Ball of Nothing

Four days have passed since Zero's arrival at the Spring of Vitality. Baal sighed. Much had transpired in that short window of time that he was awake. There was no doubt about it, Coux was Lilith's descendant. The succubus' blood still ran strong despite the watered down generations. That trader was milking every single ounce of what he had to offer with the covenant mark, not that he was upset about it. Leaving business to the hands of a Van Doux was the right decision. Being mana drained constantly was a small price to pay. If his domain collapsed because of his inability to support it, Baal wouldn't be a Demon King in the first place.

"What's that? Has the mighty King of Laziness finally decided to get serious about conquering the world?"

Baal clicked his tongue. Yet another annoyance has chosen to present itself in the Demon Lord's path.

"Nice to see that you're still in good health, uncle. Are you here to steal 'holy water' again?"

Raphael swatted the Demon King's head and huffed. "Talking to me like that, aren't you afraid that I'll spank you again?"

Baal baulked at the memory. Indeed, this archangel's pure hands had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with his dirty bottom once or twice in the past when he was still a snot-nosed Demon King running around causing mischief. Lucifer hadn't been too pleased to know that Baal was ditching his classes and building illegal portals from the Abyss to other dimensions for his 'getaway' trips. Being an ace student of the Morning Star Academy, Baal tended to get away with many things. However, etiquette was still something that had to be observed. It was something Baal completely disregarded unless absolutely necessary.

"It was only those few times when I was younger. I'm a proper lord of my domain now."

The archangel chuckled and filled his water skin beside Baal lounged in the Spring nonchalantly.

"Yes, you were quite the rascal as I remembered. Have you been maintaining your domain properly? I heard that you drove Mammon up the wall by missing all his business conferences during your nap. He was about to remove you from the board of directors after you went bankrupt."

Baal sighed. "Don't worry about it. That has been resolved now. I found some capable family members."

Raphael nearly dropped his water skin in surprise. "When did that happen? Will you be introducing them to the family?"

Baal shrugged. He looked at the angel who hadn't aged since the last time he saw him. How long ago was that? Three or four hundred years? Raphael's porcelain white skin and bright blue eyes shone with the moonlight illuminating his high nose bridge and fine features. Truly, angels were of a different level of beauty. Baal would know because he'd seen his uncles and even his headmaster in their best forms. If Gods were Kings, Angels were their knights. Archangels were the scariest table knights that guarded their Kings. In their battle-fury form, they had two halos and three pairs of wings. All angels had ridiculously white skin and blue eyes. Some had blond hair and others had dark hair like Raphael. The archangel of healing had curly dark brown hair, almost black, that cascaded down his shoulders. He was lean and from far, one might mistake him as a woman. The Demon Lord sighed. Even in his normal form, Raphael had a pair of small white wings protruding from his back. The halo was nowhere in sight but that did nothing to hide his angelic aura. It was too sparkly for a Demon Lord and already, the King of Sloth felt tired from looking at Raphael.

"The family is such a pain..." he groaned. "I just got my new family a few days back. I don't know if I should regret my decision now. They really know how to make full use of the covenant mark..."

Raphael smiled. He'd known Baal since he was a child. Despite the grumpiness, he knew that the Demon King was actually fond of them. To give someone his covenant mark, Baal must really trust these people. For centuries, the Demon King of Idleness never opened his heart to anyone. His servants often came and left on their own accord. Everyone who sought him out always wanted something from him. Over time, Baal learnt to deal with the affairs of his domain lesser and lesser to avoid getting too emotionally invested. They were demons and Hell isn't the best place to practice compassion.

Lilith and Mammon were the closest to what Baal could consider as friends. However, they were not able to fill the void in Baal's heart. A Demon King isn't something any strong demon could become. It was a heavy responsibility. Demon Kings maintained the mana in their domain to support the existence of the abyss in a different plane. Without them, the abyss would disintegrate. It was a pact that Lucifer made with Heaven to end the war. Hades stepped in to support Hell for a little before moving up to the Purgatory. Now that King Enma has taken over that duty, Hades returned to heaven. Raphael heard about a few things going on from the Great Gods occasionally. He wondered if that mysterious force was the reason for Baal's change of heart.

"I heard from the Great Gods about a mysterious existence called Zero. Do you know about him? Apparently, this creature is revered by even the Great Gods. They mentioned that he has business with the fragments of Divine Entities in Hell. Have you met him?"

Baal blinked. "Are you talking about that unconscious boy there?"

Raphael dropped his water skin for real this time. It bubbled a little before sinking to the bottom of the Spring.

The angel leapt to his feet and would have had a cardiac arrest if he had a working heart. "Baal! What have you done?"

When the Demon King saw how his friendly uncle transformed into the scary killing machine with six wings, he backed away. "He was like this because of a divine spell. I brought him here to help him recover."

For a moment Raphael didn't seem to believe him. However, the archangel didn't make any indication that he was out to harm Baal. Instead, he furled his wings and composed himself.

"Speak. I want to know everything from the beginning. You do know that the Great Gods will not hesitate to destroy realms should anything happen to him, right?"

