Purgatory (Hazbin hotel/helluva boss AU)

[Ghost666]

Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics

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Vaggie felt a bit empty and hollow as she thought about the exterminations and tried to understand just what their purpose was now beyond simply being cruel. Upon Purgatories creation the number of souls in Hell had diminished greatly not to mention how the souls of people on Earth that recently died were getting their second chance if Heaven felt they were deserving of a review on their worthiness, if their was a chance Heaven had made a mistake when the first time around when balancing and evaluating the souls of the lost and the fallen mortal souls then what if they were overlooking something else, when looking at the souls who had and still were attempting to try and be better, to be decent. Vaggie recalled the times she had been the last to leave and saw souls who instead of attempting to grab at power or steal, pillage and plunder to advance their own lives and positions were helping the wounded who hadn't died or were helping others sort through the rubble of destroyed homes or even comforting those who had lost people they had been close with that had died in the extermination.

The first time Vaggie had seen it she wasn't sure if she was seeing things or if it was really happening, so she ended up staying later and being part of the final group of exorcists to leave at the end of an extermination and to her surprise this altruistic behavior continued to happen. Since her confirmation of this Vaggie had put in some effort to keep track of these caring sinners and made sure that if she ever spotted them in an area, she was in she would be just a bit slower, just a bit sloppier or just missed them and even not put as much effort into chasing them or even looking if they went to hide. Vaggie kept her mouth shut knowing very few if any of her fellow exorcists would understand her reasoning at the time and was sure Adam or Lute would've severely punished her if they ever found out, so she just made sure that other exorcists didn't follow her on her hunts or made sure they kept their distance from her and her hunting grounds.

Since the creation of Purgatory Vaggie had felt a great deal of validation in her actions even if she had kept them secret and hidden. Vaggie had even been able to talk with her sisters about these more virtuous sinners she had noticed and that they had also noticed without the risk of being seen as a traitor or at risk of falling.

Why does Adam keep the extermination going when the need for it has all but been made mute? I know he has a grudge against the fallen one but that can't be the only reason, right? Not even Adam could be that petty to torture and kill souls just to hurt one being. Vaggie felt confused and lost since these thoughts had become more and more active in her mind. It was her job to eliminate threats to Heaven and its population, to keep them safe and to make sure they didn't even know they had been under threat in the first place. Fighting in the void, keeping whatever that strange beast was away from the realm of Heaven and Earth, it filled her with a great sense of joy and fulfillment. She was doing a job that had a real effect of keeping creation safe while she had stopped feeling anything but a sense of regret after taking part in the most recent exterminations.

Vaggie was unsure of how to talk to Adam about her feelings on the situation, the extermination was his brainchild after all. Maybe I should talk to Lute about this first. She is closer to Adam than any of the other exorcists and I'm sure she would know how to talk to him about this. Talking about one's problems and issues was always difficult even for an angel, especially for an angel as they were not meant to have doubts, they were built for a purpose and to have any doubts about that purpose caused a great deal of anxiety and stress as it went against their very being. Lute seemed like a good person to talk to as she hadn't been part of the exterminations for a while now as she mostly kept an eye on Purgatory for Adam and did basic prevention work in keeping what ever those creepy vine like structures that were growing in the void at bay only calling in back up when they started growing wildly out of control to quickly for her to destroy. "I hope Lute can give me some advice on how to deal with this. Maybe she could at least get me off of extermination duty if she doesn't have any ideas on how to talk to Adam about this." Adam always had a hands-off approach when it came to talking to his girls, not to mention his lax and jokester attitude made it difficult to know how to approach him, talk to him or even know if he was taking your problems seriously.



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The void was not a pleasant place but then again it was mostly empty except for the occasional storm of matter and anti-matter clashing as creation fail to come into existence. It was like being trapped in a fireworks factory that had all its fireworks always going off. The void was the realm between everything and nothing or as Adam had once called it gods backyard and testing ground. These days it was the closest anyone could be to the creator since he left. To where no one knew but he had left with most of the archangels after the fall of the snake.

Lute took her chance to rest as she finished destroying one of the many vines growing out, reaching for Heaven and Earth. They were relentless things seeming to hunger to reach the cradle of life and the seat of humanity. Oddly enough only a few of the vines ever seemed to try to reach out towards the Hell and while she would've loved to leave the cesspool of failures to its own fate Adam and Sera had made sure she put in the effort to make sure the vines didn't reach it either. They didn't know what the consequences of the vines reaching one of the realms of creation would be so they would rather avoid something truly horrible happening and do the busy work of prevention than the risk of cleaning up an apocalyptic mess if something went wrong.

Simply floating, Lute looked down on Purgatory smiling as she watched the forces of the stronghold city named after the realm itself standing fast in the teachings of Heaven and fought to preserve humanity and the light of Heaven. She laughed at the failures and foolishness of the men who thought they could tame and control demonic energy. She frowned a bit as she got glimpses of the twisted and demonic souls who had fashioned themselves after the seven sins back in Hell. They were more powerful than they should have any right to be, and it was worryingly difficult to keep and eye on a some of them, but Adam had made her promise not to interfere without his permission and only without it if something truly bad was about to happen.

She recalled when one of those so-called sins had attack one of the larger settlements and had actually been about to get involved when she had felt that surge of divine power, it had felt as if a piece of Heaven had made itself known to the realm and she had felt such joy and wonder for those few moments basking in the light. That light wiped away her doubts about the realm if a soul had managed to release that much light into the world. It had been so funny watching that so-called sin run away with their tail between their legs though Lute did feel foolish for losing herself in the brilliant light that she failed to find its source.

I should inform Adam of the light and ask for his assistance in finding it later. Such a pure light can not suffer the risk of being snuffed out by the trash defiling this realm. Lute would never admit it but she was getting worried about the power the ones claiming the title of sins in this realm were accumulating and while she was sure they were no threat to her or Adam the fact that these abominations where able to cause damage to items the people of Purgatory had imbued with holy power and that meant unskilled or unaware exorcists and regular winners were at risk, that unlike the regular denizens of Hell or sinners these new creatures, these demons had the chance to cause real harm to Heaven.

"Lute!"

The warrior angel was pulled out of her thoughts on how to deal with the threat growing in Purgatory by a familiar voice as she saw Vaggie arriving from a portal. Lute felt a bit confused as she had not called for support nor had Adam told her she would be getting backup not that she needed any and she would tell that to his face next time she saw him. "Vaggie what are you doing here? Did Adam send you?"

"What? No Adam didn't send me. You know as well as I do, he would come himself if he thought you needed any help."

Lute blushed a bit her cheeks growing a healthy glow to which Vaggie gave a slight smirk knowing how her friend felt about their commander but pretended she hadn't seen anything knowing how prideful Lute was and that she didn't want to show any form of weakness.

"If Adam didn't send you then why are you here?" There was a defensive tone to her voice as while she understood Adam hadn't sent Vaggie she didn't like the idea of Vaggie thinking she needed the help, that she wasn't strong enough to do the job, to be able to match Adam's standards. I'm strong enough to do this job, I don't need a partner unless the roots have a growth spurt and those are rare. The unspoken truth for Lute was that there was a chance Sera could take note that more warrior angels were watching Purgatory and then she would end up asking why more than one was needed.

"I needed someone to talk to. I've been trying to think some things over, but I feel like I keep hitting a brick wall. I was hoping I could talk to you about this. Maybe come up with some new ideas about things I may not have thought of. I mean if I want to bring any plans or ideas to Adam your likely the best person to talk to before hand after all." Vaggie gave a nervous shrug as she felt a bit foolish coming all the way to the void to talk with Lute about what could likely just be a small issue. It would've been better to just talk to Adam get shot down and then leave things be, would've made it easier for her to accept if her idea failed anyway.

Lute raised an eyebrow in interest as Vaggie was the type to just let things sit and simmer, to avoid confrontation not really push any ideas forward. She wasn't a yes man, but she didn't like to be in the spotlight which was a shame in Lute's eyes as Vaggie could make an excellent replacement for her in helping Adam as his new right hand with her spending so much time in the void.

"Was wondering if you could help me think of a way to talk to Adam about the extermination?"

Lute hid it well, but she felt a sense of dread and worry fill her as Vaggie continued talked about her ideas trying to understand why such a loyal angel like Vaggie would have any questions or doubts about the extermination. If Vaggie had doubts what about the others? I need to nip this in the bud if this goes too far, stop her from stepping over a line she doesn't see. "What about the extermination has you so deep in thought Vaggie?" Lute kept her tone level to hide her sense of unease but also to keep Vaggie talking so she could evaluate just what steps she would need to take.

"Well, I was wondering if it was even really necessary to continue with them. I mean most of our time and effort is spent on making sure that the roots do not escape Purgatory and acting as tethers for the souls of the worthy to find their way to Heaven. We spend more time and effort sending troops here as relief during an extermination than what we send to Hell. I know you don't like the idea of people thinking you need help but at the very least if we stationed a few more angels here then you wouldn't be alone for who knows how long until a relief force arrives to support you." Vaggie hid her own thoughts on how as a side benefit it could give her a chance to see how the less twisted and dark souls in Hell would react and hopefully work on bettering themselves and Hell or at least a small part of it.

Lute sighed as she could understand Vaggie's train of thought she really could it was just a shame that in her attempt to be helpful Vaggie could end up causing so much more damage than she realized. No one but Adam and Lute knew just what was happening in Purgatory and most of the exorcists only knew about the roots being a problem at the least and maybe a few demonic beasts traveling the realm as part of the tests set up to see if the soul was worthy of heaven. It really did help keeping things on the down low that the souls that ascended tended to downplay or refused to talk about Purgatory or Earth as far as they were aware.

No, the big issue with Vaggie's plan was that it would grab Sera's attention as she would wonder why Purgatory would need so many exorcists. It would reveal just how much Adam and Lute had been hiding from her. She would see the demonic virus ravaging Purgatory, she would see the roots reaching for the rest of creation and she would end it all. Not only would it be an end to Purgatory, but it would mean the end off all the souls inside the realm that had yet to be judged. Lute shivered as she thought of the chance no matter how small it was that Sera could end up erasing the souls of those who had ascended to make sure the demonic virus plaguing Purgatory could not reach or spread to Heaven. Not to mention how she would punish Adam for hiding all of this from her. What if she unmade us, those of us who were born from Adam's feathers as punishment. Lute and many of the older exorcists had been born from Sera's wings but most of the girls were born from Adam's wings and while she held up a tough exterior she cared for her fellow warriors and didn't want to see them suffer for the foolish decisions she and Adam had made.

Maybe if she and Adam had come to Sera earlier all of this could've been avoided and a proper solution could've been found instead of simply wiping the slate clean but now it was to late. Things had gone on for to long and now all she and Adam could do was damage control until they figured out what was causing this mess and fixing the problem. They just needed time and unfortunately Vaggie was cutting into that time. I'm sorry Vaggie I really am but you need to be silenced for the good of everyone else. I'll do my best to make sure its quick.

Lute put on a big smile as she swallowed the bile that wanted to claw its way out of her throat as she spoke with a silver tongue and lied to her ally and friend. As she spoke honeyed words while holding a metaphorical and literal dagger behind her back. She gave Vaggie a big hug as she told her she would help her work out the best way to talk to Adam about her plans and ideas. Vaggie smiled a genuine warmth that just made Lute feel even worse about what she was about to do as Vaggie returned the hug none the wiser to what was about to happen.

Pain flooded Vaggie's mind in an instant with only her instincts as a warrior and her self-preservation instincts saving her life. She had never felt real pain beyond the exhaustion of training, so her body had an extreme reaction feeling it for the first time as she felt the dagger enter her back. She recoiled in shock and horror her arms flailing partly through muscle memory of self defense training and partly sheer instinct to survive as she avoided the dagger piercing her hearth through her back. Unfortunately, this had the unintended consequence of the blade sheering through one of her wings.

Lute could barely look at Vaggie seeing her in so much pain as she tried to get away from Lute's blade, away from Lute. The look of betrayal in her friend's eyes was painful and Lute knew she deserved whatever hatred Vaggie must be feeling what ever dark emotion must be filling her heart aimed at Lute for what was being done to her. "I am sorry Vaggie, but I can't let you go through with your plan. There is to much at risk and I can't, won't let this all unravel, let it all be for nothing." Lute dove at the flailing and injured Vaggie who was doing her best to open a portal to escape

Vaggie was very grateful for all the training Adam had put her and the others through as that was all that was keeping her alive at the moment as pushed her body to its limit to avoid fatal blows from Lute. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as while she was able to avoid fatal strikes the number of flesh wounds kept growing and her own movements kept slowing as pain and blood loss was taking its toll. Vaggie tried to understand why Lute was doing this, why she thought this was necessary but couldn't think, couldn't understand. She tried to call out to Lute to get her to stop, to talk and explain things but her own body betrayed her now as a numbness seem to take hold and her voice just wouldn't leave her lips.

"I'm truly sorry for all of this Vaggie. I wanted to make it quick and painless, but I guess you're to good of an exorcist for that. I'm sorry that this went on for as long as it has but I promise the pain will be gone soon." Lute hated herself for what she was about to do but what made it worse was that she didn't see any hate in Vaggie's eyes just confusing, just the question of why and a small glint of hope that this was all just some nightmare or that Lute would stop. With a heavy heart Lute fell into a dive thrusting her dagger forward hard for a final decisive blow to end this.

Vaggie didn't know how she did it but a final burst of adrenaline and a bit of holy power she managed to avoid the strike at least somewhat as a greater deal of pain flooded her. The blade getting shoved into her eye. Everything was going black and fading as spots covered her vision her body going rigged, and stiff being overloaded with the sensation of pain on a whole new level. The only saving grace for Vaggie being Lute thinking the blade in her eye had killed her instead of a pain induced paralysis.

Lute flew away not having it in her to watch Vaggie's body, her corpse float into the abyss that was the void and then simply be wiped away by the clashing storms of existence and none existence. Vaggie watched her former ally fly away with what was left of her conscious mind and her good eye slowly tumbling into the abyss below wondering if her final end would be as painful as the betrayal, as the blade that had removed her wing, covered her in wounds and was currently lodged into her other eye. As everything fade to black a golden portal opened beneath Vaggie, her earlier attempts as making a portal finally bearing fruit not that she really noticed. She fell, she didn't have any concept for how long, but she fell all the while feeling a familiar yet unnatural heat and then she made impact with a loud thud breaking through something though she wasn't sure what. The last thing she heard was an annoyed voice complaining about having to call a contractor to fix his roof and then that same voice getting very panicked most likely having taken note of her as it asked if she was ok if he could help her, if she needed help.

"Don't worry, don't worry I can fix this, I can fix this! Oh, Sera will not be happy at all if she finds out about this."

sorry this took so long. real life just has a way to taking up time and then i kind of forgot to update for a while even after i finished writing the chapter. hope this is a good read for everyone who is enjoying the story so far.

 

[Ghost666]

Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics


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Lucifer blue screened for a moment as he tried to process what he was looking at. At first, he had been ready to fry whoever had decided to bust through the roof of his home as at this point, he had been having a pretty good day all things considered but now he just felt a horrible pain in his gut as stress and worry started to overwhelm him. Lying in a pile of golden blood was an angel. No no no no this can't be happening, this can't be real. What the hell is going on. Lucifer felt as if fate was using him as its punching bag as he tried to understand why a dead angel had landed in his home.

As his thoughts started to catch up with him all Lucifer could think about was how Heaven was going to blame him for this the moment they found out or came looking for their missing angel and nothing he would say would convince them otherwise. "I need to clean this up. How do I clean this up?" Lucifer paced back and forth as he tried to think of a way to solve this mess that had landed at his feet. He tried covering her in rubber ducks before slapping himself in the face as the body would still be in his house and he wasn't even sure how this had happened.

Why would she even end up here in the first place? Lucifer was broken from his thoughts by a low groan. He looked around for a moment and then realized it had come from the corpse. She isn't dead…… She isn't dead!!! He couldn't let her die. The fact that she was still alive meant that maybe he could escape a harsh punishment, he just needed to make sure she was still alive when Heaven came looking.

But what if they don't come looking? The thought was like a worm that dug into his head as he cast a stasis spell on the wounded angel. After all she had arrived in Hell and at his doorstep, what if she had fallen, been cast out like he had. The angel had clearly gotten into a fight with something capable of hurting it thus there was a good chance she had been cast out and even if she hadn't been cast out there was a good chance Heaven simply thought her dead and wouldn't even come looking.

Lucifer went back to pacing as he tried to come up with a plan that didn't feel stupid or would backfire on him as most of his plans tended to do his current rulership of Hell being a prime example of such wonderful 'success' stories tied to his life. He felt like his mind was a factory of gears that had jammed and were breaking apart from the stress of trying to keep moving. Hoping to find some advice from people who hadn't screwed up as badly or as often as he had he took out his phone as he called Asmodeus and Beelzebub for help as they tended to have a solid head on their shoulders. Hopefully they can help me think of a way out of this mess.

A few moments later he was shouting as he didn't like their plan at all. "Hell no, by everything in this realm of suffering and punishment I won't tell Heaven anything. I won't tell them I have a half dead angel lying in my living room." When had honesty ever caused him anything other than pain and suffering. No, he wouldn't fall for that trap again, the risk was too great and the chance of him having anyone willing to listen before or even after they decided on how to punish him was too low.

"Lucy, I know you don't want to hear this, but you are letting your fear and pride rule your decision making here. That had never been a good combination. You can't keep shutting people out Lucy, running away and hiding doesn't work long term and keeping your mouth shut has been even worse for you hasn't it." Asmodeus came off harshly towards his king. He wanted to be gentle to help his king and friend, but Lucifer was a stubborn man, and it would take too long trying to get him to do the smart thing so harsh and fast was his best bet of getting the king to see reason. "Did silence and hiding away keep Lilith in the palace? Did it did it help keep Pride from falling into anarchy and chaos? Did it keep the princess safe!?" Asmodeus was yelling now his true form threatening to erupt as an anger had overtaken him as he shouted at Lucifer.

