The Last Circle

"This is a joke, right?" said Wretched Nameless One, now on all fours as he slammed a fist against the black, ashen, charred rock that the fire once engulfed, with his fiery eyes closed. "None of this is happening. None of this is happening."

He blew a deep breath, shaking his head as he kept his head down, slowly peering back up to see the status menu once again, hoping that he simply read the sin count wrong, finding that it said:

Sin: 100,000,000,000,000

He gasped, coughing as he looked back down, the force of it feeling as though he'd cough his lungs out. He slammed the ground over and over again until his hand ached and recovered his breath.

"This is bullshit!" he wheezed, drawing heavy breaths, followed by the echoing ding of a bell.

Slowly, he looked back up, his fiery gaze meeting with a banner notification that said:

[For your profanity, your Sin has increased by one.]

[In accordance to your [Lightless Creature] attribute, your accrued sins have been doubled. You have gained two sins.]

"That's bull—"

He stopped himself immediately. The last thing he needed to do was accrue any more sin, for he was already in deep trouble.

He took a seat on the hard surface, sighing as he shook his head and said, "Okay... okay. It's fine. We just have to not say bad words. How hard can that be?"

He returned his gaze to the panel, dismissing the notifications, taking a look at the bottom, where it said:

[Would you like to continue with the tutorial or view information on each status?]

"View information," he answered, finding the panel undergo another chromatic aberration, taking him to a new display.

[At the top of your status menu is your name. Since you lack a name, you have been titled as Wretched Nameless One.]

'Sure, whatever. I know I have a name,' he said to himself, refusing to believe the system. 'It's...'

He paused, frowning, raising a brow, squinting his eyes... his face contorted into all manners of confusion as he thought about it. In fact, he couldn't really place a finger on who he was at all, nor what he'd even done to enter Hell.

'What the Hell is my name?' he asked himself, rubbing his chin as he stretched his legs along the charred ground. 'Ah, whatever. I'll deal with that later on, let's just continue reading the information.'

[Below your name is your rank. Your rank is Accursed. Rank can change between five different categories, based on the number of Sin. The lowest is reserved for the one with the highest sin: Accursed. Next is Profane, then Heretic, then Transgressor, then Sinner.] Rank description: You are the worst of the worst.

'Now that has to be an exaggeration.'

[Below your rank is your epithet. Only the most notable of Hell-dwellers have an epithet. Your epithet is The One Who Eclipsed Satan.] Epithet description: You beat Satan at his own game.

He scratched his forehead as he raised his brows. 'It is exaggerating... right?'

[Below your epithet is the list of your attributes. All attributes are unique to each Hell-dweller.]

[Immutable] Attribute description: You are invulnerable to the influence of the jinn.

[Lightless Creature] Attribute description: You accrue twice as much sin for every one sin you commit.

'Now that's just not even fair.'

[Gaze of the Cleansing Fire (Devil Tier)] Attribute description: Any who gaze into your fiery eyes suffers a searing pain on their soul, amplified by the victim's sin count.

'Good thing I'm the one with that attribute,' so he thought, feeling shivers run down his spine, no matter how hot it was down where he was.

[Eternal Witness (Devil Tier)] Attribute description: In your past life, you have seen all that there was to see; committed every sin there was to commit. Whenever you are looking at a human or jinn, you gain insight on their weaknesses, their talent, their epithet, their rank, their held Fragments of Divinity, and you double their Sin for the time being.

Wretched Nameless One's lips curled up slightly, along with his raised brows. 'Hey! That's pretty good... Wait, is it? I've committed every sin there was to commit?'

[For your pride in sinning, your Sin has increased by five.]

[In accordance to your [Lightless Creature] attribute, your accrued sins have been doubled. You have gained ten sins.]

"Oh fuck off! I didn't mean it like—"

The sharp ring of the bell cut him off.

[For your profanity, your Sin has increased by one.]

