First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1069: Fighting with Myself

Abaddon had heard his wives say that he could be difficult to deal with. He never disputed that, and usually let those comments run off his back like water off a duck’s bill.

But if this was what he’d been subjecting them to all of this time… he owed them a far bigger apology than he initially realized.

Young, sickly Abaddon, or Exedra, was a god damn-know it all. All he did was hover over the others and call them meateads and say they were doing shit wrong. Wheezy bastard.

Carter was just as annoying, but worse. Every time someone provoked him, he tried to use one of their powers against them in an exaggerated anime style that they hadn’t done since they first transmigrated.

It was embarrassing, and frustrating.

*Doom, doom, doom…!*

A fierce rumbling ensued as eldritch Abaddon stomped around while trying to put puzzle pieces together.

However, having bladed hands makes performing delicate tasks like puzzle forming rather difficult.

When the big guy couldn’t get the pieces together, he resorted to smashing his head into the floor and causing dramatic seismic tremors.

Abaddon was depressed just looking at himself.

“BASTARDSS!! Your antics dishonor us!!” M’anari Abaddon yeled.

All of the variants turned to face the ancient warrior with straight faces.

“…Shut your dumb ass up.” Western dragon Abaddon responded.

“Fucking He-Man rip off…” Carter folded his arms. “Look like god damn No-Man.”

Of the two of them, Carter was the easier target. Which was why he was always getting picked on.

“What did you say to me, titties?”

“I’ll kill you!”

Another fight broke out shortly after, and the other variants cheered it on like they were watching Saturday football.

The trash-talking only made this thing more of a spectacle.

“You suck, you bastard! All that time on ancient earth and you never took a decent bath!”

“Speak clearer, cattle! I can’t hear anything over the sound of your heavy breathing!”

Abaddon groaned audibly as he held his head.

The sound was apparently loud enough to catch the attention of the nine others around him.

He uncovered his eyes, and he found all of them staring at him with blank, saucer-like eyes.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Eastern dragon Abaddon pointed.

“You’re aura is seething with irritation.” Demon Abaddon added.

Instead of answering, center Abaddon walked away from himselves.

The other versions of themselves looked around in confusion, not understanding his current behavior.

But Abaddon was exhausted with the antics. His sole focus became to do what he could, the best way he knew how.

Abaddon kneeled among the puzzle shards and started analyzing the pieces.

The fragments were about an inch long and wide, with a shimmering white light reflected instead of a reflection.

Abaddon started looking around for the missing piece. As difficult as it may have seemed.

Eventually, he grew tired of looking and picked up a random piece by his foot, intending to jam the pieces into place. Perhaps it was his frustration that had brought him to this point.

To his surprise, when they connected, a red light poured out.

A wave of heat blasted his skin. Abaddon felt like he had been struck by pure malevolence.

He recognized it instantly, of course. It was his own.

“I remember that day.”

He glanced over his shoulder to find M’anari staring into the pieces Abaddon had smashed together.

To Abaddon, it still looked like a shining light.

“…You can see this?” He held up the fragment.

M’anari nodded.

He brought a finger to the surface of the puzzle and poked it.

A ray of light burst forth and hit the ceiling.

When Abaddon blinked, he could see that he was no longer within that isolated black space.

He was in the midst of a sprawling savannah. The orange glow of the midday sun warmed his back and the top of his head for the last time before setting.

He could see himself kneeling beside a younger version of Kanami. She was wounded in an animal attack, and losing quite a lot of blood with every moment that passed.

The animal responsible for injuring her was a large crocodile they didn’t notice in the water.

When they went for a swim, Kanami nearly had a chunk taken out of her leg.

It took all of Abaddon’s strength to pry open the crocodile’s jaw so that she didn’t lose her leg.

Up until that point in his human life, Abaddon had never felt that much malevolence for anything or anyone.

After viewing the full memory, the light died down and he returned to that black landscape.

Only this time, he could no longer see that ancient version of himself from before. The others couldn’t seem to find him either.