The sin of lust had kept his tongue on the downfall of Pride and the king's choice to retreat inwards and leaving things to rot but now seeing the self-destructive acts of the king coming back in a way that could be even worse not just for the king, not just for the Pride ring but for all the rings, all of Hell he felt that he couldn't keep his tongue even as the king seemed to be jumping between anger with the will to smite Asmodeus for talking to him in such a manner and falling to the ground on his knees.

"Enough!" Bee yelled getting the attention of the two before anything came to blows. "Asmodeus, that was going too far. Talking about the chaos in Pride or the queen leaving is one thing, but you shouldn't have brought up the princess. That was a low blow, and you know it. our lord may need a kick in the ass but that was unnecessary." Bee then turned her ire on Lucifer who seemed to have gotten some strength back in his body as he got up from his collapsed state and was sitting on a chair seeming to try and reclaim his balance. "Lucifer you called us, you know us and you knew this would be the advice we would give you. You are being a coward, you wanted Asmodeus and I to force your hand to make the decision for you. We won't! This is on you, and you are the one who will make this choice. You can't keep running and hiding anymore."

Lucifer tried to respond yet found himself tongue tied as he couldn't come up with anything to say as Bee hit him with harsh but needed truths.

"It doesn't have to be a good decision; it can be a bad decision, but you need to make one Lucifer. You can't keep using everyone else as a crutch because eventually we're all going to be sick of carrying your weight. And by the light of Heaven get that girl to Belphegor, keeping her in a stasis field may stop any further damage or avoid death but that's just a stalling tactic. If you don't want her to die but you still want this kept secret at least to take her to Sloth, where she can get proper treatment."

Bee left first as she just couldn't stand the rotten and sickening taste of shame and self-loathing that Lucifer oozed out and she knew if she stayed any longer it could end up tainting the honey she was producing for her next batch of parties. She took a single look back a look of pleading in her eyes for Lucifer to get back some life and effort, to do something, to be the man of progress and creation she recalled him as. The king could only look away in shame not having it in himself to look his old friend in the eye. Asmodeus stayed longer as he kneeled down next to the sitting king giving the man a gentle hug. "My lord I'm sorry for what I said but I can't see you like this. You are a shadow of your former self, and it pains me to see you lock yourself away and let your kingdom crumble like this. I will help you as I am able but please end this self-exile before it rots away what is left of who you are." Asmodeus left hoping beyond hope that Lucifer could pull himself out of his pit as he recalled how much it had destroyed the king when the princess had gone missing and then how it had gotten even worse when Lilith had left as she could no longer stand being around the husk that Lucifer had become, being forced to try and maintain a collapsing kingdom and support Lucifer at the same time as the man simply unraveled.

You used to be such a man of action my lord and it is truly a pity to see how you have devolved into this shadow of a being. As he left Asmodeus started to think of a plan that could at least help the king out of his funk and isolation. Lucifer was a crafter; a creator and this state of stagnation was poisoning him just as much as isolation and tragedy was hurting the king. If I can just get him active, to work on a project and do something new and exciting. Something that can lift the spirits of Hell and its people, maybe it could help lift his spirits and take his mind away from his pain even if just for a short while.

The sins gone Lucifer slowly got out of his seat feeling strong enough to stand as he processed his thoughts, the advice and harsh but needed confrontation by his friends and then also looked at the stained golden ducks next to the young, wounded angel lying next to them. He had tried to bury his problem and hide it away and all that had done was leave a mess and a stain. They were right, he had called them to try and shove this mess onto their shoulders to deal with or to make a decision for him.

Lucifer felt so overwhelmed as he looked at the wounded girl in front of him wondering why this had happened, how this had happened and why he was being forced to deal with it when fate had used him as its punching bag for so long. Why couldn't he get a break. A flame grew in his hand, a mix of hellish red and a faded golden glow like a flickering light trying desperately to stay alight in a dark room. It would be so easy to make this all go away, to make sure this never became a problem. Golden blood staining the ground and ducks began to bubble and the ducks began to melt as heat flooded the room. A flick of my wrist and this all goes away. I'll need to hire a contractor for a new palace but that would be less of a hassle to deal with than Heaven. No one would judge him for this, and Bee said good or bad she would accept the decision he made, and this could be his decision.

He looked at the wounded angel. This would be fast and painless. It would end the suffering she was already feeling from whatever had wounded and attempted to kill her. She won't feel a thing. He repeated the thought in his head and yet he couldn't flick his wrist or even simply will the flames to engulf the palace or spread out of his hand.

"I would judge myself. I would judge me." Lucifer whispered to himself. When the girl had landed, he recalled the last words he had heard before casting the statis spell to stall for time and to keep her from dying. She had been asking for help and for all his faults, his pride and need to run from his own pain and suffering and the hatred the universe seemed to have for him Lucifer still wanted to help. How pathetic am I? After all the good my help has done the universe, the people I cared about. Even as he berated himself, he looked at the stasis locked girl with a feeling of desperate hope. She had asked him for help, had arrived in Hell which was impossible to do by accident. This wounded angel had come to him, to Hell knowing his story and had still in their time of need come here instead of Heaven. With what had likely been the last dregs of their strength they had come here and asked him for help.

But what if I can't help her? What if I just make things worse for her and for the people of Hell? Lucifer laughed a bit to himself as he laughed at the stupidity of his thoughts. This was Hell after all things always got worse but rarely did, they get better and for the first time in a long time he felt the feeling of hope in his chest. He could really help some actually help some for the first time in millennia. Lucifer closed his fist, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling a strength enter that he had thought had left him eons ago. He wouldn't go to Heaven, wouldn't talk to them as they or someone in Heaven had likely done this but he wouldn't run away either this time, he would do the right thing. Had his eyes been open he would've noticed that as the flame in his hand died out the golden hue had become brighter and lost that edge of desperate flickering as he made his choice and solidified his resolve. I really hope this doesn't blow up in my face…… Dammit I'm going to have to clean up the palace to hide any evidence, aren't I? at least I can count on Bee and Asmodeus helping with that at least. He had a brief thought about simply burning the palace down and replacing it but that would simply take to long and be to aggravating but also thinking about it there were a lot of irreplaceable things in the palace, memories, hopes and dreams he couldn't fix or replace. His mind fluttered for a moment to a locked door he had wallpapered over so he could stop feeling the stabbing pain in his heart whenever he had looked at it

"Come on let's get you to Belphegor." Lucifer teleported away to Sloth his soul feeling lighter even if by just by what many would call an insignificant amount.



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"So how is she doing?" Lucifer sat nervously as he waited for any news from Belphegor about their Jane Doe patient. Belphegor just looked at the king annoyed and tired but then again, she was always tired since arriving in Hell. The stupidity of her king and her brothers and sister just added to that exhaustion in a new manner. This new secret patient issue had her feeling even worse and on edge and had her feeling like taking a break and going into hiding for a few centuries so she could get a proper break and chance to actually rest.

I need sleep, actual sleep and not just drug induced comas. Belphegor tried to ignore Lucifer for a bit as she took a deep lung full of her own special blend of cigarettes and medication. "The girl is fine for now Lucifer. We were forced to break your stasis spell to get any real work done but we managed to properly stabilize her. The only issue is we can't really get any real healing or repair on the wounds. At best I was able to do some superficial healing but nothing more." Belphegor had felt bad for the girl seeing just how deep and damaging some of her wounds were. She was pretty sure the girl would have some brain damage from that knife through her eye. Oh boy removing that thing had been a pain due to the risk of actually killing her patient if anything went wrong.

"Is there anything we could do to help her. It's been weeks and nothing has changed. I know your doing your best but is there anything you haven't tried yet?"

Belphegor got annoyed even further by the king's question but didn't snap as she could hear the desperation in his voice. Belphegor yawned a bit from exhaustion, this job having kept her up and overworked for a job she had no wish to be taking part in, she was still a healer however, and her job was to help this angel even if she didn't feel like it. "I wish it was such a simple task to heal her my lord, but I have tried everything I have at my disposal, and nothing has been able to make a dent in this problem. Wounds caused by Heaven have a nasty habit of not wanting to be fixed. The only idea I have is a trick some sinners have tried if they managed to survive an extermination but its risky." Before she could explain Lucifer almost jumped into her face, a look of hope and excitement which actually made Belphegor feel a bit bad as the idea was likely false hope.

"Lucifer this isn't a fix all kind of thing and there are real risks to it. the idea is to cause more damage and remove the areas where holy weaponry or power has caused the wound." Lucifer looked at Belphegor in confusion trying to understand the concept that more damage could end up healing the damage.

"It was a desperate gamble that some sinners came up with. They had the unfortunate luck of surviving extermination but were still badly wounded. A few took risks and tore off and cut away flesh that the weapons of the angels had caused. In some there were cases that they were able to survive and make full recoveries though often they would have to kill themselves and hope for the revival process to fix them fully once the holy energy was removed, in others they were permanently crippled and unable to heal even if the wounds stopped getting worse and not even destroying themselves and the revival process could fix the issue. Most of those who took this risk died though as they couldn't withstand the pain or the damage their body had already suffered, and their bodies just quit on them." She didn't want to stomp on Lucifer's hopes, but she needed him to understand if they took this option there was not only a chance, they could end up making things worse, very likely make things worse but even if it did save their mystery patient it could and likely would leave her crippled. He needed to understand this was a last resort situation.

"Why don't you just heal her Lucy." A voice stated, a very familiar and annoying voice as Lucifer groaned and Belphegor took her chance to just leave the room and hopefully catch a five-minute nap, maybe if she was lucky ten before she had to deal with that maniac of a clown. Out of the shadows the form of Mammon could be seen though he wasn't walking, he was being carried like a sack of potatoes by the giant form of Satan who threw Mammon onto a bed. It was clear to see why Mammon hadn't walked in with his head facing the wrong direction, with a very broken looking neck likely caused by the man who had thrown him onto the hospital bed.

"As annoying as the clown is my lord, he is right you have it in your power to heal her, to save her." Satan growled out hating that he was forced to agree with Mammon. Lucifer just gave the sins of Greed and Wrath a look of confusion not understanding what they meant. He couldn't save her; he sucked at healing and often had gone to Raphael for healing when he had still lived in Heaven instead of doing it himself.

"He means the breath of life Lucy." Mammon groaned out as Satan stomped on and broke one of his legs for taking such a mocking and petty tone with their king not that it stopped Mammon from running his mouth. "Just use some of that juice as the archangel of creation, as the gift and duty the big G gave you and fix her right up Sammy." Another snap as another leg was broken by Satan who glared angerly at Mammon.

"I can't do that. Using that power carries risks you don't even understand. That was a blessing by father and to use it now that I've been banished and stripped of my titles and status in Heaven, I'm not even sure if I could access it and even if I could what if the power backfires or worse brings father's wrath down on me and Hell for daring to use that power." Lucifer was hyperventilating as he tried to calm himself as many hidden fears of his father finding new and inventive ways to punish him for stepping out of line or use power, he wasn't worthy of having anymore.

Mammon just started laughing only for a loud snap to fill the room as his recently healed neck got snapped again with the jester yelling at Satan for being a kill joy and an ass kisser. Satan simply walked towards Lucifer getting down to a knee so he could look his king in the eye and spoke. "My lord there is nothing beyond death that Heaven could do to punish us. They do not have the stomach or the will to do the things you fear and worry about. And God won't punish you for trying to save a life, the life of one of his angels. Fear has taken hold of you my king and you need to start learning and understanding when that fear is just your own paranoia and past haunting you and when that fear is true, and action should be avoided."

"Yeah, grow a pair, Lucy. Your top dog of the universe after big G and you know it stop wimping out and stop wearing the skirt in your relationship with the universe." Mammon yelled out in pain as his arms got broken and Satan picked him up.

"Clearly I was far to kind bringing you here to get fixed up after you already attempted to cross me."

"Hey, we both know Leviathan would've paid me top dollar for those secrets. You're the one who is just t sensitive for such a tough guy"

"If your so tough then I'm sure you wouldn't mind a spa trip to the lava fields of wrath Mammon. This time of year, the heat is just right with eruption season coming up. As for you my lord I do hope you figure out the path to take. I have faith in you Lucifer, know I will always stand at your side to support you. We are family and no matter how much we fight or annoy each other I will stand by you; this idiot of a clown will stand by you and the others even if they get annoyed and frustrated will be there to support you." Satan left dragging Mammon on the ground to punish the jester further while Mammon tried to bargain with Satan while also yelling for Lucifer to help him

Alone Lucifer stepped towards the bed looking down worried and scared. He wondered if Satan was right, and he was letting his own fear and paranoia rule him. Heaven had punished him; he had been cast out of his home and barred from entry unless invited or given permission. "You asked for help." Lucifer spoke to the sleeping girl as he steeled himself. "You asked for help, and I will do my best to help. I can't, I won't let this chance to do something good slip out of my fingers." Lucifer lowered his face to meet the sleeping girl as he took a slow hesitant breath before taking a second less shaky breath and then a final third deep breath his resolve steeled. With the third breath gold light seemed to be pulled out of the girl's body the sickly golden yellow that seemed to stand out from her natural golden blood seeped away from her wounds though they still weren't healing or were healing rather slowly. Then Lucifer breathed out, yet it wasn't air that came out of his lungs but power, the idea of life and creation. Pain filled Lucifer as he hadn't touched these powers since the fall and he wasn't used to the rush, the sheer amount of will it took to contain the power he was using. The pain soon faded though as Lucifer managed to get his grip and sent the flow into the unconscious angel. Pain was the first thing Lucifer noted as the angel seemed to be waking from her unconscious state groaning in pain as creation and life flowed into her and wounds began to heal, as the damage to her body began to repair itself and the medication that had been put into her body to try and keep the natural pain her wounds would likely have caused her was burned away. She would feel everything as her body repaired itself and for a moment Lucifer almost hesitated as he saw the pain the angel was in, but he couldn't stop now, or he could lose his nerve or even his grip on the power and not be able to control it.

His nerves were calmed though he wasn't sure by what as he felt what seemed like a gentle yet firm hand being put on his shoulder and whispered words of encouragement that he felt he knew yet couldn't make out.

With one last push Lucifer let out a surge of power, will and intent as he would save this angel. He wouldn't fail her, he refused to fail her. One step at a time he recalled one of his many therapists telling him. Take one small step at a time, take every problem in life one step at a time and things will get smaller, things get easier, and you are one step closer to a solution. Energy surged out of Lucifer engulfing the hospital and then spreading out through Sloth and then the rest of the rings even reaching Earth and Heaven. For a moment no one was sure what had happened but for a moment it was like a warm gentle blanket of comfort had been placed on a person who had been cold for years and was now being given the care and comfort they should've been given. A calm and kind word in the ears of all of creation. A feeling as if you were seen, heard and understood, that you weren't alone. For a moment all of Creation felt as if they knew and understood what good meant what calm and happiness meant.

Lucifer didn't know any of this, his focus on the angel in front of him as her body healed and repaired itself. The natural glow of her skin had returned, the wounds from the weapons had either healed or closed. She looked like a natural Heaven born though without wings; her eye also seemed to not have healed but Lucifer was sure that the angel would be more than happy about being alive rather than focus on the loss of her eye. The normal changes ended there as much to Lucifer's shock things went beyond healing. Her remaining wing sprung forth and even grew in size and then below that wing a new angelic wing grew. Where her other wing had been cut off the nub that the wound had become burst open as bat like, dragon like wing grew forth before a second grew underneath that wing much like the second angelic wing the girl had grown. Even her angelic features took on a paler white look and two small horns growing on her head.

Lucifer took a step back wondering what in creation had just happened and wondering if he had screwed up again, if he could fix this. In turn Belphegor rushed into the room to see what in Hell was happening a feeling of energy she hadn't felt since living in Heaven filling her. "Lucifer what's happening?" She shut up seeing the healed and transformed girl, rushing forward to do a check to make sure the girl was alright while asking Lucifer to tell her what had happened while she was gone.

Both were stunned as the girl woke up sat up gasping looking around frightened and confused. Belphegor worked to try and calm the girl down making sure to repeat that she was safe and away from danger while Lucifer tried to think of a way to answer the questions the girl likely had about where she was and the questions she would have about her transformation.

Once the girl had calmed down Belphegor worked on getting some answers. The best she simply got was the girls name "Vaggie" Soon she seemed to collapse soon after waking up her body completely drained of energy sleep claiming her so she could have a chance to properly rest and recover after her abrupt and fast-tracked healing and transformation. Belphegor just wondered if it was too late to disappear for a few centuries just having a feeling her workload was going to increase greatly in the future while she kept smacking Lucifer over the head telling him she wouldn't forgive him for making her job more difficult and to stop doing things spontaneously, especially in her ring without her supervision.

Lucifer just wondered about the voice he thought he had heard and the hand he had felt on his shoulder. He wondered if that had been real or his mind simply crafting an experience to give him the courage and will to keep moving forward and take the reins of his life and the power he had been using. At this moment though he was simply waiting for Vaggie to wake up so they could have a proper conversation about what had happened to her and likely what her current situation was and what she would like to do. Likely she would have questions as well though Lucifer just hoped that she wouldn't freak out once she got a chance to look at her reflection.

