Bael's task, Idolon and Apophis' aid.
The shadow portal sparkled with energy just as Bael finally finished opening it. The dark void object twitched as if it was about to close at any moment, so without hesitating, the demon stepped inside it. His destination: Hell. Naturally, he reappeared instantly in his destination, the portal closing just as he exited it. Fixing his tie (yes, Bael was wearing a black suit- with a white formal shirt underneath and a purple tie, even) Bael started to march elegantly forward, casually checking the golden watch on his left wrist. Oh yeah, time didn't exactly pass in hell, did it? No matter, he was probably just in time to report the tasks he had received from the demon officers. A few moments passed and there was Bael, loitering around Lucifer's castle. Right outside, in fact. It took a few glances about to notice the one he had to speak with - after all there weren't many masked horse-riders around. Approaching Idolon... or at least trying to, Bael casually waved his left hand; a yellow, glowing blade dropping from his sleeve.
"Idolon." He called the horseman's name, "I found it."
Idolon tilted his head... well, he was about to, that is. He eventually kept his posture straight and stared down at the lesser demon before him. The warlord preferred to remember people through their names: a sense of honor that carried on through generations before he found himself held within the allegiance with the king of Hell.
"Good work," the masked warlord of phantoms commented.
His speech functions had improved ever since he continued practicing on how to talk instead of physically training his own body. A strange experience, but now he was capable of making conversations flow without the occasional awkward pause he always used before. His eyes squinted at the blade Bael carried it.
The masked warrior shook his head.
"But unfortunately... I think you may have found the wrong one."
His horse trotted a little closer to the lesser demon before stopping, remaining still. His glowing eyes showing no signs of blinking any sooner, Idolon slowly reached out before taking the blade.
"It would be problematic if the other officers see this," he said with a stoic tone. "I will see to it that the deadline of your mission shall be extended. You must finish the mission at all costs this time, however."
Idolon then added in, "I have a new order to give you, Bael."
The demon's eyes twitched at the moment Idolon claimed that he had found the wrong sword. Wrong... Sword? How was it possible. His expression became thoughtful, he was clearly re-thinking the moments he spent interrogating the angel in order to find the sword; had the wretched creature truly fooled him like that? Incredible.
The sword was taken from his hands, and Bael simply folded his arms in front of his chest, nodding his head once. "I had already tried to complete it with all costs. I suppose this time around, I should go even further."
And then, Idolon spoke of a new order. Bael's blue eyes stared at the superior demon, wondering if the order he was about to receive could be more important than that damned blade. "Of course, I'm listening."
"The lord desires to advance his plan in conquering Earth, and all that it has to offer. This means that the academy you have attended previously will prepare for our attack."
Idolon gave Bael a hard look, determining on whether the lesser demon would be able to complete this particular task. But then again, for a lesser demon, Bael had shown some promising performances despite his failures. He personally believed that the lesser demon would be able to complete the task with some sort of method.
"Lord Lucifer desires some of our men to stand ready in Earth; preferably nearby the academy to watch out for any suspicious activities. You are one of those men: starting from next week, you will remain at Earth and prepare for any other orders given to you by us officers. Until then, monitor the students' actions. You should complete your current mission before this one begins."
The phantom warlord remembered something one of his fellow officers, Thane, had once mentioned. He then added in, "I advise you not to directly interact with any of the academy's faculty and students. If you are caught, we will not be able to immediately help you. Anything you lose here is of no concern to the lord; as long as you complete the mission, that is."
Bael couldn't hold back a smile when Idolon told him that he was one of the men who should stand ready on Earth. There was no better place for Bael, truth be spoken; and watching those damned students wasn't a bad idea. He stood quietly until Idolon stopped to talk; and then finally, he suggested, his expression shifting to the usual serious stare.
"Since my disappearance, I haven't interacted with any of the students. Perhaps, they might still believe that I'm a mere student." He tilted his head, then added. "Either way, if I'm to watch them for... suspicious activies, wouldn't it be easier to drag one of them here and torture it until it tells us whatever the academy is up to?" The suggestion was more of a request. Bael had peculiar desires when it came to Athalia's students.
