Chapter 377 Wager
Abaddon watched as a woman in a blue dress with a veil covering her face appeared out of thin air like some sort of mirage.
Just like him, her feet lightly touched the water without making so much as a ripple, and she folded her arms sternly.
"Abaddon... You are not supposed to be in this world." she said in as cross of a tone as she could muster.
Abaddon looked at the air around him and saw that it was indeed vibrating as if it were unstable.
If he were to use even the smallest attack here, he would likely cause a natural disaster that this world would never recover from.
If he didn't have a foothold here, he likely would not have even been able to enter.
"I came to have a conversation. Is that wrong of me?"
"It depends on what you have come here to speak about I have not taken you for a man with such a fondness for chatting."
" I am nothing of the sort, Asherah."
"So you want something then? Wonderful."
Abaddon smiled wryly as he stared into the deep blue waters at his feet. "You could say that."
"...I have already done much for you, Tathamet. I have little more wiggle room to provide you aid."
"And I am grateful, and would not dare to ask for much more. I only came here today to ask you to make a wager with me, Asherah."
"Oh? I am anxious to hear it then."
-
In a pristine cathedral within the human lands, the archangel Samyaza could be seen dwelling within his private chambers, sitting against his headboard with a woman in his lap.
Both of their hands were resting lightly on her stomach, caressing the small bump that was steadily growing larger everyday.
"This... still feels like a dream." The woman said happily. "No matter how many nights may pass, I still find myself elated beyond belief that I am able to lie here with you like this."
"It is everything but a dream, Charlene. We are here together, and in a few more months our child will join us and mark the beginning of something grand that the world has yet to see. It will be glorious."
Honestly, the human woman wasn't all that concerned about some grand destiny of her baby.
If she was honest, she was just more than happy that the world would soon see the fruit of their love standing proudly within the streets, inspiring awe from all.
'I.. sleepy…'
Samyaza waited for his blushing bride to say something, but instead noticed that she had fallen silent.
Her head suddenly slumped over, and caused Samyaza to raise a brow in surprise.
'Asleep already..?'
He had been sleeping with Charlene for quite a while now, and he knew very well that she wasn't one to drift asleep at the drop of a hat like this.
He knew that pregnancy would make her more tired than normal, but he didn't know that it would be this much.
"Sleep tight, little lamb..."
Samyaza tucked Charlene under the covers before he climbed out of bed and prepared to exit the room.
Upon doing so, he was completely unnerved to find a man standing in the center of his living room with his arms folded across his chest.
At first glance, Samyaza had absolutely no idea who this man was.
He was taller than even he, with thick horns that made him look even taller and a rich brown complexion like that of coffee with cream.
A sea of red hair cascaded down his back and nearly touched the floor, yet his perfect locks remained equally well groomed and vibrant.
He wore nothing but a pair of dark pants as well as the fur of some white animal fashioned into a vest.
He could have almost been mistaken for an elf, due to his pointed ears and serene beauty that was truly one of a kind.
The wesekh he wore around his neck had been fitted with a bright red gem, and he wore nine golden rings along his clawed fingers.
The only way that Samyaza was able to recognize this silent and mysterious intruder was by the bold tattoos that were constantly moving across his body, and the unfeeling and empty look in his red eyes.
"Abaddon..!"
Samyaza couldn't say what exactly had happened to the dragon in the time since he had last seen him, but he knew that he was not like before.
Not only had he somehow become strong enough to come in his home undetected, but he had also undergone a change in constitution.
To Samyaza… it was as if he were looking at a being of pure evil, and it revolted him to his core.
He could barely stand the thought of this unholy being intruding so freely into his hallowed grounds.
"You've returned? And… significantly more revolting it seems. Where have you been hiding all this time?"
"Is that something that someone like you needs to know…?"
"I think I may indeed, yes."
From Samyaza's perspective, the last time that he saw Abaddon he was about to create a new line of true dragons that would surely tear the fabric of this world asunder.
He immediately fled to his cathedral to secure his wife and ensure their child's safety, but imagine his surprise when that effort became unnecessary.
No more than two days later, the world's balance that felt like it was teetering on the verge of disaster was suddenly calm once again.
And then… bit by bit, the population began to decrease.
He thought himself to be imagining things at first, but when he felt a literal 2/5ths of the world population go missing, he knew he was no longer going crazy.
Four whole continents had been completely emptied of beings, and three of them had been struck with a massive tidal wave that sank them to the bottom of the ocean within minutes.
"Why are you here, demon?"
