Ahh, home sweet home. Luca’s voice sounded content. All my underlings, such as yourself, are immortal inside this building. This means I can be separated from you as long as we stay here in hell.

Immediately following this announcement, Luca stepped out of my body. I was about to clutch my neck to stop it from bleeding, but nothing happened. “Woah, you weren’t lying!”

Before when Luca would manifest one of his limbs or his entire body outside mine, I could still feel some energy remaining inside mine, but this time it was different. I felt completely alone, for the first time ever since I arrived in this world.

“Now that we are here in hell, I guess I can give you the privilege of seeing my full-power form. Not here though, as I would break the roof.”

Well, I certainly can’t wait to see that!

“Now, I promised you a bed to sleep on, right? Well, my house is your house. The bedroom is on the second floor, room 4 on the left.”

Luca began walking towards what looked like a living room.

“So, what do you think about lord Luca’s castle? Grand, right?” I heard the voice of Jesse call out from beside me.

“It’s... really white.” I had expected Luca to favor dark colors like red, but alas not.

“High-class demons like Luca tend to paint everything in white as a reminder of their mortal enemies, mainly angels. Don’t ask me why, it’s just kind of tradition at this point.” David commented.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have a bed with my name on it.” I was so ready for this whole day to be over.

David and Jesse shrugged, before walking over toward where Luca went. I walked up the stairs in the middle of the foyer.

I looked around the second floor. It was just as spacious as the first floor.

Ah, I forgot to mention. Since you’re my host, I can talk to you whenever I feel like it. Just a heads up!

This goes both ways though. Please don’t spam me at night, okay kiss kiss goodnight sweet prince.

Oh my god, I can’t get a break from this guy...

I opened the door to room 4. Care to guess how it looked? That’s right, it was grand. Grand as heck. There was a king-size bed in the middle of the room, and there was a cojoined private bathroom.

Creepily, there was a little cardboard tower standing on the bed, which had Anders written on it.

When did he have the time to set this up? We literally just arrived.

Ah. I guess it doesn’t matter.

For the first time in three days, I undressed. I do prefer to sleep in only underwear, but oftentimes I don’t have time to get out of the suit.

I looked into the mirror that was provided to me. Somehow it fit my exact frame, and my whole body was in frame.

I think I look good. I know I'm a little on the larger size, but most of it is muscle. I flexed my bicep a little. Yeah, I look all right.

With my self-esteem restored by a healthy amount, I sat down on the huge bed. After this insane day, I think I deserved a little rest.

I laid back, and closed my eyes, and I immediately felt immensely tired. Before I knew it, I fell asleep.

-

“How are you adjusting to your new form?”

I opened my eyes. Looking down at my body, I now saw I was covered in the same flames Luca was, only they were green.

I looked up to where the voice came from and looked straight into a chest.

By the size of it, I could immediately tell it was feminine. Looking further upward, I caught eye contact with the woman.

“Andras. I’m talking to you.”

The woman looking down at me was covered in blue flames. Just like Luca and I, her body was black.

I tried to open my mouth to answer, but I couldn’t open it. I moved my hands up to my face and found that I apparently didn’t have one.

“Apologies for his behavior. He does not know how to form a mouth yet.”

The voice of Luca spoke out from my left. It sounded deeper and more dangerous compared to how I remember it.

“He’s still adjusting to the transformation.”

What the hell was going on?

“He can’t be much worse than Jiren was. I’m sure he’ll adjust.

I still can’t believe he fell for that simple trick. Can you believe it? The dark lord lost a duel against a human.”

“I’ll help our new boss adjust to his powers. See you soon, Heltana.”

The large woman bowed, before vanishing in a flash of blue fire.

Luca faced me. “Anders. This is a premonition of the future. We don’t have much time. I'll tell you what you need to do to beat Jiren. All demons’ weaknesses are water. In hell, no water will flow. But there is one other liquid that won’t evaporate down here. Unfortunatel-”

I woke up in a cold sweat.

Was that all a dream?

I looked down at my hands. They were normal now and not aflame like they had been in my dream.

Good morning sleepy head. Had a good night's sleep?

‘Luca, I had a crazy dream. My body was not my own, I was covered in a green flame.’

YOU WHAT?

Get down here. We need to talk. Now.

-

I had sat down on a couch, and Luca was walking back and forth with a hand on his chin.

Green flame, right?

“Right.”

He stopped for a moment. “You know how I told you I'm the third most powerful demon in hell? Well, the strongest demon is called Jiren. His flames are colored in green.”

