John snapped his fingers, and the ruined surface of Krypton vanished around them.
“I’m the acting Devil, and you’re in Hell,” John said as darkness swallowed the frozen world. “It’s nice to see that you’ve somehow managed to hold on to your sanity after thousands of years of failing over and over again. You’ll make a perfect test subject. Oh, and you’re in no position to question me.”
A second snap pulled Zod into John’s training dimension.
The ruined landscape returned around them as broken mountains floated beneath the dark sky, while black storms rolled above the cracked ground. Maze stood nearby with her arms crossed, her eyes fixed on Zod.
Zod tried to move the instant he arrived.
He tried to attack, escape, and force through the restraints. None of it mattered. John’s authority pressed down on him from every direction, locking him in place before he could make a second attempt.
John lifted his hand and studied the black-gold current moving across his fingers.
“Let’s see what this thing does to a soul.”
The lightning crossed the distance between them in a single flash.
It struck Zod directly.
For half a second, nothing happened.
Then the black-gold current spread through Zod’s soul, moving faster than thought as golden light flashed at its center. The infernal energy wrapped around every part of him, while the Living Lightning searched through his rage, guilt, obsession, and every excuse he had built around himself.
Zod screamed once.
The sound barely lasted a second.
His soul exploded in a violent burst of black, gold, and dark red light that shook the entire dimension. The shockwave tore through the floating mountains and scattered loose stone across the shattered ground. When the light faded, there was nothing left where Zod had stood.
Maze stared at the empty space for several seconds before slowly turning toward John.
“That was fast.”
John looked down at his hand as the lightning moved quietly beneath his skin. “Yeah. Faster than I expected.”
Maze stepped closer, looking very excited. “You erased him from existence.”
“I think the power judged him, found everything inside him, then decided there was nothing worth preserving.”
Maze looked toward the empty space again.
A slow smile crossed her face.
“I like this new power.”
John glanced at her. “Of course you do.”
"Are you going to play with it a bit? Maybe test it on some demons and other souls," Maze asked as she licked her lips. "And hear their agony-filled screams as you tear them apart slowly. Mumm~ Just thinking about it is making me wet."
"Yeah, I'm gonna play a little," He nodded.
Over the next few months, John tested Infernal Living Lightning on every kind of condemned soul and demon he could find.
He started with ordinary damned souls. Murderers, warlords, cult leaders, corrupt kings, and people who had spent their lives hurting everyone around them. The lightning touched them once, searched through every lie they had used to excuse themselves, then erased them before they could understand what was happening.
None of them survived.
John moved on to stronger souls. Ancient tyrants who had ruled empires through fear. Sorcerers who had sacrificed entire villages for power. Dark magicians whose contracts had bound thousands of souls to Hell. Their defenses lasted longer, though the ending never changed.
Hell has no shortage of damned souls. So, John didn't even have to worry about running out of test subjects.
The experiment continued...
The black-gold lightning passed through their barriers, ignored their spells, and reached the truth buried underneath.
Then they disappeared.
Maze watched most of the tests from the edge of the training field.
At first, she came because she wanted to see what John had created. After a while, she started showing up before he summoned the next prisoner. She stood beside him while souls screamed, cursed, begged, and promised anything they could think of.
John never reacted.
He watched the lightning work with calm focus, adjusting the power after every test. Sometimes he used less energy to see whether the target could survive. Sometimes he gave the lightning more room to judge on its own.
The result remained the same.
Nothing survived.
Eventually, John began testing it on demons.
The first was a minor lord who had been stealing souls from punishment sectors and selling them through hidden contracts. He laughed when John brought him into the dimension, convinced that Hell’s power could not harm something born from Hell itself.
John did not argue.
He raised one hand.
The lightning struck.
The demon lasted three seconds.
Its infernal essence tried to fight back, pouring black fire and curses into the air as it struggled against the current. The power absorbed every piece of resistance, then crushed it beneath the weight of the demon’s own corruption.
When the lightning faded, the demon was gone.
The second demon survived for almost a minute.
Maze had actually looked impressed.
“That one lasted longer,” she said while watching the black-gold current twist around the screaming infernal lord.
John nodded while studying the floating measurements beside him. “He had a stronger soul, and I only used only 1% of my power."
After that, the rumors started spreading across Hell.
Demons whispered about the Lightning King’s new punishment. They said John had created something worse than torture that could erase existence.
Rebellions became quieter.
Ambitious demons stopped gathering in hidden rooms.
Several minor lords sent gifts to the throne sector along with formal letters promising loyalty that nobody believed. Others abandoned their territories and fled deeper into Hell, hoping distance would protect them.
John let them run. He knew where they went, who they spoke to, and what they planned.
Azazel noticed the change immediately.
His spies stopped sending reports from the throne sector. Several agents disappeared without warning, leaving behind nothing except broken contracts and empty chambers. Even the mirrors in his palace began showing less of John’s future and more darkness around him.
Blaze felt it too.
The fragment of John’s Living Lightning trapped inside her soul reacted every time he tested the new power. The golden cracks beneath her skin burned harder, while the infernal part of the new current reached across Hell like a warning.
She understood what it meant.
John had become more dangerous.
One evening, Maze stood beside John while another powerful demon knelt several feet away. The prisoner had once commanded a legion beneath one of Hell’s older borders. It had survived wars, betrayals, and centuries of infernal politics.
Now it stared at John with terror in its eyes.
Maze wrapped her arms around John's waist from behind, pressed her body against him, and whispered in his ear, “You’re enjoying this more than you admit.”
John looked at the kneeling demon without changing expression. "Just making sure these bastards know who's in charge. Even after showing my authority, they keep on plotting and spying and all that shit. And who knows, someone one of them might escape hell and create chaos on Earth. That'll put my family and nation in danger. I can't allow that to happen."
Maze’s gaze softened for a moment.
Then she looked back at the prisoner.
“That’s a very responsible reason to erase someone from existence.”
John gave her a faint smile. “You’re rubbing off on me.”
Maze smirked as she licked his earlobe. He didn't resist anymore. “Good,” she said. “You needed improvement.”
John lifted his arm.
The demon tried to plead, but lightning struck before it finished. The demon vanished and left no trace behind.
Maze watched the empty space with a satisfied expression.
“So, what are you calling it?” She asked.
John looked at the lightning moving across his fingers.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he closed his hand around the current.
“Infernal Judgment.”
He then turned his head to his left to meet Maze's face. For a moment, both of them just kept looking into each other's eyes before she leaned in for a kiss.
John leaned in and met her lips with sudden hunger.
The kiss turned rough immediately, his mouth claiming hers as years of restraint finally shattered. Their tongues tangled hot and wet, sliding against each other in a messy clash full of saliva. He gripped the back of her neck, pulling her closer while she pressed her body tight against him. Drool slipped from the corners of their joined mouths as the kiss deepened, with no space left for hesitation.
John stopped holding back his desires and just went with the flow, letting the heat surge through him unchecked.
Maze moaned into his mouth as he moved to the front. Her hands were roaming over his chest. She tasted like wine and sin, and he drank her in. The dimension around them seemed to fade as their breaths mixed in heavy gasps between fierce kisses. Saliva coated their lips and chins, but neither cared. The kiss grew even more intense, tongues thrusting and exploring with desperate need.
Then Maze pulled back abruptly, her eyes glowing with lust. She shoved him hard, forcing him down onto the cracked ground. John landed on his back without resistance, staring up at her as she stood over him.