Chapter 5 - Ch 05: [Magic and Madness]

Chapter 05: [Magic and Madness]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C. Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." - Larry Niven.

*DOOM*

January 1, 2011 - I learned that The Light managed to enslave the Justice League despite my warnings. The Starro-tech they used had an additional element that allowed it to succeed. Instead of being hand delivered to targets, these chips were able to move like autonomous parasites once released into the Watchtower. That is seriously disturbing reminding me of one the darkest fan comics I have ever read.

Dr. Serling Roquette and Dr. Roy Palmer still managed to create Cure-Tech, but it was a close one. I'm just glad I'm immune to mind control.

*DOOM*

Doomsday Bunker

January 1, 2011

I sit in the Doomsday Bunker, cross-legged on a meditation mat I received from Black Canary. I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and I'm glad no one else is here. I speak transcendental mathematical formula, my voice becoming distorted.

"loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding ⋅ guilt ⋅ shame ⋅ failure ⋅ judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side"

I feel something. I feel it. A fragment of the Source shifts like worm in my mind. I can feel the domination of minds. The Anti-Life. While keeping control I say the next formula.

"companionship + understanding + assurance + joy + altruism ÷ respect ÷ commendation ÷ sympathy ⋅ innocence ⋅ dignity ⋅ success ⋅ acceptance y=n where y=despair and n=caution, love=truth, death=rebirth, and self=light side"

I feel the darker burn away from the mind. The feeling is the complete opposite of the Anti-Life and I return to my normal self. With confidence I say the anti-life equation once more.

"loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding ⋅ guilt ⋅ shame ⋅ failure ⋅ judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side"

No effect on me.

"companionship + understanding + assurance + joy + altruism ÷ respect ÷ commendation ÷ sympathy ⋅ innocence ⋅ dignity ⋅ success ⋅ acceptance y=n where y=despair and n=caution, love=truth, death=rebirth, and self=light side"

No effect at all. A fragment of the Source no longer has any effect on me and I remember Sanzo from Saiyuki.

"Free of everything, bound by nothing. You live your life simply as it is"

*DOOM*

January 1, 2011 (continued) - The League was still missing for 16 hours, so the League could be put on trial on Planet Rimbor in April of 2016. Maybe this time they will do the smart thing and just bribe the judge.

February 1, 2011 - Artur Prince of Atlantis is born. The next generation of heroes is being born and this one was right on schedule. Blackfire sent me the baby photos. I'm not a big fan of the stinky little drool machines. I'm happy for them, but I would never babysit.

March 1, 2011 - There are a lot of minor super villains that were defeated. Superman captured Toyman (Winslow Schott) who had tried to kill Lex Luthor. Luthor was apparently partners with the man that killed Winslow's robot wife. Batman arrested Killer Moth, who looks more like the one from Teen Titans than the walking fashion disaster from the comics. He also appeared to be a meta with actually moth powers instead of a lunatic controlling mutant moths. The Flash arrested Rainbow Raider, a former painter with goggles that allowed him to change the color of things. The YJ version was only slightly better with his active camouflage ability.

March 8, 2011 - The Wilson Brothers with help from Green Lantern checked all fifty-two sub-levels of Project Cadmus Beta. They learn there is a Cadmus Sigma, which means there are up to eighteen Cadmus bases in the world. Shit! We don't even know where the other Cadmus bases are located. Maybe Rorschach can help us find those bases before they make things not as benign as me and Superboy.

April 1, 2011 – Rorschach has set up a front company - Cognito Inc. - to sell his invention under a new name. One of his inventions is Food Printer 2020, a 3D printer for food. You loaded it with a food and taste cartridges the same way you would load a common printer with ink and toner. I know about it because he sent me one of the first Deluxe ones made.

June 1, 2011 – Me and Raven went to Hell.

*DOOM*

Mount Justice, Rhode Island

June 11, 2011

09:00

Giovanni Zatara and Batman appear on the screen.

"We have information on the unknown Roanoke sorcerer."

The magic portion of the League has been concerned with the mysterious sorcerer. The one that appeared as a member of Klarion's group. A sorcerer powerful enough to stand among the strongest and replace the immortal Viking Wotan should be well known. Doctor Fate's past incarnations never fought against him. Giovanni found nobody similar in the records of the various magical enclaves. King Orin/Aquaman had his wife check her records but there was no luck.

Batman almost sounds smug that he found information.

"Hiro Erol King. Born 1980. The son of businessman Iskander King and Japanese immigrant Hanako King (nee Hayashi). He was severely bullied in high school and vanished at age 14 when his bus was involved in an accident at the Gotham Bridge. Two years later, he reappeared to learn both parents had died. His mother died a car crash six months after his disappearance. His father committed suicide when Lexcorp bought out his company three months before he reappeared."

"Where did he disappear to?" asks Zatanna.

"Unknown. After he learned his parents were dead, he broke down and claimed he was the 'Hero King' who gave up paradise to return home. He ranted about the reward that was owed to him. He became violent and was subdued by the police. He spent over decade in Arkham Asylum."

"Getting no help at all" I quip from my place on the couch. I'm just visiting the Mountain with Blackfire, as only Starfire became an official member of the Team. My opinion of Arkham Asylum is very low and Batman's glare won't discourage me. I'm sitting next to my girlfriend Blackfire, who slaps my arm for the comment.

Dick, Artemis, and Wally hold back their own laughter, trying to be professional. "Big Brother" Connor and Megan roll their eyes at the attempt to be funny. Kaldur is very stoic as the leader of the Team should be.

"He escaped October 31, 2010. On November 5, he reappeared as one of the world's most powerful magic users." says Batman ignoring me, "A closer look at Arkham revealed there were thirty deaths through the month of October. Autopsies revealed no physical damage other than severe unexplained dehydration. The bodies also had no trace of drugs or unusual chemicals."

"Sacrifices?" I ask.

"Correct." replies Giovanni. "We believe Mr. King stole the very souls of Arkham inmates. The withering of their physical bodies being only a side effect."

I wonder if I could do that? Thanks to Rorschach I know I possess Soul Manipulation.

"We are sending you some of King's items we want you to analyze" says Giovanni. "Batman and me will be working to cleanse Arkham of residual dark magic."

Madness and dark magic are a match made in hell. Arkham Asylum (in the comics) was named after Arkham, a fictional city in the Lovecraft County setting created by H.P. Lovecraft. The last thing the Asylum needs is otherworldly cosmic horrors on top of the other horrors.

*DOOM*

Hours Later

[The Book of the Hero King]

A grandiose name for what was essentially a Journal.

The Book reads like one of the "another world" manga. A bullied teenager from the modern world is involved in a vehicular accident, but instead of dying he's transported to a world of sword and sorcery. He works for two years to become the Hero the world needs, defeating the Demon King and earning the favor of the Goddess. He could have stayed in a world of magic and fantasy and had a huge harem of slave girls. He was their Hero. Instead, he decided to return home only to learn his parents were gone.

He talks about how he consumed the souls of monsters in the other world, leveling up like a game character. He also talks about how monsters consume the spiritual energy of human victims. When he returned to Earth, his powers were sealed but he could still sense souls.

He consumed the souls of those that died at Arkham using them to unlock and fuel his otherworld magic. He could feel himself becoming less human, but he did not care.

"Wow. He cursed a school bus to forever be haunted by chaos. He also cursed his bullies to fall into eternal madness." says Raven as she flips through the Book. "Despite being a Hero in that other world, he sounds very spiteful."

"No kidding." I say looking over her shoulder, "According to the last entries, he was gathering the souls of Arkham to open a portal. He was trying to return to that other world."

I'm not helping them because I'm interested in finding the robed douche. I'm just passing time because Blackfire dragged her sister and Miss Martian somewhere and told me to stay put. We don't know if he's actually an Isekai hero or just a sorcerer with delusions of being one, but I'm leaning towards the former.

"I'm guessing he failed and needed to come up with a new plan."

"Correct."

I recognize the voice as belonging to King, but before me or the Team can react, we are captured. Dark magic swirls around our bodies leaving us bound by black thorny vines. Hiro King dressed in his dark robes emerges from the shadows.

"I wouldn't suggest moving, even if you avoiding the piercing poison thorns, those vines will explode if they are cut or broken." says Hiro with confidence as he gathers his things form the box of evidence. He holds up the Book of the Hero King. "When I return to the Luminaria Kingdom, I'll have my Journal published. Everyone will know how their Great Hero suffered and how he returned to them."

"Will they know that you're a murderer?" asks Robin.

"Murderer. I am an Adventurer. If you had read my book, you would know I killed my first bandit less than a month after I arrived in Luminaria. Bandits, cultists, barbarian raiders, and assassins. In a world where killing is a way of life, I got used to it. The souls of Arkham were all stained with blood and madness, not a single one had a spark of redemption."

"So, what went wrong." says Zatanna, while she working out how to escape in her mind, "Why aren't you back in that other world."

"I didn't have enough power. I couldn't breach the barrier the Goddess set up to protect her world."

"So that is why you joined Klarion's group?" I ask. Villains just have to talk don't they.

"The chaos lord was going to have his fun no matter if I joined or not." says King, justifying himself, "I guessed that there would be many deaths and as part of the spell I could claim those souls. What I didn't expect was a masked weirdo getting the magic stone and then some sort of monster hero eating it! I didn't survive this long by being stupid."

"Teleporting into a Hero Headquarters doesn't seem very smart." I note with a smirk, "This place has a ton of alarms and wards. All this for a book."

"Not just my book. I'm here for a far more valuable prize." says the cloaked man looking directly at Raven. He pulls out a black and gold collar from robes and it flies from his hand to attach to her neck. The thorns around her disappear as she is dragged by her neck to King's hands. "There are many demons interested in the daughter of Trigon the Terrible."