Shrugging it off, he nodded his head once again. "I suppose that's not to be discussed now, I still have a mission to complete, after all... There is... Only a small problem, Idolon. The angel whom I tortured to obtain that blade, which turned out to be the wrong one, is dead. I have absolutely no direction to follow now."
The glow in Idolon's eyes seemed to become smaller and brighter for a brief second before it returned back to its normal state.
"I believe Apophis can help you with that. Remember to tell him that I personally extended the deadline, however, or he probably will kill you on spot for... no real reason. Don't tell him that you found this... fake replica from the angel. Just tell him where you found the angel, and he would probably help you find them."
The warlord quickly added in, "I advise you to leave Apophis alone once he finds the body. Do not question why his skin suddenly changes colors when it does. He tends to do weird things to people who ask that..."
Idolon briefly remembered Apophis gutting out one of his personal soldiers' eyes out before shoving them into his own eyesockets.
That was admittedly disgusting.
"Any more questions in your duties?" Idolon asked.
"Understood." Apophis. The thought of speaking to him alone was, well, difficult to deal with. Even for Bael, who had gone through a plethora of bad situations. He shrugged the memories away before they distracted him from the more important matter at hand: Seeking Apophis.
"Only one. Where is Apophis?" Hopefully not on Earth, or Bael would have to step through a pile of corpses before getting to that creature. The sky-blue orbs loitered over the phantom warlord's mask for a brief moment, Bael could somewhat understand that even Idolon didn't seem exactly casual when he spoke of Apophis. Was that... thing a common discomfort to basically everything in Hell?
He took a step back, awaiting his question to be answered by the warlord: As soon as he was told where Apophis was, he'd begin to walk off, towards where he could find Apophis.
Idolon simply raised a hand, motioning that there was no need to move away from the palace. His hand slowly pointed toward the castle, as a small scream came from where Apophis's chambers were located at.
Apophis had returned from his wait in the ocean. To refresh his mind, he was currently doing something that could not be described in words.
"He is currently in his chambers," Idolon said with a stern tone, somewhat baffled by how quickly Apophis had returned from his trip to Earth. "I think... he should be done soon."
A few seconds passed, and the screams stopped. Just when Idolon was about to say something to Bael, one of the castle windows, which had been broken beforehand by Apophis intentionally, seemed to let some sort of body fly out it. The body was missing a leg, and the other leg was sticking out of its face. The head seemed to stick out of one of its arms.
As the dead body landed somewhere outside of the castle, Idolon simply commented, "Good luck, Bael." The horseman gave the destroyed window one last look before letting his horse slowly return to its patrolling duty.
Judging by the sounds, it was best to not go in right now. Scratch that, it wasn't good to go in in any situation, they were talking about Apophis after all. Had Bael not experienced a Hell (In hell) of his own, he'd be swallowing his own saliva in nervousness right now. But this, he could endure by now. A few moments after and the screaming ceased... And then, a body flew out of the window. Or what was once a body; now it was a mess of body parts oddly placed together. Disgusting.
Bael glanced over at Idolon. The look in his eyes was the look of 'I don't want to go inside', but what choice had he. He began to march forward confidently after Idolon returned to his patrolling. Step after step brought Bael closer to the terror and then, he entered the chamber, clearing his throat loudly.
"Apophis." He called his name, bowing his head right after. "I require your assistance."
The Deity of Chaos appeared to be sitting on his usual chair made of eyeballs. Chewing on what appeared to be some random thing he found on the floor (most likely some liver or something), Apophis raised an eyebrow when Bael entered the room.
Right after Bael finished talking, Apophis suddenly reached for the liver and threw it at some corner, hitting a frightened woman in the process. She was literally tied up to the point where moving was a stupid idea.
