Chapter 196
Once the flash of light died down, there was a tiny voice .
"Um . . . Hello Zero . . . I-I'm Lily, glad to be of service again!"
Bob and Mii blinked . All that mana to summon a tiny flower fairy?
Zero blinked . "Oh, you've changed a little since the last time we met . It's good to see you again . I was hoping you would help me to find someone again . "
Lily smiled shyly . It wasn't often that people noticed how the number of flower petals on her skirt had increased . Not even Gaia noticed it so the fact that Zero did, made her very happy .
"Don't mention it, I was glad to help . Who are you looking for? Is it a lost soul in the void again?"
Zero shook his head, his eyes became sad . "I'm looking for a very important friend to me . He was lost in some dimension because of this strange place . His name is Baal and although he might be the laziest Demon Lord in existence, he is still a very important person to me . Could you please help me find him?"
Lily was slightly surprised when she heard the name Baal . There was only one Baal who was a Demon Lord . Lily didn't think Zero would end up becoming friends with someone of such terrible rumoured personality but it was not her place to judge .
"I understand . Please give me some time to determine his location . "
Lily might be a very ordinary flower fairy but she was created by Gaia with the sole purpose of being able to sense and locate souls . While she behaved like all other flower fairies, Lily always knew that her existence was created out of Gaia's desperation to aid Zero that day . Although her birth was not planned, it was a much-desired one . The small flower fairy was happy to put her gift to use . Although she hadn't known Zero for very long, she liked the aspiring doctor very much . Zero's soul was rather unique . It felt like the sun and the moon at the same time . It twinkled like stars and was calm like water . If anything, Lily was in love with Zero's soul for it was a very comforting feeling .
On the other hand, Baal's soul reeked of bitterness and smelled like rotting wood . Lily didn't like it very much but she noted that the Demon Lord's soul had recently changed . Although it still smelled stale, there was now a hint of ocean . The smell of souls usually does not change easily unless something life-changing happens to them . Someone had rewritten Baal's fate and Lily had her suspicions that Zero was somehow involved .
"I think I found it . However, I do not know how we can reach him . It's not a pretty place and the dimension is very unstable . . . "
Zero's heart sped up when he heard the good news . Lily knew where Baal was which means that Baal was alive! The more dreary part of Lily's report was simply filtered out of Zero's brain . It didn't matter what kind of trials he had to overcome, his friend was alive!
Lily was troubled . The dimension wasn't one that was created by Gods or a split off from any plane . It was artificially created using magic and was highly unstable . How Baal chanced across it or why he was trapped there was beyond the flower fairy's understanding . However, she understood the severity of the situation . For any dimension not supported by the creator or any God, it will eventually be returned to the void . Baal's soul was in a very compromising situation . There was no telling what would happen and when the tragedy would occur . She only prayed to Gaia for strength to be able to be that beacon that Zero needed . Not to mention, the density of souls per space in that dimension was unusually high . Some sort of sacrifice must have been done in exchange for the ability to sustain the artificial dimension and Lily didn't have a good feeling about it .
"Could you let Mii know where Baal's soul is? Maybe we can add a marker to it on the map and calculate a direct path to teleport," Zero suggested .
The two fairies talked it over and Bob took that opportunity to interrogate Zero . "Young master, what is going on? Also, why did I detect bloodlust coming from you not too long ago? I hate to say this but the way you were treating Mii earlier by cutting connections wasn't very nice . While it isn't my place to say it, I do hope that you can apologise to her after this . What happened isn't her fault . "
Zero looked at Bob silently for long enough that made the dragon start squirming a little . Bob didn't know what was going through Zero's head and was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the piercing stare devoid of emotions . Zero suddenly seemed older than how he usually appeared and behaved . There was a flash of aged wisdom in those hazel eyes but it quickly disappeared when Mii announced that preparations were ready .
"We will talk about this later, Bobbinskrier," Zero promised .
Bob gulped and watched as his contracted master prepared a huge teleportation spell that would take them to a different dimension .
Lily watched as Zero weaved a multi-layered spell using Mii's calculated coordinates . She still kept an eye on Baal's soul just to ensure that it wouldn't change locations . It was déjà vu when Zero tucked her into the pocket of his shirt again .
"Hold tight," he told the flower fairy . "We're going to make several jumps to get there . Mii, I'll be counting on you to get us all there . Also, I'm sorry for what I did earlier . "
Mii was pleasantly surprised by Zero's apology and accepted it numbly . There were many questions but retrieving Baal took priority . Bob was pleasantly surprised by the sudden apology and smiled secretly in the background of Zero's mindscape . He was proud of Zero's ability to right the wrongs despite the inappropriate timing .