I flex and break the black vines binding me. The vines scream before exploding with the force of grenades. When the fire and smoke clears, I'm standing next to what remains of the couch. My casual clothing is not in good condition, but my gray skin is not even scratched from the explosion.

King jumps back holding Raven and vanishes into a swirling black portal. I don't hesitate to follow.

*DOOM*

Hiro King's Hideout, Rhode Island

09:05

"Fool!"

I feel a tearing sensation and I fall to the ground without support. I look down at myself and see that I'm now missing my legs below the knees. I'm quick to realize what happened.

"Portal Cut."

King closed the portal while I was crossing it and sliced me apart as a result.

"That's right, monster. Now suffer... oh shit!"

King's gloating is cut off by the fact he can see that my legs are regenerating. The masses of bubbling gray flesh are quickly growing and I'm guessing I'll be on my regrown feet with a couple minutes.

King runs over to an evil-looking magic circle cut into the wall. Five concentric circles with runes and a five-pointed star in the center with numerous Latin words and in the center is one word "Nema". My worries are justified when King begins to chant and the room is filled with a sulfur smell. All light is sucked out the room as the magic circle glows a fiery red.

"Nema"

A swirling portal of pitch darkness and fire forms. King grabs Raven and pulls her through the portal. Two minutes later, I also jump through the portal.

I don't consider myself a Superhero because I don't go around trying to save the world. I don't consider myself a Hero because Heroes are those that overcome fear to do what they believe is right. Fear comes from danger, but my monstrous form doesn't damage easily. I'm not saving the world; I'm just saving a friend. Still, leaping into literal Hell, I must be crazy.

"Geronimo!"

*DOOM*

[Hell Dimension]

[Day 1]

As I come fly out of the portal, I have the feeling of toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube. The heat coming from body is intense. I'm reminded if my training, when I crushed a piece of metal like clay until it became red hot. There are broken stone fragments scattered around a pedestal that I guess is the remains of a portal's physical form.

I look around and I have to say it looks like Hell. The sky is black with angry black clouds and lightning. The ground beneath me is a roughly mixture of sand and volcanic ash, with a pathway of volcanic rock. At the edges of the desert, I can see mountains and volcanoes. I don't see King or Raven, so I follow the half-covered path in the sand.

[Day 1]

[12 hours later]

I hope I am going the right way. I have unlimited stamina, but I hate wasting time.

I finally reach the outer wall of a city. The walls are absolutely immense over ten meters tall and composed of immense black stones the size of small cars. The gate is guarded by several large humanoid demons.

The lead demon is seven feet tall with red-on-black eyes, dark red skin, and a bald head topped with two horns. He also has thick brow ridges, pointed ears with loop earrings, large fangs or tusks jutting from his thick jaw, and a nose ring. His massive form is covered in black tattoos and he's dressed in dark metal and leather made from creatures not from earth. He points the tip of his Bardiche at me.

"Who are you? Another sorcerer like the last one?"

"I'm something else. Did the sorcerer wear black robes and have a beautiful half demon with him?"

"So, what if he did? You think you can afford her?"

"I'll be taking her back and killing that fool."

"No scales off my back. What I want is the toll. You have a soul to pay with or something to barter with?"

"I came to this dimension with the clothes on my back and I'm rather attached to my soul." I says as I make my bone spikes grow. The other demon guards back up as I become a far more intimidating creature. Most of them are doubting that I'm human. "I have a third option."

"Like what?"

I move forward and deliver a brutal punch to the leader's stomach. My spiky gray fist doesn't stop at his armor, instead it goes straight through with more force than a cannonball. One of his subordinates is sprayed with black ichor as my fist emerges from the leader's back. Another subordinate slashes at my neck with a rune covered sword. Not only does the blade fail to cut, making a sound of metal hitting metal, but the sword is chipped.

"You bastard."

"You are correct. My parents aren't married. "I quip before I ram on by absurdly sharp spikes into the leader's head. I'm sure to add a little poison considering this guy was surviving missing his stomach. As I remove my spike, there is smoke or steam coming from his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and the hole I made. His corpse collapses to the ground, while his men all take a step back.

I notice that the corpse is wearing a red gemstone on a dull metal necklace. I pick up the odd piece of Jewelry and notice all the guards are wearing the same necklace.

"What this, Rookie?"

"Soul Amulet. Most modern demons carry around their collection of souls in them." says the smallest demon. The green skinned demon looks barely six feet with a thin body. With his pointed ears, small lower fangs, and pointed ears, he looks more like a "good" goblin than an infernal demon. Combined with his lower quality gear, It was easy to guess he was a rookie.

The main currency of Hell are souls. The demons have between them a kind of "stock exchange" of souls, to set the price of the souls. They are both currency and a consumable item used to power their magic. So not only did I just kill the leader of the city guard, I stole his "wallet".

"The older demons used to carry souls within themselves, but then He happened."

"He?"

"We don't say his name, it's considered bad luck. An exorcist from the human world that channeled love and friendship into a child's soul and burnt a demon lord from the inside out. "

I have a sneaking suspicion I know the name of that Exorcist.

"Where is the sorcerer with my girl?"

"Abyss Auction House, sir." says the small demon, "Go down the main street to City Hall and turn right. It's the largest building on the right."

"Thank you." I say as I leave.

*DOOM*

[POV Change]

"Why were you so helpful, Rookie. He just killed our Captain." asks one of the bigger, older demons.

"Calm down, Jack" says the second largest demon after the deceased Captain, "He casually killed the captain. Jim's Rune Sword got chipped trying to cut him. If we fought him, we would have been massacred."

"I also saw it." says the Rookie pointing to his golden eyes, "The dark emanations coming from him weren't the kind you get from a sorcerer even one with high class demon blood. Those were the emanations of an archdemon!"

The guards collectively pale at the Rookie's proclamation. Archdemons, the demonic counterparts of heaven's archangels and the royalty of hell. Being of such immense power, that lesser demons like them are toys to be broken.

"I'm going to get a drink." says the Rookie.

"Smartest thing you have ever said" says the vice-captain.

*DOOM*

[Abyss Auction Building]

[Same time]

I walk up the immense building and it's very impressive. The building was clearly crafted for the wealthy and elite standing nearly as tall as the wall. The guards at the entrance are a lot more impressive than the wall guards standing my height with equally large builds. They are dressed in full plate armor made of a purplish-black armor. They don't stop me from entering, they look at me and see something that causes them to stand straight.

A red-skinned demon in a black business suit escort me to a balcony seat and I look the book for today's auction.

There are corpses and parts of magical beasts. This includes magical cores which resemble crystals and seeds made of odd minerals. The most expensive thing is this section of the Auction is the skeleton of what appears be a dragon.

There are relics of lost civilizations and antiques meant for collections. I'm guessing some of them have supernatural abilities. The most expensive thing in this section is a black metal cauldron with twelve dragonhead spouts. It looks like something that an alchemist would use in xianxia novel to create magic pills and elixirs.

There a collection of spell books and magic scrolls. In the "right" hands, these grimoires are potent weapons loaded with magical knowledge. The most expensive is a small book inked in blood and bound in leather. The wrinkles on the dark leather cover form a horrific face.

The weapons and armor section of the Auction is completely filled with items ranging from medieval fantasy armor to eastern Xianxia armor to stuff that looks like it came out Warcraft and Warhammer 40K. The most expensive item is a long sword composed of black metal with red markings going down the sides of the blade and guard. It looks almost identical to Excalibur Morgan – the corrupted sword of the promised victory – and weapon of Fate/Stay's Saber Alter.

The most important section is Slaves. The slaves have four classifications: slaves meant for pleasure and entertainment, slaves meant for labor, slaves meant for combat, and slaves meant for sacrificed in rituals or used for ingredients. These slaves include humans, demons, and other races, of all genders and levels of morality. One of the sorceresses looks like Sith Witch from Star Wars, while another looks an innocent elf priestess.

The only common thing among them is the standard slave collars which according to the book ensure the slaves stay obedient, can only be removed by the owner, and will explode if tampered with.

The most expensive slave on the block is Raven of Azarath. She is listed as a half-demon sorceress and daughter of Trigon the Terrible. Her classification according to her sellers is both combat and pleasure.

Not if I have anything to say about it.

I don't draw attention to myself. I occasionally bid on items, but I don't actually win any of them. When Raven is put on stage in a slave outfit, the bidding war begins. She can't see me on the balcony with gray skin blending into the shadows and due to my other abilities.

The big winner of the auction is a demon noble named Deus, one of the sons of the Archdemon Asmodeus. He's a tall, muscular humanoid with blue-gray armored hide with many spikes. He has a white face with yellow eyes and two huge curved black horns on the sides of his head. He's dressed in expensive dark blue clothing with gold decorations and a white fur-lined black cape. He also wears numerous bejeweled gold rings and a top hat. He was surrounded in his balcony by beautiful half-naked slave girls and armored guards.

*DOOM*

[The Alley behind the Auction House]

I watch as Raven is being escorted to the fancy carriages of Deus. I have my bone spikes out to their sharpest and have even pulled out a couple of bone daggers. I wait hidden in the shadows by my supernatural stealth ability that renders me unseen even by demon eyes.

The first guards don't have time to react the bone daggers pierce their fancy magic armor and go deep into their demonic flesh. The blades are harder than the hardest steel, sharp as obsidian, more resistant to magic than dragon scales, and more toxic than hydra venom! The greatest demon assassins would give an archdemon's horde for my daggers.

A burst of super speed results in the decapitation of two more guards and their blood spraying in a huge arc. A nanoscale blade moving a hypersonic speed will slice through nearly everything.

The leader of the guards moves with surprising speed and strikes me with his glowing sword only for it to explosively shatter against me. Even Deus' eyes are wide at the glowing gold fragments fading to lifeless ash gray as they fall to the ground. In that split second of his shock, I ram one of my daggers into the Guard Leader's head through his helmet.

