Joker’s sharp nails dug mercilessly into the slave’s collared neck as he felt himself so close to climax. The hopelessly bonded slave struggled on instinct and gagged from the lack of air, but the Commander never took pity.
Neine walked in without knocking and sat on the edge of the large bed, near the footboards. She noted the very faint signs of a halo over the slave’s head, and the two deep gashing wounds on its back. This must be one of the angels Joker usually kept in stock.
“Go find Tiger.” The Diábolos said in a bored tone while checking out her long sharp nails, “I heard you found out which world he’s in, or rather, Mu found out for you.”
Joker moaned loudly in reply, his thirst for blood becoming overbearing as he felt himself tipping over the edge. Without warning, his hand pierced straight into the angel’s chest, right beneath the rib cage. With magic fortifying his strength, his hand snaked its way up to the heart and pulled.
The slave’s scream was choked and muffled as Joker came at the same time into its throat. Of course all its teeth were removed in case it ever dared to think about biting down.
With a satisfied sigh, Joker extracted his hand and held up the warm bloody heart to his lips and licked it tenderly. Nothing quite beat the satisfaction of tasting such a delicious dessert after sex.
Neine leaned back and waited for Joker to come down from his high. Her Second in Command rarely showed control when the creature servicing him was ranked less than a servant. But the blond brought in souls faster than he destroyed them, so Neine turned a blind eye to his extreme sexual preferences.
The dead slave crumbled to dust as its life energy disintegrated into the air. Joker looked at the pile of crystal ashes and licked off some of the lingering bloodstains from his long elegant fingers.
“So I heard Mu has narrowed down the area to one specific world for you.” Neine prompted again after the feeling of sex in the air have calmed a little.
“He has indeed.” Joker’s voice was dreamy as he was still stuck in the euphoria state of mind.
“Does the time flow differently there?”
“I believe it moves faster in that world.”
“Then for all we know, it’s been hundreds of years for Tiger already. That should be enough for him to cool his head, right?”
“We can give him more time can we not?” They still haven't found Xing, so Joker wasn't keen on leaving Hell any time soon.
Neine frowned, “Quit procrastinating. I want to see him.”
The blond chuckled at her impatience and slipped over to where she sat, stopping only once his slightly eagle-hooked pointy nose touched Neine’s.
“What?” She asked in a half suspicious, half teasing voice.
He didn’t answer; instead, he leaned down and kissed her fully. Her mouth instantly filled with the taste of fresh blood as his tongue courted hers, making her Diábolos blood boil in excitement. The whites of her eyes began to darken, turning demon black.
Joker pulled back and licked his lips. “I would much rather stay here with you.”
Neine held back on answering for a few seconds as she savored the bloody taste. “Pfft. Yeah right, you're just being lazy. I have Grey and Mu here to help me with stuff anyway, so you can go get Tiger. Plus, didn't Tiger leave here hating you?"
Joker smiled, “I suppose he did. I regret not having more control over that clone of mine, to think he admitted the truth to the mutt.”
“Yeah, well, go make it up to Tiger.”
He raised an eye brow at that, “Pourquoi?” He knew the answer, but couldn’t resist asking why.
Her darkened eyes returned to the normal white as she smiled up at him innocently, “Isn’t it best for a Captain to willingly follow his Commander?”
Pye laughed and shook his head, “Even if he trust me again, all this talking is for naught if he cannot pass the ranking challenge and slay the Archangels.”
Neine giggled, “I believe in my wolf.”
“Very well,” the blond sighed and slipped out of his bed, “I shall leave after a shower.”
She looked at the thick carpeted floor thoughtfully and added, “Be nice to him. You are not allowed to give him any commands.”
Something in the Diábolos’ tone gave Joker pause, and he turned to look at her, “Why are you giving me such an unreasonable restriction? Is there something wrong?”
Neine yawned and jumped off the bed, “Nah, just wanna give you two some time to bond.” She wanted to leave Hell and find her brother, but obviously she couldn't tell Joker that. He had done a very good job keeping her here so far.
“As you wish." Her Commander gave a hesitant bow and left for his bathroom.
Joker stepped into the scalding hot water without so much as a flinch. He loved hot showers, and he enjoyed watching the bloodstains on himself dissolve and wash off his skin.
All the while, his thoughts wondered to what Mu said when the boy notified him of Tiger’s whereabouts. Apparently the world was a “sealed” world, meaning only those of a certain caliber would be able to enter. It worried Pye how strong the seal must be to stop even Mu, who was as strong as a Captain. Though this does beg the question of how Tiger was able to enter the world in the first place.
There were two ways a world could become “sealed”: naturally or purposely set up by the creature ruling over the world. In most cases, a naturally sealed world would not be strong enough to keep out someone like Mu. So chances were that this particular world was sealed by its ruler, someone who does not want outsiders entering it.
Joker would need to force entry into the world alone to find Tiger. Alone, without any aids other than some small inorganic weapons; anything larger or alive would not be able to cross the portal.
Which God controled that world? Would he or she interfere with Pye?
So much unknown.
Such a troublesome headache.
