Sofia transformed into her draconic form carrying Alice, Chad, and Ariel on her back. Spindle, the devils, and the Abishai flew behind her as she headed toward the fortress. In the distance, it was easily visible due to itsrge size.


    A fortress for dragons,paring it to those built by humans wasparing a sand castle to a massive imperial pce. Mountain-sized walls of ck steel, burnt ash, and ck smoke of the burned corpses. Lava and acid dripped from its walls like rivers as the screams of the sinners imprisoned underneath resonated in the air.


    BAM! Sofianded in the ash field in front of the massive blood-stained gate. Quickly realizing that the ground they walk on was nothing but sinner''s bones. Sofia twisted her neck as she sniffed the gate and the ground, to her, the smell tasted a bit sweet.


    "Sinner relentlessly attack the fortress, as behind ity the direct gate to the secondyer. They wish to dive deeper into her hell to gain more strength." The Abishai elder said as hended beside Sofia panting. Just keeping up with her has taken a toll on him.


    "So Tiamat was a guardian, keeping people from reaching the secondyer?" Sofia asked ring down at him.


    "No… The previous avaricious queen merely enjoyed the taste of sinner flesh. She sat here waiting, with her massive jaw open." He said looking at the gates, "She knew they wille here no matter what, she only waited for them to appear so she can feast."


    "I see…The gate seems partially open. How do you open and close it?" Sofia poked the massive gate with her w.


    "We can''t, Tiamat was the only one able to move the gate. We Abishai only fly over or between the gapes." He replied staring at Sofia''s arms, they were in no way close to how thick Tiamat''s arms were. She clearly doesn''t have the same strength.


    "Should I give it a try?" Chad leaped from her head andnded in front of the gate.


    The Abishai and the devils red at him with puzzled looks, some even mocked him in their heads. They could sense he was nothing more than a human. Could someone like him match the power of a god?


    Chad took his shirt off and flexed his shoulder, divine energy covered his muscles causing them to swell making each of them distinct. Devils suddenly found themselves mesmerized staring at his wide back as if they were looking at a long-lost idol.


    Chad grabbed the partially opened gate door with his left arm, adding his right hand, and took a stance to start dragging. Taking a deep breath, he remembered the dancer he saw in the capital. Her moves have helped him greatly, she was truly talented. It was now his turn to add his vor to the skill.


    Holding his breath, he contracted and rxed his muscles rapidly, causing pulses of high pressure on the gate. BAM! BAM! BAM! The banging got louder and louder as Chad increased the power he was using to an unbelievable level.


    Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Eventually, Chad remembered his son using [de Dance] to utilize momentum effectively. That reminded him of heartbeats, two distinct sounds of a muscle that never rests.


    Listening to his own heartbeat, Chad finally found a way. Using his heartbeat as a reference, he pushes at the first beat and pulls and the second pulse. Ba-push! Dump-pull! Ba-push! Dump-pull! Ba-push! Dump-pull! Ba-push! Dump-pull!


    With each time, he added more power, the pressure kept increasing until the gate cracked. The old hinges finally started moving.


    Cold sweat ran down the devil''s back…some even fell to their knees wanting to run away. A human was moving Tiamat''s gate, albeit slowly. Even Dispater wasn''t able to shake it when he visited in old age.


    ? "How, how could that be…even Dispater." One of them gasped.


    Ariel heard him so she replied, she couldn''t resist the urge of flexing on some devils. "Dispater? Haven''t you heard?" She said spreading her wings and pointing her de toward Chad.


    "Dispater the lord of the secondyer was punched so badly he had to run to the thirdyer, by no one other than the man standing there pushing the gate." She yelled at the top of her lungs.


    Sofia had to exin it to the Abishai''s elder. "That''s Cain''s father, Chad Lisworth. He is equally powerful so make sure to give him the respect he deserves."


    The elder nodded sweating, he knew that Cain was a monster, but for his father to be equally powerful. ''Strength runs in their blood, Tiamat(Sofia) is now married to Cain so…''


    "I hope we can deal with theing heir…" The brushed his chin.


    Sofia nced at him with a panicking facing, "What do you mean?"


    He smiled, "Worry not mydy, I Abornazine shall make sure your children grow as strong as their father and grandfather." He banged his staff into the ground with determination zing in his eyes.


    "Say anything else and I will burn you to ash." She growled at him.


    "I understand." He replied. The previous Tiamat was so strong she never found a qualified mate. But now, the new Tiamat seems to already have one, a blessing indeed.


    CRACK! Chad stopped pushing the gate, he finally got exhausted after moving it about twenty feet. "This thing is heavy, I need to get stronger." He sighed and Ariel flew to his side immediately.


    "Sir Chad, can I have a word with you?" Abornazine approached him with a smile.


    Chad looked at him, "Of course, you already did by asking." Chad replied with his usual smile.


    "You said you need to get stronger. In that direction, there is arge camp of aggressive sinners. They were probably a n of barbarians before getting sent here. You can clear them if you want."


    Chad thought about it, he really wanted to level up. "Ariel, let''s go."


    Hearing his words, Ariel sighed as she grabbed him by the shoulders. Spreading her wings she flew with him. "The stronger you get, the stronger I get after all." Even though she hated being in hell, there were still some benefits.


    Sofia flew over the gate with Alice on her head, shended inside the garden. The garden was but a field of burning stones, dead vegetation, and burned cages with skeletons inside. As Sofia looked around, she nced at Abornazine.


    "I want all the corpses removed, that also includes bones," Sofia ordered as she pinched one of the dangling cages with her ws. The cage cracked as it was never moved in decades.


    Abornazine nodded, she was the queen now and her word is thew. "All of you, start cleaning immediately!" He shouted and almost all of the Abishai scrambled to work. Only a select few were left to attend to the queen''s needs.


    As they walked inside the fortress, the first chamber they entered was Tiamat''s great hall. A massive empty room with a gargantuan steel bed where Tiamat used to take her naps.


    At the other end, there was a single massive throne.


    Sofia approached it and then transformed it into her humanoid form.


    ring at the obsidian throne, Sofia knew this was her, from that day she was the queen of the firstyer of hell, Sofia Lawrence. She slowly sat on the throne and looked at the hall.


    Alice approached her, "Cain you make some space for me?"


    Sofia nodded with a smile, squeezing herself to the side and leaving just enough space for Alice to sit on.