C13 Do you cosplay?

"I can't let him die just yet. I need to make sure the contract is activated."

Standing up, like a normal person, I focus on my connection to Johnny and feed him a minuscule amount of energy. Not enough to heal him or anything, just enough to keep his soul in his body and his brain alive. That way, I can still tell what's going on, and if need be, 'resurrect' him and fix shit.

From what I can tell, it's going just fine. Blackheart is opening the contract and mumbling some mumbo jumbo that probably activates it. No sorcerers are trying to stop him or some other hero that just so happened to be in the same place.

"I don't want to raise any flags, but this seems like it's going to go just fine."

Originally Johnny should have been able to kill Blackheart, or at the very least get the contact back, since he would have had the full backing of the Spirit. If not, then there would be sorcerers around to stop Blackheart when he failed.

"And there aren't any here. That mean's AO can't predict me, to at least some degree, and I am free to do as I please."

Blackheart seems to be—walking in circles. Ah yes, he's probably looking for the place with the best resonance inside San Venganza for linking Hell to Earth. It should be wherever the contract was signed, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the church.

"Speaking of the church, Roxanne is still in there, dead as a doornail."

I'll be sure to resurrect her later since she was just an innocent bystander for the most part. I'll help Johnny out too. After all, if it wasn't for his pasty face, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm about to do.

"Yep, it was the church. I don't even need the connection to Johnny to tell what's going on anymore, I can feel space ripple from my cell."

That means AO can feel it too, and Mephisto will need to hurry before she arrives. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Heimdall is watching as well. If AO can't handle Mephisto then Odin will likely send people down. Since safeguarding "Midgard" is part of his duty, after all.

"It's time to let Johnny die. Blackheart may not be able to tell, but I wouldn't bet the same for AO or Mephisto, and I want them to stay focussed on Earth."

The link has been established, so I'll just wait a couple of minutes to let Mephisto and his strongest demons leave.

---

"Showtime!"

Empowering my body with Hellfire, I got my right arm free by pulling the anchor out. I then proceed to do the same with the other three.

Once that was done, I elementized my wrists and ankles to take off the chains. I decide to store them for later, in a subdimension, since they were still undamaged.

I then proceed to the exit. But, before I get there, I feel—a draft. Looking down, I remember that I'm naked, so I conjure up a t-shirt and jeans.

'I would conjure armor, but my skin is stronger than anything I can make with magic or Soulfire. These clothes could still stop bullets though—but doesn't mean much here.'

Versatile as it may be, Soulfire is better at strengthening and improving what already exists. The stuff it can make is still strong as fuck, but not when you compare it to the kinds of metal that exist in Marvel.

'From what I can tell, this should be a dungeon below Mephisto's palace, or whatever it's called.'

Getting to the hallway, it's just as dark and dirty as the chamber, which isn't surprising since it looks like it's carved out of bedrock and has soot-filled fire coming out of the cracked ground.

'Good thing everyone here is dead, a demon, or powerful, or else they would suffocate.'

I decided to go right since that is the way Mephisto would always come and go from. As I super-speed-walked, there would be rooms every so often on both sides, but they were always empty.

'Come to think of it, I don't remember ever seeing or hearing someone else, besides Mephisto, in all the memories of being here. I guess I'm a VIP.'

Getting to the end of the hallway, there was the bottom of a spiral staircase. I started to run up it since it wasn't wide or tall enough to fly.

There were no other passages along the way, and even at near the speed of sound, it still took a few minutes to reach the top.

'It seems I was "given" a private dungeon that would have been easy to seal me in.'

The top of the stairs came out into an actual nice(ish) looking room, though it had demonic scribbling and other garbage written on the walls. I can only assume it's meant to seal or collapse the entrance to my dungeon.

'And—it's activating.'

With one twitch of my wings, I end up at the exit, which was about a hundred feet away.

"Oh~ that felt so good~. Why? I don't care."

Turning around, I see the whole floor of that room sink in and collapse towards the center.

'That would definitely slow me down if I was still down there.'

It probably didn't activate when I broke free because of the space disturbance and lack of Mephisto keeping an eye on it.

'Let's just hope he can't tell it activated while he's outside of his realm.'

Looking around, I only see hallways and doors that lead nowhere, so I just find the nearest window and jump out.

'The throne is likely to be in whatever place looks most important.'

Flying up into the sky of this hellish paradise, I see billowing smoke, rivers of skeletons, and clouds made of souls. Further away, I can sense the link to San Venganza and where most of the demons are heading.

'From the energy, I would guess there are a few hundred thousand demons in total. I doubt anywhere near that many will get through by the time I'm done, though.'

Looking down, I see the palace. It has a large courtyard in the center with the palace itself surrounding it. One end of the palace is much bigger and where I'm guessing the throne will be.

'It kinda looks like Buckingham Palace, if it were a hundred times bigger and on fire…'

I swoop down to the courtyard and land near a fountain that's spewing—blood? I then walk towards the entrance of the main residence.

'Is it really this easy? I have yet to meet any kind of protection.'

No traps, no barriers. I understand the lack of demons due to the invasion but is Mephisto really so sure that no one will try and claim his throne while he's away?

