The Lost Lands stretched before Toji like an endless canvas of desolation.
Unlike the crimson landscapes that dominated most of Hell's regions, this place existed in muted grayscale - a realm of ashen plains and colorless skies where even the concept of sound seemed foreign.
The mechanical breathing of Toji's helmet was the only noise that penetrated the oppressive silence, each rhythmic cycle a defiant assertion of existence in a place defined by absence.
"The Lost Lands," Scrounger explained, his six eyes blinking in different patterns as he scuttled alongside Toji. "Where souls go when they want to be forgotten - or when they want to forget themselves."
Toji's chains clinked softly as he walked, the golden links glowing against the monochrome backdrop. "And the King of Hell is here?"
"Supposedly," Scrounger confirmed, nervously glancing around. "Mereum comes here when he's tired of judging souls. Been coming more often lately, from what ol' Scrounger hears. The silence speaks to him, see?"
Toji studied the barren landscape. No landmarks distinguished one area from another; the horizon remained perfectly flat in all directions. Even the ground beneath their feet seemed to absorb their footprints moments after they passed.
"How do you navigate this place?" Toji asked, his modulated voice echoing strangely in the silence.
Scrounger tapped one of his six eyes with a clawed finger. "These aren't just for show. Ol' Scrounger sees what most can't - the currents of isolation that flow through this place. Follow them upstream, and you'll find the source."
They walked for what felt like hours, though time seemed meaningless in the grayscale void.
Occasionally, they passed solitary figures in the distance - souls so withdrawn they appeared as little more than smudges on the landscape, each surrounded by a perfect circle of untouched ash, as if isolation itself had physical form.
"Almost there," Scrounger whispered, his voice dropping even lower. "Remember our deal, yeah? Scrounger gets you to the King, you take Scrounger back to the stars when you win."
Toji nodded once, his focus already shifting to the figure that had appeared on the horizon.
Seated on a simple stone in the middle of nowhere was a man - or at least, something that appeared human at first glance.
As they drew closer, subtle details betrayed his otherworldly nature: perfect symmetry in features that should have been naturally imperfect, eyes that shifted color like slow-moving kaleidoscopes, and a crown-like structure of bone that emerged seamlessly from his skull, forming seven points that occasionally flickered with black flame.
The King of Hell wore simple robes that seemed to be made of solidified shadow, moving slightly even in the still air.
He sat motionless, staring at nothing in particular, radiating an aura of profound weariness.
Scrounger immediately dropped to the ground, pressing his body flat against the ash. "That's him," he hissed. "That's Mereum. Ol' Scrounger's done his part. Keep in mind, Hell will always buff him to be at least a little stronger than who he's up against. Now- I'll just... wait over there."
With surprising speed, the six-eyed creature scuttled behind a distant outcropping of colorless rock.
Toji approached alone, his mechanical breathing growing louder in the absolute silence.
Mereum didn't look up. "Another challenger," he stated flatly. Not a question, but a tired observation.
"I've come for your throne," Toji replied directly, seeing no point in pretense.
The King of Hell finally raised his gaze, eyes shifting from amber to white as they focused on Toji. "Of course you have. They all do, eventually." He studied the chains wrapped around Toji's limbs with mild interest. "Heaven's bindings. You must have angered someone important."
"The Supreme Kai didn't appreciate me breaking into Hell and forcing my way into Heaven."
A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Mereum's face. "You breached both realms? Impressive. Pointless, but impressive."
"It served its purpose," Toji stated. "My son lives."
For a moment Mereum remained silent, as if... listening. Like he was hearing who this resident was who sought him- and in moments, saw and heard Toji's entire life story.
(In moments he perceived decades.)
His expression flickered for a brief moment into distaste, then back to normal tiredness.
"Ah yes, your son." Mereum's tone shifted, taking on an edge of contempt. "The reason you tore apart cosmic boundaries, violated divine law, and disrupted the balance of existence itself. One child, in exchange for potential universal collapse. A fair trade, in your mind?"
