Chapter 11: He already told me about Id

1st layer of Hell

The Demented Plains

(Quincy and Shinigami Abilities weakened, Hollow and Togabito Abilities amplified)

~An unspecified amount of time later~

"Guess I'll be seeing you around then, master" said the vasto lorde, as she performed some last-minute checks on Crescent Rose. Not that she needed to of course, for after she'd modified it with parts from the weapons that the demons were carrying, Crescent Rose never again suffered so much as a single nick or scratch. Even the blood and gore on it would simply slide off after she'd used it to slice off demon guts. "You really aren't coming along?" she asked Reiji.

"Nah, as I said, I'll pass kid" he said, waving off "I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten long here anyways, and besides" he said, his tone now slightly tense "I'm really not looking forward to go to the last layer" he said, shuddering. "But….here's something for the trip down" he said, reaching into his robes, and pulling out a few thin leathery sheets. "Those should help you navigate to where you need to go" he said, handing it over to her. The dusky brown leather felt and looked suspiciously like…..

"Um…master…is that what I think it is…?" she said, feeling the material. "No…forget I asked" she said with a distasteful look. Each 'sheet' had bloody lines and markings with landmarks and labels indicating locations with waypoints indicated. "Nice!" said Ruby to herself.

Reiji looked at his apprentice he'd been grooming for god knows how long in this demented place. Gone was the demure, innocent look in her eyes, instead replaced with a sharp glint, a glint that spoke of her maturity, her prowess in battle, her familiarity with death; both with dealing it and experiencing it herself. Those eyes were no longer the eyes of someone still wet behind her ears. Nay, those, were the eyes of a seasoned fighter. And yet, even now, that playful, curious look on her face still remained.

"Remember kid" said Reiji "Down there, you'll see a lot of things. Unpleasant things. Unbelievable things. Your worst nightmares. The worst of humanity. You name it. One slip up and there's no coming back. No matter what this place shows you or puts you through, remember that reishi will be your only guiding beacon. No matter how much Hell tries to corrupt your 5 senses, reaitsu is one thing that even Hell cannot fabricate. Look out for that, and you should be fine. And also" he said, "your bloodlust should always be your own. You control it and nothing that the air here or anywhere else does to you should ever be in control. Keep these two things in mind, and you'll fare well"

Ruby listened with attentive detail, looking at him as if contemplating something. As if by sudden impulse, she rushed at the ex-soul reaper, pulling him into a gentle embrace. "Thank you for everything, Master" she said, her voice slathered in gratitude.

"Heh, just don't go on giving up on me when it gets too difficult down there, alright?" he said, rubbing her head. "Go on now. You've wasted enough time here"

"Right!" she said with confidence, and with one final look, leapt down to the plains, beginning her trip all the way down.

And with that, Reiji went back to his thoughts. In all his life, he believed he would never come across another who had as much potential, as much affinity and understanding for battle as his only other student. Whenever he had looked at her, often, Reiji's mind would go back to that silent, brown haired boy with glasses who displayed wisdom, an understanding for things far, far beyond his age with skills equally as great. And yet, in that boy's soft brown eyes were a different sort of light compared to Ruby's silver ones. But they held the same self-confidence in their own abilities. Though he would never see how either of their stories played out, somehow, he knew that the two would traverse different paths, paths that would eventually cross one day.

The same route, the same rush of wind as always. She'd been through this so many, many times, that her body almost seemed to move on its own. As always, she landed with a soft touch, speeding ahead towards the plains with a burst of speed. As usual, she could see the androgynous demons with their various weapons, ready to engage upon sight. Never did they have the same weapons, and never were they in the same positions or the same in number. Ruby however, only smirked.

BGM: Doom OST – E1M1 – At Doom's Gate

The nearest one, holding a spear, rushed at her. She fired a bala, moving sideways, circling around while keeping her sights perpendicular to her footwork. Her master had called this 'circle-strafing' and boy what an amazing and simple technique this was! She always wondered why she hadn't thought of this before. The bala punched right through the spear bearer's face, going through and hitting another demon that was shooting an energy blast at her. 3 of them in front of her fired off half a dozen projectiles at her, while a nearby sword demon took a swipe at her midriff.

She dashed backwards quickly, and then left, right, forward, left, circle around, gracefully maneuvering about the projectiles. Then a dash forward, slicing into the sword bearer's head, which split apart cleanly spraying blood at her face. Picking up the sword it was holding, she hurled it at the nearby shield bearer's face right through. She kept moving about, with subtle and quick changes in direction, putting off the faraway demon's aim that was firing off with a shotgun from atop the roof of the ruins to the left of her. She fired off 3 quick balas, towards the demons that were firing fast projectiles at her, at the torso, neck and then the top of the head. Left, back, circle and the right she moved, avoiding hits and then dashing towards the ruins where the ones holding guns were. Still, given that the guns worked the way that they did in Hell, it was impossible to avoid damage from them completely. There were bullet holes through her left arm, right leg and side abdomen.

