I frowned as I slowly got out of bed, cracking my neck and then rolling my shoulders.

It was my regular room. Done up as it always was. No filler arc stuff, so that was nice, but it still felt odd to be back there.

Because this was the room of Edwin Cerberus. Jeweler of Hell.

And that wasn't me anymore. Not entirely. I was Edwin Cerberus. One of the key controllers of the Ports and Gates of the Pride Ring. Runner Up of the Hellfire Gala. And, most importantly of all… Overlord. The Gilded Demon.

"Well… fuck."

"That is one way to put it," Qeb stated, appearing before me with a smirk. He tended to be not just the most blood thirsty of the spirits but also the most sassy.

So instead of answering him I turned to Jackie. "How full is the hotel, anyway." The look the spirit jackal gave me answered THAT question. "Fuck."

I had used the Key to sneak back into my room; Aria had decided to stay with the KaibaCorp Staff, just to make sure that they were settled. I wanted to get them out of that warehouse and someplace else but that would take time and effort and all of us had been worn down from the stress of the day and sleep was needed. And I didn't know how anyone would react to me bringing them to Hazbin so the warehouse it was.

I reached out and grabbed my phone, feeling a brief pain of regret at the loss of Troy. I wondered where he was and hoped he was doing okay but then Sabola appeared, giving me a slight bow.

"I should warn you, Edjo, that the Princess of Hell has questions for you."

"I figured as much. I also figure, based on that fucking grin you are wearing, that it is going to be painful." I looked at Sabola who was smiling so big that it threatened to split his face. "No way you are going to let me know what it is?"

"Where would be the fun in that?" he retorted.

"I'm so glad we learned how to talk without the Voice of Legion thing," I said dryly before getting up. "Alright, I know I did it before bed but I'm showering again. I see still feel Crimson's blood on me-"

Without warning the wraiths burst from my body, all thirteen of them, but, rather to head off in different directions, they swarmed me and began to strip me down, using all their skills as thieves to remove every piece of clothing I was wearing with such a light touch that I barely realized what was going on before I found myself naked, the Millennium Key that was fused to my chest the only thing that could be considered 'clothing'. I opened my mouth to complain but Layla grabbed one arm and Bennu the other one and the two women flew me into the bathroom. They didn't even let my toes touch the ground. Already it was warm and I wondered just what they had been doing while I weas asleep; the Thieves were odd, as they didn't need to rest that much. They could enter into me and 'rest', even though I felt them pretty much active the entire time. It was, at best, like how sharks could turn off half their brains and sleep and swim at the same time. Eman turned on the shower and all of them set to work washing and grooming me, ignoring my huffs and squawks of indignation. Hands and fingers used washcloths to get everywhere, lifting my limbs up so they could get all over the place.

"Fucking hell!" I snarled.

"Yes, we know where we are," Qeb joked.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I snapped.

"You are an Overlord now. We might be a part of you but you are still Eazizi Alakh, our Qayid. It is our duty to see that you are treated as such."

I rolled my eyes at that, my mind ticking off all the social cues. Thanks to our connection my knowledge was their knowledge and visa versa. So I understood for them that this was a cultural thing. The leader of the Thieves, the head of Kul Elna, would always be treated as such and no protesting would change that. Indeed, they found it utterly humorous and delightful when I did as it gave them a challenge.

That didn't mean I didn't try and stop them.

"I can wash between my own butt cheeks!" I snapped.

"You do a good job of it, I admit," Sabola commented from behind me before sticking his fingers places I'd rather them not to have gone. "But we can do better."

"For fuck's sake!" I roared.

"You are too tense," Eman stated. Everyone stopped as she, Layla, and Bennu shared a look with the other spirits, leaving me dripping under the spray of the shower. And suddenly all the other spirits, save for those three, rushed out of the bathroom. Thankfully the two children had NOT been part of the undressing; I might have found a way to kill them all again if they got them involved too. They had remained behind to clean up, I could feel them gathering my clothes. But that had still left 11 of them and now I found myself with just the three. And my mind quickly realized that they were the three that were single. "Layla, Bennu?"