"You're after my newest slave." says Deus, noticing how I was keeping my eyes on Raven, "Fool. Only the master can remove the collar."

Raven's slave collar is a belt of thick leather with a blue magic stone on the front. I grab Raven, sweeping her off her feet, and bite into the collar. I bite off the stone and cause the collar to fall away from her neck. The magic gemstone doesn't have time to detonate as I make a snack out of it.

"Tastes like a lemon candy."

Raven almost bursts out laughing and I see tears forming in her eyes. Her emotions must be in flux and I surprised the alley isn't going crazy from her emotion-driven powers.

"You fool! You dare defy a Son of Asmodeus!?"

Deus lets out a translucent burst of red energy, that causes lightning to crawl across surrounding surfaces before it hits me. I feel a brief amount of pressure, before the burst of energy returns back to Deus. The arrogant demon cries out in pain and falls to his knees smoking.

"That was Soul Malice." says Raven, looking amazed, "It's a technique that archdemons use to damage the souls of others. It only works on weaker souls as stronger souls will reflect it back."

"Guess being the son of Archdemon is meaningless."

"I can still order my other slaves." he says, before I grab his head. His eyes open wide with fear as he knows he's seconds from death. He can't believe one of such high breeding and power is going to die in an alley.

"You can't do this! I'm Deus the Conqueror, Heir of Archduke Asmodeus!"

"What is a Conqueror to a Walking Apocalypse?!"

Deus's head violently explodes with a slight application of force. I remember Omniman doing the same to an air force pilot in the final episode of Invincible season 1. Damn another series I'm going to miss.

. . . No, wait, I know a guy who has access to Interdimensional Cable.

Well, nevermind then.

"Now we have to get home."

*DOOM*

Day 15 – It's been over two weeks since I killed Deus of House Asmodeus and freed Raven from slavery. We managed to force information out of various demons. They think I'm an archdemon that doesn't care about older houses, so they are being careful not to piss me off. Apparently, Hiro attempted to close the hell gate on me the same way he did with his other portal. His plan failed due to my new resistance and the stress broke the portal. I also learned. there is a time difference between Earth and Hell. That's how he got ahead of me and why no help will be coming anytime soon.

Day 30 – It's been a month. Deus's former slaves have all left after giving us all their knowledge. They are free of the slave collars but they are terrified of retaliation by Asmodeus. Only the Elf Priestess possessed the knowledge and power to open a portal, but it was a portal to her own magical fantasy world. Most of the non-demons among the former slaves have joined her, they would rather live in a world of swords & sorcery than risking the inferno. The demon and half-demon slaves have their own plans to survive.

Day 60 –Two months in Hell is Hell. I miss my Bunker and my Hot Girlfriend. Asmodeus's bounty hunters are getting close and we are no closer to learning where that bastard Hiro King is located. The demon world is far larger than the human world and King is good at hiding. He's looking for a portal, but he broke the only one in this area.

*DOOM*

[Day 66]

[Obsidian Castle, The Plateau, Land of the Black Sand]

[POV Change]

The Land of the Black Sand is a huge hot desert named due to the volcanic black sand surrounded on all side by pillars of basalt and black stone. The place is not hospitable with numerous pools of lava and acid creating a toxic mist. A normal human would have died within seconds of entering the hot corrosive mist, assuming they didn't burst in flames from the heat of the lava.

The Plateau is an immense area of black stone existing in the center of the Land of Black Sand. It rises more than a hundred meters above the desert floor with numerous waterfalls of lava and acid on all sides. If this was Earth, this type of structure would have collapsed long ago.

On the Plateau is a black fortress called the Obsidian Castle. It was built for a demon sorcerer who wanted to carry out his experiments and research away from his rivals. Some of that research involved portals, which is why Raven and Ash Grey journeyed to that place.

*DOOM*

Asmodeus has sent some of his best bounty hunters to track us down. According to what I heard back in Ash bone – the city with the massive walls, these Guys are called the Seven Sin Brothers. Apparently, they are all half-siblings, the sons of a famous Demon General who died fighting the Legendary Etrigan.

Etrigan is famous for killing his own father Belial. What is shocking is Belial was also the father of Merlin and a son of Trigon meaning Raven is Belial's half-sister and aunt to Etrigan and Merlin. This bit of history makes it personal to the brothers. What they want to do to Raven depends on their personal sins which often define a demon.

The brothers are confident in their chances of victory because a couple centuries ago they took out a young archdemon who was starting to cause trouble. Asmodeus has even considered sending them after the exorcist that killed Nergal in Los Angeles.

They are very overconfident. They go as far as to introduce themselves and the sins they represent, before entering the Castle.

The oldest brother is Porphyrios – called Rios by his brothers – and represents Pride. He's a tall, athletic demon with silver-on-purple eyes with black sclera, dark purple scaly skin, and violet hair. He also has pointed ears, sharp teeth, and five horns on his head forming a crown. He's dressed in a black knight armor and carrying an oversize black sword.

"It will be my pleasure to execute you, Ash Grey. Your death will greatly enhance my fame and the fame of my brothers."

The second oldest brother is Conway and he represents Greed. He's a short, very muscular demon with gold eyes, smooth yellow skin, and a bald head. He has four stubby horns the color of gold and the pointed ears. He wears a black/yellow boiler suit with large thick black gloves and boots.

"I don't care about the fame. What I want is the Reward. I hunt Bounties because I demand the finer things in life! Your Head Ash Grey is worth a lot of Gold and Souls."

The third oldest brother is Kishan and he represents Lust. A tall, lean demon with dark blue eyes with black sclera, dark skin, and long flowing black hair reaching his shoulders. He looks almost human outside coloration and three small horns hidden by his hair. He wears stylish blue clothing with a spiked chain whip.

"I'm more interested in the daughter of Trigon. She is young and beautiful. I can also smell that she is a virgin and I would love to show her the skills of a master."

The middle brother is Clancy and he represents Wrath. A very tall, very muscular demon with glowing red eyes with black sclera, blood red skin, and no hair. He has two bull horns and two tusks emerging from his thick jaw. He also has rows of spines going down the sides of his arms. He's dressed like a barbarian with spiky leather. He carries a large battle axe made of black metal decorated with red runes. It looks like it was made by a fan of heavy metal album covers.

"Stop thinking with your manhood, you shithead." screams Clancy sounding like a certain explosive student of Hero Academia, "I'm sick of chasing this spiky shithead and his half-breed bitch! Let's hurry up and kill them!"

The third youngest is Abellio and he represents Envy. He's a small, thin demon with neon green eyes with black sclera, pale green skin, and long white hair. He has translucent scales on the sides of his arms and face and a single horn emerging from his forehead. He's dressed in flowing green and white robes that look like something out of an Arabian fantasy. He carries no weapon, but has bracelets on his wrists.

"There you go again. Losing your temper. All that power and all you do is complain. What I would do If I had your powers."

The second youngest is Gamguro and he represents Gluttony. He's an overweight and slightly muscular demon with bulging orange eyes with square pupils, orange-brown skin with yellow-and-black spots, and a smooth bald head. He resembles a toad with a long tongue and long fingers. He dressed in mismatch of animal leather with numerous animal charms.

"We are running low on rations. We need to hurry and get back or I'll end up eating my own pets or Gorga's snakes"

The youngest of the brothers is Gorganus and he represents Sloth. A very tall, very thin, almost skeletal demon with light blue snake-like eyes, white skin covered in snake tattoos, and white snakes with blue eyes for hair. He has white scales on parts of his body and a stubby single horn on his forehead. He's only dressed in a pair of black pants with light blue bindings around his waist and ankles. He also has similar bindings around his wrists.

"Stay away from my snakes, Gam. Another day of this shit, I want to sleep. So troublesome."

"So where is the daughter of Trigon, Mr. Grey?" asks Rios "You have been protecting her since you killed Deus. Tell us and we will only drag you to Asmodeus, instead of merely giving him your head."

"Your overconfident." I say as Ash Grey walk towards the brothers. Ash Grey extend his bone spikes to their full length and sharpness.

Abellio moves his body like he is performing a kata - a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practiced alone. Dark blue ice rises from the ground in front of him. The ice grows and extends at a speed approaching sound and captures Ash Grey in a magical glacier. It looks like "The Brothers" have achieved a quick victory, but then Ash Grey dissolving into shadow and vanishes.

"An Illusion." says Rios, "They must be deeper inside."

My illusionary doppelgänger may be destroyed, but I can still communicate with them using Raven's spell.

"Demon General Lacerta of Asmodeus' seventy-two legions, was famous for his high-speed regenerative abilities which allowed him to survive when thousands of other soldiers died on the battlefields. He was killed when Etrigan dismembered and incinerated him. His son inherited his healing and went through a ritual that made them immune to heat and flame."

"So, you did your research and you know our abilities" says Rios, "That's the price of being so good at your job that you become famous. There stories are told again and again, the knowledge of their strengths and weakness spreading from one corner of the continent to the next. You are one who is overconfident if you believe you can take on the seven legends of this era."

The Seven Brothers enter the Fortress and split Up to find Us. Just as we planned.

*DOOM*

Gorganus is the last of the Seven Brothers to enter the building. He doesn't look interested in the hunt, instead he looks like he wishes he could find the bedrooms for a quick nap. He sits cross-legged in the entrance and activates his power. The blue-eyed white snake tattoos on his body become animated, slithering across his body and multiplying. The ink snakes slowly detach themselves from his skin, transforming from 2D pictures into real three-dimensional demon snakes. The interwoven snake pit expands from Gorganus' body and slithers towards different parts of castles.

This is how he hunts. He doesn't need to move as his venomous demon snakes do all of the work.