"Tch, I'll get those-whoa!" she exclaimed, back flipping to avoid an incoming scythe attack. She plunged her hand straight at the demon's chest, ripping straight through its heart. She then used that demon's body as a shield, blocking the shots from the gunners at the tops of the ruins while closing in. She then scaled the walls, two quick swipes with her claws tore asunder the two gunners who were gunning at her before, drenching her claws with more blood and with a calculated lunge to the side she avoided a blast from a hammer wielding demon. She made finger guns, firing off small and fast balas, two going through the eye of the hammer demon and the rest ripping through the faces of a couple archer demons behind the hammer demon. She looked around. The coast looked clear in her immediate vicinity and her wounds had healed. She was at the top of one of the structures of the ruins, a place she knew like the back of her hand. From here it was going through the various structures through the ruins, past the vast fields that stretched beyond them, arrive at the unholy temple where the first guardian waited and then down it was to the second layer.

She jumped down, taking cover behind one of the low laying structures. Peeking in, she saw that the interior of the ruins were swarming with a couple dozen demons holding assault rifles, a couple of snipers, a few shotgunners and then in the far distance, a kushanada. It would've been easy to take them out one by one while taking cover, but she had a better idea. Without alerting the nearby demons, she fired a small pellet at the kushanada. The kushanada, seeing her, swung its massive sword downward. Of course, she simply had to step aside to avoid its blade, but while it swung, it also sliced through the demons staying guard. Instantly, the demons guarding the ruins turned their arms against the kushanada, firing off a volley of 'bullets' at the giant hell fiend who in turn retaliated in kind. The other gunners were also caught in the crossfire who in turn started perforating their own allies apart.

*GROOOWWWLL!* *RAARRARHR!* *RRRIIIIIIIIIPPP!* *GRAAAAAAHRH!* *BAAAANG!* *RAAAAAAATATATATTAAAAAAAAAATATT!*

The sounds of carnage continued; all the while Ruby watched safely with a huge grin on her face. There was a certain satisfaction in ripping apart these things with her own hands, but the satisfaction in getting them to tear each other apart was something else entirely. Not only did she conserve her stamina and reishi, but it also gave her cover to run past them harmlessly. How surprised she was, when Reiji had shown her during her initial training days that these things could fight each other.

*Kiiiiiichch!* *Kreeeeee!*

"Oh crap!" she exclaimed to herself, looking to her side from where the sounds had come from. There was a flash of light, following which the demons which she'd killed before at the top of the ruins respawned, weapons aimed at her. That was another thing she'd learnt; trying to kill all demons was pointless here. They would respawn after a short while after they'd been killed. So, her focus was pushing through without spending too much stamina and reishi, and reach where she needed to be.

"Dammit, this is what I get for enjoying a show instead of going where I should be!" she cursed, immediately moving back and zin-zagging to avoid the incoming energy blasts from the demons. She picked up the shotgun lying next to her from one of the fallen demons and took aim. Shoot, cover. Shoot, then cover. With each shot, she took out a couple of demons, while matching her 'reload' rhythm as she took cover. The carnage with the kushanada and the gunners was still ongoing, so she left while she had the chance. Already, some of the demons that were killed by the kushanada were respawning again. She dashed through the various dilapidated structures of the ruins, finally exiting out into an open field. In the distance, she could make out a few togabito, wandering about aimlessly, some Kushanada chasing them and many of the arms demons spread out.

"Just gotta punch through!" she remarked, dashing towards the direction of the unholy temple where the guardian and the exit to the 2nd layer lay. As soon as she'd gotten a few paces, two of the kushanada started chasing her, as well as half a dozen of the arms demons. She faced her back, firing a series of balas from her fingers, whilst performing a series of backflips to throw off any potential gunners in the distance and also to maneuver around the projectiles flying at her. More and more demons joined in the chase, while some of them dropped as her balas made contact. She could see the temple entrance in sight.

"Right!" she said, jumping backwards, and charging up a cero. She waited until she was at the right altitude and the fired it off, the beam flying true at the kushanada nearest to her, going through its lower half and through the other demons near it. The kushanada crashed to its side and fell, crushing some of the demons in its path with sick, crushing and squelching sounds. The recoil from the cero sent her right through the opening of the temple. As she entered, the entrance sealed shut.

BGM ends

"Hah….hah…hah…just as planned" she said to herself. She looked around. She was in a large hallway of sorts, with walls made of dull green stone and metal with torches burning with flames of many different colors dimly illuminating the hallway. Beyond the hallway she could see the hallway open into a large room with 6 pointed corners and a circular corridor circumventing the room with 6 points. The walls had little metal bars, some of which had togabito chained and subjected to various different types of punishment and torture all the while their moans and shrieks of pain and torment echoed throughout the hall. The moment she'd entered this place, her head already began to throb from the influx of emotions she was getting.