Without further delay, they zipped past the timeline and hopped into a different dimension before quickly warping four more times .
When they landed in the dimension that Baal's soul was in, everyone had to hold their breaths because of the strong stench of death in the air . Low moans greeted them and Bob was quick to throw up a weak magic barrier before the projectile hit Zero .
Lily screamed in fear as an icicle disintegrated two inches away from her after making contact with Bob's flimsy barrier . Her tiny heart was beating so rapidly that the flower fairy feared it might rupture .
Zero scanned the room quickly and wanted to rush over to Baal who was collapsed on the grimy ground when he heard Lily's scream . It wasn't until he saw the icicle heading this way that he understood why she did so . The brunet didn't think that they would be under attack so quickly and clicked his tongue in annoyance . Checking on Baal was more important than dealing with the unknown attacker .
"Is there no way to do two things at once?" Zero yelled as he was attacked by magical projectiles once more . This time, it was a muddy gust of air bullet and Zero nimbly evaded it .
Bob looked around the room to find the assailant to no avail . Wherever the attacks were coming from did not point to anyone in particular . Could it be that the entire room was a death trap from the beginning? They might have made a terrible mistake by coming to this suspicious dimension . Baal's soul was clearly a trap . What was their motive? After chatting with Olaf, Bob knew a few things going on in the Academy . However, he was still missing many pieces to complete the puzzle .
Mii was going crazy from fear . The entire room gave her the chills and the strawcherry fairy shuddered once again . Although she did not have a physical body, the chill still affected her . It was a very odd phenomenon but Mii couldn't stop the chattering of her teeth or the shivers wracking her body .
"Z-Zero . . . something is wrong . . . with-with the room!"
Zero didn't answer her . It was obvious without his assistant's input . The premonition senses were firing off in every direction . It was annoying when Zero couldn't place a finger on what exactly was wrong . Like Bob's suspicion, Zero thought that this room was a death trap as well . According to Lucifer, the rebels were looking for anyone with powerful mana as a battery to open a certain gate . It was the reason why Beelzebub and he were chosen to become the baits . Baal's presence here would only mean that the rebels have gotten hold of Baal as a battery when their plan to capture Beelzebub or himself had gone awry .
Annoyed at the continuous attacks, Zero decided to stop running and evading . So what if the opponent was good at sneak attacks? Zero had a unique gift too!
The next time a wave of soul magic came at Zero, the young doctor stood firmly on his ground and glared at it .
Whoosh!
The soul magic vanished completely into the vortex at Zero's palm . There was a small shudder from the artificial dimension and Lily cowered . She could feel the number of souls decrease with the magic that Zero just deployed .
"It's working!" she quivered in Zero's pocket . "Whatever you just did is working . . . the number of souls in this dimension just reduced drastically . . . the dimension would soon fall if you keep it up, we might be able to retrieve Baal and escape . "
Zero nodded . He didn't know what kind of magic that was because none of that attack converted into mana or energy for him . However, he knew that Lily wouldn't lie to him . The tricky part was getting to his friend lying on the ground covered in filth . From his quick assessment, Baal didn't seem to be injured in any way, he was merely unconscious .
"Bob, would you be able to retrieve Baal while I keep the assailant occupied?"
The Eternal Dragon nodded . While he wasn't better than Mii in terms of maintaining his physical projection, he was better at stealth .
"I will help to open the portal to the void," Mii told Bob and turned to Lily . "We will be counting on you to guard Baal in the void . You can still contact us, just accept the invitation to the temporary party call," she told the flower fairy .
Lily blinked at the window that materialised before her in fae language . She had no reason to distrust Mii or Zero so she accepted and waited for Bob to spring into action .
"Ready?" Zero mentally counted down in their party call .
The room groaned in agony as Zero started absorbing the pile of flesh trying to encase his feet . "Now!" the young doctor shouted in the call and Bob shot off like a rocket .
Baal's body floated for a split second in mid-air which caught the room's attention . Before the room could do anything to retrieve its host's body, the Demon Lord's body vanished into nothingness . Bob sneakily dematerialised and returned to Zero's mindscape, heaving a sigh of relief at being able to pull the mission off without a hitch .
Lily found herself sitting on the Demon Lord's unbreathing body in the void . This void space felt fairly different from the one she had to search for Egui's soul . What was even stranger was how she sensed no soul in the space . That was odd . . . the flower fairy looked at the Demon Lord's body and flew a few circles around it . She circled it frantically lengthwise and breadthwise when she sensed something off about the body .
