Chapter 341 Sheol : Haven of Dragons
Before the group could knock on the door to Abaddon's bedroom, it opened on it's own instead.
Upon taking a look at the nine people inside, there was only one conclusion that they could reach.
"You guys look like shit." Asmodeus muttered.
Normally Yara would have chastised her husband for such a crude remark, but she had to admit, she couldn't exactly find any other way to describe her son and his wives either.
While they were still as charming and beautiful as always, they looked like they'd had a rough night.
The skin of the girls was glowing, but it was easy to tell they were all in dire need of more sleep.
To make things even stranger.. they weren't even standing.
All eight of them were simply floating a few inches of the ground, with their legs dangling limply.
It was easy enough to tell what'd happened to them at least.
But Abaddon on the other hand was a real mystery.
He was standing in the doorway, rubbing his ripped stomach and making a slightly uncomfortable expression.
"Father, are you unwell?" Apophis asked in concern.
"I'm fine, my son... Just digesting a large meal is all."
"Digesting??"Asmodeus made an absurd face as he raised a brow in surprise. "I highly doubt you were eating in there so what's the real reason?"
Suddenly, Abaddon's father had a bit of a lightbulb moment as he looked at his son warily.
"Son... when people say 'eat pussy' they don't actually mean-"
Pow!
Bang!
This time, Yara and Abaddon delivered twin punches to Asmodeus' gut, causing him to double over and cutting off his words.
But it was too late, for the damage had already been done.
"Daddy eats kitties?!" Mira cried in terror.
"N-No!" Abaddon corrected.
"Just about every chance he gets..." Valerie muttered dreamily.
"Cleans his plate~.." Added Audrina.
"And that's not all he eats-" Bekka began.
This time, it fell upon Lisa to give her sisters three lightning quick elbows to the gut, reminding them that now wasn't quite the time for such a discussion.
But again, it was already too late, and Mira already saw her father as a kitten eater.
She would never look at him the same ever again.
Apophis and Thea wouldn't either, but for entirely different reasons.
'I can never drink after him again...'
'Maybe I should move out.. I don't think it's normal for a child to know this much about their parent's sex lives...'
Gabbrielle on the other hand had her focus on entirely different matters.
Breezing past her brothers and sisters, she came to a stop right in front of her father and placed a hand on his stomach, right above his navel.
Immediately, she felt an abundance of energy coursing through his very being.
Enough to power the ecosystem of an entire planet.
"H-How did you...?"
Abaddon smiled and ran his hands through his youngest daughter's hair.
"Can't you just let me surprise you for once? It seems you're always sniffing things out before I can show you."
Gabbrielle remained thoroughly unamused and continued staring at her father like she was waiting for an answer.
Unfortunately, she wasn't likely to be getting one anytime soon as her father walked right past her without caring to elaborate any further.
"Come along now, you lot. Today will be a day we will all remember for the rest of our lives."
-
Abaddon and his family passed through the grand hall, and were greeted with respectful bows from two palace guards.
As they continued their walk towards the ceremony, their eyes landed on a few very well known associates.
Hajun was there with an armful of presents for his granddaughters, as well as the sister-in-law Isabelle and Abaddon's six vampire lords.
Darius was also standing nearby, looking mighty pleased that his transformation into a true dragon had elevated him to a whopping 5'6 in height.
And with his dark bronze scales that almost resembled his fallen friend's, he was feeling himself quite a bit.
Due to his newfound confidence, he wasted no time flirting with the closest women available, which happened to be Abaddon's sisters and aunt.
All three seemed to be utterly repulsed by him, and it was clear that the only reason he hadn't been sent flying yet was because none of them wanted to ruin these beautiful halls with blood.
Even the family pets Entei and Bagheera were in attendance, wearing cute little bowties that someone had likely forced onto them.
But standing in the corner looking unsure of her place was Lailah's mother, the former witch queen Sei.
After ingesting Abaddon's blood, she now had a noticeable pair of dark curled horns on her head, and her eyes were no longer white but a vibrant emerald instead.
In the past, Abaddon likely would have had this woman kicked out without a second thought.
Hell, he would have probably killed her when she drank his blood without permission.
But he saw things when he molded her soul.
There were some that weren't his place to know or speak about, but there was one thing that stood out to him in particular.
After Lailah freed her mother and sisters, they were about halfway to the human continent before Sei stopped and told them she wanted to go back.
Unsurprisingly, her twin daughters had absolutely no interest in returning back to their cruel sister, and they even called her more than a few names.
However, Sei was having none of it and remained firm in her decision.
In the end, she gave the two girls the pouch of gold Lailah had given her and left them without another word, determined to make things right with her estranged daughter.
And Abaddon... he could respect something like that.
He wasn't sure how to feel after everything that he had seen in Sei's memories but... he at least could say that he did not hate her anymore.
And when the two of their eyes met, he showed her a short yet courteous nod of approval.
He then pretended not to see the surprised and slightly lustful look in her eyes and decided it was best that he keep walking.
'Honestly... this new face of mine causes me a significant amount of trouble.'
He had always been able to elicit dramatic reactions from people with his looks but things were now much more exaggerated than before.
If he was weak with this sort of appearance, he had no doubt that he would have ended up chained up somewhere as someone's boytoy.
