208 The Original Sin of Lust
Asmodeus knew that things were about to get much more complicated.
Despite how Iori was acting, he knew that he hadn't actually lost himself to his anger yet.
His sword strikes were still too refined and purposeful, lacking a certain wildness that came with losing yourself to your rage.
'I was hoping to piss him off a bit more, but now it looks like I've run out of time.'
Such a way was usually the way Asmodeus handled muscle heads like his brother in law but with this feeling closing in on his back, he knew that he would have to change his plans a bit.
Swoosh!
As soon as Asmodeus finished his thought, he narrowly avoided Seras' spear that was aimed directly for the back of his head.
The vampiric hybrid had a frightening and beautiful smile on her face, and half of her body had been covered by dark red scales.
"Oh good, good! But my weapon is a bit special you know?"
As if to illustrate her point, the crystallized blade of her weapon returned to a liquid state that was constantly shifting.
The liquified blood suddenly exploded outward, sending out thin needles of blood in every direction.
"Cool!"
"Shit!"
Both Asmodeus and Iori had very different reactions as they each put up their individual defenses to block her attack.
"Seras, I'm on your side! You aren't supposed to attack me as well!" Iori roared.
The frenzied dragon suddenly looked at the prince with an expression of mild confusion.
"Prince Iori? You're still here?"
"Christ."
When Seras became bloodlusted, she had a remarkably bad habit of forgetting about any and everyone else other than the opponent who put her in this maddened state.
Even though Iori was literally exchanging blows with the former demon lord just a moment ago, she had already forgotten that this was supposed to be a tag team effort.
Iori sighed before flapping his wings to move beside Seras. "We need to work together to bring this bastard down. I will not-"
"Nope!"
Not even waiting for the prince to finish, Seras shot forward at a frightening speed with a reformed spear.
When Helios saw the look in her eyes, he knew exactly what was about to happen and smiled in anticipation.
"Hajun, strengthen the arena."
The old dragon snapped his fingers and the ancient stone that made up the colosseum was suddenly several thousand times stronger.
"Piercing Sun Spear Art: Tragic Sky."
Seras' spear suddenly began to glow with an intense red light as she flew up into the air.
Once at a sufficient altitude, she tucked in her wings and let her body rotate like a drill.
With every rotation, Seras became faster and the blood red aura surrounding her weapon became larger and denser.
As Asmodeus watched the frightening attack that was barreling towards him, he could not help but smile helplessly.
'It's good that she's no longer holding back but now she's really trying to kill me.' He felt like there was no happy medium with Seras.
Either she was too scared to take him seriously or was trying to wipe him off the face of this world.
Summoning a dome of shadows, the demon lord braced himself for the collision from the inevitable attack.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!
When Seras' attack connected, an explosion unlike any other took place inside the arena.
The noise was deafening, and over a third of the crowd was forced onto their knees while clutching their ears in pain.
"M-Monster!"
"What the hell kind of attack was that?!"
"By Asherah, she's crazy!"
The stadium that had been reinforced by Hajun's magic held up, but there were large cracks that were now visible that certainly weren't there before.
If it had not received the additional buff a few moments prior, the entire stadium would have been reduced to rubble.
In the sky, Iori looked at the damage caused by Seras in equal parts exhaustion and respect.
The ground that was formerly nothing but sandy earth had now become a hellish molten wasteland.
The heat and energy from Seras' attack was more than enough to cause all of the sand to melt, and now it looked like Asmodeus was isolated in a sea of lava.
"I must say.."
Asmodeus slowly dispelled his own shield which had held up remarkably well.
Even though Seras' attack was more than enough to level a mountain range, he was still standing tall looking just as perfect as he did before.
Within his own mind, of course.
"That attack is quite a bit more powerful than I remember. Evolution seems to have brought your power to staggering new heights."
However, Asmodeus knew that the dragons would be able to see through the steam as if it weren't 00:08
even there.
Suddenly, Asmodeus put away his demonic axes and held out his hands.
