Chapter Text
Lucifer’s life was never something he considered stable, even before his fall. Sure he had his siblings, but his purpose in Heaven was always so vague and he never truly felt like he was doing it right. On top of that there were all these expectations as the “favorite” son! He never felt like the favorite with all the times God had rejected his creations, but that was a whole other can of worms he didn’t need to think about right now.
Skip to his fall and even when he was creating for the now sinners and the other rings, it didn’t feel like it was enough. It always felt like he was missing something.
So of course he is suffering from depression now, and has been for a few millennia or so. Nothing he ever did felt like enough, for Lilith, for Charlotte, for the Sins, but most importantly for himself. So it came as no surprise when Litlith had enough and left. She had left a note with her golden ring on top of it reading:
Lulu
I can’t live here anymore, watching you drown yourself. I feel like I myself am drowning as well. I am leaving and taking Charlotte with me. I don’t want her to drown in it all with you. I will raise her and when….if you are able to surface again you can come visit us. Only visit. I can’t do this anymore. I need to take control of my own life and finally strive towards my own goals. I’m sorry. Take my ring and maybe if you find someone else who can pull you out of this then you can give it to them instead.
Goodbye Lucifer.
-Lilith
Lucifer read the note with a dead face, no emotions were even present. He was truly empty. That last light of hope that he had been holding onto had left him. Lilith had taken her. Charlotte was the only thing he lived for. He knew Lilith would leave eventually. They hadn’t loved each other for a long time, but having a friend nearby was nice for a while. He understood why Lilith was taking her away, he truly did. That didn’t stop it from hurting so much. So Lucifer folded the note and tucked it away in a drawer, somewhere in his workshop. The ring….he melted that ring down in hellfire, and scrapped the metal. It was Lilith’s ring and no one else’s. It had their names engraved on the inside and everything, something she probably had forgotten. Lucifer then looked at his own ring and debated burning it as well, but found he couldn’t quite do it. He wasn’t ready to let it rest, let alone think about finding someone else.
Lucifer laid in what was now his bed alone, processing that letter for who knows how long. He felt himself slipping in and out of consciousness for an uncertain amount of time. He could hear her laughter, bright, melodic, like a bell ringing. He could hear Charlotte’s laughter, energetic, young, filled with light. What confused him was the third laughter he had started hearing during this time, it was sharp, warm, and free. It was a laughter he had never heard before, and yet it sounded so familiar. He wanted to hear more of it, but every time he focused on it, it faded away. Lilith’s laughter slowly started to fade from his ear as well and soon it was only Charlotte and the ghost of that other laugh. He was going insane thinking about it! After about a year of wallowing from Lilith’s separation, and being haunted by laughter, Lucifer finally found some resolve to get up. Lucifer needed to do something! He was going to do something! Something about Hell! He was going to rule! He was Hell’s King after all! He really needed the distraction! He couldn’t think about the laughter anymore!
He needed to get himself out of bed and begin what could only be considered a fresh start. He started with the bedroom, keeping the bed the humongous size it already was, but lessening the purples in the room for golds and reds. He always enjoyed reds, but Lilith said that hell was red enough and something else about clashing colors. Well it was time he painted the town red, or at least the palace. He rid the hallways of their blues and cool tones and lightened up the place with warmer tones. He used bright reds, dark reds, browns, even pink in a few places. He redecorated the entire mansion to fit his new mood. The palace that had looked abandoned had transformed into lively, with the curtains finally drawn and the red sunlight shining in. It perked up his mood tenfold and decided to continue his little redecoration.
Next was his wardrobe. He had a lot of outfits that screamed angelic. Lilith had so loved him as an angel, but he had long fallen now and it was time he dressed like the Devil. He exchanged some of his whites to blacks, his golds to silvers, and his pinks to crimson. It was a nice touch if he said so himself, which of course he did. He even updated the outfits of the workers in his palace. They were confused for the most part by all the change, but seemed to be as entertained by it all, as him.
