Los Angeles.
Batman drove the Batplane to the vicinity of the a very remote manor.
At an altitude of several thousand meters above the ground, the Batplane hovered in the air.
"Wait, why are we stopping here?" Constantine panicked when he saw Batman begin to unbuckle his seatbelt.
"We're getting off here," Batman said calmly.
"Why?" Constantine looked at him, shocked.
"What? Do you think there's a runway underneath?"
"No, but..."
Batman ignored him, put on his parachute bag, and opened the cabin door.
The wind pressure immediately silenced the expletives that Constantine was about to shout.
He paused for a moment, then yelled at the top of his lungs, "I said, shouldn't we have some training or something?"
Batman considered it for a moment, then responded succinctly.
"Go down, pull the cord at the right time." He gestured toward the button on Constantine's parachute bag.
"Finished?" Constantine was dumbfounded.
The corners of Batman's mouth curled slightly, and then he slammed the button.
Constantine fell out of the cabin, shouting expletives and flipping Batman off.
"F**k you, Batman!"
Batman didn't have a parachute bag, so he jumped after Constantine.
Constantine watched this and scolded him for being a madman.
But Batman deployed his cape, which spread like wings. In the blink of an eye, it became a glider.
The air resistance caused his descent to slow for a moment, and he truly descended like a giant bat.
Constantine didn't know when to pull the parachute, but when he couldn't help pressing the button Batman had just taught him, he found that nothing happened.
He couldn't help but curse again. What kind of trap was this? Did they want him to die?
Just as he was about to use magic, the parachute suddenly deployed a kilometer above the ground.
Constantine felt like his ribs were going to be broken, but in the end, he landed safely.
"Are you crazy?! This parachute is faulty!" Constantine, having just landed, angrily pulled on the parachute cord but couldn't untie it for a long time.
Batman also landed easily, picking up on Constantine's words: "It's normal."
"What are you talking about?" Before Constantine could finish his sentence, he saw Batman press a button on his monitor.
With a "bang," the parachute cords, which Constantine couldn't figure out, suddenly snapped at once.
Now Constantine understood—it turned out that the parachute switch had always been in Batman's hands.
Batman turned his head and looked at him expressionlessly. "I said, it's normal."
"I. Hate. You!" Constantine's face darkened.
"Let's go. Don't keep the demon waiting."
Batman and Constantine walked a short distance forward and saw the massive manor.
1247 Enstrom Street
The address was written on the stone pillar in front of the manor's gate. Batman took a closer look at the address and paused for a moment.
"Ulterior motives, right?" Constantine scoffed.
Enstrom, rearranged, spells "Monster." The owner of this place hadn't hidden it at all.
They walked in and knocked on the door of the inner house. In the past, Batman would have infiltrated directly in such a case. However, considering the presence of demons and possibly some with knowledge of black magic, he wasn't so sure this time.
This time, Constantine was took lead and door opened soon, revealing a pig-headed man in a suit and leather shoes.
This wasn't the kind of pig-faced professor from Gotham; this was the real "pig man."
Batman had already mentally prepared himself. Even if the pig-headed man could speak, he wouldn't be surprised.
The pig-headed man flashed a human-like smirk. "Welcome."
As he spoke, he looked at Batman. Could this be a new demon from some family?
He sniffed deeply, his expression one of intoxication. "What a intoxicating soul breath!"
Batman's arm, hidden under his cape, began to morph into a spike, as his suit upgraded with nanotech.
He was confident he could kill the pig-headed man in one move. But the pig-headed man only showed a regretful expression and stepped aside, opening the gate.
"Please come in."
The humans who entered the manor were the property of its owner, and the pig-headed man dared not hunt them, even if he desired to.
The interior of the house was spacious but looked like a haunted house in disrepair.
The first thing they noticed was a huge oil painting hanging in the center of the hall. It depicted various demons torturing and slaughtering humans for fun, which made them both feel a nauseous.
The pig-headed man leaned over. "Lord Beroul will come down soon. Stay here."
With that, he turned and walked away. Unfortunately for him, neither Batman nor Constantine were the type to follow orders, and they soon began to explore.
Next to the oil painting in the hall, they found a side door.
"I think you'd better stay here," Constantine kindly suggested.
But Batman didn't respond, merely looking at him.
Constantine could only shrug helplessly. "Okay, follow me."
With that, he walked ahead, and Batman, hiding in the shadows, followed.
At the end of the passage was a large space, with a rectangular pit in the center, resembling a pool, filled with human corpses.
A few scavenging flies buzzed sporadically in the sea of corpses, and the unpleasant stench of death filled the air.
Constantine covered his mouth in shock, nearly vomiting.
"I thought you'd be used to this kind of scene."
When Constantine heard the unfamiliar voice, he didn't immediately look toward the source. Instead, he glanced behind him, but Batman was no longer there. He felt a slight sense of relief.
Then he turned to face the speaker— or rather, the demon.
The creature was massive and bloated, its eyes glowing like yellow lights. Its rough, foul-smelling skin looked like it had been stitched together, its face and body resembling a patchwork monster formed from pieces of corpses.
"Beroul?"
"That's right, that's me."
"You deliberately lured me here, using Tracey?"
"How clever of you. How could someone like you show up unless something urgent and dangerous was troubling you?"
"Mr. Chandler is one of the few people you still care about, and I know you can't refuse an old friend's request."
Chandler was Chas' surname. Everything clicked. Tracey had been a trap set by Beroul to lure Constantine in.
As for why Beroul had gone to such lengths, it was because demons from hell found it extremely difficult to manifest in the human world.
The reality dimension had powerful laws that bound them. Unless summoned by humans, a demon could never appear.
The Nightmare Nurse was different— it was a life form that lived in symbiosis with humans, allowing it to travel freely between the hell and human world.
But Beroul was still bound by these laws. It could only use its demonic powers within the confines of this estate, and it wasn't at full strength yet.
Unable to physically leave the manor, Beroul could only claim human souls through dark magic and nightmares. This was likely how Tracey had been captured.
Beroul explained its grand design for hell, saying it intended to open a chain of hellish establishments on Earth. These would be places where people who desired fame and fortune could sell their souls to demons.
In hell, fallen souls were used as currency.
Demons were even willing to torture a human body repeatedly just to extract a soul full of negative energy.
"Where did you Hide Trish?"
Beroul grinned and patted its heart. "She's in my heart!"
"John Constantine, there are five small obstacles standing in the way of my great blueprint for hell, and I need your help to eliminate them."
"Let me guess, the other contenders?"
"I like that you're smart. Help me deal with my competitors, and I'll return the poor girl to you. How does that sound?"
Beroul placed its hand on Constantine's shoulder, offering an unpleasant smile.
Constantine slapped its hand away gloomily. "I'll do it for you, but you give me Tracey's soul when you're done, and we'll both be clear."
Beroul shrugged and didn't say anything.
Meanwhile, Batman had already infiltrated deeper into the house, discovering the evil within and...
"Batman, ever spend ten bucks to save a life?" Constantine asked with a sly grin.
Batman raised an eyebrow, his suspicion evident. "Go on."
"I'm catching up on Tracey's rescue story. They're dropping four or five chapters a day for early access members on Patreon."
"Sounds noble enough," Batman muttered, already reaching for his wallet.
Support on Patreon: patreon.com/StylishSlayer