A Hell of a Life
Chapter 2: Looking for or sought out by trouble
Appearing in the next section of Hell in a flash of purple light, Naruto looked around while Pandemonica was adjusting her glasses and Modeus was looking at the former lustfully and barely restraining herself from pouncing on him.
"I'm guessing that we're now at the second level of hell?" asked Naruto as he looks around and didn't see much difference compared to the previous level which they had come from so far.
"That is correct, and another puzzle waits for you to solve in order to activate the next teleportation point to the third level," said Pandemonica, reading off the information from a clipboard in her hand rather tiredly.
"Can you tell me what kind of puzzle it is? The previous one had me guessing and they don't exactly set up instructions for them,"
Pandemonica flipped through the pages on her clipboard before stopping at a particular page to read off it "Apparently, this puzzle is a survival combat trial; you need to fight multiple demons in three waves in order to proceed to the next level,"
Right after she said that, the ground find themselves entering a wide chamber with a large circular arena bordered by hellfire before them with only a single footbridge leading into it.
"If it were me, I'd just skip the puzzle and acquire all of the harem girls," said Modeus, glancing at Naruto who was making sure to avoid eye contact with her out of caution of unintentionally making her lose control of her libido.
"And that notion is exactly why our CEO reconstructed everything in order to curb it," Pandemonica pointed out to the lustful demon.
"Even if there was such an option, I wouldn't choose to skip it. For one, I don't believe in shortcuts and another is that there's the chance that your CEO might be watching all this," said Naruto as he made sure that the mystical wrappings on his hands are properly adjusted and the Soul Flame on his chest is burning steadily "Might as well make my way in there and get this over with,"
"We'll wait here until you complete the puzzle or die," said Pandemonica bluntly.
"Uh...right," Naruto sweatdrops at the obvious lack of enthusiasm from the demoness.
Naruto proceeded to enter the arena with the footbridge immediately disappearing the moment he crossed it and the hellfire rose to form a wall around the arena to prevent anyone from going in and getting out. Naruto got the clear idea to stay away from the literal firewall if he doesn't want to die but he does have other things in mind for it. Hearing something close by, Naruto turned to see something pulling themselves out from the ground.
They appear to be cracked porcelain dolls with black demonic fluid all over their bodies with steampunk styled spiked clubs grafted to one of their arms.
"Sheesh, and here I thought that the skeleton dude from before was ugly," Naruto commented.
"These are Stygians; they are the lesser demons residing here. The ones you're facing are the Lesser Stygians," Pandemonica informed.
"Thanks for the info, now then…," Naruto took a stance as he faces the Lesser Stygians "Come and get me!"
Music Start: MadWorld OST; MAD WORLD
One of the more eager Lesser Stygians lunged at Naruto and attacked with a swipe of its spiked club but he was quick to dart out of the way before countering with a body blow before three right jabs and a strong left hook to the head which knocked it right off. Seeing this made the other demons more cautious of him and took on a different tactic. This time, three of the Lesser Stygians attacked simultaneously which forced Naruto into a more defensive position as he dodged and parried the incoming attacks, thankfully the mystical wrappings on his hands are strong enough to defend against the weapons without getting seriously.
"Time for a little creativity," Naruto dashed backwards whilst stretching out his left hand towards one of the Lesser Stygians for the ends of the wrappings to suddenly extend and enwrap it, he grabbed hold and swung the demon around to slam into the other two before pulling it towards him then finishing it off with a haymaker punch to the head as well. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising as his instincts screamed at him to duck which he complied right on time as a Lesser Stygian tried to attack from his left side, Naruto swiftly moved to get behind the demon to wrap his arms around its waist before performing a nasty suplex which buried its upper body deep into the ground.
Now focusing on the lone Lesser Stygian, Naruto took to the offensive as he rushed towards it with great speed and attacked with a flying kick to the chest, causing it to stumble backwards from the impact. Wasting no time, Naruto grabbed the demon by the shoulder with one hand to hold it firmly in place and proceeded to attack with an assault of punches via the other hand on various parts of its body before finishing with an uppercut, taking it down. Hearing a sound, Naruto turned to see more Lesser Stygians emerging from the ground and prepared to face them as well.
"Interesting, his overall capabilities have greatly improved," said Pandemonica as she wrote on her clipboard while observing the ongoing fight.
"Such stamina, I hope it applies in the bedroom," said Modeus lustfully.
Back to Naruto, he was through with the second wave and now on the third and final wave. Like the first two times, there were Lesser Stygians but he noticed that there's one which is different compared to the rest. This one has a horn of fluid emerging from the holes in its face and wields a large razor instead of a spiked club.
"That one looks different from the others which means I'd better keep an eye on it," said Naruto thoughtfully as he steadied his combat stance and waited for the demons to make the first move.
Sure enough, the other Lesser Stygians while the Stygian chose to remain behind and watch as Naruto engaged the former, maintaining his pace with them and inflicting damage at opportune moments.
