After a brief pause, time began to flow again, only that the gap in space beneath them was covered in a burst of fire, and soon burned up, burned up space? Char was stunned, his body fell, landing heavily on a stone, pain covering the whole body. He saw the collapse of the palace above him, and quickly rolled left and right to avoid the stones falling from above, but still couldn't dodge, a stone hit his shoulder, the interior of the shell was minced meat, and his right arm was immediately broken through.
Fortunately, the children's bodies were built to be suitable for combat, pain was shielded, Shire did not have a special feeling, but could not move.
He opened his mouth and sniffed the burnt smell in the air.
As he looked up, the upper palace was tilting, sinking to one side in the molten lava. The dome above him was cracking, and the entire palace was falling apart, allowing him to see beyond it.
As far as the eye can see, there are still rock walls, stones, stones, endless stones.
This made Charles wonder, for he remembered that he had first been in an underground hatchery, and that Graddius had broken underground passages and brought him to the palace that connected the hatchery. Was this palace itself in another, larger hole in the ground? He had thought that the palace was built on an endless dry land, and that demons were fighting in a wide area... But it's not. It's still underground.
Is all hell so barren, surrounded by lava and stone? So what's above all these rocks and caves?
"Thinking about it that much doesn't make your life better." "Hell is full of stones. It is the most barren place. There is nothing but little boys fighting."
"If we don't go, it'll be too late." Char lay in the rubble.
More flames sprang up from the gap above, blazing into a long wall.
Open a pair of black eyes from the wall of fire.
"I never expected to see you again in this way, Graddiu." The sound reminded Char of meteorites moving across the sky.
"Look, Char, this is another demon, Ignitz." Graddiu was introduced with little interest.
"You have made friends with mortals." The Flame Lord's voice sounded friendly. "That's good. Tell me about him too. I like you, your taste, and the face of the new world."
"See you next time, Ignitz." Graddiu casually perfunctory, shire feel the blade demon particularly flustered.
"I said we could talk and exchange ideas about why you were in such a hurry to leave."
"We've talked about it thousands of times, so one less conversation doesn't hurt."
"Once we clashed with swords and fire, over water, over plains, over a bush of flowers, and once we hated each other so much, but since your exile the land has lost a demon of good taste and individuality, and hell has become a pale place without your flower wit." Ignitz spoke softly.
'You're just jealous of me! You're jealous of my ability to capture fresh souls on earth. Ha-ha! Exile will not destroy me, exile will only make me stronger!"
Graddius extracted their souls, voluntarily disengaged from the demonic shell, degraded the demonic substance back into the original black sediment, and then wrapped the souls in their collection, redrawing the cracks in space on the ground.
The wall of fire stretched slowly.
"Go quickly." Graddiu urged.
Char felt the flow of time slow in the twilight, only the black eyes in the wall of fire looked at him kindly.
He felt weightless, fell off a cliff, and immediately woke up from his dream.
Charles found himself in a fine palace, and several girls with large breasts, thin waists, and long chestnut hair up to the waist lifted him up and led him into a great hall. These girls wore translucent veils, thin skirts under them, and no clothes above the navel, and walked with soft anklets, and all of them had high noses and deep eyes, and beautiful eyes, and looked shy at Charles.
Their whole body is coated with fragrant honey oil, taste fresh, like flowers like honey, touch smooth, let Shire dizzy.
The hall was the size of a vast playing field, large enough for a team of knights to exercise here, and Shire looked up to see a high platform in the center, surrounded by thousands of worshippers, all dressed in white. If you want to get close to the high platform, you have to climb an infinite number of steps, and the venerable on the platform is remote and lofty.
"Graddiu is not a friendly companion, is he? He often laughs at you, Char, and what you do always seems foolish to him." It was the sound of those black eyes.
"Where is this?" Shire puzzled, "Who are these people?"
"This is a corner of hell, my hall, where worshippers come from other worlds and seek light and wisdom and protection from me, such is the power of fire, we drive away the darkness and drive away the beasts." Ignitz explained.
"I'm going back."
"You don't want Graddius to remain in your soul, do you? Graddiu is a blade demon, and you are a demon hunter active in the underdeveloped world. You should hunt demons, and it is a shame on you to keep Graddiu alive."
"That's right."
"Give me Graddius, and I will strip it from your soul, and you will no longer be troubled by it, and your hunting mission will be carried out, and you will live without its SINS." Rest assured, after this, I will send you safely back to Earth. I have no need to hurt you or devour you. Your thin mortal soul is too cheap for me."
Charles can feel his soul, part of him, part of Gladius, and the blade demon preys on his soul, arrogantly inhabiting Charles's body and trying to occupy his consciousness.
