In the endless lifespan of the king of hell, spanning countless millennia, so have served him as their lord, while others have reviled his evilness, but never, and I an never, has anyone called him diocre.
This is a paradox: How could a diocre person beco the ruler of hell? Rising above countless demon gods, possessing his own dinsion, he is naturally the most extraordinary demon god in the cosmos.
Yet Shiller and Chris have dealt him significant blows one after another: one made him see the upper limit of human madness, the other made him understand the lower limit of human ntal states.
No matter how phisto tried to persuade, using all his tricks of deceiving believers to attempt convincing Chris, he failed. This director resolutely refused to let phisto participate.
Thus, phisto suffered a setback with the contract. Though the contract stipulated his participation, it didn't specify which movie he would be acting in or who would serve as director and screenwriter. The contract never stated that the original team must be retained; even if the director and screenwriter were entirely replaced, it wouldn't violate the agreent.
But clearly, the phenonal popularity of the movie owes much to the excellent collaboration between the director and screenwriter. If they were replaced, who knows if the next step would flop? Why would phisto go through so much effort, then?
This absolutely couldn't happen, phisto thought, he must ensure the director and screenwriter continue to collaborate, and he also needed to secure his own involvent.
But now, this devil, who had always lived in the blazing fires of the Hell Dinsion, was finally put on the hot seat.
When he invited Chris over, he had no intention of kidnapping him, nor was it to intimidate him. He wanted Chris to visit the Hell Palace to capture better scenes for the ultimate battle ambiance; it was all for the sake of artistic creation!
However, he was now caught in a dilemma. He explained the situation to Chris, and Chris didn't co looking for his trouble but instead wanted to confront the screenwriter; if he were to release Chris back now, Chris would imdiately confront the screenwriter, then how would the sequel be fild?
So even though phisto had no intention, subjectively, to kidnap Chris, he still had to keep him at the Hell Palace. To stabilize Chris, he hastily set up nine layers of hell, urgently found a subordinate who was good at transformation and familiar with humans to disguise as the guide Virgil, and even dug out a beast skeleton from so ancient graveyard to cobble together a three-headed dog disguise. He had to resolve this before Dante ascended to heaven!
Of course, phisto could directly find Strange, but if he did that, his hope to act in the movie would be dashed. Strange would certainly adhere to the director's wishes, and if the director said no, Strange would definitely kick him out, which was the force majeure clause in the contract!
So the urgent matter at hand was to get Chris to nod and agree to let him play the role of Saphire. But as Chris was unwilling, he would have to exert so external influence.
phisto wasn't stupid. Before deciding to execute this plan, he had studied the modern film production process and found that besides the directors and producers, investors also had a say in actor selection.
In other words, if he could persuade one of the investors, then under their pressure, Chris would have no choice but to agree.
The movie had many investors, the largest investnt coming from the East. phisto didn't want to approach them, but he couldn't even get in; that area was under the protection of other demon gods. If he forcibly barged in, a fight would be inevitable, and Kamar-Taj was also there. Such actions were too sensitive and would inevitably draw Strange's attention, leading to him being kicked out.
Thus, he set his sights on the second-largest investor, Stark. But he also knew that approaching Stark with his own identity might not work; he couldn't possibly have another fight with the Iron Demon God, right?
Although phisto was the king of hell, he actually disliked fighting. He preferred solving problems through ans other than violence. So he thought: Since he had already transford into Shiller, why not go a step further and beco the original Shiller?
He knew Stark and Shiller were good friends, so if he approached Stark using Doctor Shiller's identity and persuaded him to convince Chris, wouldn't the matter be resolved?
phisto's action capability was indeed strong, and his transformation technique was top-notch. His transformation into Shiller was identical to the real Shiller; not only could scientific instrunts not detect it, but even directly gazing at a soul might not reveal any clues. He just swaggered into Stark's lab.
Stark was conducting an experint at the ti, and on the surface, nothing seed amiss. However, being a devil, phisto had a keen sense of human emotions, and he imdiately saw that Stark was extrely anxious.
Was this not perfect timing? The Shiller he was portraying happened to be a psychiatrist. Isn't a psychiatrist supposed to help humans relieve negative emotions? Plus, with the identity of a friend, comforting him during his vulnerable ti, wouldn't Stark agree to anything he said?
phisto worried Stark might sense sothing, so he didn't dare to use mind reading and had no idea how Shiller and Stark usually interacted. He just assud Shiller must have always helped Stark relieve worries, comforted him gently, and alleviated his anxiety, allowing them to beco good friends. Thus, he did just that.