"I can't afford to waste any more time with this, I wonder if I can do something else with this power from my soul," thought Naruto, wanting to figure what else he could do besides acquiring these wrappings on his hands. Suddenly the Soul Flame surged and enveloped his entire body ad he felt something prodding at the back of his mind "I think it's trying to tell me something, let's find out,
Naruto jumps backwards from the Lesser Stygians as he crouches slightly and focused deeply before dashing forward at blurring speeds that he smashed right through the demons, leaving them in many pieces behind him when he skidded to a stop.
"Whoa, what a rush!" Naruto turned towards the lone Stygian "And it's just you to deal with…,"
At his words, the Stygian prepped its razor blade before charging forward at Naruto as it attacks with a flurry of slashes. Naruto made it a point to not get cut by the blade, not wanting to take any risks whether he could endure any form of cuts. Naruto's eyes focused intensely when he saw that the Stygian was attacking with a vertical slash, he carefully placed his palm on the flat side of the blade and skillfully redirected the attack to hit the ground next to him, creating the perfect opportunity for a counterattack.
"It's over!" Naruto instinctively channeled the power o the Soul Flame as he charges his open hand with energy and holds his palm to the demon's midsection. As he closes his palm into a fist, he practically blasted the Stygian into many pieces "Combining the power of my soul with martial arts can produce scary results,"
Music End
With the defeat of the demons, the firewall was disabled and the footbridge was restored along with another one leading across to the other side.
Naruto turned to Pandemonica and Modeus "Looks like we can move on to the next level,"
Pandemonica nodded in affirmation "That would be correct, let us continue. The sooner we meet the CEO, the sooner I can have that coffee you offered,"
Naruto smiled a bit "It will definitely be worth, I can promise you that," they were about to take their leave when suddenly.
"Hold it right there!"
A female voice called out from behind, getting everyone to turn around and see who it was which turned out to be a trio consisting of two men and a woman. It would seem that Pandemonica and Modeus are familiar with them as the former sighed in exasperation and the latter appeared put off by the sight of them as Naruto observed them closely.
The first is a woman with red eyes, long hair that is literally red and red-lipstick. She wears a red dominatrix-like outfit that consists out of a mask that has two horns extending out of it, a leotard shaped shirt, gloves that extend past her elbows, and thigh high boots. And it appears that she carried a long leather whip.
Second is a tall, pale-skinned man with a lanky build; he has a bald head, a pointy nose and equally pointy ears, green face paint around his eyes and mouth, and his face is locked into a constant sneer. He wears a camouflage-patterned jumpsuit that is coloured entirely with various hues of green, ranging from paler greens to the darker ones, and has dark tan melee padding with boots and gloves of the same colour, his gloves also don't cover his fingers or palms. He also carries around a large metal boomerang on his back, which is held in a holster made out of leather and some bandages.
And the third is a gigantic, muscular man who has veins notably protruding from his sheer brawn, he has dark blue eyes and dark hair. He wears a blue helmet with black trimmings with ox horns on it, a single blue pauldron on his left shoulder, two yellow leather straps in a X-formation over his chest, skin-tight armor over his belly, blue arm braces, black fingerless gloves underneath his mace gloves, white pants with a blue crotch-guard, and blue boots.
"You…that's a pretty nice Soul Flame you have there," said the woman with a sultry tone.
"So, this is the guy everyone's been talking about," said the tall lanky man.
"Is he really?" asked the brawny man unsurely, like a naïve toddler.
Naruto looked to Pandemonica "Who are these guys?"
"They're the Three Evil Stooges; the lady is Conchita, the tall bald one is Bruce and the musclehead is Felix. They're known in hell for their recklessness and sheer stupidity," Pandemonica explained.
"What did you say!?" asked Conchita angrily.
"She called you all stupid which is the absolute truth," said Modeus factually.
Bruce sneered "Like we give a hoot, you can't stop us from getting the guy's Soul Flame since that would go against the rules,"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Naruto confusedly.
"Those under the employ of the CEO have exclusive rights to possess the souls of the deceased with no interference whatsoever. However, we cannot prevent demons from trying to attain the souls of living beings while they're here in hell," Pandemonica explained.
"In other words, you're free game which is ripe for hunting," said Conchita with a smirk with Bruce and Felix looking just as eager.
Naruto groaned; he just fought three waves of demons and now has to handle these guys? Give him a break, geez! "Ugh, at least there's no rule which prevents living beings from protecting their own souls here in hell. Time to take care of you three,"
"Bruce…Felix…," Conchita cracked her whip on the ground "GET HIM!"
Music Start: Godhand OST; That's enough of that…
"Bring it on! Ha-hah...," Felix clanged his mace gloves together with eagerness as he lumbered towards Naruto and attacked attacking him with the gloves.
