Chapter Text
Fire was burning throughout Pentagram City, its dark smoke reaching for the red sky eagerly.
Screams of demise and the sticky sloshing of blood, it was the day of Extermination once again.
He died on earth in the Year 21XX. It was Year 20XX right now in Hell.
The timeline wasn't matching up.
Freely walking past dead demon corpses on the road, one wouldn't think he'd just fallen into hell mere moments ago, but here he was, witnessing the carnage that was happening in his first day of afterlife unbothered.
As they used to say back in the day... When death is here, dying is over.
Well, atleast he was still cute as a demon. He paused for a moment, admiring his reflection on a puddle of blood. While he wasn't a furry, he could admit that the new addition of a pair of fluffy antennae and white wings surely added to his visuals, complementing the neon blues of his eyes and matching his wavy white hair. But he didn't know how to feel about the extra arms and built in fluffy scarf around his neck just yet.
If there's one thing he wasn't satisfied with, it was how his skin looked like white metal now instead of the twilight vampire white he was used to.
It's really giving off Animatronic. Not that it would be too far off from what he was now, actually.
Flash drives hidden underneath fingertip caps, a heavily distorted audio of Past Lives playing on the speaker at the back of his neck, and torch lights hidden inside his eyeballs. He definitely deserves being called an Animatronic. Added to the fact that he was already dead too.
Big Oof.
Well then, nothing we could do about that.
He shrugged and moved on, humming along the tune of the song in his distinctively auto-tuned voice as he hopped over a half-dead body on the sidewalk.
"Hmm^hmm√~" He supposed he could live with this. Sounding like a vocaloid seemed fun.
"P-please..." The soon-to-be-corpse wheezed. "ple...se."
"Hmm~? What was that, comrade?" He reached into the broken window of a liquor store and pulled out a mostly intact bottle of vodka, popped the bottle open and took an audible gulp of it.
"S-save me!" Hearing his response, the living dead body seemed to be injected with renewed energy, struggling to crawl towards him with broken legs, trailing a path of blood on the cracked asphalt. "Save me, please-!"
"Em... Otkaz(no/refusal)." He shrugged and began to walk away with his liquor.
"Huh- wha-?"
"Ya otkazyvayus (I refuse)." He waved a dismissive hand towards the dying sinner. "I refuse. There is no point helping when I have nothing to gain from you, vy ponimayete?(you understand?)"
"Guh- I-!" The body choked and coughed out black blood, reaching towards his only salvation desperately. "A contract!- I can sign a contract with you! Just, please-"
"A contract, you say-?" The silk moth which was nearly at the other end of the road, in the blink of an eye, was suddenly crouching right in front of the sinner's face, looking at him curiously. "You should have said that first, comrade! So much time wasted with you... Beating the bush around-?"
"Beating around the bush?" The corner of the sinner's eye twitched, rabbit ears swiveling around in distress.
"Yes! That!" The moth snapped his fingers. "Why must English have so many phrases that never make sense?"
The rabbit sinner awkwardly laid paralyzed as he listened to the moth demon mutter to himself in indecipherable Russian.
"Anyway-! As we were saying, about the contract?" The moth trailed off as a distant sound of explosion was heard, causing the already stressed rabbit to flinch.
"R-right! Please take me somewhere safe!" An ominous sound filled the air as the sound of conflict gradually drew nearer. "In exchange-"
Unbothered by the approaching danger, the moth merely stared inquisitively at the sinner.
"In exchange..." The rabbit bit dull teeth into their soft inner cheek, making fresh blood mix with rust scented saliva, determination washing over resignation. "I can give you half of my demonic energy."
Though the other demon was unappreciative of it, tilting his head to the side in disinterest. "Half..?"
At the other end of the road, the loud clicking of shoes made known the presence of a new arrival. An exterminator.
"Heeheehee~" They giggled menacingly as they spotted new prey.
With a sudden spike of adrenaline coursing through their veins, the rabbit gripped the moth's ankle in desperation, pupils shrunken into pinpricks in fear. "Three fourths! I'll give you three fourths of it! Please! They're almost here!"
Making a show of tapping his chin, deliberately taking his time to think it over to tease both exterminator and sinner, before grinning with a mouthful of sharp teeth. "Hmm~ Okay!"
Reaching out to the hand that was gripping his ankle, the moth shook it firmly, and, with a flash of green light, the contract was established.
As the light gradually receded from the desolated street, a lone Exterminator stood still in confusion, wondering where their prey had gone as an empty space was all that's left from where the two filthy sinners had previously stood.
"Oh, dear..." They muttered to themself, scratching the back of their head. Their first day in the job, and already, they let two rats escape from them. Hopefully, nothing bad would happen...
...
Honestly speaking, he had no idea what this contract was. Aside from the memes about the devil's contracts he saw on earth. He never really thought any of it was true.
