Ficool

Chapter 137 - The Road to Hell

Third Person P.O.V.

Hell

The extra-dimensional realm known as Hell is the lair of fallen angels and demons; it's not to be confused with other Death Realms like Hel from the Asgardian Mythology or the Underworld from the Greek one. This place is the final destination of the overwhelming majority of human souls, and even some of the alien ones. For some reason… Hector is not sure about that, but he theorizes that it's probably the action of some demons that trick aliens. He remembers reading a comic about Mephisto trying to get the Silver Surfer's soul because he was too pure.

From his studies, Hector believes that it is the "default" afterlife that every sentient living being in the universe goes to if they are not linked to any other pantheon(or if they don't simply disappear). And if they committed evil deeds, of course.

That's why it's so big that no one really knows its true size. The most common understanding is that it is at least as big as the Universe, mirroring the material plane. Many believe that it is much bigger, linked with many other dimensions; they think that every realm ruled by a Hell-lord is at least the size of the universe.

But many call "Hell" a lot of dimensions that are related, so those affirmations are not that reliable.

What supports this theory is the power of the said Hell-Lords and the fact that Hell is fractured into numerous smaller realms. Even the Limbo would only be a part of Hell - this statement divides opinions - and would only need Hell-lord born there to really put it on the ranks.

That was what Belasco was trying to accomplish, beyond pleasing his Outer Gods masters. Canonically, and ironically, the one who would accomplish this feat in the future would be no other than Illyana.

In the main timeline, she would one day get control of Limbo and rise as a Dimensional Lord, officially ruling Limbo as the First Circle of Hell(fuse the two because the Hell-Limbo is a different place), and receive the title of Darkchild.

That can be considered the main reason that Hector took her under his wing, even though she is not a summon, and can eventually betray him; her potential is simply that incredible, the ceiling is very high.

Becoming a Hell-Lord is not an easy feat, and is nothing trivial either; the likes of Mephisto and even Dormammu held the title. If she did that alone, with his help, maybe she could do it fast… maybe she could accomplish more…

Accomplish what no Hell-Lord can do, or dare to do… Claim the unoccupied Throne of Hell.

The truth is that, unlike the average person's belief, there is no True Devil, or Satan. All Hell-Lords carry the titles in some way; many of their deeds are attributed to this non-existent figure of Satan.

There's a Lucifer amongst the Hell-Lords, but he also can't claim to be THE Devil. Mephisto is the most active of the Hell-Lords, so he can get the credit for how most of humanity imagines the Devil to be. Marduk was called it first and was there for the "First Sin," so he can also claim the title.

Some Sorcerers scholars believe that maybe the True Devil is the Nameless One that Hector once read about, the one that unified the power of the 72 demons of the Ars Goetia, the one with the pact with Solomon.

Hector once read that this Nameless demon is the reason demons like Beelzebub, Asmodeus, and Baal are not as strong as they should be. From his knowledge, those demons should be at least as strong as Mephisto and Lucifer, but here in Marvel, they are only minor figures(relatively).

The unoccupied throne in the Devil's Advocacy(real place where the Throne of Hell waits) would also be explained. The Nameless One never cared about making contact with humans or ruling Hell for some reason, disappearing after his pact with Solomon and after stealing the authorities of the 72 of the Lemegeton.

Hector has another theory. Thanks to his meta-knowledge, he is aware of the existence of The One Below All, the antithesis to The One Above All, the all-powerful god of Marvel.

If someone is the Devil of Satan, it can be only him.

The only thing that nags him is the scale… The One Below All is a Murtiversal entity, so unless he has a version of himself in every universe like other Cosmic Entities, the one that real Devil that should sit on the Throne in this Abrahamic Hell should be another.

In the end, he lacks information… Like almost everyone, not even the greatest demonologists would dare to say that they know everything about Hell.

There are so many interlinked realms, big and smaller ones, connected and isolated, that it is basically impossible to be aware of all. Some say that there are Seven Circles that represent the Great Realms, others say that there are Nine Circles… Some would dare to say that there is a Tenth One. 

And this would count all the other minor hell dimensions, like the Brimstone Dimension. Even regions of other pantheons, like the River Styx, sometimes pass through the Limbo, the first Circle of Hell.

Not even the demons living here are better than the foreign sorcerers in knowing how this place really works, or how big it really is.

And because it is so big and complicated that Hector's boundless patience did not prevent him from doing something like teleporting to another random location, even with all the danger that this action would bring. 

Now, he has finally found a sentient demon, but the situation is strange…

Hector came this time with a smaller body, when compared with his Space Marine clone, but still a good 2 meters tall to go well with his armor that is inspired by Doomslayer and Master Chief, because he got the blueprints from Cortana, and he is in Hell.

The grey tech-shuit is robust but not overwhelmingly bulky; the plating sticks closer to his body, which is covered on a UMF skintight suit. The armor has some extra compartments to carry whatever he needed on this mission, including a utility belt, a backpack, and holsters on his tights. The armor is also unnaturally a little bigger in certain parts, like his boots and forearm, because of the propulsors and hidden weapons there.

His helmet with a single red visor seals the whole armor shut, hiding his features completely. Not that Hector has much to hide, he made sure to alter the appearance of this clone to not resemble him.