Naruto remained light on his feet as he darted from side to side to avoid the incoming punches which will no doubt hurt a lot should one of them even graze him because of those mace gloves of his.
"All power with no skill or speed, your typical musclehead," thought Naruto as he observes his current opponent whilst noting that the other two are hanging back and not getting involved "They think that this guy will be enough to get my soul? I'm starting to see why Pandemonica said they're both reckless and stupid,"
With that out of the way, Naruto finally took to the offensive and began throwing punches and kicks fiercely. Felix may be tough-skinned but it didn't mean that he wouldn't be feeling the strikes which he is and they hurt a lot.
"Hey, that hurts! Take this!" Felix lifts his hands into the air before violently slamming down, creating a shockwave that travels along the ground towards Naruto who dives out of the way to avoid getting hit by the ranged attack.
"Nice move, if you can do it…," Naruto felt his Soul Flame surge once more "I see no reason why I can't either!" Naruto charges his fist with energy before punching the ground with all his might which creates a shockwave-like explosion that sends Felix into the air before crashing down back first.
Not wasting the additional opportunity, Naruto quickly rushed forward and leapt into the air with a somersault before descending towards Felix then stomping on his chest hard with both feet before jumping off to build some distance between them as the muscle headed demon stumbled back to his feet.
"Miss Conchita, he copied my move!" Felix complained while naively pointing at Naruto to accuse him.
"We can talk about that later, just focus on getting that Soul Flame!" Conchita scolded, annoyed by Felix's incompetence.
"Y-yes ma'am!"
Felix turned to Naruto who stood there unflinching which started to make him mad. Felix's skin turns red with rage, and he charges forth with his head lowered while the bellowing moo of an Ox is heard as he attempts to gore Naruto with his horns.
"Whoa!" Naruto jumps out of the way to dodge but had to do so again when Felix charged at him once more and repeatedly "I always did wonder about the purpose of those large horns on his helmet. Now to figure a way to disrupt him…,"
Naruto continues to dodge Felix's constant charge attack before taking note of something and develops a plan. He waits for Felix to come charging towards him once more till he gets close enough for him to dart to the side and counter with a low sweep kick aiming for the legs. Felix wasn't able to react in time as he was knocked off his feet and sent tumbling along the ground before finally stopping.
Felix rose to his feet, looking rather dazed "Ohhhh, my head…,"
Naruto grinned "Time to grab the bull by the horns," he rushed over and did just that…literally before proceeding to repeatedly drive the enemy's head into his knees before ending the assault by performing a front facelock DDT which planted Felix's face into the ground and left his ass sticking into the air "Looks like I put down this dumb animal,"
Bruce groaned upon seeing Felix's defeat "Dammit, should have known better than to rely on that idiot! Looks like I've to pick up where he left off,"
"You better not fail me," said Conchita pointedly.
"I won't!"
Bruce launched himself at Naruto and was already attacking with a combo of swift which the latter blocked and parried while trying to maintain a steady pace with his new opponent in order to get an idea about him. He could already tell that Bruce is the polar opposite of Felix as he excels in speed and skill.
"I bet that boomerang on his back is what makes up for his lack of attack power and doesn't seem to be able to tank hits. So that means I just need to make sure that each of my attacks land on him," thought Naruto.
At this point, Bruce took the bladed boomerang from his back and glared at Naruto menacingly "I'm gonna slice you up and get that Soul Flame!" he began to onehandedly swing his boomerang wildly, forcing Naruto to bob and weave around the incoming slashes. Suddenly, Naruto reached out to grab the wrist of the hand which Bruce held the bladed boomerang, much to his shock.
"What the…!?"
"Finally got to stop you from moving, here comes the pain!"
Naruto twisted the wrist hard enough to make Bruce drop his boomerang then he flipped him over with a judo throw to the ground and punch him in the face several times before darting away to avoid any retaliation.
Bruce stood up and glared at Naruto angrily with one eye since the other is black and swollen shut "Why you little…,"
Naruto glared back in defiance "If you already dislike me, then you're definitely gonna hate me after this!" with a surge of the Soul Flame, Naruto dashed forward to unleash a powerful combo; he started off with a flying reverse roundhouse before going into a cartwheel kick then ending with a powerful straight punch which sent Bruce tumbling along the ground before skidding to a stop at Conchita's feet, clearly knocked out "And then there's one,"
Conchita gritted her teeth in frustration at how things are turning out "Those idiots, do I have to do everything myself? No matter…," she cracked her whip on the ground as she stepped forward "You will hand over the Soul Flame!"
Naruto scoffed in response "Sorry, but you aren't the lady whom I've denied such demands and you won't be the last either,"
"Have it your way then!"
Conchita made the first move and attacked Naruto with her whip which Naruto narrowly avoided by jumping backwards before leaning his head backwards when she quickly closed the gap and aimed a high kick at his head. The blonde immediately retaliated with a low sweep kick only to miss when she performed a backflip to dodge, Conchita swings her whip downwards overhead and Naruto rolled sideways along the ground to evade.
