Ball of Nothing

Hua Tuo and Buddha were thrown into the centre of chaos. It was not an experience anyone wanted to talk about. Wiser almost cried tears of relief at the sight of extra manpower. While King Yama's assistants were doing a good job of keeping everyone in line, it didn't make the crowd less angry. Zero didn't blame them. It was closing to noon and nobody had anything to eat as of yet.

"Ruth," he tried contacting her through the party call.

The vampire was startled to hear Zero's voice in his head but relaxed when he remembered that it was the young doctor's unique skill.

"What is it? I'm busy."

"Sorry about that," Zero apologised. "Could you tell Amaraline to double up the production? We have some problems with the crowd but En's men are dealing with it. I think some desserts before they start their new lives would be a good way to send them off."

Ruth couldn't say he was very surprised to hear that Zero wanted to do value-added charity work. However, he understood that this was only natural from the kind-hearted fool who was currently his master. They have not gotten to signing the magic contract due to the lack of time. However, Ruth didn't mind it. In fact, he was motivated to serve these demons who were seeking a second chance at life.

"I understand. Expect us in twenty minutes."

In exactly twenty minutes, Zero was amazed by how efficient the vampire was. There were two hundred perfectly baked apple pie slices served to the rowdy crowd. Hua Tuo readied a crate of mana potions beside Zero. The true battle only started after the first thirty demons have finished the delicious treat.

"First wave incoming!" Wiser announced over the party call. King Yama gave the green light for Zero to proceed and Buddha was on standby to receive them.

Zero activated the Inheritor of Sins and watched as the numbers in his status screen jump up by about three hundred.

"I don't think I'll need any mana potions. Ruth might need them instead, he's running to and from Belles and Begonia with the desserts. Also, please give some to Amaraline and Qin Yun. Ship some over to Lovina too because she's helping them to cope with some of the urgent orders."

Hua Tuo didn't think twice and did as Zero suggested. The young doctor focussed on clearing the crowd as fast as he could. After all, three days was really insufficient for a crowd as huge as this. The entire bank building was teeming with demons with high expectations for a second chance at life. Zero glanced out of the window. Even the town's square and markets were flooded with hopeful demons. As the spark for this excitement, Zero couldn't possibly disappoint them all, right?

"Do you think you could have some people pre-register them before they have their desserts? It might be faster. I can clear two waves at once if they occupy the two rooms directly beneath each other."

Enma who was busy managing his administrators received Zero's message. Normally, he wouldn't do menial tasks himself. As the Lord ruling over the Purgatory, he had more important matters to attend to. Thankfully, he was free of all that today.

"Sure. I'll fill up the crowd who can wait for desserts after the redemption. I hope you can cope with my speed."

Zero smiled even though Enma couldn't see it. "You're the best!"

Enma left his post to open a new counter. While ordinary administrators had to use a magical device to measure the number of sins and record it into the system, the ruler of the Purgatory had a special gift. King Yama didn't need the device to determine a person's sin count. With his unique skills Judgement to view into a person's soul numbers, Godly Mathematics to calculate the sins and Expert Scribe to record everything into the books... King Yama was the best administrator the Purgatory had. Not even Hades was this proficient with the job.

"There's a new counter that moves five times as quickly as this queue!" one demon exclaimed. Many pairs of ears picked up on that and within a minute, demons were flooding to Enma's counter. King Yama only had to pull Sekkin from his post to help with crowd redirection after his administration. The spider demon's abilities simplified things and the duo worked efficiently. Zero was pleasantly surprised to have waves every five minutes or so. Enma surely worked fast and if Zero had to point out their weakest link in this new work arrangement, it would be Wiser who could hardly catch his breath.

***

Back in the castle, Baal shuddered and collapsed onto the floor. Coux was immediately alarmed.

"My Lord! What's wrong? Hold on, let me call for Hua Tuo..."

"No," the Demon Lord groaned weakly as he caught his secretary's wrist. "Arrange for a carriage to the Spring of Vitality immediately. I'll soak in there for until the Redemption Days are over. Also, you can tell Zero to have the vampire use my portal to deliver food. If the cafe is abusing my dimensional inventory to transfer goods, I don't see the harm in spending a little more mana and sustain another portal. Just... tell Zero to get over with it quickly."

Coux looked worried but obeyed nonetheless. After arranging for the carriage, she sent a message to Lilith about the unusual illness that Baal had suddenly gotten.

"Zero, Lord Baal will open a portal for Ruth to deliver the desserts. Tell him to use it. Also, I thought that I should keep you informed about his condition. Lord Baal has suddenly collapsed, he's now heading to the Spring of Vitality to recover mana. It's best to finish this redemption event quickly, I'm not sure if Lord Baal's body can hold out till the end of three days."

Zero was immediately alarmed when he heard the news. He wanted to rush over and check out on his friend but knew that with how hard Baal was trying, it would only disappoint him.