"Bael...? Holy heavens of delight, it's you, isn't it?" Apophis asked, his eyes widening as one of his eyeballs threateningly moved a little out of an eye socket. His grin seemed different, mainly due to the new piece of flesh he wore over the left side of his face. It seemed to belong to a female's.
It was also fresh.
"Bael, Bael," Apophis repeated, clicking his partially severed tongue as he wagged a finger in the air. "Tell me, how's your mission going? Whaddya need... help... for?"
Apophis stood up from his "chair," glancing quickly at the frightened woman he previously hit with the liver on accident, before looking back at Bael with the most fascinated look he could make with all of the flesh he wore over his face.
There were two options here. Either look at Apophis, or look around. Both were extremely difficult, so Bael's gaze flicked between the eye which seemed as if it was about to fall off at any moment, the woman in the corner and the body parts spread through the ground.
"It is... It was going exceptionally fine. Until certain accident happened. Idolon... extended the deadline, so I decided it would be smart to ask your aid." Bael began to explain, his blue eyes staring distantly at the frightened, tied woman. His gaze felt upon Apophis again, this time he decidedly stared at him instead. It took some courage to do so.
"The angel I was interrogating, he irritated me by not speaking, at all. So I got a little angered and messed up. His body is in an abandoned shackle in Earth, perhaps you could help me retrieve the information I needed?"
Apophis blew some air out of a puckered(?) mouth, simply shaking his head as he agreed with Bael. "Angels... bah. They just forget about their ABCs in the most crucial of times. Here, let me show you, actually! Don't worry; this will be needlessly quick, I promise you."
The Deity of Chaos smiled before turning around. One of his eyes finally flew out of its socket, landing nearby his chair made of... other eyeballs. Skipping over to the woman, he picked the now extremely scared woman up before placing her on his treasured chair. With a satisfied grin, Apophis took a few steps back, oblivious as to how the woman looked as if she were about to throw up.
"Miss Angel-I-Found-At-Some-Mountain," Apophis said, with an agonizing tone of curiosity, "would you mind telling me of... where your friends are at? I just can't seem to find them."
The girl trembled, unable to say anything. She couldn't even if she wanted to, for her mouth had been covered with some sort of tape made of dark matter.
Apophis shook his head again, giving Bael a "I told you this would happen" look, before commenting, "This is the third time I've asked her this question."
Now that he was done showing Bael a good example of what the lesser demon just described, Apophis kicked the woman off of his chair, sending her tumbling over to some sort of device. She stopped rolling right in front of the device, only to let out a muffled scream in fear when she figured out that the device was actually a chainsaw that randomly spun around. The saw never hit her, but Apophis decided to leave her in front of the thing anyway.
Sitting back on his chair, Apophis, put his attention back to Bael, remembering that he was actually discussing something with the boy.
"Of course, of course...I can help! We alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll make mistakes, if I remember correctly. I'm glad that angel didn't say anything to trick ya, though. I would get a little angry, then."
The Deity of Chaos, determined to help his poor subordinate out, reached for one of the eyeballs stuck onto his chair. He plucked it off.
The Eye of Ma'at. His dear brother's eye. The eye that proved that Apophis was the stronger out of the two. The eye that determined the final blow. It was both a trophy and a gift sent directly from his brother...'s body.
"My dear Ma'at," Apophis said with a maniacal grin as his voice became creepily caring and strange. "Bro, let's help someone for once, alright?"
Nodding at the eye as if it spoke back to him, Apophis quickly shoved it into his empty eye socket, letting it roll around in his skull before readjusting itself. It was one of the few eyes that could not fall off easily.
When the eye stopped rolling, Apophis was simply staring at Bael. A new look replaced the once insane and careless expression he held: it was that of a clever mastermind's. His smile was closed, and his crazy demeanor turned into that of a calm, yet cunning strategist's. With a deeper voice, Apophis simply commanded Bael as he stood up from the chair,
"Take me... to the information's location."