"Hm… 'demon'… a title like that feels so nastolgic for me now."
Abaddon walked barefoot through Samyaza's living room and stopped in the kitchen.
He very carefully tried to open a bottle of wine so as not to accidentally throw off the fabric of this world with any sudden actions.
"You are expecting… That's nice. Fatherhood is truly one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced." He said.
Samyaza's face contorted in anger as he watched Abaddon pour himself a glass of wine and start drinking it casually.
However, he only became enraged when he saw the demonic god making a disgusted face like he was drinking mere swill.
"Problem with the wine, you rude abomination?"
"As far as I can tell, no… it's just average at best..."
"I never took you for a sommelier."
"I am nothing of the sort."
Abaddon only had high standards for wine because Eris made wine with Valerie from grapes that she had grown with her own magic power.
It was so delicious that it was beginning to send him on the verge of alcoholism.
That is if he could actually get drunk.
"You'll have to forgive me if I'm not in the mood for small talk. Tell me why you're here before I politely ask you to leave. " Samyaza said threateningly.
Abaddon smiled into his wine glass and nearly made it blush from his charm.
"The thing about fatherhood… Sometimes, our children grow to love us so much that they believe themselves to be our protectors… and even our avengers."
Abaddon picked up the bottle and glass and carried them towards the couch where he sat down as if this home was his own.
"My children are guilty of this, especially my oldest. Though she is more of a lover than a fighter, I have never seen her more ready to do battle than when I have told her about something that happened to me in my old life."
'His human child…' Samyaza remembered.
"I want to say that their desire to protect me is unnecessary but… it's very moving... It confirms that I have done right by them.
Besides, I cannot exactly say anything to them, since I feel the same way about my parents."
Unsure of where this conversation was going, Samyaza merely raised a brow as he watched Abaddon continue drinking wine without a care.
"My mother… I have loved her all of my life, as she has shown me endless care and compassion from the time I was born.
However, my father is a different story. Our relationship is sometimes a sad one. As he was not there to raise me alongside my mother as he wishes he could have done.
And though he masquerades as if nothing is wrong by joking, I can occasionally read his mind and know that he laments over the fact that he was not around when I was a child."
SHING!
A blade of holy light was flung at Abaddon's head from the hand of Samyaza.
Tilting his head ever so slightly, the blade sailed right past him and buried itself into the marble floor behind him.
"Ah, am I droning on, aren't I? Don't worry, I'll get to the point soon."
"Don't bother! If you think I'm in the mood to listen to you gripe about wanting revenge then you are sorely mistaken!"
"You're so irritable. Calm down for a moment."
Samyaza couldn't say exactly why, but he actually began to feel himself becoming calmer.
His eyes widened as he finally realized the reason why Abaddon felt so different from the past.
"You… you've become a god. Of what emotion?!"
"…"
The reason Samyaza was able to put together the truth was because only gods whose divinities were centered around some form of intimacy can manipulate the emotions of others through their actions, prescence, and words.
If Abaddon could influence even an archangel… he had to have a very, very powerful divinity.
"As I was saying previously …" he continued. "Just like how my children feel they must avenge me, I also feel the need to avenge my parents.
I've thought about having revenge against you for a very long time, Samyaza. But do you know… now I don't even feel like taking it anymore."
"…What?"
Abaddon finally finished the bottle of wine and got up to look for another in the kitchen.
"I have grander enemies now. And more egregious slights to be repaid. Compared to the Greeks and Nords, I'm afraid my desire to see you dead dulls in comparison."
Abaddon's red eyes met Samyaza's in midair and the archangel saw true emptiness and boredom.
"But until I can get to them, I will strip away your life as a means to alleviate my hatred, and settle our old debt. "
"You aren't capable of-"
"In my dreams, I see your death. Glorious and encompassed in an ocean of red flame.
…But it brings me no satisfaction. Meaning I must be more creative in your downfall.
As retribution for my father, I must take that which you value the most from you.
But I must stamp on it thoroughly, and grind it's head into the ground as a means of humiliation."
Abaddon placed his glass down, and reappeared in front of Samyaza in less time than it took one to blink.
"You speak of the purity and might of your Nephilim, which makes me wonder how you would fare if they were all eaten alive in front of you by my descendants."
At that moment, the air shimmered before a new figure emerged within the room.
As soon as he saw her, Samyaza immediately took a step back and fell to his knees.
"A-Ashera-"
"A wager has been proposed by the father of all dragons. Do you, the architect of the nephilim, care to hear the terms?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel