Abaddon and his wives walked down the stairs and smiled at the sight of what was waiting for him.
His oldest children were dressed in simple yet luxurious fabrics that were easy to move around in, and holding hands with one of the phoenix sisters.
The triplets were nearby as well, and Nita was of course glued to Thea like always.
A few feet away, Asmodeus, Yara, Lusamine, and Malenia were also present and looked to be getting along fairly well.
Even their pets were present, with Bagheera and Entei sitting on their hind legs with large bows tied on their necks.
It was quite strange to see a locust wearing a bow like it was some kind of small dog, but no one in this home seemed to find it odd.
"Waah! You all look amazing!"
"Father has gotten dressed up, the world may be on the verge of ending."
"Daddy looks so cool!"
Currently, Abaddon was wearing a thin black robe with no sleeves that was open in the front to reveal his tattooed chest.
His long red hair had been neatly tied into a ponytail, but there were two strands of hair by his ears that were wrapped in golden bangles.
He wore a long bright red skirt that traveled all the way down to his clawed feet and had demonic markings etched down the center.
There were eight rings on each of his fingers, one for each of his beloved wives who were integral to who he was as a person.
But the most eye-catching part of his outfit was the necklace he wore that had been made by his first wife.
It was a purely golden wesekh, like the kind that Lailah and Apophis were often seen wearing.
If Abaddon was every woman's dream, his wives were every mans.
The girls wore crop tops that stopped just underneath their breasts, paired with skirts of varying colors and golden anklets on their feet.
Like their husband, they also wore eight rings on their fingers, a symbol that their love for each other was almost as strong as their love for him.
They all wore simple crowns on their head, and large smiles that seemed to be intrinsic of their personality.
"Did we keep you waiting?" Abaddon asked.
The sound of Asmodeus' sniffling interrupted anyone from answering that question, and the nephilim could be seen wiping tears from his eyes.
"My son just looks so much like me I cannot help but get emotional every time that I see him!"
"Anyway." Abaddon rolled his eyes as the rest of the group fell into laughter, and he pulled his youngest daughter into his arms.
"Are you ready to meet your people, my child? They are all quite excited to see you."
"Mmh."
As always, Gabbrielle's behavior was rather robotic in nature but Abaddon could feel that she was excited on the inside.
No doubt Mira's excitement had rubbed off on her younger sister since the two of them spent so much time together.
Abaddon took one last look back at his family and friends before placing his hand on the doorknob.
He had nothing to say, as any words had already long been caught in his throat.
He just wanted to appreciate this sight that was so beautiful it could have brought tears to his eyes.
On earth his only family were his drug addicted parents and he cut all contact with them as soon as he was able.
He had no friends, and he spent twenty years alone with no real comfort in the world.
It was because he lived like that before that he had even greater appreciation for everything that he had now.
Not a single day went by that he was not filled with immense gratitude for being made whole again.
Turning open the door, he was overwhelmed with a vision of a winter wonderland.
Snow was lightly falling from the sky overhead, and had started to form little piles along the streets.
But the most eye catching sight was by far the thousands of demons kneeling outside his home.
In his front yard there was Kanami and her brothers and sisters, along with the Rabisu trio and Zheng.
Even the vampire lords had managed to make an appearance, with Belphegor and Leviathan kneeling alongside them.
Beyond the fence, there were demons of all kinds of ages and backgrounds, all kneeling respectfully and patiently.
A path had been left open in the road, this was the route that the emperor would travel as he gave his speech and led his people to the city's most sacred grounds.
"This is surely a sight to see... Such a thing makes a day like this one seem even more auspicious."
Even though Abaddon was not speaking loudly, everyone in the city could hear him.
The citizens could so clearly feel the sincerity and gratitude in his words.
"I have someone I'd like to introduce all of you to... actually, make that two."
Abaddon suddenly reached behind him and took Lillian by the hand, and pulled her out in front of the large crowd.
"This is my eighth wife, your emperess, Lillian Tathamet. And this is my newest daughter Gabbrielle."
"My god..."
"Such a beautiful woman..!"
"She is exactly the emperor's type."
"That baby is so cute I'm going to die!"
"How is she so big already...?"
"A child of the emperor should be atleast this special, right?"
Those who were not close enough to see the new emperess and princesses had mental images sent directly to their minds.