[In accordance to your [Lightless Creature] attribute, your accrued sins have been doubled. You have gained two sins.]

He facepalmed, wanting nothing more than to weep as his head hung back, though his fiery eyes would brook no tears.

'This isn't even fair!' he yelled internally, despairing over cleansing himself of sin.

[Below your attributes is your talent. You must first ascend the Spire of the Infinite Corridor into the Sixth Circle of Hell to awaken your talent.]

Wretched Nameless One cast a sneer at the panel. 'Ugh. Whatever that is, sounds like it'll be quite the pain,' so he thought.

[Below your talent is a list of the artifacts you currently possess. As of now, you do not possess any artifacts. Collect them by exploring throughout Hell!]

"Now why in the Hell would I want to explore this place!?" he yelled with a tremulous voice and chuckled. "Is this thing insane?"

[Below your list of artifacts is your weakness. You do not possess any weaknesses.]

'Thank God.'

The familiar bell ring echoed once again, and Wretched Nameless One felt his heart sink.

'There's no way I got a sin for thanking God,' he reassured himself, trying to ease himself before he started hyperventilating. Taking a look at the panel, he found a notification saying:

[For your gratefulness to God, your Sin has decreased by one.]

A light flickered in his wide fiery eyes... well, perhaps it was more appropriate to say that his eyes flickered. "Infinite sin decrease farm?" he asked himself, deciding to test it as he looked up and raised his arms to the frenzied shades of yellow, red, and orange sky as he said:

"Thank you, God!"

He waited in silence with closed eyes. 'Any second now. That bell should ring...'

Alas, it did not, and soon afterward, he looked back at the panel, finding a new notification that said:

[Your gratefulness was not genuine. Your Sin has neither increased nor decreased.]

He lowered his gaze and shrug his head with drooping shoulders. "Damn it."

The bell rung, and he immediately looked up with a smile, only for it to be wiped off just as quickly as it appeared.

[For your profanity, your Sin has increased by one.]

[In accordance to your [Lightless Creature] attribute, your accrued sins have been doubled. You have gained two sins.]

Yet again he facepalmed, this time restricting himself from lashing out at the panel with every fibre of his being, letting himself only shake an angry fist at the air.

He sighed, returning to reading the information on display.

[Below your weaknesses is your Sin count. Sin displays the total number of sins you have accrued in your past life and in Hell. You must erase all your Sin in order to be worthy of returning to grace.]

'You just can't get a break, huh?'

[Below your sin is your Fragments of Divinity count. Fragments of Divinity are the most effective way of reducing one's Sin, with each one reducing your Sin by one-hundred. In order to acquire them, you must first collect Seeds of Corruption by killing Hell-dwellers or the creatures of Hell. Cleanse them in rivers of liquid fire scattered throughout each Circle of Hell to transform the Seeds of Corruption into Fragments of Divinity. Crush the Fragments of Divinity to increase the count and decrease sin. The displayed required amount shows how many Fragments of Divinity you will have had to collect before you can ascend to the next Circle of Hell.]

His eyes squinted and twitched. "Eh? How many would I need then?"

[Below your Fragments of Divinity count is your location. You are currently at the lowest level of Hell: Seventh Circle of Hell. Ascend to the First Circle of Hell, cleanse your Sin, and only then will you have the chance of entering Heaven.]

"Wouldn't that put me at a serious disadvantage then?" wondered Wretched Nameless One, scratching his knuckles as he thought about the daunting task, sighing as he ajar jaw yawed to one side. "Even if everyone else is on the Sixth Circle of Hell, I'm still at a major disadvantage."

"Yes, it would," said an ethereal and hoarse voice.

Wretched Nameless One darted his fiery gaze back, taking notice of a floating dark grey-blue veil, giving a humanoid shape to an otherwise space black mass.

He jolted up, staring back with knitted brows and a clenched jaw, dismissing the panel as he asked, "Who are you?"

"I am a jinn," said the floating veil and black in between. "You know me as Satan."