Chương 141: Chapter 137

Wade had expected them to throw magic at one another or something. Stab each other with the most effective skills they had. Used the environment, fought like the the ancient skilled warriors they were supposed to be. Instead, it was a straight barfight. It was as if there were some kind of unworded gentleman's agreement going on to just flat out punch each other to death. They seemed intent on dealing the most raw damage to one another, with death being more a side-effect of it all.

Not even any kicks, knees or basic footwork. It was utterly primal. Wade was more surprised the wine bottle hadn't been grabbed, smashed and used to shank someone. Both sides snarling at one another like alley cats, lit up by the house lights and dim blue dawn behind. And between the two, Wade already knew Zin was going to win this one with very little difficulty. His level was simply far higher than Bael according to the System, which meant it already knew who was winning this fight if nothing else interfered.

One of Bael's punches landed, rocketing into Zin's face. Like all the other landed punches, the Archdemon barely flinched in place against it, his neck slightly tilted to the side as a result.

"Wowza, is that really all you got in the tank?" He flashed a return grin. And then a right hook. The counter-punch sent the Satyr sprawling onto the ground.

"So goat-boy, what's it gonna be - calling it for today, or you want me to loosen up some of your teeth? Not my recommendation, but hey, you do you pal." Bael got back up, roared and charged straight at the demon, horns down.

"Teeth it is! What. A. Surprise." Zin sighed, a single hand grabbing Bael's horns, throwing him into a circle and slamming him back down into the ground.

"Buddy, pal, my angry little friend - Archdemon, remember? Emphasis on the Arch part." He kicked the downed Satyr and Bael was sent skidding over the wood backwards.

"And man, oh man, does it feel GREAT to say that out loud again. Anyhow, point I'm making here is that this isn't going to end like any of your other honor brawls between your cute little friends. I could do this all day. I'm stronger." Bael stopped his wild skid, rolled over himself and got back up in the same movement.

"Doesn't change a thing how strong you are." He spat blood on the ground.

"One of us is dying today."

"Oh, don't you worry cupcake. That can be arranged." Zin cracked his knuckles then lifted his hand up, palm flat, nails pointed directly at Bael, almost like a dagger. Wade had a premonition that Zin could - and would - stab the Satyr straight through the heart. And if he did, that'd be it for the quest. He had to get this ended right here, right now, or it was over. He jumped right in between the two, arms out.

"Stop! All right everyone, cool it down, we're done here!" Leon took a step forward, joining ranks with Wade.

"We listening to Wade now, save fight for tournament or ring. Much better place for friendly spar." Dawn was rapidly approaching now, the blue light beyond the horizon slowly overtaking the warm kitchen lights here. Bael snorted, hacked up and spat blood onto the ground.

"There's nothing friendly between us. Move, mortals."

"Yeah, what he said." Zin pointed over to the Satyr.

"I mean, I was willing to wait a little, show of good faith and all that, but now? Let's just say I'm a tiny tiny bit angry." The Archdemon took a step forward, one hand grabbing Leon's chest, slowly pushing him out of the way with unmitigated strength.

"Wade!" Leon called out, struggling against Zin, right arm reaching for the Archdemon's collar.

"Pinch!" Wade understood the assignment immediately, giving Leon a pinch on his back as quick as he could. Zin laughed, "Adorable! You really think your little knockba-" Leon's already extended right hand flicked Zin in the chest. The Archdemon went flying backwards as if the universe itself decided to slap him with a giant flyswatter. He hit the back of the house stone walls, but was already scrambling back up on his feet. He tried to lunge forward again, snarling at the offense, when he realized he couldn't.

Something invisible holding his feet.

"Wha- oh har har, let me guess, this round's new boon for you? Amazing. Love that for me. What exactly is it this time?" Leon grinned.

"Rooted in place."

"Perfect, just perfect! Time out for the Archdemon while goat-boy catches his breath. Real fair, real sporting of you two. May I gently remind you two, THAT I'M THE VICTIM HERE?!" The Archdemon snarled and thrashed, testing the range of mobility he had. He could move his feet, but his torso stayed anchored in place. Attempting to roll forward only moved the invisible trap: His upper body would lurch ahead while his legs mow stayed locked in place.