'Even the demons that are here are just locked up.'

Reaching the doors, I push them open and enter the main hall.

'And there it is. Just like that.'

At the end of this rather large hall is a blood-red throne with a backrest, about twenty feet high. There are also steps in front of it, making it the highest thing in the hall.

Walking up to it, I don't sit down. First, I circle it and look at it in extreme detail, trying to find anything hidden.

"How clever. As expected from such a scheming demon."

Mephisto didn't bother protecting the throne. But he did leave something behind so that if someone does happen to take the throne, he can get it back as long as the new 'Lord' uses the realm's power long enough.

'Maybe he thought that no matter how protected, it would eventually be taken and decided to leave a backdoor instead.'

"It doesn't matter."

I remove the backdoor and sit down after double-checking for anything else, as you can never be too careful with a Hell Lord. Afterward, all I do is a probe. I ever so slightly input a bit of soul energy and try to find any other hidden surprises.

'And there's another one, but this one looks like it was meant to work in tandem with the other.'

This 'surprise' was meant to slowly corrupt the new Lord while masking the backdoor from discovery. The more corrupted the Lord, the easier it would be for Mephisto to manipulate them.

'This is useless against me, but I'll still remove it. Nothing wrong with being safe.'

After that, I make another sweep but find nothing, so I look for Mephisto's connection to the throne. Finding it, I don't remove it, but I make it so I can sever it at any moment.

'I don't want him alerted yet.'

He may lose a lot of strength when no longer powered by the realm. But that doesn't make him useless. He could still escape or do some other thing I don't want him to do.

'I want to catch him and make sure he dies a very real and permanent death.'

"I'll make it painful too."

I may have removed any emotional influence that the memories have, but that doesn't change the fact that I still had to go through an immense amount of pain in the beginning and whenever third-person broke.

"That should be everything."

'I double-checked everything, even the palace itself. I found nothing, so I'm going to take this throne for my own.'

Still leaving Mephisto's link alone, I flood the throne with my soul energy since that should create the deepest connection possible. I feel my energy saturate the throne, making it shine golden.

As the connection deepens, I start to feel as if I can know whatever is going on inside the realm, as well as change it however I please. But, above all, I feel POWER.

With just a flick of my finger, I can deliver an energy blast equivalent to my previous full power. If I were to empower my body with all this energy, lifting an entire city would not be difficult.

'I don't even have access to it all since Mephisto is using a large amount right now.'

"Damn! How strong would this be if it was at comic level?"

Exploring the power for a minute, I discovered a couple of things that brought a smile to my face, as well as a way to keep much more power outside of the realm.

'Hmm? My escape device has unlocked. I guess usurping Mephisto counted as completing the trial. I would explore its uses fully but," It was not the time to delay, so I instead got up and prepared for taking on Mephisto—in style.

--- [A/N: I was going to end it there since it was already 1772 words, but I decided to be generous and go a bit more. Or, maybe I just found a better cliffhanger…] ---

Just outside a ghost town, somewhere in Texas, were three groups. Two of them were together facing the third.

"This isn't where you belong Mephisto! Return to your realm now, or you will be made to do so!" a robed bald woman said with conviction. Though, on the inside, she was worried since this was never supposed to happen.

"The woman is right. Return or face my hammer, demon!" the tall long-haired blond cosplayer next to her yelled with valor. Though, on the inside, he… wasn't thinking.

[A/N: I'm sorry(not), I couldn't resist(I could). NO CAPES(unless they're cool)!]

Opposite the duo was a horde of demons numbering in the thousands and still growing. They originated from the church not far. Leading them were two figures. A tall red-skinned demon wearing a red cape and loincloth, and the other who was pitch black and had a tail. Mephisto and Blackheart.

Mephisto, with a devilish smile, replied, "Oh, but where would the fun be in that? I went through all this trouble just to come and visit, and before I can even walk in the door, you're already shooing me out. Tsk, tsk, tsk, that's not very friendly of you, now is it."

The blondie seems to have had enough of standing around and said, "Enough stalling demon! Either leave or fight it's your choice!" Finished, he starts swinging his hammer faster than the human eye can see, readying it to strike at any moment. The sky also starts to darken.

The bald hippie doesn't bother to add anything more and just gets into a stance, preparing to fight.

Mephisto just frowns in disappointment, "What a bore. And here I thought you two girls would be more entertaining," he ends with a hint of a smile.

"Girl! I'm no girl, you demon! Taste my hammer!" he raises his hammer, still spinning, to attract lightning and strike the red bastard. But just as he is going to be struck, he losses all connection to the sky.

As if all four could sense something, they looked up and saw that the clouds were no longer full of lightning but instead full of fire. They could tell none here was responsible and only frowned, Mephisto's being the deepest. Before any of them could think further, they all heard a—roar?

No, not a roar, It was more akin to a growl. And as it became louder, it started to sound like it came from a prehistoric beast, one that was right next to their ears.

//Note//

As you can see my descriptive ability is five stars…

AO and Thor kinda sounded like little kids telling their parents to get out of their room, didn't they?

P.S.

I know time is supposed to be slower in Mephisto's Realm, but I don't like time fuckery, so it's just going to match Earth's time rate.