Exiting THE bar, which Plaze will swear to his dying end that was a stupid name, he asked his partner, "So, I notice that you're a lot stronger than the last time I saw you. Did you take some of the souls I owned before?"

Walking to her car, Mehira answered, "Because most of your deals with those petty Overlords weren't written in contract, I went ahead and made sure they wouldn't try freeing themselves. I had to kill more than a few, permanently. But the ones I reached, I was able to retake the majority of them, or convince them to stick with you. So you should be in the ballpark of around a thousand souls that are still yours. I'm up to 5,000. Equalizing it, we should be at 3,000 souls each."

That was… Fucking awful. Losing 4,000 souls like that, and the only reason he didn't lose it all was Mehira.

Hell, it was basically a charity that she was giving her so many souls like that.

"Are you sure you're fine with giving me all of those souls?" He asked, just to make sure.

Appreciating the gesture, she waved it off, "It's fine. I'm not the one who just died. You'll get back to your heights sooner or later."

Accepting that, the robot sinner sighed, "Thanks. But damn, this entire situation is a mess… Alright, let's head back to our HQ for now. See who stuck around and who didn't."

"I checked out your HQ. Most of the things there were taken by VoxTech," She told him, making him upset, "There's still a few things there that we should take back with us, though. I have a few bases around here so we can use that as a temporary HQ."

All of that hard earned cash investing into those computers that had to be all manually built by Herta… That shit fucking pissed him off.

Speaking of Herta, it was vital that her and Jessie stuck with him. Otherwise, he was actually just fucked. Jessie helped build all of his consoles. Though he could do it himself now that she taught him, it was quicker to get Jessie to help him with it. Then Herta was also another tech genius he found through sheer luck, and she was able to make computers to make coding easier, which he hasn't finished figuring out yet. Not to mention they were both just very good employees to have around.

With that in mind, he asked, "Did Jessie and Herta stay with us?"

Mehira easily confirmed, "I specifically ensured it."

Good, good. She was on the same wavelength as him.

Getting into her car, Mehira began to drive towards the Plaza's HQ.

They were in deep shit, having to rebuild their entire thing from scratch, along with dealing with competition from VoxTech.

Vox probably wasn't as invested into games as Plaze was, so he felt confident that the quality of his games would be much higher. But would Hell think that way? He fucked up on the advertising part before he was defeated. Now that Vox is against him, he's going to have to deal with the propaganda of Vox smearing his image.

Not even mentioning VoxTech was a megacorp probably capable of finding and training hundreds of employees to make games while the Plaza would barely be able to even interview a few people…

As they were driving, he thought of another question, "While we're alone, what do you actually do as an Overlord anyway? You've been alone for like, a decade, right? What business do you run?"

By sheer instinct, she replied, "None of your-" Then she realized it was actually his business, "Actually… Yeah, I should tell you."

Parking on the side of the street to focus, she looked at him to begin explaining, "So, you understand I'm a hellborn demon, not a sinner, right? So I'm allowed to traverse the other rings of Hell."

Nodding in understanding, he still had to ask anyway, "Why is that a thing in the first place?"

"It's something about the extermination, I think," Mehira said, her tone unsure, before waving it off, "It doesn't really matter. Anyway, some people want to know what happens down there. There aren't many hellborn demons who would willingly work for a sinner. I'm one of them who will. So I'll occasionally get offers of souls and such to run errands down there."

Alright, that makes sense. Maybe not 5,000 souls sense, but he still gets it.

…Damn, Vox better not have taken that fire breathing dragon toy Mehira got him a while back. He's already a dead man, but he'll chain and bring him to Heaven itself for his execution if Vox took that thing.

"The second part…" Mehira quickly checked their surroundings, making sure they couldn't be seen by any sinner or camera. Even then, she leaned down to ensure their bodies hid what she was about to show.

From her magical storage, she pulled out a purple crystal, embedded into a scepter. She was noticeably treating it like a sacred object.

Considering what she told him next, it basically was a sacred object.

"This is an Asmodean Crystal," She quietly revealed to him, the crystal dimly glowing, "It's personally handed out by Asmodeus himself. It can be used at any time to make a portal to the human world."

A portal to the human world…

…Holy fucking shit.

"This can take us to Earth?" Plaze quietly and excitedly asked, wanting to make extra clear on what the Asmodean Crystal can do, "Like, our Earth? Same time period and everything?"

She lightly nodded, "Yeah. Technically, I shouldn't have this with me right now. But I know the wife of the person in charge of collecting and handing them out to people who do things on Earth. I've managed to convince them to let me keep this, as long as I don't get them into trouble."

"Put that shit away right now, then," He urged, sitting up to have his body block more of the view, "I don't even want to risk someone seeing that then."

