Chapter 504 The First of The Nevi’im
Abaddon's roar caused everything on the battlefield to stop.
Not dragons, abyss walkers, or even rubble would dare to move without his permission now.
They simply turned their attention towards his massive frame, and waited for their new overlord to give them an order.
'Ah... was everything always this small?'
Abaddon had finally realized just how large this strange new form of his really was.
He was already used to being bigger than all of the dragons he encountered, but this was a new level.
They were practically like toy cars to him now.
With earth shaking footsteps, Abaddon lumbered forward and all of the abyss walkers in his path cleared the way out of an unhidable sense of fear.
It wasn't long before he came upon a large magical dome that was already crumbling from the inside.
Once it was down fully, Abaddon could see his wives standing atop a lake they'd created.
They were in a rough way.
Not only were they bleeding from multiple lacerations, but one of their arms was broken and they were standing with a bit of a limp.
Nonetheless, once they actually landed eyes on their husband, they forced a smile onto their face.
Even like this, they still recognized him.
And they felt like he was no less of a sight for sore eyes than he was the last time they'd seen him.
They felt an outside force lifting them up against their volition and they relaxed themselves as they floated towards him.
Abaddon held his wives in front of his massive frame and he felt his heart tear at the sight of their exhausted state.
"My loves... are you alright?"
The girls sleepily waived their hand like they were unconcerned with their injuries that were bound to heal.
Bekka: "We're fine, my love... remember what I told you? There's no need for you to fret whenever one of us gets a little scratch."
'I would hardly think of these wounds as little...' Abaddon wanted to say.
Eris: "We may look tired on the outside, but internally we could not be more at peace. It is all over now."
Lailah: "This relief... it is such bliss."
Abaddon didn't smile, but he did nod his monstrous head in agreement.
He lifted the girls up and placed them on top of his head to rest before he continued on his journey through the battlefield.
Unfortunately, there were casualties on their side.
Abaddon had seen the bodies of a few dead dragons and he felt his heart clench at each one.
All things considered, 7,000 dead out of 100,000 wasn't something to be that downtrodden about.
But Abaddon didn't really see it that way.
He knew all of these people intimately, and cared for them like they were his own extended family.
He wasn't even sure if he could revive them, or at least salvage their souls and lay them to rest.
It was hard to see them like this, and even harder to deal with the responsibility he felt for allowing them to journey along with him.
Suddenly he saw a familiar silver dragon with angel wings flying towards him at breakneck speed.
Across his back was another familiar red dragon who looked like she was on death's door.
"Kanami.."
Abaddon shrank down to his regular body with his wives resting across his back.
Asmodeus landed directly in front of him and lowered Kanami right down to his feet.
"S-Son, y-your sister, she... I-I need you to fix her!"
The raw emotion in Asmodeus' voice made Abaddon's heart sink even lower.
He dropped to both knees at his sister's side and placed a hand over the scales on her snout.
She was burning up.
He could feel a very toxic substance making it's way through her body and leaving a path of destruction in its wake.
Abaddon felt weight start to shift on his back and Lailah separated from the rest of the girls.
"My love? You still need-"
"I'm okay, dear, I have enough power left for this... Besides, she is my family too. It pains me to see her like this."
Lailah hobbled over to Kanami's body and practically fell trying to get to her.
Abaddon helped to steady her steps, and she rested against her sister-in-law's sickened body.
As a goddess of poison, Lailah had total knowledge, control, and immunity to any and all toxic substances- no matter how exotic or heaven defying.
She grimaced when she felt the poison running rampant in the body of her sister-in-law.
The only reason Kanami was hanging on was because she was as strong as she was.
A lesser dragon would have died in minutes.
And feeling just how close to it she was made Lailah want to weep.
"You poor thing… I can't imagine how you were able to deal with all of this pain."
Lailah's eyes temporarily flickered to a venomous violet color.
She concentrated all of the poison in Kanami's throat, at which point she sharpened her nails and poked a small hole in her neck.
The venom started to pour out like water from a spigot, and after a minute the leader of the Euphrates coughed and spat out the remainder of the venom while enduring a small coughing fit.
Twin sighs of relief escaped her father and brother's lips in unison.
"Christ…"
"You scared me, kid…"
Kanami shrank back down into her normal appearance and smiled at her family with a noticeable hint of embarrassment on her childish face.
"This is embarrassing… My blunder made everybody worry… in the future I'll be sure to correct my-"
""Shut up, Kanami.""
Relieved and exhausted, Abaddon and Asmodeus sandwiched the young girl between them in a crushing hug.
In that moment, Kanami temporarily held the most enviable position in this dimension or the next- being sandwiched between the two most handsome men in creation.
This was every living creature's greatest fantasy come to life, but to Kanami, it was just a nice moment with her family.
But her brother was feeling anything but nice at the moment.
He was already on edge because of the state that his wives were in.
But to see Kanami almost die like this was far too much.
Deep within a memory of Jaldabaoth's, a single word resurfaced in his mind.
'Begone…!'
In the next second, pandemonium unfolded.
Every single abyss walker, big or small, went up in agonizing black flames.
They screamed horribly as if they were going through unprecedented torture the likes of which could break mortal minds in an instant.
And bit by bit, they were all burning out of existence.
"My King. I ask you to quell your urges."
Out of nowhere, six different ghosts appeared directly above Abaddon's family.
He had never seen them before, but he knew their identities by their eyes.
It was ironic.
Just the sight of their eyes used to make his whole body tense up and threaten to lose all of his rationale.
But now, he was starting unflinching back at all of them- silently wishing that they would say something hateful and give him an excuse to burn them all alive as well.
Maliketh, The First Abyss King, as well as the one who first ensnared Abaddon in all of this, spoke first.
"You have only just completed your ascendancy to the throne. Surely you do not wish to burn alive your subjects on your first day of-"
"These… creatures are not my subjects.." Abaddon spat.
The air was suddenly filled with the sound of wings beating.
Looking up, the remenants of the former kings found a sea of dragons flocking towards their ruler's position.
As always, they hovered around in the air like omens of death.
Even though they should have been exhausted from the war against the abyss, they all looked like they had plenty more energy to burn should the need arise.
"I know some of what it means to hold this wretched place in my grasp…" Abaddon continued. "I've no love for these things you all have fostered. The purposes they serve are limited."
He made a grabbing motion with his hand and the bodies of 10 abyss walkers went up in smoke.
Their misty remains converged into Abaddon's hand, where a small black marble was created.
"As always, my sole focus is on improving the forces I already have. Nothing is more important to me than that. "
His thinking was simple.
Those born of the abyss were like feral dogs.
They were savage, ravenous monsters who were only good for fighting and resembling nightmare fuel.
He wanted to make something more.
Something grander by a large margin.
Most importantly, he wanted to keep finding ways to strengthen the people who worshipped him and keep them safe.
Especially his family.
After everything that he had seen today, he didn't want to lose even a single soldier ever again.
"Sister, take this." He said softly.
Kanami looked back and forth between her brother's hand and the waiting ghosts staring in curiosity only a few feet away.
Shrugging her shoulders, she gratefully took the pill that was being offered to her even though she did not fully understand what it would do.
Not five seconds after it dissolved in her mouth, her body was engulfed in black flames and she screamed.
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