When Kurayami, Raynare, and Ophis all got to the underworld in his room they saw the girls all waiting for them. Esdeath looked like she was thinking about a lot of things a she was about to go to one of the worst places in this world.

When he appeared all the girls looked at him and Raynare with jealous and yet worried looked. Akeno was sitting on the couch and she did not look happy.

“Brother, Azrael told us that it is time for you, Raynare, and Esdeath all have to go or your training in Tartus. We all asked to go with you three, but he told us that he will only take you three.”

Kurayami sighed as he was worried that Tarturs would use his past lives memories to torment him while Esdeath was thinking that if Tartarus would make the demon in her scared gear stronger.

Artemis looked deep in thought and she shook her head. “Well I have never been to Tartarus myself, but I do know how bad of a place it is. It will use your greatest fears and worries to break you, but I feel you three will be able to handle it.”

Lavinia got up and walked up to Kurayami and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her back as he could feel how worried and annoyed the girls are that they were not allowed to go with them.

Lavinia looked up and smiled. “I know you will be able to come out of this stronger. However please be careful when you’re there. The three of you will need all the luck you need.”

Esdeath nodded. “We will be fine. Not like we are normal humans or monsters, but we will need to be careful.”

Kurayami looked at Kuroka and she smiled at him. “I know you need this more than ever, but why can’t you just sit still. I wish you could take life easy, but you don’t know-how. It is worrying sometimes.”

She walked up to him and hugged him tightly. This is one reason she wanted to get stronger as he was right. In this world, the weak are eaten by the strong and the strong get everything.

“I am sorry, but it seemed that danger is at every turn. Without power, everything can be taken from me with a snap. If I am not the strongest their will always be someone who can threaten my family.”

Kuroka nodded and whispered in his ear. “Next time you come back. I will not take no for an answer. I want my kittens.”

Kurayami smiled. “Fine, time should not take that long for you but may take longer for us. Let’s see where this goes. Ophis, I will try to make it for our special date, I did promise all of you to take you on those.”

Ophis got serious as her special date and food were at risk. She would kidnap him if he took too long again. Now he left with the girls to find Azrael and found him on the roof. He was looking at the underworld and seemed quite relaxed.

When he felt all of them he looked behind him and smiled. “I hope you three are ready. This may break you as to when I first went there I almost gave up from the torment. However, I will get you out if it is too much.”

Esdeath and Raynare looked at each other and smiled. The two girls were probably going to see who could improve the most from this as they both wanted to one-up each other. Raynare’s new Loginous is very versatile while Esdeath’s is a weapon of annihilation.

Kurayami looked at his right arm and he felt with Rebellion he should be fine as she and Shin knew everything about him. Being connected to his soul made that possible and it may give him an advantage.

Azrael noticed his thoughts and smiled. “Kuraymi, Raynare, Esdeath, I want the three of you to seal away your weapons. I did the same as living weapons are connected to your soul they make you more resistant effects on the soul.”

Kurayami did not want to do it as Rebellion was his partner and friend. He also felt it would be messed up to seal her away when she was asleep and Raynare also did not want to seal away Sephtis. Neither did Esdeath as all their living weapons were bound to their owners.

Azrael noticed and brought out his own scythe. When the scythe was brought out of his shadow the eye opened up and looked at all of them with interest. Azrael smiled as his weapon was with him since he was created by God.

“Well, this is my scythe Agrona. It is Celtic and means battle or slaughter. I choose the name myself as throughout my life I was sent on many battles by God. During my training in Tartarus, I had to seal him away, and let’s just say he was not happy.”

Agreeing with him the scythe shrieked at him in anger as it was very annoyed during that time. However, it would not be training if he had it easy. Kurayami sighed and looked at his arm.

He focused on Rebellion and tweaked his connection to her and made a simple seal that limited his ability to commutate with her. Raynare and Esdeath did the same and their weapons were not happy, but they knew it was for the best.

Azrael nodded. “Well let’s go. As I was in Tartarus I have a way to enter directly through here. It took me quite a long time to get it and it allowed me easy access and exit from there.”

He focused on the four of them and without even giving them a chance to say goodbye he teleported them to Tartarus. When they got there he took a deep breath and broke out coughing. Making him smile.

“Just as shity as I remember. So, what do you three think about his shit hole.”

Kurayami felt his skin burning like he had bathed in peppers and the girls also felt the same. The air made their lungs sting and their noses itch. The air was acid and the floor was made of glass.

Kurayami looked at Azrael like he was mad. “This place is terrible. How did you survive for so long here?”

“Pure grit and devotion to training. Most gods avoid this place like the plague as most of the enemies of the Olympians are here. Try to watch out for Tartarus himself as he is very strong. As a primordial, he is not the strongest, but he can give a most beings a run for his money.”

Raynare looked at him with interest. “Did you fight him?”

Azrael shook his head. “No. I did not as he is a jailer and has to focus on what is important. Making sure the Titans and giants stay locked up where they belong. Now, we will all split up. I was planning to come back here anyway and it won’t be training if you stay together.”