It was as if the System had decided that quantum location was now where Zin was trapped in, and nothing he could do would get him out, although he was free to move in place. A cosmic ever-shifting leash. Wade recognized why. Rooted in place meant he wouldn't be able to reposition. But it wouldn't generally mean defenseless.

"How long?" Wade asked, looking over to Leon. The giant man shrugged.

"Thirty seconds. Cooldown is one minute."

"That's… actually a stupidly good amount of time, but I don't think I can come up with a plan that fast." Thirty seconds in a video game was insane amounts of crowd control. He scrubbed his head of those thoughts for now. He had to somehow convince these two demons not to kill each other for a second. He cut the task into sections instead. The quest said to prevent Bael from dying. Zin killing Bael would be the issue. Bael killing Zin wouldn't. Not that the smith had any real chance of that.

So instead of convincing Bael to stop fighting, he should first convince Zin to stop trying to murder the smith. Zin could take a few punches and be on the defensive for a while until Wade figured out how to get Bael to back off. But how to convince Zin? Wade didn't have time to come up with an option, because behind him a massive hand grabbed his shoulder and roughly shoved him to the side as the seven foot tall demon strolled forward past them.

Leon was almost about to start grappling the Satyr directly to try and prevent the fight, but Wade was the one who waved him off. They couldn't risk his life here on Earth and Bael was out of control. Leon and all his points in strength might be up to par against the Satyr and that would only force Bael to fight more drastically. Too dangerous to get Leon involved further. This had to be settled with words. Wade racked his mind over on how.

"Really amigo? You're approaching me? You're really taking this free moment to get back in my face?" Zin asked, still struggling in place, eyes never leaving the approaching Satyr.

"Can't punch you from all the way here." Bael growled out, lumbering straight for Zin, raising his right hand up. A quick cross jab and trade of blows left him flying backwards again, skidding over the wood floor an instant later. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Zin cracked his neck, straightened his tie, then looked down at his knuckles where blood remained. He gave his feet an experimental tug, and found he could finally walk forward again.

"I get the sentiment about killing any Archdemon you find Mr. Bael. Truly admirable, real paragon of justice there." He took a casual step forward into the kitchen, breaking off a paper towel to wipe off his knuckles.

"But you see champ, dying here doesn't quite mean hello Blackrot like back in home, sweet, home. I know this, you know this, she knows this, you all can just feel it. So you, my angry little friend, you're going to find yourself dying over and over until that lesson sinks in. And believe me, I'm happy to teach you this one free of charge." Wade once more jumped between the two demons, planted his feet and held his position, head now fixed on a potential plan - abuse the one power even Zin had to worry about.

"I got a quest to make sure he doesn't die in this." He quickly spoke.

"Don't try it." The Archdemon started laughing, "Ho boy, a little late for that kiddo. No, no. He's dying. Possibly two, three times at the least. Depends on my mood really. I'm thinking, I dunno, seven at this point." Expected answer, but Wade was prepared.

"If you fuck this quest up for me, I lose the rewards, and you know who's going to be the most pissed off about losing free rewards? It's not going to be me." Zin froze, "Oh, for the love of-" He growled and spun on himself, hands scratching his head and neck as if he'd rubbed poison ivy there.

"Okay-okay-okay, fine! I'm not dumb enough to piss off her-divine-pain-in-my-everything." Bael gave a bloody grin.

"Oh, you can't kill me? Good." Zin returned that with a nervous chuckle.

"Quick question, just random curiosity here Mr. Wade. You do have a follow-up plan to stop him from attacking me back, right? Right?" Wade turned to the Satyr next, "You signed a contract with me. You shook my hand on it. Remember that? I'm ordering you not to attack him."

"And you will have my service as a smith. This part has nothing to do with you mortal." Wade figured that would be the case, but it was worth trying. Bael got fully back up, one hand brushing Wade carefully but firmly off to the side before he went for another punch. Zin licked his lips, ran a nervous hand through his hair for a moment and started backtracking on himself, before running around the kitchen table.

