Hell Again

Back at the base, I quickly went to sleep by myself in my king-sized bed on the upper stairs. I was exhausted after returning home. My stamina had nearly been completely drained.

As I fell asleep, I found myself in the Soul realm of Hell. I strode through the gates with the same ominous words written upon them. As I did, the god I had nicknamed black stepped through her black and blue portal.

She looked strikingly like a goddess of death. Her eyes seemed to pierce through my soul… Oh wait, they fucking did. I looked down at my body. It was the same see through black sheen. My body here was made from the mana that composed my soul.

I looked back up at her to see her lips parting: "You who have called yourself Seti, your options are the same now as they were the last time you were here."

I shrugged. "Alright, I am ready to capture some souls. I would like to go to a deeper circle of hell where there are subjects who have been there longer."

She nodded. "I can do that, but I have a question for you. Why haven't you summoned your new soul slave you received last night?"

"Because I didn't need him."

She shrugged. "Whatever."

She opened her portal again and we went through it. There were stars and blackness around me for a mere moment before I was on the other side of the portal. My soul body made of mana stepped onto the ashen ground and my eyes flicked around quickly.

We were on an invisible plateau far above hundreds of fighters. They were fighting to avoid the pain that would exist if they ever stopped fighting. I was just hoping there was one among them who would truly put up a fight.

Again, I watched their fight play out from a position far above them while Dark silently watched along with me. I could clearly tell that this group was much more experienced. Every movement of their weapons had meaning. If one made a slight mistake, the other was sure to take advantage of it.

Because of their obvious skill, the melee took much longer. Hundreds of souls were whittled down to two in the space of three hours. There were two women, one with short hair and the other with long hair. The short haired woman was dual wielding daggers while the long haired woman was dual wielding short swords.

I glanced over at Dark and she slowly brought her eyes up to mine. "If I fight one, will you hold the other off? I want to try to capture them both."

She shrugged. "Fine, but don't be greedy. They are as strong as you, if not more so."

I nodded. "Let's do it."

The invisible platform we were on slowly descended down to the ashen ground where they were fighting. We both jumped off the platform when it was still about twenty feet from the ground. I decided I was going to fight the woman with short hair first.

As I dropped down, I summoned my trident. The trident appeared in my hands as though it was a part of my body made purely of the black mana. I grinned as I approached the woman. She approached me wordlessly.

I thrust my trident. She tried to block it, but I flicked the end of the trident and her knife vanished in a puff of smoke. She only had one left as she bounded backwards.

As I kept up the pressure on her, she did not try to come straight for me again. I ran straight towards her, and she tried to roll under my legs, but I just thrust my Trident down towards her face. Her body disappeared in a puff of black smoke and flew towards my own body. I felt a new presence within me.

I walked over to where Dark was easily fending off the woman with black hair with the back of her hand. She did it contemptuously. I walked towards her, and I began to attack the woman.

I thrust my trident towards her, and she twisted her sword against it. She spun towards me and stabbed her sword towards my face. I ducked and brought my trident around towards her head. It cut through her neck, and she disappeared in a puff of black smoke which quickly flew towards my chest.

Both of them had been disappointing. They seemed easier than the man I had fought the first day. I turned around to Dark. "Why was it so easy?"

"Maybe you have gotten stronger."

I nodded. "I guess so."

She smiled. "Do you have any questions for me? Or do you want to wake up?"

I shrugged. "I guess I have one, but it's personal. Could you come down with me away from Hell?"

Her expression turned sour. "Hell no, if you catch my drift. I'm not into weaklings. I am a god and you are merely a strong mortal that could die. Any other questions?"

I sighed; it had been worth a try. "Nope, send me back."

She snapped her fingers, and everything disappeared around me.

My eyes snapped open. It was still dark.

I was going to test out the three souls I had snagged from the depths of hell. I injected mana into each of them. Black mist expanded from my body. It seeped onto the floor and began to rise.

Three forms of pure mana were quickly made in front of me. The berserker, the assassin, and the long-haired crazy woman. They all bowed down to me. The long-haired woman spoke. "Master, you have taken us from hell. Our souls are yours forevermore. We will guide you to the path of a god, so that we might arise to that place ourselves, even if that is in your service. Anything would be better than that hell."

I nodded to them. "Guard this house from anyone who is not my soul slave or tribemate. Kill them. Do not show yourselves to my tribe mates or soul slaves unless it is necessary to save their lives."

The bare-chested man nodded. "Will you give us new names and our old bodies?"

"How much mana would that take?"

"About 100 for each of us."

I nodded. "Prove yourselves to me first. Your name will follow first and then your old body."

They all bowed again and then vanished as they ran through the walls.

Summoning them in a mana state had cost me 30 mana in total. Having an army of them was only feasible for someone with a lot of mana. I would get there. I would climb those steps to godhood.

I rolled back onto my soft bed. The morning was far away, and I would wait until then to do the things that had to be done in preparation of my position being revealed.

I quickly fell fast asleep.