Lucifer had a total of ten hellborn that worked for him exclusively. Lilith had contracted the rest of the staff and with her gone, they had left as well. He didn’t mind it, mostly because he didn’t like them all too much. His ten though? He knew them by name, they were relatively close, and probably considered friends. He wasn’t quite sure, because he didn’t see them much as servants, just people who helped him out.
There was Mary, a succubus that worked as the head maid of the palace with purple skin and purple freckles, plus she had lower back wings that tucked around her waist and a tail that unfortunately was missing its tip. Lucifer happened to know the story surrounding her tail and knows not to bring it up. Everyone in the palace now happens to know that actually. Under Mary were two other maids, a loanshark and a baphomet.
The loanshark was Fet, which everyone was convinced to not be his name. They all had money on what his actual name was. He was a rather meticulous, yet clumsy guy, but he was damn good at cleaning. They mostly kept him away from the ceramics, but otherwise did his job amazingly. Fet was the shyest out of staff and often would never meet Lucifer in the eye, especially since they were the same height. Lucifer didn’t care much for the height of others, but it was nice to have someone the same size as him in the palace. Fet had a blue grey skin palette with a Nurse Shark look. This made him appear a lot less threatening than most of his species and led to the numerous bite marks on his tail and back fins. Luckily his actual tail fin had been spared, and now he used it as a duster. It was amazing to watch him walk the halls with his tail swaying and picking up whatever dust might have been left behind.
Jezza was the baphomet and she was one bad day away from a breakdown. The kind of breakdown that would cost him his windows. Jezza had a pristine white coat, one she took huge amounts of pride in and will often sell for high quality wool. The only problem is that she refused to harvest the wool from her head, which has led to way too many fights in the bathroom between Jezza and Mary. Mary always won in the end, considering their marriage didn’t hurt either. It was a good thing Mary got her to shave off the wool, lest a bad matt form and Jezza have a complete meltdown instead.
The gardeners were a hellhound family of three; Pongo, Perdita, and Pepper. They kept the unruly flora at their best behavior at all times. They were also the most elusive staff members, often not seen by anyone in the palace. A lot of that had to do with how much flora the palace had and how much time maintenance often took. The only times any of the three would easily be spotted was a lunch break of any kind.
He had a part time chef, mostly because they were also a Goetia; Elodie. They had their own property of Pride to manage with the rest of the Ars. Still he knew her hobby was cooking and never minded when she came by; plus she was amicable with the rest of the staff which never hurt. She was a hummingbird looking Goetia, with slightly iridescent greens in her feathers and a short tail that happened to be a “birth defect” according to her family. Good thing she murdered them and took over! Her property was flourishing under her too!
Heather was a Stonefish demon, renowned for their venomous spines! She was the best potion maker he’d ever seen. She takes great joy in coming up with new concoctions all the time. He kept most of her discoveries under wraps stating she was a guard to most who questioned it, when in reality she was the most harmless person he’d ever met.
His actual guards were two imps. No one expected the king to have imps of all hellborn as guards, so of course he was super proud of them! They called themselves Typhoon and Hurricane, which absolutely no one called them. Their actual names were Fredrick and Linus. They started calling themselves storms to up the fear factor, which again never worked. They were very skilled guards though, taking advantage of being underestimated. Fredick was muscle and strength, and Linus was speed and agility. They worked so well together.
It was always a funny question when Lucifer would get asked why he would need guards. His default response now was that he was not always home, which is a lie for the most part. Lucifer could tell whenever there was someone in his territory, it just depended on what he wanted to define as his territory for the time. For now it was his palace, but in all technicality he could stretch it to all the layers of hell. He just never liked stretching himself that far without a reason, it made him feel detached after he did things like that. Afterwards he would have to piece himself together again which takes about a week minimum. So his palace is his defined territory.