"Yes."
The simplicity of Toji's answer seemed to irritate Mereum. He stood, his form suddenly seeming taller, more imposing. The bone crown atop his head flared with black flame.
"You don't even question it," Mereum observed. "No moral calculus, no philosophical debate. Just blind, selfish love."
"I don't need philosophy to know what matters to me," Toji replied, unmoved.
Mereum's eyes narrowed. "And that's precisely why you're dangerous. The poison of the gods - a being with immense power governed solely by emotional attachment."
Something in that phrase caught Toji's attention. "Poison of the gods," he repeated slowly, the modulated voice giving the words additional weight.
"Poison of God..." he said again, almost to himself.
Inside his helmet, Toji smiled at the irony. Samael - his name in his first life - iterally meant "poison of God" in Hebrew. How fitting that he would carry that identity across realities, even unknown to those who named him thus.
"I'm here to kill you and fashion a throne from your body," Toji stated matter-of-factly, igniting his black lightsaber. "It will grant me the authority to escape Hell on my own terms."
Mereum sighed deeply, as if dealing with a particularly stubborn child. "You're not the first to try. Though I must admit, you're stronger than most who challenge me."
The King of Hell studied Toji more carefully. "Curious. You've gotten stronger since you arrived. That shouldn't be possible."
Toji tilted his head slightly, the gesture somehow menacing despite the expressionless mask. "Why not?" though he had some ideas.
"Hell residents can't improve their power," Mereum explained, circling Toji slowly. "Bodies here reset to their original state, no matter how much you train. Your ki connection to your soul should be fixed."
He paused, genuinely perplexed. "Yet your ki quality has increased substantially. Your volume remains the same, but the refinement..." Mereum's eyes shifted to crimson. "Fascinating."
"I don't accept limitations," Toji replied simply.
Without warning, Toji lunged forward, his black blade arcing toward Mereum's neck. The King of Hell sidestepped with casual grace, the attack missing by millimeters.
"You're wasting my time," Mereum stated, not bothering to counter. "I have no interest in fighting you."
Toji pressed the attack, chains clinking as he executed a horizontal slash aimed at Mereum's midsection. Again, the King evaded with minimal movement, his expression one of bored irritation.
"Your technique has improved too," Mereum noted, analyzing Toji's movements. "Despite those chains, you move almost unhindered. Sheer willpower, I presume?"
Toji didn't respond, instead launching into a complex series of strikes - a diagonal slash followed by a thrust, transitioning smoothly into a spinning attack that should have caught Mereum's blind spot. Yet the King anticipated each move, shifting just enough to avoid contact.
"You're not even trying to hit me," Toji observed, pausing his assault.
Mereum shrugged. "As I said, I have no interest in fighting you."
Toji deactivated his lightsaber, studying his opponent. "Why not?"
"Because fighting implies purpose," Mereum replied, his voice taking on a philosophical tone. "It suggests that victory or defeat matters. After a million years of judging souls, I've come to understand that very little truly matters."
He gestured around at the gray landscape. "This is what existence truly is - emptiness occasionally interrupted by consciousness. Fighting against it is as pointless as fighting against gravity."
Toji reactivated his lightsaber. "I don't need your philosophy. I need your throne."
He launched a new attack, this time incorporating telekinesis to fling ash into Mereum's eyes while simultaneously executing a roundhouse kick aimed at the King's chest. Mereum blinked away the ash and caught Toji's leg mid-kick, holding it effortlessly.
"You know what I find most repulsive about you?" Mereum asked, still holding Toji's leg. "Your concept of love."
With a casual flick of his wrist, he sent Toji flying backward. The dark warrior recovered mid-air, landing in a crouch.
"You love like a starved child," Mereum continued, walking toward Toji with measured steps. "Desperate, possessive, all-consuming. You would - and did - tear apart reality itself for those you claim to love."