Gabbrielle and Lillian looked like they were embarrassed by the sudden attention, but they were able to put on brave faces nonetheless.
Abaddon returned his daughter to the arms of her mother a few feet away, and he began treading down the large path that had been cleared for him.
"Perhaps I should have prepared some sort of speech for today... but I must confess that such a thing has slipped my mind."
As Abaddon walked, his family followed behind, and once they passed by regular citizens would stand up and follow in their footsteps.
"I have never been very good with words. I suppose that's the kind of thing that happens when you spend most of your life in solitude."
Suddenly, sparks began to fly off Abaddon's body and blew in the wind.
At the same time, his flesh began to burn away as he grew to a height of fourteen feet.
"M-Monster..."
"W-What..."
Apophis and Thea both looked at the trembling phoenix girls on their arms.
To those who had taken Abaddon's blood, the sight of him in either of his natural forms would be like watching a god descend onto earth in all of it's glory.
The people of Luxuria considered the sight of him to be so moving, there were already rivers of tears running down their faces.
But Claire and Jasmine were outsiders.
And to gaze upon Abaddon was the same as seeing your most unimaginable nightmare spring to life in front of your very eyes.
They were mere seconds away from needing to change their underwear.
'Brother!'
'I know... I didn't want the first time to be like this.'
Thea and Apophis bit the inside of their lips and allowed blood to flow freely in their mouths.
They each grabbed individual phoenix by the face and kissed them, forcing a bit of Abaddon's blood into their mouths.
It wasn't potent enough to turn them into demons, but it was enough to keep them from going insane with fear.
The two girls squirmed a bit within the grasp of the siblings before realizing that they did not truly have any desire to escape and relaxing in their arms.
Jasmine would be in absolute shambles later that night.
"For the first time in our history, we demons are unified. Whether we are slothful, wrathful, prideful, lustful, envious, gluttonous, or greedy; it makes no difference."
Abaddon's monstrous voice seemed to echo throughout the entirety of the city, and caused everything nearby to vibrate.
"You are my people and therefore you are precious to me. You need not fear persecution from the humans, and you will never fall under the dominion of the gods. No one is allowed to trample over you."
Abaddon led an ocean of people to the city's most sacred place; the qlipoth tree.
"But today is supposed to be a celebration, is it not? I will not bore you with speeches that dredge up unsightly memories."
Under the willow-like leaves of the qlipoth tree, Abaddon's body shrank back down to it's usual unfairly handsome appearance.
"Drink, laugh, and live, my people. Indulging in merriment is the only true way to celebrate our unity. Let the festival begin!"
"Hurray!!"
"Let's drink!!"
"Glory to the Tathamet family!"
Cheers and applause erupted into the air, as the demons quickly got the festival underway.
The streets became filled with laughter, music, dancing, and of course the smell of food.
Abaddon sat underneath the tree and watched all of the festivities with an endearing smile on his face.
His wives were the only ones seated around him, as the rest of his family had gone down into the city to enjoy the festival.
"Are you alright, my love? You haven't said anything for a while." Audrina said.
Abaddon had indeed fallen silent, but it wasn't because anything was wrong with him as his wife had thought.
"I suppose I am merely lost in thought, my dear. Thinking of the future I suppose."
He couldn't explain it, but for some reason he was particularly absentminded today.
There was something that he felt like he was forgetting, but he couldn't recall if it was important or not.
His wives suddenly looked at each other and nodded before standing up.
They grabbed him and pulled him to his feet, all while wearing mischievous and captivating smiles.
"No time for that, dear."
"Let's have fun for today, and try not to have such dreary thoughts, okay?"
"Let's get drunk!"
"Yes! Well, maybe not that but we should indeed have some fun."
"It can be like our own little date."
Abaddon smiled helplessly as he was pulled to his feet by his wives, and he followed them down into the lively streets below.
'They're all so happy... I suppose festivals have a way of doing that to people.' He thought happily.
He made the decision to stuff all of his worries into the back of his mind, just for today and he tried his best to act as carefree as possible.
But on top of a building a fair distance away, there was a kind of entity that he would recognize far too easily.
It was a dark green eye, embedded in a pool of shadows.
It had no facial expressions to read, but if one were to look into it they would swear that they felt an overwhelming disdain.
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