Devil Slave (Satan system)

Virgil turned his gaze to the Hell beast that had followed Athena, its loyalty evident as it remained close by her side. He shook his head slightly, a hint of regret in his eyes. "It’s a pity," he began, "but you won’t be able to bring your army of Hell beasts with you."

Athena frowned, her eyes narrowing. "Why not?"

Virgil sighed, his tone turning more somber. "Each part of Hell is a combined whole, yet still an individual place. Even if one side gets destroyed, it won’t affect the other sides. These Hell beasts are needed to maintain the ecosystem of this layer of Hell. Without them, this part of Hell would descend into chaos far beyond its usual state. Balance must be preserved."

He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in before continuing, "I’ll show you a way to jump to the third layer of Hell, where Hell’s Mother is imprisoned. But it means leaving your army behind."

Athena clenched her fists, the thought of abandoning the Hell beasts that had fought beside her gnawing at her. Yet, she could see the seriousness etched in Virgil’s expression. The task ahead was far too critical to risk upsetting the delicate balance of this layer.

After a long moment of consideration, Athena finally nodded. "Fine. But I’m still bringing my Hell baby pet with me."

At that moment, the Hell baby was nuzzling affectionately against its mother, having been reunited after so long. But when Athena whistled sharply, the creature’s head snapped up, and it immediately rushed over to her side, its loyalty unshaken.

Athena looked down at the Hell baby, a small smile playing on her lips, then turned her determined gaze back to Virgil. "Let’s go."

Virgil nodded in acknowledgment, the faintest hint of a smile touching his lips as he gestured for her to follow.

Together, they began the journey toward the unknown, leaving the remnants of their battle and the Hell beasts behind as they ventured into the deeper, darker layers of Hell.

She waved her hands at the Hell beasts both the ones that had followed her so far and the ones that had now been freed, sending them back to the top layer.

And then she mounted her hell beast baby. She patted its head, "Its about time I give you a name. Hmmm, how about A47? Yes, that sounds about right. From now on Your name shall be A47. You should be proud, its named after the strongest gladiator i knew from when I was younger."

The Hell beast made acknowledging noises to the name it had been bestowed. Meanwhile, Virgil at the side could not help but wonder what kind of messed up name was that?

What he did not know was that to Athena, it was a perfectly normal name. After all, such was the manner she had lived her life for so long.

Virgil led Athena through the twisted, nightmarish landscape of Hell, each step taking them deeper into an abyss where reality itself seemed to warp and writhe.

The air only got thicker with the stench of sulfur and decay, and the ground beneath them shifted as if it were alive, pulsating with an eerie, unnatural rhythm.

The darkness around them was not just an absence of light but a tangible, oppressive force that seemed to close in on them, squeezing the very breath from lungs.

Fortunately, Athena was a born anew person and Virgil could neither be called human or a soul. A state of being that even perplexed Athena constantly. After all, she had seen other souls, they did not have their sanity or humanly features as Virgil did, especially facially.

Many days passed.

This was what led her to the state she now found herself, hiding within a rock as the souls attached to it tried to plead with her for release. She reminisced on when she had fallen into this forsaken land and how those days had been literal hell for her.

At the same time, her gaze was focused on the string, bait she had set for a little hell beast bird she was going to call dinner today.

At the end of the bait was a soul she had sprinkled with some of her blood. She had learnt from the past few days about the Before truth and how it affected the after Truth from Virgil, as such, she had also learnt how to go into it and as such touch souls.

The hell beast bird saw the soul, its enticing aroma drawing it. The moment it dived for the soul, Athena dived for it, Cleaving its head and partaking of its flesh.

After which they continued.

As they moved, Virgil gestured for Athena to stay low, his voice a whisper of caution. "Stay hidden," he urged. "There are creatures here far worse than the Hell beasts, entities that call this place home. Cross into their layer, and you’ll wish for the flames of Hell." this was not the first time he was giving this warning, but this time around, it came with evidence.