Doing so, Mehira mentioned, "Most sinners wouldn't recognize it, so it's safer to pull it out in the Pride Ring. A lot of hellborn demons don't actually know what it looks like either, since it usually just looks like jewelry."

Good, that's good to hear. That shit should be treated with as much importance as the bones of Jesus Christ.

…Jesus Christ probably didn't leave any bones behind, but the point still stands. It's a sacred object.

She continued, "So, what I do is I try to go talk to Overlords or people who are somewhat new to Hell and getting the rope of things. I try to get their life stories out of them, asking if they miss anyone on Earth. If I get their names, I'll check out Earth to see if I can find the people they talk about. The Asmodean Crystal makes portals leading to somewhere based on intention, so it's usually the first person I see when I get out of the portal. Then I talk to the human, see if they're mourning, and then I can take advantage of that to set up a meeting with them and the sinner. I take their souls as payment."

Shit, that's fucking vile.

"The human too?"

"The human too," She confirmed, "They come straight to Hell when they die, even if they should've made it to heaven. They never know."

That's really fucking vile. It's basically the equivalent of preying on mourning people, except Mehira can actually make it true. In fact, it was probably the worst thing a demon or sinner could do to a human.

"I think I know another way to use it," He said, double checking their surroundings to just make sure, "Most of the time, you have to wait for something of an expert in the field on Earth to die for a technology to make it into Hell, right? We can completely skip that wait time if we just take the technology from Earth!"

She blankly stared at him, "That's literally the most obvious thing to use it for."

"Fuck, my bad."

"I didn't know what to take, though, so you can guide me on that," Mehira threw him a bone, which was greatly appreciated by him.

Nodding, he said, "I'll make a list of that later… Though, wouldn't it be easier to just have me come along?"

"If you can use your magic to create human disguises, sure, I can take you," She put her hands on the steering wheel, starting to drive again.

Human disguises? Well, that makes sense. He does look pretty inhuman…

Though, what else can he do on Earth as a sinner?

What would a demon do?

Arriving at the Plaza HQ, it looks mostly intact. He sees the lights still on inside, but only on the 2nd floor. Likely where all of his remaining Employees were.

Stepping out of the car, Mehira told him, "I told all of your employees still working for you to just live at the office for now. I lent them all some of my souls to help empower them to protect what's left at the office."

Well, that was good to hear. Considering that it sounds like those who stayed with him were few, they should all be properly rewarded and be considered part of his inner circle.

Entering the building, he notices the distinct lack of… Well, anything, on the first floor.

Basically anything that wasn't bolted down to the floor was gone.

Looking at the elevator-

Holy fucking shit, they stole the elevator too?!

What kind of maniac does that!?

Wordlessly, he walked towards the stairs, which, thank Satan, were still there.

Making their way to the second floor, he opens the door to find a group of 5 hanging around the floor, silent.

Immediately, he names them all in his head and figures out why they're still here.

Jessie and Pam are a given, he basically saved them from being stuck with Hammer for the rest of their lives.

Mehira specifically picked out Herta to stick with them, so her being here was no surprise… Although, she changed her outfit into a witch's costume? He's going to have to ask about it.

Surprisingly, Himiko was also still around. She was one of his better coders, so he's glad she stuck around. His praise for her must've made her happy.

And… Jalaha? The large muscular African guy who had four arms and the head of a cow? Plaze spoke to him maybe twice since he recruited him from Hammer. He has absolutely no idea why he's still here. Hell, all he remembers about Jalaha is that his coding sucks so much ass he had to place him on magic coding, which was also still pretty shit. He kind of forgot he had him.

Well, at least he stayed with him. He'll have to ask why, but his loyalty is greatly appreciated.

Looking around one last time, Plaze finally realized someone was missing.

…His fucking secretary that Carmilla lent him didn't stick with him. Ungrateful bastard.

"Oh, Plaze! You're back!" Jessie immediately called attention to his return. She really was his most loyal employee.

Everyone's attention turned to the two Overlords, so Plaze spoke up, "First of all, I'm really thankful for all of you who willingly stayed with me despite my ass getting kicked by Vox. You're all part of my inner circle now. If you have something you want, I'll pursue it as though I want it myself. Got it?"

Everyone silently nodded, listening to every word he spoke.

"Secondly, we're getting the hell out of Pentagram City," He announced to the surprise of no one, "I'm still thinking of where to go, so we might stay for another day or two. But the simple fact is… I don't want to be ANYWHERE near Vox."

He lost, fair and square. Plaze would have to train for decades to get close to the level of Vox at this point, and he doesn't think he can do it so close to him. So they have to retreat out of Pentagram City and out of his sight, otherwise, he would just come back to kill him for good.

Looking around the room, it looked as though everyone predicted this announcement, so most of their things were packed up. That's good.

"Uh, you're all already packed, so once we figure out where we're going and what we're doing there, we're leaving," Plaze said, looking towards his office, "I should pack as well, but that's not your problem."

