7th Hell escape

The wrinkles on his forehead became wavier when he heard that he was going to spend eternity inside hell. The hell guardians left the long infinite premises and the ground under him became hotter. 

The chains around his body started to drag him and suddenly, the floor shattered.

The hell guardians pushed in into the hole and immediately closed it because of the heat which was coming out.

Ray fell deep inside hell.

…

His eyes opened again…

*My! My! My! You are awake?*

Ray was having difficulty breathing or moving his body so he looked around to see where he was and at that moment, he spotted two red glowing eyes in the dark.

*It's been a long time since a rat was sent to the deepest part of hell. Ray Park… how do you feel about becoming the 77777th person in the 7th hell realm? Aren't you the luckiest?*

The person came to light and Ray saw a white-haired person with deep red eyes. His figure looked nothing like a devil but with one wrong. 

He had 3 eyes instead of two and a long tail with two sharp split ends. 

*I am Lucifer, the fallen angel and the owner of this place. Haha!*

Ray had no expressions on his face but he was still unable to believe that his lower body from his neck was missing. It was only his head that was placed on the table. His head was being separated.

*Pardon me! I was a bit excited because it's been a long time since I had a guest inside my territory so I can be a little talkative. Anyway!! Your body! That was really delicious!!*

The devilish smile was scary enough to kill any person a hundred times in a second but unfortunately, Ray failed to express any emotions.

He was actually thinking about how his brain was functioning without blood flow instead of thinking about the famous Lucifer who just said that he ate his body.

But he was too curious about his voice so he said, "Are you the famous Lucifer?"

The devil became excited that someone had the guts to talk with him. So he asked, *Wait, aren't you scared of me?*

"Why would I? I'm already dead and I wasn't expecting an afterlife though. So being here is like overtime for me."

The devil was dumbfounded.

*I also didn't expect you to hold a normal conversation with me either. Are you really that emotionless? Or just dumb?*

   So I guess he didn't have the authority to read my book of karma.

"It's just my normal behaviour."

*I heard that you wanted to take revenge on some humans. And that's how you died. But to think that you would kill innocents !! Hahahah! How miserable! The rule really is something. But I think you did a splendid job killing those innocents!*

   So he's happy that I killed them? Then why is he punishing me like this?

Ray frowned and said, "If you think that it's good, then let me go back to earth and finish my job."

*Oh, boy! Look at that!! Do you know why you were sent here by the hell guardians?*

Ray looked at the corner of his vision and saw a man with no head approaching slowly. It was blurry because some blood stains were inside his eyes but he knew what was going on.

It was his own body that was approaching him.

The devil smiled by grabbing his hair and said, *7th hell is a place where I, the 7th hell guardian prioritize emotional torture over the physical. Your fear, depression, anxiety, sorrow, frustration, phobias and so much more will take their physical form and torture you for eternity. Well, your headless body is in charge of those. Isn't it fascinating?*

Ray looked into his eyes with a dead expression and said, "Then, you're not going to let me finish what I started?"

*Hahah! 7th hell is a place where none of your wishes comes true. So, have fun inside the pool of lava. Oh! I forgot to tell you something. Physical torture is also mandatory for all new sinners who came inside the 7th hell for 7 million years straight. Then, your mental torture will start and it will also continue for 7 million years. This circle will continue for eternity.*

     Heh! I am really feeling like I fu*ked up pretty bad. I should've run away instead of hiding like a rat inside my hideout.

The devil smiled and waved his hand as the headless body was carrying his head inside a burning hot room. The heat was so intense that he could feel his skin burning.

So he said, "This is really hurting my pride that my own body is carrying my head towards the glowing hot room. Hey!! Aren't you hot?"

The headless body kept walking inside the door without reacting to his question.

    But, is this really the end? Even though my head is currently being separated from my body, I can somehow feel the head all over my body. 

It's burning everywhere and right after 5 seconds, everything is healing. 

    So you're going to burn me, heal me, burn me and then heal me again? Am I really not going to get a chance to take my revenge?

So, I have to spend my time in hell when those bastards are going to keep enjoying life?

He screamed at the top of his voice and said, "No!! I can't die like this! Let me go back right now!! You can burn me or whatever you can for eternity!! Just let me kill those bastards !! Let me go!!"

But a devil is a being that enjoys torturing. A sadist creature that loves to make people feel miserable so it was the same for Ray too.