Gorganus turns just in time to see me swing my bone dagger. He's only fast enough to prevent himself from being completely decapitated, but not enough to avoid by my blade. I turn him into a PEZ Dispenser. As his head falls back, only connected to the body by the skin of the neck, there isn't a fountain of green liquid. Instead, dozens of more snakes erupt from the stump.

The blue-eyed white-scaled demon snakes are some of the most dangerous serpents. They are stronger than king snakes the size of giant anacondas. They are more venomous than an inland taipan. They are barely an inconvenience to me, but I let myself be covered in a giant ball of them. I wait until the real Gorganus rises from the floor, listening carefully to Raven's messages.

"So much work."

At Raven's signal, I burst from the ball of snakes and drive a nano-edge bone spear into Gorganus' chest. The organic weapon pierces Gorganus' heart and spine, injecting a huge amount of tailored toxin. I know it is the real Gorganus' body thanks to Raven.

"So... troublesome."

They are his last words before he vomits green ooze and perishes. As Gorganus dies, the snakes crumble into ash and vanish. Even his dissolving corpse is free of snake tattoos.

*DOOM*

Gamguro has managed to find the Castle's kitchen and pantry. Despite the place being abandoned for years, there is still a large amount of food. Some of the food was preserved with magic spells. Some of the food merely doesn't rot due to its otherworldly nature. Some of the foods are rations that Raven and I brought to the Castle.

Gamguro doesn't care where the food came from, he only cares where it's going.

"Roast Tail. Where did those two get the money for this? Well, there loss is my game"

Gamguro the notices Raven, concealed in her hooded cloak, at the entrance to the kitchen.

"Did you come to surrender to the Great Gamguro." says Gamguro, "Give me a minute to finish his Roast Tail and I'll catch you."

Raven runs away.

"Dammit. I want to finish my lunch. I'll just summon my pets."

Gamguro's toad-like body inflates, tearing the seams of his coat, before he shoots balls from his mouth. They are balls of orange-red flesh the size of soccer balls. They pulsate and slowly grow, until they are the same size as Gamguro. Then they burst in a spray of orange-yellow fluids, animals are revealed.

Gamguro's first and second pets are massive demon wolves with sharp claws and teeth, sharp metallic red fur, and a curved blade-like horns on their forehead. They shake off the yellow-orange fluid from there fur.

Gamguro's third pet is a large bipedal lizard resembling an iguana on steroids. It has metallic scales, two curved horns, long claws, and a long muscular tail ending in a venomous stinger. The gross liquids slide off their scales.

Gamguro's fourth pet resembles an ogre from a fantasy magic world. A large, hideous, humanoid monster with green skin, large muscles, and clawed finger tips. He also has the horns and ears of a bull and two tusks rising from its thick jaw. The creature already stinks despite its body being new.

Gamguro's fifth and final pet resembles a demonic cross between a gorilla and orangutan with sharp claws, sharp teeth, and a long horn on its forehead. It dances around spraying droplets of goo and saliva around in a disgusting display.

All of Gamguro's pets have the same eyes as Gamguro - orange eyes with square pupils. An indication that all of their souls belong to him. Without a word they charge out of the Kitchen after their prey while Gamguro continues to eat and eat.

*DOOM*

Gamguro's pets chase after the agile Raven. The demon wolves snap at her dancing form, as she keeps just out of reach. The three bipedal monsters try to grab her while using their agility, but she was trained with the Team. Compared to Robin, these fools are drunken baboons.

They chase her through the halls and they chase her outside.

They finally have her cornered at the edge of the Plateau. They are also ready in case she attempts to fly.

The pets known there is something wrong, which would have given them pause if they ruled their own souls. They can see and hear their prey, but there is no scent in the air. Raven's smiles under her hood, before she fades away to reveal she was another Shadow Doppelgänger.

The pets hear a loud bird scream and turn to see Raven's soul-self soaring towards them. The immense raven of shadow hits the pets at Mach speed sending them flying off the plateau.

At 100 meters (328 feet) hitting water from this height would feel like hitting concrete. What is below is not water, but hard volcanic sand desert littered with pools of boiling lava and acid. If the impact of the soul bird didn't kill them, the fall does

*DOOM*

Gamguro curses as the souls of his pets return to him, meaning their bodies have been killed. It consumes resources to make new bodies and that makes him hungrier. He gorges himself on food, but pauses as he feels sick.

"What's wrong with me?" says Gamguro, covering his mouth. As he pulls his hand away, he can see his green-yellow blood.

I know what's wrong with him as I watch using Raven's invention. I experimented with my bone manipulation and learned I could not only create nano-edge blades, I could also create bone needles. Needles which could inject my super-poison into the food we gathered for this trap.

Gamguro crawls across the floor desperate for his brothers to save him. It's too late as he continues to vomit food, digestive fluid, and vital fluids. Even his tears are now tainted with blood. He finally dies, collapsing like dead toad before he can even leave the kitchen.

*DOOM*

In another room, I put away the small mirror that Raven gave me. She enchanted it to show what she and her shadow doppelgängers see.

I may not be able to use magic, but I can use magical items as long as they have their own supply of magic. The same way I can use technology as long as it has batteries, such as our hidden League communication earpieces.

I'm glad Batman gave me permission to wear one. If I had to guess, it probably contains a tracking device.

"I'm even missing Batman!" I lament.

The sensors of The Brothers are dead. Time for the next phase of our plan.

*DOOM*

Abellio the Envious walks down a long narrow corridor. The architect for this place liked confusing puzzles or hidden passages as much as George Trevor, the man behind the Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil.

Abellio knows he is in trouble. He's always been envious of other teams. Those teams have members that trust each other, communicate with each, and have tactics to work together. The Seven Brothers all share the blood of General Lacerta, but they share no bond beyond blood. They all want fame, money, and power. They all want to be acknowledged as the children of their father. The problem is they see each other as competition.

"This is bad. The demon princess' bodyguard is an archdemon with poison bones. Should I just pretend to look and be safe. No, then there is chance those fools will actually succeed. Damn it. If I had their powers, I would crush my enemies. I would crush them as well. If I could just catch them, the credit would be mine. I wouldn't let them steal it this time."

"The profiles were right about you."

Abellio turns creating a thick shield of ice. My fist hits it with immense force. The Ice shield explodes into fragments and Abellio flies down the corridor from the force of the blow.

As he slides across the ground, he generates ice to flip him back to his feet. He does a kata and Ice spreads across the floor. When it reaches my boots, it rises up to encase me in blue ice.

Abellio watches as his strongest magical ice cracks.

"No."

Abellio watches as his magical ice shatters as I flex my muscles.

"I was born immune to ice."

"That's not fair. That's not fair!"

I run towards him at my top speed. He generates a two-meter-thick wall of ice to slow me down, but I go straight through it. Panicking, he generates a five-meter-thick wall of his strongest ice leaving himself trapped at the end of the corridor.

"My Burning doesn't work on you or your brothers because of that ritual you did." I say, my voice reaching Abellio behind the ice. I place my hand on the wall of ice and a red light spread through it, changing the dark blue streaked with white into dark purple streaked with pink. "It does works on ice. Cool, huh?"

"That's so not fair." says Abellio as his hard ice flash turns into super-pressurized steam. The steam explosion travels down the hallway like a hurricane, blowing away doors and secret panels. I stand completely unharmed and wait for the super-heated water vapor and debris to clear.

Abellio is imbedded in a crater in the wall as fragments fall down from the ceiling. He looks like he was hit by the force of a giant claymore mine. I note his blood is a pale green color as he slides out of his hole and falls onto my blades.

Abellio shudders and shakes as his regenerative abilities are negated by my toxins. His bones stop mending, his muscles stop regrowing, and severely damaged organs stop working all together.

Another Demon Brother is Dead.

*DOOM*

Clancy the Wrathful is extremely angry, far more than usually. He's currently swearing as he looks for the demon princess and her archdemon bodyguard. As he rages, the air surround him shimmers with the intense heat. The heat is so great, that wood would burn in his presence and steel would melt. Thankfully for him, the castle is composed of a black stone unaffected by heat even lava.

For the last hour, he has been chasing shadow doppelgängers crafted by Raven's magic. Every time he thought he has succeeded in finding his prey, they would dissolve into smoke. Every one of them he destroyed just made him angrier and angrier.

"Where are you, you worthless piles of shit!? I'm getting sick of looking! Come out now, cowards."

Clancy kicks open a door to reveal a metal walkway reaching a tower on the opposite side of the plateau. Far below is a huge pool of lava, possibly the caldera of a volcano that is feeding the lava flows.

He spots me and charges without thinking or a word.

His black battle axe glows purplish black with an unknown curse power and I'm shocked when it slices through my shoulder, removing my arm. That will teach me not be overconfident and a I guess curse power is different that magical power. At least enough to bypass my defenses, as my arm and body hit the lava separately.

One thing did go to plan, he was so angry he destroyed the walkway and he also falls several meters into the lava below.

Lava on Earth has a temperature of 700° to 1,250° Celsius. The lava in a hell dimension is on average hotter than Earth lava. To two beings such as Clancy and myself, who possess immunity to heat and fire, it might as well be warm bath water.

Clancy floats to the surface of the lava. Lava, which is molten rock, has a density of around 3,100 kilograms per cubic meter. It's over three times denser than water. This means if a creature was immune to heat, they could float better in lava than water.

"Where are you!?"

My body is denser than a normal human, so much that I normally sink in water. With my immense superhuman strength, I can swim in molten rock. Clancy learns this fact as I grab him from behind and drag him beneath of surface. My other arm regenerates even inside the lava and soon Clancy is struggling to survive.

Clancy releases bursts of heat and energy in his struggles. He's trying to escape, but all it does is make us sink deeper into the caldera. The pressure forcing his breathe from his lungs.