"Tch…just hold on, I'll put you all out of your misery and also my own" she said grabbing her head with one hand, while blasting off the heads of the togabito, silencing them using her other. She had seen this scene so many times now that she was immune to it. Still she had no taste for it and with each one she blasted off, the throbbing in her head grew ever so weaker. And to her, she was relieving them of their suffering and misery, even if it was a temporary redemption in their eternal torment. So if anything, they should be grateful to her.

Level 1 Guardian

The Princess of Hell's Shadows

BGM: Prince of Persia Warrior Within OST: Conflict at the Entrance

Finally, she was standing in the 6-pointed room, torches at each of the corners barely giving any light to the room, and an altar at the far end. Standing before her, was a pubescent female humanoid, 70% of her 'skin' covered with true black pigmentation with patches of white here and there like a human suffering albinism and with dark black eyes.

"!ecalp ruoy ni uoy tup nac I yllanif os ,emit siht uoy htiw repaer detnemed taht eht ees t'nod I !?pu evig uoy erofeb eb ti lliw semit ynam woH !?uoY" said the guardian.

"You already know I can't understand a word of what you're saying, my lady. And besides, you may have kicked my ass the first few times I was here, but come on, I've beaten you so many times now that I honestly feel bad. Why don't you just let me pass? Or right, you need to die for that to happen" said Ruby, readying Crescent Rose. The guardian charged at her, opening her mouth wide and drawing out a broadsword from her mouth. With a practiced hand, Ruby automatically parried the blows coming relentlessly from the Guardian. Her mouth opened again, this time procuring a handgun aimed at her face.

"Heh!" smirked Ruby, instantly sliding under the guardian, holding her chain and running it under. Her enemy however, was not caught off guard. With surprising dexterity, she turned around, already striking her with a katana this time. Ruby barely deflected the blow with Crescent Rose's blunt edge, countering with point blank balas to her face. The blasts did nothing physically however, but gave Ruby enough time to regain her stance. Ruby took a long lunge backwards, putting distance between the two of them and circling around, firing crescent rose while moving back and forth. The guardian blocked all incoming shots with her bare hands, while retaliating with her other hand which had now transformed into a double-barreled shotgun.

Back, back, left, right, front, right, left, circle around, duck, cover, blast, blast. On and on she went, using the architecture to her advantage to take cover from the incoming shotgun blasts while countering with her own shots and balas, though neither of them did anything to her. After having fought her many times as part of her training, this was nothing new to her naturally. For she was actually going for something else entirely. After a few back and forths, Ruby gave a small smile. Everything was in place.

"Just a bit more…..a bit here…and now I move a little to the left…..and…now!"

*BZZT!*

The vasto lorde disappeared with a buzz, appearing just past where the guardian was standing. Ruby turned back, smiling to see that her plan had worked. The guardian was wrapped in a long chain, specifically the one coming from Ruby's belly. But that wasn't all. Skewering her from all angles were the torches from the 6 corners of the room, each one piercing deep into her flesh and scorching her. The guardian squirmed and grunted in pain. Ruby approached her, Crescent Rose ready in hand.

"Still haven't had time to perfect that one as you can see" she told the guardian, "But I win this round again. I'm sorry, but I'll be needing your head to go down below. Don't take it personally though, I'm really just looking for a way out of here and back to my family" she said. "But then again, you'll revive soon enough anyways, so I'd better start"

*SLLLLLIIIIIICKCC!*

She took the head, that was now dripping with blood, to the altar in the far end of the room. There was hollow cavity just big enough for a head to fit through. She jammed the head into the socket. The alter shook, a small panel closing on the socket and symbols appearing in the center of the room.

End BGM

"Easy peasy" she said. She checked her condition. A few bullet wounds which were already healing, and her legs which throbbed after she'd used Sonido. It was mere annoyance, but she really wished she could use Sonido as she wanted. Her master did tell her that the Sonido was an arrancar technique and she was already impressive enough on being able to use it as a vasto lorde. But she put aside the thought for now. This was it. Before stepping into the light, she took one last look at the mangled body of the guardian and then the doorway through which she came. This was her last chance to turn back. But her mind was firm. It was all or nothing.

"Goodbye, master. Thank you for everything. If you ever get out of here, let's have tea together with Big-sis, Nel, Grimmjow and the others. I'm sure you'd love to meet them too" she said to no one in particular, and then stepped into the light.

