114 Chapter 114 A Business Deal with Devils

Chapter 114 A Business Deal with Devils

The first thing Harry did was look over to the Elder Demon God of Chaos and ask, "Did you have some business with my familiar?"

Chthon broke eye contact with Goose and replied smoothly, "We were discussing the finer points of bowel movements. Dimensional indigestion isn't something most mortals can understand or even comprehend."

Harry decided to pretend he didn't hear that and made a note to keep some questions to himself. Chthon brought the concept of Too Much Information to an entirely new level.

Still, the assembled grouping was odd. Chthon and Mephisto were not good buddies, but rivals classified as Hell Lords who competed against each other for the souls of mortals. Nightmare on the other hand was classified as a Fear Lord who competed against his fellow Fear Lords for the emotional energy of mortals.

Among the group, Mephisto looked a bit amused at the exchange and Nightmare seemed to be getting more and more irritated by the second.

Harry Paused to give himself a few moments to think about the state of the three conceptual existences in his living room.

From what Harry could tell, they were all physically present. That was surprising. Mephisto only really had a single weakness, and that was the fact that the longer he was away from his realm, the weaker he got. Imprison him for long enough and you could make him weak enough to kill, so despite the fact that physically coming here meant he was at his strongest, it also meant he was at his most vulnerable.

Chthon shouldn't be here unless he obtained an Avatar, cheated, or got permission from Gaea. It should be one of the latter two, and both would have required a tremendous price.

Nightmare should not have been there at all. He was both the most powerful and weakest of the gathered existences. His two strongest abilities would be the ability to control the Dream Dimension and the ability to overwrite reality with the Dream Dimension. Combined, and he could basically warp reality as he pleased. Nightmare could replace all the matter in the Universe with Anti-Matter if he put in enough effort. He could even turn the entire Earth into a copy of the Dream Dimension, making him a literal Nightmare to fight. Every thought ever thunk exists within the Dream Dimension so it is literally impossible to think of something Nightmare cannot do.

Or at least it looked that way. Nightmare was for all intents and purposes, the greatest illusionist in the Universe. While using his full power, Nightmare could exceed Galactus, the Living Tribunal, Lady Death, Eternity, and the Celestials in might, but that full power can only be accessed if every person on every world decided to go to sleep and dream at the same time. Also, as he was an illusionist, nothing he did actually happened unless there was a witness. Nightmares only exist if there is someone to dream them. Nightmare needed an audience. Even if all the stars aligned for him to gain the might required for such impossible feats, he needed someone to witness him killing them since if there were no witnesses, the nightmare would end once the victims were all dead. Without a survivor, who is having the nightmare? If the Survivor was killed, the Nightmare was undone.

All that being said, even without every being sleeping at the same time, most planets had a third or fourth asleep at all times which granted him plenty of power.

The Ancient One once had to stop Eternity from destroying the Earth because just the dream energy from Earth alone was enough for Nightmare to force Eternity into an endless nightmare the Ancient One had to wake him up from. It was from this encounter and a number of others that she learned of him, and from that Harry learned of him from her.

Harry only had to wonder how Nightmare was even present in the waking world for a moment. Harry's subconscious still held a copy of the Darkhold and his subconscious told him a spell that allowed Nightmare entry to the waking world was contained within. Since the author of the Darkhold was here having a stare down with Harry's familiar, Harry didn't need to ask how Nightmare could be here. However, since Harry only had unconscious access to the Darkhold, he didn't know the full details of the spell and didn't know how powerful Nightmare could be while here. He had no idea how much power Nightmare had access to, but it shouldn't be a small amount.

After a bit more calculating, Harry figured it out. These three worked together to be here. Chthon gave Mephisto the spell that allowed Nightmare to enter the waking world. Mephisto came here himself and used it to call Nightmare here. Then Nightmare used his ability to warp reality to grant Chthon a perfectly suited body to use while here.