Clancy is immune to heat and fire, and he can easily breathe the foul atmosphere of hell which is contaminated with volcanic gases. I don't know if demons of this hell dimension breathe oxygen or some sort of magical particle in the atmosphere, but they still need to breathe. I don't need to breathe, so I hold Clancy in depths until he stops.

Getting back to surface is a chore and once I emerge from the lava, it hardens into rock that crumbles into irritating volcanic dust. It was especially hard when carrying Clancy's Cursed Axe.

*DOOM*

[POV Change]

Kishan the Lascivious is the most infamous of The Brothers. His mother was a succubus –a dream demon connected to the sin of lust – and he was born half-incubus (the male counterpart). He spent years indulging in his lust. He seduced the wives and daughters of clients, he spent his share of rewards in brothels, and he bought beautiful slaves and used them until they were broken. If his lust was strong enough, he would even force himself on young women and girls.

Raven is the daughter of Trigon the Terrible, the powerful ruler of his own hell dimension. She is a young virgin sorcerer untouched by any man, but possessing immense potential power. To Kishan she is irresistible and not even her bodyguard will stop him.

The fact that she is the aunt to his father's killer is just icing on the cake.

"Where are you beautiful? Kishan wants you" he says, purring out his words, "It was Mr. Grey that killed Deus, so Lord Asmodeus may spare you if you please him. I can teach you so many things."

Kishan turns to see Raven standing inside a large chamber.

"I knew you would here. I could follow that lovely scent of yours." says Kishan with a very lewd smile as he pulls out his chain whip. As he runs the whip threw his fingers, it glows red, and when he finishes it ignites into flames. "Will you surrender to my words or to my whip?"

"I will take option three." says Raven holding up a dagger. The dagger is one of Ash Grey's absurdly sharp bone daggers with the handle wrapped in some material for her protection.

"A dagger? How nostalgic." says Kishan as he whips his fiery whip at her.

The whip slices through Raven's body causing it to disperse. More Raven's appear around him using the Shadow Doppelgänger spell. Kishan just smiles and spins sending his whip in a 360-degree arc, which disperses all of the magical clones.

Raven appears in the air, her hooded cape flowing around her like bird wings. She holds the dagger in one hand, with her other hand glowing with dark magic against it. Dark copies of the dagger appear around her, before launching in a single barrage. Kishan vanishes before the shadow daggers pierce the ground in more than dozen placed.

Kishan appears in the air in front of Raven. His appearance has changed with two of his horns lengthened and two large bat-like wings extending from his back. She fires another set of daggers, but he vanishes and reappears in a different place. She does this several more times with the same result. It's pointless as he's moving so fast to an outside observer it's like teleporting.

Kishan knocks the dagger out of her hand and finally manages to wrap his flame whip. Her hooded cloak protects her from the flames, but she is unable to break free as he lands and yanks her to the ground. She is strong enough to prevent herself from falling on her face.

"Caught you, pretty bird. Now it's time to unwrap my catch."

"Don't be so sure about that, pervert!" says Raven, her voice demonically distorted. Her skin has shifted from a gray tone to a blood red beneath her hood. Under that hood, four glowing eyes stare at him with unimaginable hatred.

Kishan cries out as something pierces his back. That something is Raven's dagger glowing black with Raven's power. Raven releases a burst of dark energy, like an expanding barrier. This pulse extinguishes the demonic flames and stretches the chain to the point it shatters. Kishan can only watch in shock and pain as his weapon falls to the ground in pieces. He cries even more when the blade twists in his back.

The dagger shoots out of the wound in a burst of dark red blood before returning to Raven. It hovers above her open hand, flat side down. It then begins to spin faster and faster, as Raven's mouth becomes an unnatural cruel smile. Kishan for the first time in his life is terrified of a female of any species.

Raven whips her arms around as if doing a kata or directing a musical orchestra. The spinning dagger moves with her movements, darting like hummingbird. It moves faster than Kishan can see, but he can feel it. He feels the hand holding the remains of his weapon separate at the wrist. He feels one of wings fall away from his body as it's sliced through.

Minutes later, what's left of Kishan falls to the ground in pieces.

Raven cries out and struggles with herself. Her red skin reverts to its normal gray and her eyes revert to normal. She coughs and vomits up an oily black liquid.

"Raven, are you OK!?" comes Ash's voice over the communicator.

"Didn't you watch the fight?" she says worried.

"I'm stilling cleaning lava off my mirror."

"Why is it covered in lava?"

"Me and the hothead took a bath." says Ash, "I'm glad the League communicators are spelled to be as durable as their wearers.

Meaning yours could survive a dip in the sun, thinks Raven. She is happy Ash didn't see her ugly side. He knows she is the daughter of Trigon, but she doesn't like showing that horrible side of her.

"Two left." says Raven.

"Let's get them."

*DOOM*

Conway the Avaricious knows something is wrong. While he can't see or hear or sense anything do the materials in the building, his instincts are screaming. He moves around like a nervous man, head darting to every shadow and door.

"Looking for someone."

He looks at Ash Grey, but he doesn't rush to attack his prey.

"My brothers."

"You and Rios are the only ones left."

"Bastard. How dare you kill them!"

"You actually care about your family?"

"It's not about family, It's about possessions! My Brothers were sources of money. They were scum, but they were mine and anything of mine is a possession. And killing them is like stealing from me. And NOBODY steals from me!" yells Conway, "I'm going to cut you to pieces. I'll self your head to Lord Asmodeus while selling the rest on Abyss Auction. I'll whore out your Princess as well to get me back my lost profit!"

"How are you going to do that, grease trap?"

Conway's golden eyes glow and his smooth yellow is covered in oil. The amount of oil increases rapidly until it's pouring off his body. The weird boiler suit sucks up the oil and releases it from the palms of his thick black gloves and boots. As he moves in a way resembling a kata, the golden liquid flows around Conway.

I know Conway can do more with his "Golden Oil" than manipulate it like a master water bender under the full moon. He can also manipulate its viscosity and its temperature. He often disables of limbs of his targets, then encases them in oil to be boiled alive. He already knows oil will not harm my grey hide, so he does a rarely used technique

I'm pushed back by high pressure jets of explosive oil. Not only is the oil at pressures high enough to cut stone, but the oil is super-heated. As the oil strikes the target it becomes a mist that mixes with the air and detonates.

Conway isn't just throwing around explosive oil hoping to get lucky. He's trying to find my weaknesses. It attacks my joints trying to tear or dislocate. He attacks me eyes and ears, trying to rob me of my senses. He shreds the ground beneath me to weaken my traction, while sending oil down my throat. The oil fills and detonates inside my pseudo lungs and stomach, but fail to do anything beyond give me a sense of heartburn and gas. He even tries to ram by rear only to find out it doesn't go anywhere as I don't have a dedicated digestive system.

Conway is concentrating hard but he looks frustrated.

"What in the name of the Inferno and the Darkness are you made of!? I've broken a chaos sorcerer's familiar that was made of magical diamond! Compared to you it was made of ritual chalk!"

Suddenly a black disc slices through his neck, decapitating him. Raven emerges from the shadows and catches my bone dagger present to her.

"That was gross" I say coughing up some of the unexploded oil and then glaring at the still living head, "You taste like week old bacon grease."

"There you are Princess" says the severed head.

Conway's boiler suit collapses like a balloon. Conway's body dissolves completely into thick golden oil. It flows at high speed across the ground and joins the head, which also dissolves. The oil thickens and takes solid form.

Conway now resembles a large, humanoid mass of wet clay similar to Clayface. The difference is the clay is the color of raw gold and looks like it was mixed with oil instead of water.

"What are you going to do?" smirks the hideous face of Conway, showing sharp translucent teeth, "I can't hurt you Ash, but I can hurt the Princess."

Suddenly, two bone blades pierce deep into Conway's body. They are like Raven's dagger but unwrapped and fresher. I also charged them up with [Burning] and [Breaker Touch] skills. The daggers glowing red explode inside Conway, making his golden slug body balloon in some places.

"Nice try, but... but."

Conway's taunt is interrupted as he feels something wrong inside his body. I know the reason. While he was hammering me, he didn't notice me creating bone daggers that Raven grabbed with her telekinesis. Then those bone daggers exploded their fragments were scattered through his semi-liquid body. Those fragments are now releasing specialized toxins into his body.

Conway's body ripples becoming translucent blob of oil. That blob expels the bone fragments which are encased in a foul lard-like substance. Conway reforms his golden sludge form, which is noticeably thinner.

"Nice try."

I remove Clancy's cursed war axe from my Inventory. The Inventory I gained from Neo/Rorschach isn't as insanely large as the full Gamer Inventory. Instead, Party members have an Inventory limited by the amount of weight we can carry in real life. Considering my strength, it's still impressive.

"Clancy's Cursed Axe of Division!?"

Those are the only words that Conway can say before the axe is thrown at him. A burst of dark curse energy splits him clean in half, but Conway's halves flow back together.

"Nice try." says Conway as he reaches down and picks up the Axe, "I'm glad to have this back. It's worth a king's ransom and I was always peeved it was wasted on that idiot Clancy."

Conway then notices the Axe is glowing. Ripples of red energy travel across the surface like water droplets like a lake's surface. Fiery glowing cracks begin to spread across its surface as its runes turns white when the cracks reach them. The entire axe turns red and all the cracks turn white.

There is a thunderous explosion. Raven protects herself with a spherical black barrier, while I just tank the explosion. Conway has been reduced into a fine layer of oil coating every surface. It slides off me and Raven's barrier, then the rest begins to pool towards the center of the room. If Conway had any sense, he would fake being dead and wait until we left the room to pull a T-1000.

Raven smirks then waves her arms, gathering the oil into a ball floating in the air. She keeps it spinning and adds air to prevent Conway from reforming. I blow into the ball, release the specialized toxin as a breath attack. Once the toxin Is thoroughly mixed with the oil, Raven lets it fall.

