Ball of Nothing

Chapter 201 Overeating

"Mii, I want you to prepare as much water as you can. We’re going to flood this place!"

The strawcherry fairy was once against surprised by Zero’s request. Water? Flood? Did Zero understand the magnitude of his request? The teenager might not feel it but there is a lot of seawater stored in his limitless inventory. That amount of water is enough to destroy the balance of a small planet and send it spiralling towards self-destruction. Also, wouldn’t that endanger the two Demon Lords? Zero might not need to breathe but the same couldn’t be said for everyone else. Bob and Mii could hide in Zero’s mindscape. Lily could return to Gaia. However, who was going to help Baal and Beelzebub?

Sensing Mii’s worries, the brunet smiled. "Don’t worry, I have a plan. Bell and Beel will be alright. Hua Tuo didn’t teach me healing magic without telling me the limitations. Just trust me on this..."

Bob blinked. He knew exactly what the kid was planning to do and honestly, it scared him a little. While Zero’s plan was logical in all ways with the highest chance of success given their circumstances, he couldn’t believe the boy who was so against taking lives was about to temporarily take the lives of his friends to save them and the enemy.

"Zero, don’t tell me..." Bob swallowed when Zero gave him the most innocent and reassuring smile. If the Eternal Dragon didn’t know his master’s insanity so well he would’ve been disarmed by that smile. However, after confirming Zero’s intentions only made the dragon’s blood turn to frost.

Mii readied the logistics and told Zero that he had to open the portal for at least two minutes to empty out whatever water he had left in his inventory. Zero didn’t know how quickly his portal would be stopped by Rhinestone this time and told Mii to ready herself. His plan to counter the anti-magic? Zero was going to open several thousand portals at once in this small area continuously with no pattern. No matter how vigilant Rhinestone was, he couldn’t possibly shut more than a few hundred portals at once, could he? Even Enma, who was the most proficient with multitasking as a God, couldn’t keep up with Zero’s pace.

"Ready? On the count of three... two... now!"

Rhinestone nearly jumped out of the mirror in shock at the sudden attack. His momentary lapse in defence gave Michael the opening he needed. The archangel slashed the flaming word down onto the guarded portal and was able to cut away one of the frames that aided with Rhinestone’s ability to regenerate.

Furious and desperate, the spider demon launched attacks of his own while turning an interesting shade of turquoise. Lucifer didn’t know what was going on. Rhinestone looked physically ill even with the lack of his physical body from the mirror’s reflection. Could it be that Baal and Beelzebub were awake? Or was this all the doing of Zero again?

Olaf who saw how the tides have changed felt like his limits were almost up. Raphael caught the severely injured dragon demon just as he fell from the sky. The archangel used a powerful healing spell on the librarian who looked at the beautiful angel with curiosity. Unlike most angels he knew, Raphael gave off a pleasant vibe. He was intrigued by that gentle nature and wished that more angels were like him.

"Thanks," he told the angel of healing who was startled by the very intense stare. Raphael backed away quickly and nodded shyly before going to assist the injured Pegasus riders. Olaf’s eyes followed after him throughout the battle much to Bob’s amusement later.

In the inner dimension, Zero shuddered in exhaustion. His physical body was reaching its limit. Although powerful, the current vessel was unable to control so much mana with deadly precision. New portals were opened and old portals closed. Seawater continuously poured into the room causing catastrophic waves and whirlpools. Right now, Baal and Beel were dead. Zero couldn’t feel their heartbeat as Rhinestone sank them to the very bottom of this place. Zero still ran around evading the mental attacks while filling the dimension with water. The young doctor tried to calm down. He could still feel the soul of his friends strongly in place even if they’d both perished in the first minute.

Mii worked harder with the time pushing closer. By now, Rhinestone should be past his limits. The inner dimension trembled more frequently and cracks could be seen forming on some of the surfaces. Zero didn’t relent and pushed forth.

There was another particularly large crack forming on the side of the dimension, giving Zero a rough idea of how big it actually was. If math worked correctly, the mass that was in this dimensional space didn’t match with the capacity it could carry. Rhinestone was clearly holding on with pure willpower to force it to be contained. Zero wasn’t one to give up easily either. There was more of where that water came from, he emptied only a third of what he absorbed from Amarania.

Before Zero could force another few hundred portals to open, the crack widened with a loud shattering sound. The young doctor quickly teleported to his friends and escaped the dimension.

Lucifer felt his heart race when he saw a random portal open in front of the mirror with a familiar tuft of brown hair. However, what followed the appearance of his students shocked everyone represents. Olaf felt despair when water burst from that portal, flooding his sacred ground destroying all his precious books.

"My babies!" he cried but nobody paid him any attention.

