Purgatorio

Purgatorio (煉獄, Rengoku; Italian and Japanese for "Purgatory") was a territory ruled by a group of Seraphim-ranked Datenshi called the Fallen Seven and was the residence of the surviving Datenshi after their defeat in the Great Tougenkyou War.

Purgatorio was located in a self-contained dimension within the highest reaches of the, taking the appearance of a large floating castle. Purgatorio was invisible under normal circumstances but it was visible to Spiritual Beings such as, Kenmeiotome, and the Tenshi.

Purgatorio was the primary location in the Sin & Virtue Arc.

Trivia

 * The existence of had remained a secret for milleniums due to The One sealing them (although few openings existed). However, the events of The Collapse had significantly weakened The One, forcing her to go to sleep. The One's fall into slumber subsequently caused the seal on  to shatter, completely releasing the Datenshi from their prison and allowing them to pledge their allegiance to The Outsider.
 * was bigger on the inside than on the outside, a statement often commented on by surprised visitors.

Behind the Scenes

 * was an obvious reference to the concept of Purgatory, an intermediate state after physical death in which those destined for heaven "undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven".
 * Purgatorio was a reference to Purgatorio, the second part of poet Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno, and preceding the Paradiso.
 * The order of locations within the Fallen Seven's Purgatorio also followed the concept of Mount Purgatory, in which it depicted seven levels of suffering and spiritual growth that largely mirrored the Seven Deadly Sins.


 * as a Floating Castle/City was a reference to Laputa, a fictional Flying Island found within the 1726 book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.