That's how things work, and since I'm a demon hunter, I'm supposed to get rid of the Blade demon.
"You know I'm a demon hunter?"
"I know all too well that you are young and inexperienced, but you are ambitious."
"..."
"I know what you're thinking. 'Graddiu is helping me, he will give me strength'. But this is only for a moment. Think, Shire, as time goes by, the Blade Demon grows stronger and stronger, and soon its power will overtake yours, and your soul will become its, and your consciousness will grow weaker and weaker, and at last it will be sealed in a corner by Graddiu. And it will henceforth be unfettered, the ultimate destruction of your world. At the end of the day, do you really think you can control Graddiu and prevent it from encroaching on your mind? Do you not accept its influence day by day, and your nature is constantly changing? This is your only chance to get rid of Graddius, and I wouldn't be surprised if you refused, but understand that you will now inevitably be the domain of the Blade demon..."
"I..."
"Aren't you becoming more and more impulsive, and under the influence of Graddiu, wanting to cut open anything you see?"
"Yes." Shire admitted.
"Instead of tormenting with demons on earth, why not come here and be my guest?" Ignitz invites.
In a trance, he saw the hall disillusioned, he appeared on a balcony, in front of the hot city, standing everywhere to worship the flame of the temple, the streets are more than he said that the purpose of the ethnic group, there are not many people, but they can live in peace, trade, travel, chat.
"This is my little town, Flame Bottle Two. All lives, as long as they honor the name of Ignitz, can live a good life under my protection. There were no privileges, no taxes, no tyrannies, no matter what profession they were engaged in, they were respectable and respected, artisans and officials were equal. Different cultures blend here, and art and machinery work together. Extroverts can be managed, introverts can study at home, hardworking people have the opportunity to realize themselves, and lazy people are satisfied all day long. Fights are arbitrated, interests are protected, and the flame does justice to all. People like you deserve to be happy here."
"So..."
"Your world is still a very backward place, full of blind ideas about the forces unleashed when particles collide and break apart, or even how to use steam and lightning."
Is this place hell, too? Shire stared at the city, even with the birds and the sun gliding in the sky. The houses were tall, the inhabitants healthy, and very different from the place he had come from, and his first sight of the enviable civilization was in hell.
"I'd love to." Char thought, "You say you can see my thoughts?"
"Your mind will evolve things into something you can understand, and the living soul is clear and full of records. I see your name, your past, the people you love, the people you hate, the things you are proud of, the things you regret, all clear in your soul." Ignitz explained.
"I have decided to give you Graddiu."
"You did the right thing." "Ignitz said.
"After that, can you send me back to life?"
"It was a piece of cake for me."
"Everything must be very simple for a powerful demon like you."
"You are quite right."
"Then you should know, we are human beings, our souls are very strong, you read the surface, maybe you know who I am, what I do, what character I have, and even you can infer my next actions." But you don't know my thoughts, demon, you can't read my mind. I was just testing you."
"... I know, but -- you -- you -- you want --"
Char suddenly realized that he was deaf and blind, and there was no trace around him.
Before Ignitz could say more, the souls of Charles and Graddiu fell completely into the space rift, away from the Fire Lord's manipulation. He left hell, sank into the interstice, sailed through the nothingness of matter, and wrapped the treasures he found.
It is a long process, Graddius carefully manipulating their souls, and Charles sees the interstitial turbulence beyond the ordinary scale, vast and frightening, but small compared to the whole expanse of transboundary nothingness.
Finally, the soul passed through one crack after another, floated back into the cold room, and slowly reentered the Shire body.
The mind and the body are reconnected.
Hands, feet, brain, Char opened his eyes, a splitting headache.
Cold and rigid place, there is no fire in the brazier, freezing to death, dirty and old, Shire thought of the light advanced flame bottle two, thoughts in the heart. I made a terrible mistake. I should have sold Graddiu and enjoyed myself there, surrounded by beautiful women.
"We're back! Made it back! I broke the ban and went to hell again! Only the best of the best, the worst of the worst, the most dreaded Supreme Cutter can have fun in hell!" "Cried Graddius, proud of his own abilities.
Shire sat up wearily from his bed, all over uncomfortable, and saw several treasures scattered on the bed board, which he had caught at random in the confusion.
"You have no idea how annoying it is to cross a crack in space." Graddius went on to boast, "Only a genius like me can play with these complicated laws. Let me give you a preliminary introduction. First of all, between the worlds..."
"The Fire Lord would like to help me, peel you out of my soul, and send me back, or live in one of his beautiful cities."
"... It lies, you wouldn't believe such a bad lie, Ignitz is such a bad man..." 'said Gladwood dryly.
"It's not lying."