Michael cursed. With this much water, the flaming sword would be ineffective. The Pegasus rider evacuated the scene and tried to calm the frightened horses. Nobody stayed close to the portal and watched as Rhinestone continued barfing water from his inner dimension.

Zero wasted no time. He placed a hand over each Demon Lord’s head and chanted fervently with his eyes closed. At first, nothing happened and Lily worried for them. However, in the next ten seconds, things changed. Baal started coughing out water and Beelzebub wheezed for air. Both Demon Lords opened their eyes at the same moment and Zero continued to pour golden mana into them, unaware that they’ve come to.

Baal had to grab his friend by the arms before Zero realised that he succeeded. "I have to scold you but I’ll leave it for later. We have a spider to take down, your mission is complete. I’ll take it from here. Beelzebub, please take Zero away and report back to the dean."

The Lord of Gluttony complied with a nod. He was slightly surprised by his regrown limbs but didn’t question it. It had to be the work of Zero here and Beelzebub felt touched that Zero was willing to go so far for him.

"Lord Lucifer?" Beelzebub was unsure. The man before him emitted the same scent and aura but he looked nothing like he did before.

"You did well," the fallen angel replied, confirming Beelzebub’s suspicions. Zero had his head hung low when Lucifer scrutinised the teenager.

"You did well too, Zero."

That surprised him. Zero’s head shot up with wide eyes. Baal said that he would be scolded later, he must have done something wrong there. Why was Lucifer praising him? That was scary!

"Zero, I remember Buddha gave you the blessing of wisdom..." Merlin coughed sheepishly. "Could you translate what this says?"

Zero looked down at the ring of words on Lucifer’s wrist. The fallen angel gave the Wizard God the stink eye. Didn’t the wizard say that there was no other way to break the curse? Was he lying?

Zero took a quick glance and read it aloud. "For the dishonest one who cannot be true to their feelings, unless they recognise their fears and desires they shall forever be forced to lie."

Merlin didn’t dare meet Lucifer’s glare. The moment Lucifer made peace with himself on the inside, his halo returned and the ring of ancient words vanished.

"Arachne’s tapestry or a piece of my soul, huh? Wizard, you will pay for lying to me later. For now, I have a traitor to take care of."

Merlin shivered and took the chance to run when Lucifer’s attention was turned onto the battlefield. Zero didn’t understand what they were talking about but didn’t question why his magic tutor was fleeing in such an undignified manner. In any case, he was actually glad to see that everyone was well and alive. Bob sniffed the air and raised a brow. He was very certain he smelled blood earlier. The Eternal Dragon looked over to Olaf and frowned at the odd expression. Why did his friend look like it was the end of the world? What exactly happened while they were isolated for a while?

Rhinestone was still feeling shaky even after throwing out everything in his inner dimension. The kid really did some heavy damages that will not only take some time to repair but also recover from mentally. He was still bitter at the loss of two very powerful chess pieces to his plan. He froze when he felt a chill down to his very soul.

In all his glory was the former leader of the angels - Lucifer, smiling at him. Michael stood back now that the true leader of Hell and the Angels was back in action. Uriel didn’t look happy about it and kept glancing at Zero’s way. The library was thoroughly soaked and Olaf despaired.

"My books..." his voice sounded weak but it was lost to everyone who was too focused on the main battle that was about to happen.

Greatly weakened, Rhinestone knew he had no chance against Lucifer who had regained his powers. Still, that didn’t mean the ex-professor was going down without a fight.

The portal fused spider demon tried to swallow Lucifer into his inner dimension but failed when Lucifer swatted the probing tendrils away like a fly. The force of Lucifer’s swat broke half the portal frame and Rhinestone felt the mirror crack a little under Lucifer’s battle aura.

"Rhinestone, it’s disappointing. I had high expectations of you when I first welcomed you as a teacher of my prestigious Academy. First and foremost... you’re fired."

Olaf wanted to cry in frustration. Fired? That was it? How was this fair? However, before he could voice his discontent, Lucifer continued.

"For endangering the students of the Academy," he motioned to the two Demon Lords and aspiring doctor. "You will be banned from my domain."

Rhinestone looked at Lucifer as if he’d lost his mind. Fired and banned from a domain? Why did he care about that? He was dead and tied to a portal.

"Lastly, your most severe crime is the damage of property and the endangerment of the existence of the Abyss. Your title and rank as a demon will be stripped. You will return to becoming a minor demon. I hereby sentence you to be reincarnated as an imp in your next life. Your identity as Rhinestone and your bloodline as a descendant of Arachne, the greatest weaver, will be revoked."

A strange magic circle appeared over the sky and a lightning bolt struck down onto the mirror, shattering it into a million pieces. Zero watched in horror at the blatant murder. Still, he couldn’t complain about how Hell wanted to deal with its traitors. Zero closed his eyes and turned his head to one side, not wanting to watch anymore.