"What is that-" I began only to let out a yelp when they decided to… take care of things. The horror at what they were suggesting flooded me but the three women merely laughed.

"It isn't sex. For us its just masturbation," Layla and Bennu chimed in as one as Eman dropped to her knees.

"This is getting VERY dangerously close to rape!" I snarled in frustration. That caused the three to pause but they didn't look upset. Indeed, they looked bemused.

"We can read your mind," Layla stated even as she began to take off her golden armor, it disappearing as she let it go, revealing her tanned form. "We know what you think about us…" She ran her hands along her lean, muscular body and Bennu took the time to strip as well before the two began to remove Eman's garments as she was… busy. They used the same speed and grace they had in undressing me to remove Eman's armor and clothing, constantly looking at me with sultry looks, daring me to argue with what they said.

'God damn it,' I thought to myself, hating that they were right and weren't giving me to the gift of having the moral high ground. Layla and Bennu laughed at that, hearing my thoughts and I rolled my eyes and motioned for them to continue, the three minxes squealing in delight as they slammed into me, the other wraiths going back into the bedroom to at least not force me to perform with an audience.

The truth was… it had been a while since I had been with someone. The pain of being separated from Mai had led me to not even think about taking care of such things with the many eager demons in Hell. I had had more than one demon of either gender tell me that they would be willing to sleep with me. Not even to try and get something like jewelry or even a discount. They just wanted to sleep with me. But I had refused, out of loyalty to Mai… but it was becoming more and more clear that I was never going to see her again. Selene certainly wasn't tearing Hell apart to find me. So why be faithful to a woman I never be able to touch again?

The other reason was I knew many things in Hell came at a cost. Yes, I could pay for it easily enough but it would give me a connection with someone I might not want to be connected with. Both in terms of them being able to use it against me and in terms of them being used against me. It was safer just to be separate.

Yet the Thieves… they were connected directly to me. We were Legion. And I could feel that they needed this release as much as I did.

So I drew in first Bennu and then Layla, giving each a searing hot kiss before working to make sure they and Eman weren't merely focused on my desires.

One four way later the rest of the adult spirits returned to dry me off and groom me. I had never been one for much in the terms of grooming. I wasn't a slob but genetically I had lucked out when it came such things. My hair was thick so that I could get it to hold in place just by running my fingers through it, but it never really became overly greasy unless I went a few days without a shower. My beard simply grew in and I never went in for beard balms or the like. I wore cologne on occasion but it wasn't a needed thing. I took care of myself but had never really been into styling.

The Thieves felt differently.

Powders were applied to my body. Nail trimmed and buffed and polished. My hair combed and a beard softener applied to my circle beard. Then they set about getting me dressed, once more using their nimble fingers to get me fully decked out. By the time they were done and settled upon putting on my shoes I had to admit I looked and felt like a million bucks. The three ladies emerged clean themselves before all of the thieves shot back into my body.

"Alright then," I said dryly, patting myself down and moving towards the door, Jackie bounding over and leaping onto my shoulders. "I guess we can-"

I threw the door open only for a sack to be throwing over my head and for me to be dragged away.

~MC~MC~MC~

"So… that went well," Greta said as Cecelia sat in her office at the newspaper, counting out the money they had made the day before from orders for cards. "I mean… you can't ask for better publicity than the runner up declaring himself to be an overlord."

Everyone was talking about it. How Edwin Cerberus had rushed out of the Hellfire Gala and revealed himself to be one of the youngest Overlords in all of Hell's Existence. Possibly THEE youngest, because there were debates on the Radio Demon. Everyone knew when Edwin had arrived in Hell but no one knew about Alastor. He officially was listed as the youngest overlord, achieving the rank within weeks, but there were already whispered that he was some older Sinner Demon that had been waiting in the wings before 'revealing' his new persona. Edwin, meanwhile, had clawed his way to the top so very fast that it made heads spin.

The sheer raw numbers of souls. The news that he now controlled a large number of the ports and gateways to the other rings. His friendship with Stolas of the Ars Goetia and Asmodeus of the Princes.

Vox and his channels had already named him 'The Gilded Demon', due to his jewelry business and the golden wraiths that he had at his command.

