The pink-haired imp grinned, pressing her face between the rusty bars of her cell.
"Name's Camila~!" she chirped, her bat-like wings fluttering behind her. "And you?"
I hesitated. "Astro Elric. But just call me Astro."
"Ooooh, fancy!" She twirled a strand of pink hair around her finger. "So, Astro, what'd you do to get tossed in here?"
I sighed, rattling my chains slightly. "Didn't do anything. Just stumbled into this city and got jumped. No clue why they locked me up yet."
Camila tilted her head, her diamond-shaped pupils glinting. "Ohhh, so you're a surface guy, huh?"
I blinked. "The surface?"
"Yep!" She leaned back, stretching her arms. "World's split into three layers—
The Infernal Crucible (Hell, where we are now)
The Mortal Coil (The surface world, where humans live)
The Celestial Spire (Heaven, where the winged pricks hang out)
And guess what?" She wiggled her fingers dramatically. "Hell and Heaven? They've got ten layers each. Fancy, right?"
I stared. That... actually explains a lot.
"So why are you in here?" I asked.
Camila's grin turned sheepish. She twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "Maaay have gotten a little too enthusiastic with my last performance on the surface."
"Performance?"
"Y'know," she said, doing a little flip in her cell despite the limited space, "street shows, fire-eating, the occasional pickpocketing—strictly for dramatic effect, of course."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, okay," she admitted, waving her hands. "So I might have accidentally set a noble's fancy hat on fire during a juggling act. And maybe that noble turned out to be a high-ranking demon slumming it on the surface." She sighed dramatically. "They're so sensitive about their hats."
THUD. Heavy footsteps echoed down the hall. A guard—a burly demon with cracked, ashen skin—stopped between our cells, scowling.
"Enough chatter," he grunted, jangling a set of keys. "Camila, you know the drill. One day in the box, then you're free."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know."
CLANK. The cell door swung open.
"Welp, see ya around, Astro!" She shot me a playful wink as she skipped out. "Try not to die before I get back!"
I gave a half-hearted wave as the guard led her away, muttering about her being late to check in again.
Silence returned.
I slumped back against the wall, my mind racing.
Three layers. Ten hells. And I'm stuck in the Infernal Crucible—no idea which layer, no idea how deep.
Then it hit me.
Wait... why am I just sitting here?
I closed my eyes, focusing inward—reaching for the magic I'd spent weeks mastering in the other world. The familiar hum of energy, the crackle of power at my fingertips—
Nothing.
Not a spark. Not a whisper.
My eyes snapped open.
A cold, sinking realization settled in my gut.
Of course.
Different world, different rules.
All my training, all my progress—gone. Wiped clean like a corrupted save file.
I gritted my teeth.
Ah. Hell. Nah.
Several hours later
The cell door groaned as it swung open, its rusted hinges screaming in protest. I squinted against the sudden torchlight flooding into my cell—and there she stood.
The oni woman.
Her kanabō rested against her shoulder, the spiked metal still faintly glowing from recent use. Up close, I could see the scars cutting across her collarbone, the way her slitted pupils contracted in the flickering light.
"Change of plans," she said, her voice low. "You're coming with me."
I didn't move. "Why?"
She exhaled sharply through her nose, the air shimmering with heat. "Because I don't like wasting time, and you're more useful out of chains than in them." Her claws tapped impatiently against her weapon. "Unless you'd rather stay here and find out what happens when the warden gets bored?"
I stood slowly, my muscles protesting after hours on cold stone. The guard behind her—a hulking brute with cracked obsidian skin—stepped forward with a key.
CLINK. The cuffs fell away.
"Follow," the oni commanded, turning on her heel. "And don't try anything stupid."
The prison corridors twisted like a living thing, the walls pulsing with that same eerie glow I'd seen in the caverns. Demons of every shape scurried out of our path, their eyes wide when they saw who led me.
We emerged onto a balcony overlooking the hell-city. From this height, I could see the full nightmare—the bone towers, the lava rivers, the winged figures circling like vultures.
The oni leaned against the railing. "You're not from any of the ten layers," she stated. "Your scent's all wrong."
I stayed silent.
She smirked. "Smart. But useless." Her claw traced a pattern in the ash-covered rail. "Here's the deal. Someone wants you dead. Someone important."
My stomach dropped.
"I could hand you over," she continued, her amber eyes gleaming. "Or... you could work for me."
"What kind of work?"
Her grin showed too many teeth. "The fun kind. There's a relic—a key, actually—that went missing from the Seventh Layer. I want it back."
"And if I refuse?"
She shrugged, the movement making her horns catch the firelight. "Then I toss you back in your cell and let the warden play. His last prisoner lasted three days before begging for the lava pits."
The unspoken words hung between us. You won't last that long.
BOOM. A distant explosion rocked the city, sending plumes of fire into the crimson sky. The oni didn't even flinch.
"Well?" she asked.
I looked out over the hellscape, at the demons crawling through its veins, at the impossible towers clawing toward a sky that wasn't there.
"Where do we start?"
Her laugh sent shivers down my spine. "Oh, you'll like this." She pushed off the railing. "We're going to steal from the Blood Duke himself."
I stared at the oni woman as she turned to leave. My throat still felt tight from the pressure of her gaze.
"Wait," I called after her. "Who is the Blood Duke? And how does he have the key?"
She stopped. Slowly, she turned her head, just enough for one slitted amber eye to fix on me. The air around us grew heavier, hotter.
"You don't need to know everything," she said, her voice dangerously soft. "But this mission could set you free. Maybe even send you back to the Mortal Coil."
She stepped closer. Too close. The heat radiating off her skin made my eyes water. Her face loomed inches from mine, her wide, unblinking eyes swallowing my reflection whole.
"All you need to know," she whispered, "is that I hate him."
I stumbled back, gasping for air. The pressure of her presence wasn't like Okayu or Korone's from the other world—but without magic, even this much was enough to make my lungs burn.
"O-Okay, okay," I wheezed, holding up my hands.
She straightened, satisfied, and turned to leave again—then paused.
"Oh, and." She glanced over her shoulder. "My name is Akumi Yoclesh. You will call me 'Miss Yoclesh.' If you don't?" She smirked. "You'll die."
With a flick of her wrist, she tossed something at me. I barely caught it—a rusted iron key.
"Seventh room down that tower." She pointed to a jagged spire connected to the prison by a narrow bridge. "Rest up. Tomorrow, you start."
Then she was gone, her footsteps echoing down the hall.
I let out a shaky breath. "Yes, ma'am."
The tower was worse up close. The stairs groaned underfoot, the walls slick with something that smelled disturbingly like old blood. By the time I reached the seventh door, my legs were trembling.
The key turned with a grating click.
Inside was… a room. Barely. A cot shoved against the wall, a cracked washbasin, and a desk covered in yellowed parchment. A guard's quarters, maybe—vacant long enough that no one cared if a prisoner used it.
I sank onto the cot, the straw mattress crunching under my weight.
No magic. No weapons. Just a mission to steal from someone called the Blood Duke, and an oni who'd kill me if I failed.
I stared at the ceiling, where the shadows danced in the flickering torchlight.