Leo, who had just landed in Tartarus, looked at the grim place before him. But he said, "This isn't even enough to stop me now."
"Not so fast, coldblood Leo, am I right?"
A lady with red hair emerged. She said to him, "I am the one who runs this place, and I want you to watch your mouth—or I will make Tartarus insanely hard for you. What do you say? Are you up to the task?"
Leo smirked as he said, "I don't give a shit about this place. But mark my words—I will not only pass this place, I will also destroy it with my full powers."
"Alright," the lady said. "Okay, we'll listen to you. But one more thing: all your powers will be confiscated. The only powers you will have are your Yang powers. And you want to know what it means to live in Tartarus in insanely hard mode? So what do you think? Are you sure you're up to the challenge?"
Leo said, "I don't give a fuck about this. Just get this over with already."
"Alright," she said. "Bye."
Leo was thrown into the deepest, darkest depths of Tartarus.
The lady whispered to herself, "I love him. What a boss he is. But the question I have for him... will he survive?"
But she believed she would have her answer soon.
The scene now shifted to Leo, who was falling deep. He passed different levels of Tartarus, yet he kept falling. After a while, he opened his eyes. He was in a zone where people were being burned alive—over and over again.
Leo looked at the grim place. What prevented him from getting burned was his Yang, which acted like a shield. As Leo looked at the flames, he thought, They are closely associated with my Yang. So what can I do to make that flame mine?
At that moment, the tormented suddenly turned their attention to him, and they all started to traverse the landscape toward Leo.
He thought, Oh oh... not good.
One of the tormented near him clutched him. Leo felt it—for the first time, he felt the flames.
He thought, This is more painful than any feeling I've known. I somehow pity them... except I don't.
He jumped up as unseen hands reached out to drag Leo down. But Leo smirked as he used his concentration to scan the whole landscape and guess the exact point of all the unseen hands.
Leo smirked again as he dove down, plunging deep into the flames. He still saw people submerged in the inferno.
Leo said, "Oh, so there's more."
He now used his fists to grab one of the unseen hands. It screeched.
Leo smiled. "Got you." He snapped it in half completely.
The unseen hands became visible. Leo had discovered something.
"Well then," he said.
He swam through the sea of fire, using his senses. He caught all the unseen hands coming his way and literally snapped them in half. Leo now swam deeper into the flames, but his Yang shielding was slowly degrading.
Leo thought, The only way is to get to the root cause.
After what seemed like endless years, Leo finally reached the deepest part of the liquid flame sea. He saw a tiny opening and clenched his fists.
"Alright."
He punched the opening. It didn't crack.
But Leo kept hitting it until, after some time, it finally cracked—just enough for him to pass through. Immediately, he fell down, but then he backflipped. Using that momentum to his advantage, he landed in a pure black sea.
A serpent emerged and swallowed him whole.
Leo was now being digested, but he didn't care. Instead, he was attracted to something. He dove in deeper until he reached the monster's stomach acid.
There, he saw a blade levitating inside the acid.
Leo didn't set his hopes up. He looked at the floor and saw bones. He picked one up and threw it into the acid. He was shocked as it disintegrated upon impact.
Leo now prayed for his soul.
"What an ironic twist," he muttered.
He set himself into a runner's position. Leo then zoomed off, spending less than a second in the acid. He stretched forth his hands, increasing his speed, because his feet were slowly getting burned. Leo now clutched the levitating sword.
He then ran with it back to the other end of the acid—back to where the digestive system angled upward.
Leo now looked at the sword, which seemed to acknowledge him.
He smirked and broke the sword into two parts. The sword commanded the acid, and Leo used it to his advantage. He forged twin blades from it, and this time he added some extra perks.
The blades he forged acted like elongated swords. They could now stretch and return to their original form.
Leo looked at the blades, which had now materialized into serpent heads.
He looked up toward the digestive system and said, "Time to climb."
He used his blade to strike into the digestive wall of the serpent. The serpent, on the other hand, was feeling extreme discomfort as it noticed it was being attacked from the inside. It pulled up its defense mechanism—its vomit. It then violently expelled Leo.
Leo was thrown out of the monster.
