Hell, a place in various mythologies and legends, is said to be the counterpart of Heaven. It is said that the souls of the wicked will descend into Hell, burned by endless flames, experiencing all sorts of painful punishments. This is their payment for the sins committed during their lifetimes.
The Hell in DC has similarities with the Hell of mythologies and legends, but they are not entirely the same. This Hell does not specifically punish sinful souls. Instead, all souls that have made a pact with demons or are unable to enter Heaven will end up here.
DC's Hell is also somewhat different from Marvel's. Marvel's Hell is actually a dimension. What's more, this Hell Dimension calls itself Hell, but in reality, it does not have any fixed responsibilities.
Mephisto calls himself Hell's Master, claiming to be the only Satan in the world. However, in truth, he is not the master of Hell, nor is he the only Satan.
Mephisto can call himself Satan, and other Dimensional Demon Gods can also call themselves Satan. It's not an official title, but a self-proclaimed one. The dimensions they control are their own territories, not public places. The souls sheltered there are simply their collections, owned by the master of the dimension.
On the contrary, DC's Hell holds particular public power. It is responsible for taking in souls that can neither ascend to Heaven nor dissipate on the spot. At the same time, the demons in Hell can also trade with humans, using various terms to gain the ownership of their souls.
Also, the changes in power within DC Hell are quite complicated. Apart from Lucifer, there have been many other entities that have become Satan, the real lord of Hell.
First of all, the First Fallen cannot be overlooked. The First Fallen was God's first creation, His companion, and an embodiment of His conscience. But one day, he believed that God had gone mad and didn't want to cooperate with Him anymore. As a result, he was exiled by God to Hell.
The reason he is called the First Fallen is that he was the first creation to arrive in Hell. At that time, he became Satan, the true ruler of Hell.
Latterly, there was a second and a third fallen, and the First Fallen divided his rights among them, forming a trinity in Hell, until the fourth fallen, Lucifer Morningstar, arrived and broke the First Fallen's rule.
Lucifer was God's favorite son. After having a dispute with God, he fell to Hell, and immediately drove the First Fallen from his position as Satan, becoming the ruler of Hell himself.
He also distributed his powers to some demons, including Beelzebub, Azazel, Belial, and others. Among them, Belial, one of the oldest demons in Hell, deserves special mention.
Perhaps his name is not well known, but his two sons are very famous. One is the anti-hero Demon Etrigan, and the other is the well-known great magician, Merlin.
Later developments are known to all. Lucifer grew tired of his days in Hell, frequently running to the Human World, and even opened a bar on the West Coast.
He left on a whim. Hell, however, was thrown into chaos. Originally, the rule of the Satanic trinity was somewhat stable. Despite the presence of various powerful demons ruling their own domains, if any major incident occurred, Satan had the final say.
But with the most powerful and charismatic Lucifer gone, the rule of the trinity was missing its backbone. It was only a matter of time before someone began to stir.
Meanwhile, wheat, which took Lucifer's place for the time being, had to run to the Human World every other day, urging Lucifer to come back. On the other hand, he also had to keep an eye on Hell, suppressing those Big Devils with ulterior motives. He was so busy that he was falling over himself.
However, this suppression could only last for a while. In the end, Duke Astro started a rebellion, intending to break the trinity rule of Satan and become the only Satan.
As Schiller plunged off the cliff, war was still going on in Hell. Duke Astro had assembled several other powerful demons and was attacking Beelzebub's territory. Azazel was worried about Belial's stance and kept him in check, while Belial remained on the sidelines, but many demons under his command were already making their move.
Constantine only saw Schiller fall into the endless flames of Hell. But because of these endless flames covering up the situation in Hell, he couldn't see that Schiller's landing position was very clever. He fell right on the front lines of the war between Duke Astro and Beelzebub.
At that moment, the demon armies of both sides were ready. The Magma demons raised their arms and roared, the Shades gathered into a strong Black Giant, Hell Sandworms drilled out from the ground, and the Sand Demon, covered with eyes, floated above all the demons, monitoring the situation on the battlefield.
The two sides stared at each other across the open field. Battle cries echoed between the hills and deserts of Hell. All awaiting the order from their Generals, a war was about to break out.
But just then, a crack suddenly opened in the thick clouds of Hell. The light from the flames projected from above onto the dark and desolate land. The ancient demons looked up from the shadows at the sharp whistling of the falling meteor, the scene reminding them of the long-ago fallen Morningstar.
With a loud 'Boom', a sharp arrow penetrated the ground of Hell, creating a massive crevice across the land. As the rumbling sound of the earthquake spread, almost all demons became unstable.
When the dust settled, the demons looked closely and realized it was a sky-high tower, standing crookedly in the center of the battlefield.
As Constantine, the most talented magician in centuries, seeks power from demons, he wouldn't go for the small fry in battlefield. The lowest level he would seek would also be Demon Lords.
