Ball of Nothing

The word about Zero's dark side started spreading slowly across the abyss' network. For some reason, none of the Demon Lords was upset about it. In fact, they seemed rather pleased to know that Zero was capable of torture and murder if he truly wanted it.

Mammon looked at the white envelope on his desk. The red wax stamp seal remained unbroken but Mammon didn't need to open it to know who it was from or what it was about. In fact, the Demon Lord didn't want to receive it. He sighed, thinking about a way out of the pesky meeting.

A servant knocked on the door and Mammon quickly hid the letter away.

"Come in," he said and pulled on his hood.

The servant entered with a bow. "Lord Mammon, word has arrived from the Garden of Roth. The Sage God doctor and his apprentice have arrived. They wish to speak to you regarding a request for sponsorship."

Mammon's eyes glinted from beneath the hood. "Show them in," he told the servant who bowed and left to do his biddings.

Mammon grinned. What great timing! Now he can push this annoying task to Zero. After all, he just had to find a proxy of a status similar or more powerful than his to attend the stupid meeting. Heaven surely won't object if Zero attends. That boy had powerful supporters after all.

Mammon didn't even have time to clean his desk when there was another knock on the door with a strange aura behind it, indicating that his guests had arrived. That teleportation gate at Garden of Roth was way too convenient.

"Come in," he called out.

The servants bowed after opening the door and informed him of his guests before ushering them to their seats and serving Poxie tea. She left quickly and Mammon activated the magic barrier so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

"What brings you here?" he asked the teen who smiled.

"Shifu says that I need practical experience to complete my medical training. We don't have a lot of patients in Half Moon Village and I cannot travel without Truen so I'm asking for permission to open up a free treatment centre for a short while in the abyss. However, the Garden of Roth is very poor so I need your help."

Mammon thought about it. Money wasn't a real problem for him. Thanks to the Garden of Roth's incredible network, his auction houses had benefited a lot from it. Goods could be transported quickly and safely, the crime rate in the Garden of Roth was practically non-existent with all the Demon Lords sending guards to patrol it regularly. Mammon shifted some of his logistic operations there because of the low crime rate. In fact, Heaven had started discussing some side business deals with him and Mammon had a lot to thank Zero for.

"There is no free lunch in this world. I can take care of this for you if you help me out with one small matter."

Zero blinked. "What kind of small matter?"

Mammon reached into his side desk drawer to pull out that white envelope. Zero noticed how it smelled of holy attribute magic. Did Mammon want him to dispel that?

"Open it," the Demon Lord said and Zero paused.

The letter was still sealed. If such a powerful Demon Lord wasn't able to open it, didn't it mean that the contents of the letter were dangerous? Zero became cautious and prepared to throw up a magic barrier should something happen.

Carefully, Zero broke the red wax seal and waited for something to happen. When nothing happened, the teenager slowly lifted the flap and pulled out the contents inside. There was only a thin card inside addressed to Mammon.

Zero read the card twice and turned his eyes to the hooded Demon Lord. "This is...?"

Mammon nodded. "You will attend on my behalf."

For a moment, nobody spoke. Then, Zero jolted in his chair.

"EHHHH??!!!!"

Hua Tuo frowned in annoyance and smacked Zero lightly, pulling him back down to sit properly in his chair. The teen had jumped up and made a commotion in the Demon Lord's office. In addition to that, his knee had hit the solid wooden desk, causing a nearby feather quill to fall off from the impact.

Mammon expected a similar reaction and nodded. "You see... I have a lot of work to do here. Attending frivolous parties like this will not help me finish my work."

Zero gave Mammon a look. The Demon Lord was a workaholic, it wasn't surprising that he had a lot of work to do. As a doctor, Zero thought that the party might do Mammon some good. He needed time away from his office and work.

Mammon guessed what Zero wanted to say and decided to give a more convincing reason so that the boy would attend. "It will give you a chance to check on your friend there. I heard that Merlin will be taking a break as well to attend the party. I just need you to go there and represent Hell's interest in a collaboration. The Garden of Roth is your domain after all. You're already considered one of us."

Zero couldn't refute that so Mammon added on to his complaints about annoying angels, noisy Gods, the awful holy food and long boring sessions of socialisations. Zero got the cue at the end of it all. In a nutshell, Mammon wasn't fond of parties and very much prefered the scenery in Hell. Zero had never been to Heaven for a full tour so the opportunity excited him.

Hua Tuo took the opportunity to interject that Zero still hasn't completed his training.

"Lord Mammon, this is the final stage of Zero's training. Once he is finished with his training with me, I will personally escort him to Heaven. Merlin will take over from there if it is fine with you."

Mammon nodded. "The meeting will be in a few months. If you have confidence that you can complete it by then, I have no issues with it."

"It is settled then. Thank you for your assistance, Lord Mammon."

Zero then decided to spend some time catching up with the Demon Lord about what was going on in the abyss. Hua Tuo excused himself to oversee the setting up of their temporary clinic.

The teenager learnt that Wiser was almost ready to graduate from the Academy while Coux was still busy as ever. Baal was preparing for his thousand-year nap and making the final preparations for Coux to run his domain while he slept. Zero felt sad about it. If Baal slept, he wouldn't hear from him for a long time. The brunet thought that he would write a letter to Baal before he hibernated. Sekkin and Amon were doing well to fight the chaos energy that plagued their domain. The formula that he told Lovina about was already being put to good use in Shittomi's castle. They practised magic, qi and used that to counter the excess chaos energy. Thanks to that, the stability of the plane has returned to normal, if not better than before.

"Is it really true that the soils of the abyss can now grow edible food without miasma outside of domains?"

Mammon smiled. Beelzebub had been busy with that project. He was the one who took it upon himself to start farming outside of the Garden of Roth.