Wow this update took a while to come out. Sorry for how long this took to put out and I hope everyone enjoys reading this latest update. Also, sorry can't promise the next update won't take just as long or longer. Don't forget to like and comment, they help to sustain me and its nice to see the thoughts of my readers



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Out in the middle of everywhere and nowhere beyond creation a man paused in his work, he paused as he stopped sculpting, molding clay, painting, doing arts and crafts, coding, singing, dancing, tuning and playing instruments and writing with a smile on his face. Maybe lucifer could finally learn some responsibility. His son had always tended to have to learn a lesson the hard way. Maybe things could be better for his son with the path this world this life was taking. His attention on Heaven, he wondered how things would turn out with the different roads being taken there hoping that his golden city could learn to be more flexible and less stifling. Purgatory had been an interesting thing to take note of it was a rarity in the fact of existence when it came to the many stories he started. While he did worry about his children this was their story to write and it was high time he took the training wheels off. He couldn't coddle them forever as it was time they stood on their own feet or flew with their own wings.

His only real worry was Adam and Lucifer coming to blows. The two were healing, coming to terms with some of their issues but he knew they still hated each other and if they came to blows it could unravel any growth they had managed to have. He also wondered how it could affect Purgatory as the realm itself had taken on an interesting evolution. Its design was flawed and only held together by a dark secret that could lead to war if it ever got out. There was a chance Purgatory could devour the other realms of creation in hopes of stabilizing itself and that failing to happen there was still a chance of apocalyptic war. The author worried but knew interfering would be against the point. He only gave them the start he couldn't finish for them and if they tripped at the end then he could just start things over and give them another chance to try the race again.

 

[Ghost666]

Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics


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To consider what represents a miracle is, is something many find difficult with how few things occur that could be considered a miracle and how much time and distance there is between the occurrence of what people consider miracles. Upon Lucifer's release of the power of the breath of life it wasn't just one life he saved, a miracle he crafted for himself as such a thing is impossible to truly contain. All worlds felt this in their own unique ways as the power attempted to follow the last directive it had felt in the heart and mind of Lucifer. He wanted to save a life, he wanted to save himself but most importantly deep within himself he wanted the suffering and pain to end and for a chance for what he lost to be reclaimed in some form or another.

Lucifer always recalled how his father had used this power that others called miracles and thus it acted in such a manner, to be obscure and many small dominos acting together in a wonderful picture as each falling domino each minor near invisible act led to another and to another as wonders filled the world. Of course, Lucifer was a dreamer, a showman of a man who lacked the subtly of his father to his own detriment and thus the power also spread out in more esoteric and fantastical ways to match the ideas its wielder had of it and to match the idea the power had about its wielder.



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In Hell the effects were the most immediate and visible as divine power flowed through the ring of pride. The red sky vanished and was replaced with a calm blue sky as if they were on earth instead of being in Hell. A gentle cooling breeze flowed pushing back on the harsh and oppressive heat the realm of the dammed was known for and it rained, not acid rain that bit at all it touched but cool wet cold rain, pure water not usually known to the denizens of Hell without a great deal of filtering acid water or magic being used to change the natural waters of Hell into something resembling the water of Earth and then sold at exorbitant prices to people desperate for even just a bottle of the stuff to fight off the edge of thirst that natural waters of Hell could never truly sate.

Old run-down speakers that were strung up on buildings and power poles all around Hell long since dead an unused left to rust in obsolescence started to place music long forgotten since its singer vanished from the public eye as the voice of the queen of Hell played out. As music not heard for decades brought about a feeling of calm and hopefulness that many new souls thought impossible, and the older souls had long forgotten.

Old souls, sinners that had grown tired of the nightmare that was Hell and the dark roads they had to take to survive stepped out and helped new fallen souls, to hide them from opportunistic overlords and teach them how to lay low and not stand out in Hell how to survive without falling to the vice many felt was necessary to survive. Other souls that had felt like they were on their last leg and were about to sell out, to make deals or take that step off the edge of decency and general kindness into vileness and greed to win and survive paused and pushed back that inner darkness for one more day, week, month as they refused to be like the worst of the worst that they saw thriving around them.

Souls that knew each other in life be they former enemies managed to come to agreements feeling standing together accepting the crook they knew was better than standing alone and suffering to crooks and scammers that they didn't know and would take advantage of them. Souls of family met up and despite disappointment and anger at their status as fallen, that their family and friends had been unable to avoid this fate they stood together working to make the best of their situation and this chance to be together again. Hell was failing to tear people apart, to bring up their worst selves and to fill them with the idea that they needed to be their worst selves to survive and thrive, to avoid being on the bottom of the ladder beneath someone else's boot. This feeling would fade with time and be forgotten by others, but it would still stick, Hell would lose its fate given grip on souls because for the first time there was a light at the end of the tunnel, that feeling of hope and the chance of something better had wormed its way into the hearts, minds and souls of the sinners

For Hellborn the feeling was an odd sense of mellowness and confusion as they didn't understand what they were seeing or feeling except for those that traveled to and worked on Earth. Some worried that was another move by Heaven to rip into Hell, its power and to put them in proverbial time out but those with power, those who had a far better understanding of how the cosmic scale and powers worked understood and could see and feel where this was coming from. A pilgrimage was made by those with power as they traveled to the palace, their king had made a move, he had done something, tapped into a power that many believed had no existence in Hell, those with wisdom and age to their name knew the stories, recalled the power of their king and were amazed and ecstatic to see their lord wield that power once more and the Sins rushed back to the palace wondering what the Hell Lucifer was doing what he had unleashed and why now, why take this step while also just happy to feel him unleash and wield this side of himself once more and to take that step off the ground and hoped they could see him as the morning star once more, that the state of decline and decay in Hell could end though a few did worry how a more active and aware Lucifer could spell trouble and punishment for them be it for petty slights they had taken against the king (Mammon) or active steps they had been taking no matter how small they were to challenge him and usurp him(Leviathan). Whatever had happened everyone in Hell knew things were going to change and that the king was stepping back in and had made his announcement even if he didn't know it himself that he was taking back the reigns of Hell and Pride.

Lilith sat alone in her home wondering when things had gone so wrong as she looked at the baby pictures she had of Charlie. After she had gone missing was when things had started going downhill for her family and then Heaven just acted as if she and Lucifer didn't matter at all once again removing a vast number of souls from Hell which seemed to be another punch to Lucifer that her husband just couldn't handle after everything else, and he shut down. She had left soon after not being able to handle seeing the once bright and joyful man she had fallen in love with being this empty shell of himself. She couldn't stay seeing every day in the form of her husband the unavoidable proof that not only had Heaven won but that she and Lucifer had never had a chance of victory, that their will meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. That Heaven and their order was absolute, nothing could challenge it, it was the only truth in the universe.

And then she felt it, she wasn't sure at first wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her, that she was imagining what she was feeling because it was what she wished instead of what was happening. Then she sat up understanding what she was feeling, Lucifer was acting, stepping up and unleashing long suppressed power. Lucifer what brought this out? Why use it now? What has happened? She needed to go see him, to know what had changed. Part of her held out hope that maybe he had found Charlie, and this was him making a signal for her to find them. She knew it was too much to hope but she couldn't suppress that need to feel and believe in the chance her little one had been found and returned. Another more cynical side of her worried about how Heaven would react to this, to see Lucifer unleash this power an in such a grand way.

What did she care about Heaven. All Lilith cared about was that it seemed like Lucifer, her Lucifer was back and there wasn't a chance in 'Hell' that she was going to let him slip back into the pit of depression and become that husk of a man again. I'm coming home Lucifer; I'm not going to let you fall again. I failed at keeping your spirit alive once, never again. She wouldn't be able to handle it if Lucifer broke again, it would break her. As she left her home she paused for a moment looking at a golden card she pulled out of her purse. This single card held so much temptation, yet she knew using it calling upon it would be not only a betrayal of her own principles but admitting defeat. She tore it up refusing to let it, to let Adam hold anything over her again. Part of her felt pained at losing that once chance to enter the golden city and yet she felt free and light as if a chain had been removed from her as she watched the torn up shards of paper burn away.



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On earth things were a bit goofier at the start of a strange feeling that things were going to change and that this sense that the darkness that seemed to have overrun the world hadn't won just yet and that people being kind, honest, good and decent wasn't a fool's game. That those who used every dirty trick in the book were about to pay some rather large amounts of inflation when it came to dealing with Karma that had found the bill hadn't been paid and they were coming to collect.

All around the planet stories were popping up on news feeds and podcasts and YouTube and social media about poachers. There were tons of news and posts about them getting caught out and hunted by the very animals they had been hunting. Of weapons failing to fire, of a magazine falling out of the gun, of misfires and even ammo exploding and destroying the gun. Hilarious videos of these so-called hunters being chased around by animals and desperately hiding in trees or their vehicles. There were thousands of posts showing pictures of men covered in monkey dirt cakes running and hiding in shame.

Other news came around of scam artists and politicians and billionaires that had overstepped and played a game they should not have. Bankers and financial protectors gave them a sharp kick in the rear as accounts were frozen, as financial laws were enforced against people who forgot the basic rule of their game, to avoid being caught and if they are caught to make sure they didn't have the bag in their hand. Money that had been stolen and hidden away flowed back into accounts they had been taken from and people saw their pensions, their 401ks, their savings and their hopes and dreams returning, they had regained something they thought they had lost forever. Someone was able to keep or reclaim their childhood home, a business that was downsizing due to financial issues instead managed to grow with a new infusion of money they thought they lost and now instead of workers losing their jobs new jobs were being provided.

Bribes were also failing to work and sway people leading to a lot of people ending up in rather uncomfortable positions as senses of shame, honor, dignity and self-respect or simply just doing your job and not caring about money held fast or awoke for single moments at important times in people. A judge here, a witness there, the occasional officer of the law and every now and then politicians. Work was getting done that powerful people didn't want to get done, the legal system was functioning smoothly a lot more than those in power liked it and businesses were actually paying out decent wages and products in larger scales than their corporate overlords cared for and couldn't figure out why it was happening.

The funniest for many was when leaders of all sorts made those bold claims of how Heaven and God were on their side, that the people could believe their promises or as God was their witness let them be struck by lightning. All around the world there were many lighting strikes and even funnier was when peoples' pants suddenly combusted. There were even a few times when people suddenly burst into flames when stepping across the threshold of churches.

Good deeds may not have been rewarded or had as much positive effects on the world as they used to but for sure everyone took note and could see that bad behavior, bad deeds were no longer as rewardable, as profitable as they used to be. There was karma, there was a sense that the scales were being balanced once more and that punishment was back on the table. That rules were being put back in place.



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In Purgatory the wave of divine power had a much more direct affect as its power spread across the realm and its people though it wasn't they who noticed it first as the most visible effect of the power was seen in the void by a lone angel occupying the realm of the in between.

Lute was feeling conflicted and like she was falling apart as she tried to justify her actions to wards her sister in arms. Maybe she could've talked to Vaggie, explained things and why her idea was a bad one. Or she could lie to her and say she would talk to Adam first so he could get her idea in front of Sera and then just lie about her idea not getting support and Vaggie would drop it. Why did I just attack her? Why was that the first thing that came to mind? No no I can't falter now, it was the only way to protect Purgatory, to keep those souls blessed by the Seraph to be given this new chance. One sister doesn't outweigh the mortal souls we are charged with protecting. Guilt tore into Lute as she tried to justify her actions even as her mind kept coming up with other paths she could've taken.

Her breakdown was interrupted as she took note of the divine power sweeping through the realm. As the great roots that she had recently trimmed started to recede much to her confusion. The roots always seemed to grow back and even if they didn't spread out soon after a trimming, they always seemed to amass yet now the roots were falling back and even shrinking.

Once she broke herself from her stupor Lute had a chance to really take in the feeling of divine power she was feeling as a faint memory in the back of her mind started to rise as there was only one thing, she could relate this to. Adam had explained it to her upon her birth, the divine power of creation of life personified. She had felt it at her birth and yet that had been a filtered and diluted version of the power that few in Heaven had access to beyond the Archangels and Seraphim council. Adam had been blessed with it to forge the army that would become the exorcists yet even he could only use what he had been blessed with and couldn't naturally produce the power on his own. What she was feeling though was much purer than what her memory could recall from her birth. This felt, it just felt so different, greater in a way she couldn't describe or explain and yet she could feel life in all its glory

"God, father of the high heavens is that you?" Lute muttered to herself as looked upon the miracle in her view. He doesn't hate me; he isn't punishing me. He sees all and he took note of my actions and yet instead he has given me a blessing. I may not feel good about what I did but it was necessary. He sees Purgatory and despite the pains the realm is facing he sees it is worth protecting, to hide its flaws until those flaws can be fixed. A deep sense of relief filled Lute as she felt vindication in her choice of action as she looked down upon Purgatory and smiled sending her well wishes to the souls calling it home and knowing they would soon receive a blessing from the father of all that would help put the realm back on track. Maybe I should go down and help out a bit. The roots have receded, so I don't have to keep an eye on them and the time I spend in Purgatory won't cause any risk to the other realms at the moment. Lute thought about it for a moment as she let herself fall within the Void dropping into the realm she had been charged with guarding. While she felt vindicated a small part of her felt that killing the monsters that had tainted the realm would be a great way for her to deal with some of her issues and guilt and breakdown as while she felt like she had not been punished a part of her felt the need to deal out a great deal of violence to help clear her mind and make herself feel better.

In Purgatory itself the divine power had pronounced effects on many blessed items and tools greatly enhancing their power, items that had their blessing fading were suddenly as powerful as they day they had been crafted or blessed. Holy wards that had been at the point of collapse were now as powerful as those crafted by the most powerful and wisest of holy spell casters. Crop yields were suddenly bountiful and healthy free or mostly free of any sort of demonic or cursed energy and even failing or dead crop seemed to become healthy and hearty much to the shock and surprise of the less faithful who worked the land or lived in the lands of the warlocks. Cursed and demonic energy throughout the world was dropping in great amounts while holy power seemed to jump a great deal in potency.

In a section of the city known by the less charitable and jerks of purgatory city was a place called the zoo. The holding cells were built to contain citizens who lost themselves to cursed energy and were becoming feral beasts. Their transformations were being reversed; they were not becoming awakened but rather their humanity was being restored to them. The cursed power was leached out of their bodies as they returned to human form or only partially transformed human forms. There were many cries of joy and celebration as families and friends were reunited and hope filled the gaps that had been growing in the hearts of those who had thought nothing could be done to save their loved ones.

All throughout the world the drop in cursed energy and the increase in holy power had rather annoying consequences for the warlock nations as cursed relics and items fell apart or simply lost any real power beyond being a paper weight. Their magic weakened and it would take a greater amount of effort and power to even cast curses and spells. Even with how holy power was weakening afflicted and the many cursed beasts that mostly ruled the world under the command of the awakened and the Lords of Sin yet they ran into a rather terrifying problem as a woman dressed like an exorcist yet they could easily tell was no human empowered by holy energy was tearing through their ranks with bloody abandon and nothing they seemed to throw at her seemed to slow her down. For the eldest of the awakened and the lords they knew immediately who this warrior was as old memories fell back to the day of the first eruption, the awakening of demonic and holy power in the world. An angel had returned to the world much to their shock and terror unsure of what to do except hide and let their fodder forces act as a meat shield hoping she would tire out or eventually leave and they could keep their heads.

All except for one.

Cain was furious as he felt the holy power flood over the world as cursed energy was suppressed and he felt his own plans being pushed back and slowed down. How dare Heaven interfere now, how dare that overblown useless creator mess up his plans, ruin his future again. How dare he be rejected again. No, he refused to let Heaven dictate his life again. Cain looked upon the tar swap that was Sloth, that was the current state of his mother and how the nightmares that tended to engulf all the souls and loves she had slumbering in her pools had turned into dreams, the thorny and monstrous plants that seemed to grow out of the tar had become beautiful gardens of color and joy. It frustrated Cain how he felt such happiness to see his mother in such a calm state and yet how angry and frustrated he was that her roots were no longer reach beyond Purgatory. This pleasant dream won't last mother. Don't accept his light, you'll only feel disappointment when he abandons you again and you lose his light. Sleep in the dark, accept that you won't find his light and you won't suffer as it's what you have chosen instead of begging for even a scrap of his supposed grace.

"You don't get to ruin what I've built here Heaven. My Purgatory won't be another Babel for you to topple." Cain wished his mother pleasant dreams worrying how violent and active she would become when those dreams ended but also smiling a bit knowing just how much that violence could further his goals as he left his lands for the first time in years as it was time Heaven got a message, his father had sent his soul here and it was time his old man got an idea of just how foolish he was, that Heaven didn't dictate his wants or needs.

Lute paused for a moment as she tore off the head of a demon looking around as she felt a great power heading her way.

"I should've guessed it would be you, his lapdog that would be causing such a mess of things."

Lute growled as she turned to see who was talking. The plains were empty desert except for the corpses of the many she had slaughtered and now a lone human figure that was walking in as if the carnage around them was nothing but an annoyance instead of a message of her power and how he should be threatened. He wasn't human, Lute could tell that immediately from all the power he was giving off and yet it was much more controlled and contained than the power in the souls of the beasts she had fought. Is this one of those awakened or maybe one of the so-called sins of this world. should I kill them if they are a sin? Awakened I could wipe out easily enough, but the Sins are humanities duty to overcome, and it would be wrong of me to take that from them. "Who or what are you? This offer is one time only leave now while I'm in a good mood or join your brethren here as fertilizer for the dirt."

Cain just smiled at the woman in front of him barley holding back a laugh at her arrogance comparing him to the rabble she had been slaughtering. "It's just like the arrogance of Heaven not being able to see others for who they are. We are all the same in your eyes, aren't we? To this day I still don't understand why he so willingly bends to the knee to you rabble."

