//------------------------------// // 11 - Don't deal with the gods it might not end well - E // Story: The Royal Gamer // by SleepyBear //------------------------------// When I opened my eyes again, I found Shining holding me up, looking relieved I was finally up again. However, my eyes quickly began scanning the area before landing on Swift, once again among the living as promised. The now reborn soldier was currently just standing in place looking at his own hands in puzzlement and shock, slowly combing over his own body without making a sound. "What did you have to sacrifice?" asked Swift in a raspy tone, which let me know that it wasn’t a question, but a demand. "Nothing, it was a deal between the God of Death and me. In exchange for resurrecting you, I don’t mess with necromancy of any kind ever again," I answered calmly, but with some uncertainty in my voice at how angry Swift sounded due to his resurrection. However, after a few seconds the body language and general atmosphere of danger that the soldier was emanating dissipated, and the calm came like a hurricane, completely destroying any tension that once existed, almost detrimentally so as Swift finally met my eyes, his expression unreadable for the moment. "Don't deal with the gods kiddo; it usually ends with the mortals losing more than what they get. Still, thanks for that." Swift said, but despite his words, his tone seemed to say the opposite, saying thanks more out of obligation than genuine gratitude. "Hey guys, I hate to interrupt as normally I'd love to stay here all day in this gloomy place, but I have a princess expecting me for dinner later," Shining said, helping me to stand up. A fight that culminated in a victory, a day where everything went well, in a manner of speaking at least. All things considered, it could’ve been worse right? 'Everything has a price, and you haven't paid your dues yet!' a voice whispered in my ear so low it could be mistaken for the wind. Was I hallucinating? or did someone just whispered to me... no... there was no one around, and even if there was someone around, my power would have detected it, maybe I just can't accept the fact that everything went well. After giving several potions to Shining and taking a few myself, the lovestruck captain went back to spend the rest of the day with Cadence. As for Swift, I helped create a backstory for him since he’d been dead for hundreds of years. It was relatively simple, a farmer who got his cutie mark in martial arts who I’d chosen as my combat tutor and bodyguard. As for his level, I couldn't see his level of stats even in my group. Though from what I can gather, his real strength was such that he could kill the Lich with one sneeze. Swift Strike LV??? HP?????/?????? MP?????/?????? EN?????/?????? He also had an energy bar in addition to his mana bar, the first pony I’d ever seen with such a thing. I don’t have any idea what it could be for, but hopefully, we can figure it out soon enough. Overall, in spite of a few setbacks, this latest excursion proved to be very successful. Shining was enjoying some alone time with Cadence, Swift is back amongst the living, slowly readjusting to life and myself...well I decided to have some fun with a rather fetching librarian I met not too long ago, with some rather prominent assets I was eager to see. It didn't take me long to get the librarian to agree to have a little fun with me, being a prince has its advantages, and Equestria has always been rather open-minded about when it comes to sexuality. Eager to burn off stress I brought her up to my room in the castle, and little by little we began to undress each other, with the occasional kiss here and there, to liven up the mood. We finally got onto the bed, ready to bring everything to a, pardon the pun, climax, when suddenly. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" "What the hell is that?" I asked the sweet naked mare in front of me and soon came my answer like in an action movie. Cadence flew in through the window, sending shards of glass flying in every direction as she landed in front of me in a pose reminiscent of a comic book hero. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" *THUD* Again another strange sound but this time it ended as if something had hit the wall. I tried to ask Cadence, but she silenced me with a finger, and after a couple of minutes Shining broke down my door with a sledgehammer, bleeding as though he’d just hit a wall at high speed. "Blueblood, meet Blueballs! How does it feel!?" Shining said with a wicked smile as I felt my jaw drop at the idea of the otherwise straight-laced Captain pulling such a stunt. Which only got more surprising as Cadence got right into my face with an equally sinister look. "Next time you interrupt us, I'll make your relationship with Mr. Blueballs an intimate one," Cadence said with an evil expression leaning close to me to whisper, “Get on my bad side again and I’ll make sure you never get laid again cousin, so don't test me..” "How the hell?" I was about to ask how the hell could she possibly know I was about to have sex, but she beat me to the punch. "I’m the Princess of Love, if a mosquito is copulating in Equestria I know it, and more importantly where exactly said mosquito is!" Cadence said levitating the naked librarian while putting extra emphasis on the mosquito part as she spared me a glance, "So, I’m going to need your friend here to help me... with something... bye." Cadence teleported, leaving me naked, blue balled and covered in sheets, with Shining being the only other one in the room, who had the look of satisfaction I should’ve been wearing. "Well I've had my revenge, I think I'll go get something to eat," Shining said as he left the room, smiling with pride as he went out the door. 