Ahead of me, at the foot of the jade-colored rock cliff, bubbling emerald magma crashed against the sheer face of the rock formation like an inverted ocean. Dotting the fluorescent volcanic landscape were enormous temples as distorted as the portal that had brought us here, cathedrals of hellish architecture with towers and entire buildings of completely different styles growing cancerously from their walls and roofs, architectural chimeras horribly fused together. And far above us, a ceiling of broken rock and staircases, we found ourselves at the bottom of a fiery pit.

  — Celestino... Where are we? — I asked. Even with a Level significantly higher than that of an ordinary person, the heat was so intense that I didn't think I would be able to withstand that environment for more than a few hours, at most.

  — ...I am really sorry.

  — Why? — I already knew the answer, but I held on to the possibility that I could be wrong with all my might.

  — This was our only escape, Haicard. The portal didn't lead anywhere else... We're in Hell — the Wizard finally admitted.

  — We are in a prison — Kangar added.

  — Wraaagh! — Roars echoed down the cliff, coming from the only path available to us. And whatever had caused those sounds, it was not alone.

  Once black clouds of winged creatures emerged from hidden pits in the cavernous ceiling of the underground, and more frightening still, claws and horns broke the surface of the sea of ??magma far below.

  — Hellish monsters, devils. They must have been attracted by the activation of the portal — the Wizard commented, tightening his fingers around his wand.

  — Regardless of where we are and how we got here, we have to leave right now! We're easy targets here! — Vincente was right. Noticing that Cruz could barely stand, however, he took the front line: — Ogre, you carry the coffins! Celestino, you stay in the rear.

  — I’m sorry — Cruz whispered as I lent him a shoulder. His clothes were already soaked in blood, dripping from his fingertips and beneath his lion mask, the man needed urgent treatment.

  — There's no need to apologize, you did a great job in that tomb. Now trust me and leave the rest to me. I always have a plan, remember? — I lied, actually having no idea how we could escape Hell once the only presumed connection between the Demonia realm and the elven lands would no longer work.

  We ran at full speed down the cliff, and it didn't take long for us to encounter the first of the hellish creatures that had roared earlier: they were ape-like monsters, but larger, hairless, red-skinned, and with horns growing from their foreheads. There were easily dozens of them climbing the slope toward us.

  — Out of the way! — Vincente quickly chopped up a series of monsters with his daggers, separating their heads, arms, legs, and tails from their torsos.

  — Il'mrir, alkef, Fin-deil — Kangar recited strange words, positioning himself like a contortionist, and in the next instant, the bodies of the fallen monsters rose again, animated by a blue glow coming from within their bodies, and began to guard us against their own species.

  Our defenses were able to prevent the crowd of monsters from reaching the most vulnerable members-

  — The useless ones. Like you — the entity disrupted my train of thought.

  But there were simply too many monsters, there seemed to be no end to the hellish monkeys; we were advancing too slowly. And to make matters worse:

  — Above us! — I noticed that the cloud of winged creatures was approaching much faster than I expected, and they were already a few minutes' walk away from us: slightly smaller than monkeys, they were bat-like monsters, but with a single curved and sharp horn in the middle of their forehead whose function was obvious.

  — Absolute Winter! — Celestino pointed his wand at the winged monsters and produced a blizzard that, in one go, froze hundreds of the infernal bats. — Poltergeist Phenomenon — he followed up the attack with a second Spell, and held the frozen bodies of his enemies in the air, shattered them and rearranged the fragments of ice and guts so that the sharp horns of the monsters topped an improvised frozen spear. — Multiply by Three! — finally, he transformed the hundreds of ice spears and corpses into thousands, and threw them at the infernal monkeys, chopping and decimating an entire army of infernal creatures in three movements.

  — G-Good work — even though Celestino then panted and wiped the sweat from his forehead, visibly exhausted, I would never get used to the feats that those favored by the entity were capable of.

  — It’s not over yet — Cruz commented softly. — Those are stronger than the others.

  When we reached the bottom of the slope, we came face to face with a hellish beach, an island in an ocean of green magma from which emerged an endless number of monsters, these ones almost twice the size of an orc, with solid, rocky skin, that breathed fire and wielded incandescent weapons.

  — There! — I pointed in the direction of a temple half submerged in the infernal sea, and Vincente immediately began to make his way through the higher infernal monsters.

  — These damn-! Kuh! They're strong! — the Rogue complained, dodging a whip of flames, and then a puff of flames. — And resistant! — he added, having to land so many attacks on a single monster to take it down, that his daggers heated up and then scalded his hands, smoke coming out of the hilt, and the man visibly suffering in pain.

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  — S-Spear of Hearts... — Celestino began to cast between one heavy breath and another. — ...Of Earth! — he activated the Spell, and two dozen monsters were thrown back into the sea of ??lava, catapulted away by platforms of earth that rose too quickly right under their feet. — Garfh! — the old wizard clutched his cloak over his heart with one hand, his knees shaking.

  — Kangar! — I called the necromancer back, who had to stop controlling his army of hellish monkeys to support the oldest of the group. — Don't try too hard, Celestino, we need you conscious to get us out of here — I still had hopes of finding a way out of that place. It wouldn't be interesting to have such a different portal that led to certain death for no reason in the Tomb of the Shadow Kings, after all, the presence must have put that passage there for some reason; and the simple fact that we didn't suffocate and die in moments from the toxic gases that should have filled the entire space of that place confirmed that.

