rKOH: 1

*Drip*

*Drip*

*Drip*

'What the hell is that noise?' A young man thought to himself. His eyes were closed and he was lying on the ground. When he opened his eyes, he saw a red sky and a black moon.

'Am I dreaming?' He asked as he sat up and realized what he was lying in.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!" He screamed aloud as the ground he was lying on was covered in blood. With his fight-or-flight instincts taking over, the young man decided to run away. Where was he going? He didn't have a clue, as long as he was away from here.

He ran at full speed, not paying attention to what was in front of him, and crashed into a wall. He was catapulted onto his ass and his eyes shot up immediately to look at the wall he ran into.

Turns out, that wall wasn't really a wall but a man. A tall man around 6'3, his body was muscular and he had four arms. His face was incredibly handsome and he had long blonde hair with a few black highlights. But the most terrifying aspect about him wasn't his arms or anything, no, it was his eyes. His eyes were a deep crimson color and had a ring around the pupils.

The man looked at the young man and smiled warmly, "So, we finally meet." The young man was terrified of the man in front of him and couldn't even respond.

"Ah, my apologies. After being alone for over four thousand years, I forget my manners sometimes," The man laughed and he took a slight bow, "My name is Yamarāja, but you may call me Yama."

The young man was still terrified but didn't want to be rude, "M-My name is K-Ken Otori!" He yelled making Yama laugh.

"No need to be scared child, I am not here to harm you. If anything, I'm here to thank you." Yama said and for a brief moment, Ken's curiosity took over his fear, "To thank me? Thank me for what? And where are we?"

"Well, I'm thanking you for being born. Though it may not seem like it, me and you are related. You're the first and only descendant born in the last 4,000 years. Now as to where we are, I believe we are in your soul." 

All this information was shocking, to say the least, "First and only descendant born in the last 4,000 years? Who are you really?" Ken asked as his fear began to dissipate and his curiosity took over.

"As I said, My name is Yamarāja or Yama. You probably know me as King Yama, though." Yama said and Ken knew he heard that name before, "King Yama, like the King of Hell?"

"Indeed. However, human mythology inaccurately depicts me but that's another subject. As I said previously, we are inside of your soul."

"Inside of my soul? Wouldn't that mean I'm dead?" Ken asked and Yama nodded, "Yes, you are dead."

Silence washed over the duo for a moment as Ken came to terms with his death, 'I'm dead? I should be sad or scared but honestly, the sight of blood on the ground scared me more. I can't remember anything besides my name. What use is there being sad over something I can't even remember?'

Yama misunderstood Ken's silence for fear over his death, "Worry not child, although you have died in your world. The soul is immortal, you will surely reincarnate somewhere else."

"I'm not worried. At first, I was scared but now I'm just confused if anything. Like, what does being your descendant entail? Why does my soul look like this? Where will I reincarnate?"

Yama smiled, "Now we can get into the fun stuff. Being my descendant brings several things but the main aspect is being the King of Hell. Now, although our domain is Hell, we only control a small quadrant of that macrocosm, Naraka, so the King of Hell title is already misleading."

"Hell is a macrocosm? I thought it was one singular place and does that also mean there are other 'Hells?'" Ken asked and Yama nodded, "Yes, there is the Underworld, Biblical Hell, Limbo, and many others. Those all exist in the Hell Macrocosm."

"Does that mean I can enter another Hell?" Ken asked and Yama nodded, "Indeed you can but I wouldn't advise you to do so. Each ruler of Hell has absolute control over their Hell, so trespassing into another ruler's Hell is one of the stupidest things a person could ever do."

"I see, I see. So what happens when a ruler dies?" Yama immediately knew what Ken was thinking and grinned, "Your thoughts just solidified that you are my descendant in my mind. When a ruler dies one of two things happen. Their control over their Hell is immediately transferred to their next descendant, or if they don't have a descendant, the control is handed over to the strongest person in that Hell."

"Now after just saying that trespassing into a ruler's Hell is basically suicide, you may be wondering, how do you kill a ruler? The answer is simple and quite contradictory. With overwhelming strength. If you are overwhelmingly powerful, a ruler can't do much to you in their Hell as their control over their Hell is relative to their own strength."

"Considering that and the fact that you're literally King Yama, why do we only control a small part of Hell?" Ken asked and Yama tightened his fists in anger, "Because those slimy bastards, Hades and Satan had the gall to strike me after my battle with Buddha. I had very little strength left and had to cut a deal with them, resulting in 90% of my Hell being swallowed by theirs."

"But that's changed now I bet? Now that I'm here?" Ken asked with a tad bit of venom in his tone. Yama laughed as he shrugged, "That's up to you. Though I am still very pissed about losing 90% of my Hell, as of today I am no longer the Ruler of Naraka. You are, Ken Otori."

'He's right. Although I can't completely come to terms with it, I'm King now, aren't I? Since I'm dead and can't remember my past life, let's start this new one with a crazy goal!' Ken's grin grew and he eventually began to laugh manically.

"You're so right, Yama! I am King now, but what use is the title 'King of Hell' if I only control a small part of it? Why not aim bigger? I'll make that title into a reality, I will rule over ALL of Hell!"

Yama laughed, "I like the way you think kid."