"Oh, it was delightful," Cecelia agreed, finishing with the last stack. "Money is coming in good, everyone is talking about the game…" She looked over the pile with a look of love that normally one only saw on mothers who looked down upon their babies. Or so Greta had been told; her first memory was her mother going "Stop bothering me, I'm trying to get to the orgy at the oracle's temple!" "Yes… this will help us out a lot."

They had already moved out of their apartment and taken over some of the upper floors of the newspaper. Slaten hadn't been too thrilled with that but considering they had found some imps using it to do their laundry he hadn't been able to argue too much with them. They had moved all their stuff in and gotten it painted but there was far more that Greta and Cecelia longed to do. New furniture. Add some walls to make more rooms as at the moment it was really just a massive living room. Sound proofing so that none of the reporters heard them as Cecelia took Greta every which way she could.

The snake-haired demoness shivered at that. She hadn't ever considered that she was gay but Cecelia was pansexual, much like her ex-husband, and had been rather forceful in seducing her. Things going well with Duel Monsters seemed to rev up her libido and Greta wasn't going to complain because she got to reap the benefits. Cecelia was a forceful lover but she actually preferred making Greta scream in rapture rather than just cum herself.

She shook her head, knowing she was losing focus. 'If I don't want to end up as just her kept woman I need to show that I am more than a pretty face.' There were a lot of demons that ended up like that: the kept women or men. The ones that were bought pretty things and trotted out for parties… and expected to only focus on keeping their partner interested lest they be tossed aside for whatever sexy new things caught their eye. Valentino's whore houses and strip clubs seemed to always advertise some new former kept demon was now in their employ. Greta had been a few times there and she had to admit she too loved watching someone that had been so smug and snooty be reduced to removing their clothing for money. But the deadness in their eyes…

Well, Greta didn't want that for herself so she was working on making sure she was useful to Cecelia. That she remained her partner even if she was now getting bent over furniture every night and licked like she was a lollipop with a creamy center.

"Have you decided yet on when we do the next tournament? I know you were worried about doing one too soon…"

Cecelia nodded, turning her attention to the stack of soul contracts that laid on her desk. There were many duelists in Hell that were desperate to improve their decks and were willing to sell off their souls in order to do it. Oh, the contract wasn't that cut and dry. The agreement was they could buy back their souls at a certain time. But Cecelia and Greta were counting on greed to lead them to making a deal they simply couldn't ever pay off. Some would manage… most would not.

"This is an… impressive bounty," Greta said. "Like… really impressive."

"It really is, isn't it?" Cecelia stated with pride. "And that pile will only get bigger the more sets come out. People will do anything to be successful in Duel Monsters." She let out a delighted little laugh, the vines that made up her hair trembling and shaking like the branches of a willow tree in a storm. "Everyone is doing it so no one is getting ahead! They are all making the same mistake, thinking they are oh so clever and the only ones who thought of it.

"They come to me, Greta, all excited and sly. They try to be sneaky in how smug they are feeling. They sing their little songs that they practiced the night before, the words that they believe will charm me into accepting the deal. They never realize that I have already heard them all a thousand times and their stories are nothing. That they are nothing. Or maybe they know they aren't the first but they believe that they are too clever to fall into the same traps as the rest of Hell. 'Oh, I am too smart to lose'. That is what they whisper to themselves.

"But they aren't smart at all. Or clever. They are deluded. They lazily do the bare minimum and pat themselves on the back, thinking they are so clever and cunning. That they are the first demon to come up with their foolish little plan and that they could never fall like so many others do. And yet… fall they do. Every time. Then they gnash their teeth and scream it is unfair as I claim their soul and make them mine… and then delude themselves into believing that they can still worm their way out of my grasp. But they never will. Ever. Because once I own something… I NEVER let go!"

Greta stared at her friend, a bit startled by how… forceful she was being.

"What?" Cecelia said with a cool, almost mocking smile. "I'm not wrong, am I?"

"N-no," Greta admitted. "Just… I never expected you to be so forward about it."

