Hell Valley (I)

When Su Yu stepped into the seventh stage, he was suddenly a little dazed.

They had somehow arrived in a valley. The gray sky hung oppressively low, offering only a dim, murky light. A volcano stood in the distance between heaven and earth, lava flowing through its cracks. The air reeked of sulfur and scorched earth.

The land everywhere was burned black. The ground beneath their feet had cracked into countless pieces, heat rising from the fissures. Ashes, gravel, and bones burned to charcoal lay scattered across the scorched ground, crumbling into powder beneath their feet.

Where the hell had this brought him? Was this still Hogwarts?

The distant hillside was packed with a dense Hell army. The Three-Headed Dog from the first level was here too, except it had now become a Three-Headed Hellhound. All three pairs of eyes were blood-red, fangs protruding from the corners of its mouths and dripping saliva. Its three heads roared at Su Yu and Harry.

Behind the Three-Headed Dog were skeleton soldiers spread across the mountains and plains, mixed among them were Minotaurs, each over two meters tall. Goat demons crouched at both sides of the formation, with goat heads and human bodies, longbows clutched in their hands.

Imps danced through the air. Fallen ones stood at the rear of the army, dressed in black robes with hoods concealing their faces and staffs in their hands. Flame demons moved slowly at the foot of the volcano, each one twice the size of a Minotaur.

And Professor Quirrell stood at the front of the Hell army, staring at Harry.

"It's you!" Harry cried in shock.

Quirrell was smiling, but not a single muscle in his face moved.

"It's me," he said blandly. "I had wondered whether I could meet you here, Potter."

"But I thought it was Snape—"

"Snape?" Quirrell laughed again, though it was not his usual loud laugh. It was sharp and cold.

"Yes, Snape was indeed worth suspecting. Having him scurrying around like a rat and drawing attention everywhere was very useful. Without him, who would suspect p-p-p-poor, st-st-stuttering Professor Quirrell?"

Harry could not accept it. His mouth hung open, his eyes wide. This was not real! It could not be!

"But Snape tried to kill me!"

"No, that's wrong. I was the one who tried to kill you." Quirrell's voice became steady, devoid of any emotion. "When your friend Miss Hermione set Snape on fire during that Quidditch match, she accidentally knocked me over. Snape made her break my contact lenses. A few more seconds, and I would have knocked you off your broom, but Snape cast a counterspell just then and saved you."

"Snape wanted to save me?" Harry's voice cracked.

"Of course. Why else would he referee your next match? He wanted to make sure I had no chance to strike again. Hmph, how amusing..." Quirrell said coldly.

At that moment, Su Yu interrupted them.

"I don't mean to interrupt you two," Su Yu cut in, "but could someone tell me what this place is? And what exactly are those things?"

He pointed at the dense Hell army on the hillside, then at the distant volcano spewing lava.

"Also, Harry, this is a battlefield, not a café. Are you planning to have afternoon tea with Quirrell?"

Quirrell looked at Su Yu.

Then his head began to turn.

Not turning his head—his entire head was turning. The back of his head slowly rotated to the front, while his face slowly turned to the back.

Voldemort's face appeared.

Su Yu's sanity plummeted.

That was way too disgusting. He did not know whether Quirrell would be willing to walk around backward from now on—if he even survived.

Voldemort spoke.

"Su... Fuli?" His voice was far deeper than Quirrell's. "Do you know Hell?"

"The demon kings of Hell cannot descend directly into the Outer World, so they joined forces to create this Inner World. And this place was specially prepared for Harry by Lord Belial, the Lord of Sloth."

His red eyes paused on Harry, then shifted to Su Yu.

"I don't know why they like Harry's soul so much either. But..."

Voldemort raised a hand and pointed at Su Yu.

"Kill him!"

The Hell army moved.

The skeleton soldiers on the hillside charged down first. Their bone joints creaked as they ran. The army behind them surged forward in a dense tide.

Su Yu moved as well.

The Nine-Tails Cloak instantly expanded. Golden chakra surged from his body, while Susanoo's red chakra armor assembled over it piece by piece.

Su Yu stood inside Kurama's head, his Mangekyō Sharingan slowly spinning within his red pupils.

He clenched his right hand, and a red longsword condensed in Susanoo's hand. Its tip pointed toward the charging Hell army.

He swung the sword once. Everywhere the sword light swept through, skeleton soldiers shattered across the ground and Minotaurs were severed at the waist. Purple lightning from the fallen ones struck him, but did not even scratch the Nine-Tails Cloak. With a backhanded sweep, he blew apart three fallen ones at once. A flame demon charged forward fiercely, but Su Yu's sword cleaved down from its head and emerged beneath its crotch. The flame demon split in two and collapsed, lava spilling from the cut and incinerating the surrounding skeleton soldiers.