"In a way, I see her being a bit similar to the boomerang guy albeit more acrobatic. Gonna be tricky to keep a lock on her but not impossible," thought Naruto.
"Die!" Conchita lunges forward with her whip extended straight like a sword, Naruto tilted to the side for the attack to go past him before taking a quick step forward and slamming a palm strike into her solar plexus then following up with a one-two punch before finishing with a left high roundhouse kick to the head, knocking her down to the ground.
"Request denied!" Naruto retorted to her earlier statement. Then Naruto saw Conchita prop herself up on her knees and begins to crawl away from him on her knees and hands "Sheesh, you're kinda embarrassing yourself right, ya know?"
Conchita stood up with her face red in embarrassment "Silence! I'll make you pay for humiliating me!"
"I wasn't the one who told you to crawl on the ground like a baby," said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.
"Grrr, die!"
"Didn't I already say that's denied?"
At this point, Conchita was seeing red as she assailed Naruto with kicks and lashes of her whip. Naruto maintained his composure as he evaded and deflected the incoming attacks, waiting for the right moment to strike then he got it when Conchita launched her whip straight at him. He launched one of his wrappings to entangle with the whip then he tugged at it strongly, disarming her of the weapon.
"It's over with this!" Naruto called upon the Soul Flame which he channeled the energy into both of his legs as he crouched slightly before dashing forward at highspeed then he leapt into the air and attack with a flying reverse roundhouse kick which landed successfully, knocking Conchita down next to the other two demons and it was clear that all three are unable to continue fighting.
Music End
Naruto stood back and watched as the three demons struggled back to their feet all the while groaning in pain from the beatdown which they had received from the supposedly weak human.
"So that is the power of the Soul Flame, isn't it?" asked Bruce, having gone to pick up his boomerang.
Naruto looked down at the now calm white flame on his chest and shrugged his shoulders "I'm still kinda learning more about it, but I should thank you for helping me discover new things about this strange power of mine,"
"Strange? I prefer super tropical. YOUR SOUL IS OURS!" Conchita declared.
Felix stumbled back a bit "I bet you not really popular in hell!" then he ran off with the other two soon following suit.
"What?" Naruto blinked in confusion, seeing the three demons run off just like that after saying such things. Then Pandemonica and Modeus walked up next to him "I'm starting to see why you say they're reckless and stupid,"
"They give everyone a migraine here in hell," Pandemonica pointed out to Naruto.
"Not to mention a major turnoff unlike you," Modeus added.
"At least they're gone for now, but I'll need to hurry and meet the CEO. The fact that demons are targeting me because of my Soul Flame is worrying," said Naruto with a small frown.
"But it's also the perfect method of recruitment for your demon harem, power is attractive after all," said Modeus.
"Only question being what kind it would attract," thought Naruto with a sweatdrop, he's trying to find his way out of hell not make a harem, this ain't some sort of romcom!
They started making their way out for the arena and walking along the pathway towards the teleportation circle when Naruto caught glances of something moving through the shadows at blurring speeds which caused him to frown and tense a bit.
"Give me a break already, more enemies?" Naruto groaned in mild frustration, preparing for a fight.
"It would depend on how you approach them," said Pandemonica, confusing Naruto on what she meant by that.
"Hmm, he looks like human…," a female voice spoke up from Naruto's left side.
"*Sniff sniff* he smells like a human," another female voice spoke from his right side.
"I think he is a real human!" a third female voice called out from behind.
Naruto quickly turned to see three demon girls looking so identical that they could pass off as triplets…or maybe they actually are triplets.
They bear some similar appearance with Pandemonica and Modeus such as the skin complexion, red irises, a black arrow-tipped tail and silvery-white hair. But they lack the horns and instead have white canine ears that pop out from the hair on top of their heads as well as possessing canine teeth.
The three demons don form-fitting apparel consisting of red button-up long-sleeve shirts underneath black-stripped suit vests and black slim fit suit pants. They wear black cuffs over their red shirts just below the shoulders, pairs of black gloves and black ties underneath their vests.
"Whoa!" Naruto took a quick step back in surprise, seeing the three demons up close but they rather came close to him again with eyes full of curiosity and excitement "Who are these three?"
Pandemonica spoke up "She's Cerberus; the Triple Demon,"
Naruto blinked in surprise "Wait, did you just say Cerberus? As in the three-headed dog which guards the gates of hell?"
"That's us!" said the trio cheerfully, happy at being identified.
"But why are there three of you?"
Pandemonica provided an explanation like always, well she does work in the Hell's Customer Service after all "That's because of her power, Cerberus created three bodies in order to properly control it. So, there's only one soul living within and controlling all three of them. Which is why she's called the Triple Demon,"
"I see, that kinda makes a lot of sense," said Naruto thoughtfully, in a way they match the mythology by being three beings with one soul. He was snapped out of his thoughts when one of the Cerberus approached him and sniffed at his clothes "H-Hey…,"
"What's a human like you doing here in hell?" she asked.
