Iulia kept staring at him. If her current biology would allow her to sweat, she would be a fountain of it.

  “K-kh… What did you do to me?!” Iulia screeched at him.

  Above the flaming ceiling, Other Lands began to flicker once again with the red background it had until now. After a few moments, Iulia’s gained access to her powers again, her eyes widening in surprise.

  “Hahah, yes!” Iulia exclaimed with joy, a big smile one her face sprouting as she stood up and raised her arms to the sky.

  Instantly, she swung her right arm, chaining up stefan3B. He gritted his teeth, his expression instinctively frowning. Before he could reverse the cycle like before, Iulia charged with at him, her right fist glowing red with a big aura of hell energy.

  “Disintegration…”

  She unleashed her strike right into his stomach, the same way he punched her stomach.

  “... Storm!” she shouted enthusiastically as stefan3B was sent flying for meters, the chains breaking upon impact.

  Iulia swung her left arm and stefan3B found himself chained up again and held still. Iulia sprinted right at him.

  “Come on now! Come on!” she said before dropkicking into his chest, making him cough out blood as he felt his entire skeleton fissure and crumble under pressure, being knocked back once again.

  As a grand finale, she swiped both of her arms down before raising them to her sides slowly, tying up 3 chains each on his wrists, ankles and neck. Hell energy was surrounding them like a living chamber of terror. stefan3B desperately tried to reverse the cycle of the chains, but it was futile. They were way too strong combined like that.

  “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHHahahaha. . . “

  Her laughter was vanishing alongside his consciousness. He was at wit’s end. This was it. All he could do was. . . Close his hazel eyes. . .

  . . .

  He felt like he was floating. A lake within his consciousness. He felt the cold water against his body as he stood still, like a raft. Suddenly, the voice of a girl is heard.

  “Oh! You’re finally going to join me, right…?” she said with a worried tone, as if this was supposed to be a reunion.

  He opened his eyes slowly. Above him, there was a familiar figure in a black and gray silhouette. It was hard to tell who it was. The entire world was pitch black as well. He decided not to pay too much attention to her, but as he was closing his eyes…

  “No! Please! Don’t go back yet…! It’s so cold out here!”

  Suddenly, he remembered.

  “Da…iana…? W-why…” he thought to himself.

  Out of nowhere, a commanding tone was heard.

  “STAND UP!”

  He instantly opened his eyes wide. Another silhouette appeared right next to the girl. A tall, broad man with an imposing stature. It looked like he was wearing a suit.

  “Don’t you dare sleep when the ones that trusted you with their lives are waiting for your return.”

  He squinted his eyes.

  “D…G…? Daiana…?” he continued to think to himself, confused.

  The man brushed his fingers across his face, his green eyes shining through the dark. Same did the girl, her pink eyes glowing as well.

  “This is not the man I trained just now.”

  Right next to DG, another man appeared with his hands crossed. He seemed extremely annoyed.

  “You’re embarrassing me.”

  His voice made his mind scramble, as if it heard it before. Just then, he remembered. It was Nicolas. He closed his eyes before opening them again, this time now having a brown color.

  “I never told you to back off, I never told you to give up.”

  stefan3B kept looking at them, confused. Why were they here out of all times? Suddenly, he heard yet another voice…

  “You’re disgusting.”

  A boy younger than him was there, his fists visibly clenched out of anger. The tone felt like a fork on a chalkboard to him. Ah, yes, it was Andrew… He had his black shirt and pants, his eyes revealing no color as they were black.

  “If this is who I lost against out of all people, I swear I will come back to life and plummet you to death for good!”

  stefan3B couldn’t help but crack a small smile, his eyes relaxing and growing half lidded.

  “So, what will it be? You failure.” Nicolas said.

  “Get the FUCK up already!” DG continued.

  “Please… My mother needs me…” Daiana pleaded.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  A small moment of silence followed. Andrew turned his back to him before looking back over his shoulder slightly.

  “See you on the other side…”

  stefan3B’s eyes suddenly widened. He remembers. These were a small part of the people that died because of her. Hundreds, no, thousands had to suffer because of this one single individual. Families broken, hopes shattered, worlds engulfed, and much more is to come… unless… UNLESS…

  “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” He exclaimed before crossing his arms in front of his face, the entire water of the lake enveloping him like a bubble.

  . . .

  Seeing that stefan3B was at the end of his powers, Iulia took a moment to exhale, her hands resting on her hips. She was looking at stefan3B as if it was a work of art. The perfect execution, despite the huge resource loss that hell suffered because of her. She absorbed the remaining veil around her body, strengthening her skin further.

  “Ah, that felt good.” she said while looking up with close eyes.

  stefan3B’s hoodie began to flicker, as if it began to vanish. She saw this phenomenon as she opened her relaxed half lidded eyes before her grin grew wider. His shirt was thoroughly ravaged, with holes all around it.

  “Ah, I got enough time to finish him off~.” she said with a cheeky tone as she began rotating her right shoulder as she placed her hand on it.

  “Ah, right there… Feels so good…”

  Suddenly, the chains began to crackle.

  “Huh? What the-”

  Before she could finish her sentence, stefan3B broke free from his chains, his wrists bleeding. He crossed his arms into his chest before forcefully swinging them backwards as he let out an empowering echoing scream. His body was covered by a large white aura, as if he was swallowed by a blob. The entire ground started to shake and all the hell energy was pushed away. Iulia's approach was denied by the force of his transformation.

