The Seventh Hell

Izanagi-no-Okami fell.

But, he broke through the Perfect Susanoo's armour and pierced Aerion with his naginata before giving out to the star flames. His silver and crimson scales started to fall apart, revealing a fatal wound. Izanagi had ensured that both of them would die today.

His spear was so fast that it was impossible to dodge and Aerion did not expect him to pierce through his domain with such courage.

"Aerion..."

Their Perfect Susanoo slowly faded as it was no longer being supported with profound energy.

Aerion was going to fall as well but Izanami caught him.

"Izanami... forgive me."

"For what?"

"Death... awaits," Aerion replied.

"Nonsense... you can't die. Not yet, not without me..."

Aerion caressed her cheeks and wiped away the tear that had fallen. His expression was that of deep regret.

'In the end, I couldn't defeat Him in this life of mine...'

"Izanami... my path ends here, but you must push forward."

"Push forward..." Izanami replied. "There's no purpose in that without you."

"No, there is... you will have to defeat the Transcendent Being without... me. You will be able to return me to life once he is... defeated..."

Izanami-no-Okami flew to Aerion and removed Izanagi's naginata from his chest.

"You..." Izanami faced Izanami-no-Okami. "Dare?"

"I have accepted my fate and it is beside Izanagi..." Her white hair disappeared as she weakened.

Izanami-no-Mikoto stabbed herself with Izanagi's naginata and fell into the depths of the endless ocean.

From her fallen body, rose a silver light which joined with Izanami.

'Rotias... leave me when I die.'

"No," Rotias replied. "I will not leave you on your own."

'I am never alone.'

"You were... or have those years become a distant memory to you? Nevertheless, it will never happen again."

'How stubborn... dying together... hmph, I thought you were more selfish than that.'

"I am still selfish, in a different way." Rotias laughed. "You have yet to return my seat of the Underworld and grant me a body fitting of an Ancestral God."

"Once he is defeated..." Izanami mocked. "How can he be defeat without you? Our entire strategy revolves around your abilities... therefore, you can't fall here or we all might as well join you..."

"Death... awaits... followed by... complete... rebirth."

Aerion's eyes slowly closed, followed by their glow fading. His last six words seemed to have an everlasting effect. Izanami grasped his hand softly, not letting go. Her eyes did not leave his face for a very long time.

After a while, the Mirror of Samsara glimmered brightly and activated for the first time with Aerion as its owner.

"The Mirror of Samsara..." Izanami observed as Aerion's entire body turned to flames. "Death, followed by complete rebirth. I see..."

Izanami watched as the fire turned into embers, eventually scattering by the force of the wind. "We will be prepared to support you in overthrowing the Transcendent Being, my dearest... you only need to make your awaited return."

Her crimson Rinnegan formed nine tomoes and, with a single wave of her hand, she crossed space. She stood in a hall dyed red with blood which used to be inhabited by many gods. Now, there were only five others aside form herself.

"So, did you find Aerion?" Robb inquired. "That roar had to be his."

"It was," Izanami replied. "He... died."

"Royal Father is dead?" Daeron stood up. "Who could have killed him? It couldn't have been a mere Creation God... Royal Father is far too formidable in combat for that to happen."

"No, it was an opponent who possessed strength beyond the Creation God Realm. The Mirror of Samsara activated before his body turned into ash... we will continue moving on without him."

He Lin managed a smile. "Master will be granted a kinder fate and return with even greater strength..."

Daeron sighed. "That is if he reincarnates at this time."

"An Ancestral God never fell with the Mirror of Samsara in hand nor was it ever activated by one." Mu Xuanyin stated. "Therefore, we do not know if the effect is the same as the one with mortals. He might be returning sooner than expected."

"We can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst, it seems," Daeron replied.

Robb chuckled. "Words to live by. He'll be fine, the Dragon Emperor is tougher than the walls of this Divine Palace."

"Indeed." Qianye Ying'er nodded. "We will proceed onwards and grow in strength while he makes his return."

~

Aerion found himself in a realm of light with Izanagi-no-Okami floating before him.

"This is not the reality you strive to create... therefore, you must continue on your path... Dragon God of Reality."

He left his naginata and divine power in Aerion's hands.

...

"Let's see here..."

Aerion blinked and opened his eyes to a man in formal clothing standing before him. The man held a book which seemed to have an infinite number of pages. He flipped through it until he reached a certain page.

