The Beginning Of An End

Chapter 21

Once I gathered myself off the ground and the remaining pieces of myself, I headed back to Hell. It took maybe several hours for me to even consider going back but I knew I had to. Abaddon could've only held off the Devil for so long until he too had to return to handle his own matters.

With a deep sign and heaviness in my chest, I opened the portal and stepped through it. In a few seconds, I was back in the large hall of the castle and all I saw were cracked up stairs, and rumbles of smashed up statues. It looked like a tornado went through the castle. I frowned as I looked around and noticed demons were beginning to return as well, all of them as shocked as I was. They really were searching everywhere for Loki.

"Hey..." I flinched as I heard a voice next to me and I glanced next to me only to see Beelzebub. "You're alive." He said through a small smile.

"Yeah." But at this point, I didn't even know if it was the best outcome for me. "Where's Mammon?" I asked.

"He's good, thankfully. He recovered partially before the Norse gods got here." He replied and I felt a bit of relief hearing that. At least he was recovering while everything was seemingly falling apart.

"Loki's gone, by the way." I said with as much stocisim in my voice as possible. However, Beelzebub didn't buy that as he just locked his eyes on me and forced a small smile. As if to pity me which at the same time irked me but also I was partially glad he could see through my facade.

"I figured that's what would end up happening." He sighed. "Hopefully you'll see each other again. Maybe it won't..."

"You don't need to do this, Beelzebub." I cut in sharply but then breathed out. "We both knew where this was headed from the start." I swallowed a lump in my throat before swiftly wiping the tears that were once again forming in my eyes. I really couldn't hold it in any longer. "Anyway, I'm going to find the Devil before he finds me," I forced a smile and a joke as not to fall into another pit of dispair. "We'll talk more once this gets resolved, wait for me in the casino." I added and Beelzebub nodded in response. Then, I simply headed off to the top of the castle where I assumed the Devil was. There was no other place he'd be at this moment but tucked away in his office.

Every other stair towards the top floor was cracked and I had to be careful where I was stepping onto otherwise I'd roll down. As if these peasants thought that by wrecking everything would somehow help them find Loki. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I used to have a very different opinion of Norse gods. But at this point, they were nothing to me other than savages. I had no doubt that the repairs would happen in no time but it was still rather lowly of them to make such wreckage of this place.

Once I finally reached the top, I noticed the asssistant was still gone from his usual seat so I just went straight towards the door and opened them. To my surprise, just as I stepped in, I noticed Abaddon was still there. Only he was standing next to the Devil who was seated at his usual desk while he had streaks of black fog wrapped around his body restraining him from any movement. Creative, I had to admit.

"Look who finally decided to return," Abaddon was first to comment through a grumble. "Is everything alright?"

"Not exactly." I responded and then locked my gaze with the Devil, "but Loki will no longer be a bother to you." I said before he could ask any questions. The Devil simply continued to stare at me as if he was restrained from talking as well. "What did you do to him?" I asked, confused and then chuckled a bit.

Abaddon sighed and then spoke, "come on, Devil, open your mouth."

I saw his face darken upon the question but then he did what he was told. His tongue was... tied. Literally. The tongue was tied in a knot. I gasped in shock and then grimaced, looking over at Abaddon who just smirked lightly, "can you believe this guy? He never shuts up."