The end - 13
The lab was colder than usual.
Vials shimmered faintly under the dim lights, filled with regrets - thick, dark liquids that pulsed like veins torn from existence itself. On the tables lay sinners - volunteers, or rather, the desperate ones Marmon had paid. They were the kind who had nothing left to lose, only willing to offer their bodies for the promise of "purpose."
Marmon adjusted his gloves, the faint hum of the machines echoing against the metal walls.
"Regret essence, stage six," he murmured, sliding a needle into the exposed vein of a trembling man. "Reaction... stable."
He took notes, voice low, rhythmic, detached.
"Subject retains awareness. No moral reformation detected. Emotional degradation consistent. Reapply infusion."
The sinners didn't scream. They simply stared - like they'd already died long ago and were watching their corpses from afar if I haven't mentioned that before when demon/sinner die in hell they temporarily leave their body for bit till it recover.
He kept working. Because working meant not thinking.
Behind him leviathan yes the sin of gluttony standed behind him as she standed behind him
"c'mon feed me"as marmon nod he had some flesh remain of morningstar
As she purr "mhmph I did as you said I helped Mary as I promised"as marmon scratched her monstrous form that formed by morningstar flesh as marmon said"good sin"
A faint flutter of wings broke the silence as leviathan then left.
Ariel. His light in a world that stank of sulfur and blood. She stood by the window, golden eyes glowing faintly, her presence almost enough to bleach the air clean.
"Marmon," she said softly, her tone half-chiding, half-worried. "You've been down here too long. You promised me a day in Heaven, remember?"
He didn't look up. "I'm almost done. Just need to-"
She placed a hand over his, her touch firm, warm. "You always say that."
He froze for a moment. The instruments hummed. The subjects stared. The clock ticked. And for once, Marmon allowed himself to breathe.
"...Fine," he sighed, removing his gloves. "One day."
He stored the sinners inside containment artifacts - each sealed in a small crystal sphere inscribed with runes of temporal pause. They shimmered with faint regret-energy, pulsing like trapped hearts.
He tucked them into a satchel, locked the lab, and rose toward the bright gates above.
Heaven.
A place that almost hurt to look at. The skies were fields of living emerald light, clouds blooming into shapes of memories he'd forgotten. Ariel smiled when they arrived, guiding him into a wide meadow of endless green where the grass hummed softly beneath their feet.
For a rare moment, Marmon smiled. "Beautiful," he whispered.
"You say that every time," she teased.
Then he froze - eyes widening as if a thunderbolt had struck him. "The sinners."
He opened the satchel. The crystal spheres shimmered, reacting violently to the purified air. The sinners materialized, bodies trembling as if the divinity in the atmosphere was burning through their very souls.
One of them screamed - a scream that wasn't human. His veins lit up like white fire, and then his body exploded into dust, dissolving in the wind.
The others stumbled back in horror, but one - one boy - fell to his knees, clutching his chest as faint, white feathers began sprouting from his back.
Ariel gasped. "Marmon-he's-"
"Not yet!" Marmon shouted, slapping the boy's shoulder. "Not now! I don't want you to be the first redeemed - not before I understand why!"
He began pacing, hands twitching in rapid calculation. "Atmospheric purity reaction... regret frequency collapse... essence density mismatch..."
And then it struck him.
"When regret essence meets divine air," he muttered, eyes wide, "if the regret is false, the soul combusts. If it's true, the body stabilizes. It's not purity-it's sincerity that survives Heaven."
Ariel blinked. "You... found it. The equation of redemption."
He turned, eyes gleaming like a mad prophet. "No, not found. Proved. I just need-Mary."
He found Mary at the lower sanctum, sitting on the edge of a marble fountain, her expression tired, reflective.
When Marmon arrived, she turned slightly. "You look like you've seen the end of the world."
"Maybe I just found how to fix it," he said breathlessly.
He explained it all - the experiments, the reaction, the explosion, the single survivor. Mary listened, horrified but unable to look away. Ariel, standing behind him, remained silent until Marmon turned to her.
"But I need one more test," he said. "Mary's essence is fallen. To verify the effect, I need an angel to forgive her."
Ariel flinched. "Forgive... her?"