Even if someone sees beneath the helmet, they would only discover a plain male face devoid of any hair, either on its head or in his sharp jaw; he does not even have eyebrows.

His armored figure stays still while analyzing the first demon that he found in Hell, which seems sentient; she looks almost human, with the exception of some easily recognizable demon-like features.

Hector doesn't know Satana Hellstrom from his meta-knowledge or even from his research in this world. When he first saw her, his first thought went to his talk with Nemesis.

But he can't simply stereotype a woman like that… 'Mama taught me better than that.' He thought, but it is hard…

Satana is a 5'7"(1,7m) woman with a beautiful face and curves. Her unusual features are her red eyes and curved horns that stay on the top of her white hair.

That is still not enough to just say that she is a succubus, after all, the women from this universe are beautiful… 

Even her choice of clothing is not a confirmation… Even her red skin-tight bodysuit that looks like latex and clings so tightly to her body that it could very well be painted is not enough… Even the underboob window that goes as far as to show her navel, or the holes exposing her hips… Hector will not stereotype!

"Yes, I am a succubus. How did you notice?" She asks while pouting her full dark lips, tilting her head and hand on her hip, fingers sinking into the soft flesh, her modest but perky boobs jiggling like jello at the smallest movement.

"..." 'Sterotypes exist for a reason…' "Just a guess…" Hector was able to say while holding out a sigh.

"Hmm~" With a finger on her lips, she looks him up and down. "Do I know you? You feels… familiar…" She says with a small frown, seemingly thinking hard

"...?" Hector looks at himself. He is covered from head to toe, and is even using a different body, and they have never met. 'Maybe she met Doomslayer in some crossover' "No, we never met. Who are you anyway?"

"You don't know?" She asks "Interesting. How did you arrive at this place? And teleporting of all things…"

"..." Hector doesn't answer, he stares at Satana for some time before saying "You know what? We really don't need to talk… bye." He turns to the side and walks away.

Not in the opposite direction, this would leave his back exposed; he walks while keeping an eye on her.

Despite his stealthy way of walking, his boots still produce a small sound that can be heard clearly when the two are in silence. Satana's eyes follow his movements.

Hector stretches his senses, more accurately his Observation haki, to get a feeling of this place. Any other form of "scan", like using En, would be too obvious and could be felt by highly sensitive demons.

His Observation Haki is good enough for him to feel the countless lifeforms in what looks like a fortress city that extends around a mountain turned castle. Hector, right now, is almost at the top, walking to the edge of this garden of rocks to take his first good look at the area.

He also noticed the lifeform walking by his side.

"..." He turns slightly to look at Satana.

The succubus is shamelessly walking just a foot away from him, her head turned to his helmet without looking ahead.

Hector holds his tongue because he feels that any interaction will spiral into some unpredictable development.

Satana, on the other hand, does not care.

"Hey, how did you teleport here?"

"..."

"Oy, you are not deaf. Answer me!

"..."

"What are you looking for? You are surrounded by millions and millions of demons, you know? You are in trouble." She teases, upper body forward, showing off her boobs.

"..." What is funny is that Hector has the impression that she is not even doing that on purpose; she is just naturally sexy. 'Maybe is a Passive Skill…'

"You are rude. I answered your question and now you are ignoring me…" She almost looks like she is pouting.

"What do you want?" Hector finally turns and asks with little patience, showing in his tone that he is not trying to be friendly with her.

Satana straightens herself and starts talking haughtily to match his distant tone "You are a human, and suddenly appeared right here. You can't blame me for being curious… How did you do that? And why?"

"Why should I tell you that?" He responds with a question on his own

"Hmm~ Mysterious, huh? I can understand keeping some trade secrets…" Satana comments lightly

'Trade secrets…' Hector repeats in his mind. 'Her speech and mannerisms are a little-'

She interrupts his line of thought, suddenly pointing at him "What about a deal, huh?"

"A deal?"

"If you came here all of a sudden, you must have an objective. I don't think anyone is crazy enough to come here just for tourism…"

"..." He narrows his eyes beneath the helmet.

"Your state also is very pristine, so it's not like you used a teleportation to escape some danger…" She says while looking him up and down.

"..." And here he was thinking she was a bimbo.

"You have an objective here!" She says almost as an accusation, but her tone is light and carefree, maybe even proud of herself for figuring this out. "What about we trade questions and answers? You ask me one thing and I ask you another… What do you think?"

"... you are surprisingly reasonable." He finally says after some time "And I think it is common to refuse deals with demons."

"Hey, racist much?" She jokes

"..." That joke only made that line of thought come back almost as a certainty. 'This woman…' "Aren't you afraid that I have some nefarious plan that is gonna harm you in some way? Maybe even kill you?" He asks, raising his chin to look down on her

Despite the casual threat, Satana just laughed "Hahaha!" It's a pristine laugh, throwing her head back while her bosom shakes, a laugh born of the certainty that she can't be killed by him. "If you really wanted to harm me specifically, you would have known me." She says

"I can be deceptive to make you lower your guard." He shoots back "And I may hurt you indirectly."