2nd layer of Hell

Scorched Meadow

(Quincy and Shinigami Abilities weakened, Hollow and Togabito Abilities amplified)

Dry, cracked ground with numerous veins and cracks running through it. In some places, the veins were glowing yellow. Grainy, dull brown rocky terrain. The sky was lit a dim red like the first layer, but with wisps of what looked like steam rising within it constantly. Spiny, rocky trees up to 10 m high could been seen to the north west and to her south east. To her north east and south west, she could see in the far distance, she could see another set of dull green, metal and wood architecture, with human skulls and bones adorning its walls. Hills could be seen surrounding the entire horizon. Some of them had falls of lava pouring down into pools of lava below, while some others had pools of blood. Torches burning with many different colors of flames, similar to the one she'd seen in the temple before could been seen throughout, especially near the architectures. Apart from the tall spiny trees, there were also short, spiked stubs.

And of course, to complete the picture, there were togabito as well, who, like before, roamed about here and there while some were subjected to various different types of punishment and damnation. Being eaten by demons, being drowned in lava over and over again, being burned in fires, being consumed by other togabito and a lot more. The usual stuff, Ruby told herself. When she first came to Hell, she couldn't look for more than 2 seconds. Her trauma with Szayel had still be fresh. But after having stayed with Reiji, killing demons, training, dying so many many times during the process in many different horrific ways like the Togabito she was seeing here, she'd grown used to it. Now, they were nothing more than obstacles she needed to avoid getting too close to, lest the reishi in the air forced their emotions and pain on to her. As she'd done before, whenever she came across a Togabito being tortured or imprisoned, she'd merely blast their head off which killed them and stopped their influx of emotions into her. They would be revived and she would be gone. Heck, it even gave them temporary relief from their eternal suffering. So, she came to accept it as help she was offering them, sometimes help that they didn't deserve for the crimes they committed.

She checked the 'map' made from demon skin and blood that Reiji had gifted her. The place she needed to go was a Tower in the far North West from her current position. There she would find the second layer guardian. She could either go through the spiny forest of trees, cross a large lake of lava and reach the tower or go north east towards the architecture, go through the buildings, go through a blood-filled lake and then the tower. Both options had their ups and downs. The first was shorter and direct. But the terrain was disadvantageous for fighting large groups of enemies. The second option was longer but flatter in terrain with less perilous hazards. The buildings would also be more linear and leave fewer openings from which the demons could ambush her. The bloody lake wasn't as bad as the lava one for sure too, though it was still nasty to fall into. But then again, taking blood baths in those things was something she'd done numerous times, just not something she preferred doing if she could avoid it. The blood stuck and soaked her fur wet, which left her feeling slimy and gross.

"The buildings it is" sighed the vasto lorde. She looked around for any potential enemies. Her master had given her a superficial explanation of the foes of each layer, but left it up to her to figure things out as she went. The first layer had been easy enough, since she that was where she had trained. Everything from here on was foreign territory.

She sprinted towards the dull grey buildings, making sure to check for any potential enemies. So far, she'd only come across 4-5 humanoid looking brown skinned demons with horns that flung fast flying energy balls at her, all of whom she'd taken down with ease. Then, near the entrance of the buildings she came across 3 bigger humanoid looking demons with skulls of bulls, with horns protruding from their forehead and lower jaws. They walked upright like human beings but with bull like hooves. Their skin was pale white in color and held large axes in their clawed hands. The nearest one opened its jaws, firing off an array of green fireballs speeding at incredible speeds.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Ruby, as she bent backwards allowing them to pass over her head….

*CRACK!* *POP!* *BAAANG!*

Each of the fireballs exploded, raining smaller glowing fireballs all over the place like shrapnel.

"Oh shi-!" The vasto lorde reacted fast, but not fast enough. A burning, sizzling smell drafted around her, multiple burn holes littered across her back. They were not lethal or powerful in any sense, but the damage they did was real.

"Ack, you pieces of-!" The other two demons also fired off more of those fireballs, each one raining fiery shrapnel at her.

"Two can play at this game!" roared Ruby, charging up a crimson sphere, firing it off at the demons. She clenched her fist, causing it to shoot off smaller cero blasts. Though it didn't kill them, it did cause them to stagger in their tracks. Ruby rushed in, closing the distance. She vaulted over the first demon, lopping off its head. Then, grabbing that head, she used its horn to impale the second demon's jaw, punched into its mouth and them blasted it with a bala, spraying its guts over her face. The third one swung its axe at her, but she nimbly sidestepped, stepped on the axe and then aimed Crescent Rose at the third demon's eyes, putting a hole right through its brain. Grabbing its falling head, she charged a cero, blasting it to oblivion.

"Nice, that actually worked! Thanks for showing me that neat little trick! I think I'll name it….Cero Granada!" she beamed with satisfaction looking at the decapitated demon. These things were strong, but damn were they slow as hell! The building ruins were in front of her, 4 of them to be precise about the size of a house. Bit and pieces of bones, flesh, rubble, metal and earth were strewn about.

