Ch18: Hell and 3 rituals

(MC pov)

The Qliphoth is the tree of evil, opposite to the tree of life Sephiroth and yet very similar in nature, with each having 10 spheres and 22 pathways. In the case of the Qliphoth tree, representing the 8th Qliphoth sphere and mirroring Hod, this one is founded on the idea of a radiating object: our eyes are blinded and cannot look behind the radiating surface. Unauthentic brilliance can be understood as the beginning of illusion and deceit. In the realm of the mind the shadow of Hod therefore is represented by the lie, artfulness or beguilement. At the same time the demon of Hod correlates to the ideas of fickleness, hesitation and lack of determination - the negative fluctuations of our mind. The Qliphoth of Hod is called Samael.

Speaking of which, I was currently in the deepest part of the Underworld. The Underworld itself is a very big realm with many different layers, there is the one used by Devils and Fallen angels, roughly the same size as the human world but with much much more landmass as there are no oceans, just lakes. The sky was originally purple all time, but now it have an artificial day and night cycle thanks to the efforts of the 4 new satans.

There are other realms, like the realm of the dead, also known as the Realm of Hades in Greek mythology and Depths of Hell. The place where Hades the God of the Dead and the Grim Reapers reside. Located in the lower strata of the Underworld and the place where the souls of the dead are sorted and is also close to Cocytus. The realm of the dead is of the Olympus World; the God from the Greek-faction Hades is in control of it. It isn't as big as the Underworld and as it's the World of the dead, it is a wasteland that no living creature can live in. It also has an ancient Greek shrine as it appears into the depths. It is the place where the Grim Reapers of this World live and where the castle of Hades is located.

Other such realms include the Purgatory, which was prepared for souls with special circumstances and the place of purification of souls, it is connected to the third heaven and from where Cao Cao was able to enter Heaven in the original.

Then there is Limbo, The edge of the Underworld, is the place that it was speculative about the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned and also the burning place. It is also connected to one of the doors of Heaven.

Another layer of the Underworld is known as Malebolge, It's the floor which is one floor above the deepest floor in Hell. It's said to be the place where those who have evil minds, wicked souls, evil spirits who have committed sins get sent to and punished.

And finally my current location, Cocytus, also known as the Ice hell, is the deepest part of the Underworld that is connected to the Realm of the Dead. It acts as a prison for powerful and dangerous figures such as Samael and Kokabiel in the not so distant future. It is also serves as a home to many rare and dangerous creatures such as the Pale Horse. It's for those who committed the gravest sins or those who perpetrated betrayals were eternally bound in the cruelest depths of Hell. It is currently being monitored and guarded by largely by Grim Reapers of Hades, but there are other forces such as devils, fallen angels and even human magicians, but they are still few and spread thin as this is still a neutral land, so I was able to sneak in easily, and even if it was heavily guarded, I could just walk in easily thanks NATRA-CINEREUS's fog, making me a literal ghost to all supernatural except the dragon gods.

And so, I was standing at the centre of Cocytus, which seemed to be a frozen lake with various spikes of ice sporting from it, with the statue of an old man erected in the centre. The ice in here can seep into the soul, reminding me of Absolute Demise, as all around me were people encased in ice, some were fully encased and some were only encased up to their ankles.

They were the souls of those who committed acts of treachery, they could be Freed but not for long. The ice would creep up their bodies and slowly restrain those who were freed, returning them to their icy punishment. At the foot of the statue was the one I sought. Samael, also known as the Dragon Eater and the poison of God, is a Dragon/Angel hybrid who was the perpetrator of the fall of Adam and Eve by tricking them into consuming the Fruit of knowledge, which caused him to be cursed by God, who developed a hatred towards Dragons and Snakes.

He was torso deep in ice and nailed at a cross. He was slumped over and he barely seemed to be breathing. I took a step forward and Samael rose from his slump. He had the lower half of an Eastern dragon while his upper body was mostly human if one discounted the fangs and his large size. He stared at me and I stared back. His eyes were covered by a billfold but I could still feel them watching me, he let out a throaty growl that I barely heard from where I was.

I just pulled my staff and materialised Incarnate Anthem, which made the Ice melt around slowly, while I materialised dozens upon dozens of forbidden class seals on Samael to make sure he is subdued and asleep, after which I proceeded to stab him in the stomach with Ascalon making him flinch but still held unconscious by the seals, as blood started pouring into my shadow which was quite enjoying it from the looks of it. Soon I deemed it enough and made the bleeding stop but didn't pull Ascalon.

As I materialised a temporary copy of Samael. I let it there as I teleported with the original to my workshop in the Gap which looked very much different from before. It now looked like a flying fortress with a giant tower in the middle. I created it using a giant fortress that was swimming in the dimensional gap, its name is the city of Babel, thus the tower in the centre is the tower of Babel, the same one from the biblical myth which is pretty ironic considering i am an angel.