Slowly taking his time, Joker gently clothed himself after his shower while his mind worked to decide what he would say to the mutt when they finally meet. The mutt would undoubtedly be resentful towards him, no matter how many years had passed. It would be a tricky operation indeed because being the Commander of Hell meant he could get whatever he wanted through force, fear and power. Thus, apologizing or coaxing Tiger to willingly come back was quite a challenge.
“Master.” The Gate guards greeted in unison at the Commander’s approach.
Joker walked past them without acknowledging their presence and stopped in front of the Gate. He held out a small blade with one hand and laid it against the other wrist. After a slight pause, he swiftly pressed down the sharp dagger, pulling out blood to splatter and mix into the portal. This was the final step of the ritual needed to allow him access into a sealed world. The rose red of his magically enhanced blood mixed with the shimmering substance of the Gate, and made the portal morph into a solid deep red doorframe. The door opened on its own to show a twirling mass of black and red.
Sighing quietly at the task ahead, Joker stepped through the portal that he had already linked to that world.
The magic of the portal wrapped itself around the blond, engulfing his tall slim form until there was nothing left. Then the portal quietly returned to its translucent colouring and formless shape.
The first thing Pye did as he stepped out of the darkness was take a shuddering breath of the sharp forest air. It was physically discomforting the way his magic was so strictly clamped down in this world. His powers were so extremely restricted that it would be hard to defend himself should the need arise.
And the need would arise, because...
Joker made a mental to severely punish Mu for failing to detect something so important during his investigations.
Because even more disheartening than the fact eighty percent of his powers was locked down was the knowledge that this world was ruled by the sadistic Diábolos, Daeken.
“Daeken, Daeken... Daeken.” Joker softly muttered that name as he used his limited magic to levitate himself off the ground and into the air. At least his ability to fly hadn’t been compromised; he would hate to trend through all that dirt and earth to reach some form of civilization. As he looked down at the endless forested surroundings beneath him, the Commander let out another insufferable sigh. He missed the luxurious palace in Hell already.
Joker had a vague plan before entering the world, now that he had seen the state of the place, there would have to be many changes and additions made to it. He had been hoping the world would have some form of civilization so that he may take advantage of the locals to aid in his search. But after flying for awhile, he had yet to see anything resembling a camp or building.
Joker also had a very keen sense for magic and spells, and he had wanted to use it to pick up Tiger’s location if the boy was near. However, from Joker's current location, the constant power source from the North was powerful enough to possibility overshadow Tiger’s presence. Whatever was emitting the power was extremely large, and some concentration was needed in order to ignore its annoying buzzing in his mind and focus more attention on the surroundings.
After awhile longer, Joker’s eyes finally picked up something on the grounds ahead worth noting. Cautiously, he stopped and floated there in midair to study the things; high above the treetops.
There were definitely more than one of them, but it was hard to tell how many because of their fast movements and the fact that the trees hid them quite well. Judging by how the tree branches were being knocked back and forth, it was safe to conclude that the creatures weren’t small.
Joker lightly smoothed the hilt of the long dagger he carried by his side, it was the biggest weapon he could bring across the portal. The creatures were coming in his direction, and he was fairly certain he caught the sight of a few giant wings through the thick trees.
Let them come to him in the open.
Suddenly, five blurs burst from the sea of treetops and were zooming toward him with lightning speed unobstructed by the trees.
Joker quickly flew backwards a short distance to allow himself more time to study these creatures.
Five strong solid griffins. Three black feathered, one silver, and one golden. The golden one was bigger than the others and appeared to be leading the little group.
At this point, the Commander of Hell quickly considered using his magic to create an illusion of himself, so that the real him could escape and watch by the sideline. Creating such a solid illusion to fool five creatures would leave Joker greatly weakened by the end, but it would be worth it.
But before the blond could begin the spell, the large golden griffin shifted form into a man; one of the black griffins positioned itself right beneath him to catch the now wingless man.
The middle aged man had short choppy golden hair that was a little more orange than Joker’s. His tanned face was set in a grim expression, though does not appear to be overly aggressive. As he sat on the black griffin’s back and they flew closer to their target, his eyes studied the blond stranger who can float so easily in the air without any signs of wings.
Joker returned the man’s sharp gaze curiously and decided that if they bothered shifting into human form, then they most likely will not be attacking him right away. Might as well use this opportunity to gain some information.
“Hello ztranger! What are you and why have you entered our territory?” The griffin-turned man asked as soon as they were within yelling distance and the wind won’t carry their voices away.
Joker quickly noted the slightly different way of speaking, and adjusted himself accordingly, “I am looking for my zubcordinate. A boy about thiz tall, with black hair and very blue eyez.”
“Oh? That’z funny, we’re looking for a boy too. A boy of seventeen, zhort golden hair and golden eyez like mine.” Upon noting Joker’s pale skin, he added, “Very tanned skin. Zeen him?”
Pye rubbed his smooth chin and shook his head, “No, I do not recall zeeing zuch a young man. Who iz he, if I may azk?”
“My zon.”
“Ah. Zhall we join forcez to find our mizzing boyz? Mizter..?” Joker offered in his most warm-hearted voice and smile.
“Call me Patrik. Why don’t we zpeak on the ground?”