Lute didn't give the man a chance to speak further deciding at the very least she would remove his blasphemous tongue. The man ducked under her blow not even moving an inch as he bent back that smug smirk on his face just serving to annoy Lute as she flew into the air avoiding an eruption of fire that tried to engulf her. That same fire turned solid as it shielded the man from blasts of energy Lute sent his way as he yawned at her openly taunting the angel that now wanted him very much dead as she dive bombed, smashing through his shield. That caught the man somewhat by surprise as he tried to turn the shattered shield into arms to grab Lute but instead of grinding him into the dirt, she launched into the air at such speed a loud boom could be heard for kilometers as she smashed his face in while the man tried to recover from the sudden shift in gravity, altitude and the pressure as he body rapidly ascended.

Fire erupted from his body as he tried to burn the warrior to make her let go as he formed wings of flame so he could have a controlled descent. Lute did let her target go though before he could recover, she slammed down hard with her leg sending the man down like a rocket smashing into the ground. Lute quickly followed behind him her knee slamming into the mans gut before burying him in punches.

This is starting to get very annoying. I must say she is more of a challenge than I expected but I'm sure that she hasn't noticed yet.

Lute was sweating. Why was she sweating. It was getting warmer, she shouldn't not be feeling the heat, she could fly next to a star and be fine and yet now she was feeling hot, and she didn't understand why.

"Divine protection not doing much I see."

Lute growled at the man realizing how much heat he was now putting off and realized he wasn't some ordinary awakened he was one of the Lords he was a Sin of this world. Honestly, she didn't care all that much at the moment, he would be replaced once she killed him, and humanity would have an easier time cleaning up here. She focused on her divine aura to thicken it around her body smiling as she felt the heat fade, but that moment of concentration needed to deflect the heat was all her prey needed to turn the tables as dozens of molten fists erupted out of the ground taking her by surprise as they pummeled into her. She winced feeling pain, real pain beyond training for the first time in ages as she tried to come up with a plan. The fists were in many ways like the roots she always cut through, but they were much more coordinated and unlike the roots where she knew the direction they were coming from most of the ground was now her enemy and this Sin made sure to keep her pinned to the ground and not give her room to fly out of his reach. Each time she thought she had managed to avoid and get out of the reach of the molten fists the Sin would charge in attacking her himself either getting in punches past her defenses or forcing her back into the box of fire and earth that was trying to turn her into dough.

Lute let out a tired and frustrated roar of anger as she let her holy aura falling letting the heat burn her for but a moment before that feeling was followed up by an internal feeling like she was tearing herself apart as she let her energy erupt from her body. The Sin was taken by surprise as he got his face smacked in by a wall of holy power sending him flying back and looked to actually hurt him as Lute gave herself a chance to catch her breath. Picking up her spear she walked over to her downed opponent and went to stab him in the heart. She was not going to give them their last words, they were much too dangerous to be given a chance to slip away and recover.

"You didn't think fire was my only trick, did you? I know fire is easily the only thing associated with wrath, but darkness is its own form of fury as well."

Lute's spear seemed to stab through nothing as the mans form erupted into flame before it went pitch black and a vacuum-like suction caught Lute dragging her in. "Drown in my darkness, my wrath, my anger. Heaven's rule is coming to an end. All things will be drowned in my fury."

Lute could only gasp and grapple as she seemed to sink in the darkness that had engulfed her. She was drowning, sinking and nothing she did seemed to give her grip or momentum except sink further. She clawed at her throat as she felt her lungs burning, truly burning for the first time in her life as she felt starved for oxygen, as she felt the pressure of the darkness crushing down on her. As she sank all that Lute could think about was how had this spawn of evil beaten her, how had she let this thing beat her. She had failed this world; she had been given the task of protecting it and she had failed. She had failed Heaven, and she had failed Adam. He had trusted her, put his faith in her and she had let him down. Would they even know what happened to her or think the roots had gotten lucky. Would she just be replaced and forgotten, would her replacement be up to the task or had she placed a burden on Heaven and on Adam, on her sisters for not being strong enough for letting her own weakness win and letting this demon have his way.

"no….no….NO!" Lute roared out even as she heard nothing in this darkness, she kept roaring in defiance. She called on everything she had within herself no matter how much pain it brought her as she glowed like a golden light in the nothingness that had swallowed her. She focused her power into her spear feeling it shake and hum as it struggled to contain her power. She focused on crafting a portal and then cut using her spear and power like a scalpel tearing away at the darkness and let herself sink and fall.

Cain laughed as he stood tall in his victory. It had been a tough fight but with time not only would he be stronger, but he would have a might army and his mother at his side. If this fool of an angel was the strongest Heaven's army had then his old man was a fool for following them. His feeling of victory was cut short when a stabbing pain filled his abdomen. What? What's happening? Where is this pain coming from?

Blood erupted from Cain as a hole tore open in his body as Lute fell out of him.

Cain gasped in pain as she struggled to heal himself while Lute dragged herself away to put some distance between the two. Lute did smirk as she noticed how the Sin was not only struggling to heal himself, but he seemed unable to send any attack at her in his current state though she wasn't in much of a position to gloat. Cain in turn was trying to understand how she had escaped, how she had managed to wound him so badly.

"Damm you, you harpy! I don't know what you did but I will make you pay some day! Tell that old fool that the mark one has returned, that his plan failed and that I won't play his game or Heaven's game." He fled sinking into the ground fleeing the scene.

Lute wasn't sure who this soul was, yet he seemed to know Adam. She recalled that Adam had, had another agenda when he had spoken to Sera about creating Purgatory. Was his scheme coming back to bite him. I can think about this later. I need to warn Adam about this. Lute created a portal and fled into the void as she cleaned herself up before heading to Heaven to warn Adam and hopefully come up with a plan to deal with this belligerent soul and keep Purgatory safe.

Cain in turn sunk into the tar of his mother feeling her power wash over him sinking into a deep sleep as he let her power focus on healing him and keeping him safe. He dreamt, the nightmares were not there to drive his anger and yet this pleasant dream seemed to stoke the flames of his wrath just as much. There was Abel, his father and mother and Seth. His family was together and happy; he hadn't caved in his brother's skull. He had not been thrown away. He was Heaven's happy little puppet. He would be no one's puppet. He had stood in defiance every day of his life upon his banishment. He had taught his descendants given them grand plans, showed them how to stand up and move beyond Heaven's puppet strings and yet each time Heaven broke them. Babel was toppled and their tongues were tied, the land was flooded and defiance, disbelief and hatred of the divine dammed them to Hell. I will make creation drown, Heaven will be torn down, and Hell will be snuffed out. I will rebuild creation as it should be the perfect world to sate my wrath.



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In Heaven there was celebration and joy as while the winners didn't really understand what was happening the Heaven born did. Their father, their grand creator, was still keeping an eye on them. They felt his power reach out and improve things, give people a chance, empowered angels and gave them a strength they hadn't felt in ages. They felt purpose and drive, that they had direction again.

The only one that wasn't celebrating was Sera as she knew this wasn't the high father. Sera had been the very first Seraph, the first angel, the first light the lord had placed in creation. She was his prototype in a sense as he crafted the archangels and the other seraphim. She was the one who had taught her siblings, shown them how to use the gifts their father had granted them, and Sera recognized this for what it was. This was Lucifer and yet she couldn't fathom why he had let so much power flow freely. There was no direction or intent beyond a simple plea to help to breathe life and to make things better. He was begging for some form of hope to be made manifest.

I need to go down and see what he did. There was no ill intent, but Lucifer often caused no end of problems even when he didn't mean to. I need to make sure this doesn't cause problems. Sera loved her little brother and every day since his fall she wished he would beg their father for forgiveness, that he would repent and come home. Sometimes she had fantasized about simply dragging home and making him see reason.

"Lucifer, I hope you haven't managed to make to much a mess this time?" Sera whispered as she looked through her schedule before sending a message down to Hell, to the embassy to inform Lucifer that she would be visiting, that a meeting had been set up and that he better be there instead of trying to wriggle out of the meeting like he did with other meetings Heaven set up. She wasn't Adam, she wouldn't just let it go, her brother would see her, and she wasn't above dragging him out of whatever hiding spot he found and publicly putting him over her knee until he promised to stop dodging the meetings she set up.



I live. Sorry, this took so long to update but I started like halfway and then kinda fell off and then came back paragraph by paragraph. Hope you all enjoy this latest chapter everyone. Poor lucifer he has no idea what is happening around him and how he is going to have to deal with something he didn't mean to do at all.

 

[Ghost666]

Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics


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Lucifer wondered if his father was messing with him as he looked at Lilith. Was she really standing in front of him or was this is mind playing tricks on him after using so much power. He pinched himself to make sure what he was seeing was real though that felt rather unnecessary when he found himself lying on the ground after Lilith tackled into him with a hug while peppering him with kisses. "Lilith is that really you?"

"Oh, you silly fool of course its me. Oh, my light it's so wonderful to see you so bright once again." Lilith quickly stood up as she helped Lucifer to his feet before she started slapping him in the face. "Don't you ever do that again. It hurts to see you dim your light so much. It hurt that you never let me help you." Lilith finally just took Lucifer into a big hug happy to see her husband as himself again at least from direct appearances rather than the shell that Hell had shaped him into.

Lucifer just smiled happy to see his wife not caring about her assaulting him before a single question burrowed its way in. Why? Why was Lilith here? What did she mean by his light shining again?

"Lilly don't take this the wrong way but why are you here? I think I may be missing something here."

Beelzebub face palmed at her king's stupidity and lack of awareness while Lilith looked as if she was contemplating slapping Lucifer again while Mammon just laughed eating a bag of popcorn enjoying the show.

"You're kidding right Lucifer? All of Hell saw your light. I felt your power unleash and untethered. Oh, it was like the old days when you showed me around the void when Earth was still being built. To feel that raw energy was unmistakeable and to know you were using it again I had to see you. To see the man, I fell in love with stepping forward again."

Lucifer felt his mind struggling to catch up with what was happening as he had been so happy he had been able to save the angel's life and then everything else had flown out of the window when Lilith had entered the room. Satan wanting to help but not wanting to speak up and show just how lost his king was opened a window curtain and pointed out in a manner only Lucifer would notice.

Huh a blue sky….. Wait why is the sky blue!?!? Where is all the red!?!?!??! Lucifer felt his mind blue screen for a moment as he stumbled forward carefully moving Lilith to the side before, he threw open the window to look outside. The entire skyline of Hell was blue, the heat had been replaced with a pleasant soothing breeze. It took a moment for Lucifer to realise that his power had gone far beyond just healing an angel and possibly making them into something new. No, he had altered and reshaped fundamental parts of Hell and he hadn't even noticed. I hope Sera doesn't notice anything. I need to figure this out and I can't handle that at the same time as he yelling at me.

"I seem to have done more than I though." Lucifer mumbled to himself as he looked at the fabric of Hell thankful that nothing permanent had been done yet still intrigued by how he had reshaped things. He was fascinated by how much he had been able to do as a side effect with no true intent behind his power.

"If you didn't plan to alter Hell as such, what did you do then?" questioned a confused Lilith as she looked around the room wondering why Lucifer was inside of a hospital as Lucifer would never need such a place's services. Her gaze fell upon Vaggie who only waved hello nervously not sure what to say or do as the gaze of the queen of hell fell on her with a look of displeasure growing on her face. Vaggie desperately wanted Lucifer to say something or act as she had no idea if she could do anything while the king of Hell remained distracted as he looked over his kingdom and his accidental work.

"Lucifer who is she?" Her tone was neutral and controlled yet there was an underlying promise of violence as she questioned her still distracted husband who didn't take note of her question… "Lucifer I asked who she is!?" The king jumped as Lilith grabbed him by the collar of his shirt dragging him away from the window and pointing at Vaggie. "Who is she?" a low threatening whisper came from the queen as she wanted answers.

Lucifer in turn knew he couldn't tell Lilith the truth, she didn't like even talking about Heaven and had been fighting tooth and nail to delay the construction of the embassy when Heaven had started imposing their will on Hell. The exterminations had all but destroyed their marriage especially with Adam being involved and he recalled how half of Hell went deaf after Heaven decided to just remove souls from Hell without any explanation. Honestly after that mess he was sure Lilith would never talk with or even meet with him again with how she refused to even work together with him after Charlie went missing and they scoured Hell looking for any trace of her. Lilith had even risked the wrath of Heaven sending small armies of hellborn onto Earth in case someone had summoned her. Come to think of it she is still sending hellborn up to Earth even now. I should probably sort that out before it comes to bite me in the ass later though. Looking at the waiting angry Lilith in front of him though dealing with demonic investigators was put on the back burner

Lilith was one of the very few people Lucifer was sure of that was capable of killing a heaven born or at least making them wish they were dead and honestly; he didn't need that mess just after saving this poor girl's life. Not to mention he wanted to know why she had been in such poor shape anyway. Who had wanted her dead, why and how, he needed that information and if Lilith knew what she was that would make getting information very difficult to near impossible, so Lucifer took the one option he had available to him and decided to try and live up to the name humans gave him. He lied. Oh, this is so going to bite me in the ass later. I hope she believes me, and I hope the others "Mammon" can keep their mouths shut.

"Oh, that's Victoria…. I made her." For a moment silence as Lilith had a blank look on her face as she tried to process the information. Looking behind her Lucifer got a myriad of reactions from the sins as Mammon was doing his very best to hide a great deal of laughter, Asmodeus and Beelzebub were either facepalming or looking at him as if he were an idiot for lying, Belphegor just looked at him like he was an idiot and she wanted everyone out of her hospital, Leviathan had a looked both intrigued and worried and Satan just looked neutral but at least looked as if he was willing to keep a lid on things and support Lucifer in the lie if it was needed. Vaggie on the other hand was very confused as she looked at the king of lies and was about to contradict him, call him out and ask what was going on, why lie about her name though any attempt to reveal the truth died in her throat as a suffocating feeling flooded the room as she found Lilith's gaze resting on her with a cold fury though that anger seemed more like it was aimed at Lucifer.

"You made her." Lilith who had seemed entirely smitten with Lucifer a moment ago looked as if she wanted to strangle him now while Lucifer seemed unable to understand why she was so angry all of a sudden.

"Do you want to replace me like heaven did all those eons ago Lucifer?"

Lucifer realised very quickly he had screwed up by making such a simple statement and not explaining things further. Unlike what humans tended to think, he did not have a plan most of the time, he wasn't scheming and more often than not acted on a whim. I really should plan and think ahead before I act. Being spontaneous doesn't seem to work out very well for me if I think about it.

"No, no, no, she is far to young to be a replacement. Lucifer is nothing like his family, he wouldn't just replace me. He has still been trying to talk, so why did he make her then." Lilith mumbled to herself as she tried to think things over her anger seeming to have dulled for a moment igniting hope in Lucifer, he would have a chance to come up with a more convincing explanation to go with his lie that could avoid the result of the hospital becoming a crater. He didn't need Belphegor being on his case anymore than she already was, the sin of Sloth could be surprisingly vicious for how lazy they tended to be. Belphegor on the other hand was the only one closest to the queen that could hear her mumbling and thinking things over, who realised just where the queen's mind may be wandering and moved to try and warn the king, warn Lucifer and try to get him to stop things from escalating, unfortunately she was just a bit to slow to react and Lucifer far to optimistic that things were going in a positive direction.

"Charlie…. She looks like what my darling little girl could've been had we been able to raise her……" the room was going cold as if the warmth was being sucked out of it as Lilith whispered to herself her own thoughts and doubts as her anger started to swell again as a new and heartbreaking thought filled her mind.

"Lilly, darling is everything alright?" asked a rather nervous Lucifer as he noticed the growing amounts of frost and ice spreading from where Lilith was standing. In turn Satan having seen the way the winds were likely blowing and not wanting to be caught in the middle grabbed the transformed angel and the other sins and rushed out of the hospital while also yelling at the gathered nobility of Hell to get as far back as possible.

"Charlie… my dear little blessing… You're trying to replace her." It came out as a light whisper though this time Lucifer had managed to hear her, and alarm bells went off in his mind not that he really had a chance to try and explain himself as Lilith just exploded on him yelling so loudly even, he had to cover his ears. "How dare you! She is still out there waiting for us and here you are trying to make a replacement! Is that why you stopped looking, why you just locked yourself away? Did our little girl mean so little to you? Is she so easy to replace?" Lucifer felt his heart break as Lilith ranted at him lashing out with her fury and her power as ice and shadow smashed the building around them tearing everything apart.

What hurt the most wasn't the falling parts of the building or the lashing out of Lilith's power that was striking him. No what hurt the most was how easy it was for her to jump to the worst conclusion. To think he had stopped caring, had stopped looking. He however couldn't blame her after how he had just locked himself away and blocked out the world. Dear lord I was acting like my siblings wasn't I.

Lucifer braved the storm of rage and pain as he slowly walked towards Lilith just taking the beating not avoiding any of her attacks. Step by step he moved forward humming an old song, the first song he and Lilith sang together after she had left the garden with him. "Nothing could replace her Lily. Nothing could fill the hole she left. Just take a breath my dear, give your heart a chance to rest. I have been away for far to long." He closed the gap and just hugged Lilith who was just crying and begging for Charlie for their daughter to be returned. Old wounds that had been papered over had been torn open as Lucifer just comforted his wife telling her to rest as he explained himself. How he had only made Victoria as a test of his old powers, to see if he still had any real connection, to see if his father had truly forsaken him. He spun a tale of how Satan had worked and managed to convince him to get back into doing his job of running Hell and this was his first step of sorts into getting back into the role of a leader by flexing his power. To show Hell but more importantly Lilith that he was more than capable of shining brightly again as the Morningstar.



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"Blaze are you sure we should be doing this?" a bird like demon asked as a small army gathered around a palace. "I mean I'm all for a good backstabbing and power grab, but this could really backfire on us."