Toji charged again, his black blade meeting a weapon that suddenly appeared in Mereum's hand - a staff made from what appeared to be solidified shadow.
"Your father never loved you," Mereum continued, parrying Toji's strikes with ease. "Your mother loved you but was too weak to express it properly. So now you cling to love with desperate intensity, terrified of losing it again."
Mereum Toji realised as well as all others who met him, believed Toji to be the original one- he is wrong, but his words did strike a chord.
Toji in his first life loved - still loves - his parents, and they loved him in turn, more than anything in the world.
They truly put him above all else, it is how Toji himself has the same understanding of love for his son, for his father would've truly done the same for him had he been also as capable.
But his parents - primarily his father - were ill, and that illness brought weakness, and fear of loss.
Toji because of it always had the paranoia of losing their love, and as such became immensily possessive of it, having lost it since his death, he till Megumi's birth has been unimaginably lonely.
Toji's attacks became more aggressive, the chains around his limbs rattling as he pushed his movements to their limits. A vicious overhead strike forced Mereum to block rather than dodge.
"You think your love is selfless?" Mereum asked, holding his ground against Toji's strength. "You'd let the universe burn if it kept your son and woman safe. That's not love - it's possession with a prettier name."
Their weapons locked, faces inches apart. "You know nothing about me," Toji growled through the vocoder.
"I know everything about you, Toji Fushiguro," Mereum replied. "I've seen every soul that's ever entered Hell. I understand the patterns of human behavior better than humans understand themselves."
With surprising speed, Mereum disengaged and struck Toji's side with his staff. The impact sent Toji skidding across the ash-covered ground.
"You are the poison of the gods," Mereum declared, watching Toji rise. "A being of immense power whose moral compass points only toward those you've arbitrarily decided to care about. Everyone else is expendable."
Toji charged again, this time feinting with his blade before dropping into a sweep aimed at Mereum's legs. The King jumped over the attack, but Toji had anticipated this, immediately transitioning into an upward thrust that nearly caught Mereum's chest.
"You're dangerous precisely because you love," Mereum continued, landing gracefully. "Anyone who gains your love immediately becomes the most protected being in existence. Anyone who threatens them becomes your enemy, regardless of cosmic consequences."
Toji pressed his advantage, his movements becoming increasingly fluid despite the chains. He incorporated elements from various fighting styles - Vegeta's precision, Goku's adaptability, Piccolo's tactical awareness - into a hybrid approach that kept Mereum on the defensive.
"What would you have me do?" Toji demanded between strikes. "Let my son die? Accept that the 'cosmic order' requires his suffering?"
Mereum parried a particularly vicious slash. "I would have you understand that your personal attachments are not more important than universal balance!"
"They are to me," Toji replied simply, launching a telekinetic blast that forced Mereum back several paces.
For the first time, Mereum seemed genuinely irritated. "This is why I despise you. You acknowledge your selfishness without shame."
"At least I'm honest about what I want," Toji countered, pressing forward with a series of rapid strikes. "What do you want, King of Hell? Besides sitting alone in this empty place, feeling sorry for yourself?"
The question seemed to strike a nerve. Mereum's attacks suddenly gained intensity, his shadow staff becoming a blur as he drove Toji backward.
"What I want?" Mereum's voice rose, showing emotion for the first time. "After a million years of judging the worst souls in existence? After witnessing the same patterns of cruelty, selfishness, and willful ignorance repeated endlessly across species and civilizations?"
He landed a powerful blow that sent Toji tumbling across the ash. "What I want is irrelevant. I am the King of Hell. I am judgment incarnate. I am-"
"Tired," Toji interrupted - taking the moment to talk and regroup what information he gained - rising to his feet. "You're tired of it all."
Mereum paused, his staff lowering slightly.
"You created this place, didn't you?" Toji continued, gesturing at the gray landscape. "Somewhere you could escape from the endless parade of evil souls. Somewhere quiet."
