Chapter 141 Baals Faction 8 (1/2)
”Call...”
Baal checked his hands and threw the cards down. ”Fold.”
Two days had gone by with no signs of activity from the goat demon. The Demon Lords were bored out of their minds. Coux decided to introduce a simple game of cards and it didn't take long before Mammon demanded they partake in the game. Nobody knew how Lilith was doing it but she was making quite the profit. Mammon was ready to call quits after the Demon Queen won for the third time in a row. There was no such thing as beginner's luck in poker. Mammon didn't believe in it. Lilith had to be cheating.
”For someone with the best poker face, you're terrible at this game,” the succubus commented. Mammon glared at her and Baal observed them with amusement.
”Now now, don't flirt in front of me. People might misunderstand something here,” he grinned.
Lilith glared at Baal who sat in a special chair raised for his child form. Indeed, it was easy to misinterpret the situation with a certain Demon Lord looking like an innocent child in between two friends who argued like a couple.
They didn't have much time to continue as someone came hurtling through the door, startling them.
”Didn't anyone teach you how to knock?!” Lilith screeched in alarm. The intruder didn't seem to be in good condition and Baal frowned. His castle wasn't under attack so why in all of the abyss was the spider demon wearing armour?
”Ze-” he panted. ”Zero's awake!”
All at once too fast for human eyes to see, the Demon Lords teleported to the bedroom that the brunet was occupying. It had been far too long and Baal would have cried if he was a lesser demon.
Mammon and Lilith tagged along, curious to see the being who'd managed to capture Baal's heart. They were pleasantly surprised to see such a frail looking human on the bed. The brunet didn't look older than ten but they knew better than to believe what they saw. The magical energy surrounding Zero far surpassed any ordinary sage. If there was a word accurate enough to describe what Lilith and Mammon thought about Zero, it would be ”monster”. Mammon was unable to see the end of Zero's potential and that shouldn't be very surprising considering his identity.
”How do you feel?” Baal morphed into his adult form so that he could take faster strides towards the child. Mammon and Lilith kept their distance, not wanting to crowd the bed any more than it already was. On the left was Amaraline who'd stayed to watch over Zero today while Coux and Qin Yun worked at Belles and Begonia. Wiser already assessed Zero's physical condition from the machines hooked up to the brunet to monitor his vital status. It was also the strategist who told Sekkin to deliver the message to the Demon Lords.
”Bell? Did I meditate again?”
The Demon Lord felt his lips twitch upwards. Leave it to Zero to say the weirdest things upon waking up.
”In which dimension do you see me putting in so much effort to create the background when we meet?”
Zero frowned. Background? Baal seemed a little different but he knew at once from the feeling that it was the Demon Lord without doubt. As Zero's senses sharpened with his mind clearing out the sleepy fog, the brunet registered several other presences in the room with some rather familiar ones.
”Where are we?” Zero sat up once he realised that he was no longer in the village.
Baal helped the brunet up and reverted back to his child form before flicking Zero on his forehead without holding back.
”Ow! Why did you do that?!” Zero yelped. The flick stung and he didn't think Baal would ever hurt him intentionally.
Baal snorted and gave Zero an annoyed glare. ”That's for all the trouble you've caused, idiot. Stop overestimating your abilities! Divine spells shouldn't be used so casually. It often kills the person casting it and there will always be some form of compensation for using magic. The more powerful the magic, the higher the price to pay.”
Zero was wide-eyed. He didn't know why Baal was so angry but he didn't think he was at fault either. Unhappily, Zero sulked in silence. Baal chose to ignore the brunet in favour of cooling off as he left the room but not before telling Amaraline to bring the brunet to the kitchen after he took a bath. Awkwardly, Amaraline wondered why the mood had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. If there was anyone looking forward to Zero's recovery the most, it would be Baal. Nobody expected the Demon Lord to pick a fight with the brunet the very moment he came out of his coma.
Lilith sighed and Mammon took that chance to make his stealthy exit. If there was one thing the succubus learnt from being long-time friends with Baal, it was how emotionally constipated the Lord of Laziness could be. Things could have been easily resolved if Baal expressed how worried he was instead of yelling at the child who'd just woken up. However, Baal was not Baal if he was transparently honest with all his feelings. As such, the Demon Lord didn't have many friends. Lilith hoped that Zero would come to understand this seeing how important Zero was to Baal. She didn't have the confidence to deal with a depressed Demon Lord or the power to suppress one that has fallen into madness.