When Schiller announced that he would pay off Constantine's debt, it was a deal he reached with the Demon Lords, unrelated to these front-line soldiers fighting on the battlefield, so they were unaware of what had happened.
Some may wonder, since Schiller has reached agreements with all of Constantine's creditors, why his soul wasn't divided when he fell. This can be attributed to the unique form of his soul.
Most human souls, in the eyes of the demons, are small, soft delicacies that can be easily snatched and savored.
The demons originally intended to collect the debt held this same belief. When they heard that someone planned to pay off Constantine's debt, they scoffed, thinking it was an absurd tale. Communication among the Demon Lords isn't completely nonexistent, and all demons knew the massive amount Constantine owed.
This was so much debt that no one or two could pay it off. Even if Constantine was able to trick a few Demon Lords, splitting his soul to repay his debts, it was doubtful it would satiate the appetite of the creditors.
However, the informant was Lucifer, who, though long absent, was still recognized as Hell's Master. Despite the demons' dissatisfaction with Hell's Master's prolonged absence, they still acknowledged Lucifer's power and were therefore curious about the person making the audacious claim.
Therefore, the vast majority of the Demon Lords gathered at the designated location to watch the spectacle and see what drama Lucifer was orchestrating.
But when Schiller and his Soul Tower appeared on the cliff edge of Hell, all the Demon Lords were stirred up. They saw there an endless array of sins, like a dazzling gemstone formed by countless souls.
All the Lords were dazzled by this brilliance, believing that this gemstone would be the brightest jewel in their crowns, once they ascended to Satan's throne.
Not a single demon doesn't aspire to become Satan. Duke Astro had already made his move, war was inevitable, and whoever could acquire this sword ahead of time naturally had the opportunity to enhance their own power and increase their odds of winning.
But to obtain this special soul, one had to act first. After all, Schiller fell from the edge of Hell, and there was a distance between Hell's edge and Hell itself. As long as the soul was snatched and consumed immediately during this process, other demons would be unable to reclaim it.
So, countless hands stretched out towards Schiller the moment he began falling. Then all the Demon Lords were stunned.
A person had jumped off, but halfway down, it turned into a tower. Moreover, this tower had an extremely hard shell. Countless demon claws scraped against the tower's exterior, emitting sparks and crackling electricity, yet failed to stop the tower from plummeting into Hell.
Schiller's Thought Palace plunged into the ancient, solid land of Hell, not only creating a Grand Canyon but also becoming Hell's version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. More importantly, it subtly changed the imminent war scenario.
The reason Astro dared to attack Beelzebub was simply to pick on the weak. He didn't have the courage to directly attack Lucifer's palace and gamble on whether Lucifer would rush back from the Human World to beat him, so attacking Beelzebub's territory was his way of testing the waters.
Originally, everything went smoothly. Astro had gathered a considerable amount of troops, pressing up against the border of Beelzebub's territory. Beelzebub didn't react aggressively, he simply amassed his own border demon army. After a few days of a tense standoff, the conflict was ready to ignite and the war was set to begin.
However, at this time, Lucifer suddenly sent a message to Hell. Someone could pay off Constantine's debt, and all his creditors were to gather at Hell's border to collect their respective returns on investment.
Astro and Beelzebub also held some of Constantine's debts, but they hadn't interacted much with Constantine. Simply put, they hadn't been deceived by Constantine and didn't have deep-seated grudges against him, thus they weren't anxious to recover the minor debt. They went to Hell's edge to figure out Lucifer's stance.
But to their surprise, the soul that fell was extremely valuable. As a result, Astro and Beelzebub attempted to intercept it but failed. When they looked back, they found that the precious prize had just landed at the border of their territories, with numerous greedy demon eyes behind them.
Now, Astro and Beelzebub were stuck in a hard place. Schiller's stunning debut not only left a deep psychological shadow on Constantine but also stirred up the appetite of most of the Demon Lords.
The majority of human souls are just tiny morsels to a demon. If there were enough, they might be filling, but they wouldn't be tasty. People born with magic talent had delicious souls, but they weren't large enough to satiate the hunger with one meal; it was merely a taste.
But Schiller was different. Not only did he have quality, he also had quantity. His soul contained not only rich emotions, numerous sins and deeds, countless stories, but also abundant soul energy which was like a sumptuous feast.
When Astro and Beelzebub found this giant pie falling from the sky, their first reaction wasn't to order their armies to spring into action, but to immediately issue orders for all demons to stop and stay away from the tower.
They both understood that this was their best bargain chip to entice allies and gather followers. The premise, however, was that they need to first secure the area around the tower.
Meanwhile, inside the tower, Marvel Schiller stood by the window gazing at the demon army on the horizon. He sighed and then said:
"I've said it before, that guy is the most petty-minded Schiller in the whole world."