That implied Nightmare was here at full power. Harry didn't think himself stronger than Eternity, so Nightmare could potentially drag the astral form of Harry and his girls into the Dream Dimension, leaving their bodies an empty husk. Chthon could then take over Wanda's body and Mephisto could take control over Harry's and through Harry, control everything Harry controlled on Earth. Though that was just their most probable plan.

Harry didn't have to wonder why they were here. Immortal Realms didn't only cause problems for governments. It affected the minds and souls of a large amount of humans and Harry had control of it. Didn't that mean if something could take control of Harry, they could control the Immortal Realms and all the minds and souls contained within?

These three were here for Harry and had likely compromised a deal to work together to either kill or put Harry Potter under their collective thumbs.

Nightmare was the key to this and Harry's subconscious wasn't telling him any good ways of kicking Nightmare out, meaning even if there was such a spell in the Darkhold or the Book of Vishanti, it likely had consequences not worth the effort. That was fine though, the contents of those books were just to use for reference, so he knew what could be done, not how to actually do it. Harry was no longer that apprentice Sorcerer who had to trick the Mandarin into defeating himself. He'd grown up quite a bit since then.

Harry unpaused and watched Chthon turn to look at Wanda with a bit of interest. Wanda was not using Chaos magic, but Destruction Magic. They were similar, but Destruction magic could not be used to do anything productive. Even Chaos could be used to make Miracles happen. Destruction Magic was Entropy given form, and not something to use lightly.

Ignoring the threat of the altered space around them, Chthon stated, "I see you've been taking care of my vessel for me."

Mephisto chuckled darkly, "Do you think this cage can hold us?"

The space had shifted into an entirely new dimension which amplified the power of the girls while suppressing those not built into its protections. However before the beings in this room, it was little different than stopping a tiger with a wall made of paper. The paper wall has an imposing picture drawn onto it, but the occupants of the room were no fools. They had not come here without a plan.

Harry replied, "What I think is of no importance. What business do two Lords of Hell and a Lord of Fear have with a little Teacher like me?"

Nightmare's green eyes flared, causing the surrounding space to crack. He said, "You have taken from each of us. You owe a debt and that debt will be paid."

Harry smirked. Nightmare's power came from dreams and dreamers. Immortal Realms could be played while the Player slept, preventing them from dreaming, depriving Nightmare of their potential power. And since no one in the real world punished people committing crimes in the Virtual world, people with criminal tendencies could get it out of their system in the game and live a good life in the real world, preventing Hell Lords like Mephisto and Chthon from getting their due of damned souls. If Immortal Realms was not shut off, they would all take drastic losses.

Without feeling any intimidation, Harry replied, "The sun owes nothing to the desert and the sea owes nothing to the drowned. If you want something from me, words will not be enough."

Mephisto gave a cruel smile and motioned to Nightmare, "We brought more than words."

Nightmare smiled and the enclosed space shattered. The shards of space around them then twisted and distorted into a replica of the Dream Dimension. Though with its current atmosphere, Nightmare Dimension was a more appropriate title. Everyone felt their astral selves being tugged out and tensed themselves to resist. Even Jean was affected. She had a connection to the Phoenix Force, but she was not its reincarnation, just its avatar. She had a human soul and though mighty, her astral form was not more difficult to trap than Eternity.

The energies around Jean and the girls started building up for the battle that seemed to be inevitable, but Harry motioned for them to calm down and instead got out a cellphone. Even here, Harry still had a signal.

Chthon asked with some amusement, "Who are you going to call? Your master?" Harry and the Reds could not hold onto their astral selves forever. It was like tensing a muscle or holding your breath. Their defeat was inevitable and before the power of the two Hell Lords and Nightmare in person, there was no being Harry could contact who could change their fates.

Harry shook his head and answered, "It's not that kind of call," before he finished typing on his cellphone and returned it to his pocket.

A moment later, Nightmare screamed. Streams of purple light shot out from his body and the landscape dissolved. Chthon and Mephisto lost their assured looks, especially Chthon who's body seemed to grow pale and dimmer.

The Reds launched their counter offensive on the space, bringing them back into isolated space Harry taught them how to create. Nightmare had collapsed to his knees and was breathing heavily, as if he had sprinted across the Earth and barely had enough energy for his next breath.

