[Tartarus, 7th circle of Hell]...?
“Well… So this is the true Hell, huh?”
The moment he stepped inside the 7th Circle, of this place known as the hell of the dragon realm, Sol immediately felt his body become heavy from a certain pressure that emanated from this dreary place. The heaviness and the extreme heat he felt was enough to make him have the delusions that he might've truly entered hell.
‘Still, I wonder what Gabriel would say if she were to see this scene, knowing that Tiamat's idea of Hell was something that looked like her territory. She should at the least be extremely pissed. If it were me, then I would have had a go at the offender no matter how powerful they might've been.’
“Are those even real?”
Sol’s eyes twitched violently, seeing the world around him. This dreary world was in one word blinding and the heat was breaking through all of the barriers he has placed around himself. Easily, it could be seen that the place was simply disconcerting to say the least.
This wasn’t merely “Heat” at the physical level. It was the very incarnation of Heat itself. The very concept of heat that transcended all dimensions and attacked the entirety of a being, not just the physicality of them. He thought that such a composition being present in hell was definitely understandable. After a certain level, mere physical damage could do little to beings that went on the path to godhood.
But what was truly marvelous was that, despite the obviously deadly heat that could burn everything down to cinders, this world seemed to be full of life.
Wherever he looked, he could see nature thriving and brimming with a vigor that could not even be seen in the liveliest of places.
When Sol looked, squinting as he focused on the heavenly bodies, at the suns hanging above in the clear skies, he knew immediately that they were not really suns in the real sense. They were merely simple projections of the real deal. Even then….
‘Sigh, why am I even trying to use my common sense here.’
Sol sighed at his ridiculous thoughts. There was nothing too weird in this universe. Everything was possible where demigods run amok like it was nobody's business. Even the goddesses could become particularly playful in their creations, doing things that made absolutely no sense. Tiamat could do whatever she wanted in that sense.
Why did he have to care and rationalize the fact that a tree grew up to be so lively under the full horrifying heat wave of nine parallel suns?
No, what he should really care about though, a thing that felt rather astonishing to him, was that he could feel no aura of Chaos brimming in this place.
In fact, Sol was practically sure of the fact that he was technically not even in Tartarus anymore.
This was… Another dimension altogether. Someone else's dimension… Someone lost in the chronicles of the epochs…
———
[9th Heaven]
Sitting high up on her majestic throne, like a lazy cat who only cared for rest and indulgence, Tiamat was sifting through different styles of clothing the world had to offer. Strictly speaking, she was looking at maid attires, all the varieties that a maid attire could be in, in fact.
Like a spectrum, they went from super long robes that hid everything from up to down to uniforms that left so little to the imagination that one might as well be naked at that point. There were hundreds of varieties of such clothes in front of her.
This kind of thing was the little joy of Tiamat's life. So she wished to enjoy herself as much as possible. After all, this wouldn’t be a common occurrence.
The only ones she could tease like this were Yggi and Lakshmi[1], the divine beast of Greed.
She was weirdly an interesting fellow. One that tried to scam her many times which had always resulted in Tiamat mercilessly retaliating by humiliating her in whatever way and whenever she could.
Saying that they were friends was a stretch. But they were in a was business partners with similar interest up to a certain point. As long as she didn’t cross the lines too far, Tiamat was willing to humor that greedy woman.
Like this, Tiamat was spending her time idly when she suddenly frowned and looked down.
The entirety of the Dragon Territory was under her control and while her control was weaker in the realm of Tartarus, it was still there.
She knew that Sol entered that place but she didn't care because there was basically nothing that could threaten him as long as he didn’t act dumbly.
But now, she found that she could not perceive him anymore.
Tiamat rose from her throne, there was something separating her from the 9th heaven. She was about to strike it down. But, once she recognized the energy signature, understood just what being it belonged to, she hesitated a moment before sighing and sitting back down on her throne with a hesitant countenance.
“Don’t do anything dumb, okay?”
She decided to give the benefit of the doubt to that man. Not simply because he helped her in the past or because she trusted him a great deal.
No, she didn't believe in that. She just did what she did because she had absolute faith in Sol. She believed that no matter what happened, he would walk out of it alive and moderately unscathed.
That and she knew he still had a little of that divinity left inside him in some corner. In the very worst case, he could simply use it.
‘Now then, where was I?’
Since she didn’t have to worry about this, she could just shift her focus back on choosing good clothes for Gabriel.