Lucifer looked at his head and waved back with a smile. The door closed slowly and he saw the last beam of light. 

The world became dark.

   I can definitely feel the pain, the heat, but there's no light…

It's dark and hot.

He felt the skin of his face melting down due to the heat and slowly lost all of his senses.

…

"Oi, are you awake man?"

The ceiling was bright red and Ray was slowly coming back to all of his senses. His back was burning due to the red-hot floor but his body felt like it was already used to it.

The pain of skin burning to the bones and healing right after everything becomes ash. 

It was the very beginning of the physical torture.

Ray opened his eyes and saw a man looking straight into his eyes. He had 2 horns and two leather wings. His tail looked like a scorpion but his face was the same as a human's. 

"Who are you?" Ray asked.

"Man, you forgot everything already after 3 million years of mind punishment? How lucky. Let me boost your memories. I am Elkais, the 32179 no sinner of 7th hell."

The name of that man slowly brought back all of his memories and he vomited everything out of his stomach. 

"El, you're El."

The hands of Ray began to burn right after he touched the floor but he wasn't feeling anything. His body was used to it.

"Heh, you remembered."

But something was feeling weird. His ears, his back and something extra were hanging behind his back. He looked at his shadow and saw three big shadows of wings and a long tail. 

Unlike the others, his wings were made of black feathers.

   Just what kind of being am I?

[Congratulations on overcoming a difficult trail.]

The sound inside his head made him look around but he noticed a game-like screen floating in front of his face which was only visible to him.

   This is???

[The host has unlocked one of the secrets of the underworld. Additional points will be distributed to your status after you synchronize with the system]

   What is this??

[The host has unlocked the system. Do you want to synchronise with the system?]

[Yes / No]

The options appeared in front of him with blue and red buttons. For Ray, it was like a game screen to him so he thought,  'My life is already over. I can't believe I just went through the mental torture after the physical one and happens to forget everything. This feels like it has been only a day since I came here but my memories are no joke. They are all monsters.'

He laughed a little and said, "What's wrong with making my life more miserable?"

He raised his hands and clicked on the 'Yes' option without hesitation. Since it made him laugh after millions of years, there was no point in turning the funny game down.

[Congratulations on choosing 'Yes'.]

[Welcome to the SYSTEM.]

[You've levelled up for selecting yes without any delay.]

The game-like screen was popping in front of him as his body was melding due to the heat unnaturally. 

The people beside him became surprised so he said, "Did you forget, man? When you finally give up, your body will start to melt without healing. Your eyes will become heavy and your existence will cease to exist. So, did you finally give up?"

Ray knew what final sleep was so he answered, "We'll see about that. Anyway man, I'm really sleepy. Tell that Lucifer bastard that I will take my revenge no matter what."

"Hahahahah!!! Trying to act cool even before your final death. Anyway, I will remember your face. So, sleep well."

His eyes became blurry and finally, his senses stopped working by taking him into a deep world of darkness. 

A world where nothing exists.

…

     I'm cold.

The sound of the crickets buzzing went inside his ears but it was still ringing. The sound of the water was slowly coming into his ears and suddenly, his senses came back.

    Where am I?

He moved his body and felt that it was drenched. It was an unknown place where Ray found himself and some unknown memories started to rush inside his brain.

His hands were shaking.

   This is me?

A small boy was bullied by a gang of school kids and accidentally lost his grip while fighting back. He fell from the bridge and got lost in the water.

The gang of bullies who witnessed that simply left the place in fear and never informed anyone. Not even the child's parents. 

Ray stood up with his trembling legs and puked out all the water which was inside his lungs. He laughed at the fact and said, 

"I went through countless deaths but having water inside the lung is the worst when it's not healing. My chest feels like it's going to tear apart."

*Cough!! Cough!! Cough!!!*

He wiped the blood from his lips and took a seat on a huge boulder to think about his current situation. He was still confused about what exactly was going on.

'Let's see. I clicked yes while thinking about my revenge. Then my body started to melt and I fell asleep. Then, I felt cold and woke up in a small body with tons of unknown memories. Coincidentally, the small boy and I have the same first name, Ray. And this body looked like it died a few hours ago. But I happen to possess this body. Is this what the system did?'

[The host has synchronised with the chosen one in 100 candidates. The system has selected the best candidate for the host's reincarnation.]

  So, I am correct. But this feels like a dream.