Avici Banquet, No Way Out of Hell

"Your outfits are ready. I've left them here..."

Whoosh! As the words fell, the sliding door to the inner room opened. The mysterious old woman laid two sets of clothes on the tatami. Beneath her retreating gray sleeve, a length of gray-brown finger bone showed.

Looks like she isn't human either, Yu thought.

Subichini toyed with a luscious cherry between her slender fingers. "She's Datsueba, one of the Netherworld's envoys. Every soul that enters hell has its clothes stripped away by her. The weight of those clothes reflects the sins committed in life and determines how deep into hell the soul will be sent!"

Madara raised an eyebrow. "Hell has different depths?"

"Avici Hell has three layers: Impermanence, Misery, and Infinite," Subichini said. "Those who committed petty crimes or betrayed others in life enter Impermanence Hell after death. Their souls suffer scorching heat, bitter cold, torn-out tongues, and Pressure Damage.

"Those who violated others' wives and daughters, slaughtered innocents, or took their own lives enter Misery Hell after death. There they suffer dismemberment, saws, boiling oil, millstones, and pounding mortars!"

"Those who bring about a Millennial Calamity, defy heavenly law and human bonds, or toy with the order of life and death enter Infinite Hell after death. There, within Infinite Tsukuyomi, they endure every punishment without a moment's respite..."

Madara clenched his fists. "Then Hashirama..."

"Toying with life and death is a heinous crime," Subichini said. "He belongs in Infinite Hell..."

Fury blazed through Madara. "That damned Yama!"

"Keep that kind of blasphemy to yourselves while you're here," Ubiji said. "Whatever you do, don't say it once you leave. Put on the outfits Datsueba made..."

Yu walked to the inner room's doorway. A Noh mask lay atop each outfit, one carved with "Ten Evils," the other with "Unforgiven"!

Setting the