The Beginning Of An End

Chapter 28

The silence was heavy in the room after we had finished with memorizing the incantation and studying each word of it and possibility of the seal backfiring. Contrary to what Mammon had told me, the seal of Solomon and the incantation had no possibility of having any dire side effects. It was just a tool. In the end, it turned out that Mammon, once again, was lying for his benefit. Obviously, any incantation could backfire if one were to not be precise enough. The only ones who would actually have serious consequences were humans.

So, Beelzebub and I were relaxing on the couch, processing everything we had learned as we patiently waited for Belial's signal. I was slowly growing impatient and suspicious of Belial's whereabouts. There were certain doubts gnawing at me, like if he was ever going to give us a signal or he was just procrastinating due to playing a double agent. In order to push the paranoid thoughts away and avoid acting on impulse for as long as possible, I turned my attention to Beelzebub.

"I ran into Mammon earlier..." I began as I saw him frown lightly. "He wanted back in the cause." I continued slowly, "I thought you were keeping an eye on him?" I raised an eyebrow as I leaned forward, leaning on my knees as my head rested on my hand.

Beelzebub's frown didn't fade as he locked his gaze with mine, "Well I was. I couldn't control him that much when I was busy with the training."

"No, I mean... I thought he was locked up somewhere." I explained. "Or kept somewhere...forcefully."
"I can't exactly do that. He's the gate keeper, remember?" He sighed. "I have a few minions keeping an eye on him that report back to me."

"Clearly not doing good enough of a job." I said dryly, leaning back into the comfort of the couch.

Beelzebub raised an eyebrow at me before retorting, "You know, I could've easily done nothing and left you to deal with Mammon."

"Well, in the end, I had to do it anyway." I shrugged and I saw irritation flash across his features. He clenched his jaw slightly.

"If you think it's that easy to keep Mammon down, you're welcome to try. I've done what I could to keep him in check." His tone was sharp, leaving no room for sympathy. I knew he was right, I was just anxious of things going wrong again. Especially now given Belial was radio silent again, Beelzebub became unfortunate target of my frustration.

"I'm sorry," I let out a frustrated breath and crossed my arms. "You're right. I just hope nothing goes wrong. I'm betting all my cards on this."

Beelzebub's gaze softened slightly, the sharpness in his tone receding as he recognized the strain in my voice. "We're all betting on this," he said quietly, his voice losing some of its earlier edge. "But we don't have the luxury of letting fear control us. We've come too far to let things fall apart now."

I nodded, my arms still crossed tightly against my chest as if trying to hold everything together. "I just can't shake the feeling that something's off."

He watched me for a few moments, inspecting my expression as if searching for right words. "Maybe it's time we go see what's holding him up." He suggested, a bit of playfulness audible in his voice. My eyes instantly locked on him in surprise. I was quiet for a few seconds, giving him a moment to say he was joking. It never came. Beelzebub remained serious, the playful edge in his voice barely masking the intent behind his words.

"You're not serious," I finally said, though my voice held more uncertainty than conviction.

He shrugged, leaning back into the couch with a casual air that didn't match the gravity of his suggestion. "Why not? We've been sitting around, waiting for answers that aren't coming. Maybe it's time we stop waiting and start looking."