First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1173: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Odie threw open the door with her usual cheerful expression.

It was a sight most would be delighted to see, but Michael was aptly horrified.

He immediately turned to flee. “I-I’m sorry, I have to go-”

’Waittt!!!’

Before Michael knew it, Odie was holding on to his leg in an attempt to stop him from leaving.

’You just got here, why are you leaving already?!’

Evidently, Michael seemed to find this an even worse scenario to be in.

“I made a mistake, I should not have come! Please unhand me, small human child!”

’NOOOOO!’

Michael contemplated taking off and letting Odie drop to the ground. However, if she were to get injured as a result of his decision, he may very well have never forgiven himself.

Odie suddenly stopped squeezing Michael’s leg so hard and stared up at him in suspicion.

’You’re not here to propose to me too, are you? Because I’m still in high school.’

Michael fainted almost instantaneously.

–

Michael woke up after being given the biggest bitch slap of his life.

His cheek instantly turned flame red as a deep glowing handprint was plastered onto his face.

’Auntie!’

“What?” Kanami blinked innocently. “It wasn’t that hard, he can take it.”

Michael spat out a mouthful of blood and teeth.

*Gasp!* “My rug!”

Zahara slapped the shit out of Michael and put him right back to sleep. This time, Michael’s flesh burst open and blood dribbled past his ear.

’Mommy!’

Zahara suddenly became sheepish. “I-It wasn’t that hard… and I really liked this rug!”

Odie narrowed her eyes at her mother.

“…Okay, I’m sorry.” She acquiesced.

Abaddon came over with a large ball of water floating above his fingernail.

He dropped it right on top of Michael’s face, making Odie scowl further.

“We missed the opportunity to waterboard him.” Kanami pouted.

Abaddon suddenly seemed hopeful. “Wait, he’s not awake yet, we can still try.”

Straga created a white towel out of thin air. “Do you need something to strap him to also, or-”

’Why is everyone being so mean to Mr Angel man!?!’ Odie yelled in indignation.

A natural cloud of silence fell over the room.

Odessa noticed her parents’ faces become tight and difficult to read.

She realized the problem with her words almost as soon as she said them.

Ayaana was the one to take her daughter by the hand and stare into her eyes lovingly.

“My girl… I would love to be a kind person who forgives and moves on from the past, but unfortunately, my heart is not that warm and gentle. I will hate this man until the day that he expires. Because he almost took you from me.”

A darkness suddenly filled the room.

From behind Odessa, a large shadowy creature rose out of the darkness.

It was a completely pitch-black figure that resembled a serpent from the waist down.

It had many heads, but the number was always changing. Sometimes it was only six, while at others it was twelve or even nine.

Every head appeared feline, with glowing red eyes and long whiskers like steel thread.

It’s teeth were larger than icicles dangling from a roof in the wintertime.

It possessed only two arms that ended in adorable, fluffy paws.

Ayaana smiled at the creature fondly.

She held out her hands and took one of the creature’s heads into her grasp. She lightly scratched under it’s chin and between her ears.

’…Is this all because I’m not that?’ Oie asked quietly.

Ayaana took one of her hands and grabbed Odie’s hands. “This is you. You’re just not connected. And no, it’s not because you aren’t whole. Now I just have two of you to love.

But every day that you come downstairs smiling, singing, showing me your wonderful paintings, and using internet slang that I don’t understand, I realize that I could have been deprived of all of that. Because one man was afraid of your father.

The thought of that future is what I can’t forgive. My world would have been so much darker had you not been allowed to come into it. And if anyone would so easily show such little regard for me, then how can I honestly be expected to show them any of the same?”

Ayaana tried her best to hug both the large creature and her humanoid daughter.

“I’m sorry. You must be disappointed by me. By us..”

Odie shook her head. ’I guess I’m just… not used to seeing you all like this.’

Ayaana and everyone else in the room had no idea what they were supposed to say to such a thing. They looked away as if they couldn’t stand to meet her gaze anymore.