“That’s right, I heard his name in my dream!” I put my hands on my forehead trying to remember the dream which was already beginning to fade. “I think someone said something about me defeating him in a duel.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Luca looked right at me with serious eyes. “Are you one hundred percent sure that’s what you heard in your dream?”

“To be honest, no. It’s more of a vague idea.” I snapped my fingers, remembering a vital detail. “You were in the dream! You told me something about demons being weak to water...”

“Uh huh? Do you remember anything else?”

“No... I woke up right after you said that.”

The gears in Luca’s head were turning really hard. “If what you’re saying is true... It would mean that for some reason, you have the potential to dethrone Jiren from his throne.”

“I’ll schedule a duel between you two. Any hope we have at defeating him is a chance I'm willing to take. Hell has been a horrible place to live with him in control.”

Luca sat down on the couch beside me. “A long, long time ago, around 3000 years ago to be precise, Hell was just as beautiful as Heaven itself. Trees grew tall and there was an abundance of food. This was not a place of suffering.” Luca took a deep breath in thought.

“Did Jesse and David tell you why my castle is colored in white?” He asked me.

“So that you remember your arch nemeses, the angels?”

“That’s what lesser demons will tell you. The real reason is much simpler, however.”

He looked up at the tall walls of his castle, and he looked suddenly very sad.

“It’s so I don’t forget what I used to have.”

-

“Allright, your duel with Jiren is in two hours.”

Luca had moved us outside his castle, and I got to take a look at how Hell looked for the first time.

Yep, it’s basically just like I'd imagined. Lava everywhere. No grass, no vegetation whatsoever.

I scratched my neck. Now that we’d left Luca’s castle, he was using his magic to keep my wound from opening. With his full power at his disposal, he made it seem trivial.

“Anyway. I promised you I would show you my true form, right? Well, seeing as we have some time to kill, I thought it might be a good time.”

Luca took a step away from me and sat down in a meditation pose. “It’s been a while since I did this. Get comfortable, this might take a little while.”

Luca closed his eyes and began quietly chanting. As words left his mouth, I watched as red flames emerged from the cobblestone beneath us and merged with his body.

He increased in size by a tiny amount as the flames entered his body.

-

Well, he wasn’t lying when he said it would take a while. It’s been at least half an hour, and he’d around doubled in size. I got tired of just standing upright and sat down on the cobblestone road.

“Okay, almost done.” He said before opening his eyes again. “Oh, you must be confused. I won’t simply increase in size; the last final percent of my power will bring out my complete true form.”

As he said this, he stood upright. The flame erupting from the floor had stopped and was now condensing into a small ball right in front of him. “Step back, I'll grow quite large.”

I got off the floor and stepped back a few meters.

The final sphere of flame flashed red, before shooting into Luca.

Luca fell to the floor on all fours. He didn’t grunt or anything like that, so I assumed he was fine.

A bright flash of red boomed from Luca’s body, followed by his hands doubled in size. The flame that was previously covering his body was now beginning to morph into a scaly looking structure and spread all around his body.

On his back, a set of wings emerged, covered in scales. Following this, his head was outstretched, and a pair of horns grew on his head. On his behind, a long tail grew.

Finally, an explosion of flame shot out of his body, briefly blinding me.

As I regained my sight, I was flabbergasted. Before me now, Luca had transformed into what looked like a red dragon.

“So, this is my final form. What do you think?”

His voice was much deeper and louder than it was before.

“Get up on my back. We’re flying to the arena.”

-

Sitting on the back of Luca was surprisingly comfortable. His body was very warm, but not to an uncomfortable degree.

“So... Do all of you demons have a true form like this, or?”

“Some of us do. The second most powerful demon, however, does not. Her final form is only like my semi-full form, a tall humanoid.”

“How about Jiren?”

“There are rumors that he does have one, but nobody has ever seen it. He never uses his full power for some reason.”

“Oh, we’re here. Hang on tight, it might be a bumpy landing.”

Luca was beginning to descend, but the Arena grounds were not large enough to fit his Dragon form.

“Guess I'm transforming mid-air then. Hang on.”

The red energy orb that merged with his body shot out of him again. The sphere dissipated, and flames shot out of it in every direction.

His body twitched a lot, before all his dragon features disappeared again. “Well, you’ll probably break both your legs falling from this height so I'll assist you.”

Luca put his legs inside of mine. Now that he was much larger, it did not fit wholly inside me however and it looked kind of stupid.

Gravity suddenly decided to work, and we fell toward the arena. Not long after we hit the floor, and I didn’t feel anything from it.

“Allright, now we just have to wait for like an hour and a half. I’ll tell Jiren we’ve arrived, but you should get comfortable. He’s a busy guy.”