"Mr. Wade, you better fix this fast." The Archdemon hissed out, diving left, and then right as Bael tried to get around the table to get to him.

"Because not fighting back is NOT my idea of a fun time."

"Certainly is mine." Bael growled, and picked a third option: He grabbed the table itself and lifted.

"Nobody asked your opinion here!" Zin's own hands snatched the lifting table, forcing it back down onto the ground.

"Sure, I can't kill you goat-boy, but man can I make it hurt all the way down."

"Funny. Was thinking the same." Bael grinned back. Wade calculated his odds of being able to calm down a seven foot tall satyr demon. And then realized he had another option. His eyes turned straight to Medy. She stared back.

"You know what you have to do." He said.

"It has to be you." Terrified eyes looked over to the two demons fighting it out over a kitchen table.

"What if it goes wrong?"

"I'll handle it if it goes wrong. You have my word on that." Wade swore. And he meant it. If he had to get Bael in check, then he would. Even if he had to order Zin to finish the fight and loose the quest. The Satyr raised two hands into the air and slammed them down on the wooden table, snapping it in half. If he couldn't get to Zin by moving the table, he'd just have to remove it permanently. He kicked one broken end away and charged straight through to get to the Archdemon on the other side.

Zin gave an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes. The next instant Bael was on the ground again, but this time the Archdemon was holding him down tight.

"That's enough you little freshly-crawled-out-of-hell troglodyte, you're not getting out of thi-" He was lifted up into the air completely as Bael stood up, turned himself until his back was aimed at a rock wall, and slammed himself backwards, squashing Zin against the wall in one hit. Wade could see the health bar above him flash, but otherwise Zin was quite fine. Still at 99%. Whatever Zin was made of, his body was more resilient than anything the wall was made of.

There was a burst of power, and once more the Satyr was on the floor, and this time Zin was holding him down hard against the wood panels.

"All right, are we done? We're done, right? Because this is costing me a whole lot in house repairs that I'm not interested in paying for a temporary safehouse like this."

"We'll be done when I do my part in ripping your arms and legs off." Bael grunted back, trying to break the hold. Wade reached a hand out and grabbed Medy's own hand.

"Different world, different life." He gave her a smile.

"You got this. Trust in yourself." She took a breath, squeezed her eyes shut, then nodded real fast. The two turned to the struggling Bael, still trying to pry himself off the ground. Medy took a few steps forward, knelt down, and reached two hands out to slowly cup Bael's face. He stopped struggling, eyes turning up to her.

"Bael." She said.

"I'm Xan'Phane, Archdemon of Alchemy."

"... Not possible." He simply said, staring. Still completely frozen in place.

"Please, just because we're on Earth doesn't mean our names stopped working." Zin rolled his eyes.

"She introduced herself as Xan. It's done. Something, something cosmically binding rules, beyond the ken of divinities, etcetera etcetera. Point is - she's Xan. And exactly as scatterbrained as I remember her." Bael kept staring at Medy.

"It's impossible. Xan is far too proud and arrogant to ever be called by a base name, let alone act as anyone else. Archdemons are all caught by their pride." Zin started laughing his ass off.

"Fair point there, come to think of it. Pride's practically in the job description at that level. Packaged deal type of thing, what-you-gonna-do?" He shook his head, then lifted one hand off Bael's shoulder blade, and motioned to Medy.

"Xan, my little flower, my little cupcake, my little rogue Archdemon - you gonna fill him in on the whole Not-Xan-but-actually-Xan-now situation, or should I grab some popcorn while you work up the nerve? Tick-tock, bestie."

"I, uh. Well…. I got into a bit of a fight with her and.. well, ate her." Medy gave a timid smile.

"You ate an Archdemon." Bael stared. The implication that was impossible was obvious in his voice. Demons didn't eat each other lightly, and a fight to true death like that would be without any holds or honor, a true primal fight to the death. Against an Archdemon, it would be suicide. She told her story. Bael still did not believe it fully. Someone like Medy being able to both beat and then consume an Archdemon was nearly unheard of. Only Archdemons were strong enough to eat one another.