Abaddon took another look at the puzzle fragment he held.

It was far larger than before, and now he could actually make out a bit of what was inside- the faintest bit of red locks and golden whisps.

At that moment, a realization dawned on him.

“…All of you, start trying to put pieces together regardless of whether or not they fit. Don’t just get angry and force them, try to feel different emotions while you’re working.”

Exedra was the first one to try and put this new plan into action.

He gathered up a few pieces and started trying to fit them together.

After some doing, an arc of blue light arose from the fragments.

This time, everyone could see two different scenes playing at once.

In one, Exedra stared longingly through a window back at the castle.

His gaze was firmly affixed on Lailah and Bekka, who were joining his mother out in the garden for their usual tea.

Judging by his body language, he clearly wanted to go and join them, but he dared not for reasons that were known only to him.

In the second scene, he was staring at a large, beautiful frost giant. He hid a small bouquet of flowers behind his back as he spoke anxiously to her.

Once again, when the scene was over, they were one Abaddon short, but they were in much better standing.

The puzzle now looked around fifteen percent complete. The remaining pieces had separated themselves into organized piles.

The pieces Abaddon and Exedra had put together had somehow fused on their own.

Now, they could better see the outline of what appeared to be a jaw. The skin was a deep, glossy black. At least at first glance, anyway.

When one took a closer look at the skin, it appeared to have small white flecks within it.

“Stars…” Carter guessed.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a yellow light burst from the puzzle pieces he was holding.

The current scene was a sadder one, but not hopeless.

It depicted a very young Carter, sitting outside underneath Imani’s watchful arm.

Together they stared up into the night’s sky. Carter pointed out the first star he saw emerge from the clouds and Imani smiled proudly.

Yes, it’s a star. And it’s as bright and as bold as you.

When the scene concluded, Carter had disappeared as well. However, there was also a new phenomenon occurring with the remaining bodies.

Put simply, they had all lost their form. Instead, they appeared as masses of shadowy energy with glowing eyes and no mouths to speak out of.

“I guess… we’re blurring together.” One of them said.

“And when we finish we’ll see our new face?” Another guessed.

“Sure, but… what’s it mean? This can’t be the crux of it, can it..?” Added a third.

The remaining five were beside themselves.

“Hopefully, we’ll be a bit farther along in terms of your inheritance.” A familiar voice said.

Abaddon heard the sound of shoes clicking off the hard black floor.

From the darkness, Oblivion emerged wearing a small smirk and with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Our Valerie is quite a genius. This will give us the perfect opportunity to reshape ourselves, since we need to get better prepared for everything that’s about to come. You need more power than just opening and closing doors. But it won’t come easy.”

Immediately, all of the Abaddons were alarmed.

“What’s going on? What’s coming?” One of them marched forward.

“I’m sorry.” Oblivion shook his head. “When we’re whole, you’ll understand why I can’t say. Shit’s unjust, but… rules are rules. Even more so for us.”

“That won’t cut it. What’s coming? Percival?? Chaos or Balance? The End War?”

Oblivion shook his head no to all of those questions. It set off all kinds of alarm bells in Abaddon’s mind.

“This’ll probably be the last time we can meet for a while. Just know, whatever happens… make the pain mean something.”

With that said, Oblivion broke down into seven identical whisps and entered all of Abaddon’s bodies at exactly the same time.

The dragon felt a change overtake him. Greater than he’d ever known.

He felt something inside of him get swallowed up.

At first, he felt empty with the new space inside of his soul.

But after taking a moment to think about it, he realized that was incorrect.

This wasn’t emptiness; it was boundlessness.

And with understanding, there came a sea of calm inside of him. Oblivion’s ominous warning no longer phased him.

He felt assured. Steady-handed.

One of his bodies started to turn towards the others. “Let’s get this done and…”

Abaddon’s words trailed off. There was no longer a point to them.

He was the only one left.

hooray for new enemies!