He slowly opened his eyes once again, only to immediately shut them the next moment.

Terror, confusion, despair... All of these emotions clouded his mind, however, one question destroyed any and all others. Why am I still alive!?

"Well, what do we have here? Oh, yes. A headache, that's what I fucking have." Said a voice that sent shivers down his spine. He had never heard a voice like this, the sole sound of it literally made him tremble in fear. He now had yet another reason to not open his eyes.

"Stop it, Lucy. You're scaring it..." Another voice resounded from about the same place he heard the evil voice, and he unconsciously relaxed. He still couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, but at the moment he honestly didn't care. He only wished for death, and it disappointed him. Now, what else could suprise him? 

"Shut it, Micheal. Little one, you caused us quite the trouble, so don't expect me to be gentle with you." 

He trembled but didn't run, as he could already guess he was in hell. He personally wasn't a religious person, nor did his people believe in hell, but he understood the concept from the heroes. He never liked the idea, as it sounded biased, but now he was doubting his doubts.

"Hahhh... Yes, Lucifer is right, little one. The God herself sent us to deal with you. She said that your situation is rather unique, and I agree." Said the gentle voice, turning a bit cold at the end.

"Hahahaha!! Unique!? This soul killed millions of people, although inderectly. That would be a ticket straight to the 10th circle of hell, but you also saved millions and made yet other millions able to lead happy and danger-free lives." Said the Lucifer guy.

Gathering his courage, he slowly opened his eyes. What greeted him was a room that resembled a reception room inside of the grandest of palaces. He was sitting on a couch facing another couch where two people sat. 

One of them resembled the devil itself whilst the other seemed like the highest-class beauty, an angel. He pursued his lips and looked down, not daring to look at the two deities straight. 

"Lucifer, don't make the little one uncomfortable. It's probably pretty scared, you know? Now, banter aside, you have a choice little one." Said the angel. The devil snickered and silently added "Here she comes..."

He looked up at the angel, who was flashing a beautiful smile at him. Unperturbed, he waited for her to add to her sentence. Seeing his non-existant arousal, she slightly pouted. The devil at the angel's side rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"You see, little one. You can either reincarnate in a world or remain here..." She said with a small smile. Just as he was about to say that he wanted to remain here, the words got stuck in his souly throat.

He had lived as a ruler for half a century, and he was abviously very, very good at reading people's experessions or finding loops in what people say. And this loop was rather obvious.

"... I will die if I remain here... right?" 

The angel's smile furthered into a cleshire, sadistic smile that made the devil beside her look like a harmless puppy. "Oh? Smart one aren't we? Unfortunatly, we have already decided your punishment. We just need to find the reward now." 

He couldn't understand what she meant, so he simply stayed silent. Seeing this, the devil spoke out before the angel could

"What we mean is that based off of your fears, we have found a suitable punishment. You have been seeking death ever since you were betrayed, and were actually happy when you found it. This doesn't give us much room for finding something to punish you with, as phisical torture and direct mental torture is not allowed by divine laws. So, we found a curse perfect for you."

The devil and the angel both flashed grins that made him almost lose his sanity out of fear, and although it sounds like an exxageration, the situation had set his emotions into a rollercoaster, making him much more susceptible to fear.

"What Lucifer is trying to say is that you have just been granted a blessing that even we crave for! Aren't you a happy-go-lucky?" The angel said with a slightly jealous expression, confusing him.

"Angelica means that you actually received the blessing of immortality! Aren't you a lucky one? Whenver you die, you will simply start anew as a different being." Said Lucifer with amazed eyes. "God is truly a wonderful being, He is just that powerful!" 

However, time had almost frozen for the little soul. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and his whole body was trembling. This time, however, was not in fright. No, this was the purest of hatred. 

"What... What... What do you mean... immortality... me?" He said, trying to form cohersive sentences. His mind was like a tornado, his emotions a tsunami and his heart an earthquake, breaking his whole being apart.

"It's just as Lucifer said, you actually got such a lucky reward. Ahn~, how I wish I could have it..." She said in a seductive tone. Lucifer slightly slapped her on the head, making her pout adoranly.

None of this registered into the soul's consciousness. He was too busy processing the meaning. When it finally did, a dam-like block broke and he roared out in pure anger "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T DIE!? ISN'T IT A PRIVILEGE OF THE LIVING TO BE ABLE TO REST WHEN THEIR TIME IS DONE?!?" 

The roar caught both the devil and the angel in suprise, making them unconsciously raise their guard. The devil felt a slight pity for the poor soul, as what it was saying was true. Even immortals like them can die, only God cannot. And this soul, apparently.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. It's not like it was our decision. Anyway, I think I came up with some ideas for your rewards. You will be sent in a gigantic cultivation world, and since you possess the reincarnation-immortality ability, let's make it that every time you die you will arise as a different species and you get to keep one ability of your previous species as well as your previous cultivation. Not only that, but you get an incredible affinity for darkness and illusion cultivation since... well, it seems like it will fit you." The devil said smugly at the end.

The soul was too filled with anger to really understand what was going on, but it managed to redirect the anger at God, thus finally allowing it to calm down enough. It was still angry though. Very angry.

"That's a good idea, Lucifer, but it sounds kida underwhelming considering everything our little one's done. I'll add in my share, you will gain an innate ability that allows you to grow faster then your peers as well as undefined lifespan, no metter your race. Hm? Considering it, won't it get killed off by it's own parents like this though, Lucifer?" The angel said, refering to the devil.

"Certainly, it is a possibility, but what can we do? It's a part of it's punishment after all. Well, I think we're done here. Good luck kiddo, maybe one day you'll join our ranks in the divines!"

The soul was about to retort when it suddently disappeared, and the next moment a huge pain made it cry out. It felt something licking it, and only then did it finally truly realize the situation.

And like this, the legend of the Hell King was born. A legend that would shake the core of this world down to it's foundation, but first, it will throughtly tear the poor soul into little pieces, digest it, burn it, bleed it out, drown it, poison it, freeze it, starve it...