For a moment, Mereum's perfect composure cracked. Something vulnerable showed in his ever-changing eyes.
"You don't understand," he said, his voice softer now. "I was created to be the final judge, the ultimate authority on redemption. I was supposed to guide souls toward salvation."
He looked around at the empty landscape. "But after the first hundred thousand years, I began to see the patterns. After five hundred thousand, I lost count of how many souls promised to change, only to return worse than before. After a million..."
Mereum's staff dissolved into shadow. "After a million years, I realized that redemption is the exception, not the rule."
Toji deactivated his lightsaber but remained ready. "So you gave up."
"I became realistic," Mereum corrected. "I accepted what the Kais who created me could not - that most souls are beyond salvation."
The conversation had shifted the dynamic between them. Toji sensed an opening - not for physical attack, but something else.
"Is that why you're here instead of on your throne?" he asked. "Because you've given up on your purpose?"
Mereum's eyes flashed crimson. "I have not abandoned my duty. I simply... needed silence."
"For how long?" Toji pressed. "Days? Years? Centuries? How long have you been hiding in this wasteland while souls suffer under lesser judges?"
"You dare question me?" Mereum's voice gained a dangerous edge. "You, who would destroy cosmic balance for one child?"
"At least I'm willing to act for what I care about," Toji replied. "You just sit here, feeling sorry for yourself."
The provocation worked. Mereum's composure shattered completely, his eyes blazing crimson as the black flames atop his crown flared higher.
"You know NOTHING!" he roared, the ground trembling beneath them. "I have judged more souls than there are stars in the sky! I have offered redemption to beings whose evil would make even you recoil in horror! I have maintained the balance between punishment and rehabilitation for a MILLION YEARS!"
Shadow energy gathered around him, darkening the already colorless landscape. "And what have you done? Broken universal law? Defied the gods? All for one child who will eventually die anyway, cosmic order or not!"
Toji during all this talking had gained an idea how to deal with the adaptive nature of the King.
Toji reignited his black blade, excitement building within him.
"My son will live," he stated with absolute certainty. "And I will return to him and my wife."
"Your precious Empress," Mereum sneered. "Another selfish being who destroys without consequence. You two deserve each other - twin cancers on existence itself."
Toji's stance shifted, his body coiling like a predator preparing to strike. "Enough talk."
He launched forward, his black blade becoming nearly invisible with speed. Mereum reformed his shadow staff, meeting Toji's attack with equal force. The impact created a shockwave that rippled across the ashen landscape.
Their battle escalated rapidly, each exchange more violent than the last. Toji's lightsaber cut arcs of darkness through the air as he pressed his advantage, forcing Mereum to actively defend rather than simply evade.
For a being who had shown no interest in fighting, the King of Hell proved remarkably skilled. His movements were precise, economical, with no wasted energy. Each strike and counter flowed into the next with perfect form.
But Toji was adapting, learning with each exchange. The chains that should have hindered him seemed almost an extension of his fighting style now, their momentum adding power to his strikes.
His telekinesis had grown more refined during his time in Hell, allowing him to manipulate the environment with surgical precision.
He flung ash into Mereum's eyes again, but this time followed it with a telekinetic push that compressed the particles into razor-sharp projectiles.
Mereum dispersed them with a wave of his staff, but the distraction allowed Toji to close distance, landing a solid kick to the King's midsection.
Mereum stumbled back, genuine surprise crossing his face. "You actually hit me."
"I'll do more than that," Toji promised, pressing his advantage with a flurry of lightsaber strikes.
Their weapons clashed repeatedly, black energy blade against shadow staff, creating flashes of darkness that somehow stood out even against the colorless landscape. Toji did a roundhouse kick that transitioned into a backward flip that brought his lightsaber down in a powerful overhead strike.
