"He is here."

Those words, though normally were not special in any way, shape, or form, in this moment instilled fear into the hearts of all who heard them. Even the great ruler of Hell felt his heart fully stop, as after the words lingered in the air the sound of approaching footsteps followed. It had only been a day since the last annual purge of Hell's denizens, yet once the killing had ceased and the angels had left, Lucifer would find himself being graced by the presence of a Seraphim. That in of itself was shocking enough to make the king of inferno be at a loss for words, as after his attempted revolt for Heaven's throne which put him here he VERY rarely was approached by any heavenly body. But there was something else about this particular angel that made him feel uneasy.

Even with his interactions with those from above being few and far between he knew very well what they looked like. Generally they all shared similar features and details, such as the shining radiance of heaven coupled with a balanced color scheme of golds, whites, and royal reds. Then there was this Seraphim, who instead of appearing with large light imbued wings and an aura of purity, stood still as a statue completely shrouded by a cloak. If it weren't for the unmistakable power he gave off with just his presence, Lucifer might have mistaken him for some random person who had intruded upon his domicile.

Then came his message, and for the first time in his immortal life Lucifer felt something he sought to instill within others, an emotion so powerful and so sickly that it made him want to rip his heart out and crush it just so he couldn't feel it, he felt fear. At first all he did was mention the other Hells, but then he mentioned the ONE Hell among them all that he and every other devil that existed truly acknowledged. A Hell so horrid, so vile, so encompassing of evil itself it was rarely referred to as Hell anymore. A place that even the most wretched and accursed of souls would beg never to be sent, as it's inhabitants were nothing short of beasts, the Hell known as Doom was feared by all.

Yet for so long Doom had been isolated, left alone to grow and bolster it's own power and strength as it preyed upon the wicked and foolish, in order to further satiate it's twisted desires. But then HE appeared, first believed to be a normal man he proved otherwise as he slaughtered without pause the denizens of Doom. Such titans as the barons, the masterminds, even the embodiment of all sin within it's domain fell by his hand. Yet still in this rampage his name was not known, nor what made him what he was, as such he was then deemed by both Doom and all other Hells, as The Slayer.

This is where the Seraphim's words began to embed themselves within Lucifer's mind, for after confirming that he was was still aware of it's existence did the Seraphim reveal to him a revelation that had yet been shared with the other Hells. Doom, the most feared and evil of all the dark realms, had been delivered to extinction by the Slayer. At first he didn't believe it, he shook his head in defiance and even went so far as to claim the Seraphim was simply lying as to pull some kind of sick joke on him, as the thought of this being true was worse than a nightmare made real. In response to these claims however the Seraphim did not speak, he did not move, he did not seem to care for the words of the panicked devil in any way, all he did was stare at him from the shadows of his hood as a portal opened behind him.

Looking passed him and into whatever plane of reality had been accessed through the rift, Lucifer felt his eyes widen in terror as a never ending sea of corpses, viscera, and blood filled his vision, all of it belonging to the denizens of Doom. Feeling his entire body go numb at the unprecedented genocide he was seeing, he slowly fell from his throne onto the floor, as tears began forming in his eyes from the overwhelming fear. Yet his terror was not over, as the Seraphim spoke one final time to complete his message.

"The Slayer has succeeded, yet still he seeks to rid creation of the corruption that your kind brings, however our maker in his endless mercy and benevolence has sought to give you a choice, redemption or death."

And with that he left, going through the portal he had created he left Lucifer alone with the overwhelming emotions and thoughts that now assaulted his mind. But after several minutes of simply staring at nothing, barely moving aside from the breathing of his chest, the king of Hell as best as he could got to his feet and left his throne room. The next several hours were nothing but a blur, as he gathered all of his inner circle and brought them together for a meeting. He hoped that by informing them of the situation they could think of a solution to this that he wasn't able to see, even though deep inside he knew what their answers would be.

That even if they were to try and speak with the Seraphim again, or perhaps even be so bold as to see God to discuss the matter, it would end the exact same way. So with their only choices being to agree to their terms, or be the next Hell to fall by the Slayer's hand, they of course chose the former. This is how they ended up here, breathing erratically and scared beyond comprehension, all waiting for the doors to the meeting room they sat within to be pushed open by the one they all feared. But just as the footsteps which sounded heavy and powerful came ever closer to the doors they would soon fall silent, as their owner stopped mere inches away as if to worsen their anguish.