Thankfully Mary and Jezza were on board with the new decor and outfits immediately, which meant everyone else had no choice. They were the two who truly ran the palace, Lucifer was just a face and freeloader. Well he paid them, so not exactly a freeloader, but he certainly felt like he didn’t do much to contribute. The biggest problem with that was that most of the staff didn’t allow him to help, stating it was the one thing they could do for him. That, and the pride they took in their work made his sin sing.
Lucifer was truly the sin of pride, but he expressed his pride in many different forms. His favorite form was pride for others. He truly loved showing off how awesome the people around him are. His biggest pride was of course Charlotte. Everything she did was recorded and archived in the best parent scrapbook he could make. He basically showed it off to all of the staff whenever the chance arose. It was a miracle they weren’t tired of hearing about Charlotte’s total ten years of existence. One of the reasons he loved his staff!
It was rare that Lucifer showed pride in himself, but when he did it was blatant and overwhelming for all. One such example being when he was showing off his newly preened wings, after a long time of neglect. Satan and Mammon weren’t impressed and well, Lucifer made it known that he was not to be ignored. The two of them spent the rest of the day counting the amount of feathers in their pillows in their; much smaller than his, palaces.
Speaking of sins, he needed to reach out to them and coordinate a meeting. He needed to figure out how hell was holding out as a whole. Then from there he would be able to restructure anything that needed to be, as well as smooth out relations between rings. He knew for a fact Ozzie and Mams were fighting over something or another, and Bee was also probably giving Satan the silent treatment for some impulsive thing he said. The worst would be Levi, seeing as she would go to great lengths to steal ideas from everyone so her ideas would be the best. Thinking about all of them in the same room was actually giving him a headache and he would need time to prepare. So, of course he sent out a letter.
Meeting, In 1 month, at 10am.
Gather reports about your ring, including food distribution, economic status, and recurring issues within. If you are late the chance of you being heard will be lessened. First come first serve.
-Your King Lucifer.
Normally he wouldn’t address himself as King, but he wanted to be different, better. Plus this is a formal meeting, not a get together. He needed them to understand that nonsense was not going to be tolerated. He teleported all six notes straight to their recipient, so that none of them could tell him they never got the message. He also expected replies throughout the day and in a week for Bell, but he had no plans on reviewing them today. In fact any letter he got from them was immediately teleported straight to his bed to check on when he got back. He was going out into Pride. If he was asking the sins for their reports, he needed one of his own. Thankfully there was someone he could trust with accurate information.
Lucifer normally would portal, but he wanted to do a little recon before arriving at his destination. That meant flight or walking and seeing as he didn’t want to be covered in blood, flight it was. All six of his wings quickly spread out, stretching them from years of being hidden. He would store them in a pocket dimension when they encumbered them, or were inconvenient. He was starting to realize they weren’t any of those things normally and he should probably have them out more often. Something to ponder on later as he walked to the balcony and took flight.
There was a small gathering of houses and mansions around the palace, all occupied by Goetia. Those were the Kings and Queens of the Ars and the masters of different sects of magic. He had gifted them that land long ago so that they may be closer to him. He was the one who created them and they revered him. He hoped that sentiment was still that same, but he was never sure. Even Elodie didn’t fully know, she was only a Duchess and not close with any of the Princes or Princesses in the Ars. Still he would at least have to touch base with Paimon, so that was just another tick on his checklist now.
Lucifer soon left the Morningstar district into Pentagram City. It was dirty, blood staining the streets, entrails scattered about, and the walls were the worst of it. Sex was enjoyed by sinners as much as lust demons and well, the walls kept no secrets. Thankfully there were a few around Pentagram City that had some sense of control. He could see what looked like factories that looked organized and clean, not much murder happening around that area, it definitely was new to him. Then there was good old Cannibal Town. How that place was the cleanest in all of Pride was a mystery to him, a mystery he would have to find out within the month. The last place that looked ‘controlled’ was Downtown, where the stupid Heaven embassy was. It was a miracle that Downtown even looked relatively ok, but he knew the reason. The rest of Pride was desolate, except a small settlement for imps on the edge of the ring. There of course were forests and cliffs that surrounded Pentagram City, but as long as people were within the protected area, the demons outside the circle couldn’t harm them. That is the same of course for Imp City. He personally made those protection circles, and then from there the Ars created their own lands. Most failed, but a lucky few were successful, if it was maintained properly. Something else to ask Paimon about later.