"That is true, and you would be even more devilish than I… But don't worry, it's not like you can hurt me in any way." She says while smiling, her hands settling on her full hips, her whole posture exudes confidence

"..." Hector doesn't say anything because he can feel it… This woman is strong. 

There's a dangerous feeling coming from her, even though she acts like a normal human woman.

'A normal human woman…' Hector thinks "Okay." He says in an expressionless tone

"Great!" She exclaims happy, even clapping once.

"..." She just confirmed his suspicion. She understood the world 'Okay', and they are not using All-Speak. "But how can I trust the words of a demon?" He says to test the waters and provoke her a little.

You can learn a lot from someone by seeing how they react when provoked. It's an old tactic; making the person happy, angry, sad, or showing any other emotion is a way to speed up the understanding of that person.

A provocation here, a compliment there, a threat, a challenge… You try to elicit the entire emotional spectrum so that you can map the person as quickly as possible in one conversation.

"So much prejudice… That is not very Christian, you know?" She shakes her head sarcastically, "And you are really new to Hell, huh? There's a little spell that can be used when two high-level demons make a deal and exchange information. We join hands, and the spell will tell us if we lie or if the information is not satisfactory."

"That's very handy." Hector comments

"Born of necessity… It's in a demon's nature to be deceitful." She says like she is not a demon, and Hector noticed that too. And the hypocrisy of calling him racist earlier. "Many see it as offensive if one proposes to use it, but they're just hiding their bullshit."

"Convenient… Fine." Hector agrees, but he does not trust her, not even a little. 

If something exists, that means there are ways to cheat; nothing is perfect. As a resident of Hell, she obviously has the advantage… But after weighing the situation for a second, Hector discovered that he didn't care that much. Gaining any information will be beneficial to him.

"Great." She raises her hand, and after she murmurs some words, two sets of orange flame chains start orbiting her wrist before she offers her hand for a handshake.

'Tch… I don't have Cypher power now. I would be able to be sure if something is fishy.' Hector sighs in his mind. He is not completely helpless because he doesn't blindly trust his powers, he still puts effort to learn glyphs and demonic language… He didn't hear anything suspicious in her Incantation, but he also didn't understand all of it.

"What are the chances that you are gonna use physical contact to harm me?" He asks while letting her hand hang in the air.

"Are you that fragile?" She provokes

"Depend on how strong you are… And you haven't answered my question." Hector scoffs

"Relax, if I could hurt you with only a touch, I would already try reaching for you. I also want information, not your harm." She explains

"That makes sense…" Despite saying that, he doesn't believe her. She didn't touch him because he would never allow that, and she could do both harm and get information. But looking like he trusts her is the right move while he prepares to simply explode this body and return later and more prepared. 

He grabs her hand without hesitation, but his senses are sharp; he feels some warmth and the magic latching on him, but nothing bad happens.

"See? Let's start… The magic will light up green when we give a satisfactory answer. I go first."

"I should go first." He interrupts

"No, earlier you asked me what kind of demon I was, so I already answered you a question." She says "Let's be fair." She is cunning, maybe already thinking about this moment when she answered the silly question at the beginning.

"But we didn't start this deal, you answered on your own volition, you could have very well lied… And that question is very important to both me and you." He says seriously

"Important to me? Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sexy to demons, and there's a high chance you can end up attracted to me." Hector answers.

And the flame chains around his hands turn green with a fwoosh.

"Okay… I answered your first question. My turn." Hector says casually.,

"!! Son of a bitch!" She exclaims after noticing that she has been tricked "You are the demon here!"

He did not lie, though. Hector assimilated Helltaker. Physical abilities and powers don't pass when he possesses another body unless he starts transferring the assimilations, but certain Perks are beyond the physical body; it's ingrained in his very being.

The Helltaker Card specifically said that he is pretty charming to demons.

And Satana coincidentally shares the same physical characteristics with the demons of the game: white hair, red eyes, horns… She only lacks a suit.

If he is careless, they will end up doing unspeakable things! Like playing board games. Not that this is relevant, but it was a good way to waste her question.

To his surprise, after the accusation, Satana pauses and releases a pearl of laughter, "Hahahaha! That was a good one, you got me there… Okay, your turn."

"..." Hector stares at this unstable woman before asking his own question. "Who are your parents?" He needs to confirm this first.

"Oh, want to know me better? Wanna ask me for a coffee later? Hehe~"

'It starts with a coffee, then pancakes… Then we ended up living together in the suburbs.' 

"You are smarter than you look if you asked me this… My father is Marduk Kurios, and my mother is Victoria Wingate, a normal human." She answers

Fwoosh The spell confirms she is not lying.

"A Hell-Lord…" 'I knew she was half-human. She simply acted too much like it.'

Hector doesn't know her specifically, but he obviously knows her father. Marduk Kurios is one of the closest to the title of "Satan", together with Mephisto and Sattanish. In truth, he is already commonly known as Satan, but he doesn't have the power to claim the title officially.

No Hell-Lord wants an all-out war with the others… Not yet, at least. Hell is at a very long, cold war, everyone preparing themselves for the Final that will decide who will claim the title and rule Hell. That is why Mephisto is so active in messing with humans and trying to claim the souls of powerful humans. He is one of the few who see value in the mortals.

"Yes, the name is Satana Hellstrom.

"SATANa HELLstrom? Who named you? Kojima?" Hector jokes

"I have no idea who this is… but anyway, my turn now! How did you arrive at this location?" This is the most important question she wants to know the answer to, which is why she doesn't care much about being tricked into giving an answer.

"I used a portal…" Hector answers, but the two fire chains don't change.

"You need to say more; that is not a satisfactory answer."

"Magic is really bullshit… Okay, it was a portal mixing technology and magic made by me, I didn't come here specifically; it was random."

Fwoosh Only when he said the word "random" did that spell turn green.

"I see…"

"My turn… Where are we exactly?" Hector asks

"The Fire Lake Fortress, name self-explanatory." She answers while pointing at the ocean of lava at the side of the mountain. The spell remains unchanged, so she continues. "It's part of my father's territory, but is more like my playground. There's a lot of movement because it connects two bigger areas."

Fwoosh The chains turned green.

"Now it's my turn." She starts, but Hector removes his hand from hers.

"Let's stop here, I'm satisfied." He says and steps back, the spell coming undone after their hands disconnect. 

As if he is going to give her anything more. He is still at a disadvantage here, and you don't play games at a disadvantage. She still hasn't told him if there's any penalty for lying, but he guesses it exists… they are in hell, after all. Then she would only need to ask a very intrusive question, and who knows? maybe she would take his soul… It will be difficult because only a part of his soul is stretched with his body here.

"..." She looks at her empty hand for some time before saying "You are an ass, do you know that?"

"To my own protection, I think it is better to stay away from demons that I don't know." He says almost diplomatically.

"Damn, really racist."

"Only to demons and skrulls, the goblins of space." He replies flatly "This kind needs to earn my trust. I'm pretty nice otherwise."

"And what are you gonna do now? What is your purpose of coming here anyway? To risk appearing in a random location, you could very well fall into the personal dominion of the Hell-Lords or worse, into the Abyss ." She says while crossing her arms beneath her bosom, an action that Hector can't tell if was a deliberate act of seduction or if she is just like that. She acts so naturally.

"None of your business, I'm gonna look around on my own." It's obvious that he can only take her words lightly; he needs to see things with his own eyes and draw his own conclusions.

But he already made a note about using this encounter with Satana in some way in the future… She is different from the average demon, as a half-human, she can be dealt with differently from the rest.

Maybe she can even become a valuable asset, maybe an unaware informant, maybe more… Her interest in how he got here revealed a lot. Knowing what someone wants is a huge step in any negotiation, bribe, or blackmail.

'Is she trapped in here by her Hell-Lord father? That would be so cliche…" Hector thinks while walking away.

So cliché that his mind wanders to the many similar situations he saw in many media, situations just like this one… The Main Character meets by chance the "stranded princess character" of a new region, whom he eventually helps overthrow her tyrant father, till she rules the place and becomes a pillar of support to the Main Character.

He saw that so many times that he was almost planning to manipulate scenarios to get close to Satana… Maybe he should fall with her in some unknown location so that the two need to rely on each other to survive while getting close. Maybe he should orchestrate some assassination attempt and save her. 'Pfft, this would work if she were a damsel in distress…'

'Hmm, too little information for now… I really need to look around.' Before making the next move, he should look around and get a clear picture. He doesn't even know how her relationship with her father is, but the fact that she is here alone and the distant tone she used when talking about him gave some clues.

Hector has a big plan for Hell. 

As if he would allow a place so important to be governed by corrupt and evil villains. They are not fair either; many innocent souls end up here. He wants to free them again.

He wants to take control of Hell!

It's possible, especially for him, after all, that is one of the main features of his cheat, the Essence. He can bring all kinds of people to be his subordinates, so it's not far-fetched to imagine a future where a subordinate of his can eventually take over this place.

On this not-so-well-made long plan, Raven is the primary candidate for now. She has the pedigree for that; her father Trigon, doesn't lose to any Hell-Lord. Illyana is another one. And Now Satana…

'Three Hell-Lord potentials… This is big.'

Hell keeps itself in this fragile peace because of the balance between powers and the loss that a great war would bring. There's also the fact that each Hell-Lord has their own plans to get some advantage over the others.

Now, if at least three Hell-Lord level characters ally… The result is as clear as water.

Hector tries to remember how many Hell-Lords exist.

'Mephisto, Marduk, Lucifer, Satannish… I think Zarathos is a Hell-Lord but without a territory. There are also the ones with Death Realms that are not linked to this Hell that also sits on the table, like Hades/Pluto and Hela. I will not add Chthon and Shuma-Gorath, they are on different levels entirely. Hmm, Wanda… Four Hell-Lord Potentials when there are not even ten of them.'

He also didn't forget that there must be much more Hell-Lord potential around there, dozens of them. And there are also old Hell-Lords he read about, dethroned and are maybe waiting for an opportunity. He read about Aqquoonkagua, Dansker, Kx'ulthuum, Xuthl, and other Hell-Lords from the Pre-Cataclysmic Age.

'A war will be really messy and unpredictable… To be on the safe side, at least ten of them, many with their own armies.' The more he thinks about the, the more the value of Satana Hellstrom grows in his eyes.

This opportunity, born of his Plot Armor and Pervert Luck, can't be wasted.

