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"Leave?" Draco the grey dragon asked rearing his head in question.
"Yes. This is not how I plan to spend my second life." Fred said.
'Second life only? Just how badly does this hell warden want to keep up the persona of a soul that kept its body in hell? Anyway, I'll play along, after all, beings like me can leave this plane anytime we wish.' Draco pondered as he brought his head lower at Fred's level.
"Leaving hell is not the problem. The problem is, do you have clearance to stay out of hell for more than one day?" Draco asked.
"One day?" Fred asked getting intrigued at the knowledge of Draco.
"Yes, yes, you heard what I said. Strong souls who can't resist the torment and suffering of hell for a while can start thinking about the possibility of leaving hell. Even stronger souls begin to search for the truth of an escape. The ones who have learnt the truth, learn that they can leave but they need a pass from the warden in their quadrant of hell, learn space magic but not space-time magic since that is a violation, or simply rip apart the fabric of space holding hell and hope for the best when entering the void. And after acquiring that, they are allowed a day outside of hell. Any more than that, then hell wardens will come for the soul. And whatever god the soul serves better hope they can handle the aftermaths." Draco lectured with a tinge of pride.
"Are you a hell warden?" Fred asked innocently.
"Is this a trick question? I am not afraid of hell wardens, I am only afraid of those who would want my lake and my soul altogether after I am weakened from the battle." Draco thought before answering.
"No I am not. But, like I was saying to get at least a week or a month or even a year of permission into the world of your choosing, you need to run errands for your hell warden. If you want centuries or more, you will have to sign a soul contract under the hell warden, so they can process your application and give it to respective demon lords or demon kings. These demon kings conquer worlds and connect their spiritual cycle to hell so they do hell a great favour and are given certain privileges." Draco explained.
"But the annoying thing is that more than half of the time, these demon kings might be weaker than the soul asking for permission to leave. Sometimes I wonder if that title is for show." Draco ended his explanation with a dissatisfied tone.
"Oh, is that so? Hmm. Why don't we try and beat up a hell warden and collect all the permission we need?" Fred asked cheerfully.
Draco could not believe the words coming out of the naked human before him, "Are you..? No, it's pointless asking, but are you nuts? Even if we subdue a hell warden they can easily teleport us to the abyss if they feel like it, or teleport us to a stronger hell warden. What are you going to do then?"
As mentioned earlier, Fred had fought various creatures and different races, all with varying abilities, levels of intellect and combat prowess. He couldn't always pinpoint a location, but Fred knew when someone was spying on him from a private dimension or void. While he was discussing this with Draco, he noticed twelve presences in the void around Draco's space. He wondered why the grey dragon hadn't done anything about the uninvited guests.
"Hmm?" Draco asked sensing what Fred sensed but on a greater scale, he could even see his twelve uninvited guests but pretended as if he didn't notice them.
"Even If I wanted to follow you. What's in it for me?" Draco asked.
"Adventure!" Fred said cheerfully.
"Actual sunlight, women, beautiful moons and stars, women, food, entertainment, work, maybe other grey dragons, women! Women that don't want to drain your soul literally, or use you to win their petty wars for hills that spam souls from other worlds or something like that. At least the women I would meet would want to know me first before killing me! Am I making any sense here? Hmm, I should write that down or just build another algorithm for that and…" Fred droned on but Draco stopped him.
"No." Draco answered dryly.
"C'mon, what are you even doing here? You are just… soaking in a hot tub and getting wrinkles all over like that grandpa I remember at my friend's place." Fred said.
"Wha… Do you know why it's only the two of us you can see for thousands and thousands of kilometres? It's because nobody wants these problems, nobody wants to mess with me!" Draco roared.
"…That is anyone sane apart from you apparently, an undying, relentless, and stubborn zombie! Sometimes I think I am being punished whenever you come around. Who did I even piss off?? Too many to count anyway." Draco mused as he raised his gigantic head.
"See, all the more reason to leave this place and…" Fred said cheerfully.
"No! What about my water?" Draco bellowed.
"Can't you make more? It's just water that makes you stronger right?"
"It's just… hahaha! Every time I meet you I learn a new level of patience! You brat, this water can't be made by me! It would require me to use what little divine energy I have left to create the amount I reside in. I got this water after I won a bet from a certain demon king! She got the water from one of the countless worlds she had conquered, apparently, that particular world was one of the few that made her call three demon kings and their armies to help her conquer. And know this, a demon king would rather die than ask another for help in conquering a world. Even after that, two of the three demon kings lost their lives after the whole ordeal! This is as rare as it gets!" Draco scolded Fred clearly getting irritated as the entire region belonging to Draco trembled.
"… And you use said water to soak in? Hmm, you are a savage, I like that! It's like going to your friend that was injured by a bully and playing tag with that bully in front of him, merciless but I like it Draco." Fred responded while pointing at Draco and striking a pose.
"Surely I remember not putting any hallucinogens in my water. This water has been restoring something…" Draco wanted to complete his sentence but Fred already understood what he was about to say when he released his oppressing aura in the area.
"I challenge the twelve of you, come out! This is a battle for your souls! A soul battle! When I win, I'll collect them for myself and use them to make clothes that can at least last for a while after a battle!"
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