A purplish-white ball of lard-like material hits the floor and begins to burn a hole.

"One left."

*DOOM*

Rios sits on the throne of Obsidian Castle. His black knight armor matching the black metal of the throne. The black sword in his hand is surrounded by prismatic lights.

"I was born the son of Demon General Lacerta of Asmodeus' seventy-two legions. The son of his wife, his true mate. I was raised by my father with pride. After his death I sought glory for myself and his name. What I found was my six half-brothers. I did not truly care for them, born of inferior heritage, but they still contained my father's blood. I couldn't allow them to be weak, so I trained them to be strong.'

'Conway the son of a merchant's daughter. Kishan the son of brothel girl. Clancy the son of a barbarian horde's daughter. A horde that was beaten by my father. Abellio was the son of a thief, that seduced her way out of execution. Gamguro was the son of a maid, the daughter of noble's chef. Gorganus was the son of a witch who served a rival demon lord.'

'I am the one that made them strong and forged them into a team. Over time, I saw their weakness. Instead of taking pride in being a son of Lacerta, they became lost in their own obsessions. All of the power that I awoke in them, wasted.'

'I made my decision. I knew those fools would eventually destroy themselves. So, I found a Ritual. I gained my immunity to heat and flame from trials I put myself threw. With this ritual I could share my immunity. The part I left unsaid was If they died, all their power would be absorbed by me."

I stand in front of Rios, looking bored, but allowing the knight to finish.

"You sure like to hear yourself talk."

"Ash Grey, Protector of the Demon Princess Raven, Daughter of Trigon the Terrible. I challenge you to one-on-one combat. Will you face all of General Lacerta's blood in his true heir?"

"I don't want a thirty-minute boss fight, so why don't you hit me with your strongest attack. I won't even more from this spot."

"How arrogant of you, but I agree. Know that my sword not only contains my power, which has crushed a hundred thousand foes, but contains all the power of my kin amplified."

He holds up his sword and begins to channel a massive amount of energy. The sword releases a beam of power into the sky, tearing through the ceiling and parting the dark clouds to reveal the red stars of Hell. As lightning crawls across his form, the sword, and the beam, I feel a sense of pressure. He brings his sword down and everything is consumed in a blinding radiance.

When the light clears, Castle Obsidian has been split in two and is collapsing. It's not just the Castle as the Plateau was also sliced in half causing the lava to pour and erupt out of the shattered landscape. The Land of the Black Sand now has an immense cut in it, which is slowly being partially filled by a thousand lava and acid falls.

"Fool, Clancy's Curse was also a part of my own power."

Rios' flies in the air using Kushan's wings, but the bat-like wings have evolved to resemble the bony scaled wings of a dragon.

"I remember. It managed to cut off an arm."

Rios looks in shock as I appear from the swirling clouds of smoke and dust. I'm standing on a piece of rock, which is being held by Raven's power. The last time she tried to hold me with her powers directly, they failed as I had gained immunity.

"The same attack won't work on me no matter the difference in power."

Rios tries to move his sword for another attack only to find it held in place. I lightly hold the edge of his black sword between two fingertips, not allowing the knight to move the blade by a millimeter (3.9% of an inch). I activate my Breaker and red light flows from my fingertips down the length of the blade, spreading from the sword hilt to his tightly gripping gauntlet-covered hands. The strange crimson light ripples across his entire suit of black metal knight armor. Glowing cracks spread across the metal surfaces I can see magical energy arcing from crack to crack as the magical enchantments also break.

There is a loud explosion and Rios is nearly skinned alive by destruction of Lacerta armor. As he's held in my grip. Some of the armor fragments have become imbedded in Rios' skin, slowing the knight's regeneration. I pierce his neck with my claws and spikes, and pump into my toxins to stop his regeneration. Then, I toss him into the fiery abyss below.

*DOOM*

Day 150 – It's been roughly five months since we became trapped in hell. Asmodeus went as far as to send an entire legion of soldiers after us. Over six thousand demon soldiers attacked us with everything they had. Asmodeus apparently told them either they take our lives or he would take there's. It was a long battle, but in the end, I stained the battlefield with their blood. I made sure to loot their corpses for valuables. Surviving in Hell requires finances.

Day 151 – Raven has been having problems. The long time in this Hell dimension is stimulating her demon blood and amplifying her powers. It makes her angrier since her father's primary sin is Wrath. Her condition has gotten so bad, her gray skin has been red for the past month. She barely can keep her second set of eyes closed.

Day 155 – We found him! We found HIRO KING!

*DOOM*

[Day 155]

[Forests of Despair]

[POV Change]

Hiro King's luck has been failing ever since he went to retrieve his items from Mount Justice. First, he encountered a monstrous hero(?) that could regenerate his limbs in seconds. Then when he opened a portal to the hellish netherworld, the portal broke! He sold the half-demon princess at the Auction House and escaped with a collection of souls and gold, but then he heard rumors. The son of Asmodeus had been killed by someone after the Princess and he was being blamed. Asmodeus' men watched the portals and eventually he was caught.

Now he's forced to fight the monstrous hero/archdemon bodyguard Ash Grey and Raven. At least he has a partner in this fight in the form of Asmodeus' greatest Champion.

He activates his Spatial Warping Skill, the same skill he used to protect himself from projectiles and the magic of Doctor Fate. He's ready to...

His thoughts are interrupted when Ash Grey punches through his spatial warp and sends him flying.

*DOOM*

Hiro King doesn't look like his high school self or even the man that was condemned to Arkham Asylum. His once short black hair is now long and white with age and stress. His pale skin tanned by his adventures is now blackened to a very dark complexion. His once chocolate brown eyes are corrupted, the white sclera now the color of blood and the irises have become an inhuman gold. There are numerous dark veins on the sides of his face and I can only guess what flows through them,

"How the Fuck did you punch SPACE!?" Hiro King screams as blood pours from nose and mouth.

"Fuck you that's how." I reply. In truth, I don't know myself. My guess is when his portal sliced off my legs before this hellish trip, I gained an immunity to spatial warping.

I recognize Hiro King's partner. Sabbac. He's an enemy of the "Captain Marvel" family possessing the powers of hell including Satan, Aym, Belial, Beelzebub, Asmodeus and Crateis. In his full demonic form is very tall with yellow eyes, red skin, and same black hair and beard he had as a human. He has sharp golden claws, perfect teeth, pointed goat ears, and two long horns curving back. On his chest is a glowing inverted pentagram that acts as his symbol. This guy is way early in the timeline than he should be, as I recognize him as the Russian mob boss Ishmael Gregor.

"Hey Ishmael, I thought you were running the Russian mob."

"You know me? How delightful." says Mob-Boss-turned-Demonic-Supervillain with a faint Russian accent "I was running my Mob until I encountered the vigilante Rorschach. He said something about stopping Sabbac before shooting me with an excessive number of bullets. I was evil enough in life to become a demon in death and when my new employer learned why I had died, he did some divination and decided I was the better choice."

Ishmael flexes his body and I notice we are around the same height.

"Young Timothy Karnes died in his attempt to gain demonic powers and instead I was granted the powers of the six great demon lords. "

"Not so great. Belial is dead, killed by Etrigan, so I don't know how you got that power. Beelzebub looks weaker than Jeff Goldblum. Asmodeus is desperate, which is why you're here. Hell, Lucifer got so sick of the job, he quit and retired."

Ishmael looks a little angry at being dismissed. Hiro King, who heals his injuries with a skill, looks surprised that Lucifer retired. That remind me, when Raven and me get back to Earth, I'll take her on a date to the Lux piano bar and get her to meet Lucifer.

Ishmael punches me in the face and I slid back a dozen meters. While I can tank any hit, I still haven't mastered anchoring myself to the ground with tactical telekinesis. Sabbac also possesses the Strength of Satan, the First of the Fallen.

I return the hit with one of my own, sending Ishmael flying back. He travels further than I did, much to my pride, but I know he isn't damaged. The Indestructible Body of Aym means he possesses invulnerability and regeneration.

We attack each other, punching and countering like characters out of DBZ. I notice that Ishmael is actually a skilled fighter in this universe, not just skilled at business and firearms. Krav Maga and Street Fighting make sense since he's Russian mob. Thanks to [Archetype: Tyrant], I'm quickly learning his moves.

Raven's fight against Hiro King is interesting.

Raven spent many years since her birth learning magic, trained by teachers who knew she would one day face the Cult of Skath and the forces of darkness. She was trained to be a combat sorceress and survived the fall of Azarath. She was captured by the Psions when they detected her on a planet, but it was after she was drained from fighting the worst of the native fauna. She was then trained by the Zatara family and the heroes of the Team to fight all manner of bizarre and powerful. In Hell, her abilities have become far more skilled and lethal for the sake of survival.

Hiro King on the other hand was a summoned hero. He appeared in a world of sword & sorcery with the blessings of a divine being. He was given skills from the very beginning and gained more skills from completing the Adventurer quests. He improved his magic and physical abilities by killing monsters and criminals, absorbing their spiritual essence. On Earth, he absorbed the souls of criminally insane to fuel his power and was willing to absorb the souls of the innocent. .

Raven uses her abilities with precision and efficiency, while Hiro King relies on raw power and uniqueness.

"Homing Barrage!"

Hiro sends out hundreds of magic missiles from his hands at Raven which detonate in a massive explosion. Raven's mastery of illusions leaves her unharmed.

"Spatial Warp!"

Hiro creates his barrier of warped spacetime. It prevents any attack targeting him to fail to hit and can be used to trap an opponent. It doesn't stop Raven from rising from his shadow bypassing the barrier. It also doesn't stop her from detonating a ball of light, blinding and deafening him (magical flashbang). As the barrier falls, she fires a black bolt of magic that hits like a battering ram. Despite the points he put into his vitality, he still coughs up when he finishes tumbling.

