"We have signed the pact. The war begins tomorrow."
Abaddon was now back at home, sitting face to face with his entire family in addition to some extra guests.
Kanami, Absalom, Malenia, and even the triplet maids were all present within his living room.
The mood was naturally very serious, and other than the sound of Abaddon's voice there was no other noise that could be heard.
"I will be setting out with Kanami and the rest of the Euphrates at first light. While we are gone, it will be up to all of you to defend our home in the event that we are attacked by one of the five."
Little Mira raised her hand cutely and waited to be called upon, as even she was able to recognize the overall seriousness of this situation.
"But father, doesn't the big tree help keep all of the bad people away?"
Abaddon was slightly impressed that his youngest was able to remember a fact that he had told her casually.
"That is true but this time the bad people are originating from the same place as the tree. It's mist will not obscure their vision."
Mira nodded in understanding and lowered her hand down and put on a serious expression.
Mentally, she had already begun to sharpen her daggers in preparation for the coming conflict.
Abaddon turned back to his wives and his eyes became a bit softer.
"Your burdens may be great, my loves. But my faith in all of you is absolute, and I know that you will lead our armies to victory."
The chests of the girls swelled with pride, and they swore that they would not let their husband's expectations go to waste.
"Valerie, are they ready?"
The family's favored tinkerer immediately understood what was being asked of her and nodded in response.
"They are, but my team and I burned up quite a bit of time while making special adjustments to the armor and weapons of the Euphrates.
As a result, only 1,000 soldiers hand picked by Absalom will have the standard armor in this battle."
Abaddon was not at all displeased with this result, and instead smiled gratefully at his fourth wife.
"You've done well. I will have to reward you sufficiently when this is all over."
As usual, Valerie received jealous looks from the women in the room but in that moment she couldn't have cared less.
'I'll get to have him all to myself! This was so worth the extra hours in the forge!'
The meeting continued with Abaddon discussing plans to prioritize the safety of the citizens as well as the temporary shutdown of certain businesses that required travelling outside the gates.
An hour later, everything had finally been discussed and Abaddon had dismissed everyone but his family from the living room.
He was now staring at his wives with a blank expression as he sat on the couch, holding his chin in his hand.
"Alright, out with it. You girls are going through great efforts to keep your minds closed off, so I'm assuming you have something you want to tell me personally."
Regardless of the current serious atmosphere surrounding the city, the wives suddenly became all giddy and jittery as if they were little children.
Seras was pushed from her seat by her sisters and flung into the lap of her husband, and her face quickly became as red as her eyes.
Now that the moment was here she wasn't actually sure what she should say.
The words felt like they were caught in the back of her throat with no way for them to escape.
Finally, she gave up on using her words and instead she grabbed her husband's hand and placed it on her stomach.
At first, Abaddon thought she was just being affectionate, but after a few seconds went by he felt something growing inside of her.
"You're pregnant..." He muttered in clear disbelief.
"It would seem like that's the case..." She replied with an awkward laugh. "I know the timing is bad, but..."
"Don't be silly."
Abaddon wrapped his arms around his wife and embraced her as if she was a precious treasure.
"This happened when it was meant to. There is no good or bad."
Seras relaxed within her husband's embrace and all of her worries over this uncertain future seemed to fade away.
"Are you happy...?" She asked shyly.
"I am ecstatic, my love."
The two shared an affectionate kiss before the rest of their family lost the ability to control themselves and threw their bodies on top of Abaddon and Seras.
Audrina: "Kyaaa! We'll finally have a baby around the house!"
Bekka: "I am hoping for another girl!"
Apophis: "No! I am already drowning in estrogen! I need some kind of reinforcements!"
Abaddon laughed as he felt the crushing weight of all of his wives and children on top of him, and he felt that even though he was being crushed, he had never felt more alive.
Moments like these gave meaning to his existence, and now more than ever reminded him of what he fought for.
- The Next Day
Belphegor was walking through the halls of his castle, being followed by four of his generals.
Each of them were dressed for battle, and their hands were twitching with anticipation as they made their way outside.
Pushing open the double doors to the entrance, the sin of sloth walked calmly outside.
Waiting for him with his hands clasped behind his back was his nephew, Abaddon.
The dragon was dressed for battle, and two weapons were planted firmly in the ground at his side, a spear and a greatsword.
But despite his calm disposition, the dragon was surrounded by the entirety of Belphegor's army, and had all kinds of weaponry and magic trained on his body.
Belphegor glanced at the cloudy skies overhead.
Even though they were hidden very well, the demon lord of sloth could still sense a small unit of around fifty soldiers hiding just above the clouds.
"You chose me first... how troublesome."
"Somehow, I knew that you were going to say something like that." Abaddon said with a dry laugh.
Belphegor shook his head and his body began to float upwards. The tree like demon crossed his legs and held his chin in his hand, as if he were about to watch something interesting.