But for now, he will act like he is not interested in her.

Unfortunately, she is still interested in him… in an unhealthy way.

"...It's not Marvel if this doesn't happen…" Hector is able to say calmly before disappearing from his spot to dodge a magical attack.

He reappeared a dozen meters away, now facing Satana with a battle stance.

"Why don't you stay more? I insist~" She says in a sweet voice, hand still stretched from where the Fire Ball came from. "Don't worry, I just need you for some things. I promised that I will let you go when I'm satisfied." She says with some innuendo

"I will need to politely refuse." Hector doesn't fall for her sweet talk

"Didn't I say that I INSIST?!" Another magical attack, this time the ground obeys the movements of her hands, tentacles of rock rising to try to restrain him.

Hector pulled his fist back and delivered a punch when the tentacles got close enough. The punch did not hit anything in particular, but the shockwave is strong enough to blow and shatter the tentacles, pushing the earth away and creating a huge crater on the ground.

Whoosh

Satana was obviously surprised by that display of strength, even more surprised when Hector suddenly appeared from between the dust already in front of her, his armored gauntlet moving to her face.

But as an extremely high-level demon, she obviously has equally extremely enhanced senses, so she was able to react by putting her forearms in front of her; they are enveloped in crimson flames, but Hector doesn't care.

Boom He punches, noticing that Satana jumped back at the same time, and sends her flying like a bullet. 

She stops herself by planting her high heels on the ground and skidding for dozens of meters before stopping, leaving two long marks on the rocky terrain.

"You are nimbler than I thought…" She says, arms trembling, but doesn't look hurt.

Hector, on the other hand, is staring at the crimson flame sticking to his fingers.

"Hellfire…" He says.

There are all kinds of hellfires, this one in particular made him get serious because it is… hurting a lot! Really a lot!

"A soul type, huh? Soulfire… It's corroding my soul." He says with a serious frown, voice slightly strained. Attacks on the soul are not a joke, that much pain would make a tough man trash on the ground like a wild animal, but he is holding on through gritted teeth.

"Oh shit! Sorry, I will remove it!" Satanna suddenly exclaims with wide eyes.

"..." Hector stares at her… the worst part? She is not faking or saying it to mock him. She looks genuinely worried that he is gonna die… Maybe not for compassion of her heart, but even so, it really doesn't look like she wants him to suffer. "Don't look down on me, Hellspawn." Hector spats.

He then releases his aura to defend from the flames, making a protective layer, like how he once saw Naruto do to defend against Sasuke's Amaterasu, and with a swing of his arm, he discards the Hellfire like mud that was stuck on him.

Satana's eyes widen at the display "...normal people would be mentally broken by that."

"Does someone who came to Hell as an illegal tourist be normal?"

"Heh~ I guess you are right." She laughs "I'm starting to like you, big boy." 'Capturing him without killing, or even cripple him, will be difficult…' She starts to consider reaching some compromises when Hector pulls a longsword.

It's clear to him what she wants, but now what he wants is to test her strength to see if she will fit her future plans. He will not allow the fight to stop now.

With his right hand, he raises his longsword over his left shoulder before releasing a powerful horizontal slash.

Swish

"!!!" Satanna jumps immediately. 

An air slash dozens of meters long passes where she was staying and continues to fly till it reaches the mountain fortress behind her, and continues its path till it emerges on the other side.

That is an amazing display of swordsmanship because that sword is not even made of adamantium or any other special metal. Hector would never bring something like that here.

This body is beyond peak human, and he can still access a good part of his haki. Cutting a mountain is no big deal.

Satana stops in the air, bat wings sprouting behind her as she turns around to look at the destruction behind her. Now she is realizing she can't underestimate him because he is human or…

"Are you sure you are human?"

"100%!" He confirmed before attacking with multiple air slashes.

Satanna moves expertly to dodge her attacks, her wings beating fast as she becomes a red streak, hundreds of slashes following her.

She flies around him and raises her hands to point at his body. Magic circles start appearing in front of her body as she circles him.

BangBangBangBang

"What?!" Satana shouts in bewilderment as the magic circles she just made shatter like glass.

"..." Hector is pointing at her with a long handgun. 

Since he started gaining DC characters, the Nth metal he can produce has gotten better and better. It is still not perfect, and not ideal to make into a reliable hand weapon, but he can use it as a bullet.

Now adding that with his excellent aiming and good senses, any sorcerer that is his enemy will need to make magic faster than his finger and the bullets flying.

"What did you do??" Satana is still shocked

Hector does not plan to answer that. He throws the gun in the air so that he can hold his sword with two hands and bring it back.

"Heh~ Ikoku Soveignity." He still finds it funny to say the name of the attacks.

But despite the childish act, the act is not harmless.

ZooshKO-BAAM

It's like an invisible laser cannon, his arms move in a semi-circle downward slash that destroys everything in his path in an instant.

A hole appeared in the mountain now, a perfectly circular hole like someone carved it carefully, but it happened in an instant.

"...!" If Satanna didn't dodge, she would not be vaporized like the mountain because she is much more durable than that, but she would be heavily hurt. Luckily, she has a high sensitivity and felt that something big was coming.