Cecelia reached out suddenly and Greta swallowed but the touch wasn't painful. No, it was sweet and kind and it reminded Greta of all the good times she'd had with her exes, before things had gotten too bad. A touch that made her squirm in her seat and sit up a bit straighter.

"I'm tired of the two of us having to hide," Cecelia said. "Hell has stomped on us far too much and now… now I think its time we did the stomping." She smirked. "After all, they will have to respect me once its official."

"When… when what is official?" Greta asked with a breathy sigh.

"Me… being an Overlord."

Greta leaned back so quickly she thought she was going to break her neck. "What?"

That made Cecelia laugh. "Silly girl. You saw Edwin."

"But… but he controlled millions of souls!"

"Oh, he certainly has me beat at the moment," Cecelia admitted. "And that is fine… I'll win in the end. I will be making money hand over fist. But I still have a few million souls…"

"M-millions?" Greta stammered.

"Of course!" Cecelia proclaimed with a laugh. "Many of my deals weren't for merely a person's soul. That is cheap. And final. But plenty of the powerful demons in Hell were willing to trade me souls they controlled to get rare cards or even just packs. It become a seller's market… and I decided to take full advantage." With that she stood up and walked over to the wet bar that was set up in the corner, pouring two drinks and bringing one over to Greta. "Cheers to me… Overlord. The Dueling Demon."

Greta raised her glass and took a sip… and then let out a cry when Cecelia used her vines to grab her and yank her to her feet, her friend smirking before she began to kiss her.

'She'll protect me,' Greta thought to herself. 'Far more now than she could before. This is good. This is so good. I… I can adjust to this. I… I can adjust. I can adjust. I can adjust.'

~MC~MC~MC~

Edwin squinted his eyes as the bag was ripped from his head and he finally had a change to look around… except there was a bright light shining in his eyes. He heard a growl and turned to see that Jackie was still on his shoulders but had gotten a smaller bag put over his head.

Honestly, that pissed him off more than him being kidnapped.

He was handcuffed to a metal chair but the chains of the cuffs were long enough that, if he had wanted to, he could have reached out for the glass that was on the table. Of course it was empty, which was odd, but he still could have reached it. He glanced to the right and saw there was a dark mirror there but otherwise there wasn't much else in the room he could see, thanks to the bright light that was shining right in his eyes.

"Alright… so what exactly is going on here?" Edwin asked. Thanks to the Millennium Key he could have unlocked the handcuffs at any time, and that was assuming that thanks to the raw power that now flowed through his veins he didn't just snap them like they were ribbon. There was also a good chance he would be able to produce enough heat to melt the metal into slag. And most importantly Edwin knew if he really was in trouble the Thieves would rescue him… which meant that-

"I am going to be the one asking the questions here!"

The light shifted and Edwin frowned as he saw Charlie looking over him… or trying to. It was a bit hard for her to do so, as Edwin was taller than Charlie and sitting down only gave her about 2 feet. Not like she was a giant.

"Now then… you are going to answer our questions," Charlie declared as she moved the light a bit more, "or you are going to suffer."

Edwin frowned as he looked her over. Charlie had gotten rid of her jacket and rolled up her shirt sleeves, which was a bit normal when she got to work. But what was really strange was she had a black wallet-like object dangling from a chain around her neck.

"Excuse me?"

"I will excuse you when you answer my questions, Mister!" she declared rather dramatically, grabbing the lamp and wiggling it closer to my face. "You have a lot to answer for! You hear me?"

"…I mean, I am in Hell, so I assumed I had a lot to answer for." He frowned. "Though Jesus did say last Christmas that I didn't belong in Hell-"

"You leave Mister Uncle Jesus out of this!" Charlie snarled. Granted, due to how cute she was she looked like a puppy trying to growl at Edwin but still… "I'm not afraid to get rough!"

"No, stop," Edwin heard to his left and he turned his head to find Vaggie standing there, out of her normal dress and instead wearing a pair of slacks and a purple blouse, the same wallet thing hanging from her neck. Her tone was utterly dry and bored and while it was hard for Edwin to see thanks to the light he had the vague sense that she was holding a script. "He has rights."