He now used his blades, stretching one forth toward the monster. It immediately impaled it.
Leo hitched a ride as the serpent, feeling it, tried to shake Leo off. But Leo didn't care. He wanted to kill the beast.
Leo now used his other blade, activating the acid within. He threw it at the serpent's eyes. It screamed in pain.
Leo jumped off it, charging the acid into the blade. He then said one word.
"Die."
He performed an X-strike, fully slicing off the head. The lifeless body remained.
Leo now used his powers, dissecting it piece by piece until it remained in fragments. Then, using his Yang powers, he combined them with the corpse of the serpent. He made a little armor from it and combined the bones and teeth of the serpent into his blades. He also added bones to all parts of his armor and covered them in Yang energy.
Leo now decided to return to the sea of flames.
He jumped high, entered back through the opening, and re-entered the sea of flames. Now armored, all the unseen hands and souls going toward him were cut apart one by one, until he had completely killed them all. The corpses remained—but they disintegrated soon after.
Leo now felt a bump in his powers.
He looked at the sea of flames and decided to use his powers to compress it into a pill, which he then swallowed. He felt a burst of power. His body fully hardened, and he could now conjure flames any time he wanted. He used this to increase the strength of his armor.
Leo then continued forward.
He saw a bridge. When he tried to walk on it, it collapsed. He almost fell, but then jumped off.
He said, "What the hell?"
Then he looked down and saw a pit with several entities all yelling at him.
"Oh," Leo said, "so you want me to come down?"
Leo jumped into the pit. Immediately, they all rushed at him, some with their mouths open, ready to devour him.
Leo had no time to waste. He used his sword to kill them all and began slicing nonstop.
Suddenly, they all paused. One of them said, "That sword… I know that sword. Why do you have it?"
Leo smirked. "Let's say I killed your god and made him mine."
Immediately, all of them went silent.
Then one of them said, "We will follow you. You are our new master. You are now King of the Accursed Pit."
Leo looked surprised. "Huh?"
"Yes," another said. "Those who possess the Serpent King's sword are chosen to rule. You defeated the beast, meaning you are strong enough. And if you truly own it, then this pit is yours. We are now under your command."
Leo said, "Fine. I need you all to enter my body as cursed souls and become my power."
They agreed. All of them turned into pure energy and entered Leo. A new mark appeared on his chest, glowing crimson black. He gained another power-up, but he was not satisfied.
He continued forward until he saw a massive gate. It was chained shut.
Leo tried to use his blade, but the gate resisted. He then tried his flames, but it absorbed them.
Leo sighed. "What now?"
He looked around. On the gate was a symbol. It looked similar to his mark.
Leo placed his hand on it, and suddenly, a bright light shot out.
The chains fell, and the gate opened slowly, revealing a massive arena-like battlefield.
On the other side stood a god.
Leo looked at him. "Who are you?"
The god replied, "I am Vulcazar, God of Relentless Combat. I was imprisoned here because I could not stop fighting. I challenged every god I met. I lost to none—but they feared me and banished me."
Leo said, "Sounds like you were just too strong."
Vulcazar smiled. "Indeed. And now I want to see if you're worthy. Fight me. Beat me. And you will gain my power."
Leo didn't hesitate. "Bring it on."
They both clashed. Vulcazar was fast—almost too fast. His punches sent shockwaves. Leo was getting hit again and again.
But he smiled. "Is that all?"
Leo countered with a flurry of flame-imbued strikes. Vulcazar blocked, then unleashed a massive combo, breaking Leo's armor.
Leo got knocked back. He grinned. "Finally. A real fight."
Vulcazar said, "I like you."
They charged again. Leo used his blades, extending them and wrapping them around Vulcazar, trying to restrain him. But Vulcazar exploded with pure combat energy, breaking free.
The two fought non-stop for hours. It was punch for punch, slash for slash.
Leo finally activated the cursed souls within him.
Vulcazar felt it. "Ah… so you've become the Accursed King."
Leo now moved faster. Every step he took summoned a cursed flame. Every swing of his blade unleashed soul pressure.
He shouted, "Let's end this!"
Vulcazar punched forward with all his might. Leo did the same.