Chthon didn't ask, but demanded, "What did you do?!" He tried to use the full power of his body, but stopped the moment cracks appeared. His body had been created by Nightmare and though it should be able to hold most of his power, Nightmare seemed to have been greatly weakened.

Harry answered, "I'm a Technomancer among other things. I just used my cell phone network to extend the range a bit and turned on every alarm clock on the planet. All the sleeping people with alarm clocks just got a very abrupt wake-up call."

That was not what Chthon and Mephisto were expecting. They knew that Nightmare's power came from the number of people sleeping, but they didn't even consider Harry would just wake up nearly every sleeping person on the planet at the same time with a single, seemingly simple action. Such a thing had never been done before and even the concept was almost inconceivable to them.

Harry then pulled an Aladdin style bronze lamp from his inventory and said, "Of course most of them will go back to sleep in a few minutes. But before that, let me bring out a toy of mine."

Chthon and Mephisto both felt something incredibly dangerous from that lamp. They lept at Harry to try and stop him but Mephisto was halted by a wall of Phoenix Flames and Dragon Chi Flames and Chthon was halted by a wall of Destruction Magic. The power Chthon had a moment ago would have been enough to break through, but just trying to use a fraction of his power was causing his body to crack to pieces.

The space the Reds made did not simply suppress them, it isolated them. If Chthon's body was destroyed here, his consciousness would be trapped, unable to return to his True body in the Netherworld. That was why Mephisto called it a cage. If Chthon's consciousness was trapped and destroyed, it would take eons for it to reform in his True Body.

Seeing Harry rub the lamp, Mephisto knew he had been outplayed.

The assembled trio were not unaware of the true strength of the Reds. They had seen their feats.

When Selene the Immortal invaded Genosha in order to drain and enslave all the Mutants, she had defeated the X-Men, Magneto, every combatant in the country, and even pushed back the Goblins. It was the Reds who came and killed her. Jean personally burned her spirit to nothing, slaying the Immortal once and for all.

When Odin came to destroy Midgard, they had seen the Reds defeat him with ease.

When Blastaar had obtained the Cosmic Control Rod and gotten out of the Negative Zone to fight Harry Potter, the Reds nearly broke him into pieces before he ran away.

When the Black Dragon Chiantang came to New York to kill Harry Potter, the Reds beat him Black and Blue until his older brother had to come and plead forgiveness on his family's behalf. Only after Chiantang swore never to bother Harry or them again did they agree to let him live. The Reds were strong enough to make the Immortal Dragon King, the strongest Dragon in the Universe, bow his head.

Mephisto, Chthon, and Nightmare knew of each of the Red's strength and origin. Jean was the Avatar of the Phoenix Force and only difficult to deal with if you didn't break her connection or fought her directly. Wanda was Chthon's chosen Avatar, and she could never defeat Chthon in power. Rogue's power could not exceed the strength of those she borrowed power from, and wasn't a threat if she couldn't touch you. Jade was difficult to kill due to the strength of her Chi Magic and Dragon techniques, but she had no exceedingly powerful means of attack. And Red Sonja's divine protection wasn't difficult to get around as long as you didn't try to directly kill her.

Strategy, skill, and speciality meant nothing before raw power, and Nightmare was more pissed off at Harry than Chthon or Mephisto, so getting him to work with them wasn't difficult. As long as he came in person, Nightmare's ability to warp reality could make any contingency or backup meaningless.

The problem was that they had underestimated Harry Potter himself. Harry rarely used his abilities. Any threat that came against him was either dealt with using the bare minimum of abilities or more often than not, just directly dealt with using the Reds. Because of that, they didn't have an accurate reading of Harry Potter's real strength and powers. They thought Nightmare's full power would be able to deal with anything, and they were mostly correct. No matter what kind of ace in the hole Harry pulled out, Nightmare would be able to bend reality to his will and take it apart or remove it. The lamp was no exception. If Nightmare had not just been crippled, he could have teleported it to the other side of the Universe the moment Harry pulled it out of his Inventory.