"Your inexperience is showing… Never fought anyone on the same level?" She hears Hector's voice. Looking back, she sees him a little above him, blade above his head and ready to strike, the gun back in his left hand.

More magic circles appear around her for the next exchange; she did that in panic…

"Bad move." Hector says BangBangBangBang

The barrel of the gun only moved slightly, but it shot all the magic circles again.

The blade goes down Swoosh and Satana's blood rains in the air.

Many factors helped him get the upper hand so quickly, even though he is much weaker than his normal self. First of all, he came prepared to fight demons, beings that use magic, and Satana underestimated him a little while holding back.

It must be shocking to see a man in full armor moving so fast and with deceptively strong strikes.

Satana falls down with an ugly red gash running across her torso.

"Son of a bitch…" She says while gritting her teeth, her face morphing into a malevolent expression.

With a flap of her wings, she stops mid-air, but one can see that she is not well. Strands of her white hair are falling on her face, which is filled with lines.

The wound stops bleeding, and some steam leaves it.

'A healing factor… It doesn't look that good. I read that demons can draw the power of Hell to heal and sustain themselves.' Hector analyzes while falling. 'Field advantage is also hers, but she doesn't seem to be that good in closed quarters… If I don't let her use complex magic…'

Whoosh He steps on the air and dashes at Satana.

Now he will press the advantage that he acquired while she was holding back and looking down on him.

The two move around the sky, exchanging attacks in quick succession. Satana can only fight with her natural weapons and Hellfire because Hector doesn't allow her to do magic. She even tried to use magic without the circles, but a hidden blade emerged from Hector's wrist, and he would cut the spell on its formation stage.

'A little hard with my eyes, but I can read her intentions…' He thinks that after cutting a spell she tried to form on a blind spot. She is adapting well to the fight, but she will not make up for her inexperience during combat… Who does she think she is? Hector?

After he landed a kick on her chest, his sole hit on her breast, the humiliation was too much, and Satana saw red.

"Fuck you!!" She lounges at him like a damned spirit, not on an attack, so hector was not able to put up a defense when she simply hugged him.

Her legs go around his torso, and her hands hold his helmet-covered head to point his face to her; the two make eye contact through his visor.

"Look at my eyes…"

"!!!" Hector had the jumpscare of the day. No, the month…

He reacted fast, almost in panic, closing his eyes and turning his face away… He even dislocated his neck - it's possible with the Hercules Method and Seimei Kikan - to avoid looking at her eyes.

BuchiBam

His fist goes to her stomach, and he even uses his Impact Gauntlet to increase the damage.

The two are separated from each other with a bang and fly in opposite directions.

Crack 

Hector put his neck back in place and spun around to land on his feet.

"Huff That was dangerous…" He says while standing straight "I was not expecting you to have the Penance Stare." If he didn't know the famous catchphrase of the Ghost Rider, he would have fallen for it.

The Penance Stare is not something he wants to experience. Hector is someone with a lot of sins and an overthinker, so he is especially vulnerable to it…

'Well, if it works in me… There are ways to deal with it, but I don't want to test my theories.' He thinks in the depths of his mind.

He watches Satana stand up, looking livid.

"Well… Ahem What about we stop for now?" He suggests, he saw enough.

"Oh no, no, no…" She shakes he head "You need to pay… I was nice for too long now."

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…" Hector sighs. He is the one who is at fault here, but is not like he is gonna apologize.

"Aaaaaahh!" Satana releases a scream of fury, her white hair whipping in the wind as her magical power rises.

"...still have a trump card? Wow." Hector comments. He already decided not to kill her, so he will show courtesy for once and not interrupt.

Truth be told, he would never kill her in these circumstances. What does he have to win? The possible enmity of a Hell-Lord? If she were invading Earth or something, okay, but she did nothing wrong but attack him first.

He can be magnanimous when the matter concerns only him. It is an entirely different matter when someone hurts other people through, and even worse when they hurt the one close to them… Anyone can ask Mojo and Belasco.

Hector watches with a ready stance as fire blows around Satana, to rise like a volcano just erupted from beneath her… from between the fumes and cinder, a huge figure appears, dozens of meters tall.

A humanoid demon with his face obscured by the fire, he has a muscular male form, and his hands appear to drip with magma while lightning runs around his body.

"That is a pretty big pet you have there…" He jokes, but he doesn't underestimate it.

He can recognize the characteristics from a book he read.

That is the Basilisk, not to be confounded with the mythical creature, that is an Arch-Demon, "one of the deadliest" by what the book said.

"How do you tame him? Oh, is your lover? I don't judge; human girls also do weird things. There are some very weird books-" He provokes.

"Aaaaaaaah!" And in her furious state of mind, Satana answers as he wants.

The Basilisk roars with her and slaps the ground.

BOOOOM

"!" 

An explosion that would wipe out several city blocks. And it was fast too, already on him while he was jumping back.

He defends himself, accepting the damage that he would take and already preparing his next attack. Left hand in front of him while using his energies to shield himself, and right hand pulling the sword back…

Swish

His sword slash is strong enough to cut the flames - he learn it through the memories of the Scabbards of the One Piece world that watched Kin'emon cut flames - but those flames appear different, because they recover and engulf the empty space quickly.