Bael couldn't understand the first few words Apophis spoke, so he remained silent, watching quietly as the Deity of Chaos... Smiled. Odd as heaven. But it wasn't more strange than the eye falling off it's socket, Bael's own eyes followed the eyeball as it rolled near the chair made of... many other eyeballs. And then, Apophis reached for the woman, placing her on that eyeerily throne.
Basically, as long as Bael didn't get any blood stain, part of someone's body, brain or anything strange on his new suit, everything would be alright. So he calmly watched, only raising a hand to scratch his head as he asked the woman about her... friends. She couldn't even speak and Bael would've had said that aloud, if he didn't expect it to result in his death.
He nodded at Apophis when the creature looked at him, commenting that it was the third time he had asked that question. Possibly the third-time she say a single word as well, I'd suppose it's because she can't speak. Bael adjusted his tie once again.
Even the lesser demon felt a small nervousness when the chair was kicked. It wasn't like he cared for the woman, no. But he was deeply hoping that she didn't get hit by the chain-saw and flew everywhere, including his perfect suit. Luckily, either Apophis played a lot of american soccer, or the woman was just very lucky. Well, the latter wasn't exactly true: She was tied in his chamber, after all. That couldn't possibly be luck.
The following words. It was almost as if he knew something about the fake sword. Bael kept his cool, however. He didn't even say a single word when the mad creature nodded to the eye as if it was capable of speaking and answering him.
Finally, they were about to get into what was actually important: The information.
"Of course, we need to go to 300 Northwoods Road. Think someone could open us a precise portal there? I could, but it'd take some hours to prepare."
Apophis snorted. Now that he was getting into business, he felt quite motivated to start working, even if it was with some lesser demon. Though, he had to admit, he was quite interested with this particular demon. Perhaps, one day, if this man dies in battle, he could make the perfect servant composed of flesh and souls.
"Thane is fast, but he is currently taking a rest," Apophis said with a thoughtful tone. "But Idolon should be able to make us a portal in a short amount of time. That information on the location should make things quick."
The Deity of Chaos thought about something with a strange look- a look as if he were concerned with something- before he turned to Bael. With a voice of rude, yet commanding tone of authority, Apophis ordered Bael,
"Inform Idolon to immediately prepare us a portal. I... will prepare further materials for this little trip. I believe I have some things that could possibly relate to that pathetic excuse of a living being you met."
"Very well, I will go after Idolon." With the order given, Bael bowed his head briefly before turning and heading off the chambers.
Further materials. Bael wasn't sure if he wanted to know what they were, but he'd find out soon anyway. He wasn't exactly worried anymore, after all Apophis wasn't going to decimate him now, but there was... a slight worry he had been considering. What if when Apophis does whatever he will do with the angel's body, he finds out about the wrong sword and how foolishly Bael had been fooled? Hopefully he wouldn't. Hopefully.
So, Bael took a few moments to reach the patrolling Idolon, doing what he usually did when he was close enough: Clearing his throat loudly before calling out the phantom warlord's name.
"Idolon."
The horseman turned to Bael, his emotionless eyes seeming to flicker when his name was called out.
"Have you come with further questions, or is it something you need assistance in?" Idolon asked, somewhat getting the gist of where this was headed to.
Bael cleared his throat once again. This was almost embarassing to ask. Almost.
"Apophis has ordered me to inform you to prepare us a portal. Northwoods, road 300."
The warlord seemed to freeze at the request Bael made. It was as if...
As if he were some taxi driver of some sorts.
Still, if this was to help the lesser demon to reach his goal, then he supposed that he should simply fulfill the favor. Idolon closed his eyes. He actually went through the Northwoods when he had to pick up several lost demon spies sent to the border of Canada. That information was classified.
After several seconds of remaining still, Idolon opened his eyes, letting the strange glow shine out of his mask once more. At this point, Apophis came by, dragging the frightened woman he kicked earlier. Turning to face the Deity of Chaos, the phantom warlord asked the skin-wearing man,
"Who is that?"
"Do I need to introduce everything to you? It's just fodder for this mission that sort of flew past my men's grasps... Yes. Fodder."
