Hell and Sloth
The first time I opened my eyes, there was nothing in the world.
No light, no sound, not even solid ground beneath my feet—just utter void.
Any normal person would have screamed in terror, but I just blinked once.
My mind, weighed down heavy, didn't even have the energy to wonder if this was Hell or the afterlife.
"...Ah, whatever. I'll sleep on it."
I stopped thinking and closed my eyes again.
The pitch-black world was softer than any sleep mask.
How much time passed?
When I opened my eyes again, the world now had something called "ground."
A vast, barren, rocky plain stretching endlessly.
But even sitting up felt like too much effort,
so I swallowed the urge to spit in frustration and sank back into deep slumber.
And the third time I awoke, the world finally had some shape.
"...Ah, the smell."
Unnamed mountains belched sulfur-laced black smoke in every direction.
Scorching heat pricking the skin, acrid fumes burning the nostrils.
No hellhole on Earth could be worse. This was no place for a good nap. Whether it was the fabled afterlife or some massive incinerator built with malice, I couldn't tell.
One thing was clear: this shitty environment disrupting my sleep pissed me off to no end.
I scowled, forcing myself upright.
"They say death brings peace... Wonder who said that."
Instinctively, I pushed something out from within me.
Not some grand surge of power.
Like swallowing when thirsty or scratching an itch—
an utterly natural motion, using part of my own body.
Before I even realized it, a thick, heavy black energy ebbed out like the tide.
It wasn't my will so much as an extension of my flesh.
Like a heartbeat that never stopped since birth, or breath repeated millions of times.
The black energy permeated the air wherever my hands and feet reached, dominating the space.
It wasn't forced mana.
It simply existed because it had to—an overwhelmingly natural, absolute Authority.
Reality Manipulation
Before my intent could even register, the dense darkness erupted,
swallowing the unpleasant heat and noise that had ruined my sleep in one gulp.
"Block it first. And... make it comfy."
Responding to my will, a massive transparent dome enveloped the area, perfectly sealing off the heat and noise.
Or rather—not sealed, but the very physical concepts of "heat" and "sound" erased from that space.
The barren rock floor's molecules twisted, rearranging into soft grass. I didn't stop at surface level; I imprinted the essence of "purification" deep into the new grass.
The moment Hell's murky air touched the dome's edge, it was washed clean by the life force emanating from the vibrant blades.
The sulfur stench vanished, replaced by the fresh, mind-clearing scent of greenery.
Air particles coalesced into the fluffiest bed and goose-down pillow from my memories.
And finally, a high-end fan blowing a gentle breeze.
A bizarre healing camp in the heart of Hell.
I questioned this power that manifested my every thought,
but the cozy comfort was too good to bother pondering.
Savoring the new bed's plushness, I murmured low.
"...Perfect."
Dream, reality, or post-death reward—it didn't matter anymore.
Everything disturbing my sleep was gone,
leaving only eternal rest, enough to indulge in for eons.
Satisfied, I burrowed deep under the covers.
Yeah, if this power's mine, I gotta sleep even more.
Wasting a gift like this would be negligence.
But the world wouldn't leave me be.
This time, I didn't wake from full sleep—it was some creepy presence nearby yanking my consciousness awake.
"...Ah."
I forced my heavy eyelids open.
Beyond the dome, grotesque monsters clustered thick.
"Kieee—!" "Grrr... Rrrgh...."
Drooling bloody filth, they scratched at my barrier like starving beasts.
Each claw scrape on the transparent wall sent chilling vibrations—not sound, but nerve-wracking tremors seeping into the silent grass.
Watching them, I furrowed my brow deep.
'They look... spectacular.'
Horns sprouting, skin peeling as they cackled—straight out of a movie demon.
"...Guess it is Hell. The neighbors don't lie about their looks."
Seeing these abominations explained the sulfur and screams from before.
Undeniably Hell's dregs.
Monsters with no intellect, driven only by hunger and destruction.
Lounging sideways on the bed, I lazily swung my hand.
A black ripple shimmered from my fingertips, and the space outside warped grotesquely.
"...?!"
The drooling demons froze mid-charge.
In a flash, as if crushed by an invisible millstone,
the space itself rotated savagely from left to right.
Krunch!Crack, snap!
No time for screams.
Their bodies tore like ragdolls, shredded segment by segment like meat in a grinder.
Bones powdered and scattered; tough muscles diced millimeter by millimeter into red mist filling the air.
Not mere dust.
Erased at the particle level, existence pulverized.
Before the gore stench could vibrate, I flicked a finger, purifying even the outside air.
No trace of the thousands of monsters remained.
"Phew... Quiet now."
I closed my eyes again.
Hell outside, thousands of lives ground to dust—didn't matter.
All I cared about was sinking back into dreams, keeping this perfect bed angle.
How much time passed?
A rare, uninterrupted honeyed sleep.
Stretching contentedly, I opened my eyes.
But the sight made me ponder lazily.
"...Huh. Not afraid to die, are they."
Beyond the dome, tens of thousands clustered again.
I'd clearly turned them to powder without mercy.