'Everything has a price, and you haven't paid your dues yet! IT IS TIME TO PAY!' the same voice whispered in my ear this time I was sure something was going on, but I couldn't voice my opinion for the darkness had already embraced me. I strained against the chains that held my head in place, trying to get a better look around. What little I could see didn’t help much as I still had no idea where I was or how I even got here. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my hands and feet were cuffed, connected to a set of thick iron bars a few feet away. 'Is this the real price for playing with the living?' I questioned myself as I looked around. I could see other creatures bound just like me; some were ponies while others included griffons, changelings, yaks etc. It was here that my body finally decided to wake up completely, thus allowing my ears to be nearly torn apart by the countless screams of the many prisoners — the sheer volume of pure, unrestrained agony echoing throughout the massive room genuinely terrifying to me. Amongst the cries of seemingly damned, I saw countless monstrous creatures, the species of which even amongst numerous other beings I’d just seen could not be identified. It seemed like I was truly in another realm and to my growing horror, I feared I had no way to escape it. "Great.... you are here..." an unknown unicorn right beside me said with an annoyed look on his face. "And you are?" I asked the unicorn. "Five hundred years planning and avoiding death, and it’s an inexperienced kid with two idiot soldiers, one I brought back myself that kills me. And now he doesn’t even recognise me.” The pony groaned to himself to my confusion. “I'm the Lich, the one you and that old soldier killed if you remember. Of course, that’s water under the bridge at this point since you can see I have other concerns.” The former Lich gestured to all that around, with the constant wails imprisonment and torture saying more than any amount of words could ever hope to convey. “Since we’re not enemies anymore, I suppose a proper introduction is in order. My true name is Coral Red," Coral sighed, "And going by that rather hostile glare you’re currently giving me, I believe that’s about as many pleasantries as we’re going to share during our time here.” He wasn’t wrong; if it weren't because I was currently chained to the ground with iron bonds, I’d most definitely be using those chains as a makeshift noose to strangle whatever life he had left in him. “So then, where exactly are we?” I asked. "Hell, Tartarus, Infernus..... the end of the fucking line," Coral said with a mixture of bitterness and defeat. Well, that certainly explained why he was here...along with the screams. “Well, can’t say you didn’t exactly earn your place here after all the chaos you caused.” My tone was more than hostile, and I expected an equally venomous retort, yet instead, Coral seemed almost ashamed as he stared down at the ground. "You’re not wrong. I played with the living and all but spat in death’s face multiple times. Had I continued, I’d have likely destroyed the balance between life and death," Coral said with dare I say a look of regret on his face, "I let the power corrupt me. And it’s only now after I have been condemned to eternal damnation that I realised my mistakes. Tragic irony at its finest.” The former undead let out an exhausted sigh, the kind I remembered hearing from some of the older guards as retirement drew close. Yet even in his moment of weakness, the ancient pony didn’t seem quite ready to dwell solely on his own misery. “Though, that leaves the question of why you’re here. Don’t tell me that for all your posturing about nobility and honour that you were just as corrupt as I was?” I debated on whether or not I should tell him anything, after all, he’d put me through, but by this point, there probably wasn’t any harm. “With you gone the magic keeping Swift alive faded. Naturally, it didn’t seem fair to me that after everything he went through, he couldn’t enjoy his newfound freedom; thus, I tried to revive him.” That earned a bitter chuckle from the Lich, offering a knowing smirk. “Hmm, seems I was right on the dot about you. Guess for all your talk; you’re no different from me.” I growled loudly, slamming my hoof into the floor, horn glowing