Lucifer finally spotted his destination on the outskirts of the city, just before a cliff, was a rather impressive gothic castle. It was decorated in all black, with hints of green. It looked like something out of the last Medieval era, complete with everyone’s favorite architectural feature; buttresses.
Lucifer made sure to land before the front door. He was the devil, but he would be damned if he had no manners. He grabbed a hold of the spider door knocker and gave a prompt two knocks, making sure he was gentle with both the door and the knocker, he didn’t want to break anything while he was there. The door opened on its own with a glowing green thread that showed him his path to the host of the castle. He’d been here before and knew what to expect, so having not been greeted was of no surprise to him. He was happy to see that his host had not lost their manners, as he was soon faced with what could only be described as a spider Overlord. He was THE Overlord, actually, and Lucifer always had nothing but respect for Zestial.
“My Lord, I am grateful that you have graced mine abode with thine presence. Please, let us sit and converse over tea and better accommodations." Zestial of course had always had immense respect for Lucifer in turn. He was the one Overlord that he could trust to know what was happening in Pentagram City, and the only Overlord that kept Downtown in order. Even though Zestial didn’t live in Downtown, his markers were all over the area. If someone dared to disrupt order, they met his ire. Now a days, whenever someone encounter Zestial, they committed a form of temporary suicide instead of getting punished. It was the easy way out, considering Zestial leaned into his spider habits when it came to torture. Liquifying the insides of sinners was truely the most terrifying way to torture them, especially since Zestial never kills them out right, or consumes them. He leaves them to rot in their liquid state, until finally they rot and respawn. They were truly lucky that since their bodies are so unrecoverable, that they respawn elsewhere in the city rather than regenerate in Zestial’s castle.
Zestial had led him to a sitting room, one with cracks of light filtering through the green stained glass windows that were mostly covered in decrepit black drapes. Almost every room in the castle had some sense of macabre decor, this room in particular had its walls decorated with skulls. There was a carved skull mantle piece, a painted skull in the banisters, and multiple actual skulls in a pattern along the windows. This kind of decor stopped bothering Lucifer a long time ago, in fact it was probably Zestial who had desensitized him to begin with. Now it was just there, something he didn’t care for, but also something that no longer repulsed him.
Zestial had guided them to a table in the center of the room, where he manifested some tea and poured them both a cup. Lucifer sat and took a tentative sip, while Zestial wasn’t a cannibal by any means, it didn’t mean that he didn’t have funky taste in teas. It seemed he went with a simple Earl Grey this time around, and Lucifer nodded approvingly.
“Let me get straight to the point, Zestial. There are going to be some changes in Hell’s hierarchy in the coming month. I have decided to take full dominion over my domain.” Zestial had been sipping his tea, listening along. He was the most loyal Overlord, and sure that wasn’t saying much in general, but Zestial himself was very loyal to begin with. Ever since obtaining his title he had sided with the royals of Pentagram City, which was a fancy way of saying that he supported Lucifer’s laws to a tee. This was why, when Lucifer had informed him of this power change, he could almost picture Zestial with a tail that wagged eagerly. He was genuinely happy to hear Lucifer was stepping into the light of Hell and sitting on his throne properly.
“Of course my Lord. It twas always yours to covet. How shall this humble servant be of use for you?” Zestial even did a flourish and a bow whilst sitting. The sinner was truly the tallest Lucifer had ever seen and even when he bowed while sitting, he was taller than him.