"Demon Lord of the Pride Domain, I King Yama hears your request and will grant it. Son of Arachne, you shall now be sentenced to a thousand years of redemption for your crimes. You will earn your right back by living as a minor demon to learn how to appreciate the value of life."

Although Zero couldn’t see or sense where Enma was, he heard his voice clearly from somewhere in the sky. Not dying? Lucifer didn’t kill Rhinestone? Zero almost couldn’t believe it but he was still glad that Rhinestone’s soul wouldn’t go to the void.

Rhinestone’s last scream of agony as his soul was forcefully ripped from the mirror portal for reincarnation was heard by everyone present. A strange silence followed after and Zero wondered if nobody was going to initiate anything. Should they start cleaning up or retreating? Also, would Baal choose to scold him now or later?

Zero’s questions were answered when Olaf grabbed Lucifer by the collar of his shirt with a furious look in his eyes.

"Look. At. What. happened. To. My. LIBRARY!"

Lucifer was calm. Usually, such a display of disrespect would get them punished harshly but this time, the Demon Lord allowed it. He deserved it after all.

"I’m sorry, we’ll get the cleaning team to-"

"SCREW YOUR CLEANING TEAM! You can’t replace my books, they’re RUINED!"

Zero looked around and realised that Olaf was right. He felt bad when he understood the destruction was indirectly caused by him too.

"Young master..." Bob tried to stop Zero but it was too late. Zero had stood up and admitted that the water was his fault.

"I’m really sorry that this has happened but... I can fix it."

Olaf glared at Zero with mixed feelings. It wasn’t Zero’s fault that his entire collection was destroyed, he was up against a powerful foe and had every right to do what he had to for survival. Still, that did nothing to ease the red-eyed monster in him.

"Fix it? How? It’s ruined! Centuries worth of information cannot be replicated even if you fixed the water damage..."

Zero swallowed when Baal shot him a warning glare. the young doctor knew he should stop speaking to avoid any more attention on him. However, the righteous part of him couldn’t let things be. He wanted to fix it.

"I might have a way..."

Olaf felt like he was losing his mind. Bob did say that Zero was an interesting master but it looked like the young twerp didn’t understand the situation they were in. He felt tired and didn’t want to argue further. All the dragon demon wanted to do was cry in a corner and destroy a few villages to ease his grief.

"Whatever... do whatever you want, I don’t care anymore..." he sighed and flew away.

Zero took that as a green light and activated the special skill of absorbing and magic. If there was cleaning magic, why wouldn’t there be drying magic? The trick was simply to absorb only specific molecules or substances like what he had learnt from Raj.

Uriel paled when he understood that Zero was going to absorb the entire library just as he saw in his visions. The archangel screamed when Zero activated the magic and jumped in Zero’s path trying to stop the powerful teenager from throwing the Abyss into its last moments...

Only that powerful attack never came. Uriel felt his wet sandals become dry and comfortable again. He also felt the saltiness in the air disappear much to his puzzlement.

Lucifer was impressed. At least the student had a better head on his shoulders compared to his cowardly teacher who demanded a portion of someone’s soul to break a curse.

"Zero, what did you just do!" Baal demanded to know and his friend gave him a cheeky smile.

"That’s Zero’s Vacuum Magic 2.0 now with drying function. With this, Olaf’s books are saved, isn’t that a neat trick?"

For a few seconds, Baal’s expression was still straight-laced with no signs of being amused. Zero let his victory sign drop and became more apologetic when Baal burst out in laughter.

"It’s a good one, you’ve redeemed yourself for now. Let’s go back and eat something celebratory. I’ll have Coux prepare something, what do you want to eat?"

Beelzebub ears pricked at the mention of Coux’s cooking. "Lord Baal, please allow me to escort both you and Zero back to your residence. It must have been tiring for the both of you who’ve contributed much to this battle..."

"Indeed," Lucifer agreed, much to his soul brothers’ surprise. "I think a feast is the only right way to celebrate the salvation of Hell. Why don’t we have it in the cafeteria in the Academy? I’m sure many of our guests here would love to try some of the famous cuisines Bells and Begonia has to offer..."

Baal gave Lucifer a glare and the fallen angel continued smiling. Zero nodded and agreed, much to Baal’s chagrin.

"Zero!" Baal was horrified by his friend’s response.

On the other hand, Beelzebub has forsaken his image and requested for more carrot cake. Before he knew it, Zero was swamped with special food requests that made his head hurt.

"Coux! Help! Bring food, lots of food to the Academy!" Zero pleaded with the half-succubus in the party call. Mii silently disappeared with Bob and Lily. None of his assistants responded to the distressed teenager’s pleas for help.

Who could blame them? Sometimes, it was much easier to teach someone how to fly by throwing them off the cliff.