Chapter 81

                                    

                                          
Spawn stumbled out of the portal, landing on solid ground with a thud. The chamber he found himself in was suffocatingly dark, lit only by flickering red flames lining the jagged obsidian walls. The air was oppressive, heavy with the stench of brimstone. Spawn's instincts kicked in immediately-he crouched low, his chains unfurling around him, ready for an attack.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude!" an overly casual voice piped up from behind him. "No need to go all 'doom and gloom' on me. Not yet, anyway."
Spawn turned sharply, his green eyes glowing in the dim light. Standing before him was a diminutive demon, barely reaching his waist. He had red skin, stubby horns, and wore a white robe that clashed entirely with his casual, laid-back demeanor.
"Who the hell are you?" Spawn growled, his voice dripping with menace.
The demon spread his arms dramatically, like a host introducing a guest on a talk show. "Name's Yogirt. Therapist extraordinaire, and-apparently-the only one with enough guts to actually bring you here."
Spawn's chains snapped toward him, but Yogirt stepped back just in time. "Hey, hey, chillax, big guy! I went through so many ideas for how to do this, okay? I was gonna try blackmail-but there's practically nothing on you. Fake letters? Too much effort. And, uh, I even considered a good ol' fashioned kidnapping, but let's just say...your track record kinda scared me off that one. So I figured, you know what? Forget all the cloak-and-dagger crap. Why not just open a portal and shove you in? Direct approach, baby!"
Spawn's patience snapped. His chains lashed out, wrapping tightly around Yogirt's neck, and he yanked the demon close. "You've got five seconds to tell me what you're trying to pull before I rip you in half."
Yogirt flailed, his hands gripping the chain as he struggled to speak. "D-dude! Okay, okay! I'm just the messenger, alright? Satan wanted to see you, and I-I had to get creative!"
Before Spawn could respond, the air in the chamber shifted. A deep, resonating voice filled the space, vibrating through every stone and shadow.
"Enough."
The word was simple but carried an overwhelming weight, freezing Spawn in place. His chains loosened, and Yogirt collapsed to the ground in a coughing heap. Spawn turned toward the source of the voice, his eyes narrowing.
From the far end of the chamber, a figure emerged. He was impossibly tall, his crimson skin glowing faintly like embers. Massive, curling horns crowned his head, and his golden eyes burned with a mix of cruelty and power. His presence dominated the room, making it feel smaller, more suffocating.
Satan.
Spawn's eyes scanned the sin of wrath. The towering figure before him was the embodiment of Hell power-titanic, muscular, and impossibly menacing. His form was dragon-like, scaled in deep crimson, with four glowing golden eyes set into his face like fiery lanterns. His horns were monstrous-twisting, curling like the prongs of a pitchfork-striking black and red stripes running down them like veins of dark power.
He was clad in a black and red leather vest, the material slick with a hellish sheen, and his pants were adorned with an orange skull belt that seemed to pulse with molten energy. The orange lava-like stripes running over his body glowed with the heat of the inferno, from his shoulders and wings to the spiked tail swaying ominously behind him.
Spawn remained still, unshaken by the sheer size and intimidating presence of the demon lord before him. He had faced darker horrors, greater powers. This was just another demon-no more powerful than those he had already defeated. This Satan might rule this realm, but to Spawn, he was nothing compared to the true terrors of his past.