Mereum blocked the attack but was forced to one knee by the impact. "You've grown stronger again," he admitted, strain showing in his voice. "But that's pointless. I'll grow stronger with you and always overcome you."
With a sudden burst of power, Mereum pushed Toji back and raised his hand. The ashen ground beneath Toji's feet transformed, becoming quicksand-like and threatening to swallow him whole.
Toji leapt clear, using telekinesis to propel himself higher than should have been possible in Hell. From the apex of his jump, he hurled his lightsaber like a spear, guiding its trajectory with telekinesis.
Mereum deflected the weapon, but Toji had already landed and was charging forward, bare-handed. He caught Mereum with a powerful uppercut that sent the King staggering.
"Then I'll just get stronger again. Till I'm so powerful, Hell's laws are too weak to bind me and aid you in catching up."
'There is most definitely conditions and limits after all. If there weren't Majin Buu wouldn't be such a threat.' Toji thought to himself.
"Enough!" Mereum snarled, his patience clearly exhausted. The shadow staff in his hand transformed, becoming a massive scythe that crackled with dark energy. "I am the King of Hell! The final judge! The-"
His declaration was cut short as Toji's lightsaber, still guided by telekinesis, returned from behind and nearly struck his back.
Mereum sensed it at the last moment and twisted away, but the distraction allowed Toji to close distance again to punch Mereum in the face, causing the King to bounce on the ground, as he went flying, till he eventually stopped, putting his palm against his cheek where he was punched.
For a brief moment, Toji saw genuine concern in Mereum's ever-changing eyes. The King of Hell was being pushed to his limits by a chained prisoner - a reality that clearly disturbed him.
Mereum rose beginning to swing his Scythe.
Then, something unexpected happened.
Mid-swing, Mereum suddenly stopped. His scythe dissolved back into shadow. Stood silently for a moment, and without a word, he turned and... ran?
"I'm not running! I'm just bored! Fighting you is annoying!" Mereum yelled as he looked back over his shoulder, like a petulant child, his voice growing quieter and quieter as he went into the distance, disappearing.
The King of Hell - the final judge, the ultimate authority in the afterlife's darkest realm... ran away.
"What the fuck...?" Toji muttered to himself.
Toji stood frozen in place, his lightsaber returning to his hand automatically. The mechanical breathing of his helmet filled the silence again as he tried to process what had just happened.
"Did he just..." Toji began, turning toward the rock outcropping where Scrounger had been hiding.
The six-eyed creature emerged cautiously, looking as confused as Toji felt. "Run away? Yeah, he fucking did." Scrounger spread his hands in bewilderment. "Never seen anything like it in nine thousand years. The King of Hell... running like a scared child."
Toji pointed with his index finger toward the direction Mereum had disappeared. "That really happened? Hell isn't playing illusions on me?"
"If it is, we're seeing the same one," Scrounger replied, scratching his leathery head with one claw. "Ol' Scrounger's as confused as you are."
Toji deactivated his lightsaber with a sigh, the black energy blade disappearing with a soft hiss. "Well, that was anticlimactic."
He stared into the distance where Mereum had vanished, then shrugged. "Let's follow him."
"Follow the King of Hell after he ran away from a fight?" Scrounger asked incredulously. "Are you sure that's wise? Maybe he's setting a trap, yeah?"
"Maybe," Toji conceded, already walking in the direction Mereum had fled. "But I need his throne, and I won't get it standing here."
The chains around his limbs clinked rhythmically as he moved forward, his mechanical breathing steady and determined.
The gray landscape stretched endlessly before him, offering no landmarks or guidance.
And so he continued to walk after the strategically retreating King.
------------------------
(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter.
I actually want to ask you guys something- what do you think of Toji as a character?
I don't really mean whether you find him a good or bad person, that's not what I'm asking. But as a character. Is he a good character in you guys' eyes? I took quite a lot of time fleshing him out.
I'm interested in you guys' thoughts.
Well, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)