination, peace and quiet became the norm for a while, or at least as much as it could be when talking about Hell.
A new hotel was constructed in the end, and it gained more popularity than before (even if there aren't any new residents whatsoever), and the exterminations were considered to have been stopped indefinitely, what with the latest messages from Emily telling them that they were postponed indefinitely until further notice with the fact that a sinner was redeemed.
And it was Sir Pentious! He was not only alive, but in Heaven!
Her hotel finally has proof that redemption really is possible!
To Charlie, this was a dream come true, even though the way through which this has become a reality was something she regretted, she wouldn't complain.
"Come on, Vaggie! Once we're done with these rooms, the hotel will be officially completed!" Charlie kept hopping from one hoove to another as she waited for the hotel manager to finally place the last of the new light bulbs.
"I know, I know. Just keep a cool head, we don't need anyone getting electrocuted right now, alright?" Vaggie said with a slight smile as she finally installed the last bulb in the room they were in.
An hour later, Charlie rushed downstairs with Vaggie in tow as she wanted to share the good news of the hotel's true completion towards her father and the rest of the residents.
Only to find them huddled around a TV with varied expressions, ranging from curiosity, to grim, to horrified.
"In other news, some new jackasses thought they were strong enough to piss off the new Overlords who took control of the entirety of the north-eastern side of Pentagram. And to no one's fucking surprise, other than Limp Dick Tom here. Their corpses, just like the ones before them, were strewn about on the wall sectioning off the overlords' territory from the rest of the city. And despite the usual gore, it was like a work of art, wasn't it, Tom?"
"Hahaha, it sure did, Katie! Whether it was one of the New Guys themselves or their creepy as fuck subordinates, no one can deny that that carnage was more beautiful than your saggy tits could ever hope to be!"
"OH, YOU MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! COME BACK HERE!"
The TV showed a multicolored screen with the words 'We don't apologize for inconvenience' written in front of it, leaving the Hazbins in silence.
"Seriously? Do those dumbasses ever give up? It's the seventh time this week! And it's only tuesday!"
"I don't know what to tell you, Angie, but I'd bet they were suicidal if they tried to cross those freak of natures despite knowin' the end result. Fuck, even I know not to do crazy shit when I'm in their territory or I'm gonna end up like the rest of those bozos!" Cherrie responded with a huff as both she and Angel stared at the screen with annoyed gazes, which was shared by Husk as well. While Alastor and Niffty only looked on with curiosity and manic glee respectively, and Lucifer only raised an eyebrow as he watched all this unfold, unaware of who exactly were the new guys they were all talking about.
"Uh… Guys, what's going on? What was Katie Killjoy talking about just now?" Charlie slowly walked closer to the group with Vaggie behind her, their expression grim yet curious.
"It's nothing, just some new dumbasses that thought they could take on those new overlords over by the east side of the city. I'd say good riddance, what with the large number of idiots already live in this fucking shithole, they're doing all of us a favor." Angel said with disdain in his voice as he crossed his arms, Cherri nodded in support of the arachnoid's statement.
"Uh… what new overlords? Are they important?"
Most of the sinners in the group looked at Charlie in confuddlement, with Alastor simply grinning along with Niffty.
"You serious, toots? You mean ya never heard? It's practically the front-page news of the day for the last two weeks! Even Red Bambi ova' here knows about it, and he's an incompetent fossil with social media and TVs!"
A static sound was heard from Alastor's direction as the man immediately turned to glare at Angel, an audible crack was heard as he glared at the back of Angel's head, in complete and utter annoyance.
Which Angel either was too oblivious to notice or didn't care.
Charlie, seeing that Alastor might attack Angel out of fury, opened her mouth quickly to respond, shifting the attention on herself.
"Err… No, I've been busy with the hotel and… you know, talking with Carmilla and Rosie for their help and other stuff."
Angel only uttered a small 'ahh' as he nodded in understanding. His eyes closed for a moment as he sighed before looking at Charlie again.
"Well, that kinda checks out. The overlords I was talking about are a duo that took control of a big portion of Pentagram City by the east, and sectioned it off with a fucking wall. They appeared like… I don't know, two, three weeks, ago? And they ended up taking down all the overlords over there and gaining complete control of that place. I think it was like… thirteen overlords or something."
Charlie gasped in horror as she heard what Angel said. While she didn't sympathize with the actions of the overlords of hell, they were still her people, and she hoped to one day redeem them too.