Naruto sighed "That's the billion-dollar question, I was sleeping at home and woke up to find myself here in hell. Now I'm making my way down to meet with CEO so I can go back home,"
"Does that mean you're trying to return to the mortal realm?" asked the other Cerberus.
"That's the idea,"
"In that case…please take us with you!" the three Cerberus spoke at the same time.
"What? Why?" asked Naruto confusedly.
"We've been wanting to go to the mortal realm for so long but every chance we got was dashed by circumstances. This is one of the rarest chances ever, so PLEASE take us with you!" the Cerberus explained and pleaded once more with puppy eyes.
"…I," Naruto turned to Pandemonica and Modeus for their own opinions.
"I could care less if they came with us or not, so long as I can get my coffee," said Pandemonica.
"There's no need to ask me for I demand that she comes with us and joins the harem or I will be quite upset if you refuse," Modeus said or to be more specific DEMANDED that Cerberus joins them.
Naruto sighed mentally for he already has a lot on his mind; he's trying to understand how he ended up in hell alive, find a way out of hell, watch out for demons aiming for his supposedly rare Soul Flame while some other demons wish to follow him. He needs to find out which side of the bed he woke up from that got him into this situation.
"*Sigh* Alright…she can come along too," Naruto gave in and allowed Cerberus to join, the Triple Demon hugged each other joyfully at his acceptance.
"Yes! At last, it's time to corrupt the mortal realm!" the girls cheered, then they started pushing Naruto to where the teleportation circle was located.
"Whoa, take it easy! No need to shove!" Naruto tried to calm the excited trio down.
"The sooner you can meet the CEO, the sooner we can all leave!" said one of the Cerberus giddily.
Eventually using the teleportation circle to descend to the third level, Naruto and recently increased number of demon girls were walking through the area and exited through a passageway into a large chamber where there are many small circular platforms of different colors and all are connected with white energy lines and there's a large floating dice made of unknown metal material. at the other side is a locked gate and Naruto was starting to have an idea on what to do here.
"I guessing that this is some sort of dice game?" asked Naruto, wanting to make sure that his assumption is correct.
Pandemonica nodded in affirmation "You're correct, it operates much like chutes-and-ladders which requires that you make your way over to the other end of the game alive while watching out for the effects of the platforms you would land on," she then describes the effects of each platform.
White platforms are 'safe' platforms that do not trigger any special effects.
Red platforms are 'danger' platforms that spawn hazards or demons for him to fight. He needs to kill all the demons or survive the hazards before he can roll the dice again.
Yellow platforms are 'teleport' platforms that can move him forwards or backwards so he needs to choose carefully on which yellow platform to land on.
Blue platforms are 'boon' platforms as they provide healing to injuries should he land on one.
Naruto nodded in understanding "I think I got the gist of things, here's hoping that my crazy luck in games wasn't left behind when I came here," he was about to step into the puzzle when he saw the Cerberus sniffing the air "Is something the matter?"
"*Sniff sniff* This smell…orange, berries and…vodka?" said one curiously.
The other piped up excitedly "There's no doubt, that's got to be Malina!"
"You know her?" asked Naruto confusedly.
The third Cerberus nodded in affirmation "Yup. She acts hard to get, but maybe you can figure her out. Then we'll all hang out and it will be fun!"
"Okay…I'll be sure to keep that in mind,"
As Naruto stepped onto the puzzle area, there was a flash of light as a life-size gray statue of himself appeared on a white platform which serves as the start of the 'Dice Game'. Then Naruto heard a voice echo throughout the area
Concerning life and death in this hell, we are the ones who weave that spell. If moving forward is what you intend, then guiding your other self is what we recommend. And now your fate we decide, strike us or your progress will be tended!
"Well, let's get start," Naruto approached the large die and struck it with an uppercut, sending it tumbling along the ground before coming to a stop at a '5'. The Statue transformed in an orb of light as it moved in accordance to the number he rolled and stopped on a Red platform, then the voice spoke up again.
You, who grasps the die with a Soul's burning hand! Your fate is subject by the die's command! No matter what fortune you hope to receive with your soulish touch, unknown fate will the die weave.
Knowing what was coming, Naruto braced himself and sure enough, demons appeared but they were different from the Stygians that he fought in the previous level.
These demonic creatures strongly resemble animated scarecrows with multicolored burlap sacks and he could hear the sound of a million insects squirming inside of them. One major feature about them which can't be ignored would be the large executioner's blade that is either attached to one of their arms or legs, making him quite wary of them.
"I'd better keep an eye out for those blades," Naruto mutters to himself as he takes on a combat stance with his Soul Flame surging in anticipation.