Apophis smirked at the last word he said. Practically everything was fodder to him. But alas, Lucifer controlled the things he did, and thus, he looked like a simple soldier. With a bored tone, he told Idolon,
"Open that damn portal up already."
With that said, Idolon immediately struck the ground after taking his lance off of his back. A portal suddenly formed behind him, its dark and empty void-like presence being materialized quite quickly. As Apophis went into the portal with the frightened girl being dragged behind him, the warlord motioned for Bael to enter.
"When you're done there, just tell Apophis to give me a signal. He'll know what to do."
By materials, Apophis meant the woman? How difficult to understand. Bael thought randomly that if there was a manual to understand how Apophis' process of thought worked, one would go insane merely by reading it. His body seemed to tense slightly, almost as if another unwanted thought ran through his mind, but he shrugged off and dismissively waved a hand over towards the woman.
"What..." Should he ask? He paused, arms folding in front of him. "Nevermind."
Better not. Apophis commanded Idolon rather rudely, and with that, the portal was formed behind the phantom warlord. Apophis entered first, with the frightened thing being dragged behind him. Bael was motioned to enter and informed to tell the deity of chaos to give a signal once done, he nodded.
"Thank you for helping me with this task, Idolon." And with that, the demon entered the portal after Apophis.
As Bael surged on their destination, his blue eyes cast a quick look around them. They were at a road and there was only wilderness on both sides. One side had a small pathway on it, leading inside the woods. Bael gestured towards it, nodding. "That's the way."
Apophis turned to where Bael gestured at, his eyes analyzing his surroundings. From what he could sense, nothing was hiding in the shadows... except for bugs. Bugs. He hated bugs.
With a grin that slightly tore his skin, the Deity of Chaos politely motioned for Bael to lead the way, for he could not care about finding the place on his own. The frightened woman looked around in fear, scared out of her wits.
And so Bael began to follow the trail. At least for a while... Once they came a cross a car completely destroyed, Bael turned and began to step further inside the woods and away from the trail, casting a glance here and there towards Apophis. He was beginning to wonder if the woman would survive until they got there, even if they weren't exactly far.
In fact, one could see a broken, abandoned shackle already. It surprisingly had windows and doors, though: And they were locked. Bael approached the door and just weakly hit his knuckles against the door, causing it to open with a strange 'shhh' sound. Demon seals were pretty secure.
"There he is."
The sight wasn't any better than Hell... But it wasn't as gruesome as Apophis' chamber, too. There was blood everywhere around the chair the corpse was sitting at: Hands tied to the chair arm's, ankles tied together. The skin was burnt, torn and flayed, the angel missed four fingers on his left hand and three on his right hand. His left ear was completely destroyed, as if it had been shoot by a gun or hit by something VERY hard. Finally, a large stake was penetrating the poor thing's chest, likely the end of his torture.
The dead body made Apophis... do nothing. In fact, he entered the room, more interested on knowing where to put his "materials" in the shackle. It was a well-done torture in terms of being secretive; the demon seals let Apophis give Bael a "B-" in his head.
As many limbs as this man was missing, however, Apophis could do anything. He could make it possible to retrieve information, and possibly, something more. He just needed to follow his routine of gaining information properly, and everything would be over with.
"Here," Apophis said as he dropped the girl's hair, letting her fall and finally feel less pain than before, "go put this thing somewhere else, will you? And try not to touch its skin for more than two seconds: I heard that idiots are contagious this season."
Now ignoring Bael and the "materials" he brought with him, Apophis went over to the dead body. Kneeling on one knee, he touched the destroyed left ear, as if he were caressing a well-found artifact.
Apophis then proceeded to slow dig into the head, gently breaking apart the skull as if he were unwrapping a present box like a child. He muttered something- most likely a demonic chant- before glowing pitch-black. The Deity of Chaos was doing something, and it was not exactly a comprehendible method of gaining information.