“I am gathering information from all the rings and find myself lacking in Pride’s, more specifically Pentagram City. I thought that there would be one Overlord who had all that I needed.” Lucifer waved his hand towards Zestial. “So tell me Zestial, what has been going on in my crater?” Lucifer’s eyes bled into red, his irises thinning into a line of gold and his back straightened out. He never put his wings back into their pocket dimension, so they puffed out slightly. It was close to intimidation, except his horns and tail were nowhere to be seen. This display was actually a prideful moment, showing Zestial that he was worthy of a glimpse of his king’s devilish form. Zestial of course basked in it, getting out of his seat to even bow before the Morningstar. He didn’t even flinch when Lucifer referred to Pentagram City as his crater, a relatively well known fact, at least it was a couple of centuries ago. The city had of course been built where he originally fell. It took a long time for Lucifer and Lilith to recover, so they settled where they fell.
“Of course my Lord. I have within mine possession the information you desire; however, might I lend thine ear on another whomst has a more detailed report of thine own dwellings.” That peeked Lucifer’s interest. Someone who kept tabs over the city that wasn’t Zestial had to be relatively new, or at least new five-ish centuries ago. He truly stopped keeping count.
“Very well, summon your informant. I wish to get as accurate information as possible before I proceed.” Zestial stood up and went to the stained glass window that had been hitting them with light. He proceeded to open the dusty drapes as little green spiders crawled out from behind them. One crawled onto his arm as he whispered something into a spider and let it crawl back onto the drapes.
“They will be here shortly. You will enjoy her companion, my Lord.” Zestial said nothing else about this mysterious informant. It didn’t bother him all too much, just as long as they weren’t obnoxious and power hungry for his heavenly power.
It took this new sinner at most thirty minutes to join them. It gave Lucifer enough time to sip his tea and get a general layout of what had been happening in Pentagram City. For one there were multiple Overlords going on territory raids, as well as terrorizing Hellborns specifically. It was a mess, but it seemed there had been a faction that had formed called Sovereign Overlords. These seemed to consist of Zestial, and three other Overlords who governed their territory and kept their population within safe, or well managed. They also seemed the most likely to side with Lucifer, which was going to be something he looked into further.
Zestial regalled one of the Overlords as the ruler of Cannibal Town. She was personable and ruled over her territory with a heart, something he never thought he would hear. There was also another overlord who simply went by Maestro, a sinner who valued talent over all and governed a small territory that constructed orchestras and musical entertainment, also plays with music in them. It sounded interesting. The last of the four had been the informant they were waiting on, and apparently a weapons manufacturer who had taken over that big industrial district Lucifer had noted previously.
With their arrival Lucifer made a couple of quick notes, firstly she was well composed even in his presence, she had an air of authority, and she was blatantly and obviously not a sinner. Lucifer looked over to Zestial to confirm whether or not he knew and he only nodded in confirmation. They seemed very close. This new Overlord bowed before him, but not with the full flourish of Zestial. It was to be expected, they were meeting for the first time, which made him wonder. “A pleasure to meet you, Overlord. I will get straight to it. What made you fall, angel?” Lucifer’s eyes were on full display again, this time his horns were slowly making themselves known and his tail was whipping around, making crackling noses in the air.
The Overlord didn’t seem bothered by the question, but rather expected it. “My Children your Majesty. As you are well aware, children aren’t normal for angels. Mine were not pure angelic, nor were they created by God. I was condemned for having Nephilims, both of whom had fallen with me.” This Lucifer could accept, and could relate to. He had Charlotte, his own Nephilim. She was everything to him, and though she had fled from him and he ached to see her again; every minute of every day, he knew she needed to be with her mother.
Lucifer motioned for her to rise from her bow and join them at the table. “A respectable thing. Children, regardless of their creation, are blessings.” The Overlord seemed to agree with him, nodding in acknowledgement of his statement. “Now, Zestial tells me you are the person to talk to about numbers and the current statistics of Pentagram City.”