“You don’t… need to blame them… their reaction is entirely justified.”

Weakly, Michael sat up on the sofa with his cheek already turning black and blue. Odie winced at the sight.

“I did something… irreparable. Unforgivable. I would think less of your mother, your father, and your aunt if they were still civil with me after everything that has transpired. Family should always be one’s staunchest defenders and fiercest offenders.”

“So you won’t complain if you spontaneously go up in flame?” Monica asked dangerously.

Odie narrowed her eyes at her.

“…I mean that as a simple hypothetical, of course.”

Michael shook his head regardless of whether the threat was real or not. “Indeed not. I will accept any punishment that comes my way-”

“Hey, I thought I smelled pigeon pussy!”

Abruptly, Satan came wandering into the room with his usual wide gait and booming voice.

He strode right up to Michael, grabbed him by the hair, then jammed his face into his ass.

Satan proceeded to release the most obnoxious, wall-shaking, demon-slaying fart that the earth had ever had the displeasure of hearing.

“Eww, Satan!”

“What the fuck, uncle..?!”

“Fucking hilarious.”

Satan slapped five with Straga as he left the room, uncaring for the damage he had just done to everyone’s sinuses and Michael’s self-esteem.

The archangel’s skin had become a slight green color, and his eyes watered like he had just washed them in onion juice.

“I… can endure this… I am deserving of far greater punishments… This is only me sowing the seeds that I have reaped.”

Abaddon furrowed his brow while he covered his lower face with his hoodie. “I think you mean reaping the seeds you have sown.”

Michael blinked with a dazed look. “Sorry.. I do not believe my mind is operating at optimal output at the moment…”

Straga was already texting his brothers the hilarious story of how an archangel was bested by an ultra-wet demon fart.

Everyone except Bashenga would be devastated to learn they had missed the scene.

’Bleh!’ Odie and her avatar gagged in unison.

They crumpled to the floor in pairs as they crawled away from the scene of the butt-bombing; hopelessly searching for fresh, clean air that did not burn the hair out of their noses.

Zahara spun her hand around and gathered up all of the foul-smelling air into one pocket.

Flinging open a window, she hurled it outside where it could no longer plague the inhabitants of the house.

Unbeknownst to her, her actions resulted in a patch of grass wilting and a flock of birds falling out of the sky.

While Fiona went to check on and introduce herself to Odie, Abaddon stepped forward and handed Michael the same cloth he was about to waterboard him with.

“You seem to need this.”

Michael glanced in a nearby mirror to check his condition.

His nose and eyes were running terribly. He looked no different than if he’d been hit by tear gas.

Michael reached out to take the cloth. “…Ib theems I tho. Thunk you.” (It seems I do. Thank you.)

Evidently, demon gas also had the effect of producing allergic reactions in angels. Michael sounded like his tongue and throat were swelling up.

“Why have you come here?” Abaddon asked as the angel wiped his face.

“I… wanbed do lend a hand. I thoughb abow coming to de meeting earlier, bud I couldn’t convince myself to come in time…” (I wanted to lend a hand. I thought about coming to the meeting earlier, but I couldn’t convince myself to come in time.)

Abaddon was quite aware that either he or Ayaana could have fixed Michael up in less than two-tenths of a second. However, there was also a part of him that enjoyed seeing the angel this miserable.

Even if he was a little difficult to understand.

“Please…” Michael’s voice seemed to finally recover in some way, making Abaddon frown. “I know that I still have a penance to pay… I want to do it by helping others who are in dire need. It’s what my father would want. It is what would make my mother happy.”

Abaddon found himself staring at the wings fluttering gracefully out of Michael’s back.

In that moment, he thought a lot about Odie’s capacity for forgiveness, and why it was so many leagues above his own.

No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t there yet.

“…We don’t need-”

“Holy hell… that’s it.”

Everyone in the room suddenly turned to Shin, who looked to be having a true eureka moment.

“I hope your offer to help wasn’t just empty words, Mr. Angelman. Because you may just be the key to blowing this whole thing open.”