"You piece of shit! You betrayed us!" was yelled from within the crowd circling a young, knelt demonborn.
"I fucking told you! He was up to no good!" an old devil yelled from the back of the circle. "I always knew there was something off about you!"
As the circling crowd began to grow, the chaos within them grew too. Other unpleasant comments about the behavior of this young demon born were yelled out, some being deemed 'too inappropriate,' even for a creature from hell. These comments, while harsh and incredibly indecent, didn't seem to affect the targeted young man at all. He seemed totally content with his current situation. Sure, he was roughed up in the face and on his body, and he was tied to a stake in the ground, but the only discomfort he presented was when he would to suck his teeth when his wounds stung.
"Goddamn it, I forgot to turn off the oven again." Tetsuo thought as he sucked his teeth once more. He proceeded to spit out what looked to be one of his molars. "Shiiiiit…"Tetsuo was clearly shocked by his bloody, cracked tooth on the ground. "Well at least that's one less cavity I gotta worry about." A clear, mischievous grin was painted onto his face.
It was then that the most abnormal thing occurred. When the young demonborn thought that this crowd would've never stopped, the large mob went silent. Every devil, demon and hellish creature that was present in the crowd turned quiet. Their mouths were sewn shut, and everybody seemed to simply stare at the young criminal. This was what made Tetsuo a little on edge.
"What the f-" As Tetsuo tried to look around, he watched as the crowd, in unison, changed their posture into a military-like stance. From the corner of his eye, Tetsuo also noticed that a part of the crowd, to his right, was moving. It was as if someone was attempting to get through the crowd of hellish beings. "Who the hell is…" In the blink of an eye, the young demon born saw the crowd no more. He found that a tall, slender, cloaked and hooded figure stood in front of his field of view, blocking his sight of the crowd. Tetsuo looked up, slightly trembling. "How the hell did he get so close?! I didn't even see him move! Who the hell is this fucking creep!?" Anxiously, he tried to meet eyes with this figure in front of him. However, all he saw looking into the hood of this cloaked creature was pure darkness, a near vanta black of shadow replacing what should've been a face. It was then that the grappled demonborn was swept by a wave of dark shadow that replaced the crowd around him. The environment around Tetsuo turned completely dark and the only thing that he could see was the figure standing before him. Tetsuo's heart beat louder and louder until it mimicked the sound of the steps of a giant.
"You… are not… worthy…" A small whisper was heard coming from the hooded figure. It took all of the energy in the world before Tetsuo could say anything.
"W-What?? Not worthy..?"
"You… betrayed… the laws… of this plane…" The cloaked figure replied.
"Shit… I really messed up this time, didn't I?" Tetsuo thought as he sighed, realizing his mistake. Knowing this relieved him, he finally knew what was going on.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat~? Waddya mean pal? I didn't break no rules, did I? I mean, everyone knows I'm no criminal! Ask anybody around! I wouldn't do such a thing. " Tetsuo tried to play it off cool, but the figure standing before him seemed unamused by his attempts. "And even if I did slip up, it wouldn't have been anything too bad, right??"
"For this… you shall be punished…" The figure whispered once more. Tetsuo was heavily intimidated by his words. It was then that the figure's cloak began to open. The dark pit that sat in the cloak was still visible, however, a large, tarnished blood blade, glowing in all of its glory, came from within the darkness. Tetsuo recognized the blade instantly; this was the blade that was used to execute any criminal of the hells, no matter the crime. This blade was famous for executing the most dangerous criminals: Phoenix, the Serial Killer of all planes, Gulmund, the killer of the Pumpkin Patch Pirates, and Crown, the famous hellish assassin rogue.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!!" Tetsuo's eyes widened, his forehead started to moisten, and his scales unhinged from his skin. He was clearly panicking and didn't know what to do. "Shit! What the fuck do I do?! Do I fight?! Do I plead?! Do I.. accept…?" Tetsuo panicked as he closed his eyes, nearly accepting his execution. "This is the end… isn't it? You really fucked up this time, didntcha, Tetsuo?" He shut his eyes, closing them as tight as he could and flexed every muscle in his body to brace for impact. As he closed his eyes tighter, his life flashed before his eyes; the nearly 200 years that he's lived in hell was completely over and now, he'll be put in purgatory until the end of time. This was the end for the demonborn: Tetsuo Higuchi. "Goodbye, abyss."
It was then that the oddest thing happened, even odder than what happened earlier. In his moment of execution, Tetsuo heard a voice: a young, healthy female voice, laughing. It wasn't any evil laughter, though. It was a joyful laughter, not targeted at anybody; a pure laugh that melted the hearts of whoever heard it. It was contagious. This laughter eased Tetsuo's nerves. He didn't know who it was or why he heard this woman's voice, but he didn't care. Although he knew nothing about this voice, he was content and happy to hear this person, laughing gleefully in his mind. To him, it was like someone was there for him…in the hour of his death.
He stopped tensing up, he eased his eyes and his life, flashing before his eyes, stopped flashing before him. It was then that the demonborn… smiled. The most sincere and happy grin cracked through the layers of his personality.
"Ah... fuck. I've got more to live for, don't I?" As the cloaked figure pierced deeper into the scales of his neck, Tetsuo had a moment of reawakening; he refused to die. In an act of rebellion against the god of death, Tetsuo opened his mouth, raising his chin towards the sky, and he casted an illegal teleportation spell through his throat. Arcane runes and glyphs started to line the inside of Tetsuo's gullet causing it to glow a bright, hot orange. The cloaked figure, seeing this, knew he was trying to dodge his execution, so he pushed the sword deeper into his skin. As he cut deeper, getting half an inch into his neck, Tetsuo flinched, nearly losing concentration of the spell, but it was too late for the cloaked figure. The glyphs brightened exponentially and in the blink of an eye, a wave of arcane magic pulsed throughout Tetsuo's body from his throat, erasing his physical form and transporting him into a place no other hell creature would want to go: the Prime Material Plane.