Athena peered through the gloom and saw them—hulking, shadowy figures that prowled the edges of their path. Their forms were indistinct, shifting like smoke, but she could feel their malevolent eyes on her, burning with a hunger that transcended mere flesh.

These were predators of a different sort, beings that fed not on blood or bone but on the very essence of suffering and despair.

At one point, they came to a rise where Athena’s breath caught in her throat. Before them stretched a hill, its surface crawling with souls of the damned.

The wretched figures of the damned clawed and tore at each other in a frenzied scramble, desperate to reach the summit, where bolts of lightning rained down with terrifying force. The lightning struck the hill with a deafening crack, sending those at the top tumbling back down, only for the cycle to begin anew.

"What is this place?" Athena whispered, her voice barely audible over the cries of the damned.

Virgil’s face twisted with a grim sort of amusement. "That lightning," he said, "is the excrement of an entity that dwells here. Disastrous as it may be, it is a far gentler punishment than the molten flames of Hell below. The souls here rush to be struck by it, preferring the lesser evil of suffering."

Athena’s skin crawled at the thought, the scene before her a grotesque parody of salvation. The souls, desperate and maddened by pain, tore at each other in a futile bid for mercy that would never come, their agony written across every twisted, contorted face.

They moved on, deeper into the bowels of Hell, where the very air grew thicker, weighed down by an overwhelming sense of dread.

The path narrowed into a corridor of jagged stone, the walls slick with a black, oily substance that seemed to pulse with a life of its own. The light here was dim, a sickly greenish glow that emanated from no visible source, casting long, flickering shadows.

Suddenly, a commotion ahead drew Athena’s attention. Peering around the corner, she saw a battle of monstrous proportions. Two massive entities, each more grotesque than the last, fought with savage fury over a cluster of writhing souls.

One was a grotesque abomination, its body a twisted mass of flesh with nine heads, each resembling a different breed of dog, snarling and snapping with feral intensity. The other was an equally nightmarish creature, a hulking form of raw muscle and sinew, its features constantly shifting in a chaotic, anarchic display.

The souls caught between them were torn apart again and again, their bodies splitting into pieces with each bite or slash, only to reform moments later, their torment eternal. The entities fought without mercy, their roars echoing through the corridor, shaking the very walls with their ferocity.

Athena ducked back into the shadows, her heart pounding in her chest. "Who are they?" she asked, her voice barely steady.

Virgil didn’t look at her, his gaze fixed on the horror before them. "Those are the souls of leaders who committed genocide without reason, who slaughtered innocents in bloody wars. The entities you see are Anarchy and the Abomination, grotesque reflections of the chaos and destruction those leaders wrought in life. Here, they suffer the pain they inflicted, multiplied six hundred and sixty-six times over for each death."

Athena’s eyes widened as she noticed something she hadn’t seen before—numbers etched into the flesh of the souls, glowing faintly in the dim light. "The numbers," she whispered, her voice tinged with horror. "They mark how many times they will still be torn apart, don’t they?"

Virgil nodded, his expression unreadable. "Yes. And they will continue to suffer until every last number is burned away."

The air was thick with the scent of blood and charred flesh, the sounds of agony and battle reverberating through the corridor. This place was Hell in its purest form, a realm of endless torment where suffering was not just inflicted—it was the very essence of existence.

The darkness around them seemed to pulse with malevolent energy, as if Hell itself was alive, feeding on the despair of those trapped within its depths.

Athena’s resolve hardened. This was not a place to linger, not a place to falter. Whatever awaited her in the deeper layers of Hell, she knew she had to face it head-on, without hesitation or fear. She nodded to Virgil, her jaw set in determination. "Let’s keep moving."

Virgil met her gaze, a flicker of respect in his eyes, before turning and leading the way further into the abyss. "Don’t worry, we are almost, just beyond that hill lies the goal of our mission."

(Author’s note: So someone had said that Hell did not exactly feel like hell and then I noticed I had barely done any world building on the place so i decided to touch a bit on its horror. I hope i gave you nightmares and that you loved it. I have sicker things in mind, but I want to hurry this and go back to lenny’s story. Then again, this part is vital.)