"He has rights when I say he has rights!" Charlie shouted, slamming her hands against the table. She huffed and walked into a corner, muttering to herself, and Vaggie came over and looked at Edwin who raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? You are the good cop."

"Charlie was concerned about what I would do to you."

"Fair enough," Edwin said before his brow furrowed as he took her in. "You ever notice you sound a lot like Rosa from Brooklyn 99?"

"Who from what?"

"Nevermind," Edwin said just before Charlie stormed up to him again.

"We have a lot of questions about you being an Overlord, Mister Cerberus! And you are going to tell us ALL about it. But first…"

Nothing happened.

"I said BUT FIRST."

Nothing.

"Vaggie," Charlie hissed.

"Oh… right." She flipped to a new page in her script. "You deserve a drink, seeing as you will be talking a lot." She turned towards the door and Edwin saw Niffty come in, pushing a full mobile bar, Husk grumbling to himself as he sat on the stool.

"But you will NOT get a little umbrella!" Charlie declared.

"I don't drink, Charlie," Edwin reminded her. "And listen… this doesn't have to change anything. Yes, I am an Overlord. I have been making deals for souls in exchange for my jewelry."

"You expect us to believe that you got that many souls just from some baubles?" Vaggie asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"You'd be amazed what people will give up in order to get the newest shiny thing," Edwin replied, deciding now wasn't the time to tell them that he was spying on a good section of Hell. "And its not like they were all selling their own souls."

"You took souls like they were dollars?" Vaggie said, sounding disgusted.

"Uh, Vaggie? I'm the bad cop." Charlie nodded firmly before whipping around and roaring at Edwin, "YOU WERE TAKING SOULS LIKE THEY WERE DOLLARS?!"

"Oh no," he replied, "I am such a monster." He rolled his eyes. "Clearly you've seen how I torture them. That's why I let Angel do whatever the fuck he wants. Yes, I am the biggest monster Hell has ever seen."

"…okay, I admit you aren't as bad as most Overlords," Vaggie said only for Edwin to cut her off.

"I am NOTHING like any of the other Overlords," Edwin said darkly. "The Souls I take that are, and I know this is hard to believe in Hell, innocent? I leave them be. Maybe I ask for a favor but it is something the can do for me. The ones I torture? They are the raptists. The child molests. They sadists and monsters that get off on harming others. Those I torture until they are near insanity. They deserve every ounce of pain I give them. But the ones that just want to live their lives and are only interested in destroying themselves because this is fucking Hell? They I leave alone for the most part."

Charlie considered that before narrowing her eyes. "How DID you get Angel's soul though?"

"Same way I gained Husk's," Edwin replied. "I cut deals."

"Why?" Husk said in a soft voice, suddenly reminding them all that he was in the room. Charlie whipped around, eyes wide in shock, it dawning on her that this was no longer merely an interrogation about a friend and their secret but a discussion about something VITALLY important to another part of the group. Vaggie looked just as startled but then she began to shift and rub her arm, clearly feeling awkward and upset.

And Husk?

He just looked so confused.

"Because what happened to you was wrong," Edwin said simple.

"What happened was I was a fucking idiot," Husk rumbled. For lack of anything better to do he began to clean one of the glasses at the mobile bar. "I gambled away everything. At first it was a matter of arrogance… I've lost before and I've lost big but I always bounced back. I was able to win it all back and more. So I decided to just keep going. Figured I'd be able to turn it all around. Then it was delusion. I would be able to not just win back all I lost but get so much more that it would become a thing of legend. Its happened before. I would start out on a cold streak and then on the final hand or the last pull of the handle win double back and everyone would cheer." He looked down, a sad smile forming on his lips. "Damn… I miss the cheers.

"But when things began to get really bad I became desperate. Took riskier gambles in order to get back to where I had started. I'd win a little and I'd push too hard… instead of going slow and building myself back up I took the snickers and the mocking looks and just… couldn't handle it. Until I finally made one last deal… and lost it all." He finally raised his head and glared at them. "I made my mistakes. Don't try and dismiss them as something else than my fucking fault. I have enough pride not to do that."

