First Demonic Dragon

A pair of thick black double doors were pushed open and Abaddon came striding inside with his hands clasped behind his head.

Yaldabaoth's throne room was relatively boring and uninspired to him, and he was silently thinking of ways to redesign this place with Valerie's help.

Stepping inside, a total of six individuals were already there; waiting by the throne.

On one side, the spectral bodies of the previous kings floated with their heads down and without meeting Abaddon's gaze.

Each of the kings had a different appearance altogether.

Fatum looked like some kind of dark warrior, clad in black armor from head to toe and with a red cape billowing behind his back.

Tor'baalos looked like a mass of light in the form of a fallen angel.

Tanin'Iver looked like a large demonic serpent with three horns on his head instead of the usual none.

There was also another king who Abaddon remembered grabbing after the war with the nephilim; the demonic looking creature with four dark red eyes and two dark horns.

However, Maliketh disturbed him the most.

Abaddon came face to face with the man whom he knew, but didn't, and let out an unfriendly growl.

"If this is a fucking game... I am not amused."

Maliketh tilted his head in confusion before nodding as if he'd come to an understanding.

"Apologies, Overlord. Just as your true appearances induce madness and loss of hope, mine shows beings their first concept of death. To some I am a dark void, to others I am a nightmarish figure. I wonder what the king sees?"

Abaddon became visibly less agitated, but not by much.

The only reason he didn't recognize Maliketh's appearance before, is because he was wearing a dark hood reminiscent of the one depicted on the grim reaper.

And now, he was tempted to tell the specter to put it back on.

The man standing in front of him was dark skinned, with a figure like a bodybuilder and wearing a black suit with a white shirt.

He had a bald head that was tattooed over where his hair used to grow, with some places bearing gang affiliations, and one large portrait of Jesus on a cross.

The teeth on the bottom row of his jaw were covered in a golden grill, and a black beard adorned his jaw.

Th only difference that told him that this wasn't the same man he knew was the fact that his eyes were a glowing purple with black sclera.

"You must hate the man you see very much." Maliketh noted.

"...Indeed." Abaddon finally said. "Seeing him upright again just makes me want to knock him back down."

*Sniff, sniff. Sniff, sniff.*

Abaddon forgot all about the hatred he was feeling when he suddenly felt someone invade his personal space.

Looking over his shoulder, he found his mother-in-law with her body regrown and showing a significant amount of interest in the fur vest he wore.

"Is this... Canis?" She asked suspiciously.

"It is indeed. He and your daughter had a... disagreement, and she made this for me. Does that upset you?"

For some reason, that simple question set off a predatory drive in Karliah that was eerily familiar.

Her lips curled up in an uncanny seductive smile and she ran her hands along his exposed chest.

"Oh, I ADORE this! My new husband-to-be wearing my old one as a trophy, nothing could be more arousing!"

Abaddon stopped Karliah's hand before it reached his belt buckle and kept her restrained.

"Now... let's not get off on the wrong foot, right mother-in-law? I think you already know I'm fully committed to your daughter."

"Dear Abaddon, don't you want a taste of the original version~?" She asked as she batted her eyes.

"Not particularly." Abaddon said politely. "The updated is delicious enough."

Abaddon licked his lips predatorially out of instinct and nearly made Karliah implode from need.

He did not mean to make such a seductive gesture, but time in Tehom works a little differently.

It took over two weeks just for his army to fly all the way down here, then the battle itself lasted for days.

He hadn't had sex in forever, and just the memory of Bekka and her incredible flexibility was enough to remind him of a certain hunger he had been intentionally diverting focus away from.

"Nyasir. Control yourself." Tor'Baalos ordered.

Karliah couldn't seem to hear the former abyss king very well, as she was too busy looking at Abaddon in the same way a dog would a bacon-wrapped steak.

Abaddon quietly put some distance between the two of them so that she didn't say, or do any more dangerous things.

He carried himself towards the black throne at the end of the room, and sat down like he was waiting for this whole formality to all be over.

"As I said, you have three minutes."

The abyss dwellers inside of the room seemed to recognize that Abaddon's patience was truly limited.

And for some reason, he didn't seem to be all that fond of them.