———
[7th Circle]
In the scorching depths of the seventh circle, the moment Sol realized that he had entered another dimension, different from his grandmother's, a voice filled the air in the next moment…
“I did not think that I would have another visitor so soon.”
It was a light voice, filled with the vicissitudes of life and tiredness. Still, the power behind it was unmistakable to say the least.
Sol looked up silently. There, high up in the sky was a slender handsome man clad entirely in black from head to toe. He had shoulder-length black hair and six pairs of dark as night wings fluttering behind him with its long wingspan.
The man himself was slightly translucent as if he was nothing but an illusion or a mere hologram.
“You do not seem surprised to see me here. You expected it didn't you?”
Seeing Sol's lackluster response, the man merely raised an eyebrow; surprised that Sol had expected his presence here.
“Hum…Well, what can I say? I am not one to be surprised easily anymore. I kinda expected it in fact. Whenever I meet someone new there is generally some test following it. I got used to it after a while.”
Sol shrugged and walked around idly, totally ignoring the apparition in the air,
“So, what are you exactly?”
He crouched down and took a look at the plant. As if the vigorous plants were far more interesting than the apparition of a man, clearly from an era long before.
“Oh my… This is surely a first. I am Lucifer. Lucifer Superbia.”
“Oh? I thought you died.”
“Well, I am not exactly alive currently. So, yes, you are right…”
“Hmm…I see. How interesting.”
Sol said so before nodding and focusing back on the plants. His eyes shone as he began to decipher something that caught his attention.
Lucifer meanwhile was left rather perplexed.
‘This is…. Not really going like I thought it would.’
“I am Lucifer, you know? The Lucifer… The Strongest demigod, kind of your ancestors, trained your grandmother a little. Rebelled against the goddess. Aren’t you more interested?”
“You ‘were’ the strongest demigod. Now it’s Tiamat. I am pretty sure you are not my ancestor. And I can say with certainty that my beloved grandma, Tiamat, would never accept anyone really training her. Finally your rebellion was an epic failure. So… Yeah… Not really interested.”
When Sol answered with a flurry of words, Lucifer couldn’t help his eyebrows twitching slightly with irritation whenever Sol attacked with his reasoning.
“I guess the pen is indeed mightier than the sword. You have torn my poor heart.”
This time, Sol looked up from the tree. His eyes narrowed in thought,
‘He did not get angry. It doesn’t seem like he is faking it either.’
From the moment Sol stepped into this place, he had been tense. After all, he was currently in the dimension of a Dimensional mage.
He remembered very well what he had done to Nihil and Surtr when they were blocked in his.
No matter how kind this Lucifer was, Sol refused to stay in such a situation. If that man wanted to discuss with him then it would be on his terms. Not anyone else.
“Say, what is the name of your dimension?”
Sol asked offhandedly to which Lucifer shrugged, “<<Blazing Sun>>”
Lucifer wasn’t dumb. He could see that Sol was up to something, and he was curious to see what would happen.
“Blazing sun, heh.”
He stood up and mumbled, “Well, this should be enough.”
<<Dimensional Encroachment...>>
Lucifer tilted his head as he felt Sol trying to expulse his dimension, “This is useless you know? Not even Tiamat could win against me in that domain and that was before I completely pulled her into my dimension.”
Sol ignored him and continued,
<<Dimensional Encroachment…>>
This repeated for a few times before a grin formed on Sol’s face,
“I got it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t need to fight against your control.”
A slight foreboding rose in Lucifer's subconscious. But alongside this was also a feeling of excitement.
Back then, Tiamat had astonished him with her talent. It seemed that he was about to witness something even more absurd.
What Sol had been trying to encroach had never been the real universe but rather…
<<Dimension Encroachment>>
<<Inverse World: Frigid Moons>>
“Welcome to my world.”
Sol grinned as two crystal thrones appeared and floated in the air before he sat on one of them with a victorious grin.
“Now we can talk, I guess…”
He would never let anyone test him ever again. It would be him doing the testing now.
[1]: She is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility, and prosperity, and is associated with Maya ("Illusion"). Along with Parvati and Saraswati, she forms the Tridevi of Hindu goddesses.
By the way, the Divine beast of Charity is called Midas. Yeah, I like irony as you may have noticed. For those who didn’t understand the joke, search Midas' Touch. Explaining jokes is pretty lame.