He slaughtered his way from one end of the hillside to the other, then slaughtered his way back. Everywhere he passed, only shattered bones, severed limbs, and smoking scorched earth remained.

The Three-Headed Dog pounced.

All three heads bit at Su Yu simultaneously. Su Yu blocked the middle head with his sword, the blade wedged between its fangs as the hound's saliva dripped onto it and hissed with smoke. The left head bit Susanoo's shoulder, but its teeth failed to pierce the armor. Instead, it bared its teeth in pain.

Su Yu kicked the Three-Headed Dog away with a backhanded blow.

Then he stepped on its body and gripped the longsword in reverse with one hand.

He thrust downward.

The blade pierced through the upper jaw of the middle head, emerged through its lower jaw, and nailed it to the ground. The Three-Headed Dog howled, the sound leaking through its pierced throat and becoming hoarse and broken. The left and right heads struggled frantically.

Su Yu pressed the sword deeper into the earth, pinning the Three-Headed Dog's middle head to the ground so it could not move. Its eyes remained open, Su Yu's reflection visible in its blood-red pupils, but it could no longer bite.

Su Yu crouched down and gave each of the other two heads a hard slap.

Then he turned to look at Voldemort.

"So this is what you called Belial's preparation?" Su Yu's voice came down from above. "That's it?"

Purple mist slowly began gathering over the distant volcano. It grew thicker and denser, forming an enormous, irregular cloud at the summit.

A pair of massive purple horns slowly emerged from the mist.

Then came a huge body. A man in a purple trench coat gradually appeared.

He stood taller than Kurama.

He stood atop the volcanic crater, looking down at the battlefield in the valley. The dense swarm of lesser monsters on the battlefield shouted, "Lord Belial is eternal!"

He did not move or speak. He merely looked down at everything below. Yet his very existence was oppressive.

Su Yu raised his head and looked at the figure atop the volcano, larger even than Kurama.

"This," Su Yu said, "is a little interesting."

A spear appeared in Su Yu's hand once more. Red chakra condensed at its tip into a blinding light. He kicked off the ground, and together with Kurama's enormous body, shot straight toward Belial.

Belial did not move.

He merely raised one hand, his purple trench coat fluttering in the airflow. The spear struck his palm, its tip pressing against his skin—then stopped. It could not advance another inch. Su Yu frowned and pushed his chakra to its limit. The light at the spear tip grew so bright it seemed ready to explode, but Belial merely closed his fingers lightly around it, gripping the spear in his palm like a twig.

Before Su Yu could react, a tremendous force traveled through the spear. Belial swung one hand, and Kurama's entire body was flung away with it. Boom! Kurama's back crashed into the distant mountains, peaks collapsing like building blocks as rocks and dust billowed dozens of meters into the air.

Su Yu lay in the enormous crater from the impact and asked inwardly, Kurama, are you okay?

Kurama spat, golden chakra flickering at the corner of her mouth. "I'm fine. Again."

Su Yu did not move. He stopped Kurama, then began retracting the Nine-Tails Cloak and Susanoo. Golden chakra and red armor peeled away from him layer by layer.

"Kurama," Su Yu said, "a girl shouldn't spit everywhere."

Kurama froze for a moment. "Is this really the time to talk about that?"

Su Yu did not answer. He brought his hands together and closed his eyes. "Give me all your chakra."

Kurama glanced at him without hesitation. Golden chakra surged from her body, pouring endlessly into Su Yu's. His hair was blown upward by the current of air, and his robe snapped wildly in the gale.

He opened his eyes.

"Sage Art."

Black markings spread from around his eyes, extending along his cheeks, forehead, and nose bridge until they formed intricate patterns across his face.

He crouched down and slammed both hands onto the ground.

"Sage Art—Wood Release—True Thousand Hands—Susanoo: Nine-Tails Resonance Form!"

The earth began to shake.

Cracks spread in every direction from beneath Su Yu's palms. Rocks rolled down the hillside, and then—a hundred-meter-tall Buddha slowly rose from the ground.

The Buddha was wrapped in Susanoo's red armor. Behind it, the thousand arms were draped in the golden chakra of the Nine-Tails Cloak, like a thousand burning banners.

The Buddha stood up.

The several-hundred-meter-tall Thousand-Armed Buddha towered in the center of the valley, its head reaching into the murky gray sky, its shadow covering the entire battlefield. The remnants of the Hell army looked as small as ants beneath its feet. Belial stood on the volcanic crater, raising his head to look at the Buddha's peak as his purple trench coat whipped in the airflow.

Su Yu stood atop the Buddha's head, his robe billowing in the wind, the black Sage Art markings clearly visible on his face. He looked down at Belial, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

"Now, let's fight again."

He raised a hand.

The thousand hands behind the Buddha rose simultaneously. A thousand arms, each wrapped in golden chakra, each covered in red armor, each palm aimed at Belial.

"Top Transformed Buddha!"