Monarch Of Darkness, Arsene

Hurdling through Subspace with a dozen legions herding behind us. A sickening sensation coiled around my heart, darkening my soul the closer to the Hells we became. My skin had long since turned pale as I struggled not to vomit.

The touch of the Hells made my gut bubble. And the people beside me weren't doing much better. Some were bent over a trashcan, vomiting out their stomach content, while others called for their mother and father.

Goosebumps had long since prickled my skin, but no matter how I tried to resist the gruesome aura of the Nine Hells, the more I felt like I was on the border of falling into a pit of hell.

"It'll pass." Said Ezra coldly, turning to me with a smile. "How I missed this, Aura." she turned, and from the streaking lines of Subspace, the faint outline of a feathery wing connecting to a majestic black tower stood.

My heart quickened, and I gulped as an instinctual fear danced along my spine.

Suddenly a tremor seized control of the ship holding it in place, almost tearing me off my feet, and before we knew it, our ship, alongside the others, was being pulled away. And taken towards the edge of the seemingly endless wings stretching into Subspace.

"We'll stay in the ship till we get out of subspace," Said the stoic Ezra. " But have everyone on standby. The Effects of the Bridge of the Damned should affect us even if we don't disembark. After we officially enter Avenos, we'll have the Elder God and High Gods walk side-by-side with the Souls of the Damned."

'How many are down there?" I couldn't help but ask.

Ezra shook her head. "This is why Averos is so chaotic; so many souls are entering that the Devils don't have enough manpower to handle them all. So while the souls are branded for a specific hell, it's the Devil's Job to herd them to their appropriate layer. However… many escape. And tore the first layer of hell."

"It's like limbo." Said Victoria sharply.

"That's pretty accurate." The Princess of the Hells uttered as she pointed. "Look at the ash falling. A single flake of ash will burn the body of a King of Hell, but oddly enough, it'll harm the body of a normal human just as much. Those are the wings of a Fallen Angel."

Fear crawled its way from my soul into my arms, and with a long stare over the horizon, my gaze began to take note of the various fiends amassing on the ground and by air roughly near the tower.

"... what's stopping them from coming up onto the bridge?"

"Nothing but excruciating pain." Ezra coldly answered. "We train devils to do just that. But they are few in number."

Holding back the unease hammering from my heart, I looked on at the River of utter red glowing with a pulsing light.

"Acheron River… one of the Five Rivers of the Nines. Do not fall into that. A second in there is equivalent to a chaos cycle of some of the foulest types of torment."

"Whenever I think of the Hells, I don't think of rules or structure. I just think of death and despair." I said softly.

"The Hells are not without its history. Do you see that tower at the end of the Bridge of the Damn? That used to be a structure of a supreme being… A structure of Lord Lucifer. No one knows why it was changed, but somehow it did, taking the shape of a tower. Some speculate that there was a battle. Between Lord Arakiel and Lord Lucifer. But we can't be sure."

"Oh?!"

Ezra chuckled and continued. " They say that Lord Beelzebub of the Seventh Layer had allied himself with lord Arkiel of the first layer to battle against Lord Lucifer. But Lord Mephistopheles of the Eight and Belial of the Fourth stood against Lord Lucifer, trying to seize more power. But instead of personally striking against Lucifer, they sent armies to attack the Ninth Layer. Trying to get him to retreat.

"Did it work?"

"No idea. The Infernal Text didn't say. We don't know who runs the first layer of hell, but we know it is subject to change. The Hells are rich in history that it would take cycles just trying to explain it all."

"What about the seven original fallen? Do they all have—"

Ezra shook her head, already understanding what I was trying to say. " I know Lord Samyaza doesn't have a Layer in Hell in which he rules. He's attached to Lord Lucifers' side. But he has been known to take over specific Layers when a Fallen wishes to go into isolation."

So the hells seem like endless loops of traps and schemes run by the Fallen. I wonder how chaotic it is in higher realms?

Staring out toward the tower, I couldn't help but frown, knowing we were about to walk into a few traps ourselves.

"Look!" Ezra suddenly shouted, pointing towards the entrance of the tower, " Devils. Powerful ones."

I frowned and focused my gaze on the burning hiss of two dark-skin, horned devils bearing beastal fangs.

"What… what's he doing?"

"Wait, that's an elder god… oh no."

"SHIELDS!!!"

Watching as the two Devils charged with a crazed look, everyone braced themselves as a detonation of utter red whipped over my eyes as an expanding sun struck against the barriers on my ship.

"Sheilds are at sixty percent!"

"Fifty!'

"Thirty! OH NO!!!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Another explosion swelled over our eyes, shattering the barriers and exposing us to Subspace's cruelty.

Watching the helm of the ship begin to be atomized at a visible rate, I heard Ezra howl. " Push forward! NOW!!"

Turbines howled, the ship trembled, and with a bit of acceleration, we began to move. However, just as we did, my eyes locked upon another set of elder gods.

"I got this! Tell your people to fire! We got air superiority!" Shouted Victoria as she vanished from the bridge and into Subspace.

Ezra narrowed her scarlet eyes, seemingly not phased that Victoria had exited the ship. " Tell everyone to open fire… The target is the entrance near the other side of the bridge. Wipe it off the map!"