The heat in the area rose as small pillars of fire erupted near the dissenting and doubting voice. An eagle like being walked out of the shadows of the forest looked at the other demon as if they were a pathetic idiot. "Either do your part or leave. I have no need for weaklings or cowards." The new demon scoffed as he looked at the growing fear in the eyes of the coward. "Now is the perfect time to strike and grab out prize. Every other noble is distracted and heading towards the king to seek answers or his favour. Stolas will be there and so will most of his guards. He will not be able to leave without showing a great deal of disrespect and suffer for it. This is my chance to make sure I get was meant to be mine. Father was a fool for giving him the grimoire." Blaze took one more look around as his magic spread out to make sure everything was safe and smiled a wicked smile as he motioned for his followers to attack.

A small hoard of demons poured out of the forest as Blaze sent out a great stream of fire slamming into and breaking the wards around his father's palace. The small number of guards stolas had left behind had not be prepared and were unable to push back the invading force especially with Blaze taking to the battle fire erupting all around as he burned anyone in his path into a crisp. As his soldiers push forward Blaze stepped into the palace slowly walking through burning the occasional painting of his father's favoured sons. They didn't deserve to be there anyway. He was fathers eldest, his first born, he should've needed no other heir than he. He deserved the right to wield his father's legions, he deserved to hold his father's grimoire not that pathetic waste of space Stolas. Blaze stopped as he found what he was looking for as he looked upon a door that was entirely out of place in his father's palace covered in glitter and stickers.

While pathetic his little brother was no fool, the grimoire would be on his person, there was no way he would leave such a pitiful defence if the book had been left at the palace and trying to fight his brother while he had the book would be an act of suicide. No, he needed another tool and behind the door was that tool. A young owl girl was dragged out kicking and screaming, small bursts of shadow magic trying to strike her attackers to no avail as Blaze's fire prevented any of her strikes that could give her freedom from being true strikes. "Such a frail and tiny little thing. Only my brother could have a child as pathetic as you."

He struck her knocking her out and ending her annoying struggling though the other demons under his command and the few siblings willing to work under him gave a nervous look as they felt small worms of doubt creeping into them. Blaze was powerful but Paimon wasn't a fool so there must have been a reason he had given Stolas the grimoire. Blaze taking note of the doubt lit a ball of hellfire in his palm as he looked down on all his allies "Do not let your doubts and fears weigh on you now. There is nothing Stolas could do that I couldn't do tenfold. Get to work and get her to the safe house. I'll prepare the message to be sent to Stolas. Let's see that pathetic wimp of a goetia with his bleeding heart find a way to reject my demands." Blaze laughed as he walked out of the scorched palace confident in his success and future elevation and enjoying the thought of tormenting Stolas.

Unbeknownst to Blaze looking through an enchanted Paimon looked down on his son with a look of curiosity and just apathy at how pathetic he thought Blaze was being. How stupid must his son be for if he thought Stolas to be his lesser by showing his own jealousy and envy it made him even more pathetic than he thought Stolas was. It was rather sad, he had once held such high hopes for Blaze when he had first noticed his son's potential but that had quickly faded when he saw how his son squandered that potential, was a brute of a man and just didn't seem to understand the actual purpose of Paimon's job. Not to mention how he viewed Blaze as a coward. Most if not all of the assassination attempts against Paimon had been organised, orchestrated, planned and egged on by Blaze. The welp used his brothers and sisters as meat shield so his hands would never be dirty enough for Paimon to muster up the motivation to punish him but honestly it was time Blaze learned his lesson. Consider this your first true test Solas. How will you act and treat this challenge to your authority and power?



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Purgatory city

Walking down the halls of a grand cathedral a lone snake man looked through several notes of after-action reports of the battle in Farm and how it had been taken under the control and stewardship of the Holy Council and the Purgatory government. He didn't care much about the collapse of a warlock led nation, but he was annoyed he was going to have to take stock of all the new supplies and equipment that this new land grab had brought in. "I'm not some office clerk; I have actually important work I need to do, and this is just getting in my way."

The man knew it was all a game of politics though. As an afflicted even with his position in the running of the city he lacked the same level of respect, and many were weary of his presence. He was sure the only reason he had even manged to climb as high as he had was due to the many medical breakthroughs and treatments he had invented and his work in treating and reducing the number of and the worsening of those who suffered from affliction. What really gave him his support and backing however was the political backing of the exterminators and the military of Purgatory. His advances in medicine and technology made their job safer and easier and thus they had a vested interest in his wellbeing.

The backing and support were appreciated even if that meant he was stuck dealing with menial jobs every now and again but what he did care about was the great deal of latitude he got with his work. Oversight was a rare thing he had to deal with and at the moment he was rather glad about that fact as he had found an interesting project to start working on and many an eyebrow would be lifted and unnecessary attention and people being uncomfortable could end up giving his enemies a chance to take a shot at him.

In his hands was not just after-action reports but also immigration papers and medical records. It had been a few months since the battle at Farm and learning about the miracle child and how she had unleashed such power from the spear. Since the girl's arrival he had started a little experiment to test out if the reaction the spear had with the girl was a fluke or if she was truly something special. He had made sure she had direct interaction with sin and blessed energy through a variety of means be it by having agents spiking food and water or even during medical visits and check-ups. Sometimes he did feel bad for using a little girl as an unknowing lab rat but when he looked at the preliminary results his mind instead switched lanes into the possibilities of the future as the child truly did seem to be blessed. He body filtered blessed and sin energy as if they were natural parts of her system. There was no degradation, no rejection it was all flowing in a perfect symbiosis that he just knew he could learn so much from if he had the time and resources once he figured out how to convince the council to act or at the very least the exterminators. With her gifts I could learn how to better fight affliction, maybe even cure it. I could rid myself of this accursed form and take back my humanity in full… I could even retain the power this curse provided me. This girl is a font of knowledge, I just need to figure out how to access that knowledge without the others catching on and cutting me out of the picture.

Screens lit up as he went over surveillance, he had set up to keep an eye on her knowing he was likely not the only one keeping an eye on the girl. The city had fallen into an invisible war being waged by its leaders as every faction of the leading council of Purgatory knew that the girl would be an important part of the future of the city and thus also their role and position in that future. Pentius truly did feel for the girl who was unknowingly a pawn in a grand game for the future, but he didn't care to lose that game or be on a losing team.



Sorry this chapter took so long it just took a great deal of effort to put out the first half with constant starts and stops. The second half came out a bit easier and I feel like I have a good rhythm going at the moment, so I hope to update this sooner than the release gap between this chapter and the previous one. Hope it is a good read and has been worth the wait I made you all wait. Enjoy the latest fruits of my labour.

 

[Ghost666]

Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics


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The nobles of Hell were not sure what was going on. One moment things seemed call enough as they waited for a chance to see their king and much to their surprise their queen after many spied lady Lilith rushing into the hospital building calling for her husband. A few minutes later the sins were rushing out of the building with an unknown extra demon in Satan's hands while the hospital was falling apart behind them either freezing over in parts or powerful surges of sonic magic tearing everything apart or even simply stealing the sound away from an area. The nobles unsure of what to do simply fell back on the basic wait and see approach even if they backed up a fair few kilometres just in case the queen decided to expand the range of her wrath even if they were struggling to understand why she was likely so angry. There were whispers among many nobles wondering if they should leave and come back a bit later yet many felt it would be disrespectful to the king who had finally made himself known again after years of leaving things in the hands of the queen and sins and also nobody wanted to be the first ones to leave lest they incur the wrath of the sins or the king if he wanted them all here for something important. Any idea of leaving early and waiting for things to calm down quickly vanished with the sins landing in front of them, Satan letting someone out of his hands before looking back at the 'conversation' going on between the king and queen.

The goetia looked among themselves as they tried to figure out who the stranger was among the sins and why she was likely so important. Had the king decided to choose and elevate a new demon to be his queen? Was that why the queen lady Lilith was so angry? No that was unlikely as the damage being done was much more contained than it should be considering just how powerful the queen was, no something else was going on.

Eventually someone managed to gather the courage to ask the sins what was going on. "Lord Satan if I may be so bold but who is this young lady with you at the moment?"

The other sins rolled their eyes at the deferral to Satan though it was understandable due to him handling the enforcement of the laws of Hell and making sure the goetia didn't start a war with each other every other week. Mammon though hid a growing grin as an idea popped into his head to mess with Satan and Lucifer he just needed to wait for the chance as he dragged the angel girl to his side out of the sight of everyone else as Satan got swamped by the goetia as after the first question asked many felt brave enough to voice their own concerns and confusion.

"Look girly how about a deal, I help you and you help me?"

Vaggie didn't looked impressed, nor did she feel very compelled to take the demon up on his offer no matter how confused she felt about where she was and what had happened to her. Everything felt different in a way she couldn't really describe. "Why do I need your help? Lucifer seems like he will have this sorted out once he is done talking with the queen."

Mammon broke out in a small giggle as he forced himself to keep his laughter in check not wanting to draw attention to his little scheme. "If you think old Lucy has any control on this situation you are just as delusional as those idiots up on Earth. The man is comically inept at the best of times. No, the ones running the show down here are Satan and queen Lilith because they actually have heads on their shoulders and not whatever circus for a brain Lucifer has and do you know what that means?"

Vaggie shook her head though she didn't like the growing feeling of a pit in her stomach as the demon continued to speak.

"It means that you are on a time limit girly. The queen doesn't like you and while Satan may defer to Lucifer on this situation the queen will find a way to get Lucifer to see things her way and all things considered I don't think that will end well for you." Mammon gave a big toothy grin as he watched a sense of despair and fear grow in the girls eyes as he let her imagine the worst possibilities of her future when in all honesty the most likely thing that would happen is her simply being abandoned by Lucifer and all things considered the girl seemed more than strong enough to survive in Hell but he could tell she was lacking information which meant she was an easy mark to manipulate. Wow they really don't know much about Hell up in Heaven, do they? Or they think things are still like the good old days not realising just how pathetic Lucifer has gotten.

"Look Victoria I aint looking for your soul or anything. I really just enjoy messing with Lucifer and you need a patron to back and support you with the queen being on the war path. So how about a bit of quid quo pro. I help you keep your head, and you help me have a laugh by screwing with Lucifer and Lilith without having to get my hands dirty. Heck, you don't even have to do much just smile and nod or wave, whichever feels ok for you."

Vaggie wasn't impressed though she was scared even as she tried to hide her fear recalling just how angry the queen had been when she had seen her. The deal was tempting, and it didn't seem to cost her much at all, but it also put her at risk if the queen got even angrier at her. Vaggie spoke out with any small annoyance she had as a way to stall the demon in front of her as she thought about the deal he was offering. "Victoria isn't my name, its…" she froze up for a moment as she felt a stabbing pain in her head by her eye, the only wound that hadn't properly healed with her transformation. "My name is Vaggie." She held her eye trying to hold back the pain as she felt a burning as if a wound had been exposed to air as memories flashed almost too fast to comprehend some feeling like damaged or burned old polaroid photos as Vaggie tried to make sense of her thoughts and memories. Some hidden and blocked due to her trauma and others missing or damaged due to her rapid transformation and the wounds she had received.

Mammon hid a grin taking note of the girl struggling to remember her own name. a bit of damage to the old thinker huh. Well, this could be very useful. Lucifer won't be able to abandon his sick little puppy, Lilith will get driven up the wall and all I need to do is warm up a bucket of popcorn.

"Well Victoria do we have a deal." Mammon smiled as he held out his hand

Vaggie frowned at the demon refusing to use her name but sadly she didn't think she had much choice in taking him up on his deal. She had no real friends and relying on Lucifer's support alone for her survival was a fool's gamble and she couldn't risk it when the queen seemed out for her blood for reasons she couldn't understand. It was a distasteful decision, but it was the best option she had at the moment. Vaggie almost wanted to cry, she had only been stuck in Hell for a few hours by her own knowledge and she was already making a deal with a demon. She held out her hand and shook hands with the demon, her soul wasn't sold, she didn't feel any hellish power attempting to bind her will, no true hellish deal or contract had been made or signed and yet Vaggie still felt like she had lost something, something fundamental that she wouldn't be able to get back, she had compromised and she realised that while it was a small line she had crossed that wouldn't be the last line, once you crossed one it was just easier to cross the next and the next.

"I believe this will be the beginning of a wonderful business arrangement. Names Mammon, sin of greed and I do say I think we will be good acquaintances in the future." They shook hands though Vaggie took note of Mammon's words and knew this was not a true partnership. He wasn't her friend, and neither was she his, this was something set up as an association by convenience and desperation. The power balance and disparity between her and Mammon was wide and she needed him while she was just entertainment for him.

As Mammon turned his back on her to keep an eye on the game of panic and politics Satan was trying to wrangle Vaggie could only look at the retreating back of the demon Mammon and feel anger and frustration at her own weakness and desperation. How she had thrown away even just a small bit of her principles just at the chance of survival, to have the aid of even an untrustworthy ally in this dangerous new life she had been thrown into. She wanted to hurt Mammon, hurt the sin of greed to get back even just a bit of her self-worth, to show him she didn't need him as much as he thought.

A dagger formed in her hand as she stared at Mammon's back.

She dropped the wicked blade as soon as she felt its weight in her hand looking at her hands in shock and terror, feeling shame and horror at herself. How had she been able to craft and form the blade so easily, so casually, how had she known what Mammon was when all she had been given was his name. New power, new knowledge both out of her hands, emotions she hadn't ever really thought about felt amplified and slipping out of her grip and shaping and moving her instead of her having control of herself anymore. I wanted to hurt him just because of how small he made me feel. I was willing to hurt him… What is happening to me? Vaggie didn't have a chance to really ponder her new existence as Mammon made his move to have his entertainment.

Satan had lost track of Mammon for a moment as he dealt with the many questions of the nobility getting them to calm down and getting everything in order as they were calling for the chance to talk to the king and queen seeking answers, hoping for answers many had been hunting for since Heaven had their little clean up of Hell and they lost the last bits of contact they had with the royals when they just shut themselves away.

"Who is the girl with you? Who is she that you rescued her from the building?"

A simple question to answer even if he was going to use a lie. Just call her an experiment crafted by Lucifer, a test to see how much of his angelic power he still had. That this was their king's attempts to see if he could actually protect Hell and its people from Heaven if larger actions were taken against Hell that went further than just acting against the sinners. Such simply and easy methods to gain control of the crowd and to get them to just shut up and listen, unfortunate for Satan there was a certain spider that just loved causing him and Lucifer chaos to deal with.

"Meet your new princess everyone, meet princess Victoria!" Mammon had crafted giant speakers that let his voice echo over the crowd reaching all ears. Satan froze up as he looked at Mammon as if he was insane and wanting to squish him under his foot as fire and smoke started to spew from his mouth. Unfortunately, Satan had made a mistake in turning his attention away from the nobles in his search to find and punish Mammon as the jester sin of greed further played up his own lie to the crowd by using a string of webbing he had attached to Vaggie to drag her in front of the crowed whispering in her ear for her to just show her wings.

Nervously Vaggie complied and unfurled her wings, leathery bat like demon wings sharing space with feathery dove like angel wings and a single horn growing on her head clear for all to see. While the goetia gazed upon her Mammon had dozens of robotic servants spreading among the nobles answering their questions with his voice as he moved through the crowd to keep out of Satan's sight. "Such a perfect blending of heaven and hell. Only the daughter of Lucifer could radiate this power. Queen Lilith was angry due to not being able to have her daughter in a natural manner. The child was hidden to avoid Heaven learning of her existence. The child was kept isolated to hide her from the politics of Hell. She was kept isolated until her power could be properly contained so she didn't hurt herself or others. The queen wanted her hidden to hide her shame at not being able to mother a child. The king wanted her hidden to keep her from himself and his queen." Mammon spread rumours and lies and deception among the nobility until they were all talking amongst themselves spreading Mammon's words further and faster, sometimes keeping information solid and straight and other times bending it and putting their own fantastical spin on it.

Satan eventually managed to get his hands on Mammon, but it was far to late as Bee pulled on his arm to grab his attention showing the gather goetia all bowing before the girl, only a few were slower than the others looking at ancient grimoires before they themselves were bowing and praising the new princess of Hell.

"Hell, dammit Mammon! Why would you do this? I don't need my job being made more difficult and I don't need you starting a fight between the king and queen."

Mammon just laughed shrugging even in the tight burning grip of Satan. "I like to cause messes and its even funnier if that mess spills on you or Lucifer." Mammon choked as Satan crushed his throat. The giant dragon of a demon only bemoaning the fact that his fellow sin would heal sooner or later, and he would no longer have some blessed silence and freedom from the chaos Mammon liked to dump on his lap.

"Bee please keep him from causing any more trouble. I need to figure out how to deal with this before more trouble comes my way. I also need to figure out a suitable punishment for Mammon here because I honestly think he's starting to enjoy the pain I cause him, or he gets enough jollies out of annoying me that he doesn't care about the pain." Growled out the rather annoyed and tired sin of wrath. Mammon was a walking talking aggravation for him made worse by the fact Mammon knew how to skim the edges of the few true rules and laws Hell had making it even harder to pin him down for a proper punishment. He and Lucifer literally had armies of lawyers, sinner and Hellborn alike working on finding a way to finally trap Mammon and block any escape he could make to weasel his way out of legal trouble or proper punishments. Mammon had made avoiding accountability an art form much to Satan's annoyance, it truly frustrates him to no end that Mammon put more work and effort into being a pain in the ass than in doing his job running Greed.

"I have a fabulous idea, Bee. Why not take Mammon down to my ring. I have the perfect gear to hold him down while we punish him."

Mammon let out a gurgled laugh as his throat hadn't healed properly not believing Beelzebub or Asmodeus could come up with anything even possible of being labelled as a good punishment.

"You should take this a bit more serious Mammon. When we get to Lust, you'll be tied down in front of a pleasant fireplace."

Mammon rolled his eyes not taking anything seriously. It had been decades since Bee had ever come up with a good punishment or torture system. She spent way too much time keeping her parties going and making her honey. Asmodeus had nothing that scared Mammon at all, at best he could end up using him as a tester for his more exotic and dangerous toys and that didn't phase Mammon at all.

"And while your immobile I'll be burning your money one dollar at a time."

Mammon froze up then started freaking out as he tried to break free of Beelzebub's grip. "Is it too late for the lava fields, I hear they are extra hot this time of year. Heck, I don't mind being a punching bag for Satan, I'll even drop half my legal team at the next meeting Lucifer, and I have." Mammon was begging and pleading the moment his throat had healed to try and save his money while Bee and Ozzie dragged him through a portal. Mammon tried to ask the other sins for help, but Belphegor was sleeping on the ground, and Leviathan was asking Bee to make a recording of Mammon's punishment.

Satan felt like he had been played for a fool for eons now. why had he never thought about simply threatening Mammon's money. Then again rarely was Mammon in a position to be caught like this and he rarely if ever left Wrath. I'll think about this later. Right now, I just need to figure out how to get the nobility to stop all this praise of a fake princess before lady Lilith sees it. She'll really blow a gasket then. Of all the sins only Belphegor and Satan had really known about Charlie about the child of Lilith and Lucifer, and he knew just how angry Lilith would get if, no when she learned of this.

Luck and more importantly time was not on Satan's side as a rather annoyed voice joined by a confused, yet curios voice directed at him caught his attention. "Satan what's going on?"

Satan didn't immediately turn to face the voices rather he turned to where the portal to Lust should've been hoping to be able to grab Mammon and use him as a shield but also forcing the spider to explain things instead of leaving it to him. No such luck, the spider was gone for now meaning he was stuck explaining everything. "Well, your majesties it's like this… it's all Mammon's fault."



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Andrealphus was ecstatic learning about the princess the man going over political game plan after political game plan and how he could raise his status as a goetia. Stolas in turn found the reveal both as a sign that Hell may be leaving its current state of stagnation but also worried about what could happen in the new period of advancement that the princess could represent. There were many demons who loved the current status quo and would not be happy seeing their gold mine drying up and would fight to try and keep things as they were. Stolas may not be the biggest fan of his brother-in-law, but he knew the man would be needed with his love of the political game if they wanted their families to stay afloat and even thrive in the up coming unknown future Hell would face.

"Do you think our little Octavia would be able to befriend the princess? She is starting to come of age and having a friend with status like the princess would help shield her somewhat from the growing pains of her youth and interacting with her peers." Stella sipped her tea as she wondered aloud about the possibilities of bringing her family closer to the royal throne even if only by association. Andrealphus gave a big smile as he was already thinking about plans on how to get his niece and the princess to meet each other by 'chance' the man giddy at the idea his sister had given him. Stolas felt a bit apprehensive about using his daughter as a political tool even though he knew many of the other goetia would gladly use their children in such a manner couldn't bring himself to object to the idea. Stella was right growing up as a goetia, as Hell nobility didn't offer one a shield from the violence of Hell, often it painted an even bigger target on someone. No matter how kind or friendly a face looked, there was always a hidden knife or bottle of poison or curse hidden behind the back of the demon giving you that smile or friendly look. This could be rather healthy for his daughter having a friend as politically powerful and personally powerful as the princess would be and how that could let his little girl have a normal life growing up or at least as normal a life as a noble could have.

Stolas felt a slight buzz from his grimoire. A single message appeared on a blank page, a message from his father. A test is coming. Be prepared and don't disappoint me. Good luck Stolas, you are going to need it.

Stolas felt a pit grow in his stomach as he looked over the short message from his father wondering what he was talking about. His thoughts were interrupted by an imp butler arriving with a buzzing mirror. Picking it up Stolas wondered if it was his father calling to clarify what the message, he sent was, but it wasn't his father, rather it was his brother, his eldest brother. "To what do I owe this pleasure Blaze." Stolas wasn't sure how to feel about the call. Blaze had been the loudest of his siblings to challenge their father on giving him the true ancient grimoire. Had called it a disgrace of a decision to give it to one as young as Stolas. He had actively challenged Stolas to claim it several times, though much to Stolas' confusion many of his siblings, even the ones that didn't like him had stood in his defence. Stolas had learned that Blaze while one of Paimon's most powerful children he had not made any friends, being responsible for the most deaths of his own siblings than any other of Paimon's children.

"What no hello, how are you, Stolas. I feel hurt, where is that courteous and welcoming nature of yours Stolas?

"We both know you're not calling to see how I am. What do you want Blaze?"

The fake jovial nature and tone Blaze had been giving off vanished as the usual cruel and harsh energy Blaze usually gave off almost started to crack the mirror. "You know what I want runt. I want Father's grimoire; it is mine by right and should never have gone to a pathetic weakling like you."

Stolas laughed at his brother unable to take him seriously. "And what does that say about you that Father gave it to me and not the all-powerful Blaze. No, I think I'll be keeping the grimoire, Blaze." Stolas went to shut off the call but was stopped by Blaze who continued to talk with a rather hard glaze of anger in his voice now.

"I wouldn't end this call if I were you Stolas, after all you wouldn't be able to know where to send the book after all once you bend to my demand." Stolas wanted to laugh at his brother but felt the humour die in his through when Blaze allowed the image of the mirror to expand now it showed him next to a damaged and burning castle and Stolas realized where his brother was calling from. "You were smart enough to keep father's grimoire on your person but sadly it seems you didn't hire very good security. Not to mention the wonderful little bargaining chip I found."

Stolas felt his heart stop as Blaze lifted an unconscious Octavia up so she could be seen in the mirror clearly. "Such a fragile little thing. Bring the grimoire to the wastelands of Greed by midnight tomorrow or well I'm sure you and your blushing bride can have another heir prepared."

The mirror shattered as Stolas felt his rage bubble over, shadows flooded the tent at the sheer audacity of his brother going after his daughter. Stella and Andrealphus rushed out of the tent to avoid the initial wave of shadows not sure what was going on until Stolas had managed to calm down enough to explain the situation. Stolas knew his father knew what was happening and he couldn't give the grimoire to his brother as this was likely the test his father had mentioned. He felt angry recalling how Paimon had seemed to enjoy spending time with Octavia so why hadn't he stopped this but then again if he failed would his father simply take Octavia under his own wing. Either way he lost his daughter, and he couldn't handle that even as an idea or option.

Stolas couldn't leave. He and his entourage had been some of the first to arrive and it would be seen as a great insult if they left now not to mention they would lose an advantage of being the first to see and be able to talk to Lucifer, Lilith and the sins. If he could manage a meeting early enough, he could petition at least Satan for aid in this situation with how the sin was known for not really caring for the games of the nobility and just enforcing his will and Hell's laws.

Another idea was brought up by Andrealphus as a call to check up on the castle staff that had survived gave them the knowledge that the stores of angelic weapons was untouched Blaze hadn't even noticed them or if he had had simply left them alone not thinking them as anything worth taking. Stolas recalled one of his siblings once telling him about how short-sighted Blaze tended to be, the man never once thinking more than a step or two ahead. The true grimoire lit up catching everyone's attention as names started appearing in the book and a path was provided for Stolas to take to save Octavia.

I.M.P, passage to earth, angelic payment, Striker, humiliation, capture.

Andrealphus had heard of Striker, an imp assassin of great renown for being capable of even taking out lower-level nobility. Expensive but worth the cost, I.M.P was something none of them had heard of though as Stolas search over the Vox net to see what or who they were. Learning about the organisation was a bit funny seeing how a group of imps had managed to find ways to get to earth without being summoned by a human and were selling their services as revenge assassins.

Sending imp assassins after Blaze on a rescue mission would certainly send a message and it would also mean they didn't have to risk getting the ire of Hells rules by simply leaving to deal with the issue themselves. Stolas wondered what the grimoire meant by capture and humiliation, but he was sure he would figure it out once his daughter was safe again.

Andrealphus started making some calls to start organising as Stella and Stolas left the tent to act as if everything was normal. They couldn't afford any weakness being shown as if the other nobles learned of Blaze's actions, they would start taking their own shots at Stolas hoping to claim something while they could show off the privilege that they had managed to strike against the family of Paimon. Stolas was sure the other goetia princes would support their own children against him to spite Paimon and he didn't feel like suffering his father's wrath for showing any weakness his enemies would feel like they could take advantage of. Stolas could only chuckle at the dream of the punishment Blaze would face under their father's ire for pulling a stunt like this on such an important occasion. You have no idea the pain and suffering I will bring upon you Blaze once I have my hands around your throat.



Well, here is a fun present for all you readers. A new chapter out earlier than usual for how long the last one took to come out. Mammon clear to his jester roots likes to make fun of his king and it looks like we will be having a few other players entering the game. Blaze really has no idea the fun I plan to have writing his punishment once he loses in the next few chapters that is gonna be fun. Well looks like Vaggie is also going to be stuck dealing with the nobility and rules of Hell also suffering a bit of brain damage from her trauma at being betrayed but also having a knife in her head wonder how that's gonna affect some things. Enjoy this latest chapter readers.

 

[Ghost666]

Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics


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Blitzo sat on his bed his head in his hands as he contemplated the many decisions he had made in his life. Sure, there were some regrets, but he could accept those regrets as they led him to a much calmer and clearer life, the weight of his regrets was lighter than they had been in years, they didn't feel like they were smothering him, controlling him. "I just started to get my life together again. Why did this sort of thing need to happen now?" Blitz whispered into his hands as he looked at a letter, he had dropped the seal of the Goetia emblazed on the front.

Veroskia walked into the room wondering what was going on as seeing Blitz like this always filled her with dread as she feared he would start backsliding, but this seemed different as it seemed like he was consumed by fear. "Blitz are you ok?" she called out as she sat down next to him holding him in a comforting hug. She noticed the discarded letter but missed the emblem on it as she wondered who had sent Blitz mail. "If it's your old man, don't pay him any mind Blitz and if its from your past we'll work on it together. Just don't push me away please not after all the work we put in."

Blitz tried to give Veroskia a comforting smile, but he just couldn't hold it as he showed her the emblem on the letter. "Wish it was my old man then I could do something about the issue. This is so much worse, got a job offer something I'm sure I may not come back from."

"The don't go, say no." Verosika had a good idea of what the job being asked for could be considering the side business Blitz did whenever he went up to Earth as part of her security detail. "Pulling a job on Earth for the Goetia will chain you to the who political mess in Hell. Say no and leave it alone, the risk is too big."

"Unfortunately, it isn't a hit on Earth, a hit would've been an easy job even with the politics in mind. No, I've been asked to take on a job here in Hell, a smash and grab job with rescue on the side." Verosika frowned as she tried to understand why this job scared Blitz so much if it was taking place in Hell and was a simple grab job, then again nothing involving the Goetia was ever simple.

"Well, it's about who my partner is, a big shot assassin named Striker. He is only ever called on big jobs involving high ranking and powerful Goetia V. if he is involved then I'm really scared about this whole situation and since I was asked personally, my organization I.M.P was called to get involved I can't say no or the Goetia will work to bury me and everything connected to me. I can't let you get hurt; I can't let the others get hurt but I'm so scared I may not come back." Blitz fell onto his back as he just sank into the bed letting his fear and worry weigh him down. He let out a small deprecating laugh at himself. "Don't even know why I'm so scared just because of who my partner is, don't even know the job and I'm almost to scared to leave the apartment."

Verosika wasn't looking at Blitz rather her gaze had turned to a room with a decorated door and a small smile grew on her face as she thought of the young girl sleeping behind that door and how she had saved Blitz, helped rebuild the man and some of the bridges he had burned. She then turned to Blitz as she pulled him off of the bed and made sure to force him to stand on his feet. "Blitz you are a good man and a great fighter. I know this letter is scary, this job is scary, but nothing will keep you down. This may seem scary but remember the first few therapy sessions you had, how you literally jumped out of the 10th​ floor of a building just to try and avoid your issues. And if the job scares you so much make yourself a promise that you will talk to Fizz when you get back. You were honest with me so be honest with him for a change and if you feel that isn't enough make a promise to yourself and go walk into Loona's room and promise to take her to Lu Lu Land. We both know you'd never break a promise to that girl, so you'll come back from whatever job they are asking you to do."

Blitz gave a small chuckle as he looked at Loona's room. The young hellhound had saved him in more ways than one. He had found her by complete accident after breaking out of prison during the mess that had been Heaven zapping sinners in mass instead of the regular scheduled exterminations and he had ended up hiding in a hellhound orphanage from guards chasing after him. He had pretended to be a prospective adoptive parent to avoid getting thrown out and boy had the place been depressing and then he had seen her that small young girl doing her best to look tough but being unable to hide the hurt and pain. It was her eyes, her eyes reminded him of his own whenever he looked in the mirror and couldn't hide from himself. He didn't know why but he took her in as his own, the matrons warned him she was a tough girl to place having been sent back at least two other times, yet all Blitzo could think about was her eyes. Taking care of Loona had been a tough gig as his pay checks from the circus had been stretch just to take care of himself and now, he was taking big risks with his finances looking after Loona and yet he felt the risk was worth it. There had been some incidents of broken cups, plates and even the occasional piece of furniture, he recalled the first time she had broken something entirely by accident how scared she was he would throw her away. He recalled the look of complete awe when he had told her that a dad couldn't just throw away their child and since she was his daughter, he couldn't throw her away.

Blitz mind fell back to how Loona had ended up bringing him and Verosika closer together again. How Loona had gotten really sick, and he had been unable to get an extension on his paycheck, no one was willing to give him a loan and he knew nothing about Hellhound biology and was terrified that he could make her sick if he tried to help her. He ended up throwing his pride away as Loona was far more important, he had found a way to talk with Veronika and had begged on his knees for her help. Verosika had been quite surprised how Blitz had been more than willing to become her slave for her help. She had been quite surprised when she found out that Blitz had not been trying to scam her bat had actually been that desperate for her help. Helping him look after Loona had been an odd experience as she got to see the side of Blitz she had fallen in love with the first time, and she had hated how that flame was still burning even after all he had done to hurt her. Looking after Loona had forced the two to be around each other for a lot longer than either had cared for at the start and ended up with the two blowing up at each other and for the first time actually talking not just about their break up in how it hurt Veroskia but why Blitz had run, why he had been so scared about everything, about how he felt and cared about her.

Verosika had disappeared for a few days after that mess and Blitz had been more than willing to just forget about her just so he didn't have to face his own issues, but Loona had gotten attached, and she wanted to see her again. Blitz had broken after the first hour of her puppy dog eyes. He had put in the effort to go see Verosika and the two had talked for a while and having had a chance to calm down and talk with cooler heads the two came out better for it even if Verosika hadn't been willing to commit without Blitz going to talk to a professional.

"You know it's a cheap move using Loona to motivate me, right?" Blitz gave a low but hearty chuckle as he felt the strength coming back to his body as he thought back on how long it took to get here in his life and all the work and effort, he had put in. No, he couldn't run away now no matter how scared he was and wouldn't risk the lives of everyone he cared about just to save his own ass. As Blitz turned to go talk to Loona he stopped for a moment as he turned to face Verosika again. "V before I do anything else there is something I need to ask you. There is a chance I won't come back from this so would you be willing to be added to Loona's parental papers. She already sees you like a mom, and I know you love spending time with her. We've always talked about the future and well Loona was always going to be part of that future, so I was hoping." Blitz had started rambling as his nerves got the better of him, Verosika shut him up with a big kiss.

"Yes, yes, a dozen times yes you big fool. Loona means the world to me and I'm sure she would love to be able to call me mom officially, but enough of this depressing I may not come back stuff. You are coming back and then we are going to celebrate with the most expensive party I can think of." Verosika gave Blitz a big hug and a kiss on the forehead before shoving him into Loona's room so he could say what he needed to say and make the promise he needed to make before going off to do something really stupid.



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Striker wondered who had blessed him with so much recent luck as he looked over the calling card sent to him. Business had been good the last few years as sinners flooded him with cash to kill off weakened overlords and even the Goetia had gotten more active in their backstabbing, and he had been paid well to off upstarts and those who lost favour, power or allies. He had never gotten a job as high up as from the House of Paimon one of the true princes of Hell. A smash and grab job and against Blaze of all Goetia made Striker just giddy with excitement. Blaze was an infamous name among the Goetia and assassins in general with how often they were hired to try and kill the royal prick.

Striker had lost a lot of allies and business partners due to Blaze and even some of the few people he would call friends. As a point of business and avoiding risk Striker didn't like to personal meetings with his clients but for this chance, he was more than willing to take the risk. The pay would be good and the chance for revenge and the elevation of his name in taking down a big named Goetia like Blaze was a dream come true. "Shame I'll have to share the credit with some partners but then again going after Blaze alone is a death wish so having meat shields won't be too much of a hassle to work with." Striker was curious about what Blaze had done though as he had always seemed so untouchable but now to have someone as highly ranked as him put a price on his head and personally hiring a squad to take him down. What he did is irrelevant, but it would be nice to rub it in his face or I could lie and make up some pathetic joke of a story to diminish the reason we were sent after him kick the idiot while he is down. The reason didn't matter much to Striker in the end he had fame and fortune in his future, and he was so happy Blaze had made the mistake of screwing up to give him this opportunity.



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Moxxie was dead tired as he finished looking over the latest account books of his father's gang but was glad to see all the numbers in the green even if he knew his father wouldn't care about the work, he put in to make sure their accounts were good. All the old man cares about is that the money keeps coming in, nothing about what we already have and how its being handled. Moxxie often wondered how his old man's finances hadn't collapsed in on itself, honestly the only reason his old man's gang was still afloat was Crimson himself as those working under him were far to scared of the man to risk screwing with him or their own pay check and his business partners and rivals were either not strong enough to knock Crimson over or were smart enough to see that Crismon's gang's life was on a timer.