It was a scary thing to think about.
Suppressing a small shudder, Abaddon calmly took a deep breath before he pushed open the doors to the balcony, and allowed the morning sun to strike him directly on the chest.
"It's starting, it's starting!"
"It's the dragon god!"
"All of his children are so beautiful looking.."
Both above and below the balcony, there were dragons as far as he eye could see.
Some were lining the streets and looking up in wonder, others were in their true forms, flapping their wings and hovering in the sky above.
It was then that Abaddon realized just how big of a deal this was judging by the size of the crowd.
It felt like there were over ten million people crammed into the streets of the capital city, with each of them clamoring to get a look at the one the visitors called the dragon god.
Those who knew him from before were rather alarmed see that Exedra looked nothing like his former self.
All that he had to resemble the him of the past were the strange tattoos on his body that seemed to be constantly shifting and swirling.
As always, Abaddon could feel and frankly unhealthy amount of lust being directed towards his figure.
However, he wasn't necessarily caught off guard by this.
His looks seemed to have the largest effect on dragons, true, noble, and lesser alike.
And since his people tended to have incredibly active libidos, every time he stepped out of his castle he was almost certain that they were going to try to pounce on him.
Luckily, he had married his own personalized security team to halt such things.
As the one the people were most familiar with, Hajun stepped up to begin the ceremony.
"People of Antares! I know that recent times have been trying and we are all mourning and searching for a path forward. But make no mistake, today represents the light at the end of the tunnel!"
Hajun stepped to the side and gestured for Abaddon to come forward, and the crowd went absolutely wild.
"I present to you your new and true ruler, The Black Dragon; Abaddon Tathamet!"
Cheers, applause and praises erupted into the air, all without Abaddon saying or doing anything.
Fervent praise always did tend to make him a bit awkward, so he merely smiled wryly as a result.
Holding up his hand, the sea of people in front of him quieted down in an instant.
Using his telepathic abilities, he opened up his mind and spoke directly to every dragon on the continent of Antares, both near and far.
'This day... it almost feels like a dream. As a boy, I recall standing a bit farther behind where I am now and watching my grandfather give speeches.'
It was at this moment that everyone recalled the Golden Dragon and his noble personality that made him seem like he was unconquerable by all.
It was incredibly hard to believe that a man like that was dead, and even more so that he had been killed by his own son.
'My grandfather and I did not always get along, but we were family. We had an unspoken relationship that I believe only the two of us could have understood.
With his journey to eternal rest, he has left me in charge of you, the people he held so dear. He would have me lead and guide you, but I am going to do more than that.'
Sprouting his wings, Abaddon let his body be carried up into the sky among the other dragons.
His body started to elongate and bulge outward, as he became a massive five-headed dragon with the lower body of a serpent and multiple pairs of creepy wings.
Without even understanding why, every single dragon either fell to their knees or lowered their heads as a sign of reverence.
'I am going to make every single one of you indomitable by even the heavens, just as he was!'
Blood began to flow from the scales on Abaddon's body in horribly tremendous amounts.
It bled into the clouds in the sky, turning them a deep and rich red color before they started to cover the 45 million square kilometers that made up Antares.
'I ask you now, drink of my blood and achieve rebirth, then watch as I take you to a place where our kind may grow our strength beyond any metric, and stand atop the heavens!'
Almost on cue, Abaddon's blood began to fall from the clouds above and painted the entirety of Antares dark red.
Every single dragon and dragonnewt around began scrambling to catch a bit of the precious red water into their mouths, and then immediately fell unconscious.
Those who had already been remade by Abaddon's blood ingested some too, and enjoyed the boost in the body's condition that came with it.
Abaddon felt billions of new connections forming within his mind, and he knew it was time for the grand finale.
'To grow, we cannot stay here! So now my people, I will take you to a place that will not only support our growth, but enhance it!'
Before anyone could ask what he meant, people started to vanish out of thin air.
Similar to the use of the void element, dragons suddenly seemed like they were being erased from existence.
Even the entire royal family was gone, and soon the world's number 1 power of Antares was entirely empty.
The only things left behind were the homes and buildings that had been left abandoned, and the ominous black dragon hovering in the sky above.
"I feel like I'm eating so much today... I need to lay down." Abaddon muttered.
But before the demonic dragon could rest, there were just a few more things that he had to do.
Turning his gaze towards the ocean, he held out his massive clawed hand and used his power over water to begin a massive undertaking.
The calm waters suddenly became choppy and rough, and soon enormous tidal waves started to form on the surface of the water.
'Ah... I should get everyone from Renanin, Apeir, and Upyr as well.' He thought suddenly.
Abaddon opened up a portal and vanished from the space above, just as an enormous tidal wave swept across the entire continent of Antares, sinking it into the bottom of the ocean.
-
Billions of dragons started to appear within an area that not a single one of them recognized.
Standing on clouds and staring up at a sky that was swirling with purple and black colors, none of them had any idea where this place could be.
But in that moment, their god and ruler appeared out of thin air above them, and gave them some much needed clarification.
"My people, I welcome you to Sheol! This will be our home for trillions of years to come, and it is here that we will become indomitable by all forces above and below!!"