Two large balls of water suddenly formed out of thin air, and he promptly threw them on his smoldering surroundings.
The air suddenly filled with steam, yet both Iori and Seras did not lose sight of Asmodeus for even a second.
However, Asmodeus knew that the dragons would be able to see through the steam as if it weren't even there.
His purpose for doing this was a bit different.
"How can you do that?" Iori suddenly asked. "It has never been disclosed that you have an affinity for water?"
As a response, Asmodeus merely chuckled while Seras' gaze became even more lifeless.
"Oh? Well even if I'm not anymore, I was the sin of lust for a great many years. As such, I have been able to pick up a great many tricks from the woman I have previously lain with prior to committing to your sister."
Finally, Seras showed some trace of visible confusion before having a profound realization.
Abaddon had always been able to share his powers with his wives after an evolution.
So why couldn't they do the same?
Immediately, a few theories began to circulate in her mind.
One was that there was nothing they had to give him.
If the requirements were based on affinity, then it was only natural that he had never received anything from them before, as he already possessed all of their affinities within himself.
However, that theory was immediately disproved when she remembered that Valerie possessed the earth element and Eris a nature one.
So that meant that there had to be something more that they were missing.
It seemed like Abaddon had a great more to discover about the sin of lust than he initially realized.
And since her husband had told them he had evolved his sin into the will of desire, she was certain that there were even more frightening capabilities to be unearthed.
...
But who cares about that for now!
In this moment Seras was getting to fight against a strong opponent and she couldn't be bothered to think about anything else!
However, just as she prepared to execute another attack, Asmodeus finally made his move.
With a hard stomp on the ground, the earth beneath him trembled wildly before a loud shattering sound was heard.
It was then that Iori and Seras realized what Asmodeus had intended to do by throwing water on the ground.
All of the molten sand that was formerly surrounding him had been turned into glass in the blink of an eye.
With another hard stomp on the ground, the glass finally splintered into shards and was sent flying into the air.
Using telekinesis, Asmodeus launched them at his opponents.
"You're looking down on us too much!"
"Don't start getting boring!"
With a single swipe of their weapons, both of them easily destroyed the incoming attack.
But Asmodeus had never planned for such a thing to be more than a simple diversion and in the short time that it took them to defend, he disappeared.
In a burst of purple lightning, the demon lord appeared in front of Seras with an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry, but I can't risk playing with you any more or you just might get hurt, kiddo."
With a poke to her forehead, Asmodeus manipulated the darkness inside of her, giving it solid shape and mass.
Before Seras could react, her brainstem was cut and her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.
"It's a good thing you're part vampire..." He muttered.
He would continually use his shadows to inhibit her regeneration long enough to wrap this whole charade up and go home.
After making sure that Seras hit the ground as gently as possible, he turned his attention back to his brother in law who was looking at him like he was seeing some kind of monster.
"You weren't bluffing... You truly have the abilities of all those women?"
"I do indeed." Asmodeus said with a smile. "Want to seem my favorite?"
Without waiting for an answer, the former demon lord opened his mouth wide and unleashed a torrent of gorgeous silver flames.
Iori only had a mere moment to react before he was hit full force and sent flying back into the coliseum wall.
Booom!
Before the dust had even settled, Yara's cheers could be heard throughout the entire arena.
"KYAAA! ASMODEUS I LOVE YOU!"
Finally, Helios wrapped his daughter's body up with his tail and placed a hand over her mouth. "Please...be quiet... it's not over yet."
"ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!!"
Suddenly, a deafening roar was heard as a large shadow swept over the ruined battlefield.
Iori was a frighteningly large dragon at well over fifty meters tall.
His fiery red scales glistened majestically and his razor sharp claws made him seem like a horrifying adversary.
Behind his back beat five pairs of enormous wings that kicked up dust with even the smallest motion.
As Asmodeus stared up at the massive dragon who prepared to roast him alive, he had a profound realization.
"How funny... You're quite a bit smaller than my son."