Anyways, the story behind it is quite fascinating, as the civilization of that was actually extremely advanced. Although they didn't take the path of regular science, instead they took the path of magic and extremely advanced Alchemy. Their civilization was on par with even Atlantis, it's just that they got a little too big for their britches and dared to issue a challenge to the gods. Something about humanity being Freed from the confines of the gods, even going as far as to build weapons to kill them.

As one can expect, that didn't go so well. The civilization was annihilated, and as a last ditch effort to save the remnants of it, people of Babylon huddled in their final fortress and launched it along with the tower into the depths of the dimensional gap. The reason it was sent alone was simple, like in the original myth, a curse was placed upon the human race that took from them an extremely crucial thing. In fact, like Devils and Angels, humans had the ability to understand all languages, but this ability was taken away from them by the gods. And as such, they could no longer operate the tower control systems. It's just that the automated ritual systems of the tower had already activated and the people and the people at that time, who now could no longer recognise their own magic languages, were killed by the transfer process because they were unable to activate their magic defenses.

So for thousands of years, this city and tower, drifted alone in the void with no one, except a select few, knowing its location. So with my nigh-omniscence over the Abyss A.K.A. dimensional gap, I was able to quickly locate and get it back. And to my luck, it seemed to have run out of energy, as entering it otherwise would have been an extremely difficult task if the automatic self defence systems, who were said to have weapon compared to longinuses in firepower, were on. Now for the last couple of years that I was in it, I was trying to understand how the structure, weapons, automatic systems and all that work to finally be confident enough to try and recreate it as a beast of mine. And although, I was kind of stumped about what to do to replace the magical A.I. I was actually suprised to have got help from the last place I expected it from.

' Ezra, please prepare all 3 rituals for me' I said in my mind, to which i heard the familiar robotic voice reply.

[ Understood master, all 3 sites shall be ready in a minute. The barriers shall be set to maximum output for concealment. Employing the fog of NATRA-CINEREUS for maximum results] to which I just nodded and opened the missions tab.

[ Missions:

--1st mission: Reach and/or defeat a Satan-class individual. Reward: A one use sacred gear extraction ticket. (Complete/ Ticket used)

--2nd mission: Reach Super-class tier and access God's system. Reward: Option to fuse your sacred gear(s) to your soul, making it effectively impossible to extract, nullify or enter reincarnation cycle after your death and will also lift the restrictions on said sacred gears if desired to access its full power. (Incomplete)

--3rd mission: Fight and survive against Trihexia/ Prevent the release of Trihexia and kill Rivezim. Rewards: Unlock world jump function (Incomplete) ]

I just nodded and continued my way to the ritual sites, and yes the system, or as I call it now Ezra, a unisex Hebrew name that translate to 'Helper' or 'Help', is indeed the A.I. governing this place. It came as a shock for me that it will actually help for once. But with this, I actually am able to achieve one of my goals and solve a big problem of mine in the future, but that's for later.

As I arrived at the first ritual site, it was in a lab like room with a very big magical circle drew in it, and Samuel was already on it, still unconscious. So, I began my part, holding my staff as dark marks, glyphs and lines began appearing all over my body from my shoulders to my feet, and with it I heard the whispers again as the Qliphoth and Sephiroth materialised behind me and started blasting me with knowledge, I just focused on my task, and began using the knowledge of Alchemy and magic from the trees to materialise hundreds of seals and thousands of magic circles as Ascalon began to vibrate and then melt a little as it started sucking some of Samael's blood, flesh, bones and even a little bit of his soul.

Of course, I am keeping him together with the grail as I don't want him to die yet, but having to withstand of both the Qliphoth and Sephiroth, even though they are balancing each other, and use it will slowly start taking its toll on my soul if I don't finish this up quickly. So as Samael continued writhing on the magic circle with Ascalon still absorbing, I began to pump Telesma into the sword and putting as many blessings and enchantments that the sword can withstand making the sword glow intensify so much as I felt its holy nature become more and more potent, soon the process ended with my the glyphs on my body starting to retreat although they seemed to have left burn marks, which were healing slowly compared to my usual regeneration, while both the trees disappeared and all the knowledge started to disappear, a side effect of using this method to quickly access all knowledge. I then looked at Samael who was once again unconscious because of the seals, and then at Ascalon that was floating, having changed completely.

I simply grabbed it with one my arm and pass through my usual stances noticing no different which makes me happy as I don't need to readjust my stances because the sword became too heavy or too lightweight. After which I teleported Samael to the next ritual with me following by doing the same. This ritual will be more simple as I summoned another revived soul by the grail. Advancing from where it is, what appeared is an eight-headed Eastern Dragon with tears of blood running down its eyes and mouth filled with sharp fangs. This is Yamato-no-Orochi, the evil dragon that was killed by the Shinto god Susanoo, but would have been later revived by Rivezim if he got the grail.