"Husk…" Charlie said gently, slowly reaching out for him. "I am so sorry… I didn't know."

"Not surprised. First few years everyone wanted to mock me. Come and see an Overlord. You don't get it because you've never been down on your luck but when you are on the bottom looking up all you want to do is see those above you be torn down. Even more than wanting to rise yourself up."

"That doesn't make any sense," Charlie said. But Vaggie was nodding her head and Edwin merely watched on, not reacting at all.

"Like I said, you don't get it. You have lived a charmed life… and that is why people like that news anchor bitch hate you. Easier to tear you down than to claw their way to the top. It was the same for me… I became a bartender because at least I could make some money off of people mocking me. They'd have to pay if they wanted to stay. But even that got old eventually. People saw that their insults weren't making me flinch. I was the old dog that just lay under the porch and didn't move when the kids threw rocks at me so it wasn't fun anymore. There is always some other stuck up bastard who has been brought crashing down that people can torment and I was forgotten. That's just the way it is. And… now I'm here." He shrugged. "Don't pity me. I brought it on myself. And I accept that and I'm… doing the best I can with my situation."

But then Husk paused and looked at Edwin.

"Except… my situation has changed, hasn't it."

"It has," Edwin said. "Talk to Angel about it… I have been upfront with him that when he proves that he won't make the same mistakes again he gets his soul back. Same with you."

"Why not just do it now?" Vaggie asked, her tone very judging.

But it was Husk who answered. "Because he knows neither of us are ready. He's… he's the lifeline. Can't fuck up and sell my soul to someone like Vox or the Eldrich family if Edwin already holds it."

"I'm like a bank," Edwin said with a slight smirk.

"I don't like it," Charlie said, rubbing her arm.

"Well I do," Husk said firmly. "Edwin has to be better than Alastor."

"And I didn't trick you into giving your soul up," Edwin said and Husk shot him a look. "Oh, I'm not saying he counted cards… but you think it was a coincidence that Alastor just happened to be there?"

Charlie shook her head. "Alastor-"

"Is a serial killer and a cannibal," Edwin said, cutting her off. "You keep forgetting he's the fucking Radio Demon. That he came down into Hell and his first thought was not just to get power for himself but to slaughter as many demons as he could. And then, because he was a sick fuck, he broadcasted it over the air. And even now he's friends with Rosie, another cannibal, and he sees no problem with utterly destroying anyone that he can get his hands out. You think he is a good person? Let's ask Husk." He waved his hand at the cat demon. "Alastor is a tool… but one that can injure us all greatly. So I'm not saying we kick him out, even if we could. But we shouldn't act like he is some savior… or that he wouldn't be waiting for the right moment, when Husk was at his lowest, to strike."

Husk considered that for a long moment before giving a slight nod. "You aren't gonna make demands of me?"

"Well, to get your soul I had to agree that you would help out Alastor on some investigation of his. No idea what that is about." Husk groaned. "But I can always snatch you back if you are in danger. One of my many powers. Other than that I just expect you not to harm me and mine and, if you can, help us out. No different than me asking Charlie or Vaggie or Sir Pentious for help."

"You didn't mention Angel," Charlie said.

"THAT'S what you are focused on?" Vaggie demanded.

"I know what I said," Edwin replied before he sighed and simply pulled on the cuffs, removing them. "Alright, here's my confession: I have been making deals from the moment I got to Hell and now I am an Overlord. I claimed Angel's soul before he took me here and I won't apologize. No, I won't be releasing Angel any time soon as I still don't trust him not to fuck up his life and that will, in turn, hurt all of you too. Husk I might be willing to release sooner but I need to see how that works out. I am not interested in taking anyone's soul here. I am not going to claim the souls of my friends. I did it to protect myself and I am now going to help protect Hazbin because yeah, I actually fucking think this place is a great idea, even if NO ONE ends up going to heaven. Now, I need to see to the KaibaCorp staff…"

Edwin moved to the door and threw it open, only to find Cassie standing there.

"…yes?" he said slowly.

"I NEED YOU TO BUY MY SOUL!" she yelled in a panic.

"…well that's just bad timing," Edwin replied, pinching his nose.