Ball of Nothing

Chapter 283 Down for Business 1

The cupid bowed and flew away quickly after escorting the frosty representative of Hell. There were many rumours flying around in Heaven about a mysterious teenager who looked like a very ordinary human. Word has it that this boy has the favour of Great Gods as well as Blessings of many powerful individuals. Uriel’s vision about this particular teen being the destroyer did nothing to allay their fears. Instead, Zero’s actions to help with punishing Arachne’s descendant made them more frightened. Someone who could defy Uriel’s visions was at least as powerful as Merlin or Isis.

Zero didn’t walk through the normal paved road. In fact, he didn’t see many angels or residences around on his way to the meeting point. The one thing Zero did realise was the beautiful landscapes in Heaven. It was a very petty place with picturesque gardens that looked good at every angle. He now understood why Lucifer’s domain and Academy looked the grandest of all the Demon Lords’ domains. It was replicated after Heaven.

It must be vanity. Zero couldn’t think of it any other way. Each garden was more beautiful than the previous and Zero wondered if the entire plane consisted of gardens. Hua Tuo didn’t enjoy the view. Instead, he walked with a somewhat irritated expression on his face. His moustache twitched when the cupid bragged about the founder of each garden to Zero who was letting his poker face slip a little at the short tour.

After walking through five gardens, Zero grew bored. There was no creativity in any of the works. Sure, it might be grand and expensive but Zero felt that the garden was unloved. Everything was too perfect and Zero didn’t like the feeling of it. Looking at the plants, Zero couldn’t help but feel a pang of uneasiness. The plants looked exactly the same as the one beside it. It’s almost a clone of each other and Zero shuddered at the realisation that this might be why Heaven was such a happy place. Nobody had any opinions living here, they must have all been brainwashed into living like the plants to be nothing less than perfect.

"When are we reaching?" the cold voice startled the gloating cupid and Hua Tuo felt secretly pleased that his student wasn’t so easily swept along with the pace of this nasty place.

"P-pardon?" the cupid smiled nervously as if he’d heard wrong.

Zero’s eyes held no warmth. The look was cold like steel and sharp like a blade. Suddenly, that adorable looking teenager that seemed harmless had transformed into a lethal monster that scared the cupid. Uriel was right, this boy was going to kill them all!

"When are we reaching?" Zero asked again and this time, the cupid visibly shuddered. The killing intent lowered the temperature in the garden by a few degrees.

Shaking terribly and close to tears in front of Zero’s power, the small angel could only stammer out answers. He was tasked to bring Zero to the venue straight away but after seeing the brunet, the cupid thought that he would take it upon himself to give the ignorant fool a short tour. How badly has that backfired?

"W-we’ll be right there!"

Zero didn’t say anything and waited for the cupid to lead the way. He wasn’t truly angry but the cupid was being a little too arrogant, overstepping his boundaries as a mere servant in Heaven. No matter what, Zero came to represent Mammon and the interest of the abyss. As the creator of Garden of Roth, he had significant importance. After figuring out what the small cupid was doing, he was no longer amused. It’s a good thing Zero learnt how to be intimidating from Duu’s memory. Whenever the Divine Entity was too lazy to take action, he would intimidate his enemies into running away so that he wouldn’t have to get rid of them personally.

The poor cupid flew as quickly as he could and cut through gardens and told the guests to wait at the pavilion for the hosts to pick them up. Zero didn’t say anything and the cupid took that chance to run away. Once Zero was confident that there was nobody in the area, he stretched and groaned.

"That was tough!" he complained and Hua Tuo chuckled.

"Your acting skills are good. Who taught you how to act?" the physician asked.

Zero grinned and gave his teacher a victory sign. "I’m a very good observer. Buddha was the greatest influence but I still have memories from the divine fragments. When it comes to acting, both Jevy and Gugu are second to none."

Hua Tuo nodded. It was an irrefutable truth that the two most troublemaking divine entities were probably the best actors that existed. They spun lies with truth so much that nobody knew what was the real story. They charmed and blackmailed their way to obtaining treasures and nobody knew what to expect when they met them. You couldn’t help but instinctively trust them when they spoke or smiled. Hua Tuo sighed. Around those two divine entities, logic didn’t exist. Zero who inherited their memories must have learnt quite a few tricks and the physician was starting to guess how much of what Zero did most times were with second intentions.

As Hua Tuo and Zero chatted airily, time passed quickly.

"Zero," a gentle voice called out in the breeze from behind and Zero froze. He knew that person.

Turning around, Zero couldn’t control the tears from collecting at the side of his eyes. Standing behind the most powerful wizard of all time was the face he’d been looking forward to seeing when he came to Heaven.

"Truen!" the young doctor leapt from his seat into the wood elf’s arms. Externally, Truen didn’t look like he had changed much. However, Zero couldn’t help but feel as if Truen had grown much older. Their height differences were not as much as before. Zero still felt safer than he ever felt in Truen’s arms. For some reason, having his best friend by his side made the difficult days training a lot more bearable in his memories.

