Chapter 509 Longstanding Grudges
?The chamber containing those who failed in their trial against the abyss is a hell all it's own.
Everywhere that one looks, they can see men impaled on jade green spires that pulse with a horrific dark power.
Blood leaks from their mouths endlessly as their lips hang open; their throats raw and destroyed from screaming endlessly without reprieve.
They are terribly thin, having subsisted on no food and only the magic in the air for several thousands of years.
And as Lailah, Audrina, and Karliah stepped inside, they all but grimaced at the carnage.
"I told you it wasn't pretty here, kiddos." the Nyasir shrugged.
""Don't talk to us."" the girls said flatly.
"Eh! Don't tell me you're still upset over earlier!"
Audrina and Lailah punched Karliah in both of her sides to answer her question.
When they went to find her a few moments ago, they found her siting in her quarters; masturbating furiously as she sniffed a lock of Abaddon's hair that she'd inexplicably acquired.
Of course, the girls confiscated her proclaimed 'holy relic' and delivered a swift and necessary re-education on who was married to who, and consequentially, who was allowed to be creepy and who wasn't.
Then they dragged her out of her room and forced her to lead the way down here.
"Just bring us to my father and try to avoid irritating us any further."
Karliah simply shrugged without adding anything else, and led the two women through the depths of the horrifying maze.
Even though she was supposed to be keeping quiet, Karliah couldn't help but let one question slip past her lips.
"I must ask... Are you sure that you want to see your old man like this? As I'm sure you've already realized, he won't exactly be in the best condition when we get to him."
"I have very little sentiments left to cloud my mind towards outsiders." Audrina said coldly.
"Oooh. Edgy."
"S-Shut up!"
Karliah led the girls to the northeast section of the maze.
There, they found one man impaled on a pillar looking like he was in significantly more pain than the rest.
Unlike everyone else here who'd failed the trials, Dagon had been given sweet reprieve from his endless torture a few months ago.
Which in the end, did more harm than good.
It's much easier to live through endless pain if you don't remember a time were you were comfortable.
Dagon's punishment for failure was now more agonizing after his short tutoring session with Bekka.
It was a miracle there was still anything left in this mind of his.
Lailah's body tensed up involuntarily as she stared at the horrible state of Audrina's father.
And perhaps because of the length that the two of them shared, her sister knew exactly what she was thinking about.
Without saying a word, Audrina took her hand and waited.
"S-Sorry." Lailah muttered unconsciously. "It's just that this fate was almost-"
"But it didn't happen. He is still with us, sleeping peacefully upstairs without a care in the world, and certainly not living through agonizing pain. Nothing can separate us now."
Lailah smiled softly before regaining a small sense of vigor.
"Well, except me though." Karliah said. "I'm still working on that handsome hunk of meat, but I think I'm getting closer to having him all to my-"
*Pow! Boom!*
Audrina puched Karliah in the jaw while Lailah chopped her in the back of the head.
This lethal combination seemed to work like a charm, and the Nyasir was immediately knocked unconscious.
But the girls figured that she would be back up and annoying them within 3 minutes.
Once she was down, Audrina turned to her father.
She waived her hand and the spire impaling him vanished into nothingness.
Abaddon and his wives were connected on a level unreachable by most mythical and magical norms.
As a result, the spire cathedral recognizes their commands just as it does his own.
Dagon fell at Audrina and Lailah's feet like an old bag of bones and spiraled into a coughing fit.
The hole in his chest slowly tried its best to close up, but since the former vampire king was dangerously low on blood, it wasn't a smooth or quick healing process.
Audrina looked down pitifully at the unrecognizable man whom she knew to be Dagon Sanguine.
His skin was dark grey just like hers used to be, and his hair, though unkept, was long and silver.
His eyes were an illustrious purple just like hers, and the two fangs inside of his mouth were broken.
For a vampire, having their fangs snapped was akin to a human male being chemically castrated.
There was no greater ridicule.
"M-Mercy… I-I, beg not to be put back..!"
Audrina wanted to scoff.
"Five years… you were so sweet to me for only five years of my life.
Then after mother died, you never hugged or kissed me again no matter how much I begged.
So now that our roles are reversed, how exactly should I treat you?"
Recognition briefly shone in Dagon's eyes.
He looked up at the two women who were lording over him like shepard dogs.
One was completely unrecognizable, with richly tanned skin and full, luxurious lips.
She was dressed in funny clothes that he hadn't ever seen before; a dark hoodie, short shorts, and thigh high socks.
She looked like she was planning on going back to bed right after this.
…But she was scary as shit.
Her aura was naturally dominating, and the way she stared at him was like he was lower than scum.