One of the Scarecrow (Arm) made the first move by lunging forward and swinging its Arm blade in a diagonal slash, Naruto leaned out of the way and countered with a double palm thrust, blasting the demon away from him. A Scarecrow (Leg) attacked from behind by jumping into the air and descending with a vertical slash, but Naruto managed to see the incoming attack by the demon's shadow on the floor and so rolled sideways along the ground and successfully dodged it. He crouched slightly and dashed forward to strike with a straight punch to the chest followed by an uppercut, launching it into the air. Naruto channeled energy to his right fist as he waited for the demon to fall towards him before attacking with a powerful haymaker which destroyed it entirely.
Seeing this made the other Scarecrows more wary of him and were preparing to attack him in groups. However, Naruto easily saw through them since it's not the first time and is starting to get the idea that it's a common strategy amongst lesser demons. He extended his wrappings towards one of the Scarecrow (Leg) and tied it up while making sure that its leg blade is sticking out, then he pulled it off its feet and swung around several time before he slammed it into the other demons while making the blade cut into them as well.
"Let's see if this idea of mine can work…," Naruto called upon the power of the Soul Flame as he spins and delivers a chop that fires a horizontal wave of energy at head height, slicing through all over the demons in its range.
Doing this also caused the dice to become active one more for Naruto to hit again, he glanced at the layout of the puzzle to keep track of the colored platforms so he can figure how to play this 'game' more safely and with lesser risks.
Soon enough, Naruto was repeatedly hitting the dice to make it roll onto different numbers and making the 'piece' move along the colored platforms and landing on them. He was able to land on the White platforms more often while occasionally landing on the Red platforms and having to fight off the Scarecrows that would appear to attack whenever that happens. He once had his 'Piece' land on a blue platform and experienced something interesting.
Dark hellish energy swarmed around him which caused Naruto to worry that it might have a negative effect on him since he's still alive. But then the Soul Flame on his chest surged and began absorbing the surrounding while at the same time purified into a more compatible form which healed his body and restored his stamina. This further increases Naruto's curiosity about this unique soul of his since he's getting a clearer idea on why other demons are after it.
Naruto managed a lucky roll of the dice that placed his 'Piece' onto a Yellow platform which warped very close to the goal and two more good rolls sealed the deal, completing the puzzle with no further incidence as the 'Piece'.
"Guess that takes care things, now to head back and make for the teleportation circle," said Naruto.
He began to leave the puzzle area when sudden, a pillar of purple flames burst from the ground in front of him then it dissipates to reveal a chubby looking man with large purple prayer beads around his neck and a cigar in hand.
The man looked at Naruto and began to laugh "*Laughs* So this little huevón is the possessor of the Soul Flame! Ohhh that's rich! *Laughs again*"
"*Sigh* if this were a video game, I reckon that I'm about to have a boss fight. So, who are you supposed to be?" Naruto inquired, wanting to know who he's about to face.
"I am Elvis; a proud member of the Devas and you have something that is of great interest to us,"
Elvis steps forward as he drops his cigar on the ground and stomps on it to put it out…only to panic and quickly pick it back up to make sure that isn't the case.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the reaction "Uh, kinda weird seeing you panic over a cigar. You on a tight budget or something?"
"You know what? I'm getting a bit hungry and a little huevón seems like it would hit the spot," said Elvis, putting the cigar to his mouth whilst igniting it with his demon power.
"Sorry dude, but Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is not on the menu for any of you guys,"
"Hmph, I hope you can fight just as well as you can talk,"
Naruto frowned in response "Why don't you try to attack me and find out then?"
"YEAH! I don't think you realize what you're getting yourself into, pendejo...," Elvis then took on the most clumsiest crane stance one has ever seen and Naruto see clearly see that the fat guy is barely keeping his balance.
"I don't know what you and those Deva guys want with my soul but it's staying right where it belongs…," Naruto took a stance with his Soul Flame blazing "And I'm gonna beat that fact into each and every one of you,"
Music Start: God Hand OST; Smoking A Roll
"Time to play, pendejo!" Elvis declared, beckoning Naruto to fight him.
Naruto rushed forward and crouched down to perform a sliding kick only to be surprised when Elvis nimbly jumped over the incoming attack in spite of his obese body.
"You sure can move for a chubby guy," Naruto commented as he jumped back to his feet after the failed attack.
Elvis guffawed "You ain't seen nothing yet, cabrón!" he gather up demonic energy in his hands before thrusting forward to launch a purple fireball which Naruto managed to dodge by rolling sideways to the left.
Naruto quickly closed the gap between them and was already attacking fiercely with punches and kicks. It felt like he was hitting thick dough as he was attacking but could tell that Elvis was definitely taking damage, it also made him realize that an average human wouldn't be able to stand up to this guy if he didn't have the Soul Flame.