  “I'VE HAD ENOUGH!” stefan3B stated before suddenly dashing out of the orb, his aura 3 times as powerful as it initially was and his hoodie growing back with a bright shine before solidifying into its original state. Iulia gasped. Before she was able to react, stefan3B already grabbed her throat with his left hand. He let out a war cry as he immediately shoved his right hand into her chest, penetrating her entire torso and pulling out her core through the other side. Iulia tried to desperately grab his arm out of instinct, but her grip was loosened as he pulled back roughly, ripping it out of her. The sphere known as a “core” was in his right palm. He lifted her up by the neck with his left hand as he stared into her worthless eyes with raw hatred. She tried kicking her feet into him, but he didn't budge. He started clenching the core into his hand, wanting to crush it under his grip, but the core was durable. Iulia gathered her thoughts and summoned a saber made out of hell energy before slashing his face. The sudden weapon draw shocked him enough to let go of her. She desperately tried to get a hold of her core by empowering it with hell energy, not only hardening it but also making it want to call back to her. stefan3B pulled it back even further as he hopped back before pitching it like a baseball right into her face. Stunned, with her nose broken, Iulia was staggered and surprised. stefan3B immediately took advantage of her situation and took back the core into his right hand before kicking her with his right foot.

  “No! Give it back! I need it!” she said desperately as she rushed him again.

  She threw the saber from her hand which he easily parried using her core, making a metallic “clank” upon collision. “And it ends… now!” he said before flexing his right arm, crushing the core with all his might.

  The core wouldn't budge however. It was harder than Diana's, that's for sure. It took a few moments until the core itself cracked, but didn't shatter. Iulia was able to land a left punch into his face while he was focused and grab the core with both of her hands before pushing him away with her leg, making him let go of it. She desperately put her core back into her body and healed up her wound before exhaling reassuringly. stefan3B was staggered slightly by the kick as his body took too much abuse until this point.

  “Shit. I can feel like my entire body is broken, but this energy… It keeps my body moving even if all my bones are shattered.” he thought to himself as he looked as hands before clutching them. “No matter what, I have enough energy to fight her from the beginning and still win. I will not disappoint you, fallen ones.” he thought to himself again before looking up at Iulia.

  She was panting hysterically as she clutched her chest with her right hand.

  “What did you… What did you do?! I can't even get any new sort of energy!” she screamed in confusion at him.

  . . .

  In hell, Lucifer went back to the portal to check on it.

  “Oh, man… What happened to this beauty?” he said as he looked at the portal, which was now white as if it got sealed off.

  Lucifer pointed at the portal then shot a beam of raw hell energy. The entire beam was destroyed viciously in an instant, even destroying a part of his fingertip in the process. Lucifer looked at his finger then back at the portal with a shocked expression.

  “Oh God…”

  . . .

  stefan3B’s entire body was shaking and trembling from excitement. The excitement of finally being awake again. Awake for another round of bloodshed. He was filled with so much anger that he began to see vein-like patterns in front of him, slightly ruining his sight.

  “I will… I will…!” he repeated, as his hands ravenously clutched into claws, slowly rolling up into fists, his forearms quaking.

  The words hatred, agony, despair and destruction flashed before his very eyes, fading in and out of his sight. He was finally losing it for good.

  “I WILL DESTROY YOUUU!” he yelled as he charged up his power again, sending tremors through the entire Other Lands. His screams turned from the one of a warrior into something more of a groggy beast as they finally began to give up on him as well, quieting down more and more.

  With the power enhancing his body, he spat down saliva mixed with blood, his vocal cords clearly damaged. However, his eyes alone spoke enough stories to make up for his loss of voice. Iulia kept staring at him with widened eyes, still shocked by his sudden empowerment. stefan3B immediately dashed at her like lightning. Iulia braced herself with her arms. stefan3B immediately threw his right fist, her arms molding like mud under the impact, making the sound of a firearm as she got pushed back, her forearms broken. She groaned as she fell on her back, but stefan3B was still in motion. He jumped before slamming down into her with his left heel right into her stomach, making her yelp. Trembling, she struggled to remove his foot away from her stomach as she stared at his femur. stefan3B inhaled and exhaled once like a bull, hot steam escaping his nostrils before beginning to initiate a barrage of stomps into her belly, making her grunt with each attack before kicking her in, sending her flying like a missile.

  “YOU’RE DEAD! DEAD! DEAAAD!” he thought to himself as he rushed her down again.

  Iulia forced herself to claw with her right hand at the ground to stop the knockback, her left hand pressed against her stomach as she panted from the pain. The bundle of blows in her stomach significantly weakened it, despite the healing factor.

  “Fucking hell, I can’t grab hell energy anymore…” she said to herself before trying to stand tall and punch stefan3B back as he dashed at her.

  He immediately dodged her blow and landed a smooth uppercut into her chin, rendering her unconscious for a brief second. He followed up by grabbing her leg and slamming her into the ground with a loud thud. Rushing over to her head, he grabbed her face and scrubbed the back of her head against the indestructible ground as he ran.

  “HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT NOW, HUH??!!” he thought to himself as he kept dragging her.

  Iulia gathered enough energy in her palm to release a disintegration storm. stefan3B got used to her cheap tricks and quickly threw her away before leaping out of its range. Smoothly, he dashed right back in as Iulia quickly tried to stand up.

  “Ugh, I can’t die like this…”

  stefan3B threw another punch, which she stopped with both of her hands as her entire body trembled. She looked down as she coughed out raw, dry hell energy out of her mouth.

  “I… didn’t have my happy ending yet…” she continued with a raspy throat.