"Oi, oi, I was right there to see it." Zin said.

"Xan was a terrible sore loser and had way too many centuries of growing fat and being able to crush anything with her alchemy. She had several, shall we say, egregious lapse of judgements all happen at the wrong time. Bad for her, good for us, even among the Archdemons we really didn't like her much. We didn't try all too hard to prevent that little scuffle on the chance Medy here could actually beat her down and eat her, which our cute little archdemoness here did."

"How has no one been told?" Bael asked.

"This is impossible."

"Record that never went public, my doing." Zin gave an exaggerated shrug.

"Well, technically I and seventeen others, so not exactly my doing, but we had a lot of loose ends to pack up and debts to collect before it was known the old Xan was wiped off all nine circles. Lot of money to be made first, you know how it goes, just took us slightly longer than anyone could have rightfully guessed we had time for." He looked up to Medy.

"So, here it is, slightly belated, but better late than never, right? Ahem." Zin straightened as much as he could without letting go of Bael, and his voice dropped into something older. The sleeze was gone from his voice all at once.

"I am Zin'Cronox, Grand Duke of the Third Circle, Archdemon by right of the title. I formally corroborate the title of Archdemon of Alchemy has been passed on. I equally corroborate the prior title bearer has been slain and consumed by the inheritor standing here." He gave a few coughs right after, "Oh good hells, boy-oh-boy has it been a long while since I did anything official like that," He hacked a few more times.

"That really kills my voice. Anyhow, bada-bing-bada-boom, it's done! Given we three are the only demons on Earth right now, this is as official as it gets. All of demonkind knows the truth of it. Technically." Silence filled the kitchen. Zin took the moment to try and weasel some more.

"Look, for the record here, I…. regret my actions back in Hell. Ish. It was a fluid and complicated situation back then."

"You ran." Bael said.

"Of course I ran! Because here I am, breathing, talking, and currently the only living archdemon with the authority to confirm that this little whelp here isn't the monster everyone thinks she is, and was just absurdly lucky - or unlucky depending on your definition here." Zin released Bael fully and stood, brushing dust off his white collared shirt, looking almost exposed without his usual business suit.

"So, if you get rid of me somehow or banish me back to Azdrial? Nobody left here on Earth to clear her name. Ever. I don't think any other Archdemon that saw Xan eaten up is still alive to tell the tale other than everyone's favorite here. Ergo, she spends the rest of eternity with every demon she meets trying to rip her apart on sight. That what you want? I mean really, look at her cute innocent face here. She's not even goddamn trying and it's making ME feel bad." Bael pushed himself up to his knees.

Blood dripped from his nose still, but only barely. His gaze moved between Zin and Medy, and Wade could see the war behind those eyes. He hated Zin on principle. He liked Medy by experience. Wade stepped forward.

"Bael." He waited until the Satyr looked at him.

"This is a new world. Whatever happened in the old world, it's done. It's over."

"History doesn't just-""I'm not saying forget what happened before. I'm saying learn from it. Both of you." Wade looked at Zin too.

"Dragging old hatreds into the new world never worked out for anyone. We have a chance here all together to make something better. Are you really going to start it by trying to strangle each other?" Bael stared at the floor. His fists unclenched. Very slowly.

"No." Outside, dawn finally broke. Zin sighed with relief.

"Oh it's finally here. Longest ten minutes of my life, can't stress that enough. Feast your eyes on the ultimate proof of everything." The other two demons turned to stare. Medy already knew this was a new world. She'd moved with the changes without pause. But for the Satyr, it was only at that moment that he fully realized this world was different. Not a parallel realm, not a pocket dimension, not a temporary escape from the bindings that would drag him back to Hell. He'd known all this time of course.

His heart simply hadn't accepted it yet. But beyond the kitchen windows they saw it slowly rise up. Something that existed only in myths of how the world should have been. They saw the sun rise in a new world. Quest complete - Charisma Check