Bael merely glanced at the woman as she felt down, then he looked up at Apophis, as if questioning if he was serious. Seeing he was, he took a step closer to the 'material', his fingers firmly wrapped around the black mane as he tugged it forcefully up, dragging her forward slowly and painfully towards the shackles' corner. The walls on each side had two hanging chains. She was already tied, but Bael still used the chains to keep her from going anywhere - and for the sake of keeping her hanging there.
Then, he turned himself to watch Apophis. He's going to eat the brain and gain all it's information now? The demon thought, nearly sarcastically.
Apophis continued tampering with the dead body's head.
Then, he forcefully tore off the brains and the eyes of the corpse. He seemed quite calm as he did this, for he had grown used to his modus operandi of taking information from the dead. It was something he learned from Idolon, though in a far more brutal and less logical way.
The Deity of Chaos's eyes rolled deeper into his eye sockets, letting him place the burnt man's eyes into his own. He took out his own brain, letting the rotten, pitch-black piece of his body rest on the ground as he shoved the angel's brain into his own. It was easy as 1-2-3 for him.
He remained silent for one entire minute.
Meanwhile, the girl looked around, tearing up when her chains were used to hang her body on the wall. She looked away from both Bael and Apophis, as if she knew that her end would come soon. She did not want to die just yet, but it was inevitable.
Bael had to hold himself in order to avoid a possible comment about Apophis' having fetishes for eyes. The sight wasn't particularly nice, you know, seeing a creature brutally remove one's brain - and eyes - and then place the eyes into his own... Followed by squeezing the brain inside his head. Damn, to say it wasn't nice was an understatement, even a demon like Bael felt disgusted and could feel his human stomach rolling around and screaming for help.
But he kept his cool, watching calmly, trying to understand what was happening there. He glanced over at the woman, smirking ever so slightly. "You may as well relax. I suppose it's your turn once he's done, so do prepare yourself."
Apophis suddenly tore at the brain he just shoved into his head, throwing the thing onto the wall before tearing the eyes out. Blood leaking out of his head and his eyes, the Deity of Chaos laughed, as if he were mocking how easy it was to find the blade's true whereabouts.
"So... easy," he commented, his now bloody eyes rolling back to their sockets. "I see... very, very interesting."
He saw where the blade had once been. He saw it.
He also saw more of such blades. Replicas, he presumed. And this angel had one of the replicas.
As he suspected, Bael did receive a false blade. Actually, he already sort of knew about it: he just needed to confirm whether it was true or not. Still, he had no intentions on harming the lesser demon. Thane would literally tear him apart if he did hurt him, and the ninja would probably not listen to any kind of reasoning Apophis made. Perhaps it was irony at its finest, considering how Apophis used to be the one glaring down at Thane.
But that was a story that came from long, long time ago, when Thane was not a cursed man.
"Ha... he...he..."
The Deity of Chaos abruptly turned to Bael, his eyes still bleeding as he said with a dark voice,
"It seems that they did hide the blade quite nicely. I will tell you where it is, but first, I have some things to do with my materials. You did a very, very, very, very niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice job of putting her right there. Wait outside; I shall tell you the blade's whereabouts shortly."
Bael thoughtfully eyed Apophis' over, wondering if the process had been painful to him; even though he said it was easy. And the whole process seemed... easy, had him not just replaced his brain and eyes temporarily with someone's else. With the abrupt turn, Apophis told him that he had something to do with his... materials. And Bael was glad that he told him to wait outside; as much as he wasn't exactly one with a weak point for seeing someone innocent get tortured, watching Apophis' do anything was a challenge for many.
"Very well." With that, Bael stepped outside, closing the door behind him. He reached for his pant's pocket, picking up a case of cigarettes. "Where the hell this came from?" He had no idea his last victim, an executive, smoked. The suit belonged to him as well. Tossing it away, he fiddled with his pockets a little more, finding out a smartphone right after. That could be useful, if only he knew how to unblock it, so it flew right at a tree.
