Chapter 182: When Even The Judgement In Hell Is Rigged
(Abaddon POV)
Life's been rather simple for me nowadays.
After I got 'educated' by Mistress on who I should bow my head to, the stress of having to deal with the Abyss by myself was gone.
It was a natural outcome since what used to be something I had to do on my own was no more. With Mistress taking over the helm, all I had to do was be her obedient guard and assistant and I don't need to worry about anything else. She does way better work than me anyway so you'll hear no complaints from me.
What about the gods that assigned me to this position?
Ha!
If those arrogant things that abandoned me to this position dare to show their face here, I'll show them what I think of their opinion then!
Do you know how stressed I've been ever since I was dropped here?
The Abyss itself lies within the Spirit Realm, acting as the fields of punishment for souls deserving of it. The gods didn't want to deal with it, so they just picked me and dropped me off here.
What pricks.
Being the responsible demon that I am, I still did the job required of me. Seeing these damned souls do despicable things during their life convinced me to at least spend the time to condemn them.
As for how it's decided who will end up here to be punished, that is beyond both my job scope and my scope of caring. The only thing I'm in charge of after they are sent here is to decide how long and how deep they will go into the Abyss.
Being sent to the hole where all of the rejects of existence live does a lot to anyone's psyche.
In the past, I had to judge each and every soul myself by investigating their memories. That creates a really long waiting list and I could not count how many lowlifes managed to escape from judgement because of this.
But now with Mistress's and boss's Church's help, I no longer have to shoulder this judgement thing alone. For the first time in years, the waiting list for abyssal judgement was empty.
Not that I haven't been trying to find help all this while but when your recruitment advert consisted of 'reading through memories and judging people to be sent to eternal damnation', it's hard to find one that isn't a complete psychopath for unbiased judgement.
Oh sure, this group of people were basically fanatical worshippers of a certain powerful being but it wasn't like their dedication to him was unfounded. Not even the gods who put me in my current position could do what he did within the Spirit Realm.
I've yet to tell them, but I believe he might actually be one of the fallen gods of a major pantheon though I have no idea who.
No need to drive their fanaticism even further after all. What they have going right now suits me just fine, even if it means serving under one of those damned gods indirectly.
As long as he doesn't turn out to be one of them that put me here in the first place, I'll be fine with it. Mostly.
Then again, not like I can do anything about it with the metaphorical collar currently latched on me.
While I was still lost in my thoughts, I felt the rift between the Mortal Realm and the Spirit Realm fluctuate, signaling another new blood to be judged.
I readied myself to receive the newcomer, rising to my full height to appear more intimidating to whoever was coming.
A portal opened up in front of me, depositing something that I did not expect to see.
"An Elder Wendigo? My, my... Haven't seen your kind around since... Well, ever. You're not even supposed to be here, your kind does not get to be sent here after death. Unless..."
I took a peek at its memories and sure enough, boss man was there.
I sighed, how the hell did boss send this thing here? As far as I know, if one kills the physical body of a Wendigo, the spirit is released back into the wild, allowing it to possess the next victim of its choosing.
And if there just so happens to be someone who is proficient enough with Astral Quarks, they might be able to exorcise it, freeing it from existence entirely.
These monsters do not go to the Spirit Realm after death and yet, here was one in front of me.
The Wendigo seemed to be just as confused as I was, its translucent head swiveling around to inspect the place. I guess it can be proud to be the first Wendigo in existence to step foot into the Spirit Realm.
I snapped my fingers to get its attention, "Alright, listen here buddy. You pissed off someone you shouldn't and got sent here to suffer. Right now you're the first ever Wendigo to be dropped here so I'm not even sure what will happen if you get sent down into the Abyss."
It swivelled its head back to look at me, its head tilting upwards since I was way bigger than it was.
"Now, I can just do the same to you as what all the others who pissed boss off and ended up here have been getting, but I'm sure Mistress wouldn't have an idea of what to do with you either. I can also just drop you off in one of the--"
The Wendigo raised its claw and took a swipe at my leg.
Unfortunately, it was in its ethereal form so the attack just passed harmlessly through me.
I frowned, "Hey, that's kind of rude, I'm still talking..."
It screeched, probably out of frustration since it tried to swipe at me again, aiming for my other leg this time though the results were the same.
"Hey, you can at least understand me right?" I asked, a little put off by its blatant rudeness.
Completely ignoring me, the Wendigo unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks at me, all of which just passed through me without even doing anything.
I guess this particular spirit was just retarded or something.
Screw it, I don't really care about it anyway.
"Eternity within the Abyss it is then," I decided, snapping my fingers.
The Wendigo disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving no traces of it behind. Whatever happens to it within the Abyss is now absolutely none of my concern.
Just as I was about to relax again, another portal opened up and an elf with silver hair stepped out.
I was immediately on my knees when I saw her, "Mistress! Such a surprise! What... What brings you here?"
She furrowed her brows at me, "I felt something out of the ordinary pass through here just now, what was it?"
I gulped, "That... It was a monster's spirit. A Wendigo to be exact."
She raised an eyebrow, "Oh? I thought you said that monsters don't usually end up here?"
"That... That is correct, it was an anomaly."
"And? Why is this one so special?"
I felt a single drop of sweat gather on my brow, "That... That is... Boss sent it here... Because it tried to eat him..."
"WHAT?! Why didn't you call me?! You just sent it to the Abyss without letting me go through that piece of garbage?!"
"I... I didn't think you would want to deal with an anomaly like that. I... I just assumed..."
Mistress scrunched up her face, "Assumed huh? It seems you need some disciplining of your own."
A whip appeared in her hands, its length unfurling behind her as she stalked towards me.
I panicked, "No! Mistress! Wait! Not the whip! No! I'm sorry! Please! Anything but that!!"
That day, I got reminded again why I was in my current position.