"Technically it is outside of the borders. However, there were some machines put into place to help counter the miasma. Wiser is truly a gem. He made something that could help to divert the qi and mana from the Garden of Roth out of the domain by a few miles. Beelzebub has been growing all kinds of food and is slowly building up the finances of his domains by selling them. I think Belles and Begonia don't have to worry about getting food supplies for a while. We may not be able to grow crops from Earth but Beelzebub is a very good connoisseur. Hell's very first cuisine has been created and I would recommend you to try them."

Zero beamed. He was happy to know that everyone was making good progress just like him. It must not have been easy but he was very happy that they were able to overcome it. The dream of seeing Hell terraformed doesn't seem so far away now. Wiser was working very hard and Zero wondered how the researcher was able to help him design his weapon while working on so many new machines. Did he even have time to rest properly?

Hua Tuo returned around lunch and Mammon offered to take them out for food. Zero was excited when Mammon revealed that they were going to try out Hell's first cuisine. The restaurant was at the Garden of Roth called the Finest Taste.

"It's a collaboration by Belzebub and myself to rival Baal's Belles and Begonia cafe. I hope you like it."

Zero bounced in excitement and Hua Tuo followed behind, feeling slightly out of place with his cultivator's robe. Zero didn't really notice the stares he was getting. The demons dining there seemed very wealthy and were dressed in fine silk, precious stones and expensive-looking devices. Short-distance mana powered communicators were gadgets that Lucifer introduced to the abyss with Wiser's help. However, it was so expensive that only noble demons could afford them. Hua Tuo could tell at once that Finest Taste was not a restaurant for the poor. Unlike the clinic that they set up, the ambience here was intimidating.

"My Lord, the private room has been prepared. Please follow me," a waiter greeted when Mammon arrived.

Zero marvelled at the glass used. It was so pretty but he dared not get close to it. The last time he broke Venetian glass, he was given a bad tongue-lashing.

The menu came and Zero was pleasantly surprised to see it written in both demon tongue and common language. He looked at Mammon for an explanation and the Demon Lord told him it was for future customers. He was expecting tourists soon.

"Coux and Schaf are working on that. Half Moon Village is going to start promoting tours to the abyss and vice versa. The economy in Hell has been stagnant for a while now, this is a good opportunity to expand."

Zero nodded. He didn't quite understand a lot of things but it looks like there were more secret projects going on without him knowing. Maybe the progression of things in the abyss was more than what he could see. That was a good thing, right?

"You're not going to dominate the world or anything of that sort, right?" he asked, feeling wary. Rhinestone wanted to do something similar by opening borders and invading Earth.

Mammon shook his head. "Think of this as an alliance with mutual benefits for all parties. There will be no invading and war, only business trades and opening of walls. Any demon who kills humans while on business trips will be treated as criminals and punished according to the laws of the abyss. Any humans who attempt the same will be treated as such as well. We're still in the middle of making the terms and conditions but you can rest assured, our motive is to make more money and gain more resources, not a genocide."

Zero sighed. "It's not going to be easy. Baal has destroyed many countries and villages on Earth. Not all humans will forgive easily enough to trust demons."

Mammon smiled. Zero has indeed matured. "That's right. Not all of them will. However, we only need to get that one human who is open-minded enough to give it a try, everything will work out. I'm sure the dragon Lucifer sent to Half Moon Village can manage that."

Zero gave Mammon a questioning look. Was there another reason for why Olaf was sent to Half Moon Village?

Before the teen could ask further, the food had arrived.

Zero took a whiff of the dish and grinned. Spit-roast meat with volcano spices and magma salt... he couldn't wait to try it.

Hua Tuo waited for Zero to give his commentary before he dug in. Eating food from the abyss can be unnerving, especially with the presentation. The meat looked raw and the sauce looked like coagulated blood. he didn't understand how Zero could describe it as tender with a hint of smoky but he trusted his apprentice a little more than the Demon Lord.

As Hua Tuo took a bite, he was immediately assaulted by a wonderful earthy flavour with a unique kind of spice. "This is good!"

Mammon smiled. "So, tell me. Do you think it can rival the desserts from Belles and Begonia? I've been dying to get feedback from Earthlings. Apart from the food from that cafe, none of the demons here have a second opinion about Earth's cuisine."

Zero who was a gourmet and had plenty of experience with food started to discuss the kinds of tastes he knew. Hua Tuo simply ate in silence, enjoying the unique taste in contrast to his usual meals. There was something about the taste in the abyss that made this addictive. Hua Tuo couldn't figure out what it was and before he knew it, the plate was empty.

"Oh, careful. You don't want to eat too much of that. Drink more, this is refined water from the Spring of Vitality. It has been infused with qi from some of our cultivators here," Hua Tuo told the physician who obeyed.

The moment Hua Tuo drank the water, the ravenous feeling disappeared. Puzzled, the physician looked at the glass.

Zero raised a brow. "There's something in the food, right? You're not actually wanting to perfect the taste." he frowned.

Mammon laughed."Smart boy. This is Beelzebub's ability. The food he has cooked and touched will invoke gluttony in people. The feeling of wanting to eat more won't end and this will keep humans coming back once they try. All the ingredients used here were personally grown by Beelzebub. What do you think of our plan?"

Hua Tuo paled. If it wasn't for the drink, would he have become a slave to the magic?

Zero smirked and gave a thumbs up. "Good plan but the magic is too strong. The weaker humans would die from overeating. If you wanted to, I would suggest mixing the ingredients. This is simply way too much... it affected shifu this much, normal humans wouldn't be able to resist."

Mammon hummed thoughtfully and made a note to revise the quantities. The rest of the lunch went on peacefully with Hua Tuo exercising more caution than before.