But Stark's emotional changes were a bit strange: initially shocked, then confused, and finally, to his surprise, fearful.
What's going on? Did my transformation technique go wrong sowhere? phisto was puzzled. That's impossible. I, the mighty king of hell, was able to recruit so many followers on Earth back in the day thanks to my exquisite transformation technique. I could beco the person the other party most wanted to see at any mont. Fooling a re human should be a piece of cake, right?
After checking his appearance, phisto didn't find any problems. So, could it be that his way of speaking wasn't right? But comforting a patient and a friend, what could possibly go wrong?
phisto was careful not to ntion certain details, instead using so generic comforting phrases. There shouldn't be any loopholes! Could it be that the Iron Demon God read his mind?
The more phisto thought about it, the more unsure he beca. He didn't want to get into a fight with Stark. If Strange were brought in, he would surely use this as an excuse to break the contract. Then, he would get nothing in return and fight for nothing.
Noticing Stark's odd mood, phisto quickly found an excuse to slip away. He scared Stark out of his wits with this visit—after he left, Stark leapt from his chair with a scream like a squeaky chicken.
Who in the family can understand this! How can soone impersonate Shiller these days?!
Normally, in a situation like this, Strange should be contacted directly, but Stark was a bit uncertain: What if it's another of Shiller's personalities? So, he called Shiller first.
As for Shiller's side, that's a story for another ti. phisto was very frustrated: He had only been away from Earth for a few days, and what's with these humans' ntal states? How does psychology develop to the point where there are more and more madn?
Even so, phisto didn't want to give up. After thinking it over, he realized he couldn't rely on others; he had to find a solution himself.
So, he transford back into Demon Shiller, pretending to be a photographer. He took a few blurry photos and uploaded them to the internet, claiming to be an insider from the production team and saying they were styling photos of a character from future installnts—a case of the rice already being cooked.
Sure enough, the fans were excited. The post quickly went viral, and various video apps repeatedly played those two pictures, with all kinds of marketing accounts spreading it wildly.
Most people thought these were styling photos of Saphire. Due to the extrely blurry images, only the back and a side profile were captured, revealing nothing specific—just that it looked very handso. So, the dia reviews were rather positive.
phisto was pleased. He thought Chris might be swayed by such comnts after all, why go against the fans?
But soon he realized that since Shiller didn't show up, and there was no movent from the production team, the hype began to wane. So fans even ca forward, demanding the crew rigorously investigate the leaker.
Normally, the director should step forward to explain such things, but unfortunately, the director was obsessed with his hell journey. Other team mbers knew Chris's temper well; without his orders, no one dared to respond, effectively giving it a cold treatnt. This was the quickest way to reduce the hype, and it wasn't long before the topic disappeared.
phisto was so angry! Chris not having signal in hell is one thing, but how could Shiller also not respond? Can't you see this huge audience attention?!
Clenching his teeth, phisto checked Shiller's profiles on all platforms and discovered: After becoming famous, this guy hadn't posted a single video or article and hadn't even shown his face. The most complete interview video was before the filming began, and it was all generic talk, with no real highlights.
Even phisto couldn't help but say, "A full man doesn't know the hunger of the starved! If you don't want this attention, give it to ! I need it!"
The essence of a demon is greed. phisto hadn't even secured joining the production yet, and he was already planning for the future.
He thought: If he could successfully join the crew and play the role of Saphire, then the higher the popularity of Shiller the actor, the more popular this character would beco, and more people would know phisto, achieving his goal of gaining fans.
But the character Saphire appears relatively later, with almost no parts in the first four films, creating a timing gap while Shiller's popularity was very high now.
Especially with Shiller's cold treatnt attitude, by the ti the second movie is done, he might not be as famous anymore; when Saphire appears, Shiller's popularity may not be as high. This would reduce the benefit the actor's popularity could provide, and phisto didn't want this. Only if Shiller remained popular long-term could he, as Saphire, enjoy the benefits of the actor's fa.
But Shiller seed dead quiet, completely exasperating phisto. Can't you spare just one out of your thousands of personalities to respond to the fans? Show so professional ethics, will you?!
Fine, if he won't co, I will. phisto thought as he rolled up his sleeves, determined to keep the hype alive. No matter how great Shiller is, on Earth, he's just a psychiatrist. How hard can it be to play a psychiatrist?
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