"Are you aware that I'm actually quite fond of you, dragon?"
Admittedly, Abaddon was not aware of such a thing and shook his head no.
"No one else notices it, but I do... Sloth is prevalent within you, and all of your actions so far have been no more than a means to an end..."
Abaddon felt blindsided by his uncle's observation.
Other than his wives and children, no one else knew about this aspect of his personality.
Everyone assumes him to be some great conqueror and leader who is always searching for the next battle to fight or kingdom to merge with his own.
But in reality, the only thing he was seeking was a future where he did not have to do any of those things.
His dream was to lead a peaceful and lazy life, one where we was free to spend an unlimited amount of times with his wives, and could watch his children grow up at their leisure.
He was a king, and a warrior, because those were the two titles needed to live the life he envisioned.
As soon as there was no longer a threat looming over his head an he had the power to protect those he loved, he planned to spend a solid month in bed, asleep beside the women he held most dear.
Is there a more blissful way to be rewarded for all of his hard work?
"I am not going to fight you, Abaddon... Instead I will place my hopes in you, that you will create a world of true leisure the likes of which I can only dream of..." Belphegor said.
"What...!?"
"Did the king just say that he was not going to fight for his throne...!?"
"Is he serious...?"
Murmurs erupted from the army of sloth, as none of them had expected for their lord to so easily relinquish his throne without even throwing a punch.
Evidently, Abaddon was not prepared for this either and he was still blinking as he tried to process everything that had just happened in front of him.
"You... you're joking."
"Am I...?"
Under the stupefied gazes of demons above and below, Belphegor brought his hand to his wooden chest and made a gesture as if he was grabbing something.
He pulled out an etherial ball from his chest that seemed to be pulsing with demonic energy.
On it's side was a dark green symbol that translated to 'sloth' and merely staring at it for too long could put those weak enough into a week long slumber.
Suddenly, Belphegor's body began to change.
Instead of a massive treelike demon with a sheep's skull for a head, he became a young man with pale skin and black hair that went all the way down to the ground.
He had a sleepy yet handsome face, and the bags underneath his dark green eyes made him look like a man who hadn't had proper rest in eons.
The horns on top of his head were more like antlers, and made him look more like a reindeer-kin than a primordial demon.
He wore simple and extremely comfortable looking brown robes, and the fabric looked to be so soft and immaculate that they could put him to sleep standing up.
"We did not discuss the allocation of sins at the meeting, but I find it only fitting that the one who will hold the title of 'demonic emperor' will be the one to bear them all."
Belphegor held out his hand and gestured for Abaddon to accept his sin, but Abaddon remained frozen in place and making a stunned expression.
"You... are you really..?"
"Hurry up and take it. My arm is getting tired."
With Belphegor showing his full intention to hand over his sin as well as his crown, the four generals underneath him began to protest.
"My lord, what is the meaning of this!?"
"How can you give away your position so easily?"
"You can fight and defeat him, there is no reason for you to do this!"
Out of the four of them, Pythias was the one who was most unwilling to accept this, and could not help but feel as if he had been betrayed.
"How can you do this...? You know just what this bastard has done to me, and yet you want to make him our emperor...? This is unforgivable..."
Before Belphegor could respond, his eyes went wide as a giant silver great sword pierced through his chest.
Dark black blood flowed from his lips as he slowly looked back at one of his most trusted generals with an expression of pure disbelief.
"Nooo!" Abaddon roared.
Pythias casually flung Belphegor's body aside and took the lingering sin of sloth for himself.
BOOM!!
A pillar of dark green energy shot out from the body of the death knight, as he ascended to become the second demon lord of sloth.
His hair became a greyish silver color, and his eyes turned a much more rotting and sickly green.
"Pythias, what have you done!?"
"You betrayed our lord!"
"You monster!"
Pythias was eerily calm in the face of those he once considered his comrades, and with a single waive of his hand, he plunged the entire army of sloth into a slumber that they would never awaken from.
'So much power... it would have been a waste to give it to that dragon.'
He was filled with confidence after absorbing such a great thing for himself, and his confidence was only rising when he realized that he was gaining even more power from all of those that were put to sleep by his magic.
Pythias finally removed his weapon from the back of Belphegor and pointed it at Abaddon threateningly.
"Come. I will at least give you the honor of seeing my face before you die, and then I will travel to your home and claim Eris and the rest of your wives for myself."
Something inside of Abaddon finally snapped as he slowly removed his weapons from the ground.
His uncle was one thing, but the mention of his wives was another.
The hatred that he felt for this man in front of him was on par with the hatred that he felt for the devil himself.
Abaddon opened his mouth to speak, but the voice that came out was much older and deeper and clearly did not belong to him.
"Your death... I will make it as excruciating as possible."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel