Constantine reached out to embrace her, but Miss Magician pushed the man away and said, "Don't cling to me, it's stifling. I'm going to go measure the location of the air conditioning pipes on the second floor. Before the air conditioner is installed, don't you dare touch even a single one of my fingers."
As Zatanna turned around, she heard Constantine behind her utter a grunt. She turned her head to see Constantine clutching his chest, leaning sideways, getting ready to fall. Miss Magician's instincts kicked in and she wanted to use Antilanguage Magic, but before she could extend her arm, Constantine staggered a bit, regained his balance, and fell to one knee.
"What the hell!" Zatanna thought he was pulling a prank, squatted down, and reached out to grab his arm. But then, Constantine convulsed again, took a deep breath, and when he lifted his head, the hair on his forehead was soaked with sweat and stuck to his skin.
Zatanna quickly squatted down and asked worriedly, "What's wrong? Where does it hurt?"
It was as if Constantine knew something. He swallowed and shook his head, saying, "It's nothing, I just had a sudden palpitation."
After he slowly stood up, the look on Zatanna's face suddenly turned serious. She pushed Constantine away and stared at the space behind him, asking, "Who's there?"
Constantine turned around, and the first thing he saw was a pair of jet-black wings. Azazel's face emerged from the flames of Hell.
The King of Hell was taken aback when he saw Constantine.
But Constantine couldn't help laughing, and he laughed until he hunched over and had to lean against a nearby bookshelf.
Constantine, gasping for breath from laughing, left Zatanna baffled. When he finally stopped laughing, he said to Zatanna, "Someone was posing for so long, only to realize they've dialed the wrong number."
Azazel's face immediately darkened. He stared at Constantine and said, "So it was you making trouble, Constantine. Are you thinking about re-entering the demon's trade?"
"Think again, Azazel." Instead of being frightened, Constantine came closer, put an arm around Azazel's shoulder, and said, "No matter how sure you are that you can get justice from him after suffering a loss, it's best to think carefully."
"Stop talking nonsense, where is Shiller? Why did my pursuit of his soul's scent lead me to you?" Azazel asked.
"Have you heard of call forwarding?" Constantine took out his newly purchased phone and waved it in front of Azazel.
Azazel frowned deeply. He flicked his finger and a flame ignited in front of Constantine's forehead, burning his hair.
Frantically trying to put out the fire, Constantine saw Zatanna extend a finger towards his forehead and said, "Extinguish!"
Constantine met her gaze, saw a wisp of black smoke emerging from his forehead, crossed his arms, and stared at Azazel, saying, "Even the mighty Demon King plays these petty tricks. Haven't you eaten?"
Azazel snapped his fingers again, a larger flame flashed in front of Constantine's feet. Constantine jumped back in shock and glared at Azazel, saying, "You can't lay a hand on me. Killing an entity without a contract sends their soul elsewhere. Do you want me to go to Heaven?"
"In that case, I regret Heaven's misfortune." Azazel said, looking gloomy as he stared at Constantine.
"Alright, what's going on?" Zatanna raised her voice, interrupting their conversation. Azazel shot Zatanna a glance, seemingly wary of her abilities, and then said, "Take me to him, Constantine."
"You wouldn't want to go." Constantine shook his head while backing away. He looked at Azazel and said, "There's one thing you don't understand. The Shiller you knew wouldn't touch anything in Hell without reason. If he did, you shouldn't go."
A flash of annoyance crossed Azazel's brows, and he said in a deep voice, "One of my demon generals, Reyes, has disappeared. His guards said they saw Shiller in the palace."
"Is a demon general worth all this trouble?"
"It's sixteen within a month!"
"I've told you, he's not the Shiller you know." Constantine narrowed his eyes, one hand still on his chest, covering his heart.
Azazel had never heard such a serious tone from Constantine's mouth.
All demons knew that Constantine was someone who could be thrown into the deepest part of Hell Abyss, have his soul burned, and still laugh and curse until the end. He was the true practitioner of the spirit of Dionysus.
Such a person by nature was distant from seriousness. If he ever looked at the world with a modicum of tragic temperament, he would have gone mad long ago.
Suddenly, Constantine relaxed his arm, sighed, and said to Azazel, "I warned you, if you insist on going, we better change the method."
"What method?"
"I'll drive."
Two minutes later, Azazel in the back seat struggled to fold his wings. Constantine's hand was on the steering wheel, leaning over Zatanna in the passenger seat and saying between the front seats to the back, "You should learn from your old boss. Lucifer manages to fasten his seatbelt even with wings extended."
Azazel's face darkened even more, muttering after a long silence, "Don't mention him to me."
Constantine raised an interested eyebrow but said nothing, turned his head back to concentrate on driving. Suddenly, Azazel who was seated in the back spoke up, "What is that?"
Constantine glanced back at him, followed his gaze, and discovered Azazel was looking at a construction site blocked off by a wall. He casually replied, "Oh, that's the new subway line under construction. You know what a subway is, right?"
"I last came to the Human World two years ago, not twenty thousand years ago." Azazel replied flatly. He furrowed his brows, his gaze never leaving the construction site, and said with suppressed anger, "Don't play me. Do you humans need such a powerful dark energy to build subways?"
"Whatever they use, humans always put money before lives, especially the Gothamites." Constantine twisted the steering wheel and said, "What? Are you angry because the green lantern energy is keeping the demons out of the Earth?"
"John Constantine..." Azazel's tone dropped to a new low.
Constantine seemed to not hear anything, naturally changing the topic, "Have your demon generals contacted you after they disappeared?"
"No." Azazel responded expressionlessly, "That's exactly the problem."
In the backyard of the Rodrix Manor, a sweaty Barry ran to Pamela, gulping down the iced water Shiller handed to him.
After finishing a large glass of iced water in one go, Barry sighed contentedly. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and was about to continue running after Harley, when he tripped over something.
Barry bent down to pick up the object that nearly tripped him. He held it in his hand and turned it around, saying,
"So this is what a moose hoof looks like?"