Chapter 238 Million Dollar Question



'What the hell... What was that...?' 

Braun lay on the ground coughing and trying to catch his breath as he tried to process exactly what kind of attack he'd just been hit with. 

The only thing he saw was Abaddon's strange third eye glow before his body felt like it was hit by a truck and he was sent flying into the dirt. 

His armor's chest plate was cracked, and some places even showed some signs of being disintegrated.

'What filthy power... You surely must be cleansed!' 

Just as Braun climbed back to his feet, an androgynous voice that he recognized all too well began to play in his mind.

'Braun, come home. It is our loss for today.'

Normally, the archangel would obey any order from his eminence without question, but now that his pride had been wounded he was less inclined to leave. 

'But my lord, he-'

'I know, Braun. But your abilities have not completely returned to you yet, and lust is much stronger than before. If you allow him to kill you, you will inevitably lose even more of your strength and require even more time to return to your peak.'

The archangel ground his teeth in frustration as the truth behind his lord's words sank in.

'I understand... Returning at once.'

Digging in his pocket, he wrapped his hand around the glowing white stone he carried and crushed it into powder.

His body broke apart into a shimmering starlight and he disappeared into the night with Abaddon watching silently a few feet away.

'You owe me an arm, human... I intend to collect when we meet again.' He thought in irritation. 

With no opponent left for him to face, the dragon returned back to his normal appearance before taking a glance at his parents who... seemed to be doing remarkably well on their own.

Abaddon began to pay close attention to Yara as he had never actually seen her fight before and wanted to know just how capable she was. 

In the midst of combat, Yara wasn't very talkative. 

She had no interest in any sort of mockery or mudslinging, and her sole focus was making her enemy stop breathing. 

That was how Helios had raised her to be, and it was a trait she'd carried on well into adulthood. 

Yara and Sabine were currently embroiled in a rousing bare knuckle brawl, a spectacle that should have been impossible due to the difference in power between them. 

But every time the princess landed a blow against her human opponent, she had no choice but to admit just how real this all was. 

Yara's combat prowess was exceptional, and her monstrous talent combined with her heritage as the daughter of the golden dragon was making this fight even more unfair. 

Every attack her opponent threw was either dodged with ease or blocked before a more savage blow of retaliation was dealt.

"YA!"

Sabine threw a kick aimed directly for Yara's temple but it was easily caught. 

In one smooth motion, the dragon shattered her opponent's knee with her elbow, earning a horrifying scream from the human as a result. 

With one leg already rendered useless, Yara used that moment to sweep Sabine's other leg from underneath her and send her crashing onto the ground. 

'This.. doesn't make any sense!' Sabine thought in dismay. 

Everything about this fight defied all logic and reason. 

Yara was somehow overwhelming her in a contest of physical attributes, in addition to having a combat expertise that went far beyond her own.

To make matters worse, her mana was being forcibly suppressed and she had long lost her grip on the return stone that would take her out of this silly mess. 

'Is dying here my only option?!' She thought in great annoyance. 

Her left leg was ruined and taking too long to heal, she was alone sand surrounded by multiple powerful enemies and even her trusty blade had been taken by the black demon with four arms. 

There was nowhere for her to run, and she was already long out of options. 

Left with nothing else, Sabine decided to stop struggling and resigned herself to her fate with the goal of coming back for revenge later. 

But unfortunately for her, Yara took her loss of fighting spirit as an insult and her rage became nothing short of horrifying. 

Sitting on top of her chest, Yara began to wail away at Sabine's face with her fists that contained years of her anguish. 

Why did this woman believe that she could simply give up when Yara and her son had spent so long suffering?

She had been robbed of her soulmate for almost twenty years and had grieved every single day, and now one of the ones responsible wanted to calmly walk into the afterlife?

Yara was beyond irritated. 

Sabine had to fight, she had to struggle so that Yara could break her at every conceivable level and be relieved of this regret in her heart. 

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Yara's fists continued to rain down on Sabine's face one after the other, and each blow crushed a piece of her skull and ruined her once flawless appearance. 

"You have to fight..."

Bang!

"I cannot absolve myself of my hatred if you don't fight..."

Bang!

Yara finally punched through Sabine's skull and made contact with the earth below, but she was still a slave to her rage. 

Her eyes began to glow even brighter than before, and an intense heat began to rise up from her lungs. 

"Damn it, WHY WON'T YOU FIGHTTTT!!?!?"

FWOOOOSHHH!

A blast of silver flames leapt out from Yara's mouth and reduced the pieces of Sabine's skull to ash in an instant. 

However, Yara did not seem to accept that she'd already won and instead continued to spew her potent flames on the ashes that were once her opponent's head. 

Abaddon suppressed a shudder before he turned his attention towards his father to check on his progress. 

Unlike Yara who was still lost in her rage, Asmodeus had returned to his normal calm and composed self. 

Well... almost.

The nephilim had manipulated the shadows around him to take solid form and was using them to string up the archangel he'd been facing earlier. 

Jebediah was the last of the group and was brother to Johnathan, and his fate was undoubtedly the worst out of all of his teammates. 

Stripped out of his armor and beaten to a pitiful state, the archangel had no choice but to endure as Asmodeus continually ripped non vital organs out of his body with his bare hands.

The nephilim would then wait for those parts to grow back before removing them all over again.

"GYYYAAAAHHH!!!"

"Nope, being separated from my wife and son for nineteen years hurt more than this I'm afraid." Asmodeus said with fake pity.

The former demon lord tossed a liver over his shoulder as he contemplated over what he should take next.

"Should I try a lung now? I still feel like a heart is a bit too on the nose, don't you think?"

What followed was another round of pleading followed by wailing mixed with insults as Asmodeus pulled out another organ to repeat this process all over again.

As Abaddon watched both of his parents behaving in ways that he had never even dreamed of, he wondered if it was his place to stop them. 

But after thinking about it for a while, he ultimately decided against it. 

'They needed this kind of release. This should actually be rather healthy for the both of them... right?'

-

After his parents calmed down, they immediately returned to their goodnatured and loving selves but there was a problem.

Yara was incredibly weak, and her entire body was in a great deal of pain. 

To contend with Sabine, Yara had borrowed a portion of her husband's power as a means of exacting her revenge and evening the playing field. 

But unfortunately, while Asmodeus' body was already made to handle his monstrous strength, Yara's was not. 

The drawbacks were catastrophic, and as soon as Yara returned Asmodeus' power to him, the muscles in her arms nearly liquified and most of her bones became as brittle as sandalwood. 

She was thoroughly exhausted, and so it was no surprise that she passed out after killing Sabine. 

Both her husband and son immediately flew to her side, but Asmodeus knew that the only thing he could do for now was wait. 

He was currently kneeling on the ground with Yara's head in his lap, stroking her face gently as if he was afraid to worsen her condition. 

"She'll heal but... I hope you can see now why I did not allow her to fight with me all those years ago." Asmodeus' voice seemed to be relatively normal, but Abaddon could feel just how much seeing Yara in this state had hurt him.

"I do." He said honestly.

If it were him, he already would have broken down at the sight of one of his wives in this condition. 

"She was always so determined to fight tougher battles irregardless of the toll it took on her physical body... I have spoiled her too much."

Asmodeus suddenly forced a smile onto his face and tried to lighten up the mood. "I'm sorry that you had to see your parents like that, it must have been quite the shock, no?"

Abaddon let out a dry chuckle as he straightened his mother's hair while she rested.

"There is no need to apologize to me for something like that. I have never been naive enough to envision the two of you as saints, nor did I think that your hatred had been fully absolved since you were back together. This much was well within my expectations."

He had always expected that his parents would have a rather volatile reaction if the ones responsible for their separation were to suddenly appear, and today he had been proven right. 

Although if he was honest he was still having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the same woman who used to spoon applesauce into his mouth had crushed a woman's head like a watermelon. 

The two men fell into a silence once more as they listened to the crackling sound of the embers that had yet to be extinguished, and Abaddon's eyes fell on the body of gluttony that was left behind. 

"I am sorry about your brother..."

"Hm? Ah well, it's not like we ever had that much of a relationship anyway. I just hate that he had to be killed by those disgusting pigeons." Asmodeus said with a low growl. 

"...You know that-"

"Yes my son, I know that they are not dead. It likely will not be long before we have to confront them again, although I suspect that they will be a bit more... unified."

Abaddon did not bother asking what his father meant by that, and instead kept his eyes glued to the body of his uncle. 

An idea began to worm it's way into his mind, and before he knew it he was questioning Asmodeus about it's plausibility. 

"Father... is it possible for me to bear two sins?"