But, at the moment the word was uttered from the lips of that rabbit, something deep in his demonic being stirred awake pushing him eagerly to accept the offer with eager hunger.
Now, here he was, deep inside a mostly intact building in the outskirts of Pentagram City, far away from where the most of the Extermination was happening.
"Here we are, comrade! Safe shelter!" The moth slid the rabbit he carried on his shoulder and dropped them on the floor with a thud, ignoring the audible hiss of pain. "The contract is fulfilled now, Da?(Yes?)"
The rabbit, contemplating whether they could get something more from the deal, bit their lip in silence for a moment. But, a moment too long it seemed as the moth focused wandering blue eyes upon the prone body sharply upon receiving no immediate reply.
"The contract Is fulfilled now-" Inorganic blue eyes gleamed like computer screens in the dark, making the rabbit feel like all of their thoughts were easily exposed under the robotic gaze. "Dа?(Yes?)"
"Y-yes! Yes-!" The rabbit nodded quickly in fear, heart beating so fast, they felt like they might die from a heart attack instead of the Extermination. "The contract is complete!"
And with another flash of green, the binding, as short as it was, was undone, leaving the rabbit with much less of their energy, and the moth...
Completely blissed out with his first taste of Ecstasy.
"Ah~" Blue eyes flashed in an electric light as auto-tuned voice turned into distorted static. "Lakomyy~(Delectable)"
A sudden surge of power, akin to plugging an old machine into an electrical socket. What was once a rusted wire was now energetic and new again. But this meager amount of power was not enough to sate the greedy beast inside.
In fact, it was Hungrier.
After all, what was this meager drop of sin to compare when there was an entire ocean of wickedness outside.
And, now that his own batteries were kick-started by his first contract, he can finally feel it better.
The carnage outside, the bloodshed and the fear, darkness crawling upon every inch of the city and filling the very air they breathe. Sin was everywhere and in everything.
This is Hell.
Beautiful, unfiltered Hell. Hell that will one day become his paradise.
He just had to start somewhere.
With eerie glowing eyes, he eyed the old radio on the corner, grin filled with sharp teeth plastered on his face.
...
No one really knows when it started.
In the chaos of the Extermination, it was only natural that the flow of information would be difficult to track.
But, if one were to line up the series of events in chronological order, they'd probably realize that it most likely began when all the radios, television, and phones in Pentagram City were hijacked simultaneously and began blaring out an ominous siren at the loudest volume.
This siren would later be dubbed as the Purge Siren days after the Extermination, and would become one of the annual traditions a certain demon would perform at every Yearly Cleanse.
Once the siren was over though, came the more confusing part. Music started to play everywhere. And not just any music, for it was-
Tri Paloski! Tri Pa- Tri Paloski!
Russian Hardbass.
Leisurely drinking tea and listening to soothing jazz music as chaos reigned outside his lounge, a certain deer Overlord nearly spilled his tea in surprise when the music in his radio was forcibly changed into something else.
Upon the third hour of the cleanse, all beings in Pentagram City froze in confusion as Exterminators and Sinners alike rushed to figure out what was going on with their devices, only for a strange moth robot to swoop in while they were distracted, steal the sinner away just to forcibly make a contract with them that takes most of their demonic energy in exchange for saving them.
"And remember, if you like the music you're hearing, subscribe to DJ Сукаблять (Suka Blyat) to get more quality music!"
It all went that way until, eventually, by the fifth hour, word started to spread about the moth sinner's forceful evacuation methods.
Then, by half past the sixth hour, even the Exterminators seemed to have caught on to his ploy, targeting him purposely and limiting his scope of action.
But, by this time, it was already too late.
He already collected enough demonic energy for an upgrade.
...
Blocking the only exit of a dead end alley, more than a dozen exterminators held their weapons towards a single sinner menacingly with several more peering down at him from the rooftops.
If he didn't know any better, he'd say they were demons, with their creepy masks, sharp scythes, horns, and gangly bodies. But, as it stands, He was the demon, and they were supposedly Angels.
Yet, even at this moment, the sinner felt not an ounce of panic, smiling to himself as though he found the entire situation amusing.
"Ah, I am surrounded, it seems. But, no worries, friend! Because I have gun. And not just any gun! It is-" He presented a very ordinary looking pistol towards his audience of Exterminators like how a magician would to a card, and very slowly popped open his fingertip to show the flashdrive hidden inside which he surprising managed to stick into the body of the gun...
[Downloading Data]
[Installing Software]
[Commencing Tool Upgrade]
[Complete]
And with a flash of blue light, the gun began to morph into- "Psycho-Pass Dominator - Adidas Version!"
But, no one would get his reference because the origin of this reference hasn't been made yet.
Ah, who cares though? The gun still works well either way.
With a thunderous shot, like the sound of an explosion, the gun fired towards the leading exterminators, with each casual aim incapacitating them, yet strangely, not taking a single life despite the shots being fatal.
"Strange..." He muttered to himself as the Exterminators commenced their attack upon him, with the fearlessness of someone who knew they wouldn't die no matter what injury they sustained.
It was suspicious.
"Maybe just one gun is not enough deterrence?" He said thoughtfully, dodging the attacks that came towards him with strange glitching movements while still finding time to shoot at the enemy casually.
It might not kill them off permanently, but, at least, it could still keep them down for a few moments until he figured out another plan.
"Ah-" The sinner glitched away from the scythe that nearly nicked the tip of his nose. "That was close."
Why could angels kill demons but demons find it nearly impossible to kill angels? Was there something special about their weapons?
Perhaps...
On the corner of his vision was a virtual map of the nearby surroundings together with the real time positions of his enemies. With this, it allowed him to keep track of everything that happened around him.
Suddenly, he dashed towards a nearby fire exit staircase, making it seem like he was about to escape, but the moment when most of the exterminators moved to chase him up the building, his visage suddenly glitched and disappeared before their eyes.
Only to appear behind one of the angels.
But, when they finally realized what happened, it was already too late. His flashdrive had already sunk into the lone exterminator's flesh.
Reveling in the fear of the angel in his grasp, the sinner grinned, sharp teeth glinting, when his theory proved correct.
"Oh! Friend! You have a power source too! Like me! But, your power source is not good, Да. Too pure." He said cheerfully, as though he wasn't about to completely rewrite another being's existence. "But, no worries! I am computer. Easy to corrupt you with viruses as long as WiFi is open. After all, positive times negative is negative."
Eyes quivering as they began to feel the sudden rush of dark and slimy sin being poured into their soul, overwriting their virtues, the angel's jaw opened wide, but their body was too overloaded to even scream in pain.
"Basic math, no?" As the angel began to transform from inside out, starting from their soul and gradually extending to their body, their virtues being corroded by the sin the sinner gradually accumulated from the earlier contracts he made, the moth demon cast his eyes upon his new creation, seemingly unbothered by the exterminators who held their weapons against him with newfound rage. "See? I was right! Now your power is mine, and your body, also mine."
And just when it seemed like the wave of divine wrath would crush him under their angelic weapons, the sinner looked upon heaven's entourage with amusement.
The sinner's glowing eyes glimmered in delight, beckoning towards his new mindless puppet. "Now, incapacitate your friends, comrade."
And thus, the creature which was neither angel nor demon wielded its weapon against its former partners like a lifeless machine which only brought carnage.
Because that's exactly what it was. Or what its creator intended it to be.
Flesh, blood, and bones, flew in every direction, and the once feared exterminators now experience the same fear they once dealt upon the sinners.
Yet, despite this, emboldened by the knowledge that they still far outnumbered the enemy, they refused to escape in cowardice and continued their attacks upon the sinner, perhaps, thinking, if the sinner ceased to exist, sanity will return to their fellow.
But, it was exactly this hope that will end up causing their demise, because-
Wait... If he could infect one Exterminator with sin... Could he infect all of them with a sin virus?
The sinner grinned mischievously.
Gathering all the sin he'd gathered from the earlier contracts, unseen by the eyes of others, a large amount of data began to pour into his mind as he began to create a program out of nothing which would target only angels in an indiscriminate attack much like how a virus attacks a computer's software.
Binary codes and input commands flashed through his optic screens in blinding speed as his computerized brain rapidly created a unique program faster than an AI.
But, while he did this, he refused to stay still like a live target and instead, continued to manually corrode the angels much like he did to the first by picking on the downed but not quite dead exterminators that his puppet had left behind.
With this, his group of puppets gradually increased until they could already hold their own against the angels without much interference from him, giving him more space to create his virus relatively undisturbed.
Until, finally...
[Test Running Program 0001:Sin Contamination]
[0100001001001100010110010100000101010100]
[0 Errors found.]
[Ready for Deployment]
It was complete.
So, with a grin full of sharp teeth and unhidden madness, he unleashed his creation upon the angels with not a word of warning.
From the first exterminator that was contaminated, the virus quickly spread to every other angel that it touched.
And, one by one, they fell to the ground in agony, their virtues and everything which made them divine being eroded and consumed by sin much like how a snake's venom poisons blood.
In the confusion and panic which followed, many tried to escape, but even just the slightest brush of skin was enough to transfer the virus, and soon, all of them were on the ground, writhing, squirming, and foaming from the mouth.
But it didn't take long for even that to cease and for the alley which was in chaos mere moments ago to fall into eerie silence.
Then, like a collection of mindless machines, they all stood up at the same time with robotic movements.
"Succeeded once again." The sinner, surveying his new army, grinned proudly. Tapping his foot to the beat of the music playing on his speakers which somehow transitioned to Phonk some time during the battle.