The problem was that none of them detected any danger from his usage of a perfectly normal cellphone. They were aware Harry's magic could not be detected, but did not think he would just use Technomancy in front of them through a cell phone. They were all arrogant and thought the strongest person he could call was the Ancient One, so they didn't stop him. They wanted to see the despair on his face when he realized the futility of his actions.

They hadn't planned that the big gun they came with could be taken down with a single phone call. And now they would have to face whatever Harry had just brought out.

From the lamp emerged a pink smoke which gave the Lords of Hell a feeling so evil, it made their skin crawl.

The pink smoke coalesced into a fat pink genie like being, but it had no nose or eyes, just a wide mouth which was closed at the moment.

Nightmare had regained enough strength to turn and face the creature. Sweat trickled down from his forehead as he weakly asked, "What, what is that thing!?"

Harry gestured to the genie and replied, "This artifact is called the Evil Devouring Lamp. It conjures this Evil Devouring Djinn. Once it opens its mouth, it will devour any source of evil registered in the space it was brought out in. Even if you escape, that won't matter. It's locked onto you now."

Chthon gravely stated, "There is no such existence. What is this!?" His eyes never left the thin line that was the only feature on the being's face.

Harry agreed, "There wasn't before. I made this using something I found in another Universe that is capable of absorbing anything and innately devours evil."

Mephisto sneered, "You brought such a thing back to our Universe?! You will be Punished for this!"

What Harry claimed was no simple thing. The reason the first Celestials were just about invincible was that they did not originate from this Universe. Things inside a Universe have difficulties dealing with threats that originate from outside the Universe. If someone gathered all the Infinity Stones and used their power to destroy the Evil Devouring Lamp, it would not work because Harry created it using the orb containing Majin Buu he got from the Dragonball Universe. The best they could do was eject it from the Universe, but that wouldn't change anything if the Djinn had a target locked already.

Once it was released, the Evil Devouring Djinn would open its mouth and move to directly devour its target. The Djinn could absorb just about anything and was as indestructible as Majin Buu, so there was no real way to destroy it before it devoured the Target. Once all targets had been devoured, it would return to the Lamp. It had no sentience or consciousness.

Majin Buu originated from what was basically a drain that absorbed Evil. That drain eventually gained a tiny bit of sentience and became Majin Buu. Something else replaced that drain, so Buu's presence wouldn't be missed, but Buu was not originally a creature of destruction, but a tool.

Harry purged Majin Buu of its impurities and restored it to its status as a tool, that was how it could be put in his Inventory in the first place. Using that tool as a base, Harry created this weapon. The fun part was that it was even more dangerous than it sounded.

If The Evil Devouring Djinn were taken out in any area that was not isolated like the current space they were in, then everything in the space was targeted. Walls didn't count. If Harry brought this lamp out in his house in New York and rubbed it, the 'space' would be the entire Marvel Universe and the Evil Devouring Djinn would lock onto every source of evil within and once unleashed, it would target them all, one by one.

Chthon gritted his teeth. He could feel the perverted nature of the chaos within the Djinn and his abilities could not touch it. He turned to Harry and said, "You will be punished for this! I guarantee it."

Harry shrugged and replied, "Not really. I have permission to do what I want."

Nightmare was able to barely get up and used all his strength to shout, "Bullshit!"

A flash of light appeared on the table next to Goose. It turned into a small business card. Harry Paused, walked over, and read it before unpausing.

Chthon picked up the card and read it aloud for the others.

[He has permission to do whatever he wants.

-The Living Tribunal.]

Harry did his best not to crack up at the incredulous faces made by some of the greatest evils in the known Universe. He failed and ended up chuckling while the girls all started giggling.

Mephisto grabbed the card from Chthon and his already pale face whited out even more. There was something special about the card that ensured that once you held it, you knew it was real.

The Living Tribunal was the Judge and Jury of the Universe. Crimes on a Universal scale were presided over by him and punishments were often delivered by him. Chthon and Mephisto both expected Harry Potter to be punished by the Living Tribunal for his crime, but the three-faced being had directly informed them that such a punishment was not going to happen.

Chthon recovered enough from his shock to ask, "Would you be a target as well?"

Harry answered, "Only if I were a source of evil. The same is true of the Reds." Harry was lucky enough to get the Artifact to do what it could without destroying the Universe, so he wasn't going to push it by putting in more parameters. The simpler something was, the less room there was to counter it.

Mephisto looked like he wanted to ask how it was activated, but he doubted Harry would tell them. Besides, it wasn't like Harry could kill them without consequences.

Chthon's death would trigger a war and invite more annoying vermin to take over his realm. Chthon had a promise with Gaea against coming here and even if he cheated on occasion, the alternative was something that had no reason not to cause trouble with Earth.

Mephisto's death wouldn't cause his realm to collapse, and throughout the multiverse, there were more Mephistos than there were realms to house them due to the likelihood of the various Mephistos simply surviving the destruction of their realm. If this Mephisto died, another would absolutely show up and take over. Everyone knew that it was better to deal with the Devil you know rather than the Devil you don't.

Nightmare was the least likely to be killed. He had existed since man walked out of the mud and had long since integrated himself into their psyche through their dreams. That was why he could use Dream energy so efficiently. Their species had evolved and adapted to Nightmare's presence and his absence would absolutely cause a majority of the human race to quickly go insane.

Still. The problems caused by their deaths would mean little to them if they were dead, so they were not in a position to risk it.

Harry calmly stated, "Now that the unpleasantness is out of the way, let's get down to business. I will not give up what I have in my possession without an exchange. I don't mind taking a bit of a loss, but you will obtain nothing I possess for free."

Mephisto and Chthon didn't visibly sigh with relief but they were no longer sweating from the presence of the faceless Djinn floating behind Harry Potter.

Mephisto looked over at Chthon and said, "You know this is your fault."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that amusing statement and asked, "Really? How so?"

Chthon threw a glare towards Mephisto for blatantly throwing him under the bus. After a moment he replied, "The last time I was in your head, I took into account the possibility that you could escape me, so I left two compulsions inside your mind. One was a desire to change your world into a game-like world, and the other was to seek me out in order to do so."

Harry and even the girls all turned to Chthon with surprise. They all knew of Harry's last encounter where Harry only escaped through luck. They knew he was inside Harry's head, but Harry had never discovered any such compulsions. He couldn't even deny they were there.

When Harry first met Chthon, Chthon claimed he would use Chaos magic to slowly turn the world into a game that everyone could be a Player in. Harry escaped, but the concept of turning the world into a game everyone could play had always stuck with him in the most subtle of ways. Thinking back, it was clear that his desire had practically become an obsession. The second compulsion should have enabled once his obsession reached its peak, but that one never came to pass because Harry didn't need Chthon to turn the world into a game everyone could play. He did it himself. Not only did he do it himself, he was quite satisfied with it, so that second compulsion to basically ask Chthon for help had never come up.

Harry started laughing. He couldn't help it. His great evil plan to completely change the world was gifted to him by the Elder Demon God of Chaos and Harry did it so well, even Chthon himself got screwed over. It was an absolutely magnificent failure on Chthon's part. The backfire to end all backfires.

Nightmare shouted, "Stop Laughing!" He'd already regained a chunk of his power, enough to shatter the bindings created by the Reds.

The faceless Djinn vanished from behind Harry and reappeared in front of Nightmare. It was crouching down and the line that made up its mouth had curved up into a terrifying smile.

Harry stated, "You're making him hungry. He has been wanting to eat you since the moment he left the lamp. I'm keeping him at bay but if anything happens to me, nothing will stop him from finding you. Running won't work either since he's pretty fast."

Fast was an understatement. No one in the room saw the Djinn move. Nightmare had frozen the moment it appeared before him. He had instinctively tried to overwrite it, but nothing happened other than the Djinn's smile widening.

Harry hoped he would not have to use the Djinn either. It should work exactly as he created it, but that was only the first time. Once it devoured any evil, the possibility existed that it could gain sentience as Majin Buu had and then he would not be able to return the Lamp into his Inventory. Using it even once could possibly release something unspeakably terrible on the Universe, which was why it was perfectly logical for even Hell Lords to assume Harry would be punished for bringing something so dangerous here.

Trying to both be civil and to change the topic of the conversation, Mephisto stated, "Yes, let's get to business. I want access to the souls within Immortal Realms and the world itself. I want to be able to make deals with Mortals within."

This was basically Mephisto testing the waters to see where Harry stood.

Harry answered, "That's not impossible for the right price." Harry was of the belief people should be allowed to make mistakes. If someone wanted to make a deal with Mephisto, that was their business. That being said, Harry added, "But there would be limitations. You could only approach those already possessing a wicked heart. If you want the soul of an innocent, they must approach you. Also, every contract must have an escape clause."

Mephisto hummed thoughtfully. It wasn't outright rejection at least. Over time he could work with that. As for the escape clause requirement, Mephisto replied, "That's fine with me. Despair tastes so much sweeter when mixed with a bit of hope." If he got into a habit of making contracts with escape clauses, others would be less wary of him and more likely to make a contract in the future. He could even purposefully make easy escape clauses at first so others would think it was easy to cheat him. In a world where the Players thought it was a game, they might even sign thinking it was just a game.

The most important thing was that Mephisto had to enter the game himself. Without his presence, acts of evil within the game would not taint the soul of the Players who committed them. That was his role, to mark those who his realm would claim once their lives had ended. His biggest problem with Immortal Realms was that the sinners within could not be marked by him. As long as that changed, it would be fine.

Harry knew this of course. However he wasn't going to allow Mephisto to claim the souls of wicked players indirectly. Not so easily anyways. The point of a game was that just about everything could be displayed with numbers. If a person committed enough sin to be claimed by one of the realms of Hell upon death, their Status would include those details. The Player could then ignore it or change and make themselves better. Harry didn't mind Players damning themselves as long as they had a way to save themselves too.

Chthon, seeing that deals were not off the table, stated, "I want in as well. If you include the creation of a Cultist Class that worships me, I can sign a contract stating that I will take no action that harms the people of Earth outside the game for as long as Immortal Realms exist."

Chthon wanted the world to worship him and he wanted to rule it. But he knew that such a goal was easier said than done. Even if he succeeded, he'd be stepping on the toes of many other powerful beings and it wouldn't last. He couldn't enter the Immortal Realms, but he could somewhat scry it so he knew it was countless times vaster than the Earth. Gathering a large amount of Cultists to worship him and then ruling an area larger than the Earth wasn't perfect, but it wasn't a bad consolation prize.

Harry nodded, replying, "As long as the power you granted your worshipers only existed in the Immortal Realms, such a deal can be made."

Nightmare growled and asked, "What about me? If humans don't sleep, I get nothing!"

Harry replied, "The problem isn't that they are not sleeping. The problem is that you are unable to access the Dream energy they generate because they are not dreaming in the Dream Dimension, but the Immortal Realms. If I inserted you into the Immortal Realms, you would be able to consume the Dream energy directly. It would not be the same, but it is an option."

Mephisto, sensing an opportunity, asked, "If you allow me to offer a contract more freely in the Game, I can forswear any contact with humans on Earth."

Harry smiled and replied, "Such a deal would make me no less evil than you." Harry then turned to the Djinn for a moment before glancing back and Mephisto, "Nice try though."

Mephisto's eyes narrowed. If Harry could make a choice that caused evil, then he would be a source of evil and be targeted by that Djinn as well, forcing him to return it to that Lamp. Right now Harry wasn't evil, he was just a source of chaos. Despite the fact that the epitome of Chaos, Chthon, was just as wicked and cruel as Mephisto himself, Chaos on its own was not inherently evil. That's why Wanda could use Chaos Magic without becoming evil. Overuse could certainly cause her to become insane, but not evil. Though it was quite normal for people who go insane to become evil afterwards.

Harry had not yet informed them of what he would require for their conditions to be met, but neither thought it would be a small request.

Mephisto eventually decided to bite the bullet and asked, "Alright. What do you want?"

Harry, Mephisto, Chthon, and even Nightmare then spent the next several hours negotiating. Nightmare had fully recovered his power, but the Djinn stayed next to him at all times, like a dog begging for a snack.

Once everything was settled they collectively signed a contract that contained each of their powers. They even included some of Jean's Phoenix Fire. If any broke the contract, the consequences would be unpleasant.

*Ping*

[Business Path Rank has risen to Rank 57]

Harry was pleased at the notification. It meant he had not made a loss dealing with the Devil.

Mephisto, Chthon, and Nightmare got up and walked over to the door, but the girls had yet to remove the isolation.

Mephisto stated, "As our business has concluded, would you mind allowing us to leave?"

Harry smiled. "Did you forget what I said earlier? Let me remind you. 'I will not give up what I have in my possession without an exchange. I don't mind taking a bit of a loss, but you will obtain nothing I possess for free.' You broke into my home and now your lives are in my possession. What are you willing to exchange for your freedom?"

That had them stop. Which of them was supposed to be the Devil here?!

Mephisto directly asked, "What do you want?"

Harry considered it. "Chthon, the only thing you have that I want is your claim over Wanda. Forsake it and you're free to go."

Chthon growled in frustration. He had been expecting Harry to bring that up during the deal, but it never did so Chthon wasn't able to get as good of a bargain as he would have liked to. He never expected Harry would just demand it of him.

Harry then turned to Mephisto and stated, "You don't have anything I want, but you do possess the soul of someone a student of mine cares for. Release the soul of Cynthia Von Doom and you are free to go."

Mephisto stated, "And what if I don't? What if I decide to shred her pitiful soul to pieces in the most agonizing of ways?" He was already pissed that he had to make such a poor deal and now Harry was demanding more? That was not acceptable.

Harry locked eyes with Mephisto and smiled. "Then I will watch with interest what Victor Von Doom does in retaliation. She is the only thing you have that I am remotely interested in. If you want to offer something else in exchange for your life, it won't be as insignificant."

Mephisto hardened his gaze. Harry's soul could clearly be seen through his eyes and there was no deception in them. He didn't truly care for Cynthia Von Doom. It was only at that moment that Mephisto understood what Harry had done. He had purposefully detached himself from worldly concerns.

Most powerful beings were apathetic towards mundane matters but Harry seemed to have deliberately focused his entire heart and soul into loving and living for his wives, meaning he had no other connections to Earth. Earth could be destroyed tomorrow, and as long as his wives were fine, Harry Potter would not shed a tear.

That meant that other than his wives, there was nothing any of them could use against Harry Potter to get what they wanted. And using his wives wasn't easy either. This whole plan was basically an ambush but once they were gone, Harry would devise a way to ensure he could not be caught off guard like this again.

Mephisto did not know if Harry did it to simplify his life or if he did it to protect others by making them useless as hostages, but the result was the same. Harry cared about the planet Earth less than they did, meaning he had the advantage in any negotiation.

Mephisto eventually stated, "Very well. But I shall not release her to Heaven. I shall restore her to life and return her youth so that she may live long enough to earn a place in my realm through her own actions or the making of another deal."

Harry could hear the assurance Mephisto had that Cynthia Von Doom would either make another deal or, ironically, Doom herself to his realm regardless as long as she had the chance to do so, which was why he would rather put in the extra effort to grant her life over just releasing her soul. In this way he was not going to lose her, she'd be back eventually.

Harry answered, "I'll check her over to make sure you don't leave any surprises."

Mephisto sneered, "As if I need them for something like this."

Harry nodded. He didn't care if she screwed herself over again, as long as it was her choice to do so. Victor would probably be annoyed that Harry had made this deal, but he wouldn't complain. Victor had tried once a year almost every year to break into Mephisto's realm and free his mother's soul. He would not be pleased that she was not freed by him, but he would not argue that the chance to free her as soon as possible was not ignored. His pride was a small price to pay to have his mother freed from torment even a moment earlier.

