Trick 146: Tournament of Death?

Meanwhile~

Ace was being dragged by Lucifer as he listened to his entire life story… Or rather Lucifer's version… Ace came to find out that Lucifer really was always talking. And opposite of the legends, he wasn't really tricky or whatever…

This dude, all he did was party. That's it.

He partied and partied and when he was done partying, he partied again.

Ace found it a bit jarring, this guy was different, you really can't believe everything you read. However, Lucifer told him to stay away from Mephisto as that guy was more of the sinister type.

Also, apparently a 'party pooper'...

Ace's lips twitched as he listened to Lucifer go on and on, before he asked "Aren't you supposed to be like… A demon?" Lucifer paused and turned into a 3 meter tall demon with bat wings and horns, slightly red skin as he asked "Like this?"

Ace looked up and said "Oh, so cool!" Lucifer grinned and said "I prefer looking like a human, it's more convenient." as he reverted, smiling "Who wants to party with a giant 3 meter demon, right?"

Ace clapped and nodded, "I would! That sounds like fun! I have a question though, aren't you the prince of sin?" Lucifer licked his tongue and replied "Hmph!" crossing his arms as he went on, "That's what they want you to think! I didn't even trick Adam, Lilith, or Eve!"

Ace was stunned and Lucifer went on in frustration, "That old coot would have you believe he's the God of everything! But in reality, he's just an old depressed guy! Plus, he and Odin fought like a million times, both of them think they created the Earth, who knows what happened!"

Ace stared at Lucifer who raised a finger continuing "Here's the real kicker! Personally, I believe that neither of them did. That makes things more fun! So mysterious!" he waved his hands, wiggling his fingers as he added "How magical! Where did the Earth come from! Was it Odin, Yahweh, or the Celestials? Find out next time!"

Ace's entire face was twitching and he asked "Like a sitcom?" Lucifer's eyes lit up and he slapped Ace's shoulder, laughing "Exactly! I knew you were cool! Listen, if you don't pass the trial, you can come work for me, how about it?"

Ace asked, "Work for you?" Lucifer slapped his forehead and pulled Ace to a table that appeared out of nowhere, explaining "I forgot! You don't know anything, little baby boy! Okay, here's the skinny! The trial is to become a God of Death like me, Hela, and a few other guys. Don't count Mephisto, he's like my boss."

Lucifer snapped his fingers and made a diagram, continuing "So, imagine this is the Realm of Death, right? The lovely lady Death rules here, under that is countless Hells called the Splinter Realms, get it? Because they splinter off!"

Ace nodded and Lucifer grinned, "Okay! Then, you see all these little Hells? All sorts of Hell Lords rule them, most of 'em are shit though!" Ace asked in confusion "Shit?" Lucifer explained "Basically, under Mephisto is me, Hela, and a few other peeps! Under us, is the rest of the Hell Lords. So Mephisto is the Boss of everyone, I'm the boss of a bunch of Hell Lords, so is Hela, etc etc, you get it?"

Ace looked at him and said "You guys have a pyramid scheme in Hell?!" Lucifer laughed and said "Yes! Isn't it evil!? Hahaha! You get souls from the people you recruit and I get the souls from you! But that's for newbies! I like you, so here's the deal!"

He made everything vanish and grinned, "If you lose, you just come and work for me. You'll work with Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Mammon, you know those guys. They're pretty cool! It's better than being a servant over here! AND! You get free drinks at the bar!"

Ace was just speechless when suddenly Hela snorted "Recruiting already are we, Lucifer?" Lucifer looked at her and winked "If I can recruit you to my personal Hell, that would be a big win!" Hela rolled her eyes, apparently used to this, saying "Scram! I want to talk to the newbie." Lucifer frowned and replied "We're talking!" Hela sneered, "And who are you?" Lucifer pouted and said "Fine! Don't bore him to death, we're supposed to go partying with the ghosts later!" as he got up, waving at Ace, "See ya, bro!" before disappearing.

Ace held his head, just shocked. Hela sat in front of him, saying "Overwhelmed?" as she rested her cheek on her palm with a bored look on her face. Ace frowned "No. Just stunned. I thought hell was like, you know… Hell…"

He paused before leaning on the table, saying with a smile "Good fight by the way! I thought you were gonna kill me for sure! Hahaha!" Hela's lips twitched as she replied "I should've. You're extremely annoying." Ace rubbed his nose and grinned "Did you like Mass Destruction spell #29? A spell of my own creation! Hehe~"

Hela snorted "Whatever. Listen. I would rather not sit here for eternity, doing nothing! I want to go back to Hel and rule since I have no other choice and Asgard is destroyed. We need to pass the trial."

Ace opened his mouth but Hela pinched his lips, explaining "The trial is very simple. All you have to do is fight. When I last did the trial as a child it was a free for all of death, kill everyone and be the last one standing, however we are apparently a team, so it may be different."

Ace frowned in confusion "Like… A tournament?" Hela nodded "Of course, were you expecting a grand adventure? Please, you must have strength to be a Hell Lord or God of Death. This is your ticket to Divinity, kid." Ace asked "What if you lose?"

Hela waved her hand saying carelessly, "Then you're a servant of Death for the rest of eternity forever." Ace nodded and replied "Oh." Hela ignored him, continuing "At any rate, that only applies to you! I do not want to sit here and do nothing for eternity! Torturing souls is very fun. So we must win!"

Ace asked strangely "Do you have to win the whole thing?" Hela frowned, "I'm not sure. Last time there were many arenas at once, however after the 3rd culling, I opted out of the subsequent ones."

Ace asked curiously "Why? What happened?" Hela replied "I simply already had what I wanted. There was no need to continue. I would only get a higher position but…" she frowned and added, "They were truly demons then, that was millenia ago, I have no idea where they are now. However, those warriors were…"

She shivered and finished "Truly chilling." Ace asked with a frown "What do you mean?" Hela shook her head and replied "You don't need to know. Those beings only exist to kill in the cruelest way imaginable." Ace was surprised and asked "You of all people are scared?"

Hela retorted angrily "What do you know!? I watched a warrior stronger than me get devoured alive without resistance!" Ace had a question mark over his head and Hela snorted, "Normally, it's a fight to the death between the dead, therefore you cannot die again, so the loser becomes a servant of death, but some beings can bypass this and devour the soul, erasing them forever, get it now?"

Ace leaned back and hummed "So you were scared." Hela glared at him, sneering "Like you wouldn't be!" Ace grinned and said "I'm not." Hela snorted in disdain, "Sure."

Suddenly, a girl shouted "Ace~!" as she lunged at him, latching onto his body, smiling happily, continuing "You're back! I missed you! Mostly because I was beaten real bad because you disappeared! Hehe~" Ace smiled happily and said "Vanny, how are you?"

Vanessa smiled happily "Great now! No more beatings!" Hela rolled her eyes and said "You have 10 years to prepare." Ace was stunned, shouting "10 years!?" Hela rolled her eyes, saying "1 year on Earth is 10 here. We need to prepare for the trial, we have 10 years before it begins."

Ace asked "How are we gonna prepare?" Hela stood up and snorted "I will train you in combat, you are astonishingly weak." Ace frowned "I stood up to you, didn't I?" Hela rolled her eyes and laughed "Right! Sure! Whatever you say!" before walking away, laughing to herself.

Ace was stunned and Vanessa pouted "She's a meanie! She's been here for 10 years and she never once said anything nice!" as she leaned her head on Ace, continuing "But you're here! You'll play with me, right? You're super nice."

Ace sighed and smiled "Of course." Vanessa giggled happily and hugged him.