He then noticed that his hands were now suffering from something similar to the Soulfire Satana used before, but now it was corroding his physical body. Flames with sparks are consuming his flesh at an alarming rate when considering how strong his body is; his fingers are almost decaying.

'What is this? The power of destruction of the Gremoy Clan? Are my fingers becoming brittle? Stone… Basilisk, huh?' He analyzes fast and, without hesitation, cuts his left hand on the wrist.

Hector rolls his eyes, seeing that scene, the Basilisk starts spamming attacks in his direction, all of a wide range and very hard to dodge completely 'This became very troublesome… It's not worth it or fun anymore. I'm also running out of Nth metal ammo, too. Let's not lose, then.' He smiles in his mind

Instead of retreating, he advances! He dashes at Satana while cutting the flames, opening a path for just a millisecond, but his arm moves so fast that his slashes appear to form a wall.

His left hand took too long to heal, but it recovered fast enough. The healing factor of this body is not all that, but because of the low quality, it "recovers the HP" faster, like how Hector once explained. Especially if he uses his will and mind to increase the healing factor through sheer focus. Not something that anyone can use in combat, but he can multitask. He also kept focused, even ignoring the attacks landing on him, attacks that are fatal.

It's a reckless charge, something he would never do.

Bam 

At last, he reaches Satana, in the middle of the firestorm, and she thought that she was safe.

"You need to stop lowering your guard…" 

From her perspective, Hector looks like the demon, his visor making a streak on how fast he is, and his body standing despite corroding. 

"Goodbye." He says with some humor before reaching very close, some light starts appearing from the gaps of his armor "Human Style… Banzai." He says his joking style he created in the past.

His teasing tone is enough to make Satana's skin crawl, if not for the danger she felt.

BOOOOOOOOOOM

The whole mountain trembled as the explosion shaped like a ball of energy spread in their position. The peak that was already unstable because of Hector's earlier attack falls down.

After the explosion, the place eventually calmed down; only the rumble of the mountain falling apart in a rock avalanche could be heard. That and the sound of the demons around it, creating a strange cacophony.

From the ground zero, a figure slowly emerges from the dust.

Satana Hellstrom is surrounded by the flickering form of Basilisk that slowly goes back to her body. She looks very bad, full of wounds, with disheveled hair, and clothes torn apart almost completely.

"Son of a bitch!" She spat "He didn't have to go that far! Such a bad day." She looks pissed.

In the distance, demons from the castle are finally approaching; the first to appear are some imps, small humanoid creatures with their bat-like wings.

The low-level demons don't look that smart, and Satana doesn't seem to care much about them. "Come here!" She calls in a commanding tone.

The swarm surrounds her, and she grabs two by the throat before bringing them close to her face. Then she takes a breath… the things struggle uselessly in he grasp while some red steam starts leaving their mouth.

It's their soul, or at least the demon version of that, that is being sucked by Satana. The "soul" takes the form of butterflies that she chomps down mercilessly, like she is starving.

The wounds around her body start healing quickly after she does that. She also did not stop there, consuming more "souls" of the imps to heal herself faster. In no time, she is completely recovered; the only signs that she was in battle are her tattered clothes that, for some reason, still hide her most special parts, like the universe is protecting her modesty, but 95% of her skin is showing now.

In the end, she was really lying when she said that she couldn't hurt him with a touch.

"Oh, so you are this kind of Succubus! The soul type, not the lifeforce type…" The voice she hears makes her turn around quickly

"YOU!" Bot only her body, even her anger was subsiding, but hearing and seeing Hector again made her go back to full rage mode.

"Me." He nods to confirm, like he always does when someone says that to him. he also needs to say that because now he is using a different body and wearing different clothes.

He is wearing a much lighter full-body suit, a stealth-scouter type, black with just some light armor here and there.

"I think is time to let bygones be bygones, and maybe reach an agreement…" Hector speaks maturely, trying to restart the conversation.

"Raaaah!" But Satana doesn't want to let go of her anger.

She attacks him again, with her claws engulfed in her fire.

Hector, on his end, does not even move… Satana thinks she heard him sigh.

Boom

Another explosion, this time a much smaller one, he didn't even hesitate before blowing himself up again. Satana was not that hurt before, just some very small bruises.

"What is his fucking deal?" She huffs in anger. She was not able to shred him into pieces.

"Damn, lady… Calm down… I just want to bargain. Is this your time of the month?"

She didn't even want to verify this time, her eyebrows twitched, and she was already turning around and swinging at full force.

Boom

But he exploded again.

This time she waited.

"I just came to bargain…" he says, laughing for some reason.

"RAaaah!" 

Boom

Her angry shouts and the explosions chase away all the demons that came to check what is going on; the husks of the dead imps are also a good indicator to not get closer.

"Satana, I've come to bargain…"

"I don't want to listen to you!!" 

Boom

"Satana, let's bargain."

"Fuck you!"

Boom

"I've come to bargain…"

"Stop!"

Boom

She only had the time to lounge with him before he explodes himself. At some point, she even goes back to using magic, and he doesn't even try to counter it, he just self-destructs.

"Satana…"

"AaaaAAaaaaaahh!"

Boom

"What about we bargain?"

