How should True Hell be? People can have different opinions. Some may say that encountering one's worst nightmares would be the worst hell, while others believe that simple torture and intense pain constitute hell, regardless of personal fears and nightmares.
Throughout the universe, there are hell worlds built on different theories. Some specialize in emotional torture, others in physical suffering, and some combine both to create the best—or rather, worst—of both worlds.
Zagronan usually preferred a simple, physical Hell. He believed that a true hell world must be chaotic, where life is worthless, and death could happen at any moment. In his vision, the strong prey upon the weak without hesitation. In hindsight, his view of hell was relatively tame and straightforward.
Lana, on the other hand, was far more cruel. Her view of hell was a place where one encounters one's worst nightmares every second, where death is begged for but never granted. To her, death is a mercy, and staying alive is a curse.
The true hell she designed for her family reunion followed her beliefs, not Zagronan's. She separated a piece of her rank 13 world and began designing carefully. To build a proper, true hell, one needs at least two things: demons and souls.
She purchased demons from the rank 14 civilization "Alive." Her world had a license for demons; she could have developed them herself, but she didn't bother with the trouble. Instead, she bought fully trained demons—she had the money anyway.
The rank 14 civilization "Alive" is still active, and Rachel recognizes its licenses. However, that doesn't mean it is independent; "Alive" follows Rachel's orders, which is the only reason it is allowed to conduct business. For Rachel, who has access to the Gray Realm, their wealth is insignificant compared to hers; she doesn't mind letting them earn money in a universe under her control.
With demons in place, Lana only needed souls to build the foundation of her ideal True Hell. She captured a few quintillion humans, elves, and other creatures from her world, killed them, and placed their souls in the newly built hell. While a few quintillion souls are small for a hell world, it was enough for her purposes.
Killing so many mortals for no reason didn't bother Lana. In her view, mortals are the most expendable resource—easily replaceable in no time.
With demons and souls in place, the only thing left was the style. Lana preferred a true hell with both physical and spiritual torture. She employed demons to handle both. The demons she purchased were very skilled in these areas. She created specialized teams: physical torture teams that burned and tortured souls without killing them, healing teams to prevent the destruction of the souls, and nightmare teams responsible for individualizing each soul's torment based on their worst fears. There were also teams for emotional manipulation, research and development, statistics, and torment studies—all working to make everything run smoothly and achieve the most pain and suffering possible.
The hell she built was of an exceptionally high level. With over a hundred quintillion demons, there were fifteen demons for each soul. The resources spent on demons far exceeded other hells, where the usual ratio is one demon to a million souls. The ratio was fifteen to one in her hell—a staggering difference.
Imagine, in a school setting, having fifteen teachers for each student. Even the most dim-witted child would learn to read with that kind of attention. In the context of hell, however, having fifteen demons figuring out the best ways to maximize your torment is terrifying, to say the least.
Lana decided to test her True Hell for a few months to compare it to other hell worlds. The statistics team worked hard and calculated a torment level of 109. In contrast, the average torment score for a typical hell is only 0.14!
An average torment score of 109 was awe-inspiring, meaning the souls "un" fortunate enough to end up in her hell were suffering hundreds of times more than those in a run-of-the-mill hell. Lana was delighted with the score and looked forward to bragging about it to Saviour and Zagronan.
"If I remember correctly, Zagronan's True Hell has a torment score of 0.04? Haha, he's all talk! His average score is lower than the overall average!" she laughed.
…
Saviour gazed at the pink world in front of him.
"Saviour! My big boy! Come in!" Lana's voice called out, inviting him and opening a passage. Since Lana was a rank 13, she couldn't just teleport him in without his consent.
Seeing the passage, Saviour didn't hesitate. Even though going in meant risking being trapped or eaten, millions of worlds he had saved would be in danger if he ran or hid. He would rather be eaten than put them at risk.
On this trip, he must not let his mother know about his habits; she is a chaotic demon, and he cannot predict how she would react if she knew he was a good person who helps the weak. She might decide to kill those he saved for no reason or 'teach him a lesson' or 'bring him to the right path.' He already had a terrible experience with his father, and he does not want to repeat the mistake with his mother.
Therefore, he has to act 'normal,' as one would expect from a typical demon, to hide his secret.
Upon entering, however, the scene before him shocked him, and not in a good way.
"Mother? Why?" He looked around at the tortured souls, burning, screaming, and suffering in ways unimaginable.
"Look! This is the true hell I prepared especially for our family reunion! Guess the torment score!" Lana said eagerly.
Knowing full well what torment scores were, Savior trembled as he observed the scene. "It should be more than 10?" he replied, his voice shaking. He couldn't begin to fathom the suffering those souls endured.
Seeing Saviour's reaction, Lana smiled proudly. "It's 109."
"100?" Saviour looked again, more closely this time. Most of the demons around were rank 10, some even rank 11! A dozen demons surrounded and tormented a single mortal soul, casting mental torture spells, burning it, ripping its limbs, healing its body to prevent its death, and studying its worst nightmares to craft torment tailored just for it. So much effort was spent on torturing a single soul—it was no wonder the torment score was so high.
"Mother, isn't this a bit… overkill?" Saviour held back from saying more. Angering his mother could end badly for him and the worlds he had saved, so he refrained from being disrespectful.
"Overkill? No! I believe in quality over quantity. This is a special occasion, after all; we can afford the luxury! Here, have a taste of my distilled Fear Wine. It's the highest quality, made from the fear emotions produced here," Lana said, pulling out a dark bottle that seemed to absorb light from the surroundings.
"Mother, I am not impressed by this hell you've created. It's a waste of resources on a few mortal souls," Saviour replied, trying to reduce their suffering.
"You're too stingy! For us, this is nothing. Now, sit and enjoy the wine. I've also prepared Anger, Envy, Pride wines, and delicacies like newborn meat. We're going to have fun!" she said, sitting on a chair that appeared out of nowhere.
Saviour swallowed hard, unsure if he could tolerate the feast. He would never consume such demonic food, not even if his life depended on it.
"Mother, I've brought a few presents for you! Let's eat these today," he said, placing vegetarian dishes on the table. Though they were delicious to him, Lana looked disgusted by their aroma.
"What is this garbage? Do you eat this?" she scoffed. A crying newborn elf appeared in her hand with a snap of her fingers. "You try this delicious newborn. Its mother drank only fear wine for three months during pregnancy; you try this, and I'll try the trash you brought."
Saviour took the baby, who was crying like any newborn despite being raised on fear wine. "Mother, this newborn has good genes. I'd like to breed it with my night elves!" He quickly stored the baby in his advanced storage space, designed to hold living beings comfortably.
"That was for food!" Lana protested, though she had already taken a bite of the vegetables.
"I'll eat it later. Now, what do you think of my vegetarian food?" Saviour asked. The food was the best he had, made with considerable effort in the hopes of changing his mother's diet.
"It's not as bad as I expected. Maybe I should try the greenmen's newborns!" Lana mused.
Saviour could only sigh. His mother was simply too evil.
As they conversed, a rumbling came from outside.
"Huh, Zagronan arrived! As expected of a true demon—so aggressive!" Lana smiled. Zagronan had punched her world, causing it to tremble. Of course, it wasn't a full-power hit or would have caused more damage. He had a habit of "knocking" by kicking the door, sometimes destroying worlds.
Lana snapped her fingers, opening a passage. A demon bathed in red light entered, glaring at both Lana and Saviour with murderous intent.
Seeing this, Saviour trembled; his father knew about his secret and might reveal it to his mother. He had no idea his father would also come.