Kurayami nodded and began to walk North, but he looked back at Raynare and Esdeath. “Try to survive this place. I bet the two of you will be able to train quite well here. Maybe I should bring Sairaorg and Rias here.”

Raynare broke out laughing while Esdeath smiled at the thought. Her sadistic side was coming out as the pain was tolerable right now, but it should get worse if they could not heal themself.

They all went their separate way and Kuryaami looked at Shin. “Guess it’s just you and me bud.”

Shin barked and both of them went Noth while they breathed in the acid air and looking at the place. Kurayami had been going forward while flying for about a few minutes when he landed as a few monsters were charging at him in droves.

He created a sword of light and charged them and began to cut them to shreds. Even if he was dealing with the burning feeling in his skin and body he was not a being in the top 5 of the world’s strongest for nothing.

The monsters all were taken care of and Kurayami decided to sit on a rock to test a few things. He removed his glasses and used the sword of light to cut his palm. He founds his natural healing as a fallen was reduced here, but it was not by a lot.

He focused on the small bit of blood and focused on Ophis’s ability that she taught him. He turned it into a snake and it reentered his body and closed up his wound. It was one reason Ophis was nearly impossible to defeat as it did not matter how much she was hurt she could heal herself easily.

“Hey Shin, can I ask that you enter my shadow.”

Shin nodded and went into his shadow while Kurayami looked at the place more closely. The clouds were bloodred, monsters were everywhere in agony and fighting each other to death. Even though why were just reformed later on die again.

“Well at the moment I only am feeling the pain, but still have not gotten the mental aspect of the torment. I know that it is coming, but I guess even after all these years it is still terrifying.”

He removed his jacket and vest and stayed in his shirt and he decided to pick up on his magic training. He began to focus on ice one of his weakest affinities and what he found was that ice was very weak here.

There was very little water around and that revelation made him think of Esdeath who focused on ice magic and her own sacred gear was all about making ice. It would be a great place to train when ice was weakened.

He did not know how to train here as he could not go out hunting monsters who were quite weak. He could try strength training, but using weight would be an issue. He thought to the seals he had on his arm and he got a good idea.

He made several of them on his arms, legs, back, and chest while making them as heavy as possible. Every single one weighed a ton and he had about 4 on every part of him. He had a total of 48 tons on his body and he could feel the pressure.

It was hard to move as the rocks below him were breaking under his weight and to stop that he was forced to use magic to fuel the weights and use more magic to keep himself from falling through the ground.

“Well, no use crying over it. Let’s see where can I use as a temporary place.”

He looked all around and spread his senses and he started to walk toward a mountain he saw in the distance and saw someone.

He focused on the weight he was dealing with and decided to man it out. He got up and started to run to the mountain to see who it was. If they were here it meant that they deserved it or were her because of the petty gods.

He wanted to see why this person was here as he had all the time in the world right now. He started to run towards it and the massive weight he was dealing with was making it slow. Every breath made his lungs burn and his skin was starting to form small blisters.

They healed fast because of his fallen angel bloodline and something else. He didn’t realize it, but his dragon body was using the stress of being here in Tartarus to refine his body.

Thanks to Ophis he was gaining her body of a dragon which was one of the strongest around and extremely durable to damage. Even if he stabbed her, she did not feel anything. He could not even cause her to bleed or feel pain.

However, he did not like the feeling either way, and yet here he was learning from her. He was lucky she had given him this blessing as Tartarus may be the best place to push his body to the limit.

“Shit, this is heavy. Might as well rush it.”

He began to run toward the mountain he saw the guy reach the top of the mountain with a bolder and yet the mad tripped on the rocks and the boulder rolled down the mountain toward Kurayami.

Kurayami put his hand forward and stoped the bolder halfway while the man ran down.

“Thank you.”

He took the bolder and began to push it up again.

“Care to tell me why you’re doing this?”

The man kept rolling the bolder but explained.

“I am Sisyphus, I am cursed to roll this bolder for eternity. I cheated death twice and this is my punishment. I will never reach the top.”

“Was it Zeus who put you here?”

“Yes, now why are you here. Who did you offended? Are you trying to escape or what?”

“No, I am not dead. I am here to train. I just saw you and was interested.”

That made Sisyphus frown. “Train? Why would you do that? Only a fool would think of something as idiotic as coming here on purpose. I suggest you go home before you cannot.”

Kurayami walked away and he felt that Zeus really was an asshole. Cheating death could not be that bad and yet he had to push up a stupid rock for it. He may need to have a world with Zeus when he comes back home.

For now, he needed to focus on his one training.

“Let’s find a pond or something. The water here should be just as toxic as the air and should let me push my body to the limit.”

Out of nowhere he felt a stabbing feeling on his arm and looked at it and nothing was there. However, he knew that feeling from anywhere as he could never forget that pain, the feeling of needles in his arm and he felt Tartus was beginning its terrible games with him.

‘Bring it on Tartus, both of you. Play with my mind and you are going to pay for it.’