The other woman was also unrecognizable, but strangely enough she seemed to be quite familiar to him.
Whether it was her face, or the things she said.
Equally as pretty as the first woman, but with a colder, less oppressive presence.
She wore a simple black sundress that fell all the way down to her ankles and exposed her slender, pale arms.
The horns on top of her head and the tail swinging from behind her back confirmed her identity as a dragon, and he all but turned his nose up in disgust.
Something Audrina seemed to find highly offensive and laughable.
"So amusing… you remember almost nothing, but your bigotry for dragons still stands even after all this time."
Audrina squatted down so that she was at eye level with her weak and feeble father.
"Does it infuriate you to know that my husband has made me like him?"
Dagon Sanguine had an almost lifelong hatred of the Golden Dragon Helios.
Their battles were more than few, and the amount of times they came close to killing each other was too many to count.
Only a few select individuals would know just how much those words said just now should have hurt.
"…D…Drina..?"
Audrina seemed to be caught off guard by the fact that her father recognized her, even when she was like this.
"So you haven't forgotten everything… You can remember that old nickname, even though it must have been over 1,200 years since I've last heard it."
Audrina's tone softened, and she lost a bit of hostility as she spoke to her father.
Lailah noticed two things in that moment.
The first was that her sister still had more lingering attachments to her father than any of them realized.
The second was that she was somewhat blind to his demeanor.
Lailah knew what he was about to say before he even said it.
"What have they done to you..? You are twisted in their image and… repulsive. Far from the noble daughter that I raised... where is your pride? Your identity?"
Audrina's face twitched.
Briefly, Lailah saw an emotion on her sister's face that she wasn't expecting.
Disappointment.
Though afterwards, it was immediately replaced by contempt.
"My pride… huh. Y'know, maybe a family reunion isn't in the cards for us right now. Let's try again in another 1,000 years."
Audrina suddenly stood up and gave Karliah a nudge with her foot.
"Ma. Wake up."
Karliah's eyes gradually fluttered open, and the first thing she saw was Audrina looming over her authoritatively.
But other things stole her focus.
"Wow… with your cute little face I never figured you for a woman who didn't wear underwear. A little bush too.. wait, is that his fetish? Is that how I get him?!?"
"No one is getting anybody!"
"I have to know, is he the giving or receiving type of-"
""None of your business!""
"Tch. I'll ask Bek-Bek for the details later." Karliah rolled onto her stomach and made a disgruntled face like a rebellious teenager.
Audrina rubbed her temples in exhaustion. "Just shut up and put the old bastard back in his chains. I'm exhausted now, so we're heading back."
Dagon: "W-What?! No, please!"
"Also, go ahead and release everyone else while you're at it. Eternal imprisonment for failing a test is wildly unfair." Lailah added. "Give them beds if they want them."
Dagon: "Y-You cannot do this to me! Please!"
"Eh..? Too much work, I don't feel like it." Karliah said stubbornly. "You girls won't even be nice to me."
Audrina looked to be barely keeping it together down here, so Lailah didn't want her to stay any longer than normal.
She glared at Karliah harshly and used a bit of her indomitable aura to make her feel smaller.
"Just. Do. It."
She protectively wrapped her arms around Audrina and started leading her back towards the entrance.
Karliah groaned as she grabbed Dagon by the ankle before he could crawl his way to freedom.
"No! No please, this isn't fair! I have already paid my-"
"Yea, yea."
Just before Karliah re-impaled him, she heard Lailah call out a single order as she walked away.
"Oh, and if you could? Make it debilitating."
"Fine, but can I atleast watch you all have sex?"
"…I'll give Bekka permission to show you one of our tapes, but no more than that."
"What's a tape?!?"
-
Once they were outside the room, Audrina finally let the tear she'd been holding back fall.
Although she wiped it away nearly as quickly as it came, in the hopes that Lailah wouldn't see it.
She was unlucky.
"Sister…"
"I-I'm fine, just a little dust."
"…"
Lailah stared at her softly, her gaze full of concern and sincerity.
Heartbroken, Audrina finally let another tear fall as she forced a smile onto her face.
"I'm being silly, right? I've been subjected to a lot of his verbal abuses before, but repulsive is a new one… I thought I was more thick skinned than this."
Lailah gave Audrina a gentle hug that was firm enough that she couldn't escape.
"…I don't need this, you know?"
"I know."
"I was just having a little moment, but I'm perfectly fine now."
"Of course you are."
Audrina finally conceded and hugged her sister back.
"I just… think I want to go back to bed for a while."
Lailah nodded in understanding, the whole ordeal making her feel rather tired herself.
"Then let's go see if we can squeeze in between Val and our husband, hm? We can rest as long as you need."
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