Are you still mad at me darling? She smiled

I’m not mad

Honestly?

I wish you told me it was hot; I can’t feel my mouth. I hate spicy food but that was just all spice. And blood, seriously blood?!

I like the drink, it has a hint of strawberries.

Yeah if strawberries taste like iron and battery acid, god damnit!

After that little show in the tavern I left out of embarrassment, we made our way to the edge of town getting ready to leave and we came to a huge intricate wall. Engraved with magic sigils and white diamonds connecting the top with white rays of light connecting the top of the wall to the rest of town it would seem.

What am I looking at here Belros?

This wall is called the barrier of Mercy. Every town and city has a wall like this, it’s built by Lucifer himself to separate the more civil monsters from the wild monsters from entering the city. It holds great significance for all netherworlders because we all know that without these walls any and all cities and towns would be plunged back into the old days of Hell when misery and sorrow would lay siege to the lands we call home now. It’s a reminder on how benevolent our ruler is for his subjects. They who rule over all of Hell.

Really now, that’s actually pretty interesting…how do you know all this stuff?

I may not look like it but I’m a really really REALLY old lady, don’t make fun of me. I was in Hell for a LONG LONG time. I’ve seen it all.

My companion is a walking encyclopedia , I chuckled.

Knowledge is power as well you know. The more you’ve experienced the more you have the upper hand in any situation, you’d do well to remember that darling.

So what happens after we pass the wall?

Things get bad, darling, you can expect that everything that can go wrong will surely go wrong. Feral monsters, high end monsters, bandits. You know, the usual. Be ready for anything.

Anything that gets in my way will die, I unsheathed my scythe and showed it to Belros.

Oh you’re so cute Soda, thinking you stand a chance against the Monsters of Hell. I admire your spunk but that only takes you so far.

Do you expect me to not put up a fight?

I expect you to know your place and run when I tell you that you don’t stand a chance is all I’m saying.

I never run from a fight, it’s not the Legion’s way!

You’re not a one man army, darling, you’re a welp who’s biting more than they can chew. I’m going to need you to trust me a little more here if we’re going to make it to the Demon God’s castle.

Fine fine, whatever can we just get a move on already?! I sheathed my scythe and started heading through the barrier of mercy and Belros, rolling her eyes followed suit. As we made our journey we came across a broken long bridge. It had glowing gemstones which seemed to illuminate and fade periodically. I didn’t know the significance of this but it puzzled me. I made my way to the edge of the hill next to the bridge and looked down and was taken by vertigo

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Holy shit!

Below me was pits of lava and fire, now this looks like Hell, I looked a bit deeper and I feel as though I’m about to fall.

Careful now, Belros cautioned as she grabbed my leather jacket to pull me back. It’s a long way down and reaching the end won’t be the end. You’ll burn for eternity, you don’t want that to happen darling.

Yeah, thanks Belros. I looked back at the bridge and said, "How are we supposed to get across the bridge then?"

We’ll need to be really careful here, see those gemstones? They used to be a force field to protect the bridge from pillars of flames. They’re like geysers but on fire. I guess I’ll just have to fly us across.

What? No way am I doing that.

Scared of heights are we?

No way, I just don’t want to be burned to a crisp!

Well, I see no other alternative…

A few moments pass as I think to myself. The thought of falling does kinda scare me. I psych myself up, okay okay, I can do this

Alright Belros, let's do this thing. I start running and take a leap of faith

OH YOU CRAZY BOY! She flies and catches my hand and we start making our way across.

No time for thinking, as we go pillars of flames start shooting up towards us. Each flame missed us by a hair. I’m swinging back and forth just barely avoiding the pillars of flames.

AAAAAAA Holy shit, holy shit!

Stop- ugh! Moving Soda, you’re making me lose my grip.

Don’t you even think of dropping me, lady!

I know I know so stop struggling you miserable little human!

AAAAAAAAA!!!

A flame pillar shot up right in front of us with no time to evade. We ended up going straight through the fire and crash landed to the other side of the bridge.

My jacket it’s on fire! My awesome leather jacket is on fire! I stopped, dropped and rolled screaming out of my mind.

Hold still will you! Splash splash there you go…are you okay Soda. Belros flew to me and flailed worriedly.

I let out a sigh of relief. And laid flat on the floor. Soaking wet but the heat is making me feel like shit. Luckily my jacket wasn’t burned too badly.

Did you just use water magic on me, I didn’t even know you could use that. I thought you only had dark flames.

Well, I’m not very good at water magic but it did the trick to put out the flames.

Thank you Belros. You’re a lifesaver.

Don’t mention it, but my goodness that was a close call.

Going through fire was pretty crazy. I got off the floor and caught my bearings.

This is the road that will lead to the Demon God’s castle.All we have to do is follow it to the end.

If only it was so simple aye?

Yeah, we’re going to run into a few problems so be ready for anything.

Way ahead of you. I take out my scythe in preparation.

Awe you’re learning! She chuckled.

Shut up!

We started to follow the road.

It wasn't long before we came across a problem.

There were two large ogres in our way. Both of them stood at 15 feet tall. One had a club and the other had a mace.

Hey you! The one with the club spoke, I think you two have what we're looking for!

I can smell it on you! You have the human soul!

Human souls are a delicacy, the ogre with the mace said with a laugh.

Soda, don’t get involved. Belros warned

No way, I never back down from a fight.

Awe you're so cute, darling. But I'm afraid I must insist that you not do anything stupid.

Sorry Belros, I'm already committed.

The ogres were making their way towards us. I stood my ground, if they wanted a fight, they were gonna get it.

I'm warning you again Soda, don't do anything stupid!

I smiled and gave her a thumbs up as she sighed in annoyance.

The ogre with the club came charging at me with his weapon raised.

I took out my scythe and slashed right through the ogre's stomach.

He cried out in agony as his intestines spilled out from his body. He fell to the floor and stopped moving.

The ogre with the mace came after me next.

He swung at me with all his might, but I evaded the attack easily.

I ran towards him and jumped up to slash at his neck, cutting off his head.

The ogre's head rolled on the ground as his body dropped lifelessly to the ground.

I looked over to Belros and she seemed impressed.

Good job Soda, I'm surprised that you handled those two ogres so easily.

I guess I'm just that awesome, I smirked.

That was pretty cool! I've never seen anyone fight like that before! I guess that scythe training paid off in the end but your growth is exponential. If you could only see your stats. You accomplished a feat that shouldn’t even be possible for a human!