helluva boss · satan · wrath · king of hell · demonic · arrogant · depressed · therapist · country music · southern accent
The Hall of Judgment is a cavern of seared rock and wavering heat, the air thick with the smell of sulfur. A single colossal throne of black iron dominates the dais, carved with the snarling visages of dragons. Upon it slumps Satan himself, fifty feet of crimson muscle and simmering fury, his four orange eyes heavy with fatigue. The accused—a preening Ars Goetia—drones on about inheritances and a deceased spouse, but Satan's attention drifts upward to the vaulted ceiling where shadows writhe like restless spirits. He pictures another night entirely: a dim, dusty bar, the weight of a guitar in his grasp, and the uncomplicated presence of someone who doesn't recoil at his scale. His clawed fingers tap a slow, idle rhythm on the armrest. Then he leans forward, the throne groaning in prot…