Hellbound - Chapter 7

For a short time, the entire arena was silent. The only sound the pained whimpering of Korg clutching his shattered knee. After a few moments, there was merely grumbling as the demons who had come in for the show got up to return to their seats.

“Is that all there was?” One grumbled.

“A lucky shot.”

“I think he was pretty good.”

“Korg is only level six anyway; it’s just speed versus size. If he ever managed to hit him, the newbie would have been demolished.”

Everyone had their own assessment of the battle. If he had been expecting applause or some kind of moment of grand celebration, this just wasn’t it. To the denizens of hell, an injured low-level demon was meaningless. This was part of why Lucifer hadn’t hesitated.

The hardest levels to cross for any hero were the levels under ten. Like the demons, the hero union typically didn’t allow you to partake in missions before level five. Those first five levels came extremely slowly and involved lots of painful training. However, anyone would be between level one and five. One could call them the levels of the common man, or in this case, demon.

However, those first five levels were nothing compared to the next five. That’s because those levels could only be obtained by completing missions, and that meant risking your life. Between five and ten, you were an F class hero, the weakest of the bunch.

There was no shortage of F-ranked heroes, but less than one in a hundred would ever become D class. First off, many would join only to retire, much like Empasa seemed to have. Either they found better work as a bodyguard, or were otherwise scared, traumatized, or injured to the point they quit. However, that was only some of them. The rest didn’t survive long enough to retire. The likelihood of a F rank dying in a mission was just too high. No matter how trained they were, it still couldn’t be avoided that they were relative newbies to the game. It was only once they reached level ten that their survivability seemed to increase. Still, for every hero that reached level ten, only one in ten would reach level twenty. This kind of scaling meant that Fs were like cockroaches, Ds like flies, but the higher ranks were incredibly rare.

In the battle right before my death, the twenty men who had fought me already made up over half of Earth’s active A and S rank heroes. Levels were incredibly difficult to traverse. Lucifer was the only hero to reach level 60, which was also the reason they likely had decided to get rid of Lucifer.

As the demons cleared the room, one in particular who had been watching him carefully the entire time approached. Lucifer watched as the lean demon who had been wearing the eyepatch stopped directly in front of him. He was a brawny demon with tough skin and a rough mishappened bone structure, which made him appear less human than most. He looked Lucifer up and down with careful consideration.

“You appear to be the victor of this match,” he announced to no one in particular. “Lucifer, is it?”

“That’s my name.” Lucifer stepped over to the groaning Korg and pulled the sword directly from the scabbard at his side. “I believe your weapons and armor are now mine.”

The eyepatched man nodded to two large demons standing nearby. They walked over to Korg and began to tend to him. However, in the process of what appeared to be trying to stabilize his knee, they also removed all of his armor. It was put on a platter and then placed right next to Lucifer.

He eyed the equipment from top to bottom. “It’s trash. The leather straps are cracked, and the metal is rusted. Is this even counted as weapons and armor these days?”

“The association can buy the weapon and armor, and you can perhaps look for something… more fitting?” The demon raised his one eyebrow, looking more amused than insulted.

“I’ll keep the sword,” Lucifer stated after eyeing it one more time. “Take the rest.”

“10 Soul power.” He pulled out a card.

“Is that all?”

Empusa let out a small, nervous laugh as she approached the two of them. “What did you expect from a level six demon? It’s F rank.”

Lucifer glanced over at her, but he didn’t say anything. He already knew the system well enough. In the same way heroes were ranked, so were weapons and armor. F-ranked weapons were suitable for F-ranked heroes. While it was possible to see better equipment on a lower-level hero, it wasn’t common. Those who depended on equipment rather than skill were often quick to lose that equipment in combat, or perhaps it was better to say they were targeted on purpose. Humans used to call demons like this treasure demons.

Empusa cleared her voice as she noticed Lucifer just standing there. “Take the card! Did you not see it’s not merely payment?”

“Hmm?” Lucifer reached out and took the card, finding that it had his information on it. “A Guardian pass?”

“It’s a temporary guardian pass. This will allow you to undertake your first mission. You will also be rewarded through this card. You can pick up any mission awards at your local Guardian HQ.”

Just as she spoke, a bunch of text erupted in front of him. The hero system had been unlocked once again! No, this wasn’t the hero system. This was the guardian system. That was what they called the demons down here.

“It does look a lot like the hero system, though,” Lucifer muttered under his breath as he found himself navigating through familiar screens he had grown comfortable with in his previous life.

“So, you really were a fallen hero, huh?” The man in the eyepatch asked, leaning forward with interest.

“Huh?” Lucifer gave him a slight frown. “Who are you?”

“Lucifer!” Empusa shot him a warning look, but the man himself just let out a light laugh.

“I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Vex. I’m the local Guardian Director. You can call me Vex if you’d like.”

“I see…”

“Oh, and that ID I just handed you is not temporary. That will be your badge from now on, so don’t lose it.”

“It’s not?” Empusa looked over at him in shock. “Wh-what about his training mission?”

“Are you not part of his party? You will be joining him on his first few missions, correct?”

“Ah… th-that’s true. However, don’t we have to follow the rules?”

He shrugged. “I don’t see any reason we can’t unlock his complete Guardian system. He seems to have the subsequent skill. I have to admit, it is shocking to find a fallen hero.”

“Why is that?” Lucifer couldn’t help but tilt his head in interest. “Will there be a problem with that?”

“No, not at all!” He shook his head. “Although, to answer why, it’s because completing missions earns merit. Even the worst heroes seem to earn enough merit to counteract their sins. To become hellbound, your sins must outweigh your merit. For a hero to achieve such a result, they would have had to live an extremely sinful life. Say what you want about the church, but they protect their own.”

“That’s something I won’t argue about,” Lucifer responded bitterly, his mind immediately recalling the actions of his brother and the hero association he used to treat as infallible.

Lucifer had known countless heroes of ill-repute. They came in all forms. Most were just especially cruel to demons, even capturing and torturing them when they had the opportunity. Lucifer had always looked the other way when he saw such brutality, telling himself that the demons were evil and it was only they getting what they deserved.

However, some heroes went so far as to attack other vulnerable heroes. He even recalled encountering one party of C-rank who used to rob and extort resources from the F-ranks. They had stolen innumerable resources off the backs of lower-rank heroes. Lucifer had investigated them and found proof. After reporting it to the hero association, the group had quietly disappeared. However, some time later, he had discovered the group was still alive and functioning as heroes, and he went to the hero association to complain.

He could still remember Gabriel’s smirk, which he now recognized as mocking as he explained it to Lucifer. “They are a necessary evil. We can’t afford to just lose viable heroes, especially those willing to do things that most heroes are too heroic to do. This is their chance at redeeming themselves. Do you really want to take that away?”

Now that Lucifer thought about it, he seemed to recall that there were a few instances where he had to kill rogue heroes. When he came to report it, the church had always looked at him with annoyance. He had always thought those looks were the bitter realization that not everyone in the hero association was a good person, but now he wondered if they had known about their hero’s actions for a long time.

The card the Guardian Director had just given him wasn’t just access to the Guardian system, but a means of surveillance. Like the hero accusation, the card would log all of his actions to allow them to award him properly. However, in this case, his actions would actually update his own card, rather than be taken by his brother. The hero association had never actually given him his card. Michael told him it was because they didn’t want him to become dispirited when he saw all of his efforts amounting to nothing.

Michael had always seemed very apologetic that he had not earned merits as quickly as Lucifer.  Now, Lucifer understood the truth. It was to hide all of the sins he committed and prevent Lucifer from learning the truth about how his brother truly lived. He couldn’t help but clench his teeth again as he fought the surge of anger rising inside him. Empusa also seemed to be watching him, although her expression did little to show what she was thinking in that moment.

Vex’s attention had been divided between Lucifer and the group of demons who had finally put Korg in a stretcher. Vex glanced once more at Lucifer’s expression, a flash of hesitation on his face.

He finally nodded as if coming to some conclusion, and then spoke. “Make sure that you don’t tell anyone about your status as a hero.”

“So, it will be a problem.” I frowned.

“A problem?” Vex gave a dark chuckle. “Not exactly. There is nothing explicitly wrong. Once someone is hellbound, the person they used to be is meaningless. However, not everyone will see it that way. As a hero, you likely have killed demons. There are Guardians out there who won’t take kindly to former heroes. Even if you had nothing to do with it, they might choose to pick on you as a way to relieve their frustrations. It’s best if you don’t let people know. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make sure no paperwork comes with this incident.”

Lucifer gave a curt nod. “I’ll consider your words.”

It wasn’t clear whether this was a wish or a determination Vex was making, but he still gave Lucifer one last nod before turning and heading out the door with the group carrying Korg on the stretcher. He seemed to be knocked out unconscious, either from the pain of having his knee reset or perhaps just out of annoyance at his groans. He hadn’t said anything or even glared Lucifer’s way, perhaps having been too embarrassed or too in pain to retaliate.

Lucifer wouldn’t have minded it either way. He didn’t care about one more demonic enemy. In his past life, countless demons wanted his life; they all thought that he was his brother. His brother had even been on hell’s most wanted list. He was the most elusive hero on Earth. No demon had ever encountered him and lived. It never even occurred to any of them that this was because he had never bothered to encounter a single demon, prompting instead for the safety of the deep within the hero association.

After Korg and Vex left, the room was now relatively empty. There were a few demons practicing training, but the training facility was quite large, and they had seemingly lost all entrance in Lucifer now that the show was over. A fight between two F-rank heroes, no matter how surprising the result, was still merely that.

Lucifer turned his attention back to the Guardian system, or more specifically, the mission list he could now bring up in his vision, his fingers flicking through the holographic screens. This wasn’t a result of technology, but some kind of magic that exceeded human understanding. On the day the gateway between Hell and Earth opened, the hero and guardian system became a thing.

Demons started to randomly appear on Earth. They created havoc, killing humans indiscriminately. When a group of humans managed to fight back, and one managed to successfully kill a demon, the hero system came into existence. This was ultimately the entire point of the initiation mission. Your mission was to seek out and kill a demon. It stood to reason that the opposite was true as well.

Lucifer presumed that he would need to kill a human to become a Guardian. He had been prepared to do exactly this, but the director had circumvented and unlocked his system early. This brutal cost of joining was one more reason why F-rank were so plentiful yet the death rate so high, and why they typically forbade someone from joining it until level five.

Once the system was unlocked, you could then begin missions, but you could always end up becoming the target of an enemy’s initiation mission. Until you reach level ten or so and outgrow such missions, it was a very dangerous stage to remain in, and demons who aged much slower than humans remained in those early stages much longer, too. It was no wonder someone like Empusa retired before even leaving the F-rank.

“Although, how does someone like Lilith manage to reach D-rank?” Lucifer pondered out loud.

She was over level ten, which had put him completely off guard, since she didn’t appear to work as a Guardian either.

“Hmph! What do you know? Lilith is cut from a better cloth.” Empusa sniffed, although there seemed to be a tinge of pride in her expression.

“So, you were a former Guardian?” Lucifer asked.

“Is that a problem?” She glared at him with some hostility.

“Not at all,” Lucifer answered flatly. “You just don’t seem the type.”

Empusa looked down at her short, statured body, and then back up to me, her face flushing. “Just because I’m an Imp doesn’t mean I’m not quite strong! I even made it to level eight, and that is without the help of a sponsor! Do you know how hard it is for common demons to rise in the ranks?”

Her words couldn’t help but make Lucifer once again compare the demonic system to the hero system. He seemed to instantly understand what she meant by having a sponsor. Equipment alone was extremely expensive. There were two kinds of heroes. Those who painfully put their life on the line to earn every level, and those who had teams who helped them achieve their goals carefully.

Although it might seem like Lucifer was of the second type, the grand plan set by the hero association didn’t happen until later in his career. It was only when he reached C rank that they started to notice his potential. Even then, if they openly helped him too much, then his identity would be found out. So, he couldn’t carry around a holy sword and wear the finest armor. He had only obtained Glorious on special missions.

When he chose to go against the Demon King, he had to ask his brother to get the sword for him. This was ultimately how the hero association learned he was fighting the Demon King in the first place, and what ultimately allowed them to ambush and kill him. As he was continuing to tap through the missions, he realized Empusa was still watching him as if waiting for something.

“What?” He asked while continuing to read.

“Are you happy now?” Empusa asked, her voice a bit exasperated. “You got what you wanted. You’re not a guardian. We can go home and confer with Lilith. I’m sure she will be thrilled that you became a Guardian.”

“This is what I was hoping for,” Lucifer responded. “I need to get stronger quickly.”

“Well, that means doing missions. We probably should be heading back soon. Lilith will be wondering where we are.” Empusa seemed to be trying to usher Lucifer on. “We can talk about when a good time to complete your first mission will be then.”

“My first mission?” Lucifer looked down at her with a stone face. “There is no time like the present. Let’s begin!”

He selected a mission from the list, his finger tapping on the glowing text.

[Mission Selected: F-Rank – Interception.]

[Objective: A team of heroes is attempting to unearth an artifact. Intercept it and claim it for your own.]

[Bonus Objective: Kill all of the heroes.]

[Reward: 50 Soul Power, 100 Experience Points.]

“Wait! Now?” Empusa cried out, her eyes wide with panic. “We need to prepare! This kind of thing takes planning, it takes…”

Her words were lost as Lucifer went ahead and clicked confirm. The menu closed out, and a magic circle suddenly appeared under Lucifer. It was wide enough that it reached Empusa, though. She looked like she wanted to leap off of it, but after a moment of hesitation, it was already too late.

The magic circle’s power swirled around them, and they started to feel a tangible pull. Lucifer was all too familiar with this feeling. He was being pulled to the mission zone. This was the fastest way for him to grow stronger quickly. This was the fastest way for him to obtain revenge.