His gaze flickered back and forth between Maliketh, Moros, and the last; Al'Diabolos.

It was clear that he held some sort of irritation for them that hadn't yet been voiced.

"…Have we done something to earn your disdain, Overlord?" Maliketh asked.

Abaddon rested his hand in his palm as he pointed at the three of them one by one.

First he pointed at Maliketh.

"The one who introduced me to this hellish game, and made me feel like I was living on borrowed time for over a year."

Next, he pointed at Al'Diabolos.

"The urchin who mocked me openly, and laughed at the idea of my succession."

Finally, he pointed at Fatum.

"And you… you have done nothing to me personally, but I remember the night I had my first real conversation with my grandfather, and he mentioned you by name.

He was a private man who didn't open up to me very much, but I eventually learned how to put pieces together. You killed his wife, my grandmother.

So yes… I suppose I do despise you all a bit."

Al'Diabolos trembled in fear.

Maliketh lowered his head apologetically.

Only Fatum stood as still as a stone statue; and due to the helmet covering his face it was hard to tell if he was feeling cornered or just unperturbed.

"…I am responsible for the death of Rhea Draven, yes. Had I known that killing her would have gone against the true king's wishes, I would have stayed my hand."

Abaddon removed True Death from his storage space.

"Did you kill her… with this..? Answer carefully now, or I'll refamiliarize you with the way it works."

This time, Fatum dropped to both knees and lowered his head until it touched the cold ground.

"I did no such thing, Uma-Sarru. The woman was killed by-"

"Give me no specifics, lest you are inclined to see the most horrible sides of me so early in the day."

Fatum fell silent, and Abaddon shifted his attention to the two fanatical pairs of eyes on him.

Karliah looked like she had to pee the way she was shifting back and forth on her legs; but Abaddon knew it wasn't that.

He could smell it.

On the other hand, Al'Diabolos was starring at him with delirious reverence; in the same way that a 13 year old girl would stare at their favorite influencer.

"You see something interesting on my face, cretin?" Abaddon asked annoyedly.

"This… this is what I wanted to see…! I knew that the one we worshipped as the Evil Beast would not be so tame! To see you in your element is-"

Abaddon flicked his hand and Al'Diabolos' ghostly figure came flying into his open hand.

The Spector flickered in and out of existence like he was being suffocated, and Abaddon stared at him with cold, empty, black and gold eyes.

"I need to make something… abundantly clear. You do not know me. Your prophecies, legends, and fables mean absolutely nothing to me.

If you pretend to know me again, or act as if you have some sort of insight into my personality, I will see to it that you are revived only to witness agony that is unending."

Abaddon hurled the spirit across the room like a baseball after voicing his extreme displeasure with Al'Diabolos' words.

Maliketh seemed to be the most cool headed of the former abyss kings, and he quickly tried to diffuse the situation while also probing for answers to some questions he had.

"…From the moment I awoke here, I saw visions of you against the light maker. Your battle was glorious and it seemed as though you nearly won before an untimely defeat.

We of Tehom are formed of your remains, and thus bound to your eternal service and command. We shall help you get your revenge and plunge every single light realm into chaos if you so desire it… do you?"

Abaddon leaned back on his throne and rested his jaw in his palm lazily.

His eyes shone with a complicated light before a small but incomparably charming smile formed on his lips.

"Revenge…? No. I'm a man with much simpler goals. I want to see my married children have weddings of their own, and bring around a grandchild or two.

I want to continue to watch my second and third daughters sharpen their crafts, and I want my second son to continue to come out of his shell.

I want my twins to continue to deepen their bonds with each other and relinquish their burdens of the past, and I want to help my youngest son with his homework when he gets home from school.

But I think most importantly.. I want to spend my time with the ten women who love me unconditionally and with everything they have. I require very little else to be content." He said honestly.

The Abyss Kings looked among themselves with curiosity in their eyes.

"So… you are not going to destroy the multiverse?" Tor'Baalos asked.

"Certainly not. Why would that benefit me in the slightest?"

Once again, the Abyss Kings looked among themselves and nodded gravely.

"Then we may have a problem, My Lord."