Chapter 486 'Talking' Things Out
In the closed Apollonir colosseum, two men could be seen locked in a stalemate while the festival raged on.
Though father and son, the two could not have been more different looking.
The father was a more soft looking man, with more feminine features in his face.
Intimidation factor aside, he looked like every woman's favorite toy-boy.
He had long silver hair and golden eyes and horns paired with deep black skin.
He wore elaborate black and gold robes that exposed his broad chest that was packed with powerful muscles.
Two demonic axes rested on top of his shoulder; connected by a black chain that seemed to be from the deepest recesses of hell itself.
The younger looking man opposite him was somehow even more charming, like every woman's wildest dream and craving rolled into one, irresistible form.
He tied up his bright red hair into a ponytail, before grabbing the black spear that was embedded in the ground.
At the same time and with no prior warning, the two of them disappeared from their starting positions and reappeared in the center of the arena.
Abaddon unloaded a rapid flurry of thrusts with his spear, each one fast enough to cut through the sound barrier, and strong enough to punch a hole in a bank vault.
"You're being stubborn! You don't have the right to tell me how to protect my people!"
Asmodeus blocked every attack with the flat side of his own weapons before swinging the blades like he was trying to take off his only son's head.
"I'm being stubborn?! Are you shitting me?! You want to go all by your lonesome to face one of the most powerful beings in existence with nothing but prayers at your back! Are you mental?!"
Abaddon ducked underneath his father's assault and used the butt end of his spear to sweep Asmodeus' legs out from underneath him.
Or at least he tried to, but his father jumped to avoid the weapon; and in mid air he tried to kick Abaddon in the chest.
Luckily for the maker of dragons, a wall of wind formed to protect him.
"Outside help is cheating!" Asmodeus roared.
"They act of their own accord to protect me, I couldn't stop them if I wanted to."
"How convenient!"
"Isn't it?"
Asmodeus charged his axes with enough demonic energy to blow down a high-rise building or eight.
He threw one of his axes at Abaddon and they easily broke past the barrier to reach him.
However, the dragon parried the weapon away and sent it clattering to the ground before he grabbed hold of the chain to yank his father towards him.
Drawing his head back, Abaddon caught his father with a full force head but that echoed into the night for miles.
"You cannot stop me from trying to do what's best for my people!" Abaddon roared. "They've entrusted their lives to me, and I will not see them wasted for my own vendettas!"
Still reeling from having his world rocked, Asmodeus was too slow to react as Abaddon grabbed him by one of his precious horns.
Treating him like an old tennis ball, Abaddon flung his father against the wall as hard as he could.
Hurling his spear directly at his father's chest, he impaled him upside down on the cement wall.
Abaddon opened his mouth wide and revealed a mouthful of razor sharp teeth and revealed a glowing mass of flame at the back of his throat.
But out of nowhere, two shrill cries halted the entire battle instantaneously.
""WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!?""
-
Now, in the middle of the colosseum, Abaddon and Asmodeus were kneeling side-by-side in the sand.
Two women were in front of them.
One was a beautiful tanned skinned woman with long silver hair, and eyes like shining amethyst.
The one standing next to her was equally as beautiful, and had the glow of a brand new baby dragon.
She had warmer dark brown skin paired with long, green dreadlocks that fell below her butt.
Her golden eyes were now reptilian in origin, and sparkled with the telltale glow of a spirit.
Her horns were large, proud, and jutted outwards like that of a bull; similar to her son's.
"What is the matter with you two!? Why the hell are you fighting in the middle of the kids' festival!?" Yara yelled.
"We were just working on our differences, sugar plum." Asmodeus said blankly, not seeing the problem.
At his side, Abaddon nodded intensely in agreement.
"With weaponry?! Moun sòt!" Imani grabbed both men by the ears and pulled hard enough to tear cartilage. (Idiots)
"I-In all fairness, honey butt, we were practically just horse playing. We weren't even using powers or half our strength."