***
Zero ate mechanically. He didn't even taste the food passing down his throat. Coux and Qin Yun shared worried glances. They heard about what happened in the afternoon. Neither Baal nor Zero would give in to start talking to the other. This made things exceedingly difficult for the peacemakers. Zero insisted that he wasn't in the wrong and Baal blatantly ignored everyone. The only thing that the Demon Lord responded to was news about Schaf's actions from Wiser's report. All else fell on deaf ears much to everyone's chagrin.
For the first time in many years, Baal's castle emitted a sense of foreboding. Many demons kept their distance, not wanting to know the cause for Baal's displeasure. Mammon returned to his office earlier to take care of business but Lilith stayed behind. She was the last flicker of hope that everybody had to help reconcile that fragile friendship.
There was still food on the plate when Zero dropped his fork, alarming the fortune-teller greatly. She'd never seen Zero unable to finish any food before. If anything, he was famous for having an inhuman appetite.
”Zero, are you not feeling good? Should we call Hua Tuo?”
The brunet shook his head. Lilith didn't say a single word, choosing to become an observer. She had to know more about Zero before she could play the mediator's role. It was easier to move the world around Baal than the Demon Lord himself and if it takes moving the boy's heart to save Baal's newest friendship, she would do so.
”I'm alright, Amaraline. I'm just angry.”
At a loss for words, the girl merely nodded. She decided that it might be a better idea to put the food away and save it for later in case Zero became hungry again. Zero didn't react even when the plate was taken away. His eyes remained unfocused and Lilith decided to seize the opportunity when there was nobody else in the dining room.
”I heard that Baal was looking forward to the stories you still owe him. Will you not tell him another story ever again if he chooses to never speak with you because of what happened earlier?”
Zero's eyes widened and he shot upright in alarm.
”No! I won't do that! It won't be fair to Bell. Besides, I hate the thought of not talking to him ever again. I'm just angry with him now but it doesn't mean we're not friends. I just... don't understand. Why did he become so angry? I didn't do anything wrong. If somebody had to be in the wrong, I'll blame Count Carrabas for starting that war.”
”Who's that? I've not heard of him. What happened previously?”
Zero sighed and explained how the village was attacked. When he got to the part of explaining how Douglas betrayed Half Moon village, Lilith had to stop him.
”You're saying that you used a divine spell to give the traitor a second chance at life with no punishments at the expense of your own safety?”
Zero blinked. ”No, that's not what I said. I said I punished Douglas by using a divine spell that grants him the wish of becoming a human. He can no longer call himself a Selkie and descendant of Gaia.”
The Demon Queen inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. Baal had every reason to get mad. She was amazed by how her friend hasn't decided to use high-velocity magic to spin the brunet in the air until he grew sick. She would've done it herself.
”You know, Zero... if I were Baal, I would have done more than just flick you on the forehead and yell at you. You are definitely in the wrong here. From the things I heard from my daughter, the village is divided into two camps because of what you chose to do too.”
Zero was confused. ”Why? I only did what was right...?”
Lilith sighed. ”How do I explain this? Zero, the world you imagine isn't the same as the world that you live in. It doesn't matter where you come from be it from the material plane or the Abyss... as long as you are a living creature self-conscience about your existence, the instinct to want to preserve your life and the lives of your loved ones will continue to surpass all else. When you let Douglas go, the villagers feared that he shall one day return and attack the village like Count Carrabas but on a larger scale that they cannot hope to defeat. You put the village in danger when he let Douglas go without assuring everyone in the village that he would do no such things. They have every right to be angry with you. Also, Baal was most definitely angry at you for not only letting the traitor go but also endangering yourself. He took care of you this whole time while you were soaking in the Spring of Vitality to recover your depleted mana. Your mana channels were not fully developed and you could have been sleeping for centuries before you could recover. Magic is a double-edged sword. It can help and harm at the same time. No matter how great of a magician you are, there is always a thing called limit. Once you go past the point of no return, you can never come back to this world. Your soul will cease to exist, you return to nothingness. Not even King Yama can reach you when that happens.”
Zero blinked. ”But I came from nothingness. It doesn't matter if I return to the void. I'll just need to come back again, won't I?”
Lilith paused. ”What are you talking about? The void is the one place nobody comes back from alive. You can die and be reborn but once you get sucked into the void, you will never return. That's the end of everything. Even Gods who are said to be almighty cannot escape the void.”