The impact tore the arena apart.
After the dust settled, both stood facing each other.
Vulcazar dropped to one knee.
"You win," he said. "Take my soul. Absorb me. Continue the fight I could not finish. Fight until the end of all things."
Leo nodded. Vulcazar smiled as he faded away, becoming pure energy. It entered Leo.
Leo now had new armor. It was red and gold, infused with Vulcazar's power. His blades now had runes of battle etched into them.
He felt it. Strength like never before.
Leo looked up at the next gate that appeared.
He said, "On to the next."
He walked forward, deeper into Tartarus.
As Leo advanced, he reached a dark corridor. Unlike before, the walls whispered to him.
"Traitor."
"Monster."
"You're no god."
Leo kept walking, unfazed.
Then he saw it.
A version of himself—tied, beaten, scarred.
Leo narrowed his eyes. "Another test?"
The figure lifted its head. "No. I am your guilt. I am what you buried deep. I'm the Leo who questioned it all. The one who feared his own power."
Leo replied, "And what? You want to fight?"
The scarred Leo stood up, trembling. "No. I want you to feel what I felt. You cast me aside… the part of you that still felt human. You buried me because you couldn't stand weakness."
Leo paused.
Scarred Leo stepped forward. "But here… in Tartarus… even buried emotions claw back to the surface. You cannot ascend unless you accept me."
Leo frowned. "I don't have time for this."
Scarred Leo shouted, "Then you'll never leave this realm!"
Suddenly, the corridor warped. Chains erupted from the walls, dragging Leo down. The scarred version lunged at him.
Leo resisted. "You think I'll lose to you?!"
Scarred Leo cried out, "I am you!"
They clashed. Leo didn't use his full power—he couldn't. This battle was mental, spiritual.
Every strike felt heavy. Every hit carried memories—of pain, failure, loss.
Scarred Leo whispered, "Remember when we hesitated? When we begged for mercy? You killed that version of us."
Leo shouted, "Because he was weak!"
Scarred Leo grinned, blood dripping from his mouth. "No… he was honest."
Leo faltered for a moment. His blade wavered.
Scarred Leo tackled him, screaming. "I loved! I feared! I dreamed! You… you're just the shell!"
Leo closed his eyes. The chains tightened.
Then… he saw him.
A vision of Vultra—his brother, standing beside him in their darkest hour, shoulder to shoulder.
He opened his eyes. "No. You're not just guilt. You're balance."
Scarred Leo paused.
Leo stepped forward, arms open. "Come back. Not as weakness. As reminder. I need you."
The scarred Leo wept. "You… accept me?"
Leo nodded. "Yes. We rise together."
The two embraced.
A burst of light flooded the corridor.
The chains shattered.
When the light faded, Leo stood alone—calmer, centered.
A new mark appeared on his forehead—a silver flame.
Leo whispered, "Thanks."
He advanced.
Soon, he came across a temple made of bones.
Inside sat a woman—her eyes covered by a blindfold. She spoke without looking.
"You've faced power. You've faced guilt. But now comes the trial of choice."
Leo asked, "What do you mean?"
She raised her hand. Three images appeared.
In one: Vultra, dying in his arms.
In another: the multiverse, crumbling to ruin.
In the last: Leo himself, crowned as supreme deity—but utterly alone.
The woman said, "Only one path is yours. Choose."
Leo gritted his teeth. "All three suck."
She replied, "That is the price of ascension. You cannot have all things."
Leo remained silent.
Then he said, "I choose the second."
She nodded. "You would save the multiverse… at your own cost?"
Leo answered, "Yes. If I die doing it… so be it."
She smiled. "Wise. Then I grant you my flame."
The images faded. The woman vanished.
Leo felt another surge of power. His aura turned white-gold.
He exited the temple. At the summit of the realm stood the final gate.
Behind it… Tartarus itself, the living god of the prison dimension.
Leo said, "Let's finish this."
The gate opened.
Tartarus stood there—a giant, armored, with swirling black flame.
"You've come far," he rumbled.
Leo stepped forward. "I came to conquer you."
Tartarus laughed. "Then prove you are worthy."
And the final battle began.