Abaddon nodded profusely in agreement once again.
"D-Don't 'honey butt' me when you have a hole in your damn chest!" Imani yelled.
'I would prefer that he not call you that at all...' Abaddon thought with a shiver.
Asmodeus looked down at his sternum and rubbed it delicately.
"Yes, well... wounds made from our son's own scales take a little bit longer to heal than normal. I'm cool though, thickness!"
'Dear god, it just keeps getting worse..' Abaddon was on the verge of telling his mother to pull off both ears to put him out of his misery.
"It is not cool!" Imani yelled.
Suddenly, the two mothers turned their focus to their red-
headed son.
"And you! Why would you stab your father??" Yara asked.
"...Because he can bring himself back to life?"
""So what!?""
Abaddon had no other defense for that kind of rebuttal, so he simply chose to keep quiet and allow his mothers to get everything out of their system.
"Regardless of the reason, fighting is not how we handle things in this family! We are better than that, aren't we?" Yara asked.
Both men were scared of what would happen if they said no.
A vein bulged in Yara's head and she held up her hand to draw out a book from her collection.
One on family dynamics and motherhood.
Asmodeus knew exactly what he was in for, but Abaddon still had yet to learn of the horrors that were to come.
Yara opened her book and flipped to a specific page before showing her family.
"See here? Dr. Marilyn's guide to understanding family relationships says that we should talk to each other using 'I' statements!"
""…What?""
"Like this: I feel like the two most important men in my life should not be fighting with each other. Get it? Now you do it."
Abaddon and Asmodeus fell silent as they stared at each other blankly.
Asmodeus: "I… feel like this is a very silly and ineffective method."
Abaddon: "I also feel like that."
A vein bulged in Yara's head as she raised her hardcover book over her shoulder and bashed both men between the eyes with it.
"I thought you said no hitting?" Asmodeus joked.
Yara raised her arm to strike him again and was only stopped by a gentle hand from Imani.
"Boys… we just want our family to be on one page so that we can all move forward and support each other. To that end, should we not try whatever we can to get on the same accord?"
Abaddon and Asmodeus looked at each other once again with looks that weren't quite as hostile or robotic as before.
Abaddon went from kneeling in the sand to lying on his back in it, and he stared up into the sky with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"You have no idea what it is like. In my dreams, I hear the echoes of their hope and their overwhelmingly unanimous faith in me.
I know full well that there would risk their lives for me for any cause, and any reason. But that is why I am even more reluctant to ask them for something like this.
In a way, they are like my children too. And I want to see them all prosper and fulfill their wildest ambitions, as is their right.
To ask them to journey into Tehom with me when I know not what kind of tricks an outerversal being may employ… it is nearly assisted suicide."
Asmodeus didn't know that about his son.
Sure, he knew that Abaddon saw some things during the transformation process, since it required soul contact to undergo.
But to hear the dreams and hopes of all of your people everytime you closed your eyes to rest… it was no wonder that he became this attached to his dragons.
Asmodeus lay down right beside his son and stared into the dark purple sky.
"I had no idea you were dealing with all of that everyday."
"I consider it more of a privilege than something to be dealt with, but yes."
"Privilege or not, that is a lot for one being to hear every single day. It is a miracle you are still sane."
"I eat men's hearts and suffer from excessive jealousy and possessiveness in my relationships." He reminded.
"Of course you do, you're your mother's son."
Abaddon looked at Yara out of the corner of his eye and she winked at him while showing off a perfect smile.
He returned it with one of his own, just as Asmodeus suddenly spoke to him in a much quieter, more thoughtful tone than any he had ever heard before.
"Well if you think your argument is so convincing, I'd like you to recite it to the people who'll be most affected."
Abaddon's brow twitched in mild annoyance as he watched exactly 100,000 dragons darken the sky overhead.
"...Not cool, pops."
"Kekekekeke!"
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