“Quite your Majesty, and if you may; I go by Carmilla Carmine now.” Lucifer could respect the change, it didn’t matter who she was before; angelic or not. She was an Overlord, a fallen, a resident of Pride. She was now part of his dominion.
“Of course Carmilla. First I would like to inquire about these other Overlords, how bad is the damage to the city from their feuding?"
“They are the main source of damage. Districts of the city get crumpled and the sinners and hellborn scramble to find safety after the wreckage. Doomsday District had been sectioned off for upcoming Overlords, but many have not stayed to those borders. This had resulted in the other Sovereign Overlords reporting in their own population being diminished or even threatened. We are trying to coordinate defenses against them, but their sheer numbers have been concerning.
“There are four in particular that are causing the greatest offense. Khan, Widow, Siren, and Conqueror are their monikers. Khan runs through districts, wiping out any who do not submit to him. If one of us Sovereign confronts him, he tends to flee, but not without having already done enough damage. Widow has been targeting the hellborn specifically, making soul deals with them and calling herself Lilith’s sister and your concubine. Siren has been hypnotizing sinners with songs into her deals. There have been reports of her specifically targeting women, and others say that the abuse that the souls under her go through was immense. Then finally is Conqueror who has taken down many small Overlords and has gotten into many fights with Khan’s people. He doesn’t try to take territory or souls, he just fights and kills. Something else to note is that Conqueror has a so-called hoard of belongings from all those he’s killed, calling them his trophies. Those items tend to be the one thing that was bonded to their soul from the mortal plan.”
All this information was heavily concerning, which meant Lucifer would need to deal with these Overlords, but how? His punishment would prevent him from out right killing them, plus sinners respawned. There was almost no permadeath for them, unless. “Carmilla, when you fell did you take anything other than your daughters with you?”
Carmilla raised an eyebrow at him, and immediately caught on to what he meant. “My halo had been melted before me, my daughters never possessed one. However, I fell with Angelic jewelry, which is still strictly made with Angelic Steel.” Lucifer smirked, this is what he wanted to hear. Angelic Steel was not accessible in hell, but if it had fallen here, he could use it for his own advantage!
“Perfect. You're a weapons dealer, but have you ever worked with the steel before?” Carmilla smiled at Lucifer, her respect for the king of hell was little to nothing, but now she was seeing who he really was.
“I can definitely make what you require.”
“Perfect. I will send you the specifications I will need. One more thing before we dismiss for the day. In a month’s time I will be meeting with the sins to discuss our course of action for all the rings. I will of course relay this information to you so that Pride can also thrive. I would like you two to gather these other sovereigns for a meeting. That way we can discuss what is to come and the change that will be implemented.” Both nodded in agreement.
“A wise course, your majesty.”
“We will carry out thine orders, my Lord.”
Both of them bowed with equal respect, Carmilla having changed her opinion on him. Lucifer then dissolved himself into magic particles and made his way to his study. He now had a way to punish the overlords and send a message to the others, but still no vessel to do it for him. He could not physically do it himself, and although Zestial and Carmilla seem loyal, neither would make a proper deal with him. He needed someone else, someone who had a moral code, who didn’t stray from blood and gore, someone hard enough to withstand Hell’s adversaries, someone he could mold. There were new souls he could look into, but unless they showed any promise they were not worth his time. Most souls didn’t show any promise till they had at least twenty souls under their belt and that was a hard count to achieve! Especially with these lesser overlords running amok! Lucifer needed a blank slate!
Lucifer had a stupid amount of luck though, for he soon felt a pull. It was like a tug on his shoulder, one that he had easily ignored and let pass on to the sinners and hellborn. This time, he was inclined to listen and answer the call. A human had performed a proper ritual and was summoning him. To be able to summon a demon at all was a feat, never mind being able to summon the Devil himself! First impressions mattered and it looked like this soul had already aced their’s. Now Lucifer wonders if he could use some of his charm to perform a new temptation. He needed an executioner and was just handed an opportunity on a silver platter, let’s just hope this human lived up to his standards.