"My friends! I am sorry to tell you that heaven will no longer accept you because right now, all of you are Bi-" The moth demon smiled mischievously. "-nary! Yes, I'm hilarious. I know-"
Suddenly, he stopped laughing.
Before him, a troop of reformed Exterminators ominously stood, ready for his command.
With a bland tone, he gave them their first order.
"Contaminate your brethren."
...
When the last of the angels slipped through the portal in the sky, sombre silence blanketed hell while the left over fires of chaos burned through buildings and corpses alike.
But while the years before had been a one sided purge against sinners, this year was far different as the demons finally had a way to fight back.
What once was a hell filled with only despair and fear after the extermination was now shown a glimmer of hope.
Angels can be killed too.
By the same weapons they wield against demons.
Just like that, greedy demons, ambitious demons, and vengeful demons alike began to plot their actions, readying themselves.
So when the next extermination comes... They would fight back.
And all this is great for boosting hell's overall morale and all, yet the cause of this inevitable uprising cared none for the chaos he'd inadvertently brought with his actions, as right now, his biggest issue at hand was.
"I overdid it, drisnya(shit)." The moth demon stood stiffly, hands combing through his fluffy white hair. "What am I supposed to do with all of you?"
Lined up before him, dozens of contaminated exterminators stood in attention, as if they were his own private army.
...
In the end, he just decided to temporarily house them in the tallest building in the vicinity which he took as his own.
Anyways, there was no one around to fight against him for it, and if he were to judge from the corpses strewn along the halls, it was more or less ownerless already.
As they said, Finder's keepers.
So, with the topic of housing taken care off, he went on to the next course of action, which was to clean up his territory because, honestly, it's a dump.
No, really.
Trash on the lobby, bodies on the halls, and vandalized walls didn't really scream 'Welcome Home', does it?
And it was a pity that it was such a beautifully designed building too.
If he could add some 50 floors above it and a bit of neon lights, it could even be the background of an eerie scifi film.
Hmm... Not a bad idea.
The sinner stretched languidly on the balcony of the building's top floor, gazing out towards hell's unchanging twilight sky as the exterminator puppets scurried about, cleaning the building until it resembled a habitable place more than the garbage dump that it was before.
Watching them busying themselves, it belatedly occured to him how much attention he would catch if others saw his army of angels out and about in hell.
Surely, it would cause quite the riot.
And while he wasn't against creating chaos every now and then, it wouldn't be funny if he were suddenly accused of being in league with heaven.
Perhaps... He should get to disguising them as something else first.
So, when the angels finally finished up on the building's impromptu renovation, the sinner made them line up on the hotel's lobby as he thought through how he was going to go about with their disguise.
It was only then that he finally took account of just how many angels he'd managed to contaminate with his virus.
49... That's a lot.
A big enough number for heaven to be troubled over.
Oh well, not his problem.
"Mm..." The moth demon frowned thoughtfully. It's not enough to make a character creation program for this since that still wouldn't change the fact that they were mindless puppets that wouldn't move unless directly commanded to by him.
He'd need something else for this.
But, since he didn't exactly have a lot of sin left to spend after creating the virus, he'll have to be careful with how he handles this.
He still didn't know what would happen if a demon is completely drained of all their sin after all.
For the meantime, he'd do just one of them as an experiment.
Rummaging through his memory files without actually knowing what he was looking for, he dug through even the dustiest corners which contained half remembered movies from his childhood along with casually played games in his teens, when suddenly, it appeared.
The perfect solution to his problem.
An RPG game with card collecting themes- The Persona Series.
Without even a moment of hesitation, the sinner quickly converted the memory file into APK format, separated each persona's data into individual splices and gathered them into a single folder for safekeeping.
Then came choosing the perfect persona to be installed into life.
The moth demon gave the first demon in line a thoughtful look. Coincidentally, it was the first angel he'd turned into his puppet, as evidenced by the flashdrive wound on the side of the neck.
Was it fate? Or did this particular angel have a closer connection to him than the others, with it being his first?
Either way, it gave him an idea.
To commemorate the First; to be contaminated, to be commanded, and to be transformed... There is only one choice that was perfect for this.
It has to be him after all.
With the flashdrive inserted once again into the angel's flesh, the sinner uploaded the character's data file into the puppet and watched in anticipation as the former exterminator's body began to change.
[Download Complete]
[Installing...]
White wings turned to black, gray uniform bleeding to a red cropped coat, and crawling up their legs were equally red heeled boots.
"Welcome to hell, comrade." The sinner gazed upon the towering form of his new partner.
With a flourish, the Persona donned a black top hat upon their head and gracefully bowed towards the sinner.
"I Art Thou, Thou Art I."
Arsene Lupine gazed upon his creator with gleaming red eyes.