Then without warning both doors were suddenly sent flying open, the force responsible being so great it caused them to fly off of their hinges and go into the nearby walls. Whether it was deliberate was not the concern on all of their minds, for as they looked to the now empty doorway they saw standing in the hall the supposedly human man. Clad in a green suit of armor the likes of which none of them had ever seen, the only part of him that was visible were his unblinking eyes, which stared directly into their souls. For the next several minutes it was as if time had been frozen, no one breathed, no one moved, no one did anything at all.

But where as Lucifer and his inner circle were motionless due to their fear and hesitation, the Slayer did so out of suspicion that one of them would start a fight.

"Hello." A sudden voice spoke, catching them all off guard.

"S-Slayer?..." Lucifer, somehow managing to speak himself questioned, as the voice seemed to come from him.

"No, I am Vega, the Slayer's personal assistant." The voice spoke once again, just as the visor which allowed them to see his eyes began glowing with a bright orange light, "The Slayer does not speak so I will be speaking for him." It explained.

"Oh." He simply replied, before then gesturing to the empty chair in front of the Slayer, "Please, have a seat." He invited, wanting to get this ordeal over with.

Staying where he was in the hallway for a few seconds more just to be certain this was not some kind of trap, the Slayer accepted the invitation and took a seat at the table, all the while not blinking his eyes.

"It has come to our attention that you have chosen to seek redemption, you have not changed your minds correct?" Vega asked.

"O-Of course not!" Lucifer exclaimed with haste, nearly jumping from his chair to do so.

"Good, then please inform us of how you plan to go about redeeming the damned souls of this Hell." Vega requested.

"W-What?" Lucifer questioned, clearly surprised.

"You seem to be confused so allow me to specify, the Seraphim informed you that in light of the Slayer's success in destroying Doom you must either redeem yourselves or meet the same fate, so what course of action do you plan to take to encourage the souls, which have yet to be exterminated by Heaven's forces, to repent for their sins in order to ascend?" Vega responded.

"He didn't say anything about that!" Lucifer exclaimed, this time standing from his seat "All he said was that we had to choose! not that we ourselves had to come up with a plan!" He insisted.

"Does this mean you do not seek redemption?" Vega asked.

"No of course not! but we didn't know we had to think of something ourselves! we assumed that by choosing redemption that Heaven would provide the test, or trial, or whatever they wanted to prove we were willing!" Lucifer answered.

"They already have." Vega told him, causing his and the others' eyes to widen "Do you think the exterminations that have been conducted were actually due to overpopulation? think about it, if more space was needed for the wicked God could simply make more, he is all powerful after all, the whole reason for the exterminations in the first place was to try and compel the denizens of this Hell to seek redemption on their own, to which all of you have ignored due to the assumption that Heaven would never kill all of you, which is true, but the Slayer while blessed with their power is not required to follow the same rules and laws that Heaven must, he is able to choose freely and as such if given the choice to kill all of you and leave nothing left he will do so, and I must inform you that he is growing rather impatient." He explained.

"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" One of the demons shouted in response, as he stood from his seat and pointed towards the Slayer "Why the FUCK does he not have to abide by the rules?! just cause he's a fucking human?! how the fuck is that fair?! I don't give a shit if-"

BOOM

Without warning, without hesitation, without any kind of chance for him to apologize for what he was saying, the demon now nothing more than a pile of viscera and bloody mush slowly slid down the wall. Feeling all of their bodies begin to shake uncontrollably, some even vomiting at what remained of the former demon, those who were able moved their eyes from the mess back to the Slayer, noticing the smoking double barreled shotgun he now wielded in his right hand.

"Time is up I'm afraid." Vega informed them, over the sounds of the still puking demons "As I said the Slayer has become impatient with you, so I would advise you to think of something, anything at all to tell him, otherwise all of you and the rest of this Hell will wind up like that." He warned.

Sadly none who were present, especially after what had just happened, were in any kind of state mentally to even begin forming a plan. Their minds instead were thinking about their lives, where they had gone wrong, what they had done to be sent here, and how in the ever loving fuck were they going to avoid what they believed was the FINAL death.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry!" Lucifer thought to himself, as he stared down at the table "I should've done more! I should've realized how fucking stupid I was! please God please if you can hear me now show me and my family mercy!" He pleaded.

Whether it was simply that thought that brought the idea to his mind, or perhaps in light of his own repentance God granted him the mercy he sought, Lucifer as he focused on the love of his life and the daughter he cherished so dearly, remembered something VERY important. So just as the Slayer had done when killing the demon did he do the same, without any warning or hesitation he suddenly shot up from his chair, gained everyone's attention, and shouted-

"THE HOTEL!"