furiously as if I was ready to blade Coral through a wall. “Don’t even think about comparing the two of us. All I wanted was to help my friend, nothing more than that…Unfortunately, it turned out to be a little more complicated than I thought.” “Oh, how so?” Coral asked in a somewhat demeaning tone. “Would you believe I made a deal with the God of Death to bring Swift back in exchange for the Soul Essence I got from you,” I spoke with such a casual tone you’d think I was talking about the weather or what colour I decided to paint the walls of my house. Though, while my tone was casual, Coral’s reaction was anything but. “Th...the….God of Death?” The former undead’s body quickly started to lose colour, his chains shaking and rattling, looking about ready to fall to the ground. “You met the God of Death. You made a deal with him?” I nodded, deciding to sit on the ground and take a load off for a minute. “It wasn’t exactly easy to get him on my side at first, but he was surprisingly reasonable all things considered.” "A full resurrection, impressive... not that it really it matters now," Coral said, looking ahead to the near-endless void of screaming, torment beings, "We are all gonna suffer here from now until the end of eternity." "Don’t be so sure,” I said with determination, looking over the chains that held me down to find some kind of a weak link in the metal, “I don’t plan on staying in this hellhole any longer.” However, as if I’d triggered some kind of an event, a massive pillar of fire appeared several yards away from where we were chained, and a massive shadow appeared in the center. Demon Lord of the Fifth Floor of Hell- Apollyon the Just LV??? A demon with scars all around his body, walked towards us, stopping just in front of me, allowing me an up-close look at his knifelike teeth and pitch-black skin. And that was to say nothing about his breath, practically soaking my face and fur in what I could only assume was rotten flesh, brimstone and a whole number of other things. Mercifully he finally turned his attention elsewhere, scanning over the countless damned soul before him with a look of glee across his cracked and rotted mouth. "Rapists, Traitors, Murderers, Pedophiles, Thieves, Necromancers. Of all the scum that defiles the world above with their filth, you are at the very top of the pile. I am Apollyon, but you will come to know me as your punisher, here to make you suffer for your countless transgressions. Know that this torment is what you deserve, and it is all on you.” The massive demon continued his speech, marching along the line of tormented souls, a look of satisfaction etched across his face. “I believe this goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway since I know there’s always at least a few of you fools with dreams of freedom. Know there is no escape from here. Even if by some miracle you were to flee from this place, we are at the lowest level of the abyss. Were you to escape you would need to brave the remaining circles and even it to the first circle, Cerberus will stop you cold.” With a wave of his hands, a massive weapons rack burst from the ground, holding countless whips, blades, clubs, and other implements of torture I couldn’t even identify. Reaching out, he pulled out a massive iron club, covered in counterless spikes, some of which were curved like hooks and all covered in dried blood. Giving the garish maul a few test swings, Apolloyn turned his attention back to his intended victims. “Now then, shall we begin?” "How many levels of hell are there?" I asked, getting the attention of the general before he could begin his work. "Well, what do we have here? A daring one huh," Apollyon said, getting close to me with an amused look on his face, "You know, I don’t really have any incentive to tell you anything. Really, all I’m seeing is someone volunteering for the first crack.” I quickly found the pointed end of several of his club’s spikes mere centimetres from my face, giving me an up-close look at the countless blood stains adorning its metal body. “And anyway, it doesn’t matter how many levels there are. Point is every level is full of demons, lead by a general like me, and the gates are protected by Cerberus. And since getting passed me is already impossible, complete escape goes well beyond illogical and unfathomable. So best get comfortable my little friend, you’re never getting out.” With that, the demon lord pulled his weapon back walked away and started to sort the sinners to their respective levels. I had so many questions. None of what he'd said sounded comforting except maybe for the fact that while escape was unlikely, there at least was an actual exit. Yet, even with that pieces of information, that provided little comfort as I still had no way to actually reach it. 