"I missed you," Zero cried, not letting go of the wood elf and ignoring Hua Tuo’s not so discreet coughs.

Truen wrapped one arm around Zero and patted the teen’s head. In the time that they’d been apart, Zero had matured a little. Truen was slightly sad to see that he missed so much of Zero’s progress but the maturity didn’t taint that same child-like innocence and desire to save everything. That was good enough for Truen. As for the rest, it was the wood elf’s job to clean up after Zero.

"How have you been?" he asked when Zero calmed down enough.

The archer helped to clean Zero’s face, making him look presentable again. They didn’t have much time before the meeting started. Thankfully, it wouldn’t take them long to walk over to the venue from this pavilion.

Zero beamed. "I’ve been well. I just graduated and am now an official doctor!"

Truen laughed at Zero’s enthusiasm when the boy told him about the chaos back in Hell with the clinic. He heard reports from Coux from time to time about the situation but hearing the same thing from Zero’s point of view made it ten times more interesting.

Merlin checked the time and eyed the two boys. "We can continue the conversation later, for now, let’s head to the meeting. I think the archangels are already there."

Agreeing with the wizard, Hua Tuo made the first move following behind the Sage god of Magic. Zero and Truen followed behind quickly but the young doctor continued to chat all the way until the meeting venue.

Hua Tuo stopped just before the meeting venue and Zero blinked in surprise.

"Aren’t you joining?"

The physician smiled. "I’m not invited to attend. You go ahead, I’ll be waiting for you with Truen in Nirvana."

Zero looked slightly disappointed but agreed. Merlin exchanged looks with Hua Tuo and nodded slightly. he would take care of Zero from this point onwards. Assured, Hua Tuo and Truen took their leaves.

The doors were large but no effort was needed to open them. On sensing that the remaining guests were present, they swung open.

In the meeting room, Zero saw some familiar faces. Buddha was sitting beside Lucifer. There were two empty seats between Lucifer and the three archangels. Zero recognised Michael, Uriel and Gabriel but he wondered why Raphael wasn’t around. He kept the question to himself and took a seat beside Lucifer while Merlin sat beside Michael who was glaring daggers at Zero.

The table was a huge round carved rock and it seemed a little ridiculous for seven people to be seated in such a room. Then again, with Heaven’s hospitality, there would be nothing short of grandeur.

"Thank you for attending the meeting today," Gabriel smiled and Zero tore his eyes away from the hostile stares directed at him.

The archangel used a mana stone to power a device that created a light projected image in the middle of the table for everyone to see. Zero was impressed by the technology used. This must be Steve’s invention.

"We have gathered everyone here for a meeting about the business interest we have using the newly created domain in the abyss - Garden of Roth."

Zero knew where this was going. Mammon had briefed him before the meeting. They were going to try to negotiate for the mana flower farms and offer help with the terraforming project in order to gain access to some of Hell’s resources. The Ten-Path Crossway was also a very convenient hub for travelling. Zero’s job was to strike a deal beneficial for his domain and the abyss in general.

Lucifer and Buddha remained impassive and Gabriel’s smile never wavered. Zero couldn’t help but feel impressed at the high level of politics and social masks worn in the room. Even Michael who was glaring at him earlier became cold like stone and unreadable. Uriel remained meek but Zero knew better than to underestimate the quiet angel.

"Cut to the chase," Lucifer spoke and the room tremored.

Unruffled, Gabriel nodded and changed the projected image.

"To value the time that we have, I shan’t beat around the bush. This is the deal Heaven is proposing. We want to offer our assistance and develop the architecture in the Garden of Roth in return for some mana flowers that are currently being cultivated by the abyss with Buddha’s joint interest."

Buddha didn’t say anything. It didn’t matter what both parties agreed to, he would still gain to benefit. Zero began to understand a little more about the underlying tension as Lucifer and Gabriel bantered back and forth. Mana flowers were the solution to stabilising both planes but the supply was limited.

"Unlike Heaven, Hell has no way to produce its own source of mana at the moment. It’s not right to ask for fair distribution, we should take precedence."

Gabriel didn’t back down. "That may be so but Heaven’s problem isn’t insignificant either. The shatter in the plane is causing major mana leakage. No matter how much mana we produce and how many residents we have, the Gods and Goddesses are finding it harder to grant wishes every passing day. If Gods and Goddesses can no longer grant wishes, they will lose followers and eventually will be forced to become fallen Gods who will end up destroying planets and devouring souls. When that happens, not even King Yama can stop them."

Lucifer couldn’t deny that. As an ex-archangel, he knew the implications too well. Everything in Heaven ran on a very strict system. Even if the Gods and Goddesses were whimsical, they could not be blamed. The angels had to do their best to ensure that the plane stays stable so that these Gods and Goddesses could fulfil their purpose of maintaining the cycle of life and sin counts in different ways.

Seeing the tension, Zero wondered if there was a way to have a third option so that neither Heaven nor Hell had to snatch for the mana generating lotuses as much. As the meeting got heated, only two people remained calm.

Buddha looked at Zero and wondered what kind of miracle the boy was going to show them this time.