Meeting up in an empty home that no one lived in, the Plaza regrouped to inform everyone about their current progress.
Plaze's mission predictably went nowhere. Trying to force a powerful Overlord into servitude was a tall order, and quite frankly, was a waste of time.
Herta even called it out as an ego thing, where Plaze only went to antagonize Chroma to make himself feel better. Plaze didn't have a good comeback for it, essentially conceding that it might have been true.
Meanwhile, Herta and Himiko's mission went wonderfully. A fairly undefended television factory right on the outskirts of Stardom was exactly what they needed for the Plaza to get its footing back.
That meant that they had the freedom to expand their territory into the empty land instead of trying to take over the city. Unlike Pentagram city, which apparently had Lucifer himself maintaining the shape of the city, which forced everyone into fighting for limited space, even though it was by far the largest city in Hell.
Meanwhile, though they had a couple of close calls with some now freed sinners trying to target Mehira, which allowed Jalaha to show his worth fighting, their job was mostly successful.
Most of his underlings haven't made it to Stardom yet. But by tomorrow, most of them should be here and ready to throw their hats into the major turf war that's about to commence.
Were they going to be very successful? Plaze doubts it. Their strength is actively being sapped by him and Mehira owning their souls. But they should be enough of a nuisance that all of the other decently powerful Overlords in Stardom should be reasonably distracted trying to chase them off.
And finally…
"Pam, how did your mission go?" Plaze asked, already knowing the answer.
Nodding, Pam answered, "About as well as you expected it to."
Yep, exactly as he figured. It was so obvious it didn't even need to be said.
"Then let's move on to how we're going to assassinate Chroma," Plaze announced, pulling out a map of Stardom.
Irritatingly, Stardom was not in the shape of a star. It was more like a square.
Taking out a red pen and circling a location close to the center of the city, Plaze explained, "It was announced a few days ago that Chroma would be holding a press conference in this building 2 days from now, February 11th, about the next step for Varvideniye. I checked out the building on my way back, and it's going to be a bit difficult, but not impossible, for Mehira to shoot him."
"Which is exactly why we have two plans for this," Mehira casually said, revealing her angelic sniper rifle, "Either I get the shot, and we continue on as normal. Or I fail and we attempt to rally our troops into fighting Chroma and I can shoot him for sure next time. After he's dead, we continue as normal except we move more carefully with our cover blown."
Raising her hand, Pam asked, "So what's normal? We kill Chroma, take over some land, and hope that the next strongest Overlord in this city doesn't try to come after us?"
Nodding, Plaze admitted, "That's basically the plan, although we do have a way to somewhat mitigate the chances that a strong Overlord shows up in this city to kill us. Since you're all part of the inner circle, I think it's fine to show you guys this. Mehira?"
Taking out the Asmodean crystal, Mehira quickly explained how it worked. Admirably, everyone managed to freak out for only 2 minutes.
After everyone calmed down, Mehira explained, "So, our plan is to find Overlords who still want to be able to see Earth or their loved ones still there. In exchange for their silence and protection, or their souls, we'll let them occasionally visit Earth."
Voicing her concerns, Jessie asked, "Well, what if we reveal it to them and they don't take the deal…?"
"We can make a soul deal to ensure the conversation doesn't leak," Plaze said, then describing, "It'll go something like 'I will not tell anyone about the contents of this conversation.' Sure, if they find out, they may be more inclined to attack us with no explanation for their members. But we can be prepared for that."
"And if everyone declines?" Herta hypothetically threw out there.
Plaze wasn't concerned as he easily said, "Then we leave Stardom and try again elsewhere."
Hell was a massive place. Even if they failed here, as long as they lived, they can start over again somewhere new.
"And if we die?" Jalaha threw another hypothetical at them.
"Then we die, I dunno what to tell you," Plaze answered.
If they died, they died. At the very least, Hell would know that they died trying.
"Any other questions?"
No one spoke up, and so it was decided that they were going to move 2 days from now.
For now, though, they were all going to be roommates with each other.
They would remember the pits they were stuck in and will ensure they will never be down there again.
All of the televisions look normal. All of the shows sound normal. All of the people feel normal.
Are they normal?