"*cough* He... Heal. Heal!"

Hiro uses his cheap-ass Skill to fully heal himself.

"Are you paying attention to our fight?" asks Ishmael.

"Sorry. I find Raven's fight to be far more entertaining."

"I would be offended, but neither of us seems capable of inflicting harm upon the other." Ishmael says look at Raven and Hiro's fight, "I will also admit the young lady's beatdown of the arrogant fool is entertaining. She reminds me of a woman I knew. A military woman who became the head of her own branch. Watching her crush fools beneath her heals was inspiring and alluring."

"A beautiful demon princess beating up an arrogant corrupt hero. A scene of beauty."

After several minutes of Raven beating the living shit out of Hiro, Raven's red skin has dulled back to her normal grey. I guessing beating up an Isekai Hero is therapeutic. I actually pulled out a chocolate bar from my Inventory to eat while watching. I even often Ishmael a bit, which he actually accepted with a respectful thanks.

Hiro King uses Heal for the 26th time. His face and left eye regenerates from Raven's magically augmented bitch slap. He looks over at me and Ishmael who are casually watching.

"Why aren't you helping me!?"

"I don't like you." replies Ishmael, "The only reason Asmodeus hasn't turned you inside out is because he thinks you can be some small use."

"How useful are you, Sabacc? You can't even scratch your opponent."

"You would actually be able to hurt your opponent if you weren't so bad at fighting."

"Oh yeah. Then let's change opponents." says Hiro teleporting in front of me before yelling out "Ultimate Skill: Soul Taker!"

A burst of dark purple magic strikes in the chest and I feel an odd sensation. It seems familiar and I realize two of my own abilities are reacting.

"My ultimate skill: Soul Taker. It's a one-hit-kill that removes the soul of my target. It's the skill that allowed me to kill the demon king and become the Hero of Luminaria!" he laughs, then his face falls when the glow fades. "What?"

"You're not the only person with Soul manipulating abilities." I say as my hand glows. [Soul Manipulation] and [Dark Soul Manipulation] are humming within me." Ishmael, he screwed you over."

I vanish from Hiro King's sight and appear in front of Ishmael, placing my hand a couple centimeters (less than an inch) in front of his shocked face.

"You should be happy I got this ability. I was going to poison the next snack I gave you."

I clench my fist around something intangible and pull. A glowing red translucent cloth less copy of Ishmael is pulled out of his physical body. The physical Ishmael struggles to get his soul back, while the spiritual Ishmael struggles in my grip. I tighten by grip and the astral body dissolves leaving the fiery red/black soul in my palm. Ishmael's physical body falls back dead. Lightning and fire crawl across the body as it's stripped of bestowed powers, before the original body crumbles to dust.

"No. No. No. This can't be happening!" says Hiro

Raven appears behind him and knocks the former hero into my grip.

"No! No! This can't be happening! I'm a Hero! I'm not supposed to die!"

The aura is pulled from his body, towards my open palm. Wisps of smoke and red light, the stolen souls of the dead leave him and gather in my palm. As his energy is drained, King's body begins to wither. Finally only King's original blackened soul remains. King's face is filled with pain and terror as I cry out the last words he will ever hear.

"Your Soul is Mine!"

King's body ages before my eyes- skin becoming like ancient parchment and hair falls away. He turns into an emaciated husk, then the flesh and bone crumble into dust. The dust is blown away by the hellish winds and I let the now empty robes fall.

*DOOM*

Day 1495 – Raven and me are raiding another ruin. There are so many ancient fortresses, ships, and temples in Hell. In our time, we have even learned their areas of hell where people from other places and time have crashed into Hell. We even walked through a fragment of a post-apocalyptic London. We killed Asmodeus years ago, but his one last FU keeps us Trapped.

Day 1496 – Raven is happier than she has been in years. She found the answer in the library of a Ruin. A way to escape Asmodeus' Hell Lock and finally return back to Earth. She just needs a few ingredients and the inhabitants of Hell are so generous. The names Ash Grey and Raven are now more feared and hated than the name of that Exorcist that messed up the council of the Fallen and killed Nergal. They would literally do anything to get us out of Hell.

Day 1499 – All the Ingredients are gathered. We are ready to leave and demon lords and sorcerers have gathered to make sure we don't come back.

*DOOM*

London, England

15:05 (10:05 in Rhode Island)

[Day 1500]

Time passed faster in the Hell dimension than it does on Earth. For every second that passes on Earth, ten hours pass in the inferno. In a single earth year, 15 millenniums pass in hell. It doesn't matter to immortal demons, but the souls condemned to that world are easily broken down.

Raven and I spent 1500 days in Hell (over 4 years), but only an hour has passed on Earth.

Our Journey to Hell has changed us.

Raven has grown from a sixteen-year-old girl into breathtakingly beautiful woman in her early 20s. She is a well-endowed woman standing 180 cm (5'11) with flowing hair reaching mid back. She is wearing a black outfit resembling a bathing suit with long fingerless black gloves and long boots reaching mid-thigh. She also wears a sentient animated hooded cape much like a darker cousin to Doctor Strange's cape.

In my case, I have grown even bigger than before. I was once two hundred thirteen centimeters tall (7 foot) and now I am two hundred thirty centimeters tall (~7 foot 7). I can't even guess my weight, but stepping on a demon's head causing it to explode. I'm also even more muscular without losing mobility and when deployed I have more bone protrusions, making me look way more menacing. I had to take off my Kryptonian black jacket because it didn't fit anymore, but at least the pants stretch.

We both look around the world and wonder where the hell did, we end up.

There are over two hundred people in the room around me and Raven. I can divide these people into three groups.

The first and largest group are party goers. The majority are young people in their late teens and twenties, painted with neon green and pink. Some are fully dressed in electronic rave clothing. Some are partially undressed from dancing and other stressful activities. Some are naked or nearly naked having done many lewd activities. There is even a topless girl with a vendor tray loaded with condoms and illegal drugs! This group is being restrained by mystical bindings.

The second group are young cultists that look like they got involved in something too big. Most are young men and women dressed in hooded black robes. It's clear they are as naked as some of the party goers under those robes. Their wrists and ankles are bound by identical mystical bindings.

The third group are more serious cultists. They are older than the younger cultists and are carrying weapons. Some are ritualistic daggers and some are machine guns. Their leader is a pale blue-eyed blonde man with flowing hair reaching his shoulders. He's dressed in white coat with fur-rim, which covers an equally white outfit. He's clearly the leader because he's the only one wearing normal clothing instead of cliché cult robes and he also holds a black staff that is producing a lot of mystical energy.

There are several dead bodies, some with bullet holes from the machine guns and some with deep piercings and slashes from the daggers.

There is one other person in the room outside the party-goers, young cultists, and serious cultists. There is a man tied to a cross. He stands six feet tall with blue eyes and short spiky blonde hair. He's dressed in a white shirt, black pants, beige socks, and black shoes. All this is covered by a dark brown long coat you would find in a Noir film. He kind of looks like Gordon Sumner, better known as the British musician, singer, songwriter and actor – Sting. He looks like he wants to send an SOS.

Then it hits me, I know who this man is and how deep we are in.

"John Constantine."

"Great. The Hell Spawn knows my name." says Constantine, "Going to be eating me tonight?"

"Not a chance. I just got out of Hell and I don't need the Food Poisoning."

"Great Lucifer, Lady Lilith, I have summoned you with blood and prayer. We are your devoted servants." says the Cult Leader, "Please bless us with your words."

"I hate weekend Satanists, don't you?" I say to Raven, then turns to the cult, "Listen up. Lucifer Morningstar got sick of handling sinners and retired to run a piano bar. Lady Lilith is still trying to resurrect her eldest children. The Lady and Me just escaped a trap set by the late Asmodeus."

"Late?" says Constantine sounding surprised (and a tiny bit happy)

"We got sick of killing his Legions and killed him." I reply, then I ask "How the fuck did they catch you, Constantine? I know your luck is shit, but a brainless sex cult shouldn't have got you."

"They have an invisible demon." says Constantine, nonchalantly, "I didn't think they were that competent."

"Invisible Demon? You mean this weak thing."

I reach into the space next to me and grip something unseen by the humans. I pull on it to reveal the skull face of a demon. The demon struggles in panic dropping the rest of its invisibility. It's a seven-foot-tall humanoid demon with a lean muscular build, long limbs, and a very long tail. Its body is pitch black with numerous white bone protrusions including sharp claws, a skull-like mask with glowing red eyes, and spines starting at the base of the skull and going down to the tail tip. It also has two huge bat-like wings that emits a dark mist. It reminds me of a Grimm from the later seasons of RWBY.

I squeeze and its head explodes like a tomato, spraying black blood in all directions. The now headless corpse of a demon disintegrates into vanishing dark particles. The Cult Leader looks upset, that demon must have been his first demonic summoning – how precious.

"I would suggest you surrender to the authorities." I say looking down at the cult leader.

"The authorities, but why would an archdemon..."

"You are as foolish as the demons in hell. People keep calling me an archdemon, but I'm not."

The Cult Leader raises his staff to attack me, probably believing I was a demon below archdemon and could be controlled. Seriously, did he forget we killed Asmodeus. I roar and release my fire breathe on him. The torrent of fire surpasses the heat of a volcanic eruption and is mixed with corrosive gases. When I stop, the cult leader has been reduced to smoking bone fragments inside a crater in the floor

I pick up the still glowing magic staff, look at Raven who rolls her eyes, then I do what comes naturally.

*Crunch*

The partygoers, cultists, and infamous occultist can only watch as I bit off the crystal headpiece of the staff and eat it. As the magical crystal shatters between the rows and rows of sharp teeth, the magical bindings holding everyone fade away. I continue to chew until the crystal fragments vanish.