'Fear... great gamer mind is off?' I thought. Magic skills, mana, etc. are blocked in hell, Gamer mind is blocked in hell and any mind and soul protecting skill that could interfere with the torture that will be bestowed upon the sinners in hell. TIP: You can't die in hell at least not for real if you somehow manage to die you will go back to the circle of hell where you started your adventure, but this case only applies to the sinners, the residents of hell can die, the sinners cannot for the sweet release of death is too good for them. I had little time to ponder as Coral, aka the Lich and myself were ultimately sorted into the same circle. Amazing, he fucks the realm of the living for five hundred years, and I resurrect a friend, and we both get the same punishment. So much for there being justice in hell. "Listen, you said you wanted to escape right. Well, if you want to get out of here we’ll need to work together," Coral said in a desperate tone, "We stand a better chance if we can --" "What we exactly are you referring to. Don’t assume that just because you now feel regret for your past atrocities I’ve forgiven you," I said with a harsh tone, "The second that I have a moment of freedom, I’m heading straight for the gates. You can rot here and serve out the sentence you deserve. " "You need me! I can--" Coral said, but his voice was silenced by the demon that shoved us into the opening leading to our level. The demons approached us, looks of malicious glee present on their faces. I still couldn't move much, but I was ready to fight in any case. As the demons got closer to me, they started to release us from our bounds, which while I was grateful for was still perplexed by. "Don’t look too excited, without the restraints, you will feel the true pain of hell," one of the demons said with a chuckle as they walked away, leaving us in the middle of a seemingly endless void. The wind rushed past me, but instead of feeling like a warm breeze, it felt like acid on my skin, sending stabbing pains all across my body. I felt compelled to scream out but bit it back. If I gave into the pain now, what hope could I have for surviving the rest of the way out. Despite the pain, I stood my ground, Coral beside me, showing a surprising level of durability of his own, actually holding up better than me it seemed. I had little time to ponder over this as my screen once again appeared before me. A new skill has been created by a specific action. Pain Tolerance passive LV 1: Pain tolerance is the maximum level of pain that a creature is able to tolerate. Pain tolerance is distinct from pain threshold the point at which pain begins to be felt, right now you can tolerate the pain 1% better than originally 'Like that is going to help me!' I thought, still gritting my teeth as I fought against the continued assault against my body. Skill Level UP!. Pain Tolerance passive LV 2: Pain tolerance is the maximum level of pain that a creature is able to tolerate. Pain tolerance is distinct from pain threshold the point at which pain begins to be felt, right now, you can tolerate the pain 2% better than before. ‘That’s better, but not by much,’ I thought as the pain was starting to overwhelm my body. ‘Have to push forward and hope I can hold out.’ Swift P.O.V My task was simple, to take care of the boy and to teach him how to fight properly. Who knows, maybe if I focused on that I’d find a new meaning for the life I've been given. Figuring there was no time like the present, I went to see if Blueblood was interested in training for a bit. However, as I made my way to his room, I saw from the gardens on the skies that someone entered his room through the window, flying right through it! He was under attack! In a panic, I ran quickly towards out to his room to eliminate the threats. As I approached I saw the door open and I readied myself to attack whoever came out. Yet, to my surprise and confusion, and yet I found it was Shining coming out with a look of pure satisfaction and mirth on his face. I was confused for a moment, before I remember Shining’s position and how many guards would often play pranks on one another to help relieve stress after a long day. The thought made me chuckle as I recalled some of my past acts of mischief. Now calmed, I entered  a smile, so I assumed was that it was a joke after all the guard is famous for their rough playing, as my worries left as I entered his room, I found Blue’s room, only for my concern to rise at the sight of my ward on the floor unconscious., I rushed to help him only for a but circle of dark magic to appear and absorbed him into the floor, leaving only a symbol burned into the marble. And to my horror, it was a symbol I was all too familiar with. The symbol of the door to Tartarus. a symbol in the marble on the floor that I had time without seeing, the symbol of the door to Tartarus. “So this was the price for playing with the Gods? the price for bringing me back...” I said to myself looking at the symbol, studying it as I tried to figure out a way to help.   “It seems then only wanted him and forgot all about me. Well, that’s a mistake they’re gonna quickly come to regret. keep your mind together kiddo I’ll bust ya out of hell in no time, and teach the gods why exactly I feared back was feared in my time.”