Elvis breaks away from the attacks as he takes a puff of his cigar then breathes out a large smokescreen which engulfs Naruto who coughs from accidentally inhaling it. He made to escape but was suddenly struck in the chest by a powerful force which sent him tumbling out of the smokescreen that dissipated to reveal the demon looking at him smugly.
"Bu-ha-ha-ha-ha! What's the matter, getting tired?" Elvis taunted.
Naruto kipped up to his feet and glared in defiance "Don't count me out just yet, still got more in the tank!"
"Good good, show me more!" Elvis leans forward and charges to attack with a shoulder tackle at great speeds. Naruto responds in kind by dashing towards him as well, just when it appears that they were about to collide, Naruto stomps his feet hard on the ground to propel himself into the air with a somersault over Elvis who's unable to stop himself and crashed headfirst into a wall then stumbled backwards, apparently dazed.
"Now's my chance!" Naruto rushed up to Elvis and began to repeatedly punch the fat demon at superfast speeds at face level with both hands then he reels back and give one final punch, sending the opponent flying and crashing into another wall "Still think this fight is still gonna be easy, tubby?"
Elvis got back to his feet, looking rather pissed "Pendejo!" he rushes forward with an open palm encased in purple flames, Naruto darted sideways to evade such a powerful attack before calling upon the power of the Soul Flame for a counterattack.
Naruto performs a butterfly kick followed by an uppercut, which causes Elvis to fly into the air, as the demon comes back down he kicks them in the face, knocking him down to the ground.
"Puta, you're gonna fry!" Elvis takes a deep huff of his cigar to spit a powerful purple fireball at Naruto who was shocked upon seeing the incoming attack. However, he felt his Soul Flame surge even more strongly than before and instincts took over.
Naruto reared his right arm back as the wrappings on it unraveled themselves to reveal white glowing tribal markings on the arm, he clenched his hand into a fist with the markings glowing brighter. As the fireball drew near, Naruto threw a punch which dispersed the flaming projectile like a blown-out candle and launched an energy blast in the shape of an enlarged fist which exploded upon impact. Elvis stood before Naruto, his body covered in bruises and burn marks.
Music End
Elvis growled in anger, his fists emitting purple demonic energy as he waved them around "Get ready! Cause I'm really gonna give it to y-!" suddenly the floor beneath his feet broke and he ended up falling halfway through with only his upper body in view.
"And here I thought you would only see stuff like these in cartoons and anime," Naruto muttered to himself.
"Hey! You're the big nice hero, right!? How about giving me a hand out of here?" asked Elvis, struggling to get himself out of the hole but failing.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the request "You want me; whose soul is being targeted by you and your friends to help you?"
"Come on, man. Have a heart!"
"…okay, I'll help you," Naruto walked towards the currently immobilized demon.
"Thank y-wait, what are you doing?!" Elvis was grateful at first but that quickly turned to horror as Naruto stood with one leg raised high above his head.
"I said I would help you out of the hole, but I never said HOW I would do that," Naruto retort.
"No, wai-,"
WHAM*
Naruto sharply brought his heel down on top of Elvis's bald head like a hammer on a nail, driving the demon further down into the hole. Naruto looked down into the pitch black hole as he hears Elvis groan in pain.
"Oooooohhhhhh…he really gave it to me alright…,"
"I get the feeling that won't be the last I see of him or his friends. Best to hurry and leave hell before things get any crazier," said Naruto then he finally left the partially destroyed puzzle area to meet with the other demonesses.
"It would seem that you had the misfortune of encountering Elvis of the Devas," said Pandemonica.
"Sounds to me that you don't get along with them," said Naruto.
"Not at all, they go against our CEO's ideals which is truly irritating as their actions show intent of encroachment of control over hell,"
"Make more sense since they're trying to acquire my soul and all," said Naruto with a small frown.
"Which is why we need to meet with the CEO in order to deal with them once and for all, this action shows clear rebellion," Pandemonica wrote down the information onto her clipboard.
"Hey, I smell Malina!" said one of the Cerberus.
"Yeah, here she comes!" another pointed in a direction for others to see someone approaching them.
Like the other demoness, she bears the same appearance except that she has somewhat baggy eyes, her white hair styled into a messy bob with short black horns sticking out and she seems to be constantly frowning given her expression right now. She wears a red working shirt with the long sleeves folded up to her elbows with a black buttoned sleeveless vest over it, long working pants under a short pencil skirt, and three string bracelets on each wrist.
"Okay, I just came from the puzzle area and I reckon that you're the braindead idiot who made a mess of the place including the hole on the floor. Do you have any idea how much work you've just dropped on me?" asked Malina, scowling at Naruto.
"Uh, I'll take some of the blame but most of it was because Elvis attacked me to get my Soul Flame and I'm sorry about the hole," said Naruto apologetically, not wanting to earn her ire.
"Ugh, that fatass. Why am I not surprised to hear his name?"
"If it's any consolation, I beat him back and blue before he ran off,"
"...guess that makes me feel a bit better, at least for now," Malina stared at Naruto "Which leaves you; what are you doing here and for what reason?"