"Wonder why its so empty-"

*BAANG!* *BOOM!*

Part of the wall cracked as the shots broke off fragments from it, barely missing her face. She reflexively took cover, readying Crescent Rose in its gun mode. Of course, it wouldn't be as simple, she thought to herself. She peeked over to see whom she was facing.

There was but a lone figure. An armor of dark green, silver, black and bronze, 2m high and futuristic in design and a helmet with a dark green visor that hid the face of whatever it was under the hulking armor. 'He' was holding a double-barreled shotgun, armed and pointing towards where she was standing. At this point, she was really confused. Was this thing a demon or something else? She couldn't see any chains on it, so definitely not a togabito. But this thing didn't look human either. So what was it?

BGM: BFG Division

Only one way to find out, she said to herself. Taking a deep breath, she dashed away from it, putting as much distance as she could. She opened fire with Crescent Rose, missing him as the figure quickly strafed to his right, firing off his shotgun. Ruby strafed to her right too, one of the pellets lightly grazing her shoulder. The two circled each other firing off another round at each other and quickly dashing backwards taking cover in the buildings.

That thing moves like I did! She thought to herself, incredulous. Let's see if I can get in close….

She then dove out of cover, firing off a couple of balas at his direction. The armored being simply went left, left, right, avoiding them with ease. She noticed he'd changed his gun, now holding what looked like a launcher type weapon, firing off mini missiles. She jumped around, moving in circles around the surrounding rubble and debris, avoiding the mini explosions the rockets were creating as they exploded. Ruby retaliated by firing off mini balas at him but most of them missed given that she was too busy dodging rocket fire. The guy stopped for a bit, seeing that the rockets weren't doing the trick. He then put away the launcher, which mysteriously disappeared and took out a chaingun, firing off a volley of ultra-fast bullets at her.

"AAWWWEEE COME ON!" she roared, increasing her pace and focusing solely on avoiding the hail of bullets as she sprinted to the nearest building for cover. Even with her speed, she couldn't avoid all of them. Two of them went through her left shoulder, and one of them through her abdomen. Tch, this is bad, at this rate I'll….No wait, she thought Firing off that thing must require him to limit that thing's movements. I can use that to get in close and melee him in! And so, she put her plan in motion. Stopping abruptly, she jumped in the opposite direction, hoping to catch him off guard. But to her surprise, the volley of bullets didn't stop and was instead following her movements the same as before. But being airborne, it was her movements that were limited this time.

"Ah crap I'll just have to wing it!" She fired off a bala towards the sky, propelling herself to the ground. Springing her legs in, she lunged towards the armored thing, zig-zagging about to avoid the incoming rain of bullets. She closed in, and the guy switched back to her shotgun again.

*SCHING!*

The two stood off, facing each other with their respective guns pointed at each other. Neither said a word or made a single sound. Just a little, being this close, she could see a face beyond the visor. The face of a middle-aged muscular man with sharp features and piercing eyes.

"You're no demon….so a togabito…?" She questioned him. But she didn't get any reaitsu off from him. So….a human?! She had this much trouble against a human?!

The guy looked at her from head to toe, noticing the chain on her hollow hole. His eyes narrowed a bit.

*RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRWWWWWWWWWWW!*

The two looked around. Hoards of many different kinds of demons, both flying and grounded, approaching them from all sides.

*BAANG!*

The two fired their weapons simultaneously, their shots aimed past the head of the other and right at the slough of the incoming demons in front of them.

"Looks like we'll have to put aside our contest for a little while!" declared, rushing past the man while the armored guy did the same.

It was an incredible scene to witness; A hulking armored man using a wide arsenal of weapons ranging from a chaingun, shotguns, an assault rifle, a plasma rifle, a rocket launcher, a chainsaw and even just his bare hands to rip, tear, shred, blast, eviscerate and slice open the demons which swarmed around him in different forms. Some were humanoid like the ones from the first layer, there were some others like the bull like demons that Ruby had fought earlier, there were also some flying, one eyed, fleshy dark red demons with scaly skins shooting glowing blue energy blasts. Grounded, fast running pinky demons with jaws like a hippo running around gnawing and biting apart their foes; Fat, blubbery demons with the heads of deformed pigs firing off huge, fast flying blasts of fireballs in many directions in front of them; But they all fell the same to the green armored man, and the pile of flesh, guts, gore, blood and bone around him only grew more and more in number, staining the ground around them a fresh bloody crimson.

