Hell had always lied about its bottom.
Not overtly.
Not maliciously.
Just… conveniently.
Every map ended at the same place.
Every record stopped just before the same silence.
Every ruler — demon, god, king — quietly pretended that nothing existed beyond the Ninth Depth.
After Hades died, the lie lost its keeper.
---
THE DEPTH THAT WAS NEVER RULED
The Ninth Depth did not tear open.
It unsealed.
Across Hell, ancient mechanisms older than torture and flame disengaged one by one. Not violently — with resignation. As if something deep beneath had decided it was no longer polite to sleep.
Chains dissolved into dust.
Runes unraveled into meaningless geometry.
Seals carved by dead gods sighed and failed.
Morvanna felt it first.
She collapsed to one knee, clutching her skull as memory — not hers — forced its way in.
"This place was never Hell," she whispered in horror.
Varkos roared somewhere far away, his beast instincts screaming submission.
Selene's mask shattered completely.
And Delta…
Delta stopped walking.
---
A STEP TOO FAR DOWN
He stood at the edge of a yawning absence beneath the shattered throne.
There was no heat here.
No scream.
No fire.
Only depth.
The Ninth Depth was not underground. It wasn't even below Hell.
It was beneath meaning.
Delta looked down.
"…So this is where you were hiding."
The void responded.
Not the Void that whispered before.
This one had patience.
---
THE REAL ENEMY REMEMBERS HIS NAME
The darkness shifted.
Not moving forward.
Not expanding.
It turned its attention upward.
A presence filled Hell slowly, carefully, like something enormous waking and stretching without opening its eyes.
A voice followed.
Not loud.
Not threatening.
Amused.
"DELTA."
The name echoed across all nine depths at once, spoken with familiarity that made the mask creak.
Delta did not raise a weapon.
"Yeah," he replied calmly. "I figured you'd show up eventually."
A sound followed — not laughter, but something older.
"You've improved."
The pressure increased.
Not crushing — evaluating.
"When they made you, I wondered if you'd break early."
Delta frowned.
"…They?"
The darkness stirred.
---
THE TRUTH THAT NO ONE WROTE DOWN
"The gods didn't create Hell," the voice said casually.
"They discovered it."
Reality sagged as the Ninth Depth inverted.
Delta felt information pour into him unfiltered — memories not his own, recorded directly into existence.
A time before gods.
Before light.
Before the concept of worship.
Something had fallen — not from Heaven, but from outside the framework of reality.
It had been contained.
Misnamed as Hell.
The gods didn't rule it.
They maintained the cage.
Hades had been a warden, not a king.
The Guardian of Hell had been a failsafe.
Delta felt something inside him click.
"…So that's why I never belonged anywhere," he muttered.
---
THE ARCHITECT OF ENDINGS
The Ninth Depth finally opened.
Not a door.
A revelation.
The darkness resolved into shape — not humanoid, not monstrous. It appeared differently depending on who looked.
To demons: it was inevitability.
To gods: it was extinction.
To Delta:
It was familiar.
"I am the Architect," the entity said pleasantly.
"Of conclusions. Of full stops. Of the moment stories no longer need to continue."
The mask vibrated.
"I already met the Void," Delta said. "You're late."
The Architect chuckled.
"No. That was the echo."
"I am the reason it whispers."
Hell bent around it — not resisting, not yielding.
Submitting.
---
WHY DELTA EXISTS
The Architect looked… pleased.
"The gods feared stagnation," it explained.
"They feared eternity growing predictable."
Delta clenched his fist.
"So they built me."
"They built a reset button," the Architect corrected gently.
"And accidentally made a mind."
Delta felt something inside him fracture.
"You're saying I'm—"
"A symptom."
The word echoed.
"You were meant to end them," the Architect continued.
"To clear the board. After which I would step in and begin again."
Silence swallowed Hell.
Delta stared into the Ninth Depth.
"…You planned this."
The Architect inclined its impossible head.
"You accelerated it."
---
THE FOURTH WALL SHATTERS COMPLETELY
Delta laughed.
Not humorless.
Not bitter.
Clear.
"Oh," he said softly, turning slightly — not fully — toward you.
"There it is."
The Architect paused.
Delta looked outward.
"So this is the real twist," he said.
"Not that I became the villain…"
A beat.
"But that I was meant to be the ending."
He faced the Architect again.
"And you don't like that I'm taking my time."
The Architect tilted its head.
"You are delaying closure."
Delta stepped forward.
Hell pulled back instinctively.
"You don't get to rush this," Delta said evenly.
"You don't get to skip to nothing."
---
THE FIRST TRUE THREAT
For the first time, the Architect's tone changed.
Not anger.
Concern.
"Careful, Delta."
"If you sever me…"
Delta lifted the Deltonic Saber.
"…The story collapses?" he finished.
He considered that.
Then shook his head.
"No."
He smiled faintly beneath the mask.
"It just gets honest."
---
NOCTIS SCREAMS
Elsewhere — far, far away — Noctis clutched her chest as stars around her domain dimmed.
"No…" she whispered.
"This isn't a war."
Tears streaked across galaxies.
"This is a cancellation."
---
THE NINTH DEPTH BREATHES
The Architect settled deeper into existence, unfolding like a concept finally acknowledged.
"I will give you time," it said.
"Because watching you struggle is… novel."
Delta sheathed his blade.
Not in fear.
In intention.
"Good," he said.
He turned away from the abyss.
"Because I'm not done disappointing expectations."
The Ninth Depth remained open.
The real enemy awake.
And for the first time since creation…
The ending was no longer guaranteed.