Fear was all Crimson had as Moxxie had learned over the years as he grew up under his father's thumb and he had also learned his father lacked the flexibility he needed to expand and grow after spending time in the other rings, meeting his wife and even the time he spent in Pride when he was hiding from his dad. Working part time for Blitzo had been an interesting time as the man knew so little about handling money except for using it. Spending time with Milly in Wrath had tough him how to handle himself better, how to stand up for himself and be more than the whipping boy his father had raised him to be and spending time with Blitz in Pride had just shown him how small and short sighted his father's gaze was, how inflexible the man was and how much he had improved his own skills, expanded what he was capable of doing and the contacts and allies he had made.

Moxxie recalled the time he had gotten so drunk he had been willing to actually talk to Blitz about his past, about his dad and why he was in Pride in the first place. Blitz had laughed, not at him but at the situation and much to Moxxie's surprised had spent a good deal of time insulting and making fun of his dad and then Moxxie realised he could do exactly the same, his father didn't have an infinite reach, he realised just how small and limited his father was, how he had stagnated. Blitz told him it was important not to let a man like his father be the person that had a free place to live in your head, to run your life like an asshole like him wanted you to live it. The next day while they were sober Blitz ended up taking them to a firing range and had paid extra to have special targets set up to look just like Crimson. It was here Moxxie internalised and finally realised that his father had no true control over him but the control he gave.

He went back home and suffered his father's wrath in punishment, but his old man hadn't killed him and immediately put him back to work, killing rivals, collecting protection money, gutting snitches and eventually counting the books. As time passed while his father never got any better in how he treated him the rest of the gang started to see him in a better light, it was respect and Moxxie loved the feeling knowing that in his own way despite all of Crimson's effort the old man was losing and Moxxie was winning. It would take time, but Moxxie had the patience because he knew his way of doing things would far outlast his old man and once Crimson was old and feeble Moxxie would take over and enjoy rubbing it in his dad's face that he was taking the gang to far greater heights in power and influence than it had even been under Crimson.

Moxxie was pulled out of his daydream of usurping his father by his personal cell ringing. Why is Blitz calling? Its far to late in the day for this to be social." Answering Moxxie got the chance of a lifetime as Blitz told him about a job offer, he had received but the risk was so great he didn't want to go in with just himself, Millie and a single extra partner. He wanted to know if Moxxie was willing to bring in muscle for backup. Moxxie could tell just how dangerous the job was going to be from how much the clients that wanted to hire Blitz were willing to pay up front. "Seems risky but if Millie is willing to go and you're willing to take the risk I'm in to help. Getting funding that isn't tied to my old man will go a long way in showing him up and proving my way is better than his." Blitz laughed on the other end of the phone as the two of them joked about asshole dads and being better than them.

Putting the cell down Moxxie looked over his contacts list to see who he could call in to help on this job while keeping his dad in the dark. I may actually be able to get one up on the old man earlier than expected. You're going to regret wanting me to toughen up dad because I'm going to take everything you've ever built and make it my own. I'm going to erase you once I show you how I've overcome you… Mom, I know you may not be happy with the path I'm taking but know that I will never forget how you fought for me, and I'll make sure the Greed ring never forgets you as long as I'm around.



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Andrealphus smiled as he his scrying orb notified him the assassins were willing to take up the job and were coming to meet him. The ice demon laughed as he thought about the things Stolas had told him he would end up doing to Blaze once he was brought to him. He didn't like to think he was a petty demon, but Andrealphus wondered how Blaze would react when he saw Stolas had sent imps after him and not more powerful demons or even called a court meeting with the lord of Wrath Satan. He laughed as he thought about how much it would wound Blaze's pride and ego. He would need to contain his pleasure at dreaming about Blaze's future torment as he needed to go prepare for the meeting. His sister and Stolas would be busy representing the family as the king and queen were finally allowing the nobility to come to the palace instead of standing outside of a wrecked hospital. His sister and brother-in-law had lucked out in being allowed to be some of the first to meet the new princess. Oh, how it would elevate their power and status if they could get the princess on their side.

Andrealphus got shocked and frightened as Paimon stood behind him looking on intently with a look of amusement in his eyes. "My son has placed you in charge of organizing the retaliation against Blaze I see. Well, this will be most entertaining to see how you deal with the disappointment that is my eldest."

"You knew about Blaze's actions lord Paimon? Why not stop him then? Would it not reflect badly on you for your eldest son to challenge your choices and word so brazenly." Andrealphus tried to hide his fear and worry with one of the true Princess of Hell talking to him as he tried to understand why he had let Blaze do as he pleased.

"That upstart is far to young and foolish to be taken seriously. Blaze is a candle of fire in the grand scheme of things. Why would I care how others thought of me through his actions, I didn't choose him, I chose Stolas. How my son treats this insult will be a far better reflection of things and so far, it seems he has come up with quite the scheme to counter the plans Blaze set up to try and make him a fool in front of the king and the rest of Hell's nobility. Stolas has far exceeded my expectations, and I must say so have you and your sister. Keep up the good work, I could have a job for you in the future depending on how this goes. I am so excited to see how this game ends." In a flurry of starlight Paimon was gone and Andrealphus felt like he could breathe again without the risk of insulting the prince. The games of the higher powers were truly a terrifying thing the ice demon realised even as he felt exhilarated that he had not only been noticed but that it had been acknowledge that he was doing a good job. I wonder if Stolas knows his father is watching this, watching us as we work to deal with Blaze. No, he likely does and knows Paimon is testing him. Well, I'm doing my part brother-in-law I hope you can do your end well enough. Disappearing in a veil of mist and snowflakes Andrealphus left to his mansion to meet the men that would hopefully take down Blaze and set them on the course the true grimoire wanted them on. A great game was afoot, he didn't know why this was all so important, but he knew it was important or Paimon wouldn't be so invested, and the true Grimoire wouldn't have given them the tools needed to build a road to take.



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Something big was on its way and Hell was working to prepare itself and its denizens as the fabric of the dark half of existence was twisting and turning as it gave out the clips of information Hell needed to make sure their half of existence didn't get torn apart. It couldn't afford the loss of even a single piece on the board, and it wouldn't tolerate petty temper tantrums putting Hell at risk to sooth their own ego. Paimon was doing his part as were the other princes though it had been surprised when Lucifer had created a Nephilim by accident, it had blinded Hell for a moment, made so many roads and paths it wasn't sure what road to take, it had even seen roads to a place it had never seen or known. Heaven had done far more than rip away souls from Hell's grasp, Hell, the shadows could feel it, something just beyond its sight, just beyond its reach.

The eye of the almighty had been upon them, upon Heaven and Hell and thus the road had to be adjusted. Something had been planned, and it couldn't go against the Great Plan even if its own existence was at risk. the shadow felt fear as it couldn't see where the available roads led. All it knew was something was hidden in the dark reaching out for Heaven and Hell as well. Heaven, the great light hadn't made any roads yet, the angels just as slow to act as ever but then again, they had caused this problem and likely couldn't even see or feel it yet. Hell, the shadow if it had a voice would be yelling in frustration at the light to get its act together and help it fix the problem the denizens of Heaven had caused the fabric of existence.



Well we are slowly moving to have a fun plot point in the story as we see the assassins thinking on the job offer to take out Blaze. Actually, on a side note I may be doing a side story on the slow repairing of Blitz and Verosika's relationship and him adopting Loona much earlier in life than in canon. If anyone wants to help with ideas on doing that side story I would love to hear it. Hope you all enjoy this chapter as its not much of a plot mover and feels a bit like filler for me.

 

[Ghost666]

Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics


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Pentious was looking over notes and recorded data his instruments had collected on the miracle day as everyone had come to label it, the grand flood of energy that seemed similar to the holy power of the spear and blessed power but was so different as well. There was a sense of absolute will behind it as if the power would accept nothing other than its will being made manifest. He had tried to duplicate it, examine it or even contain some of the linger bits of essence the power had left floating around, yet nothing worked. Every test turned out as a failure as he could find nothing, he could bend nothing to his will, and he couldn't contain it as anything he put the power in shattered before the energy dissipated. This endeavour was starting to eat into the time and resources of his other projects, and he could tell it was affecting the quality of his work. Other departments were staring to complain that he was falling behind quotas and schedules. He knew he should drop this path of research until he could acquire better equipment or had a better idea of what he was working with, yet he felt like he was so close to a breakthrough, to understanding something that wasn't meant to be understood that he couldn't just give up. "I think I need to get some sleep; this is going to drive me insane if I let it consume me, and I don't need to give the inquisitorial branch any other reason to want me dead and if I keep falling behind schedule, I know the Exterminators and military will stop defending me."

One of his researchers came in with paperwork as he motioned him to put them down with the other files that were in one big pile to be sorted out later. Pentious groaned as he looked at the pile wondering if he was going over the deep end with his current path of research, when had he allowed his paperwork to pile up like that.

The researcher just nodded even if they were a bit put off at the large pile of papers. So much work only half looked into, or half done. Putting down the notes he saw that some had fallen to the floor, so he picked them up and slowly sorted out some of the pages on the desk to avoid papers falling and going missing. "Sir if I may ask why do you rely so much on analog paper records when it would be easier to handle and sort digital files?" the man decided to strike up some conversation to pass the time as he sorted out the papers. He didn't get much of an answer as Pentious just lay on his desk half awake half asleep as he contemplated his failures and how many people were just waiting for him to make a mistake to pounce on. The researcher asked again this time nudging the snake man to get his attention.

"Oh well digital is so much easier to hack and copy. While someone could steal any physical records I have they still need to get into the RnD building and get past my security systems and even if they can get past that I can still burn all my records."

"But can't you also burn digital records?"

"Oh, you can but there are always parts of code left behind that can be put back together. Most digital system have ghost data, something that isn't talked about a lot, but a lot of new digital systems have codes put into them to retain data even when you erase it. Not to mention all the trojan programs and other such things that can be hidden in a computer and other such things. No writing and papers are safer, and my own memory is more than great enough to recall the important information." The researcher nodded as he came to understand his boss's reasoning knowing how close the other branches that ran Purgatory were watching the research and development centre.

The man paused in sorting out the papers as he noticed something on one of the papers. "Sir when did you get back to looking at the research data on the Charlie girl? I thought you put that on the back burner until the data on how her body handled sin/cursed energy and blessed energy." Pentious looked annoyed as he got out of his chair walking over to the researcher wondering what he was talking about.

"I did pause my research on the girl until my experiments results came back. Plus, I was explicit we were to not talk about that lest prying ears find out. I don't need the others learning of my own operations especially involving that girl so please tell me why you felt it was necessary to ask about something that won't show results for at least a few months." Pentious had the man all but wrapped up in his coiled-up tail.

The researcher choked out his reply as he felt the air being squeezed from his lungs. "Sir its just those new research papers have records of the same energy she seems to radiate and expel when the sin and blessed energy build up in the girl's body. She seems to exude it as she filters out both conflicting powers. Its in small amounts but the readings seem similar enough to what ever you are looking at now." the researcher gasped out as he realised his boss hadn't been looking at Charlie's data.

Pentious dropped the man as he grabbed the Charlies records and the latest data they had on her and his experiment and then also looked at the new data he had concerning the miracle day event and the strange energy that had likely caused it. His eyes widened as he saw the similarities. The energy Charlie gave off was weaker, more diluted in a sense, but he could see the similarities. "This doesn't leave this room." Pentious whispered out before repeating himself to the lone researcher as he started gathering his notes on the miracle day event and motioned for his fellow researcher to do the same. "What's your name?"

"Jason sir."

"Well Jason you're my personal assistant from now on. No one is to know about any of this understood. I'll explain later but for now everything relating to the miracle is to be destroyed is that understood." Jason gasped at the order, frozen in shock at the idea of destroying so much research data especially since everyone in the RnD department knew how much time Pentious had been spending on trying to figure out what had caused the miracle. He was only shaken from his shock seeing the head researcher throwing papers into a furnace the crackling sound of burning paper pulling him from his stupor.

Jason moved to do the same, but his mind was burning with a single question. "Sir why are we doing this? So much data destroyed, and time wasted?"

"Oh, not time waisted my good assistant. I have everything that is important here memorised and locked away in my mind. As for why, well I've come to realise just how important little Charlie could be and having this little piece of information to myself will be the lynchpin I and the RnD department may need in the future to not just survive but to move beyond being simple makers of tools for the warriors and spies of our good nation. Those fools of the other departments only see a future weapon to be aimed and fired but Charlie is so much more. You may not know it Jason but you have provided me with the missing piece in a very large puzzle that we have all been trying to build while blind and now I have been given a glimpse of the picture we are tyring to recreate and now for the first time in a while I feel like I'm not in the back of the line behind the others anymore." Pentious felt a vast wealth of vigour return to his body as his mind filled in blanks to many questions he had been struggling to answer even if those answered questions were soon replaced with new questions. "Jason informs the staff we will be putting a pause on all our research projects for the moment and we will be working overtime to catch up on our development schedules, make sure those other fools on the council can't complain and make sure they have all their equipment needs met. We'll also be spending a bit more time on our construction and repair duties for a while as the Purgatory city could use a bit of renovation and improvement, I think we could even expand the walls a bit with the breathing room the miracle gave us."

Jason could only watch in awe and a bit of fear as he watched Pentious start going over the data they currently had on Charlie and writing entirely new roads of research and theories while burning papers he had on the miracle. Jason had heard stories about how the snake man that ran research, and development could do in a single week what took entire research teams months. He had thought it exaggeration but seeing the man in action made him think they may have been downplaying just how brilliant the man could be when he found something to really sink his fangs into. Still though what has him so excited that he's actually willing to play ball with the other departments this much. What did he see in those papers I gave him? More importantly do I want to know? When it came to research and understanding sin energy there were lines put in place not to cross for a reason, RnD had a history of promising scientists and researchers going off the deep and turning themselves into afflicted beasts losing themselves in their research and experiments, to date Pentious was the only researcher that had somehow managed to keep his mind intact becoming a sort of pseudo awakened though lacking any of the real power and awakened was known for. No, no don't think anymore about this. Just do as the professor asks and keep my mouth shut. Do my job and get a cushy promotion and not become a lab rat for RnD of the professor or other researchers think I've spilled their secrets.



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Unknown location Purgatory city

"Any idea what the snake was working on?" a modulated voice asked a masked figured.

"Unfortunately, no. the snake is a paranoid one and works hard to make sure we can't tap into his systems. What little we have managed to find is that he has gone back to looking into the girl. He likely has more information than any of the others but will likely work to hide how much he actually knows." The masked figure sounded annoyed by how little they had been able to learn.

"Its to be expected. The snake knows we have a guillotine with his name on it if he ever slipped up. It is a shame you were unable to find something we could use to put pressure on him at the next council meeting. The Military and Exorcists have been gaining a great deal of influence in how the city is run, there power needs to be counter balanced and while RnD is a department I would rather not deal with the civilian and legal branch of the city has fallen to the sway of the Military department."

"While we may not have any dirt on him, we could offer him support of our own my liege. The snake is well known for his eccentricities and how far he pushes himself and his staff in his work. The snake himself knows how many eyes are on him at all times just waiting for an excuse. What if we offered him the opportunity to have some of those eyes turn away or be blinded."

The person hidden in the shadows seemed to contemplate the idea. The snake had the least number of friends and support of all those who ran Purgatory and his department was known for having to deal with many disasters that it was also technically one of the weakest departments even if it was an important one. "Your idea could work but we will need a good piece of bait if we want to hook him and reel him in to our side or at least make him more willing to deal with us rather than the Exorcists and Military…… When was the last time you visited our vaults."

"What do you wish for me to retrieve?" the masked figure only hesitated for a moment as it was extremely rare for anything to be removed from the vaults of the Inquisition.

"The notes of Dr Victor, new Eden's head research before the disaster struck. But make sure to only bring parts of the notes, no point in giving Pentious everything now. No, we need him to want to work with us. I'm sure the man would sell his own mind and sanity to see what we have left over from new Eden."

"Are you sure sir? I understand that things are getting a bit tight with the other council members but is it really worth the risk of letting that snake become the next Dr Victor. You've seen the records of what really happened in new Eden sir, the stuff that was supposedly 'corrupted' footage." The masked figure shivered recalling the horrors they had seen when they first gained enough clearance to learn the secrets the Inquisition kept even from the rest of Purgatory's ruling council.

"Of course, it's necessary, the girl is already a lost cause she will either end up in the hands of the Military or the Exorcists, the girl's natural adaptability and tolerance to blessed energy would mean no other path would be allowed for her to take too much of a valuable weapon as the others would say. With the RnD department on our side we would still be able to have a hand in how the girl is shaped for Purgatory's future and the place of the Inquisition in that future. And its not as much of a risk on our part, we know so much more than the researchers of new Eden did about both our head researcher and what to look for to avoid, any issues come up we can nip it in the bud. Just do as your told and make sure the snake is on our side."

The masked figure nodded in confirmation of the acceptance of their mission as they left. The man cloaked in shadow let out a sigh of frustration as he took a deep breath of a cigar letting the smoke float around him as he looked out of the window of one of the many in progress tower buildings of the city. The lights of Purgatory shining from the very bottom of the city to the very top and yet all he could take note of was the shadows spread by the light where the rot and filth of the city lay, the hidden dangers the others didn't feel was worthy of their attention. Fools the lot of them. they can only see the big and flashy threats, the things that can't be missed. If only it had been my agents who had found the girl instead of the exorcists. We would be able to turn her into a fine-tuned scalpel to cut away the rot of our world… I can't believe I'll have to rely on Pentious of all people for support. Hopefully with his help I'll be able to steer the direction of the next meeting on how we handle the girl.



