"What the hell just happened? It feels like the sky is coming down on our heads."
Constantine was muttering to himself in a room carpeted with skeletal remains. Suddenly, as if waking from a trance, he yelled out, "Is anyone there?"
Naturally, there was no answer.
The only things inhabiting this place were weak, brittle skeletons—remnants too frail to even grace a real battlefield. Perhaps some of them still carried the blood of an ancient lineage, but now, they were nothing more than dust and bone.
However, there was one other entity in this place that was decidedly not human.
It was a phantom of Diablo. Not the Great Demon, the Lord of Terror himself, but a true projection of Diablo's will. His presence was no accident; he was a manifestation born of this place being awakened as a "Greater Rift"—a memory of the past brought to life.
A Rift Guardian.
"Another one who knows no fear? How unexpected," the phantom said softly. His very voice seemed to radiate waves of instinctive terror. "I never thought I'd encounter another so strikingly similar to Bul-Kathos."
Diablo cradled a child in his arms—Danny. The boy was a hybrid of demon and man, carrying a faint, lingering scent of Mephisto's consciousness within his soul.
Nearby, the boy's mother, a Romani woman named Nadia, stared blankly at her child in the demon's grasp. She looked as though she had lost the capacity for thought, her eyes fixed in a dead, hollow stare.
"So, uh... Mr. Deformed-and-Powerful Demon, how should I address you?" Constantine asked, eyeing the apparition with a look of idle curiosity.
Having already fractured his own soul multiple times, Constantine wasn't the type to lose his head just because things got a bit spooky. Of course, Constantine's definition of "normal thinking" would likely seem quite insane to a truly sane person.
"Diablo," the demon replied flatly. He stood with one heavy foot planted firmly on Steve Rogers' chest.
In this realm, Diablo could have snuffed out Steve's life in a heartbeat, but there was no point. He detected the lingering aura of Johanna on the man, which piqued his curiosity. Even though Steve had been foolish enough to try and rescue the mother and son from his clutches, Diablo chose to "forgive" the reckless mortal for now.
Being a Rift Guardian was a novel experience for the Lord of Terror. Dealing with weak challengers was beneath him; he was waiting for Bul-Kathos. Ever since his "Source of Fear" aspect had been so easily dispatched, he had been lurking here, biding his time.
As for killing Steve? Unnecessary. Within the Rift, Orek held ultimate control over the flow of events. Though, if Diablo truly set his mind to it, he could still force a permanent end.
"Right then, Mr. Diablo. I don't suppose you'd mind lifting your foot off that... uh, unlucky fellow? Did he offend you somehow?"
Constantine wore a faint, ambiguous smirk. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled pack containing his last two cigarettes. He tucked one into his mouth and then extended the pack toward Diablo, as if offering the demon a light.
"This one? You really are an interesting creature."
Diablo kicked Steve away like a piece of refuse. A grotesque smile twitched onto his jagged face. Using a flicker of his power, he plucked the last cigarette from the pack, holding it between his massive claws. The size difference was so comical it was a wonder the cigarette didn't disintegrate instantly.
"I'm inclined to give you a reward," Diablo said, his eyes shifting as he let a bit of genuine intrigue show. "Is there anything you desire?"
He was curious to see what choice Constantine would make. It was good data—perhaps something he could use when he eventually faced Bul-Kathos again.
"World peace, sir," Constantine said, taking a long drag and exhaling a cloud of smoke. He glanced at Steve, who was struggling to push himself off the ground, and his mocking grin widened.
Constantine couldn't tell exactly how powerful Diablo was, but he knew one thing for certain: the demon was much stronger than him. In the hierarchy of Hell, it was actually quite hard to find a demon weaker than John Constantine. Stripped of his tricks, lies, and occult contracts, he was barely more formidable than an average man.
"That is your wish?"
Diablo drew the cigarette into his mouth with a pulse of energy. In a single breath, the tobacco turned to gray ash. He had seen enough. Constantine was an agent of chaos with a conviction that couldn't be shaken by simple threats. Faith meant nothing to him; the only thing that mattered was his own agenda.
To corrupt such a man would either require a massive expenditure of his primal essence, or the man would have to already be a demon at heart. Standard methods were just a waste of time.
"Of course not. I just wanted to see what it felt like. I see people who claim to meet God always saying that kind of rubbish, so I figured I'd give it a whirl."
Constantine's flippant tone didn't anger Diablo. The Lord of Terror had far more patience than that.
"So, I am God in your eyes? I find that quite satisfying." Diablo grinned, smoke billowing endlessly from his maw.
The cigarette had given him a spark of inspiration. Humans feared death, yet they flocked toward things that caused it. Perhaps, at the very end, those dying of lung cancer felt a profound surge of hatred and terror.
Diablo considered a new way to spread fear: something like a non-lethal, asymptomatic virus that spreads silently, only to trigger a mass wave of unavoidable death at the final moment. A new game. Whether it would be effective didn't really matter. At the very least, he could laugh at the look on Bul-Kathos' face as the hero watched millions die while he stood by, powerless.
That would be enough. He had all the time in the world.
"Not exactly. It's a metaphor. Do you understand metaphors?" Constantine crouched down and patted Steve's cheek. He'd never had the chance to slap Captain America before. He glanced briefly at the famous "America's Ass" with a look of mock appreciation.
------------------------
I've posted 40+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/DaoistRoeoNQ
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"