But this…
"This is horrible! And if they killed those overlords, they must have killed all the poor sinners over there too!" Charlie could only envision the carnage that must have ensued, especially if such a large part of the city of sinners was put under the forceful dominion of two new overlords.
Thankfully, Husk was the one to dispel her doubts.
"You don't have to worry about that princess, most are actually alive… At least the ones who aren't dumbasses." The winged feline bartender grumbled under his breath as he spoke up.
Charlie and Vaggie looked on with surprise at what Husk said. And for good reason, when a new Overlord overthrows an old one, they rarely, if ever, spare them. Instead preferring to execute them and parading the corpse around as a show of strength.
But for a duo of Overlords who not only left one or two alive, but most of the overlords? And of such a large section of the city, too?
It's practically unheard of.
"What do you mean, 'alive'? Did these two, whoever they are, spare them out of the kindness of their hearts or something?" Vaggie asked with suspicion, most overlords don't care for the lives of others, including their colleagues, and only in rare occasions, like with Alastor and Rosie, or Carmilla and Zestial, would they form genuine friendships.
Yet these two newcomers, spared other overlords who they have no connections with? It's strange.
"Well of course, Vagina, this is still hell after all, what are you, stupid?" Angel asked with a mocking grin, only serving to infuriate the former exorcist as she almost began brandishing her spear, stopping only when Charlie placed her hand on the one-eyed woman's shoulder.
"The others are alive, but not free to roam, from what I heard, they were given two options, either submit and be subordinates of the new guys, or die. Most did, and are still with us for it, but some idiots thought they could take them on, and are now double dead."
Vaggie blinked her former anger away, turning other overlords into subordinates? That's… both genius yet risky. Genius since they would gain extremely powerful subordinates under their control, making them sit among the top of the overlord hierarchy quickly. But still risky, since overlords, who are known for their pride, would rebel if given the chance.
But surely they would know that, right? Which means that these new guys…
Are powerful enough to pull that off and not worry.
The former exorcist gripped her spear, these two new variables are dangerous then, they already have to worry about the Vees because of Alastor and Vox's enmity and Angel living here despite Valentino wanting the spider demon to live in the studio like before.
If the hotel gains two new overlords, powerful ones at that, as enemies…
Even with Lucifer, the fallout will be severe.
Unfortunately for Vaggie, Charlie didn't think the same way.
"This is amazing! Even if they kinda forced them to be subordinates, they still spared their old enemies! They're good people then! Say, what if we invite them to the hotel too?! Maybe they'd be interested in redeeming themselves?!"
Most gave Charlie weird looks, but didn't have it in their hearts to shoot her idea down. She did after all prove them all wrong with Pentious redeeming himself, showing that it wasn't a far-fetched dream but a reality. And while many wanted to tell her that convincing Overlords, regardless of how new they are or old, to abandon their power and authority was near impossible, she might be the only one to actually pull it off.
"Oi, Angel, what do we exactly know about these two new guys?" Vaggie asked the porn demon as she relaxed her hold on her spear, going over and sitting on the large couch as Charlie sat on the tiny loveseat, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Angel with anticipation.
The arachnoid tapped his chin with a hum, his eyebrows furrowed as he was deep in thought.
"To be honest with ya, Vags, not much. These two don't really show up much on live TV for me to get a good look at them, and I never saw them before when I visited their territory before. I only know that their names probably start with 'A's if the shit-ton of nicknames everyone gives them is any indication."
"Nicknames? Like what?" Vaggie asked with a raised eyebrow, and despite the edge in her tone, was genuinely curious.
"Let me think… There's Abominations, Accusers, Accursed, Astrals, Avengers, Asuras, Amigos, Apexes, Aces, Alphas, and so on. They aren't the nicknames they got for themselves, but what the people call 'em, ask someone and they got a nickname for the two and a whole backstory for why they chose it, some from what they saw, some from their experience meeting them, and so on."
Charlie giggled in excitement, while some of these nicknames were worrying, those like Amigos made her think that they must be good people if the other sinners called them that. Surely they would be interested in redemption, or at least in supporting the hotel like Alastor?
Well, it's never too late to try! And Charlie is going to see to it for herself that she invites them personally!
"Guys, I decided, I'm going to talk to these two, and invite them here!"
Most, including Lucifer, looked at Charlie with surprise; they expected for the hellborn princess to do this at one point, but not so soon.
Though Alastor's smile only widened as he looked at Charlie, expecting a lot of amusing scenes from this doomed to fail attempt. His thoughts were picked up by Niffty as she giggled maniacally while on top of Alastor's head.
"Duckie, wait, are you sure about this? They're still Overlords, dangerous people you know?! They might want to hurt you or worse!" Lucifer hopped towards Charlie as he grasped her shoulders, in his eyes a request, a pleading, for her to consider.
"Maybe so, dad, but this is still hell, there's always going to be danger right around every corner, we just need to try!"
Charlie hoped that this would assuade her father's worries, but his increasingly tightened hold on her arms told her otherwise. And so, with a sigh, Charlie looked at them again.
"Then how about this, we all go take a field trip and visit these two new overlords! That way, we can protect one another and escape if things get bad, what do you all say?"
A few seconds passed as Charlie looked at them, hoping for signs of agreement. Which came as they all nodded with varying degrees of hesitancy while her father's grip on her shoulders loosened, nodding as well as he looked at her for a moment before smiling.
"Alright, and since we don't have anything prepared for today, why not go now? I am curious about these two newbies and what they did with the city."
Charlie squealed as she raised her father up and hugged him tightly before dropping him. Her eyes filled with glee.
"Then it's settled! Guys, get ready! We're going on a field trip!"
And with that, the hotel proprietress rushed down the hall towards the elevator with excitement.
Slowly, most filtered out of the lobby as they went towards their respective rooms to prepare.
Leaving Lucifer alone as he looked at the plasma TV with eyes filled with scrutiny.
'I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about these two. But why? Other than a few people I can count on one hand, I don't know anyone with the name starting with an 'A', and one of them is double dead.' Lucifer bit his lip as he continued glaring at the TV, as if doing so would force it to reveal the answers to his doubts.
'Regardless of what happens, this is still my kingdom, and if anyone dares to hurt my daughter, hellborn, sinner, human, or angel, they're going to pay. I'll make sure of it.'
And with that, Lucifer disappeared in swirling red smoke as he went towards his room to prepare as well.
"Sup Skelly, whatcha up to?" A hulking ten foot demon asked with utter casualness as he leaned on the shoulder of the equally tall skeletal being, who was busy tinkering with a grey object in the shape of a 3D hexagon, with intricate white lines and runes engraved across its sleek shape.
"Hmm? Ah, Adam, glad you're here. I just finished this latest creation of mine and I wanted someone to try it. It's supposed to help completely purify contaminated water and food with a simple touch. And since you love to eat, I thought you could help."
The demon by the name of Adam gasped in faux shock as he looked at the undead with feigned pain.
"Who said I love eating, I'm not that gluttony bitch! And I limit my self and only things in appropriate amounts and I'll have you know that I-"
"I'll throw in a dish from my {Inventory} if the experiment fails and you get food poisoning."
"...am always happy to help a friend in need! Give me the most toxic and disgusting foods and I'll eat it! No matter what happens to me!"
The undead chuckled softly in his deep baritone voice at the immediate switch in Adam's words, but couldn't really blame him. The man was addicted to the food the undead owns, and has been leading the charge to try and grow crops made from the seeds he brought from that other world along with trying to replicate the meat products magically without having to go through the process of raising the creatures personally and butchering them later.
And as much as he felt bad for taking advantage of him, they both know that the large demon would've accepted that request either way, bribe or no bribe.
That's simply just how deep their friendship is, despite not knowing one another for a long time.
"Still, thank you Adam, this is going to help massively if we ever get this to Earth in the future, it might even help delay or outright contribute to destroying that horrendous future waiting for them."
Adam blinked before chuckling, placing a large arm around the tall skeleton's neck and above his pauldrons.
"Stop with the 'Thank yous' Ainz, you fucking helped me when I first materialized again as one of these fucking sinners and asked me for little in return. I might as well show you the same amount of loyalty you showed me. We're friends, aren't we?"
The entity's soft chuckles turned to loud laughter as he mirrored the man's actions and wrapped a skeletal arm over his shoulders too.
"Ha! Perhaps so! Very well, let's go then, shall we? I'm dying to see if this little project will be successful or not, and the faster we get done with this, the quicker I can move on to other experiments!"
Adam sighed at the man's eagerness to experiment, but didn't comment. After all, unlike a certain fucking bastard he knew of, the undead's intentions were not only good, but well thought out and planned,. And if he does ever happen to go of course, he will drag his ass back on track.
After all, that's what friends are for, no? And he's not about to abandon the first real friend he's had in a while in the last couple of thousands of years, even if it kills him for the third time.