"That's a question with no proper answers right now," Naruto sighed, feeling rather stressed from everything that is happening to him "At this point in time, I would be at home playing some online video games instead of fighting for my life right now,"
"Video games?" Malina's ears perked up upon hearing that "What kind of genres are you into?"
"I'm not picky with genres and open to playing all types; FPS, RPG, Racing, Fighting, etc. I even collect gaming consoles both old and new and the games that comes with them. It also helps that one of my parttime jobs is being a Game Tester," Naruto explained with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Even Turn Based Strategy games?" asked Malina, a certain tone of eagerness in the question.
"I play those too, my fellow Game Tester Shikamaru often tells me that my unpredictability tends to put guys like him on edge since I'm a hard guy to get a read on whether I'm an opponent or playing co-op with him,"
"…I'm coming with you,"
"Excuse me?" Naruto blinked in confusion.
"I said I'm coming with you; I want to see just how good you are when you get back to the mortal realm. If your skills are up to snuff, then I can make use of them. Wait here while I go and pack up some alcohol, don't go anywhere," Malina walked off before Naruto could say anything as he stood there and tried to make sense of what just happened.
"Yay, Malina's coming with us!" said Cerberus cheerfully.
"And the harem grows," Modeus nods in approval.
"…demons are really weird," Naruto commented.
And for good reason, the demons of hell are way different compared to what he knows. These demon girls could have also targeted his Soul Flame like the others and he wasn't even forcing them to follow him but rather they're following him of their own volition for different reasons. Pandemonica wants to drink a good cup of coffee to relieve herself of work-related stress, Modeus naively wants to get him a harem even though she could have kept him to herself, Cerberus wants to be free of the enclosed space which is hell, and now Malina is tagging along so she could play games with him.
"They're coming along for the simplest of reasons, it's no different to how humans live in a way," thought Naruto as he waited for Malina to returned so that they can move on to the next level.
Elsewhere in another part of hell, a group of skeleton demons could be seen walking around the area as if in search of something or someone.
"Are you sure you saw it go this way?" asked one of the demons.
"Yes, I'm sure of it. We already had the others block the exits," another demon replied.
"This better be worth the trouble, we're dead demons if the lackeys of the Devas or the CEO find out about this,"
"Then we just need to find that mutt and make it show us where it has hidden the artifact. With it, the Devas and CEO will think twice before messing with us. I'm talking becoming the head honchos of hell!"
The second demo rolled his eyes in response "But first, we need to find the mutt before all that,"
"True…,"
Unbeknownst to the demons, something was watching them from a safe distance, concealed in the shadows. A pair of red eyes with lupine pupils which narrowed as it looked at them before disappearing fully.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto makes it down to the next level alongside Pandemonica and Modeus with the former informing of the forthcoming puzzle which is a survival battle that requires him fighting several groups of demons in three waves in order to pass the trial and activate the teleportation circle to the next level. Naruto was able to pass the trial whilst learning more about the power of the Soul Flame.
He was then confronted by a trio of demons known as The Three Evil Stooges who attacked with the intent to take his soul while naively thinking that it would be easy, only to be proven wrong when Naruto beat them up, making the trio run away with their tails between their legs. It was also then that Naruto meets the demon who contains its soul in three bodies known as Cerberus who were quite eager to join Naruto to follow him to the mortal realm with the intent to corrupt, not to mention that Naruto didn't have much of a choice since Pandemonica didn't care besides getting her coffee and Modeus was demanding that he brings them along for his 'harem'.
At the next level, the next puzzle challenge for Naruto was in the form of a dice game which kids would normally play back in the old days. He was able to solve the puzzle thanks to his crazy luck but then he got attacked by one of the Devas called Elvis with his soul being targeted yet again. The fight was a bit tricky but Naruto was able to drive Elvis away for the meantime. However, it would seem that the ruckus from the fight attracted the attention of the Sour Demon Malina who wasn't happy about the mess made in the puzzle area but she quickly became lenient upon learning that Naruto is a gamer who plays all kind of genres and decides to come along with him like the others.
It would seem that there are other things going on as a group of skeleton demons are in search of something that would lead them to a hidden artifact, believing that it could give them the power to oppose both the Devas and the CEO. Whatever they're looking for is also watching them and making sure to stay hidden for its safety.
Like I said before in the previous author note, I'm adding in a few twists into the story which you guys have already noticed; such as the Stygians and Scarecrows from the DmC Reboot and DMC 4 respectively. I also brought in the Dice Game which you play on the Mission 6 of DMC 4. And for those wondering why Naruto isn't calling out moves, he's still trying to get used to possessing a power targeted by demons but he'll soon be doing so. But those who played God Hand before would surely recognize some of the moves. Oh, one more thing…Naruto won't be relying entirely on his fists. Be sure to read and review like you always do.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.