Chapter 394 A Policy of Non-Interference
Abaddon looked around at the destroyed battlefield and shook his head internally.
For the most part, his army was doing quite well.
While he had lost some of his forces; Samyaza's were undoubtedly larger, which was saying something sense they had started out with more to begin with.
The problem with this picture was that the outstanding troops that Samyaza had were really outstanding; enough to overwhelm even his chosen.
His soldiers were only struggling when it came to those two specific opponents.
They were monsters for lack of a better term.
But were his father and Erica not as well?
Perhaps what they lacked was not in ability, but in something else entirely.
As he pondered all of these things at a super computive level, Samyaza stepped out from the viewing room and floated in the air like a god descending onto land.
"Well, this is a sight! It was already known to me that dragons have little to no impulse control but now I-"
"Sorry, can you move out of the way for a second?"
"I… what..?"
"Just move out of the way for a moment. It's not complicated." Abaddon said.
"…" Unsure of where this was going, Samyaza let his body drift towards the left so that the view from the viewing room was unobstructed.
"Mira! Can you come down here for a moment, my daughter?"
"Kay!"
Leaping out the window, Mira dove headfirst into the arms of her father without even beginning to slow down her velocity.
Once she was sitting firmly within his arms, she brandished one of her daggers proudly for all of those nearby to see.
"I came prepared! Are we fighting together?"
"Not this time."
Mira / Samyaza : "…What…?"
"You have your pouch on you, right?"
"Yes?"
"Want to share with me?"
"O-Only the soft ones!"
"You actually like crunchy..? You're an anarchist."
"But you love me!"
"Yes, yes I suppose I do."
Abaddon carried Mira toward Darius' resting body and climbed atop it.
Exhaling deeply, he imbued the breath of life into his departed body and since his soul hadn't quite crossed over yet, he immediately woke up.
"W-What?! What happened?! I was.."
"Hi mister Darius!" Mira waved.
"Don't get up yet. You still need to rest and Mira and I are going to sit here for a while." Abaddon ordered.
"I…okay then."
Samyaza rubbed his eyes several times to ensure that he wasn't hallucinating or having an illusion cast on him.
His enemy that he thought he was finally about to clash against was sitting down leisurely in the midst of a literal battlefield with his daughter in his lap.
And to make matters even stranger he was… eating?!
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Quiet down would you? There's no need for unnecessary things like that." Abaddon waived away any and all aggression as he pulled another soft morsel from Mira's pouch.
"Are you trying to stave off your destruction by hiding behind that little girl?"
"Stave off my destruction, huh..? Not quite."
Mira took back the bag of pastries and made sure she got a decent handful before passing the bag back to her father and letting him choose another; although he could not help but notice that she was beginning to get less enthusiastic about sharing.
'You two have until we finish to clean up this mess on your own. If I need to I will kill every one of them by myself.'
Erica and Asmodeus both flinched when they suddenly heard Abaddon's voice in their heads and let their eyes drift towards his form.
'You both are letting the significance of this moment cloud your minds. Whether it is because you want to impress me or avenge me makes no difference.
This is just another battle on another stage against another set of enemies. The only difference is that they're a little bit older than you…'
Suddenly, Abaddon smiled as he got a dastardly evil idea out of nowhere.
'Although I suppose… this must be especially daunting for you, father. I bet you never imagined that you'd run across anyone older than you after all…'
A vein immediately bulged in Asmodeus' head.
'Excuse me… what are you trying to say?'
'If Mira's grandfather needs to rest his old bones I can deal with his mortal enemy in his place if he is too tired. After all, I'm sure you need your rest…'
'Don't you dare, Abaddon! That is not my name!'
'Pee-paw.'
"You bitch!!"
BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
A destructive column of golden light erupted from the body of the monstrous Asmoodeus.
Those nearby were thrown back by the sheer force of the unbelievably powerful explosion; and Samyaza raised a single brow as if he found this absurd.
'He's making the ascension… here…? What a fool.'
Ascending was a delicate process that could go catastrophically wrong with the slightest interference.
And since Asmodeus was born a demon; the effects would be even more devastating on his physical well being.
"Don't let him finish. Kill him now."
The cherubim swapped faces once again in favor of the eagle with the proud yellow beak.
It's body became lighter and sleeker as it's wings grew to triple their normal size.
It flapped its wings in a single powerful motion and controlled the fierce winds to string together a powerful tornado that looked like it was going to sweep away an entire eastern seaboard.