Then, Mehira tapped him on the shoulder, signaling she was about to speak.

Allowing her, she said, "Before we got here, Plaze and I made a deal that bound our souls to each other. I own him, he owns me. So we're co-Overlords now, equal in rank. We're still calling ourselves the Plaza, though."

Having said her own piece, Mehira stood back behind Plaze, to which he nodded, "Right, so, any questions?"

Herta raised her hand, once he acknowledged her, she began to ask, "So, how do you expect to climb from rock bottom like this? I can tell you guys are still kind of strong, but obviously, you're not the biggest fish in the sea. Are we going to go run back to Carmilla?"

Shaking his head, he answered, "No, we're not running back to another Overlord. We're going to try not to attract so much attention this time. Run on the idea that I'm a washed up Overlord."

While he couldn't say for certain that Carmilla broadcasting his alliance with her was what put a target on his back, which was eventually taken a shot at by Vox, he felt pretty suspicious about their relationship. After all, their territories are close by, so they must somewhat tolerate each other.

Maybe enough for Carmilla to turn a blind eye to his impending doom.

He would have to do this alone.

Seemingly satisfied with this answer, the newly adorned witch backs off.

Speaking of which, he just had to ask, "Why are you wearing witch's clothing like Mehira now, by the way?"

"My soul is owned by Mehira now," She said, not surprising him through the admittance, but by the sheer audacity that she just did it in the first place, "I thought it would be good to signal where my allegiances are now."

Well, that knocks Herta down a few pegs in his head. But at least she knows that she's a bastard. Herta will still work for them regardless.

Thinning his lips, he regretfully said, "I shouldn't have asked… Well, on the same topic, Jessie, Pam, I already know why you two stuck with me. Himiko, Jalaha, do you want to explain why you stuck with me?"

Himiko answered first, nervously tapping her fingers together, "Well, I really enjoyed the work that I put into our games… Plus, I felt like I was doing good at this company, being better than the others and earning your praise. I didn't feel like that anywhere else."

Right, so his compliments really did affect his employees like that.

He should start handing out more praise, then. In case something like this ever happens again…

Crossing his four arms, Jalaha simply stated, "Valentino killed my brother many years ago. I will not sell my soul to him or any of his associates."

Ah, well, that made sense. He would never work with Vox under any circumstances either. Jalaha must be the same with Valentino.

"Alright, I'll keep those reasons in mind," He looked towards Mehira, "Anything you have to say before we talk in the office?"

"We'll have proper soul contracts ready for all of you in 30 minutes," She boredly said, then turning to him, "And like he said, you're all inner circle members now. Make any suggestions you want without fear of reprisal."

Nobody said anything after that, so Plaze started walking to his office, "See you in 30 minutes when we figure out where we're going next, then."

Entering his office, he immediately begins to speak, "So, we need a place with a lot of factories we can steal and repurpose for our games. Plus, we need somewhere somewhat weak…"

Thinking it over for a moment, Mehira suggested, "Hm, if you're alright with punching a little bit above our weight limit again, using our angelic weapons to bypass the soul advantage, I think I know somewhere we can go."

Since Mehira was the only expert on Hell in the room, he listened to her advice.

Pulling out a map of the Pride Ring out of nowhere, she laid it out on his desk.

Pointing it to a city somewhat far from Pentagram City, she told him, "This city is the home base of Chroma, another TV Overlord. For years, he's been lagging behind his two competitors, Vox and Bendy. But he's still plenty powerful and influential. He basically takes any niche that hasn't been taken by the other two yet. If we assassinate him, his empire might just explode, allowing us to take advantage of the resulting chaos and take control over a few TV factories and give the Plaza its own television company."

That's… A good idea.

A very good idea.

He had no idea who Chroma was, so his death wouldn't hurt him in any way. Not to mention that removing Chroma was removing his own competition, even if it slightly benefitted Vox as well.

Sure, his vast empire wouldn't collapse very peacefully… But it was Hell, that's to be expected.

All that means is that when they rise out of the ashes of the chaos, they will undoubtedly be the kings of the city.

"I like that idea," Plaze said smiling, looking at her, "So, what's the place called?"

"The city? Stardom," Mehira answered, her smile equally as happy.

Together, they would rise from rock bottom and get what they deserve.

AN:

Finished writing this one at 1:30 AM cuz I procrastinated too much.

But to write 100k words, it is a necessary sacrifice.

Written December 27th.

[I got a funny review that basically said "I get it but please reread your chapters bro" and I actually went through and reread this one a few days ago and found a few typos. Thanks, random reviewer.]

[Also, chapters 31-35 are now written so I don't have to look at Game Development for another month. If you want to read them early, they're in the Discord server. The invite code is ZPrVHumQJv . The place is actually getting pretty lively now, although it does get days of inactivity.]