The story begins in a remote village of shamans that has kept the Gates of Hell sealed for 1,000 years. Should they be opened for any longer than a few moments, the hellfire trapped within would consume the world. Meanwhile, a plucky young lad named Valflare is attacked by the other shamans his age for being born outside of the village. After beating them all to a pulp, he learns from his master that he's been selected to become a sacrifice to suppress the flames for another thousand years.
Despite his grim fate, Flare has no regrets marching to his doom if it means saving the world. But when he steps inside, he's immediately overwhelmed by the searing pain that disintegrates his body and scorches his soul. He's left in agony for who knows how long, but somehow, his soul remains intact and the pain becomes little more than an annoyance as he loses all sense of time. Eventually, he discovers that the flames have coalesced into gems that his soul absorbs before somehow creating a new flesh and blood body for him. Ecstatic that he somehow survived his ordeal, he prepares to go back to his village and tell his master the good news.
But the world isn't the way he remembers it. The shaman village is gone along with everyone he's ever known. Not only that, he runs into a fugitive princess and her obsessively loyal bodyguard fleeing from a group of thieves. While coming to their aid (and swiping some clothes off the robbers), he discovers that the flames of Hell he suffered in have been concentrated inside his body, and he can now summon them at will.
With no responsibilities or connections left, Flare hopes to live his second life as a free man without regrets, but a certain Church of Angels isn't going to make that easy for him...
Jigoku no Gouka de Yakare Tsuzuketa Shounen. Saikyou no Honou Tsukai to Natte Fukkatsu Suru ("The Boy Who Had Been Continuously Burned by the Fires of Hell. Revived, He Becomes the Strongest Flame User") is a series of Light Novels written by Miyagi Morinari and drawn by Satou; originally a Web Serial Novel released on Shousetsuka ni Narou in 2019, it was later published by Kodansha starting in August 2020. It follows Flare's misadventures with the runaway princess Primavera and her clingy bodyguard Aishera as he explores a new world filled with wonders and perils.
Jigoku no Gouka de Yakare Tsuzuketa Shounen provides examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: In the original novel, Flare finds his old home before meeting Primavera and Aishera. In the manga adaptation, Flare discovers his home after meeting them and discovering his new powers.
- Adaptation Expansion: The manga adaptation of the story offers a little more insight into Flare's life in the shaman village before becoming the sacrifice. Namely, he was hated by all of the other shamans because he was an outsider and was frequently attacked by other shamans his age unprovoked.
- Corrupt Church: The angels are headquartered in their own Church of Angels, which is a church only in name where they essentially act as a paramilitary corporation taking requests to murder humans as suits their fancy.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: After having a dream of Flare returning from the Gates of Hell, Flare's master made a set of Chaos magical equipment to give to him as an apology for sending him to his doom. While he knows that it's likely an impossibility, he clung to the hope that Flare would one day return. Flare finds the equipment in a drawer in immaculate condition despite being 1,000 years old, wearing it as a memento of his dear master before setting out to experience his second life.
- Finger Poke of Doom: Angels are so powerful that they can splatter a human body and gouge a hole in a brick wall simply by pointing in a general direction. Mosie also levels a chunk of a city simply by swinging his arm.
- Gag Nose: The old lady who lets Flare and the others stay for the night has a long, pointy nose that emphasizes her wizened old age as well as her shiftiness as an ex-assassin.
- Happily Adopted: Bella was found as a baby abandoned in the trash outside of a local bakery. The owners of the bakery ended up taking her in and raising her like their own daughter. She tries to help expand the business to pay them back, but gets harassed by local thugs with little business to show for it.
- Knight of Cerebus: After the mostly lighthearted opening chapters following Flare's ordeal in Hell, the Church of Angels quickly jacks up the stakes by leveling a city in attempt to kill Primavera at her siblings' request.
- The Lonely Door: The Gates of Hell, which contain the Flames of Hell, is a large floating double door in the middle of nowhere.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Despite his outward stoicism, Flare's master is overwhelmed with grief after watching Flare sacrifice himself by walking into the Gates of Hell.
- Our Angels Are Different: Much like how they're depicted in Christianity, angels are Winged Humanoids who have halos and descended to the world. That's where the similarities end. Angels in this story are consistently depicted as sadistic, psychopathic monsters who think nothing of killing an "inferior race" like humans, holding all seven kingdoms essentially at gunpoint and only acting in favor of an individual or organization if they feel like it. Every single one of them is a Person of Mass Destruction willing to wipe entire civilizations off the map.
- Parents as People: Flare's master loved him dearly, but was bound by the Northern Shaman's culture and remained stern and distant from him. He also lacks the authority to overturn the shamans' decision to sacrifice Flare to suppress the fires of Hell, and regrets his inability to save him.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Humanity lives in terror at the damage a single angel can cause. A mere finger poke can reduce a person to a blood stain while gouging everything in that general direction, while a single arm swing can destroy a chunk of a city. They're so powerful that Primavera and Aishera say there's no choice but to run in the face of an angel. So far, the only person strong enough to take an angel head-on is Flare, whose hellfire and Super-Strength lets him harm the otherwise unstoppable angels.
- Pervert Revenge Mode: After Flare carelessly reveals that he stripped off the girls' clothes to measure their bodies while picking out new clothes for them. Primavera orders Aishera to kill Flare for what he did.
- Poor Communication Kills: Flare's master was a Stern Teacher and never once praised Flare for his efforts, nor does he try to stop Flare from entering the Gates of Hell. Because of these, even happy-go-lucky Flare admits to bearing a grudge against him for not doing anything until he reads his master's diary, which reveals just how much he regrets being helpless to oppose the shaman council's decision and calling Flare his son.
- Run for the Border: Primavera and Aishera are trying to hurry out of the White Pearl Kingdom across the sea into the Blue Sapphire Kingdom, as its powerful navy would prevent Primavera's siblings from sending assassins after her.
- Retired Badass: The old lady who lets Flare and the others stay the night turns out to be a retired assassin, as hinted by her knowledge of the value of holy mithril armor Flare sells her and the small armory of weapons in the bedroom she lends them.
- She's Not My Girlfriend: Gender-inverted. When Bella brings Flare to the Happy Bakery, her adoptive father immediately assumes that Flare is hitting on her and angrily wields his rolling pin while demanding 10 reasons why Flare loves her. Even as she tries to tell him that Flare is just a customer, her dad ups the ante to a hundred reasons Flare loves her.
- Smug Super: The angels all look down on humanity as an inferior race, in no small part due to the angels being able to slaughter then en masse with ease. Mosie thinks nothing off wrecking an entire city just to get to Primavera, saying that he can't stand the stench of the "pigs" and that it'd be much faster just to destroy the entire pen.
- Succession Crisis: The king of the White Pearl Kingdom is dying of age and illness. As a result, his children are squabbling over who will succeed him, to the point of sending the Church of Angels after Primavera despite her lack of interest in becoming queen.
- Undressing the Unconscious: When an exhausted Prima and Aishera conk out before Flare can ask for their sizes while shopping for clothes, Flare takes matters into his own hands and strips them naked in their sleep so he can accurately measure them with a tape measure. As a result, the clothes he picks out for them are a perfect fit, but they're none too happy when they find out what he did.
