(General P.O.V)

"Mephisto has locked down teleportation in his realm, yet I saw you create portals, Sorcerer. How did you do it?"

The Ghost Rider asked, skeletal hands on the reins of the flaming dragon he rode on.

At his back was the Ancient One and Gaea, who was standing on the back of the Dragon, her full influence radiating out into the surroundings.

Her Elder God aura kept the demons at bay, ensuring an interrupted flight to Mephisto's palace.

"A magician never reveals their secrets, I'm afraid."

The Ancient One answered with a smile.

"I see. Very well then. Aiyah!"

The Ghost Rider whipped the reins, stirring the dragon to fly even faster.

"We should be arriving soon."

He told them.

And sure enough, something begun to appear on the horizon.

"What's that?"

The Ghost Rider spoke up on the pulsing orange light far ahead of them.

"It seems to be a storm of hell fire where his palace once stood."

Gaea answered with furrowed brows on her breathtaking face.

"How interesting."

(Billy's P.O.V)

Now that I wasn't being attacked by a 20 plus ton black dragon, I could finally rest easy.

Wind passed by me as the Ice Unit ascended to the top of the mouth of the pit.

Cracks lined the walls from our fight, the chain that had been around Mephisto's neck clinking against the walls on my ascent.

I had found out that I couldn't send the whole thing to my hammer space. Either a consequence of this being a dream walk or the nature of hell itself...I had to manually carry my soul.

The pedestal was placed within the ice unit, constantly moving around to never present an immobile target. The chain came out of the wrist of my right hand.

I needed a weapon and it could double as one until I got out of there and made it back to my real self.

And finally, I broke out of the pit.

Only to emerge right in the eye of the storm. And by that, I mean the millions and millions of Demons surrounding the pit.

The air above me was filled with flying infernal creatures and the edges of the pit were lined with more of the horde.

A chaotic chant resonated out from them, one that I hadn't heard from within the Pit.

They were all saying one thing.

""Mephisto!""

""Mephisto!""

""Mephisto!""

The chant immediately died down once I was spotted however.

And I could almost feel the temperature noticeably drop as the gazes became piercing cold.

I couldn't understand their language, which was aptly named Demon script, but from the rising aggression I could feel from them, they were not happy to see me.

Well, I wasn't happy to see them either. I thought that the fighting was over but clearly I was mistaken.

I paused in the air above the pit, standing on a platform of ice that I held in place with my water control. I was outnumbered. Forced to face off against enemies that occupied my vision as far as I could see.

Damn, there had to be more than just millions of them.

Bam.

Bam.

Bam.

Heavy steps sounded out as a commotion appeared among their ranks.

Straight to my front, the ranks of infernal creatures stepped out of the way of someone. A demon, yet this one looked different.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

For starters it was similar to Mephisto but it's horns were much bigger. Oh and it was black. Not dark brown but completely fully black as the night.

A large cape flared behind it, almost matched in length by its wild mane of dirty blonde hair. The handle of a massive sword peaked through it's shoulder.

Cruel purple eyes stared up at me balefully.

"Where is Lord Mephisto?"

The Demon questioned.

The rest quieted down in anticipation to the question.

"He's dead."

I answered, seeing no reason to lie.

My words projected out and caused pandemonium.

"That's impossible. The Realm would collapse without his energy holding it together."

The Demon spoke up, his voice projecting loud over everyone else.

""Yeah. He's right."

""The Master is still alive.""

I heard some of them say.

While I couldn't understand various connotations of Demon Script without Solomon's Legacy (I was still locked off from that), a bit of it must have leaked through as I could understand some of their statements.

With the support of his brethren, the Demon reached for his back and unsheathed a great ivory sword.

"You clearly are a liar. Which means, I Y'garon the Demon Lord shall strike you down where you stand. Have at thee!!"

And without a single hesitation, he jumped forward to attack me.

'Oh crap' I thought, as the demon cleared the distance faster than I thought possible.

Okay then, no choice but to fight I guess.

I couldn't use the same strategy as before though. No ice attacks, lest they weaken the defense around the pedestal and my soul.

That left me with the chain locked around the foot of the pedestal and coming out of my right wrist.

The Ice Unit tightened it's grip on the black chain, cracking it like a whip in the air.

Then for added measure, I poured in Hercules' legacy, causing the chain to pulse red-black and start burning with hell fire.

"Now die! Become the ashes upon which I shall rule over Hell!!"

Y'garon yelled, his ivory sword swinging out to decapitate me.

Krwackk!!

The red-black chain struck his body. There wasn't a contest, he was torn apart almost immediately.