Chroma doesn't know.
He smashes a TV. Sparks fly out and attempt to burn his steel body. A sign that someone is broadcasting something traitorous while he wasn't looking?
He watches one of the shows. The episode is focused on the supposed betrayal of the main character's love interest. Was it someone admitting they had betrayed him?
He kills his secretary. He accepted his death quickly. Did he know something and was he trying to get himself killed quicker to hide any chance of him noticing?
Chroma can't tell what's normal anymore.
Are they with VoxTech? Are they with DreamScreens? Are they with The Plaza? Is there a difference between the three? Are they all working together against him? Had they finally realized that he didn't fit in with the Television Overlords and were working to remove his meagre influence over Hell?
This must be one of the schemes of Satan or Lucifer! He's devouring himself whole searching for shadows. Someone is working against him. Plaze is working against him. Who is Plaze working with!?
"Sir, Sir!" One of his other numerous secretaries tried calling out to him once his powers began to malfunction and started screwing with the televisions in the building, "You're getting too paranoid again- GAH-"
He killed him.
He was a moth sinner. Like Valentino. Was it one of his spawn? Vox must be working against him at the very least. This is a sign from God, his enemies were all conspiring against him.
"Stay away from me, you traitors!" Chroma shouted out, retreating into his office, where he knew he would be safe.
Rushing inside, he quickly grabs his piece of snow. His beloved relic. His home.
It's still so hot in Hell. Marx would have wept at the sight.
Trying to center himself, Chroma convinced no one that maybe he was overthinking it. That maybe Plaze was working alone. That maybe, Varvideniye was too big for him to just die.
There's a press conference tomorrow.
Will he survive that day?
But in this day and age, Overlords aren't just taken out like that. It would be disgraceful. Improper. All of those souls just being left out in the open. No proper Overlord would just suddenly kill another Overlord without being properly prepared.
Fuck.
They are properly prepared.
They must have contacted his inner circle and convinced them that as long as Chroma dies, part of Varvideniye would go to them. They can get everyone to sell their souls to them, the few angelic weapons were in their grasp.
How long has this been going on for? How long has his death been a point of someone's plan?
Is he really going to die tomorrow?
No, it can't happen. Not like this. Not like this…
He has to cancel that press conference, he has to-
His phone rings.
He stares blankly at it.
His phone rings.
It occurs to him that he might want to answer.
His phone rings.
He picks up.
Bendy, the Animation Overlord of the Second Screen, cheerfully greeted him, "Hey! Chroma! How's it going?"
"What do you want?" Chroma barked out, not having the patience for such a cheerful attitude.
"A conversation, really," The ink sinner said, "It's a little too important to talk over the phone where someone might be listening. But I think you'll be open to the deal I have."
A deal?
More cautious, Chroma carefully asked, "What's this about a deal?"
"Oh, well, I thought of something great earlier last month with my friend Sapphire. I think it's about time to get that plan into action," Bendy vaguely explained, "I'd love to meet you in person to talk about it. I know it's late, so how about we talk… Sometime after your press conference the next morning?"
…After the press conference?
That meant that Bendy was expecting him to be alive after it.
Meaning he couldn't have heard anything relating to his supposed death on that day.
Then… Was he safe?
Feeling his paranoia decrease, Chroma tentatively asked, "Is it that important?"
"I think it'll be one of the most important conversations a sinner can have," He mysteriously said, "Seriously. Let me contact you later. Okay, Chroma? I'll talk to you later."
Then, without even getting an confirmation from the robot, Bendy hangs up the call, leaving Chroma alone in his room.
Was he… Safe?
…Maybe.
He'll show up to the press conference tomorrow. If Bendy wasn't involved, then… Then it's Vox and Plaze at fault.
He can handle that. It's just Vox again.
Vox may have killed him twice. He won't let him kill him a third time.
AN:
This chapter took longer to write because I was strangling Typhus's ability to shitpost in places he shouldn't be.
And, you know, shitposting in my server.
So, if you see anything that seems off, you can just blame Typhus.
Written February 19th
[Wtf how is there only 1 chapter of backlog left. I guess I'll have to let it hit 0 for a few days in March so I can rebuild that ASAP.]