"Where is Lord Baal's soul?" she asked in the party call . There was no smell of rotting wood or ocean . The smell had been so strong in the room earlier so Lily could not have mistaken the location of Baal's soul .
That question made Zero pause . That momentary shock allowed the room to gain the upper hand and land a hit of dark fire magic on Zero . The young doctor howled in pain as the dark fire burned the skin of his arm and refused to be put out by regular water magic . Bob had enough sense to realise what was happening and told Mii to pour holy water onto it . Thanks to his quick thinking, Zero got away with minor burns that he quickly healed with healing magic .
"Lily, what are you talking about?" Zero asked .
"Soul . . . Lord Baal's soul is not in his body!"
Zero felt a chill go down his spine and swallowed . "Lily . . . can you tell me where Baal's soul is?"
The flower fairy concentrated again . She smelled it in the same room that Zero was in but couldn't pinpoint its exact location .
"I'm sorry, Zero . I don't know where they are hiding Lord Baal's soul but it is still somewhere in the room that you are in . . . "
Mii trembled and glanced at her toes . There was frost growing on her feet so she quickly hid them away from sight . There was no point in worrying anyone else now when things weren't looking good . The only thing she could do to save Baal and herself was to quickly find out who was attacking them . Great One might have set limiters on what Zero could and could not use with Mind's Eye but that was not the case for her .
While everyone else was preoccupied with searching for Baal's soul, Mii took the chance to disappear for a while after replacing herself with a clone .
"System Administrator requesting for an override, code red emergency alert . I repeat, code red emergency alert . "
[Request received . Please verify the password and pay the toll fees . ]
Mii placed her tiny hand over the system window and felt some of her earlier memories with Zero disappear .
[Toll fees received, granting temporary override access . Welcome back, Agent Mii 005 . ]
Mii felt her body reconstruct itself as she became one with the system again . It was part of Mind Eye's system to reabsorb herself and reconstruct a newer and better version of Mii each time she returned to the system so that she could better assist Zero according to Great One's will . This would make the sixth time she was being rebuilt and while it wasn't a process the strawcherry fairy enjoyed, she would do it as many times as it would take for her to remain by Zero's side .
"Mii requesting for full level access to the Map ability . Feature requested: Soul tracking . Target: Demon lord Baal, fragment of Divine Entity – Duu's soul . "
[System access granted . Processing . . . please wait . ]
Mii felt herself being torn apart by the system at her request . It was excruciating to feel the system pry into her memory to implant new knowledge and remove some parts of the memories it felt wouldn't benefit her . Her affection for Zero was being deleted once again and Mii wanted to cry . Luckily for her, she was able to retain the sibling-like concern over the young doctor . Mii was secretly afraid that the Great One might one day deem it to be unnecessary to Zero's growth and delete that too .
Once Mii was rebuilt, the strawcherry was returned to the mindscape . She quickly dismissed the clone and used her new ability . From the merged memories of the clone, Zero discovered a huge mirror with a grotesque frame made out of fused flesh and decaying souls . That seemed to be the heart of the room and she left the battling to the more experienced Eternal Dragon .
"Baal's soul . . . come on, system!" Mii thought to herself . The small room was completely full of red dots and Mii swore . The map was almost useless if it didn't have the upgraded system to do identity tagging . The one thing good about Mind's Eye was the information hacking ability it had . Normally, King Yama's soul records were impossible to know to anyone else apart from the Lord of the Purgatory himself . However, things were different if you were a system created by the creator of the multiverse . With that information available to the system, Mii could now zoom in to sort through the massive list of souls present in that dimension .
As a system administrator, Mii was adept in the art of data analysis . Using Steve Job's art of technology, Mii simplified her search by pulling out that data into a virtual csv format and used the filter function to remove lower levelled souls .
"Lily, what's the strength and unique identifying features of Lord Baal's soul?" Mii privately whispered into the flower fairy's mind in fae tongue, not wanting anyone else to catch on .
The flower fairy was initially startled to have someone speak directly into her head but did her best to supply Mii with the information she required . Quite honestly, the flower fairy had never had to describe a soul for anyone so it was rather difficult to rank the soul's colour or history . Nobody has tried to understand the characteristics of souls as much as Mii did so Lily had a hard time explaining how her ability worked .
"It's not green . Baal belongs more to the onyx category . . . "
Mii retyped the search filter and groaned in frustration . Onyx wasn't in the search definition . "Do you have something else? I don't have onyx here . There is only lapis, maroon, gold and toxycon . What's the closest?"