Baal sighed. He felt a headache coming up and glared at Zero. "The things I would do for you, friend... only you. You're going to owe me six stories for putting up with so much," he growled.

Raphael listened without interrupting Baal as he gave a recount about Zero's apprenticeship with Hua Tuo at Half Moon village. He talked about the brief battle that happened and how Zero chose to punish the traitor by using divine-tier magic without knowing the consequences.

"According to Hua Tuo, Zero has a very special constitution. This body was made by Gaia and doesn't have normal magical branches like all living things. It's currently still developing and while Zero can recover mana on his own, he requires a lot of it to replenish his energy reserves after using too much of it on that divine spell."

Raphael's rage simmered and the rage in his eyes faded away. "Do the Great Gods know?"

Baal shrugged. "I'll leave that decision to Hua Tuo seeing how that poor fool is in charge of this reckless munchkin," he pulled on one of Zero's cheeks.

Raphael reverted to his regular form and heaved a sigh of relief. "I understand. I'll pretend that I didn't know about Zero's existence. However, if you require anything at all, you know where to find me."

Baal didn't respond to that but Raphael didn't mind. He was too used to his nephew's antics. The angel removed his clothes to look for the water skin he'd dropped earlier. Baal made a face.

"Really, do you even purify or filter that water before giving it out to the sick? This lake has been used by many to bathe in. It's just disgusting to think of anyone drinking bathing water. Someone might have peed in it too. You wouldn't know what's in it."

Raphael dived up for air with the water skin in one hand. "Well, they always say not to look at the kitchen of the restaurant you're eating in. Good food is good food regardless of how it is prepared. Besides, this is magic water. The mortals can deal with a little filth if I'm going to be saving their lives."

Baal snorted. "Don't let anyone hear you say that, you fraud. Who knew that angels could have such twisted personalities? The whole bunch of you are world class conmen and they call us demons bad..."

Raphael swatted the back of Baal's head once more. "I could say the same for you. Choosing a child's body and acting dumb. Just so you know, the fire has already spread to your territory. If you don't take care of it quickly, no amount of damage control can recover what you're about to lose. Isis' words, not mine."

Baal groaned. "Go home already, old man..."

Raphael clicked his tongue in irritation. "Such an unlovable child… Say hi to your new family for me and visit us sometimes. We miss having you around."

Once the archangel has disappeared, Baal glared at Zero and pinched his cheek, stretching it. "If it wasn't because of how much I like you, I wouldn't have to deal with all these headaches. You better tell me good stories once you wake up, you hear me?"

Zero didn't answer and Baal huffed. The Spring continued to bubble and Baal decided that he should review whatever his double had to report.

Once the connection was open, information kept flooding to his mind and Baal groaned. Lilith had done something absurd again.

"A new Demon King? Seriously? What the heck is Gluttony supposed to be? Also, what's with all that food? My mark shouldn't be used to transport food without having them become a tribute to me! How dare she... Oh, I swear Lilith and all her spawns are a pain in the butt! Why did I even remotely consider adding that bitch to my family? Oh yes, I was broke..."

Baal groaned and sighed once more, glaring at Zero who continued sleeping.

"Only for you..." he groaned. "Only you, Zero. I'm never having another friend. Do you hear that? You're a pain in the butt!"

Zero didn't answer and Baal continued to groan when he felt another surge of mana leave him through the covenant mark. It was a good thing he was in the Spring of Vitality at the moment. Whatever Coux was doing had better be good. Considering the progress she'd made, Baal decided that he would close an eye to the mana abuse. Still, there was some business to be taken care of.

Summoning a magic scroll from his dimensional inventory, Baal wrote a letter and had his familiar deliver it to Mammon. Raphael was right. The fire had spread to his territory and if it wasn't taken care of, it will become an even bigger headache, one that Baal didn't want to deal with. The fact that there was a new Demon Lord running around in his territory meant that Baal was responsible for him.

The Demon King groaned. "Why does it have to be me?" He pulled out another scroll and scribbled a letter to be sent to Lucifer.

"Whatever. Lucifer is in-charge, Demon King of Gluttony or whatever, he'll still have to go through that same torture called 'school'."

With a smirk, he sent that letter out too. For the third time that day, Baal pulled out yet another scroll. This time, he wrote it to a certain succubus queen. If Coux was going to do something huge, she would need all the support she could get. Besides, Lilith was bugging him to no end about wanting to meet her descendant. Baal thought that now would be a good time to introduce them. He knew that the Queen of Lust would nag at him for not allowing her to meet her child before he gave her his mark. However, Baal refused to think about it for now. He'd worry about it when the time came.

"All in a day's work," Baal smiled, feeling proud of himself. If he could, he would give himself a pat on the back. Now that the serious stuff was out of the way, he yawned.

There was no better way to reward effort other than a well-deserved nap. Baal felt his eyelid droop and hugged Zero closer to him before he fell asleep. Zero better wake up soon. If there was one thing Baal would consider a better form of reward for all the effort he put in, it would be listening to Zero's cheerful voice and funny stories.