"Yes," Marmon insisted. "Not as mercy. As catalyst. The divine act of forgiveness could trigger her essence to align. It's not about emotion - it's about reaction."
Mary looked away, ashamed. "You don't have to do that. You have every reason not to."
But Ariel hesitated only a moment longer before sighing, tears welling in her golden eyes. "Then let me forgive you - not because I must, but because I should have long ago."
Light poured from her hand as she touched Mary's shoulder.
The world seemed to hold its breath.
Mary gasped, her body trembling. The dark, fallen aura that surrounded her cracked - shards of corruption falling away like old glass. Her wings unfurled, white and unbroken, radiant in the glow of Heaven's field.
She fell to her knees, sobbing. Ariel's hand lingered on her head, trembling.
Marmon just stood there, watching in awe. "It works," he whispered. "The facility... works."
But Ariel's expression didn't match his triumph. She looked pained. Almost terrified.
"Marmon..." she whispered, voice cracking. "Where are you going next?"
He didn't answer.
But she already knew.
Because angels feel when something is about to leave Heaven's grace she and other archangels said they will accept the imperfections of mortals just to finally start expressing how they feel.
She gripped his arm suddenly, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Please... don't. You already proved enough."
He smiled faintly, brushing her hand away. "Knowledge doesn't stop, Ariel. It only moves deeper."
And then he was gone.
The night sky above Beelzebub's palace was black, dotted with faint purple clouds that crawled like veins. The roof was cold - where once a boy had stood, cursed with the burden of knowing too much.
Marmon knelt there now, wind tugging at his coat, his hands trembling against the stone.
"Please..." he whispered into the dark. "Free me from that curse of knowledge. I want to be ignorant again."
The air behind him shifted.
Something vast moved - a fog that had no source, a shadow that had no end. It crept across the roof, wrapping around his shoulders like a serpent made of nightmares.
A voice - soft, deep, crawling - whispered beside his ear:
"I have a better deal."
A shape formed in the fog, featureless but vast, with a grin that stretched too wide.
"Be my host my harbinger," it said. "And I'll give you power. Cosmic power. To change anything, everything. Create divine systems, rewrite laws, control the realms by thought alone."
Marmon didn't speak. He simply looked up - hollow-eyed, tired, ready.
"And in return?" he asked.
"You obey me," the fog smiled. "And when I want your body - I take it."
Silence.
Then Marmon closed his eyes. "Fine," he said. "But my body is mine."
The fog laughed softly, the sound like thunder in reverse.
"Deal."
The darkness wrapped around him, sinking into his skin, branding his veins with faint violet light. The roof cracked beneath his knees as his aura surged - a fusion of human mind and cosmic entity.
The Boogeyman's grin lingered for a heartbeat before dissolving into him completely.
The cursed boy was gone.
And in his place stood Marmon - host of the infinite.
The sky above flickered.
The stars trembled.
And somewhere far below, Ariel felt it - and began to cry anyway for the redeem sinners now can live in between people of heaven in secret of course as they looks like the legion with white black wings they are limited to that one jump but maybe in future politics changes?
Also my friend read the story and was confused about one thing is hell demon realm the same actually nah
Demon realm is a layer of hell their multiple layers the sins estates is the mains
I can name 2 of them
1 underworld
2 demon realm
3 terror planes(where terror beasts lives)
4 and a lot more
Basically hell is ever ending Islands(their realm large one but in comparison as size as an island)that conrolled by one of the sin which we call estates it functions as a society where all damned realms resident stay their living organs of the boogyman their also planes outside the damned realms but count as part of them like terror planes created from spits of boogyman
And if you ever wondered hell hiairarchy
1 the 7 sins(Lucifer and the others)
2 hell greatest pillars(aka ars Goetia demons example of them is dark ronova)
3 the demon kings/queens(political rulers/overlords example of them is beela)
4 the 7 local legends of hell(basically their humans who embodied a sin so perfectly it cursed their afterlife to be a living example example is Armin the orphan maker)
5 other demons
6 faes
Like greed estate island or count as part of it are boogyman stomach all islands has a pattern that make them recognizable
Pride is boogyman heart etc