Just before the tornado could strike the ascending Asmodeus, a flash of green and purple light streaked across the battlefield.
A whistling sound cut through the air as the the tornado was cut cleanly in half and dispersed by a woman in a white dress with dark green hair.
Floating in the air behind her was a young woman with unnatural violet hair and vibrant red eyes wearing armor that came dangerously close to resembling lingerie.
'Gods I hate that armor..' Abaddon thought disparagingly.
Why couldn't his baby girl's powers come from a turtleneck or a poncho?!
Thea and Sabine smiled as they took defensive positions in front of Admodeus' pillar of godly light.
Even without saying anything, their intention to hold the cherubim in place while Asmodeus finished ascending was absurdly infuriating to say the least.
"Keep up with me, my darling!"
"As if I would ever let you go anywhere without me."
As Thea and Sabine rushed at the multifaced angel, Abaddon turned his attention back towards the phoenix with a ruined arm.
'Erica.'
'Y-You don't need to say it..! I know that my performance has been abysmal..'
'Why?'
'B-Because... all I can think about is wanting to look good for you, so I panicked and I lost control of the situation!'
'Then if you know the problem, correct it. You've always had my faith and my attention so you have nothing else that you need to prove to me. Focus on proving something to yourself instead.'
Those words rattled around in her skull like loose dice and caused her to reexamine herself from an entirely different stand point.
In her heart, she came to a firm decision and closed her eyes as she stood up.
Clutching her arm as she concentrated, she too became engulfed in a column of dangerously bright golden light.
Fusing the pieces of divinity within her soul; she envisioned all of the moments that had defined her life up until this point.
As the memories flashed across her mind, the usually stringent and stressful process of ascending became that much easier.
Coincidentally, Ephraim also chose that moment to recover and groaned as he stirred.
With his hands healed, he pushed himself up from the crater as he glared at the golden pillar containing his would be wife.
He growled predatorially and prepared to rush at her like a run away freight train when his father suddenly stopped him.
"Wait, Ephraim."
Samyaza stared at Abaddon's relatively unbothered and lackadaisical manner and couldn't figure something out.
Why was he so calm?
He could tell by his aura that the mother goddess had indeed held up her end of the bargain by cutting his power, but this entire ploy didn't seem like some kind of avoidance tactic.
"What's your game, dragon..? What is the purpose for all of this?"
Abaddon lightly patted Mira's hair while wearing a somewhat disinterested expression.
"Do you not remember what I told you when I initially came to propose this? In my dreams I see your death; and it brings me no satisfaction.
That is because you are not my prey to hunt and you never were. Even if we fought until the last star burned out, I would feel nothing at it's end because I have grander goals than you.
But for my father, you are his pinnacle. For him, there exists no greater animosity than what he has for you. So he must be the one to take your life, and the cherubim's."
"And what is to stop me from killing you right now while you are weak?"
"Besides the fact that you are incapable?"
"…What did you just say to me you bastard..?"
"Whether I have lost 40% of my power or 80%, you still lack all that is necessary for my demise. My days of being defeated no longer exist since ascending.
I am the personification of unholy rebellion.
No matter how high the odds are placed against me or how dark the night might seem; I fear no unjust fate or loss from belligerent souls like you."
"Daddy is so cool!" Mira applauded.
"Thank you, peach." Abaddon went back to nuzzling his cheek against Mira's as if he didn't just taunt another grown man in the middle of a field of corpses.
Samyaza gritted his teeth as he gathered a staggering amount of divine energy within his palm and started to charge up an attack.
As he did so, another explosion occurred rom the area where Asmodeus' ascension was taking place.
The pillar of golden light surrounding his body became muddled and gave off an ominous dark purple color.
"Don't tell me..." Samyaza felt like he was already beginning to get a migraine from the severe blow he'd just suffered to his sense of reason.
A moment later, the pillar encompassing Erica changed into a more intense red light that nearly burned the eyes of those who stared too intensely.
As if on cue, Asherah's voice chimed in across the land to provide clarity on what everyone was seeing.
"Two new anointed ones have come into being..."
"Asmodeus Draven, Demonic God of...."
"Darkness.."
"Vengeance.."
"Seduction..."
"And cruelty."
"Erica Vermillion, Demonic Goddess of..."
"Phoenixes.."
"Rebirth.."
"Fire.."
"Beauty..."
"And Emotion..."
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