C16 Bedtime

I then go to sit down. But before I do, I hear a whooshing sound in the air behind me.

Turning around, near instantaneously, I see a hammer. It's a rectangular hammer with runes all over it and a handle about yay long. Strangely enough, it's also five feet from my chest.

This hammer, when wielded by Thor, is incapable of harming me. I could let it hit me, and I wouldn't budge. So that's what I did.

With a sound like a thunderclap, it hit my chest. I did not budge, not even an inch. But it did do something, something I had overlooked.

"Aw, come on! I just made this jacket!" I look up to see a dumbfounded Thor and the Ancient One, who just walked through a portal. "It took me a whole two and half minutes just to style it. And not even twenty minutes later, you throw a damn hammer at me, shredding the front!"

I pause after venting. But then my eyes widen, as I have another realization, "Wait, scratch that! Why are you even throwing a hammer around all willy-nilly like? Are you so uncivilized? Is that what they teach you in Asgard, to throw hammers at random people without even an introduction?!"

Thor still had a dumbfounded face, but now he also had a look of reflection as well. All of which disappeared and turned into astonishment at what I did next.

"Good! It seems you've had progress in thought. Now take back your hammer!" I put the tip of my toe in the magma, under the hammer, and kicked it up so I could grab it. Then I tossed it back to Thor as if it were no different than an ordinary hunk of metal.

The Ancient One looked surprised as well. Extraordinarily few people could lift it, let alone wield it, and I could tell she was not one of them.

When she arrived, I sensed the fluctuation of time energy. It came from the other side of the portal. 'I can tell the surprise is genuine. Therefore, anything about me is likely inaccurate.'

Thor caught the hammer by instinct. Holding it in both arms, he asked, "How! How could you, an angel of all things, wield Mjolnir? Only the worthy are able!"

It was my turn to be confused, "Worthy? If an unfallen angel is not worthy, then no one in the Ten Realms is." Yes, I could have forced or bypassed the 'worthiness' check, but, being an angel, I honestly didn't have to. I'm a pretty nice guy, 'insanely' nice as it turns out, 'At least, when I want to be.'

This time the Ancient One responded, "Ten Realms? There are only nine. For at least a millennia, that is." She turned to Thor as he would know better. The Sorcerer Supreme must protect Earth and is not focused on external affairs most of the time.

Thor shook himself from his daze, "The woman speaks the truth. My father cut Heven from Yggdrasill over a millennia ago." His gaze becomes harder and continues, "This begs the question. Why and how are you here?"

"Heven? I've only known of Heaven. Then again, I've been gone for a while," I acted like I was thinking. "Anywho, time for me to go! I've got a demon to disembowel!" I shot a look at the tied-up Mephisto, saying the last bit.

"Who are you?" the Ancient One asked me as I turned around.

As I sat down on my motorcycle, I replied, "Me? My name is Zadkiel. But you may know me better as—The Spirit of Vengeance." With that, I rev the engine and burst forward through a portal I made, back to Hell.

---

Burn.

Protect.

Burn. Protect.

Burn and protect.

Burn and protect and keep safe.

Protect and Keep safe.

Keep safe.

Keep—

---

*Bam*

*Screech—*

The sound of an impact and scrapping came from the center of a throne room. With it came a muffled groan.

"Oof! Ugh!"

The thing that had fallen on the floor was a metal cocoon. It wiggled as if it was about to hatch, but the creature within was never successful.

"MmmMMmmm!"

The creature inside struggled as if facing immense discomfort. The floor cracked and crumbled as the cocoon buckled and flopped.

And it would have continued doing so if it wasn't for a golden fire to emerge and lift the cocoon off the floor.

The fire then brought the cocoon upright and closer to the throne at the end of the room. As it neared, the cocoon opened slightly from where the noise was coming.

A red face with puffed-up cheeks revealed itself from behind the opening. Once clear, it spat and sputtered until an object came out.

The object was a triangle in shape and looked made from cloth. It had numerous holes, as well as stains. The smell it gave off overwhelmed even the thick sulfur in the air. The taste—was not something to be mentioned.

The cocooned creature coughed and puffed air like a steam engine before it spoke. "You! Are you the one who freed him?! The one to help him take my throne and then me as a prisoner!"

The red-faced creature was addressing a silhouette that stood in front of the throne. It was a blurry and undefined, winged figure, made solely from golden flame. And it gave no response.

"Answer me! Who are you? What have I done for you to come after me?!" The creature was enraged, demanding answers.