"I hate you!"

Boom

It goes like that for a long time, and it reaches the triple digits. She tries to avoid him, but he follows her. Her clothes also finally gave up, and she got naked once, and next time he came back with a new set and called her shameless, even if it's his fault. The new clothes are much more conservative too… It's a three-piece black suit with a red shirt.

"Bargain?"

"..." This time she stares at him, not attacking… She is so angry that it went all the way back to being calm.

Boom 

But he self-destructed all the same, even without her engaging.

She watches the explosion with a dead face, but her eyebrows are still twitching in anger, like the trembling of a volcano about to erupt. She feels like she is in Hell. Oh wait…

The next time she watches the moment he reappears through a portal, all giddy before stopping and noticing that she is staring. Then it becomes awkward. The two are looking at each other in silence and without moving.

"..."

"..."

Boom

...

Extra

???

If one goes down to Hell, beyond the Ninth Circle, beyond whatever broken and fractured realm exists there, ruins of places that exist much before nowadays, beyond even the sparks of creation that are still shining even though creation already ignited in an ever-expanding flame… 

One would find darkness.

Pure darkness and pure nothingness.

It is what the demons know at the Abyss, the "Hell" to the demons, the thing below them that scares them as much as Hell scares humans.

No one who went there even returned, and nothing that came out of here was good.

Nothing that it happens frequently. It reached the point that is almost a boogeyman tale to tell that things will come from there to destroy Hell. Only really high-level demons would be aware of anything there, and even they consider the topic a heavy taboo.

But hypothetically, if one goes down there, after the darkness, after the void, after the nothing… they will find more nothingness… 

But hypothetically again, if someone is incredibly fast, so fast that distance becomes irrelevant and they reach the end, they will finally find something.

At first, it will be a single object in the middle of an ocean of darkness, then they will continue to go down to this single object with that same relativistic speed…

When they didn't reach that object fast enough, they finally noticed that it is not a simple object, but something incredible big that is far enough to look like a small pebble.

Once again, with a lot of patience and with the hypothetical relativistic speed(and a lot of time), they will finally be close enough to see what it is…

A continent.

A piece of land cut off from the rest of the universe, maybe of the Multiverse, floating in the nothingness… No, they will notice that this continent, which looks decrepit and lifeless, is standing on something.

They will be able to see the edges of a humongous and colossal double door, the continent above it like it is spilling, making weight so that the door doesn't open.

Sealing it. Green light is being emitted from the door, but the continent is stopping it. If Bruce Banner were here, he would be shocked to notice that the green light is Gamma Radiation, incredibly pure and astronomical quantities.

When they are close enough to finally take a good look, they would see the dark land, the rivers and lakes, the mountains. There's no complex building, just some here and there. It looks like a wilderness where some ancient people live.

Just a little more lively than the average area of Hell. It's a deserted rocky place, but it's not any jungle either.

When this person gets close enough to see what is happening in this continent, they would see strange sights.

Demons strong enough to eat the Basilisk and spit the bones, bowing down to the nothing reverently, others being tortured while being kept alive, some demons just lazing around, others building temples, even strange sights like countless succubi having an orgy between themselves.

Each of those individuals is so strong that they would be able to cause a ruckus in Hell, but here they are just… indulging.

In the center of this continent, a person completely different from any other demon walks on a small island that stays in the middle of a small lake. The water of the lake is so still that it looks like a mirror.

It's a dark-skinned woman with platinum-blond hair and a long braid that falls in front of her huge bosom over her left shoulder. She looks human externally at least, and uses clothes that would not be strange on a sorcerer.

She carefully walks on the small island, with only one rock big enough for someone to sit on it and a dead tree exists there. Looking closer, anyone would see that this tree appears to be filled with incomplete faces. It's like someone started carving faces but never completed a single one; no distinguishing features like eyes or mouths exist.

In front of the tree, the woman fell to her knees without hesitation.

"Master…"

"Solomon…" Suddenly, the tree ignites into a gentle flame, the branches engulfed in a multi-colored fire. "...is time?" A voice that looks like a combination of a thousand people whispering together echoes, the united voices reaching a normal volume.

"No master, I'm sorry." The woman now identified as Solomon replies with a calm face, "But is close."

"How close?" The voice asks with some impatience, the flames flickering wildly

"Just some more years, Master. Nothing when compared with the time we waited…" She replies "When you send yourself back in time, the cycle will be complete and you can merge with your main body. Then you will be able to reclaim your title of the one and only Devil."

....

A.N.: Oh my god, who can this guy be?? I have no idea!!!!

Who never thought about throwing a clone of yourself, or a soul piece, back in time to cheat? Funny how he was called the Devil in the One Piece world.

Anyway, I wanted to make Satana different from the normal Succubus Archetype, and she is pretty chill in canon, too. Even acted as an anti-hero for some time. Very different from the slut Shiklah.

I hope you guys liked it. Stay good~

If you like this story, consider supporting me in the p.a.t.r.e.o.n... There are chapters ahead there.

Here is the Link: (without spaces)

patreon . com / Evans 269

Hope you all enjoyed it, make a comment because interaction motivates me to keep writing. Thanks for reading.

Till next time and stay good y'all.

Bye Bye~

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