"I understand. I'll ask Master to check on him. We will be taking a short break in two hours. Please take care of Bell for me... I can hold the gates if required."

The secretary looked at the time. "I understand. I've sent word about Lord Baal's condition to Lady Lilith. Please do not worry too much. Do let me know if there is something I could help with. I'm sure Belles and Begonia will require extra hands at some point..."

Zero smiled. "Actually, we're doing really well thanks to En. He's working five times faster than all his administrators added together! We're making really good progress. I'm just afraid that the sudden spike in people signing magic contracts under Baal's name and magic is causing him some trouble right now. I can't contact him at the moment but I will transfer some sins over when I can. Tell him not to overdo it! Mammon has already agreed to help with the magic contract signing part if Baal cannot maintain it. Unlike the magic contract, there is nobody else in this domain who can open the gates for the redeemed souls."

"I understand," the half-succubus nodded. "I'll do what I can, please don't hesitate to ask for help."

With that, they ended the call and Coux was left wondering how she could assist the usually lazy Demon Lord. It wasn't every day that she saw him working so hard. Despite his usual lazy disposition, Baal genuinely cared for his people and for Zero. That got the secretary thinking. What if her initial opinion about Lord Baal has been wrong? Perhaps there was more to the responsibility-pushing Demon Lord than she knew. Coux frowned. She'd have to ask her ancestor Lilith for details later.

No, it wasn't out of concern. Coux shook her head to rid of that thought. It was only so she could perform better at her job... yes, that was it.

***

It took forever for tea break to come. The moment the town bell chimed, indicating mid-afternoon, all counters were closed and everyone working dropped what they were doing. Demons were disappointed at having to wait but many of them were understanding enough.

Zero was the only person who looked alive and cheerful during the break. Enma had promptly passed out on the couch he crashed on in the VIP room. Ruth was back at Belles and Begonia with Amaraline and Qin Yun. All three cafe staff were exhausted beyond belief. While the teleportation gate made the job easier, it had still been demanding to cope with the pace of people demanding desserts with King Yama's pace of working. Eventually, they closed the administration counter and had King Yama handling all the registrations. The regular staff helped with facilitating, ushering, serving desserts and guiding demons through the gate. Hua Tuo had to rush off somewhere halfway even before the break and Sekkin had to change shifts with Wiser who looked the most haggard in their group.

Zero took this opportunity to contact Mammon and Baal.

"How is everything progressing?" Mammon asked, not at all surprised to hear Zero's voice in his head.

"I think Baal needs help but he won't let anyone help him. Master rushed over earlier because Lilith who saw Baal at the Spring of Vitality claimed that Baal was starting to fade a little. Do you think you could forcefully take over control of the magic contract from him? It's break time for everyone now so we had him close the gates to save whatever energy he has left."

Fading? Baal? Mammon frowned. While it wasn't unheard of for demons to fade it, was extremely worrying. Fading was a fairly common phenomenon when demons overused their mana and pushed their bodies to use their lifespan in exchange for temporary power. Once they spent all their remaining lifespan it would be hard to recover, especially in the Abyss with the miasma threatening to corrupt those without resistance. They eventually die if not instantly. However, this only happened to demons who were weaker. Very rarely did it happen in aristocratic demons and it was completely unheard off for Demon Lords to fade. The power they possessed simply didn't make it possible.

"I will wrestle it from him if that's the last thing I will do. Tell that fool to close the gates if he cannot hold them. You can redeem them batch by batch and have the gates open by the hour and send them through all at once. It's not necessary for him to keep them open at all times."

Zero winced. Logically, that sounded brilliant. However, the situation at hand didn't give them such luxuries. Enma's pace of working could easily process thousands of applications in an hour. There was simply no space to hold so many people at once. If only there was a way to generate mana from another source and re-channel them to Baal...

"I got it! Mammon, do you think you could contact Beelzebub for me? As the Lord of Gluttony, he should be able to eat just about anything and convert that to mana... right?"

Mammon didn't quite follow Zero's train of thoughts. "Yes, technically he can. What has this got to do with anything?"

Zero grinned. With two natural mana generating bodies, he might just be able to help Baal out. It would be tricky but not impossible.

"I have an idea. It might reduce the burden on Baal if done correctly. At the moment, I need to get into touch with Beelzebub and maybe find a location with a lot of miasmas."

The Bank founder didn't question Zero's plans. As a successful, businessman, he knew how to differentiate between a crazy-sounding plan with good chances for success versus one that's pulled from between the buttcheeks of a fool with no capabilities to make their plan come true.

"Give me a few hours and let me in on the plan. There are plenty of places with dense miasma but the worst would be in Amon's territory. Your spider demon friend should know that best."

The young doctor nodded and left it to Mammon to find the demon mana battery he required.