Well we have jumped back to Purgatory city for a bit. Hope you liked this small peak into the minds of some of the people running the city. We will be taking a look at the other department heads that are members of the council soon but for now we look at those who are on the shadier side of things. Hope this is a good read for everyone hope you enjoy until the next chapter comes out.

 

[Ghost666]

Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics


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The Hub was a constant flow of chaos and order as soldiers moved throughout the structure either busy training, getting equipment repaired or were moving equipment and other items. Not a single piece of time was wasted as soldiers were often moving from the base to the walls and back again on reprieve while fresh and ready soldiers took their place. The soldiers of Purgatory had a simple duty and that was to protect the city and its people from all outside threats. Usually it was small incursions from afflicted beasts trying to smash through the walls, that was a near daily occurrence, the harsher job was when an awakened decided to take a crack at the walls, though thankfully for the soldiers that was often something that only happened once a year and never lasted long as an exorcists would soon be on the scene to take on the awakened while the soldiers mopped up the mess that was left behind.

The last few decades had been a far different story. As the walls grew stronger and the magical and technological abilities of Purgatory grew greater the military took a more personal role in the city acting as police and a sort of security force for the civilian government of the city. It wasn't a glamours job often working on cleaning out the occasional upstart warlock, the trafficking of cursed items and stored sin energy. If any military officer was honest about the job, they didn't mind doing the work but often got irritated and down right hostile when an inquisitorial investigator stepped in, after all investigation was supposed to be their departments job but the Inquisition had in all but name forced the job on the military while they played spy games with the Warlock run cities so it was always a shouting match between sides as the inquisitors acted as if the job was still theirs to do and they had all the authority they needed by their position while military police told them where they could shove their authority as they had decided the job wasn't their anymore after all.

That was where Gregor came in, third man to have the rank of general of Purgatory's military forces and often having to deal with the constant friction and conflict between the Inquisition and the Military departments and at the moment he really wished he could retire as he looked at the latest pile of paperwork that friction had brought to his doorstep. "I really wish I could burn all this up and get away with it but then the civilian government would be on my case for disruption of the bureaucratic machine." The man sighed as he lit a cigarette and got to work all the while wondering how his boss had ever conned him into taking this job when he had been so much more comfortable on the battlefield.

"I do believe it was because you caved in the skull of an inquisitor agent after they caused your battalion to get caught up in a crossfire between two warlock gangs on one of the border towns outside of the walls so they could capture and awakened. If I recall correctly the man actually threatened to have you stripped of your rank just for daring to question their methods, called the deaths of some of your squad mates' acceptable losses."

Had he been a lesser man Gregor would've jumped from his seat or gasped out in shock, instead the man simply turned his head looking at a seat that he was sure had been empty but now had a rather elderly lady sitting in it, wearing what looked like black mourning robes.

"I'm pretty sure you got the job because it kept you alive and it also meant pissing off the Inquisition and forcing them to have to deal with someone they couldn't bend to their will and already had a dislike for them."

"Mother Superior to what do I owe this pleasure of a break from my misery? It's not Sunday, so you aren't here to drag me away from my duties for temple and I'm sure its not because you enjoy my company." Gregor asked as he looked at the most powerful woman in the city. He put out his cigarette wondering what the military was going to be dragged into this time as while he had great respect for the Exorcists and the church, he wasn't going to risk the lives of his men or his standing in the council as the head of the military forces just because they had come asking him for something.

"Oh, Gregor there is no need for you to be so suspicious of me. If one of my exorcists had come, I would say you could be suspicious, but you have nothing to worry from me. As for why I am here I was hoping to acquire your support for the upcoming council meeting."

Gregor narrowed his eyes thinking on some of the things coming up in the meeting but couldn't think of much that the church would need help with. The budget always sent a great deal of money to them, they always got first rights to claim spoils of war and conflict in a warlock city got to uppity and the Exorcists and the church loved taking soldiers and cadets out of the armed forced and even occasionally managed to drag away an inquisitor from the Inquisition if anyone ever showed a good degree of their body being compatible with blessed energy. Gregor paused as if waiting for the old woman to explain what she wanted but she stayed silent as he tried to think before the answer smacked him in the face. "You want the girl."

"Exactly and I know your not one to do something for nothing so if you're willing to help on this issue I will be having fully fledged exorcists and not just trainees sent to help support your soldiers on the border towns outside of the wall." The old woman sipped from a cup of tea that had not been in her hand before, hell Gregor didn't even have tea in his office.

She is trying to unsettle me. No matter how kindly and grandmotherly she looks and acts she is a viper in the grass. You don't survive as long as she has as mother superior and not become a snake. It was an open secret among the upper ranks of the bureaucratic blood of Purgatory that no mother superior lived past five years, their bodies just couldn't handle all the blessed energy flowing through it, the current mother superior was already reaching the fifteen year mark of her role with the only proof that the blessed energy was having an effect on her body was the advance aging. She was actually in her thirties even if she physically looked to be in her eighties. "That's a pretty big offer. Are you sure the church will be willing to honour that deal if I do decide to help? The church tends to be very stingy when sending out exorcists, you and your kind are a rare commodity after all and if they are willing to honour your bargain that just shows me how much you want this girl and that I could barter for a lot more out of you."

"Come no Gregor no need to be so ruthless, I'm here as a friend between our departments there is no need for you to be so opportunistic, after all I came as a friend, the church is far less friendly." The gentle tone faded from her voice coming out far gravellier and like the sound of death was creeping up on the general and he could see it in her eyes that this wasn't just a threat. "I'm sure you wouldn't want exorcists support to be delayed during important battles, or a blessing on your weapons and armour to be sub standard and more likely to fail and fade in a combat situation."

Gregor let out a growl of anger actually standing up from his desk the pen in his hand having shattered in his grip as he stood to his full height towering over the mother superior. "Do not threaten my men. I don't care what you're willing to take out on me, but those soldiers are out of bounds for this game you seem to want to play." Gregor wasn't sure how, but he managed to keep himself from yelling, but he knew it was better to keep anyone from coming in to check on the situation unsure of how the mother superior would react.

"I have no need to play games as long as you're willing to support the church and in turn the exorcists in the next meeting when the girl comes up. We want the girl to join the ranks, she shows great potential from what we have observed of her and from the reports we have of what happened at farm."

They want her now?! what is so important about this girl the exorcists are willing to bring her in at such a young age and that the church is willing to support them in this madness. The girl is far too young, and they are far to eager to snatch her up. Gregor was a simple mane, he woke up, went to work, got on the nerves of the Inquisition, yelled at officers that needed to put more effort into their work, punched some afflicted skulls around, shot demonic beasts and then he filled out some paperwork and went home to sleep before repeating the process. He was not a man that enjoyed politics and often did his best to avoid taking part in the back ally deals that littered the shadows of the governance of Purgatory yet now he found himself being dragged in by the last group he expected to try and blackmail him or force his hand. "I'm going to be honest mother superior I honestly expected to see an inquisitor sitting in that chair making threats, I'm a bit disappoint to know it's the exorcists that are threatening me. Our departments have always been on good terms, why put that good will at risk to force this issue? What does the church, what does the exorcists get out of this but one girl with some sort of amazing potential. It's still only one girl, one 'soldier' can not change the course of a war." Gregor felt vile calling a child a soldier even though he knew that the armed forces had at times been forced to call on the strength of the youth of Purgatory.

"Oh, dear Gregor you have no idea how wrong you are. I…the church has seen this girl's potential, and she could very well change the course of our war against the awakened. There is so much she can off Purgatory and the exorcists are perfect for unlocking her gifts and talents."

Gregor didn't say anything or react, but he had taken notice of the mother superiors hic up. She had something personal to gain from this, the church likely didn't know how far she was willing to push but it wasn't like they would believe him over her word if he tried to tell them. what does mother superior get out of this? What does she want that she is willing to risk the wrath of the church, excommunication and banishment if she is caught. Why does she want this girl so badly? I need to figure out what she is after, especially if it could threaten Purgatory and its people but to do that, I'll need to… "Fine I'll support you in the council meeting mother superior. Is it safe to assume you'll be the church representative at the meeting?"

"Quite right I will be the representative. Oh, Gregor it warms my heart to hear that the military will be supporting the church in this endeavour to protect our fair city and its people. The church and I thank you for your acceptance of our request for assistance, may the bonds remain strong between the exorcists and the military." Mother superior vanished in a flash of golden light as Gregor finally let his frustration and anger loose smashing his desk into splinters much to the shock of his secretary who rushed in to see what was wrong.

Gregor managed to smooth talk his way out of the situation lying and saying he simply got his hands on a rather rude letter from the Inquisition and had let his own bias against them get the better of him. Once he was sure he was alone Gregor sank into his chair exhausted wonder what the hell he was going to do. He didn't trust the mother superior or the Exorcists, the military police had broken up enough gangs and criminal operations on the few joint operations they had successfully gone on with the Inquisition and found those same gangs and criminal operations either being run by or supported by rouge or even active exorcists acting as muscle for hire. Exorcists were powerful warriors but from what little Gregor knew of the training they went through, they were treated and viewed as weapons by the church and themselves, that did not lead to many positive mind sets in the organisation and often there would be times when trainees would break away from the organisation and even the occasional fully trained exorcists would run away and disappear showing up later to be a problem for the city. The worst pain in the ass was exorcists that were still sanctioned and supported by the church running less than legal and often times dangerous operation in the city often forcing the military to not take action against certain gangs and other such groups which the church had interest in. They are going to break that girl, and they are not going to get the warrior they want. They are going to create a monster. Not only is she far to young for this to be a good idea, but she is also not a Purgatory born citizen, she knows nothing of the city, its history or its people, there is nothing tying her to the city beyond moving here as a refugee. Taking her from her mother is a recipe for disaster why don't the Exorcists or the church see that or rather why is mother superior blinding them to the very dangerous game they are playing and the unstable monster they could create.

It was a puzzle Gregor needed to figure out and find a way around the ultimatum the mother superior had given him. He didn't have a lot of time as the next council meeting was soon and he needed a plan to get around the game he was being dragged into and hopefully save the girl from whatever madness the mother superior had in mind. "I don't know what's going on, but that girl is still just a girl, not a tool, not a weapon, a girl and I intend to let her grow up and let her make her own choices. She may not have started as one but now she is a citizen of Purgatory and its my duty to protect her and keep her safe from threats both external and internal."



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Location unknown wastelands/ new Eden

Mother superior appeared not at the church but what looked like a half-rebuilt mess of a lab shining with twisted and horrid spectacles of magical and scientific research, dozens of afflicted humans, demonic beasts and even awakened strapped to machines or having many parts of their bodies replaced or fused with technology. A small horde of beasts marched on the elderly lady but a simple raising of her arm and a burst of golden light leading to the decapitation of a few of the awakened with the rest backing off.

"Why are you here soldier of the burning light?" one of the awakened called out.

"I am here to see Victor. It seems his predictions were true. Tell him I am taking him up on his offer as long as he can uphold his end of the bargain he offered." The awakened flinched at the name mother superior called out with mindless demonic beasts and afflicted actually running away.

"You know its rude to use some one's name without their permission mother superior. Please use my title as we are not yet friends or allies." A lone man walked out of the lab. He looked surprisingly well dressed, like a businessman of the old world and his body and flesh looing totally unblemished by the sin energy permeating the area yet she could sense how it was contained within the man like a single dam wall holding back a tsunami if sin energy.

"Pride, you were right. Everything you told me has been right. I'm willing to take your offer but I want assurances that you can provide what you promised."

The man no, the awakened no, the Sin Pride laughed, no malice just sheer humour at the woman making demands of him when she was not only in his territory but was more than willing to sell out her people and nation for such shallow reasons. He handed her a small necklace. "A temporary fix to your problem. Once I'm sure I can trust you I'll have a more permanent solution for you." Pride himself did find himself somewhat amused and annoyed at the same time how accurate the predictions he had made were, mostly annoyed though as some of the data he had used to make those predictions had been provided by that man all those years ago and he was infuriated he still needed that sort of help even all these years later.

Mother superior grabbed the necklace out of his hand putting it on not even questioning if it was a trap or likely not even caring. There was no effect for a moment leading her to question for but a moment but then she felt it, she felt her strength returning to her body, the hidden weight of the blessed energy being lifted from her muscles and bones. Grabbing a mirror from her pocket she let out a gasp seeing not a woman in her late eighties but rather a more distinguished woman in her early fifties or late forties.

"I can return what was stolen from you my dear mother superior. Just be my eyes and ears in the city, make sure that the prophesied child is ready for the time I call to claim her. Do as I ask Regina, and I can give you everything that the church promised but lied about." Pride spoke in a deep soothing nearly hypnotic voice even if he made no attempt to use magic at all, he had no need to after all.

Mother superior hadn't even noticed the use of her old name, a name lost to her since gaining her title she was just so enamoured to see some of her time returned to her. "Yes pride, I'll do as you ask. The girl will be ready on the day you call." Covering herself up in her funeral dress once more mother superior vanished returning back to Purgatory. Her mind still trying to comprehend how Pride had managed to counteract the side-effects of the extremely large amounts of blessed energy being channelled through her body, forgetting that most of what Purgatory had built its knowledge of blessed and sin energy had come from new Eden and Dr Victor, now Pride.

"My lord, are you sure you can trust her? She is still human; she is unchanged she has nothing to hold her to her word. Many of the others fear she may try to betray you and simply claim the treasure you have offered her."

"Indeed, at the moment she is imperfect, but she will make a find addition to our family my child. I will perfect her as I have perfected all of you. None in this world have the skill or knowledge that I have and soon not even Cain will be able to stand in my way. I will tear down the plans of Wrath like he tore down my life and world. I don't know why but that child is important to him, the seed, the egg told me all that time ago before it started to hatch, to bloom." Pride didn't even seem phased at the concept of the chance that mother superior may end up trying to betray him his mind filled more with the dream of getting to rub his knowledge and success in Cain's face that he had surpassed him.

Pride turned to the afflicted and demonic beast mother superior had decapitated and simply put their heads back on their bodies as wires stitched them back together connecting nerves and flesh back together and sin energy and blood flowed again as life returned to the once slain beings. "Sadly, not good enough, not yet but soon I'll have the perfect test subject to improve you all to the greatness you deserve."

Pride motioned for his awakened to get back to work digging out his old lab. He was so close to getting to the sub levels again. A lot of equipment was likely damaged beyond repair but that mattered little to him as so much of his research and other records were sealed away in special vaults that he knew protected them even after all this time. He would reclaim it all, take what was his, take what was hidden from him and he would finish his work, he would perfect the human form, the human shape. This world would be his to rule as he was the only one capable of ruling it, he was perfect after all, only he could fix the flaws of this world, of its people. I can fix it I can fix it all. Watch out Cain I will take it all for myself, I won't let you have what you want. This time I'm the one who knows more than you, you won't be lecturing me ever again. I have perfected myself and soon I'll perfect everyone else.

Unknown to Victor was much of the research data and documentation of new Eden had long since been spirited away by scientists with a greater deal of survival instinct before the second awakening had occurred. What he would eventually find was scarps of what he needed with what he truly wanted safely behind the great walls of Purgatory or locked away in the mind of the one being he despised most in the world, either way a crash course was set as Pride would be unable to complete his great work without a confrontation. Either way the awakened in Pride's territory got to work digging out new Eden, repairing and restoring what they could as they opened up lost sections of the research facility and for those not busy working on reclaiming new Eden for their lord were busy capturing afflicted and putting them through many machines, and experiments, taking them apart and putting them back together again as flesh and machine became one. The family needed to grow, to expand to be able to stand against all who would reject the beauty and perfection Pride wanted to give. It was a slow process as even with bodies as powerful as their few afflicted could survive the process to become awakened of Pride.

Unbeknownst to Pride a lone cactus flower was blooming in his lands watching him its roots leading all the way back to Sloth where Cain was laughing his ass off at the absurdity of seeing another man like him, a man capable of holding a grudge for so long. "Poor Victor, the fool has no idea how little he matters in the scheme of things. I wonder what the look on his face will be when I shatter everything, he has built like the fragile illusion it all is." Cain simply laughed and laughed at the foolishness of the idea that Victor could ever be a threat to him or his plans. The man was just as easy to manipulate and guide now as he had been all those years ago, he was practically doing Cain's work for him. Soon I'll escape this pit and Heaven and Hell will feel my wrath. I just need to be patient, can't rush anything or I could end up being stuck waiting who knows how long again until the perfect moment makes itself available again. Cain was content to wait as his Sloth gave him eyes and ears all over the world as small gardens of plants tied to her were set up everywhere important, except to his chagrin in Purgatory city but that could soon be changed thanks to Victor giving him an in even if it wasn't as steady and reliable a source of information as Sloth's plants. I know what all you little lambs are planning, you foolish Sins, you arrogant warlocks and you ignorant foolish pitiable children of Purgatory. Don't worry all your struggles will soon come to an end as the time for your sacrifice and my ascension, my escape from this pit draws near.



Well, lots of shady stuff happening and wow who thought the intelligence group would be the saner people we have running the city. Power often goes to people's head and here we see how that goes, especially when you're not always honest about what getting that power entails. Will this deal with a Sin work out or will it end in betrayal or a karmic version of getting what you wanted, keep reading to find out. Hope you all like this latest chapter. Also yes Cain is still and asshole. Next one may take a bit as the council meeting feels like its going to be a big one and may take some effort to write as it will also be doing a bit of crossover with Hell as Vaggie gets dragged into the world of noble politics as she is forced to play the role of princess of Hell as the rest of Hells nobility licks her boots all the while she tries to not get on Lilith's bad side and trying to get lucifer alone for answers.