Now it was revived and controlled by me, as I looked at it, I summoned Venom and made it materialise as a black sword which I start enchanting with Touki, before focusing and slashing at Yamato-no-Orochi from the middle of its heads, cutting both its body and soul into two. Ordering my shadow to devour one half of it, I used the Grail to repair the monster back to shape. After that I turned to Samuel and ordered the shadow to devour him too which it did with gusto leaving nothing.

Soon I focused as I start creating the new monster by feeding it holy light energy, holding a mix of both poisons as it is now effective against all beings, but especially deadly and hazardous against Snakes and dragons, having absurd regeneration and capable of using both light and holy attacks, especially It's breath being purple holy flames. It can't be a Dragon as the curse and poison will kill it. And with that, I was done, opening my eyes, I looked at the result, a black monster with a blue head and stomach, having 8 limbs and a scorpion like tail, it's real head beneath a shielding 'head', I just smiled at the success before summoning the 2 off. With this, there is only one ceremony left, the one I was waiting for so long. I summoned my status to look at it one last time before the change.

[ --Name: Samuel Willis

--Age: 21

--Race: Pure Angel

--Physical body: Mid-Satan class without active enhancement ( Top-Satan class with Touki, Venom and runic enchantments he places upon himself). Nigh-immortal due to the absurd regeneration thanks to the grail.

--Energy reserves:

Mana/Holy power: Nigh-limitless ( Maximum output is Top-Satan class level thanks to both the grail and the dimensional gap)

Telesma: Ultimate-class ( Equivalent to Low-Super class level in power cause of its quality but takes 7 days to regenerate when completely depleted)

--Power: Rune magic (Master), Water magic (Grandmaster), Lightning magic (Master), Light magic (Grandmaster due to being connected to the Sephiroth), Holy sacraments (Grandmaster due to being an angel), Barrier/Sealing magic (Master thanks to studying the seals on Trihexia), Dark magic (Grandmaster due to being connected to the Qliphoth)

--Skills: Acting (Master), stealth (Master), Internal energy manipulation [Mana, Holy power, Telesma](Grandmaster), Senjetsu (Master), Swordmanship (Grandaster), CQC (Master), spearmanship (Master), marksmanship (Master)

--Equipment: Ascalon (New), church vestments, modified exorcist sword and gun]

I dismissed it with a wave, as it hasn't changed since my fight with Augusta 2 years ago, and headed to the top of tower of Babel.

Opening the door to the highest point in the whole fortress, I just looked at the simple magical circle, that will simply let me tap onto Heaven's system in the 7th heaven. Opening my 12 wings and 2 halos, I first materialised Incarnate Anthem, but it wasn't just flames, this time it has a physical appearance of a giant cross, with wisps of holy flames. I places it in the middle as I chanted.

" I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee" after which a golem came as I took the Holy Grail and said.

"Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." making the grail glow, I gave it to the golem who was being controlled by Ezra. Then I made my way to the cross before floating into place and materialising one of the 3 true holy nails from my sacred gear, and striking both my feet as I chanted.

"Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" after that I felt my power suddenly dropping, as my wings and halo trembled, but I didn't really care, as I materialised the second nail impaling my left hand and saying.

"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" feeling my power drop into the levels of high class, I just kept going as I materialised the third and final nail using Telekinesis and impaled my right hand chanting.

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" felling my power drop to that if a low class being, I knew in my heart, that the next strike will be the last, I will be completely normal human. As I thought about my excuses in taking a mission, leaving a doppelganger controlled by Ezra just in case I was called and preparing this certified suicide, I could only think that, maybe death will be painless as the last one. Quickly focusing, I felt sluggish as I don't have access to my sacred gears anymore, although my beasts are OK, their abilities that effect me are blocked, which means no parallel processing or memory partition.

Sighing one final time and wondering if power is really worth it, I materialised an ornate spear with a dark blue rod, the spear is more extensive than regular spears. It features golden metal decorations, in the shapes of arrow tips, that spiral around in a double helix pattern. The decorations finish at the top of the rod of the spear which features a white circle, which is completely empty, and has a cross that fills in the circle, but not completely. There is a small silver stump which features four protrusions, two on the left and the other two on the right. The tip of the spear is silver, and similar to the rod of the spear is longer than other types of spears. Holding the True longinus with my shaking Telekinesis, I say the final chant.

"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Amen" before impaling myself with the spear and feeling all remnants of supernatural leave me, feeling the weakest I felt since before even my training as an exorcist. And as my consciousness began to fade, feeling death closer and closer, feeling the instinctive dread and fear of any living being to this phenomenon, I just gave in, feeling, for the first time, more free than ever before.

And with that, the person known as Samuel Willis died for the second time, feeling scared but also hopeful, regretting mistakes but also never intending to change them. Truly, humans are strange beings of contradictions and convictions.

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AN: what do you think if I end the story here? Joke, anyways before you drawn me in memes, this isn't the end of the story, I mean come on, since when did people die when they were killed?