Normal creatures would flee such overwhelming gap on instinct.
But these showed no fear, crawling back to scratch relentlessly.
Unpleasant noise invading my serene grass.
Their eyes gleamed not with hate or fear, but empty gluttony.
Propping my chin, I observed.
Brave ones? Or is this world just beyond common sense?
Overcoming laziness, I reached from the bed.
Erasing tens of thousands one by one? Hard labor.
Recalling knowledge from my past life, I infused faint Authority outside.
'Gas expansion. Rapidly inflate nitrogen trapped in their blood and cells...'
I snapped my fingers lightly.
Pop! Boomboom—!
The dome-scratching hordes ballooned like balloons,
then burst from internal pressure, scattering everywhere.
Not external impact.
Twisted physics within made them self-destruct—
brutally efficient cleanup.
Silence fell instantly.
Chunks and corpses dissolved into black smoke, seeping into Hell's ground.
In seconds, no trace of the carnage.
Seeing it, I felt odd emptiness and relief.
'...Huh. They vanish on their own if I leave 'em?'
First time, I'd purified manually out of worry. No need, apparently.
The moment all traces vanished, world pristine without a blemish—
air particles warped oddly,
and familiar horrors reappeared one by one on the empty plain.
"...."
Their bodies reforming in real time before my eyes.
Death wasn't the end.
But the numbers differed.
Only dozens out of tens of thousands near my dome.
'Respawn concept? Random location, or only some revive...'
To confirm, I sat up.
Not AOE this time.
Reached out, meticulously disassembling the nearest demon.
Every cell, every nerve ending, erased with care.
Moments later.
Hundreds of meters away, an identical entity slinked into view.
'Yup, that same one.'
Not another.
The ones I'd just killed were reconnecting somewhere in Hell.
Low intelligence, no rational judgment,
but instincts etched in flesh were honest.
The ones tasting my "tender death" respawned and, instead of charging, backed away clumsily into shadows.
Terror imprinted on their souls, learned.
'...So killing doesn't erase them for good.'
They rebirth somewhere in Hell; bad luck drops them back here.
Without breaking this annoying loop, my "eternal rest" was doomed.
I turned, surveying my sanctuary inside.
"Good, they can't crawl in here."
Inside air fundamentally different from outside.
Bed, blankets, pillow, soothing fan breeze.
Hell’s sulfur or black smoke dared not invade.
Not just blocked—grass infused with purification filled the air with gentle comfort.
'That’s why. No respawns inside.'
This space under my Authority overrode Hell's laws.
Hell’s system couldn't reconnect souls here without my say.
That fact alone eased my exhaustion a bit.
"...Alright, time for measures."
If inside safe, only fix was handling the infinite respawning trash disrupting my sleep outside.
Dome blocked sound perfectly.
Near-vacuum silence, no physical noise.
Problem: my senses, hypersensitive from rebirth.
'...Feels too damn sharp.'
Vibrations of claws on ground outside,
their eerie body heat,
even murderous intent carried by air.
All stabbed straight to my brain via nerves.
Like nails on chalkboard in my head.
Senses too good is a curse.
Like this, even their breathing would wake me repeatedly.
Sitting bed's edge, I gripped air lightly, stuffing in my annoyance.
Lucky point: same entities respawning.
Experiments already imprinted terror in their souls.
No need to wake and swing each time.
'...Just make it automatic.'
I draped a massive double dome over kilometers around my haven.
Imbued the ground with new physics.
Step on it, intruder's time slows 100x.
Fleeting moments become eternal agony prison.
Invisible slashes precisely carve bones, muscles, every nerve node.
Instant death skips pain.
So I twist causality slightly.
Not simple regen.
At destruction's peak,
time forcibly rewinds to pre-wound state—a loop's curse.
As skin splits and nerves snap, scream about to burst—
time indifferently rewinds, restoring pristine flesh.
0.1 seconds later, same trajectory slices in.
No hope of recovery, no escape in death—eternal instant repeat.
In stretched time, pain unhealed before identical tragedy replays forever.
"I'll show you what it means to crave death but never get it."
Outside now a silent slaughterhouse, screams frozen in taxidermy.
Cross the barrier, drown in this causal bog, etch unerasable terror in soul.
Once through this "time prison" and respawned elsewhere, never dare near again.
"Perfect."
Absolute silence, no presence felt.
As I burrowed back into bed, a nagging inner hunger made me peer into my soul.
The black sea at my core had visibly shrunk.
'...As expected, time manipulation guzzles energy.'
League beyond twisting physics.
Bottom scraped, intense lethargy crashed harder.
No regrets.
One big spend buys eternal quiet—
prime deal for lazy me.
Lounging sideways, I smirked at the eternally trapped in fractional agony outside.
"Eh... It'll recharge while I sleep."
Sleep isn't mere rest for me—
it's the most efficient, sole way to refill spent absolute Authority.
Satisfied, I sank deep into the bed.
With the pandemonium outside as scenery,
I finally plunged into deep, dreamless dark slumber, not a drop of awareness left.