"Aerion Targaryen, the avatar of the Fire Dragon God and inheritor of countless other minor gods. Dragon Emperor of Primal Chaos... a million wives... killer of quadrillions."

'QUADRILLIONS!?'

"In terms of good deeds, there is not a single thing here. A lustful demon who touches anything that meets his eye and the tyrant who slaughtered every inhabitant of Primal Chaos when a subject called him a clown."

Aerion scratched his hair in confusion. "I think you have the wrong person after the Dragon Emperor of Primal Chaos. What is this place, anyway?"

"The afterlife, of course." The formal man transformed into the Transcendent Being. However, he was not as bright as before so Aerion could witness his appearance.

"So it's you."

"The Mirror of Samsara... the Heavenly Treasure which most resonates with me. No person, without my blessing, can activate it. I fed the Ancestral Gods some false information and they ate it up... hahaha."

"So what are its true effects?"

"You can consider it to be a good luck charm, I suppose."

"A good luck charm..." Aerion laughed. "Are you serious?"

"My good luck and will are no jest, Aerion. It has led to many great things... you wouldn't have the Heretic God Legacy or the Sky Poison Pearl if it did not exist. You have died once more but, because you have it, I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself. You will be sent to face the Seven Lords of Hell, the council of Gods I created to replace Rotias."

"A couple of Creation Gods." Aeron frowned. "Surely, it is a greater challenge than you make it sound."

"Ah, I never said they were mere Creation Gods but I can see why you came to that conclusion. Defeat them and I will reward you with a third life... it's as simple as that. If you die facing them, then you will be joining your dead family members in the Seventh Hell forever. I won't inform you further."

"I see."

"Well then, farewell. Best of luck to you... hahahaha." The Transcendent Being gave him a wave and Aerion disappeared, appearing somewhere else.

"The Seventh Hell."

It was a barren wasteland, devoid of any beauty. The red sky was gloomy and shrouded by a veil of dark clouds. There were several figures around him, all chained from head to toe with long, heavy, shackles made of fire. Their screams of pain were not pleasant, to say the least.

'What did they do to deserve such a fate?'

"Save us... end our suffering."

"Aerion, don't disturb these sinners. They are not our priority right now and they never will be."

'Does this ever end?'

"No, their spirit will burn forever. Not many people find themselves here... but if they do, it is not without reason. If you look hard enough, you might recognise a few of them."

'Look hard enough? I sense trillions of spirits...'

"Precisely, we should not be focusing on them. My temporary replacements are all that matter now... we must slaughter them."

Aerion nodded. 'Of course, we will. But first...'

Aerion formed his Ghost Flame and burned away every spirit in his sight, purifying them and granting the greatest mercy possible: death. They were released from the Seventh Hell, dying permanently.

"What are you doing..."

'Attracting their attention... something like this would be hard to ignore, after all.'

"Intruder!" A winged guard announced. "Shackle him before he causes further chaos!"

Suddenly, dozens of figures appeared around him. They used fire profound energy to form a powerful formation of shackles and directed it to Aerion. He found it quite amusing that fire was being used against him as he stood still without a worry in the world.

Once the chains wrapped themselves around him, they immediately became his.

'Fire is my rage.'

"Impossible... the chains are empowering him!" One of the guards observed. "Who is he-"

"Ahhhhrhg."

Aerion swung and twisted the chain as it swiftly grew larger under his strength. The chain grew dozens of branches as if it were a tree before he channelled the Deva Path and warped all of them into their new shackles. Within seconds, they were all wrapped in an organised fashion.

"How amusing... I did not even need to spill a drop of blood."

Aerion proudly observed his extremely long chain of trapped true gods. Using the Preta Path and the chain as a conductor, he drained their strength completely.

"Hahaha... where are you, my dear Seven Lords of Hell? Is this not enough to gain your response or are you simply afraid of this Dragon God?" Aerion's voice echoed far and wide. "If all seven of you do not crawl to me within a minute, I will release every spirit here with my flames!"

"If that were to happen... He would certainly be disappointed! You would be failing your duties as Rotias' replacement and He would no doubt replace you as well."

After a minute, Aerion shrugged and continued onwards. "As you wish, this Dragon God is going to slaughter the entire Seventh Hell today."

Before he could burn another spirit, a wall of fire stopped him in his tracks.

"Arrogant mortal... you will be humbled and chained to the Seventh Hell for all eternity!"

Upon hearing the obnoxiously loud and overbearing announcement, Aerion smirked. 'This challenge shouldn't take long.'