"What happened to this place while I was gone?"
"I-I don't k-know."
"Already playing the act? Alright."
Two cloaked entities come out of a portal the same color of their covers, and arrive at the front of a massive white facility in the middle of a barren wasteland. The "sky" was a dark shade of orange, washing a feeling of despair over any normal entity that saw it, even demons.
However, those two were anything but normal.
A human and a demon, an unlikely pair.
Even if the human was used to dealing with ten of them and an angel all at the same time.
The demon was quiet as can be, preferring to stand behind the large man and attentively look around every ten seconds looking for a threat.
The two approached the large building. Once they got to the closest thing to a door they could find, the two plates that kept it shut split open in a teeth-like manner.
The inside was filled with white hallways, branching off with similar doors to the entrance.
Speaking of the entrance, the first demon they met stood behind a glass panel, tired as can be while going through a massive pile of paperwork.
Her attire hadn't changed much since the last time the human had seen her, yet her horns had grown a considerable amount and were a lighter shade of grey.
The cloaked demon quickly hid behind her partner, looking at the secretary as if she'd jump at her.
"Name's Pandemonica, Hell's Customer Service. How may I serve you?"
The human spoke up.
"Maybe I can serve YOU instead?"
Pandemonica shook a little, but composed herself shortly after.
"I could really use some coffee. I'm not myself without it."
"5:15 PM, double espresso, correct?"
The secretary now loses her composure for good, as she starts looking intently at the figure's face.
"Helltaker?"
The human takes off his dark cloak, showing his face. Pandemonica struggles to come up with words.
"I-wha-huh-how?"
"Couldn't leave you girls alone, right? Took longer than I expected, but I'm back."
The Tired Demon took a second to reply, the moment that took her to really take notice of the third presence in the room.
"Well, I see you've started your little harem again. Haven't seen her around though."
The demon yelped. Then it struggled a couple of words.
"L-lain-na, the T-Timid D-Demon..."
A couple of seconds passed until the door was blasted open, the fragments just missing Laina.
"You!"
A dark-skinned demon dashed out of the dust cloud and onto Helltaker. Laina just jumped back, avoiding all the commotion.
"Yes, Judgement, he's here."
Judgement's eyes were glowing bright, something that unsettled the cloaked demon.
"Where were you! Your end was for me to cause! And no one else!"
Helltaker desperately held the High Prosecutor by the wrists, trying to keep her from hurting him in any way.
"Woah, wait! I'm here now! And I can promise I'm not leaving!
"And I'm supposed to believe that?"
"Let him go, Judgement. He'll suffer enough from the rest."
Pandemonica, stone-faced, ordered her to stand down. With a deep breath, Judgement reluctantly complies.
"Fine. Don't expect mercy though."
Helltaker was worried now. Worried for the rest of his old harem. If they'd be that aggressive, how bad had things gotten down here?
"Sorry, but what has happened to the rest of the girls?"
Pandemonica took a deep breath before going on a rant.
"Well, I haven't changed much, but Zdrada and Malina took it hard to the point where they spent multiple weeks together trying to cope with your loss. Cerberus's rampages have gotten a lot worse as if they expect you to come stop and reprimand them one day. Judgement here, well, you've seen it for yourself."
Helltaker gulped. Had things really gone to that level of bad?
"Azazel... I don't even want to talk about her. Lucifer and Modeus took it harder than anyone else though. The former, well, had Justice not been around to console her I fear for what would happen to Hell as a whole. Modeus... You won't recognize her. It's really bad. She had to get locked up due to her own rampages which managed to cause more damage than even Cerberus, and once she did get put behind bars, she just... stopped responding to anything."
The pressure in the room was making Helltaker sigh in worry.
"So basically, I'm dead once I meet any of them."
"You're dead now, idiot!"
"Wait, wha-"
He couldn't end that sentence as Judgement proceeded to burn his soul for a couple of minutes, regenerating him every time he perished. Who knows how many times Helltaker died in those few moments.
"I'll kill you more times later."
"R-Right..."
"You still want to gather the rest of the harem? You really haven't changed."
Helltaker and Laina noticed something though. Pandemonica was staring straight at the Timid Demon. It lets out a yelp before running behind the human in the room.
"Well, I suppose I'll cross my death bridge when I get to it. I'm going after everyone else. You know where they are, Pandemonica?"
The Tired Demon looked into his eyes for a second before giving him her answer.
"Don't blame me for your death count reaching five digits."
Elsewhere...
"Lucy! Come take a look at this!"
"Coming, Loremaster."
The Maid Demon approached her master, who was checking out the cameras impulsively. She froze when she noticed the man in them.
"H-How?!"
"I don't know! Aren't you dying to find out?"
As much as the maid did want to uncover the truth behind Helltaker, two things worried her. Number one, the new demon following him, and number two, the cloaks they were using.
Pitch-black cloaks, as if they were made of darkness itself, deep as the Abyss itself.
And exactly as deep as the Abyss itself.
That meant the Helltaker didn't come out of there alone, and there's only one demon she knows of that lived in that prison.
She took a deep breath.
The Maid Demon had a lot of nightmares about her, whether it was her own feeling of being betrayed or the other's reaction when that demon got sealed.
Betrayal. Regret. Melancholy.
'Forget it. Maybe I'm overreacting.'
So thought Lucy, trying to escape her own mind.
Loremaster, on the other hand, was intrigued by the new demon, as it showed an unique behavior for demons.
After all, it's not like a demon to not act according to its whims. A shy demon is unheard of.
Was it a new sin? Or something else?
She couldn't wait to find out.
1030 Words
A/N
Yeah, I'm remaking this too. It's rewind time.
I wasn't too happy with the way the last one went, so now I'm gonna try this path out. Lemme know how it's working out.
Gonna leave Beel's desires a little more in the dark. I'm heavily experimenting with the story, so don't expect it to be great.