For being in literal hell, this has been a very boring day. Mostly just sitting around. Seeing Luca transform into a dragon was cool though, I suppose.

After sitting on the floor for around half an hour, I heard a loud explosion. I looked toward where the sound originated and saw the arena gates had been blown open.

Standing there, I realized. He was just like me, trying to make history. I thought to myself, ‘Who’s to judge the right from wrong?’ and I dropped my guard. We seemed to agree that violence brings violence.

(Sorry. I couldn’t stop myself.)

The tall, muscular figure stepped into the arena.

“So, a mortal challenge me, the king of hell, to a duel?” he said smugly.

“Jiren, remember that duels will be fought without the assistance of your demonic energy. Only physical strength will be allowed in an official duel between human and demon.”

“Silence! I was the one who wrote the rules, of course I remember!” Jiren exclaimed, pointing a finger toward Luca. “Always japping your mouth when it isn’t your place to do so. You have a thing or two to learn from your host human here, keeping his mouth wisely shut.”

Jiren turned to face me, before teleporting right in front of my face. “So, you’re the punk who decided to duel me? Well, I've definitely seen worse. May the best win.” He said, reaching his hand out toward me.

Jiren was certainly very muscular. He was about the same height as me.

I took his hand. “May the best win.”

Jiren smirked, before stepping back. “It would be unfair if I used my demonic powers in our duel, so I'll empty my reserves. Luca will be judge and witness that I, indeed, didn’t fight using any demonic powers.”

He stretched out his hand and formed a sphere of green energy. “Oh right. If you beat me in our duel, my position as demon lord would officially be removed and I would be rendered your slave forevermore. Same goes if you lose, you become my slave.”

With that, the sphere sank into the floor and Jiren’s body shrunk a little in size. All the green flame that was once encircling his body was now gone.

Luca stepped in the middle of us, and held out three fingers.

“There is only one rule: No brought weapons are allowed to be used in the fight!” Luca said.

“Both got that? Okay. Three!”

I cracked my knuckles. It's been a long while since I last fought fist-to-fist with someone.

“Two!”

Jiren looked at me with anticipation. He looked very casual, concidering the stakes of this fight.

“One!”

“Go!”

As soon as the word left Luca’s mouth, Jiren began running full sprint toward me. I anticipated his maneuver and prepared to dodge to the right.

I was completely caught off guard as Jiren jumped into the air and went for a dropkick. I wasn’t quick enough to dodge it in time, and only managed to catch one of his legs with my arm. The other one connected with my stomach, which made me grit my teeth in pain. I managed to remain standing though.

Getting a better grip on his foot, I dropped him on his back, before trying to kick him in his side.

He was quicker than me through and rolled out of the way before getting up again. I spun around and tried to kick him.

Unfortunately, he just crouched under my leg before tripping me to the floor. The air was briefly knocked out of me, but I regained my breath just quick enough to put my arms up to block a fist flying for my face. Jiren had gotten on top of my chest, and was now pummeling me into the floor.

Think dammit, think!

I looked around, before spotting a stick lying on the floor beside me. The rule was only for weapons we brought with us, right?

I dropped my hands and let myself take a few hits before grabbing the stick. Jiren was unprepared, and I swung it right into the side of his head.

He stopped hitting me after that, seemingly dazed from the attack.

I got up from under him and kicked him away. I touched my nose which was now broken.

Jiren shook his head before taking a defensive stance. Now that I had a weapon I was at a clear advantage.

I smiled, before throwing the stick away. I won’t allow an unfair fight.

Jiren rushed over to me in response. He went for a right hook, which I easily caught. I pulled him toward my arm, and held it outstretched so that he hit his head on it. He fell backwards onto his back again, with the wind getting knocked out of him.

Once again, I went for a cowardly move and tried kicking him in the side. This time, he hadn’t recovered his breath yet and took the hit. I needed every advantage I could get in a fight with stakes like this.

Jiren in response spun around on the floor trying to sweep my legs. Fortunately, I saw it in time and jumped over his feet. He quickly got up.

I went for a quick jab at his head, which he dodged. As I predicted. Punching forward with my left arm, he tried dodging again, but my right arm was blocking his path. My knuckles connected with his face squarely, and I could feel his nose break as my fist plowed into his face.

Jiren stumbled backward from the attack. He quickly regained himself and went for a gut punch. I tensed my stomach muscles, taking the hit. Jiren looked surprised at me, before realizing his mistake. I took ahold of his arm with both of mine, before lifting him up into the air. I let gravity assist me and slammed him into the floor.

Jiren, probably too tired to fight onward, reformed his mouth on his face again.

“I yield.”