Professional Barbatos Simp

Diavolo set the papers down with a look of concern and bewilderment. "Lucifer, are you sure Cerberus didn't just get out?" He asked nervously.

"No, Lord Diavolo, Cerberus is in his room as per usual. I had the same thought, so I checked."

Silence filled the room, and Diavolo looked at the papers again before speaking. "We need to find what's causing all this chaos... Barbatos, could you go ask our exchange students if they've seen anything out of the ordinary outside of RAD?"

"Of course." Barbatos bowed, then stepped out of the room, leaving Lucifer and Diavolo to converse.

★★★★★

The halls of the House of Lamentation weren't as loud today as Barbatos usually experienced. That was because some of the human exchange students were out with some of the demon brothers. If he remembered correctly, however, Charlotte should be home. Perhaps he'd check with her first.

Upon arriving at her door, Barbatos was met with the soft and curious sounds of chittering behind him. He turned around and almost jumped, for he saw what had, at first, looked like some sort of rodent. But looking closer revealed it to be a tiny fox-like shadow critter, expressing curiosity in the butler.

"Goodness, little one, you're quite lucky I didn't fully mistake you for a...well. What are you doing in the House of Lamentation?" Barbatos crouched down in front of the little creature, and held out his hand. "Someone could hurt you by accident, perhaps you'd be safer someplace else?"

The creature sniffed at his hand, still making soft chitter noises. After a few moments, it met Barbatos' gaze, then lifted a small paw and touched the butler's hand. With that, it disappeared into a fading cloud of smoke, leaving behind ethereal and ominous whispers in Barbatos ears that translated to the following:

HE COMES FOR THE PRINCE BY MEANS IN YOUR HEAD. HE COMES FOR THE BROTHERS AND TWO SHALL BE DEAD. HE COMES TO TAKE YOU AND WE COME IN HIS STEAD TO MAKE YOU SEE NOTHING BUT A BRILLIANT RED.

Barbatos found himself to be frozen as he heard this, and he could feel something creeping in, closing in on his mind. It made his head hurt, his eyes, his ears. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't stop whatever was happening to him. Black creeped into the corners of his vision and made him dizzy, disoriented. The last thing he could hear before the blackness overwhelmed him was someone calling his name, then footsteps...

then nothing.

"Young lord, your workload will only grow if you leave it untouched." Barbatos once again tried to convince Diavolo to finish his paperwork.

"But it's so tedious, Barbatos!" The Demon Prince whined. "Can't I take a break?"

The butler shook his head. "It isn't your break time yet, young lord. You must finish this batch, at least." He gestured to the small, but still quite thick stack of papers on Diavolo's desk. "Then, you can take a break until the next batch comes in."

Diavolo sighed. "Alright, I'll finish this one..." He picked up a paper from the top of the stack and took a look at it...something on it made him pause. "Barbatos...take a look at this." He gestured for his butler to come behind the desk.

"A report?" Barbatos skimmed his eyes over it. A report detailing events in smaller districts of the Devildom. But a particular section had caught the prince's eye.

"Yes...certain districts of the Devildom have been falling to chaos and disorder in the form of death and destruction...what could be causing this?" Diavolo flipped the page, searching. "No clues? Nothing? Who filed this?"

Barbatos clasped his hands together. "Perhaps there were none to give, young lord. This was filed quite some time ago, it seems."

"Hmm..."

A sudden knock on the door caught their attention.

"Come in!"

The door swung open, and there stood Lucifer, the Avatar of Pride. He was holding several papers in his hand. "My lord, I have something you may want to see."

Diavolo greeted Lucifer in return with a lively smile. "Lucifer! Of course! What do you have to show me?"

Lucifer took a few steps and handed the papers to Diavolo, whose smile faltered as he read them.