This time the silhouette answered, though Its voice was no louder than a mosquito's buzz, "You—want to hurt. You—will to bring pain."

The creature's eyes widened, and then it yelled in response, "Of course I bring pain, I'm a demon, that's what demons do! I am every sinful deed and every bad thought! I am evil incarnate! But before all—I am—Mephisto!!!"

The silhouette was silent as if thinking. After a short moment, it, almost imperceptibly, turned towards Mephisto and said, "You are a—pain bringer. You must—burn."

Without letting Mephisto respond, the cocoon closed again. And the flame, as well as the silhouette, turned from golden to white and red.

All that came from the throne room was the intense scream of Mephisto and the faint voice of the silhouette.

"Burn."

"Protect."

"Keep safe."

"Keep safe."

"I will—keep safe."

---

When the portal closed behind me, 'Mephisto' disappeared from the bike. But I didn't worry since he was never there from the start. I teleported him to Hell as soon as he was on the bike. 'Like I would leave my prey so free and easily taken.'

I wasn't worried about Mephisto escaping, not with my SE looking after him, so I decided to walk back to the palace. It has been an incredibly long time since I was able to relax. I mean really relax.

Sure. After I finished absorbing Zadkiel's soul, I wasn't fighting or anything, but I was still working nonstop and worrying about what would happen after time resumed.

"But now, my new life actually begins." The trials are over, and all that's left is to live my life.

"And the first thing I'm going to do—is nothing. I just want to sleep until I wake up." And I'm not going to set some arbitrary time limit. I'm just going to fall asleep and then wake up whenever I do.

I don't actually need to sleep, mentally or physically, but I want the rest that sleep provides. "It'll be a nice change, being in a cozy bed instead of an empty blue void or a hard ground."

I walked for about an hour until I reached the palace. Arriving at the front steps—I decided I don't like steps and just teleported to the top.

I didn't bother fixing any damage to the palace since I was going to remodel everything eventually. "I suppose I can keep this realm until I leave Marvel. I just have to make sure I get every last resource out of it before I leave."

Reaching the throne room doors, I push them in. Once I look inside, I become dumbfounded. There is a fiery winged silhouette in front of the throne. And, not far is a golden chain pilled up on the floor.

The silhouette isn't surprising. It's my SE and a chunk of my soul, so it'll take a similar shape to mine if it's separated. What surprised me was the chain and lack of Mephisto.

"What happened? Don't tell me he escaped?!" I could have just figured out what happened through my connection to the SE, but I was a little too surprised at the moment.

"Burned—pain maker. Kept—safe." The SE answered back. Though, a human wouldn't even hear its voice.

'Wait, did it just puff its chest out? Fuck, I don't even care anymore.' I walked towards the stairs behind the throne, "I'm going to bed."

I stored the chains when I passed them and when I neared the throne, the SE flew into me. Releasing a contented sigh, I walk up the stairs towards the Lord's chambers.

When I reach it, I immediately torch everything, disintegrating it all. Then I made a new bed and plopped down, falling asleep instantaneously.

Only known to my subconscious. Shortly after I fell asleep, a fiery golden cocoon covered me. It looked nearly identical to the shields I made from Hellfire when fighting Zadkiel.

---

//Note//

No real cliffhanger this time, as this could probably be considered the end of an arc.

P.S.

And as for the MC's personality: I have yet to learn how to portray him consistently, I admit that. Most of his "craziness" is acting(he isn't even acting that crazy).

In reality, he would just be more prone to mood swings or slight irrationality with UNIMPORTANT things. He isn't really crazy; he just lost a lot of mental inhibitions from what he went through.

As for why he acted "unhinged" while chasing Mephisto, there are a couple of reasons: One, he doesn't care about working with other people or groups and just wants everyone to fuck off. If he wants to do something, he will just do it. Why the fuck would he care about other people when he's a living hack?

Two and probably the most obvious, if someone who had been tortured and tormented, by a DEMON LORD of all things, for three thousand fucking years just pops up one day, acting like nothing ever happened and cool as a cucumber. Wouldn't you be a little suspicious? I mean, come on! The real Zadkiel wasn't even able to talk!

I suppose there's a third reason too. He wanted to have fun, and that's what he did, had fun without giving a damn about anything else.

P.S.S.

I wrote this entire chapter without any advanced Grammarly issues, and I am using the free version. I wrote the first ~300 words with no errors and decided to keep it up by fixing what I wrote when the pop-up appeared. I won't be doing that again; it's too much work.