"Coffee Chocolate. Tiramisu?"

"So, what are you?" says Constantine, getting the blood flowing after being crucified.

"Part-Human. Part-Alien. Part-Biological-Weapon-of-Mass-Destruction."

*DOOM*

Raven and I help Constantine clear out the party and then we had a small conversation.

"So how did you get involved with this mess, John."

"The Cult Leader was Ryo Asuka, the son of an archeology professor who discovered a magical artifact while digging at an old church. Church officials didn't realize why it was buried."

Constantine pulls out a flask from his coat. I hide my reaction to the cultist leader's name. It's like the universe is recycling Ideas.

"Remember that staff you snacked on. That was a demon summoning staff created by an old magi family. The family would have male members of the family possessed by lesser spirits and then impregnate women. The resulting kids would have a higher potential for magic." says Constantine taking a drink, "Idiots didn't realize their tradition was corrupting them. Eventually they did some nasty shit and got wiped out by Hunters and the Church."

He takes another sip.

"Ryo convinced himself he was destined for greatness and saw himself as a dark messiah. He eventually set up the cult."

"So why the sex party?"

"Black Sabbath. It's easier for demons to possess people when they abandon reason. While the young idiots above were stirring up the spirits, the cultists below were trying to summon more impressive demons. When merely sex wasn't enough, he started to kill people. The skull-faced thing you crushed was Ryo's biggest success."

I feel the Universe is messing with me and I'm worried it's me who is writing this madness.

I explain how my body was created in a lab called Cadmus and how my soul was otherworldly. I tell Constantine about how this universe is perceived to be fictional by my home universe. I mention Superman and Batman comics and this universe being series that focusses on the sidekicks, but I don't specifically mention the Team.

I then go into my knowledge of him from his time as a member of the band Mucous Membrane to his time as a member of Justice League Dark (a branch of the Justice League dedicated to dealing with mystical and supernatural threats.). I also go in the darker Vertigo version, the Constantine-in-name-only movie starring Keanu Reeves, and the events of the animated movies – City of Demons, Justice League: Dark, and finally Apokalips War.

The events of City of Demons have occurred in this universe with the death of Nergal. Francis William "Chas" Chandler came to him to save his daughter Trish. In the end, Constantine used a spell that sacrificed Chas' love of his daughter and his friendship with Constantine to destroy Nergal and free the girl's soul. The end result was time was changed so Chas never knew his daughter and Constantine is just a guy who ruined Chas' life.

It's a running theme in Hellraiser. John Constantine can save the world again and again, outsmarting the most clever and powerful of demons, and coming up with clever solution to nearly impossible problems. When it comes to his personal life, everyone around Constantine suffers either through his actions or consequences.

Constantine handles the existential crisis better than most. He's gone through a lot of weird shit, so people in another universe watching him doesn't reach the top of the meter.

"So, a Vampire bites me, but burns its mouth off because of the blood Nergal gave me to prevent the birth of the messiah and then I drag it into the sun?"

"Correct."

"Bloody Hell."

I do notice that Constantine is older than he is in some continuities. Raven started off older in Cadmus Beta, too old to be part of either incarnation of Teen Titans. Constantine was Zatanna's lover in some timelines and the cause of her mother's death in others. In this universe, he has never met the Zatara family and Sindella Zatara died of cancer.

Raven and Me also inform Constantine of the current situation in Hell with Asmodeus dead and his forces decimated. I also tell him how his name is treated as forbidden swear word in Hell and Constantine actually smiles at that.

*DOOM*

The Doomsday Bunker

20:20

I'm finally home. I'm lying on my couch once more in more human seven-foot form. While my spiky combat form has grown a bit, my "human" form is roughly the same size.

My "report" to the League and the Team was short. Hiro King kidnapped Raven to seal her at the Abyss Auction in a Hell Dimension. I followed and killed the son of Asmodeus and then Raven and me spent over four years trying to get back to Earth. I learned that some of the League are very religious and the fact that I had killed demons in Hell shook them.

Doctor Fate spends thirty minutes cleansing us of demonic taint – a result of years in hell's atmosphere and being splashed by swimming pools worth of demon blood. It's not like the taint is harmful to us, just to other people. Raven's demon blood makes it resistant to demonic miasma, while if you look Indestructible in a Dictionary you could add my photo.

I click on the television and find a cartoon channel. Apparently, there is a marathon for that shows that looks like expy for Gravity Falls. I end up turning on the channel during a commercial break.

"Well howdy, folks! 'Weird Science' Rick here, and have I got a product for you~!"

My focus sharpening at the words "Science" and "Rick" being used in the same sentence, I saw Neo out-of-costume, but instead dressed like Rick, a blue Einsteinian wig that was obviously 'a wig' on top of his head. The backdrop and foreground looked like something from Bill Nye the Science Guy, but with a few 'high science' gizmos thrown in the mix to make it visually interesting.

"Have you ever wanted a robust or home-cooked meal, but you're a lazy slob like me?" he asked walking sidelong across the set. "We will suffer from hunger pangs no longer, thanks to the revolutionary invention, the Food Printer 2020! Originally it was going to be called something nerdier and more science-y, but the neighbors thought I was a witch and I had to move."

You'd think he were joking, but people have gone on witch hunts for stupider reasons, and with greater frequency, than that.

"How does it work, you ask? Well let me tell you!" 'Weird Science' Rick asked as he stepped up to something that looked like a large toaster oven, all in shiny chrome with slots in the top and dials in the front. "First, you load the Food Printer 2020 with these, food cartridges," he said holding up what looked like plus-sized game cartridges, the words Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter, and Umami printed on the blue, white, yellow, green, and red cartridges respectively. "After that's done," he said pressing them into the top like bread into a toaster, "then comes the recipe," he said drawing what looked like an index card with a stylized QR Code on one side, the name of the recipe and a picture on the other. "Put it in this slot here, put your tableware of course in here, and set your portion size here," he said sliding the QR Code into a thin slot above the door, which he then opened to put a square shaped plate in at a diagonal angle, and then turned a dial on the front until it went from 100% to 85%. "Then you just hit 'Start' and awayyyy we gooo~" he said pressing an irresistible green button with the word START plastered across it, a nozzle seen descending toward the plate from behind the semi-opaque window and getting to work. "In real life this would take several minutes, but since this is a TV commercial, we'll just do a scene-cut."

The "Fifteen Minutes Later" Spongebob-style cutaway was colorful and inviting, and only lasted as long as necessary, giving way to 'Weird Science' Rick pulling his plate out of the Food Printer 2020, upon which was a half-pepperoni half-cheese pizza shaped proportionately to the plate it was on.

"Are you a health nut? You got the munchies for comfort food? Or you just want mom's home cooking? Well, we've got recipe cards for that! Transfer your home recipes into the proprietary software that comes standard with every order, and get cooking! And if you aren't 100% percent satisfied with this Cognito Inc. product, not only will I give you a full refund, I'll also pay the shipping and handling fees with our dedicated couriers!" he said gesturing toward a robot that looked like a crash test dummy in a mailman's uniform, which waved merrily toward the camera. "So, what're you waiting for? Call the toll-free number below or visit the Cognito Inc. website, and start eating the food of tomorrow, today! And remember, don't void the warranty!"

Neo is going to make a fortune with these machines. I just enjoyed a BBQ Chicken Pizza created by my Cognito Inc Deluxe Food Printer 2020. Thank you, Neo. That was the perfect thing to eat after getting out of Hell.

Blackfire was shocked when I revealed I had spent four years in Hell with Raven. Despite Raven being very beautiful, I didn't cheat on her even once. It wasn't just my loyalty to her. Getting pregnant in hell is a bad idea as demonic spirits can use the unborn as vessels. I've watched enough Kentaro Miura's Berserk to know that is BAD.

Raven has something to discuss with Blackfire and pulled her into the showers. What they are discussing, I can't tell as sound proofing in this place must be high quality as approved by paranoid Batman.

Raven and Blackfire come out of the bathroom in robes. If I remember correctly, I bought Raven that robe at a demon bazaar. It's water-proof demon spider silk. Blackfire looks flushed and is smiling, while Raven has a cat that caught the canary look to her. I thought it was Blackfire's people that evolved from felines?

"Me and Blackfire had a discussion about our relationship with you." says Raven

"She made a very convincing argument." says Blackfire with a cheeky smile.

They both drop their robes and my breathe is taken away. I don't need to breathe oxygen, but I would swear I was about to pass out from the visions of beauty before me.

*DOOM*

Land of the Black Sand, Asmodeus's former domain, Hell

Same time.

POV Change

It's been many years since Raven and Ash Grey fought the Seven Brothers, the Seven sons of Demon General Lacerta. In that battle, Castle Obsidian and the Plateau were destroyed and a great cut was left in the desert floor.

A mysterious object has appeared at the site of the battle.

It appears to be an immense tree at least in structure. It's dimensions dwarfing any tree on Earth as it reaches far taller than any coastal redwood, thicker than a Mexican cypress, and long roots stretching as far as the eye can see. The shadows of the thick verdant canopy conceal many things on the forest floor, but instead of wood, the "tree" is made of a hard black metal that pulsates like blood-filled flesh of animals. Through cracks in the "bark", metallic coils the color of gold and glowing in the darkness. There are also translucent tubes branching like arteries and veins but carrying a golden liquid.

Slowly, the bark bulges and cracks open, releasing a blob of black tar-like material. It falls to the sands of the desert. The blob stretches and bursts open in a spray of glowing yellow liquid to reveal a humanoid.

The newborn being resembles Ash Grey, but his coloration is different. While Ash has ash grey skin, this new being has pure black skin with glowing veins almost like circuits. While Ash has short frost white hair, this being has spiky golden hair resembling wire. As this being opens it eyes, instead of red eyes it has glowing gold eyes with black sclera.

"What should I call myself?"