Hell

About


Hell is a world created by the Gods and it is one of the most important pillars for the Reincarnation Cycle, which was created in an effort to create life and death and bring amusement for Ludo-Rathowm. It is located in an alternate dimension inaccessible from mortals, and it is technically part of the Gods Realm.

It is a dark and hostile world where red and black are the most prominent colors. The walls and ground are of a bloody red that stinks of death, and its structure greatly resembles crude meat. A horrible and sightless scenery plagues every corner of Hell, and its sinister aura can drive people to insanity very quickly. There are also many Monsters roaming around that serve as extra guards for those foolish enough to attempt to enter alive.

The entrance to Hell is the great River Styx, guarded by a gigantic and majestic creature called Gogo. This enormous monstruosity is the Guardian of Hell and its fighting ability is unreasonably high, probably roughly on par with the Holy Beasts. It is actually a rather pacific beast that only comes out when a living being whose time hasn't come yet attempts to willingly enter Hell. When it shows itself, it doesn't attack immediately, only adverting the reckless trespasser. If such person still wants to pass, then it will engage in combat and will fight to the death.

This dreadful place is where mortals from The Continent go after they die. After the Soul is collected by an Angel, it is taken here immediately after. Souls can only return to Ludo-Rathowm for future reincarnation if they have no pollution on them, meaning that they need to be purified and reverted to a blank slate before passing through the Whale again. This is where the Oni come in, the inhabitants of Hell, and their leader is the Oni King. They call themselves agents of justice, and their job is to "cleanse" the souls of individuals until their minds are wiped completely and they become acceptable blank slates. The process usually involves years and years of slow, horrifying torture. Every individual has a personal torture cell where it's imprisoned for years with a couple of Onis, making of Hell a gigantic world filled with countless cells. The lower the floor, the more dangerous and unforgivable the sinner receiving the torture is.

While Oni are the main workers in Hell and they are found pretty much everywhere, some Angels work as business administrators in the upper levels, which exists mostly for office space. It might not look like it, but Hell is a very well-administrated and organized place, with Angels managing information of every single individual that enters and leaves, with details over their personal background and their current torture cell. It is tidily handled by the Angels, who make sure to make the paperwork with responsability. The ultimate leader and administrator of Hell is the 2nd Class Goddess Amaterasu, who handles all the administrative matters of this section of the afterlife.

Mortals that go to Hell
Due to the fact that this is an extremely important part of the Reincarnation Cycle it is an established rule that all mortals go to Hell upon death in order to reuse their Soul for the sake of reincarnation. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done in life, be you a pure paragon, a simple farmer or an evil king, you will go to Hell. The Oni will always find a "crime" you have committed to justify their torture with, no matter how arbitrary it may seem. Almost all the creatures on The Continent with souls derived from Creator God Ludo-Rathowm go to Hell after death.

There are a handful few exceptions however:
 * The Dark Lords, as their Demonic Blood Soul ceases to exist entirely when cleansed by the Demon King or when overwritten by another living being.
 * Mortals that have a Soul 100% polluted avoid Hell, since their Soul is impossible to cleanse and it is thrown away. This is impossibly unlikely however, since the majority of humans commit suicide upon reaching 80% of pollution due to the excess of negative feelings, and more pollution only further increases their chances of doing so. Additionally, because this is a huge problem for the Reincarnation Cycle, members of the AL Church are tasked by the Goddess ALICE to eliminate those that are close to that level of pollution in order to avoid the 100% mark.
 * Followers of the Tenshi Sect are able to avoid Hell thanks to the rituals they perform, which divert their souls from the Reincarnation Cycle and takes you straight to the Devil Realm and into Rathowm's mass after death.

Connections with the Mortal World
Hell is a world meant only for souls in the afterlife and typically only Angels, Oni and some Monsters are found in it. Because it's a world that mortals should only gain access after they die, it is departed from other dimensions and completely inaccessible for mortals. Despite this, some physical connections to The Continent have appeared in one way or another over the years.

The most famous, or perhaps infamous, method is through Hell Holes, pit on the ground that are scattered across JAPAN. These have started popping randomly since around the year 440 of the Nighcisa Era. The cause was a reckless mistake from Amaterasu, and they continue to appear at randomly in some places of the country even to this day. In order to deal with them Diviners have developed magical arts to seal these dreadful pits. While these Holes are mostly a feared disaster because of the Oni that come out from them, humans are capable of entering this holes and gain access to Hell immediately even if they are not dead, though it's an insane move on their part due to the low chances of survival such act carries. Fujiwara Ishimaru became a legend after venturing into a Hell Hole and stealing the Emperor Artifacts from the Oni.

Another, though largely unknown, connection exists at the bottom of the Ragnard Dungeon near Toushin City. It is possible to enter Hell by reaching the bottom of the dungeon, but this is an extremely difficult task as one should reach as low as floor 30 underground. This is by itself an almost impossible mission that would require many of the world's most talented adventurers working together, and even then it would take several years to succeed. The 30th floor has also been heavily secured and sealed by Angel Knights, but on the 31st floor, one would find the entrance to Hell at the River Styx.

It is worth noting that a living mortal that ventures into Hell is capable of rescuing another one that is receiving torture on their cell if their Soul was not formatted from information, and if he managed to escape Hell with that person, it would be essentially the same as resurrecting the deceased. This, however, carries severe consequences and would turn the two into criminals that would be actively persecuted by the Oni to no end, and they will receive the worst punishment imaginable if they were to be caught again.