Ruby herself wasn't too far behind either, matching the armored man's carnage just the same, using her own arsenal of weapons such as he claws to shred and rip apart demon guts and heads; fangs that chomped out and tore asunder demonic flesh; her ever faithful Crimson Rose doing a fine job of slicing and splitting the fiends to ribbons, and of course, her balas and cero blasts reducing the damned to ash. The reishi in the air, the rush of adrenaline as she evaded, sliced, ripped and shred demon blubber to a gory mess, the wet sloshing her claws made as they pierced through demonic hearts and organs, the sick sounds of flesh being ripped, bones cracking and blood and viscera spraying at her as she tore through the demons sent euphoria shooting through her entire being. All the frustration, all the torture and experimentation under Szayel, and all the times she'd been killed here while training and learning to adapt and grow stronger during her time with Reiji was all washed away temporarily as she drenched herself in the unholy pitter patter of demonic life fluids.

The two were so in sync, nobody would've been able to tell they were complete strangers trying to kill each other only moments before. The two also supported each other throughout the massacre, either by providing the other a boost when needed or by saving the other from a demon's attack when it came. Ruby didn't think she would have company down in the lower layers of hell hunting demons, but she sure as hell didn't complain.

End BGM

Finally, the last of the demons fell, a lone flying dark red fleshy demon that got its eyes plucked out and blasted apart by Ruby's cero. She spit out a piece of demon flesh stuck in her mouth. The scene around her left little to no ground that wasn't covered in demonic guts or wasn't stained red, not unlike her own body.

"That was something else! Mister-?" Silence. The only thing in front of her was the massive pile of corpses littered about with no sign of the monster that defeated them.

"Huh…where did he go…?" she wondered. He was there just a moment ago!

"How strange…" she told herself. But she didn't have the luxury of worrying about these things. These demons would respawn soon, they always did. Though she was slightly disappointed in not being able to ask him about why someone like him was here and more importantly, about his kickass weapons. She couldn't afford to waste anymore time here nor could she afford to waste the welcoming aid she got from the guy in fighting these things.

"I owe you one, Green armored guy! Next time, be sure to show me those cool weapons of yours!" she said to no one in particular. She took a slow, deep breath. She was panting, her arms felt just that extra bit heavier making it slightly harder to hold on to Crescent Rose. She had a few broken teeth, some claw and scratch marks, burns and scorch marks, all of which were already healing. Her reaitsu was also regenerating faster than it usually did in the 1st layer. But her stamina was another issue all together. These demons would respawn soon enough, and she wouldn't fare this well in her current state if another attack happened.

"No rest for the wicked" she said. She couldn't let her stamina hold her back now. Onward she went towards the bloody lake and the tower where the guardian of this layer lay.

The bloody lake wasn't nearly as perilous as she'd suspected compared to the carnage she'd been in just then. There were floating blocks throughout, and she simply had to make sure to check for any potential ambushes from any demons that may be present inside the bloody waters as she hopped and leapt across from one platform to the next. She did come across a couple of eel like creatures with exposed brains and the body of a togabito stitched together; the face of the togabito to the demon's brain. But they were easily incapacitated by a swift slice or a cero blast. She did have to make sure that she took them out before they got too close though, lest they knock her down below. Becoming eternal food for a school of these things underwater where she couldn't even move about was the last thing on her list.

Finally, the humongous tower came into view. It was broken, dilapidated, its dull grey stone walls barely holding on, with an opening at the base. Closer, she noticed there were strange symbols on the base of the tower.

BGM: Doom OST E2M8 – Nobody told me about Id

"Huh wonder if this is even the right place" she asked herself. Wasn't there supposed to be a super scary guardian here or something? Suddenly as if to answer her question, the symbols on the floor began glowing, the base of the tower suddenly rumbling and moving. The circular floor shuddered and then started descending downwards. She could see the little opening in the roof becoming smaller and smaller. She didn't mind the ride though, it gave her enough time to recover her stamina and wounds, for she would definitely need it for her confrontation with the guardian.

Finally, the circular floor stopped in what appeared a fairly medium sized octagonal room, with 4 doors, the central shaft housing the 'lift' that she came in and in between each of the doors was the crucified body of the guardian of the 1st layer, her insides showing, throat chewed out, one of her feet crushed, arm amputated with the bone sticking out and eyes stitched shut.

Ruby gulped. Way to set the mood huh.

She approached one of the doors and they automatically granted her entrance. The door opened to a large open area, which was surrounded in the distance by a dull brown wall atleast 100 meters high. She could also make out a few square towers scattered about, dull green in color with the faces of the demons of the 2nd layer etched on them. She approached the other doors and they all opened to the same open area.

"Innie, Meanie, Mynnie, Moe! Ok, this one then!" she said, choosing a door cautiously going through. She made it out to the open field, peeking out first to check for any sign of the guardian and proceeding when the coast was clear.

*UUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin. The titanic roar came from her right, and when she turned to look at the source of the sound…..

Ruby's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. 15 meters in height. The body of a giant, muscular and human like torso, arms and legs with the hooves of a horse, clawed hands and a face of a goat, except it was upside down. The face had 3 sets of horns, one from the forehead, one from the upper jaw and one set from the lower jaw. Its eye sockets were blank, instead going for a single blood red eye in its forehead.