Lily didn't know how to answer that . She wasn't aware of what Toxycon was and felt utterly useless . "I-I don't know . . . I'm very sorry!" she apologised, close to tears . She wanted to help Mii find Baal's soul but it wasn't easy explaining how Baal's soul looked or felt like!
Mii bit her tongue in frustration . She couldn't blame the flower fairy, she really couldn't . Nobody understood King Yama's categorisation and it wasn't as if the strawcherry assistant could send a private message and interview the King of the Purgatory about his ranking standards . He would not be pleased to know about the information leak and that would put Zero in a tough spot .
"Is there any other way you can describe Lord Baal's soul to me? What's the size like?"
Lily thought for a while . "It's wispy . . . "
Mii checked the filters again . "No wispy, only cloudy, moony, starry, halo-like and descriptions like that . "
Lily blinked . "I'm sorry, I don't know how to describe the size . . . "
"Texture? Is it sandy, gooey, muddy or fluffy?"
Lily squinted in concentration . "It's muddy! Definitely muddy!"
Finally, they were making progress . Of the thousands of souls in the list, Mii managed to narrow that down to about three hundred .
"On the scale of -80 to 5000, what is Lord Baal's soul age?"
Lily apologised again . She wasn't able to see the soul's age . Mii skipped that category and continued to ask questions for the next ten minutes .
Back to Zero and Bob, the two made a great team by chipping away and the room's defences . After a few tests and trials, the Eternal Dragon was finally able to pinpoint the location of their attacker .
"It's not the room, it's the consciousness of the mage in the room . Lord Baal's soul may be the battery for it . It wasn't very obvious at the start but this room reacts to mana . . . Left!"
Zero jumped just in time and kicked hard to his left . His feet made contact with something semi-solid and he felt proud of his ability to read the room's intentions with Bob's aid .
"How do we take down the mage's consciousness?" he asked . The Eternal Dragon thought hard . usually, the only way to do so would be to fulfil the desires of the one who cast the spell or resolve the grudge of the castor . However, Bob didn't want to satisfy the mage's wish . Surely opening the portal to the human world and destroying the abyss wasn't something that should be supported . It wasn't something like finding your grandmother's lost ring or telling your unrequited love that you had feelings for them while you were alive . Those were things that could be accomplished, not the destruction of an entire plane and eradication of an entire race . . .
"Nevermind," Zero brushed it aside . Knowing Bob, the dragon would only withhold information that he was better off not knowing for his benefit .
The elusive attacker slunk away once more and Zero sharpened his intuition . Meanwhile, Lily and Mii were on to the final question .
"How does the soul smell like? Smoky, Earthy, Oceany . . . "
"Earthy! It smells strongly of rotting wood!"
Mii added it to the filter and looked through the remaining five results . One of the souls stood out to her with its unusually high number of sins so Mii clicked on it . The soul showed up on the map to be hiding in the mirror, away from the rest .
"Zero I found it! Lord Baal's soul is hidden in the mirror!"
Zero looked at the mirror and frowned . "How do we get it out?"
Lily's eyes sparkled . "The soul is sealed in it . . . if there is a way to break that mirror, there is a chance I can connect Lord Baal's soul back into his body . Someone has done a ritual to forcefully separate the soul from the body and sealed it there . . . "
Bob and Zero grinned . Finally, they had an answer .
The evil-looking smile sent chills down the room's mind . Zero swung his arm twice and encased his fist with a magic barrier . For some reason, the souls in the room felt a sense of doom awaiting them . Without hesitating, they launched an all-out attack on Zero who vanished too quickly for them .
Crash!
The sound was soul-shattering quite literally . The dimension shook with the broken mirror and Zero could only be surprised at how easy it was to break the mirror . If he knew that this was the way to defeat the attacker, he would have done it ages ago . Oh well, they now had Baal back so all was good and well .
Lily wasted no time and caught hold of Baal's escaping soul with Mii's help . She quickly stitched the soul back into Baal's body and added some of his shadow for stronger adhesive .
"I don't think they are very happy," Bob told Zero . "Let's return to the Academy . . . "
Zero agreed readily and they made their hasty escape while the room roared in rage . Rhinestone may have died and sold his soul for the ritual but the curse was strong . After Zero's escape, a five-layered blood curse appeared on the ceiling of the small room . With the power source stolen, the dimension craved another to sustain its existence .
It scanned its proximity for the closest soul with the greatest mana and found its target . With a rumble, the broken mirror pieced itself back together and the dimension teleported, ready to ensnare its next soul .