  — Ah, here he comes, crawling towards me again. Do you regret rebelling and defying me? Do you wish to return to my carefully constructed reality? — a certain clueless being must have hallucinated with words that never came out of my mouth.

  — Ogre, with me! — Once we entered the half-sunken cathedral, Vincente and the ogre closed the massive double doors of wood and iron, locking them with an entire log of wood positioned on supports screwed into the structures. A few seconds later, the creatures outside began to bang on the doors. — They won't hold out for long... — Turning to his friends, worried, he held up the vial he was wearing as a necklace, but both of his injured companions shook their heads in denial. Noticing my confusion, he explained: — It's a gift from an old friend... But they're right, it won't get us out of here, it would be a waste.

  I positioned Cruz against a pillar and wiping the excessive sweat that was running down my face, I looked for a way out, any way out.

  But I didn't find any.

  The cathedral sloped downward, and after advancing only forty paces into it, its structure was revealed to be filled with dark green rock, solidified on the outside but still liquid just beneath its surface. There were no side passages, no staircases to upper floors, or anything of the sort.

  “CRACK!” a heavy, flaming axe crashed through the cathedral door. Our shelter would not last long.

  — F-Fill Holes...! — Celestino conjured through coughs and gritted teeth, holding the pendant of his necklace, and the stone floor of the cathedral rose up to cover the doors of the building.

  — Celestino! I already told you not to push yourself too hard, you stubborn old man! — I ran to the Wizard, who was panting, weakened.

  — No... I-I have to try my best. That's what I have to do — he replied as Kangar positioned him next to Cruz. — I've already run for too long... Even now, I'm still running. That's the least I can do — he justified himself as the necromancer concentrated on applying a balm to Cruz's wounds.

  — How come you keep running away? You've been essential to our progress so far, Celestino, don't belittle yourself like that.

  — No, you don’t understand — the old man furrowed his chin and brows in a fearful but guilty expression. It was clear that he thought that whatever he had to say could cost him dearly. — Haicard, when I was a young man of only sixty and starving on the edge of a certain forest after a monster attack on my remarkable caravan, forest fairies gave me shelter, protection, food, and taught me how to use magic. Since then, I have sworn to return the favor as best I could. I have traveled through many lands, and for many more decades, doing my best to use this life of mine, once dominated by greed, for good. I have met more than one boy full of potential lost along the path of life — Cruz smiled. — And one of them was a Wizard’s apprentice made a slave by a vile magic user, who ended up killing his own abusive teacher and almost walked a path of no return... Saulo, my apprentice and one of the Hero’s companions. The reason he has found us repeatedly and so quickly.

  — Was Saul your apprentice? — I was surprised.

  — Yes, I taught him a lot about magic, and after the end of the last sacred war, I invited him to research the portals with me. He must be tracking us using these devices — what the old man was saying made sense.

  — So what? There was no way you could have known things would turn out this way all those years ago when you taught him about the portals, was there? Besides, you did what was right in your time. There's nothing to regret, or debts to pay.

  — Haha, you're the worst Shadow King, Haicard—Cruz commented, standing up. He was still visibly exhausted, but due to his many points in Endurance and Kangar's treatment, at least his bleeding had stopped.

  — Fufu. Truly, a disgrace to Demonia. We better leave her kingdom before she tries to correct her champion — Celestino agreed.

  — I have to agree with them, you are the worst Shadow King — the entity didn't understand that Cruz and Celestino were actually praising me, since her little head was too small to understand... well, anything.

  — What do we do now? — Cruz asked me, seriously.

  I struggled to think of a solution and answer him, even if the idea was the most unlikely possible. The truth was that, even if the monsters didn't catch me, that intense heat would take my consciousness and, then, my life in a few hours.

  — There are ladders up there on the roof, right? And from what I saw, pits too. If we can get to the side walls of this place, or a pillar, we can climb up to the roof and escape back to the surface.

  — Alright! — Cruz punched his left palm, determined. — Then let's get the hell out of here-

  — Silence! — Vincente silenced his friend, and we all stared at him. — The monsters. I no longer feel their presence.

  — Me neither — Cruz confirmed, full of suspicion. I didn’t have the Attributes of the old Heroic team, but it was a fact that the infernal creatures had given up on breaking down the doors and weren’t even trying to climb the cathedral walls to enter through the windows.

  I had a bad feeling about this.

  — N-Nianda...! — the necromancer mumbled something, trembling despite being serious. And shortly after, it was the ground that shook, at regular intervals, loudly. Something was approaching. Something big.

  — Nianda? What does that mean? — I asked, wielding my sword, preparing for combat like all my companions.

  — A-A deity... A patron deity of war — explained the necromancer, kneeling and muttering what sounded like a prayer.

  — That’s almost impressive… if not for the fact that after three thousand years of conflict, every human deity hadn’t turned into a patron of war in one way or another — the entity sneered as the thunderous noise of rocks being split and oceans being moved grew closer, reaching deafening volumes. — Now, if you want to see something really interesting, look up.

  I moved my head quickly, and in the next instant, the entire roof of the cathedral was shattered, as if made of twigs, shattered into millions of pieces and scattered throughout Hell.

  Beyond the ruined roof, casting its imposing shadow over us, an abomination impossible even for the most tortured mind stared down at us from fifty paces in the air, and with hundreds of pairs of eyes.

  There was no need for windows into the System to know the overwhelming power that this tormented creature possessed. And there was no need for explanations about the true identity of that being; in all of Hell there should only be one supreme ruler, after all.

  — Demonia... — I whispered, staring at one of the only two other deities that still existed in álfheim- no, in the Bellic Continent.