Level 2 Guardian

The Kaiserdemon

The demon charged at her upon sight, quite fast for its size. And with its size, each step it took covered a lot of distance. Ruby got to work immediately. She put some distance between herself and the horned abomination, firing off balas as she did. The crimson blasts dissipated as they made contact with the fiend's body harmlessly.

"Tch, so that wont work" noted Ruby, remembering the tip her master had given her about the 2nd floor guardian. Big. Hard Hitting. Fast for its size. Immense resistance to reishi and physical attacks, unless she could strike that thing with a physical attack that could split a castle in half or something. And…

*WHOOOSH* *SWWIIIISHHH* *WHIIZZZZZ* *CRACKLE*

Hot, fiery balls of intense energy whizzed past her, each one nearly 2m in diameter. The demon's hands were glowing as it kept up its barrage of high damage projectiles. The vasto lorde skirted around, using the nearby square blocks for cover. She could feel the heat of the blasts as they exploded against the blocks.

"Damn, there must be a way to take this guy down…maybe the eye?"

She jumped out, zig zagging about as she moved forward, aiming a particularly powerful bala at the kaiserdemon's exposed eye. She made sure not to get to close, let she be squashed or crushed to death.

*THUUUNNNNK!*

The hollow bullet flew true to its mark, but was blocked when the Kaiserdemon brought its clawed hand to its face, almost as if 'catching' the blast it its hands.

"You've got to be kidding me!...Ah shi-!"

The demon had closed the gap, stomping and clawing at her with surprising speed and accuracy.

"Ah crap.. ah…no….dammit… oh shit….grhhhh! Woah….urghh!" Too close, too close! She was literally hanging on by a thin thread, barely avoiding the giant demon's assaults.

*BZZT!*

She forcibly put some distance, even if it meant she couldpotentially be crippled by her Sonido. Well, atleast she would have some time to strategize-

*SWOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHHH*

A huge torrential stream of red-hot flames erupted from the Kaiserdemon's mouth. It lay down on its back, flipping over so that its mouth faced downwards, spewing fiery breaths.

"Ack dammit I wont be able to..!" With a quick eye, she spotted one of the doors near her position, diving inside with her throbbing legs to take cover. But the damage was already being dealt. The flames had burnt and seared her skin. Waves of pain shot across her body.

"Kuuuhhh…! Shit, how do I beat this thing..?! Resistant to physical and reaitsu attacks, fast and hard hitting and it also spits fire…?! This is just so…! What did master say again..?"

Her thoughts went back to her conversation with Reiji when the two were talking about the guardians of Hell.

-Flashback-

"I know that one looks unbeatable, but here's a tip: To beat the Kaisendemon, hit it until it dies"

"Master! Come on, be serious!" said Ruby, pouting.

"Ahahah! Alright, alright. In all seriousness, defeating an opponent can mean a lot of things. It isn't always through power or technique. And….the term one-on-one is very misleading. Most always assume that its one fighter against vs the other. But that's wrong. In a contest between two fighters, especially those of high skill, there are always 2 opponents each fighter faces. The fighter in front of them and….their own self. You are always fighting your own thoughts and decisions, especially in heated situations, as much as you are with the opponent. Never forget that"

-Flashback ends-

"Right, so what does that mean here….Hmm…? Aha…." She said, a small smile growing on her face. "I can use that…"

The kaiserdemon paced about, looking for its target. The little wench had disappeared, with no sign of coming out. It had considered blasting flames into the door, but that wouldn't be any fun now would it? Nay, it needed to kill her where it could see her, either being burnt to a crisp or squashed into a fine splatter under its hooves. It circled around once more, on the lookout for anything-

Ah, there's the little bug! The crafty little rat though itself clever, peeking out like that from there. The Kaiserdemon approached the figure, and brought down its claw, making a noticeable splat on the ground. It then proceeded to stomp the little bloodstain, rubbing its hoof to smear the little shit on the ground. How strange, it thought it itself. It couldn't hear the crinkling of the little wench's hell chains as it was making a fine past of her. It then removed its hoof, using its clawed hands to pick up the little piece of squashed meat and flesh.

"Hey! Over here!" called out a voice from behind. The gargantuan guardian, bewildered, looked behind turning its giant head. And there she was, the little wench, safe and relatively unharmed. It then looked at the thing it was holding. It was hard to tell what the body looked like when it had been ground into a fine paste, but upon a closer look, it could make out a small patch of black and white flesh. It then realized that it had just been played.

*RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

In a furious rage, it rushed at her, swinging its claws at the tiny-

*KLINK* *KLINK*

"Hey hey! Don't look away now! I'm right here!" said the little squirt from its side. The guardian twisted and turned its body, slamming its claw down.