His torso separated from his hips. His left leg was cut off at the shin and lastly the chain passed through his shoulders, dismembering him even further.

With agony and terror in his eyes, Y'garon had enough strength to not only howl in pain but ask a question.

"What are you??!!!"

"Someone you pissed off. Now burn."

I responded.

The hellfire around the chain surged up and immediately destroyed his form into nothing.

Not even ash remained.

The shock was palpable.

"He-he killed a Demon Lord?"

"That's only a step weaker than a Hell-Lord..."

"Does this mean...what I think it does?"

The discussion reached my ears. They couldn't believe it. Even I couldn't in a way.

But.

Enough playing around. It was clear that the only way to deal with them was a show of power.

The chain in the grip of the Ice Unit roared with flames once more.

"Wait...what's he planning to do..."

"Lucifer's Dark Heart! Everyone run!!!"

The horde begun to retreat away from the pit.

"You're not going anywhere!!"

The shout escaped my lips as I absorbed the Ice platform I was standing on, leading to the Unit promptly falling towards the pit.

Once the Ice Unit was level with the edge of the pit's mouth, I begun spinning the chain round and round, ready to go hell on their infernal asses.

Like the blur caused by the blades of a chopper, the chain left behind scarlet afterimages.

"Now, Burn!"

The flames washed out, incinerating anything the chains passed through. Hundreds then thousands of escaping demons were turned into ash.

The hell fire extended past the chains limit, manifesting as a raging wave of black and red. The heat hot enough that I could feel my Ice Unit struggle to stay in its frozen state.

It spread far and wide, swallowing demon after demon until... nothing was left as far as the eye could see.

Not even the ashes or dust remained. The fortunate few to escape, escaped either by flying up or digging into the ground and tunneling away.

Silence was all that remained once I stopped spinning the chain.

The Ice Unit's feet barely made a noise as I landed on the ground after the massacre I had just performed.

I was all alone. No enemies in sight. I had survived.

The chain stopped burning with HellFire as I pulled it within the ice unit.

Now I could breath a sigh of-

Immediately, the air around me grew oppressive as a familiar power pressed down on my shoulders from the sky.

"Huh..."

I looked up and my soul almost skipped a beat. A huge draconic form was above me.

Mephisto was back?!!

I thought I killed him.

I got ready to fight as the Dragon landed on the ground to my front, allowing me to finally get a good look at it, once the dust from the descent cleared.

It wasn't Mephisto like I had feared.

Instead, this particular dragon was all bones. In addition to that, it was in flames.

But that wasn't what grabbed my attention. The similarly burning skeleton on the Dragon's back did.

A Ghost rider?

I'd never seen one that rode a skeletal dragon before.

There was Johnny Cage with his motorcycle. And Robbie Reyes with his car but never a dragon.

Even more prolific however, was who the Ghost Rider rode with.

I immediately got on a knee upon noticing her.

"Lady Gaea. You're back."

She had fought for me. Even without a reason. Yet her and The Ancient One, both of whom were staring down at me in confusion, had journeyed to hell for my sake.

"A friend of yours maybe?"

I heard the Ghost Rider inquire from the other two.

The Dragon flared it's wings, producing a small gale that blew past the Ice-Unit.

Tap.

A pair of bare feet appeared in my gaze, walking towards me. The bare feet led up to curvy legs covered in green foliage.

And then the Earth Mother was before me.

The zone around her immediately eased most of the worries I had.

I felt a gentle palm land on my head.

"Ah, I see. A dream walker. You have protected my Champion's soul dutifully. Thank you."

I looked up, ready to tell her that it was me. I was the owner of the soul. That she had fought for none other than I.

Then I stared into her eyes. The gentle smile on her face. And behind

her was the Ancient One, staring at me with a strange look on her face.

They...didn't know.

They didn't know it was me...

Something...an instinct, advised me to keep it a secret.

That part of me told me there was more to this Champion thing than I had initially presumed. And it would be better if I was careful from here on out.

So I bowed my head.

"It was nothing, Earth Mother. If I may, what are you going to do with the soul?"

I questioned.

The small smile on Gaea's face was replaced by a resolute expression.

"That particular soul is very precious. Destined for a great many things. It's time on Earth is not yet over. We shall send it back to the physical world."

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Then I relinquish it in your care."

I told her.

Then with every bone in my body telling me no, I reached in, grabbed the pedestal with my soul on it and pulled it out.

Light made of up a myriad of colors washed out.

I stared at the sphere that was the culmination of all I was.

My entire being...

And then...I handed it over.