Nightmare asked, "What do you want?"

Harry replied, "I can't think of a single thing you have that I want. Is there anything you can think of?"

Nightmare answered, "What? No! I have nothing to give you."

Harry shrugged and handed Nightmare an employment contract. "Then you'll have to work off your debt."

Nightmare was about to shout, but the Djinn had suddenly placed an arm on his shoulder. Nightmare turned to see the smile on the faceless disaster had widened to the point that the Djinn's razor teeth could be seen. It was a mere fraction from his mouth being completely open.

Nightmare signed the contract without another word. Chthon swore on his existence to never to use Wanda, ensuring that even if he had the chance, even if she asked him to, he could never possess her body.

When everything was settled, the girls released the space and the trio of fearsome beings fled as if their lives depended on it.

Harry did the only sensible thing he could after that and called the Ancient One and explained what had happened. The fact that those entities were willing to work together in the first place meant something big was happening in the background.

After getting all the details, the Ancient One stated, [They were under the impression that the Earth would be swallowed by the Dark Dimension not long from now, so they wanted to get as much as possible before that. A firesale as it were.]

Harry asked, "Why do they think that?"

[Kaecilius has left the Temple and has stolen a page from the Book of Cagliostro. You know the one I'm talking about.]

Harry had memorized all of her books, so he certainly knew the one she was talking about. This was the future she had seen and told him about, though she never told him it was Kaecilius and he never dug deeper.

Knowing what was to come, Harry couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure you don't want me to help you fake your death? You could retire to a nice peaceful Planet. No one would know but me so it wouldn't make any difference for your successor."

[Thank you for the offer, but I have long accepted my Death. The one uncertainty I had was resolved with your help, and to me, death is retirement.]

"I could make you a young body, free from the Dark Dimensional energies and move your soul into it. That way you wouldn't need to feel the taint of the Dark Dimension anymore. You could live freely."

[I'm sure you could, and in another life I may have taken you up on such an offer, but that was only if I had any doubt as to the safety of the world if I were to pass on. Again, thanks to you, I have no such doubts. The world shall be left in perfectly capable hands.]

"Why does it sound like you are blaming me for your death?"

[Because just as my successor needs to learn that everyone cannot be saved, so too must you learn to accept that every action you take may not lead to the outcome you most desire.]

"As a Professional Teacher, I say that is a shitty final lesson."

[Who said that was going to be my final lesson? You think you'll have nothing more to learn from me after my death? That just goes to show you how much more you have to learn.]

Harry could hear the mischief in her voice. She seemed to be making many plans that would come up after her death and annoy Harry in the future. Harry couldn't even complain about it since it counted as her final wishes.

[In any case, make yourself scarce for a year or so. Nothing of great importance will come up that cannot be handled by Kamar-Taj or your Hero Association, so go leave us to our own devices for a bit.]

Harry's presence made certain things hard to foresee, so to ensure her plans for her successor were not sidetracked, she 'politely' asked Harry to get lost for a while.

Harry answered, "Alright, but I'll come to see you before the end alright."

[I know you will.]

Harry hung up and sighed. It seemed he needed another distraction. Thankfully, the Dimensional Quest Board had a couple interesting things to do. He figured he might as well just do them all.

*Author's Note*

I wonder how many people saw it coming that Chthon basically caused Harry to create the game. Or saw coming that Harry would weaponize Buu. Unfortunately such a weapon is useless against people who are not evil to the point they take pleasure in the suffering of others. Thanos is crazy, but he isn't a sadist, And Hela the Goddess of Death is beyond good and evil so Buu can't be used on either and even if it could, Harry would need to restrain them in a locked space before releasing Buu or risk the whole Universe getting wrecked by Buu. Even if that worked, it could cause Buu to free himself and destroy everything, so that would be bad.

Everything is winding down, so next chapter I'm just gonna have a montage of Harry and the girls just going all over the Place doing quests or having fun.

After that will be Dr. Strange and after that, the War begins.