"Missed me! I'm here!"

*SLAAAM!* *SLAAAM!* *SLAAAM!*

The swatting and slamming continued, all the while the guardian's movements became slower and slower, while Ruby jumped around avoiding its massive hooves and claws. Finally, Ruby put some distance, calling out to the demon one last time. This time, the demon had had enough. It moved forward but something pulled at its hooves. It turned to look at its feet, but the very action caused it to trip, making it fall down with a mighty boom that shook the entire floor. Wrapped around its hooves were invisible, shimmering chains, originating from Ruby's belly. The fall had caused the demon's face to stick deep into the ground, the horns practically wedged into the earth. It tried to free itself, but like a tortoise on its back, there was nothing it could do but helplessly flail about. The little wench walked up to its giant monoeye which was as big as her head.

End BGM

"If you can't do it yourself, let your opponent beat itself" chirped Ruby. "This is payback for nearly making vasto lorde barbeque out of me!"

*SCHICK!* *SQUELCH!* *RIIIIIPPP* *RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRRRR* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM*

The kaiserdemon's constant pursuit and speed had made it impossible for Ruby to set up a trap while she was avoiding fireballs, flames, claws and hooves. Using the corpse of the first guardian in the room had proven to a really simple but effective strategy to distract him long enough to setup the initial conditions. The rest, was just play talk and the result was her holding the Kaiserdemon's monoeye in her hand while its body exploded and disappeared.

"Tch, I probably shouldn't use these chains in my fighting style, when I leave this place, I doubt I'll have them. Shouldn't rely on something that I'll lose soon" she told herself. She then went back to the room, crushing the monoeye in her hand and dripping the foul blood onto the platform in the center. The circular lift was now glowing with different symbols.

"Two down, 3 more to go" she said, as she stepped onto the platform and disappeared with a soundless flash.

Next up, Ruby's escape from hell, facing challenges that take a new turn all together but growing stronger all the same. A very important meeting, a transformation and a timeskip to mark the end of the Hell arc and the beginning of the new arc. And of course, I hope you liked the little Doom slayer cameo! Needless to say, the 2nd layer was literally Doom cross references left and right. The 1st guardian was inspired by SCP-029.

And that's it for now! I realize it's taken me a bit longer to upload, was busy with a couple of personal stuff. And, yeah, I do feel I could've written the last chapter better. But then again, that's how it is I suppose. Finding faults and improving is how it should be. Which is why I am glad for all the comments and suggestions, do keep them coming for I appreciate all the tips and improvements I can make to my writing to make this a great read for both you and me.

Response to reviews:

The-Killer-40513: Well, it's a bit complex, but the short answer is that they're not. To them, Pyrrha was killed by cinder and Ruby just disappeared in a bright flash. But the thing is, it doesn't matter. When Ruby returns to cinder, it wont be to this 'moment'. Ah but that's already spoiling something

Cyan-Snake: We're there! I mean, though I said 'transformation', its not really a spoiler, its pretty much a giveaway of which transformation we're talking about. But the reason she didn't is because Reiji believed it was better to master control over your powers than to increase them. And this is easier with a smaller amount of power.

Momentei: Thanks! I too felt that I could've included all that info gradually as Ruby explored the layers one by one. But, since Hellverse is so different from Cannon, I felt like it's better to put it out in 1 go so people don't think it came out of nowhere.

Robbie2413: Well, now you know! That is indeed what she did.

D'nnome: Yeah. Because natural talent will only get you so far. No matter what it is, a teacher is something you will always need at some point in the arts you practice. It also makes it believable when she becomes stronger.

ConfusedSalt: I understand. But as you can see, there are some themes mentioned, but not touched upon really. I mean, I did warn the readers things will be quite dark. But I hardly doubt there will come a point where someone will be put off because its too dark. I wouldn't worry so much about that. Its aimed to be more tragic than dark if you ask me.

Dovah117: Well, I guess you got your answer ;) Hope you liked it!

ultima-owner: Indeed, and she'll be all the more badass because of it

Mouser: I agree, I could've done a better job at adding this info, perhaps gradually as Ruby explored the layers or in a glossary or something at the end of the chapter. But as you can see, I'm just a novice, still and always learning how to improve. I can assure you though that there wont be any more info dumps in the future, and I only did it here because Hellverse is completely different in my story and I thought its better readers don't feel things don't just pop out of nowhere. I totally get it might be a chore to read through. Regarding the concept itself, of course you don't go to hell just for that, and that's why Reiji said it's a complex thing to explain and it all depends on each case. The point I wanted to show, was that Ruby learns and accepts that nothing in the world can ever be judged without ever knowing the full picture and that it's almost impossible to classify something as totally right or wrong. Looking at all perspectives is important when dealing with someone. I still hope you'll continue reading and hope I can do a better job in my future chapters!