Apophis watched Bael leave before turning to the girl.
About ten minutes later, Apophis left the shackle as well. His entire body was colored red, and the head of the girl rested nicely inside his stomach. Quite the feast, but the man looked very disappointed with whatever he tried to do earlier.
His disappointment was clear when he raised an eyebrow at what appeared to be Bael still standing by the shackle. Then he remembered why he came here in the first place.
Just to make himself look better(?) in front of his subordinate, the Deity of Chaos suddenly burst out laughing as he blurted out,
"SURPRISE, SURPRISE! I figured out where that stupid-a-s blade you're looking for is!"
Apophis grinned, his loose smile seeming to tear apart further if that was even possible, as his eyes suddenly began to blip red. In fact, the eyes began to blip quickly, making Apophis look like some sort of machine.
The Deity of Chaos's eyes stopped blipping, his eyes' pupils briefly glowing white, before transferring parts of the information he just saw directly to Bael. He omitted the parts where the false replicas were distributed at, and only showed where the true blade's location was.
"And with that... you won't fail this mission," the skin-wearing man concluded, his eyes back to normal. Still drenched in red, the man made a thoughtful look.
"...But just how do we get back to Hell, though?"
He apparently forgot about Idolon under five minutes.
Apophis came out, without sight of the girl; given the general color on his body, it wasn't hard to imagine what happened.
Bael remained perfectly serious while the deity of chaos laughed. He couldn't exactly understand why he was laughing, but he waited patiently for the creature to stop. And once he did stop laughing, he announced that he knew where the blade was as if that was an immense surprise. Bael grimaced.
"Incredible," He spoke, tilting his head to the side and curiously as Apophis' eyes started blipping. That was new even to Bael, not something he had seen before. Then, the thing's pupils went white and Bael felt as if a surge of information was forcefully shoved inside his mind. He now knew exactly where the sword was.
"I owe you the sucess of this task, Apophis. I shall not disappoint."
Briefly fixing his tie in place, he spoke, "Idolon said that once you wanted to return, you should give the signal. He told me you'd know what that means..." Approaching the door of the shackle, Bael touched it with his palm as it was closed and sealed once again.
"I won't return to hell, however. I will go ahead and retrieve this blade, it is of extreme importance."
The instant moment Bael said Idolon's name, Apophis had already begun to call the signal. He closed his eyes, still nodding to Bael's words as if he were supremely interested in the lesser demon's words. After hearing Bael out, Apophis nodded as he opened his eyes. A portal immediately formed behind the Deity of Chaos, and the skin-wearing... red man bowed politely.
"Then I shall see you much later," the man said. "I have so many things, mostly for my mission to eat- er, find out how to... y'know, do some damage to the Brightendales."
His smile widening, Apophis turned to enter the portal and vanished.
Only to suddenly jerk his head out of the portal, his eyes widened to the point where his original brain could be seen at. He apparently shoved it back into his head right after he tossed the angel's brain on the wall.
"Oh yeah," Apophis said, his voice seemingly whispering to Bael directly.
"If you interrupt me somehow, I'll do my best to make your entire existence a misery."
With that said, Apophis's face contorted into a surprisingly human emotion. Making a wide smile, Apophis closed his eyes as he waved at Bael.
"I'll take my leave now, then. Come back soon!"
And thus, the Deity of Chaos vanished, letting the portal slowly vanish.
That was fast. Apparently the signal was some sort of mind-conversation, Bael didn't know.
The lesser demon just nodded when Apophis said about his mission... of bringing some damage to the Brightendales. Lily Brightendale came into mind, that... angel was the reason of why Bael suffered for months. There was nothing the blue-eyed demon regreted more in his whole existence than trying to help her.
He was about to turn himself and leave, then the deity of chaos shoved his head out of the portal, the sight being quite... odd. That felt like both a warning and a threat, in which Bael did no effort to respond to. He knew better to go and make the same mistake again.
The portal finished and the demon began to walk off... Disappearing into a mass of shadows right after.
