First Demonic Dragon

Capítulo 1194: Pushing A Rock Uphill

“I miss the red light district. I was never more inspired than when I strolled through the streets and people-watched… it was truly lovely.”

“Every time I think about what you write about and what you spend your free time looking at, I feel slightly concerned when I visualize you participating in these activities.”

“Why is that?”

Thea opened and closed her mouth like a fish as she stared at her very diminutive sister.

“…No reason. I’m sure I’m just being unnecessarily sensitive.”

She wasn’t, but Abaddon was too busy concentrating to back up her concerns.

“Dad, this isn’t working…” Mira winged. “It seems like the more tears we patch up, the more seem to show up.”

Abaddon frowned, having already noticed the issue. His options, however, were limited at present. He still wasn’t feeling any better, and this was beginning to take longer than he thought it would.

“…Maybe we should just forget about the whole thing.” Mira suddenly said.

Out of everything that her sisters thought she would suggest, that had to be close to the bottom of the list.

“We can’t just go home, we need-”

“I didn’t say just go home and let everything die. But why don’t we just recreate the timeline instead of trying to repair something that’s clearly not working?”

“Because unless we can transfer the uncountable number of living souls from one timeline to another in the infinitesimally small interval before we let the universe decay and collapse in on itself, then we will be creating a timeline filled with copies, not the genuine people affected.” Thea reminded.

“Welllll, we just so happen to have the answer to that, don’t we???” Mira drifted from her position and grabbed her sister under the arms, holding her above her head like the opening scene of an animated lion movie.

“…Is this necessary?”

“It’s for dramatic effect, stay still!”

Gabbrielle acquiesced, but she confessed to finding her current positioning rather awkward.

Abaddon and Thea were slightly amused, but decided not to show it in an effort to spare Gabbrielle’s pride.

“With infinity herself on our side, a literal moment can last as long as we want it to! We can transfer everyone to the new timeline once it’s made, and it probably wouldn’t even take all of us to do it either.”

“How very odd of you to just volunteer my powers for this task.” Gabbrielle huffed.

“Will you do it?”

“Yes, but I would have liked to be asked first.”

Mira brought her sister to her face and nuzzled her cheek. “Aww, I’m sorry! I just knew you would help because you’re such an angelic cutie patootie.”

“…A most astute observation.”

Abaddon was actually a little impressed by his daughter. As was Thea.

“It’s a good plan, kiddo. Let’s give it a try.”

Thea inserted her hand into the decaying timestream and closed her eyes.

Passively, her divinity helped her to memorize everything that ever was and ever would be.

After several minutes of concentration, Thea held her hand out over her head.

Right before everyone’s eyes, a new, incomplete timeline was born above the decaying one.

While she worked, Abaddon appeared beside Mira and patted her on the head warmly.

“You have some pretty bright ideas in that head of yours, pumpkin. I’m impressed.”

Mira wrinkled her brow. “I’m offended that you sound surprised. I know I don’t look like it, but I’m an adult now, Dad. I have more than just cookies on the brain now.”

“The minifridge beside your bed filled with cookie dough would beg to differ.”

“I’m a single woman who spends her nights alone, I can eat what I want!” Mira insisted.

Abaddon and Gabbrielle rolled their eyes,

“B-Besides, this was easy for me to figure out.” Mira fixed her hair. “I’m really good with time magic and stuff. It’s my absolute favorite!”

This revelation was something that had escaped Abaddon’s knowledge thus far. He tried to play things cool, but he felt a small inkling of jealousy.

“Oh, really…? I would have thought it would have been ice magic since we spent so much time working on it when you were young…”

“Eh, yeah, but the whole goddess thing makes it kind of second nature. Time magic just feels like so much more of a challenge, you know? It’s exhilarating.”

Abaddon’s brow twitched. “…Interesting.”

“Isn’t it?? Time is so unruly and stuff, and sometimes, when I have difficulty getting a spell to work, I just talk to it politely, and it feels like things just get easie-”

“Wait, wait..” Abaddon held up his hand, his headache intensifying. “You… talk to it? To time?? Does it ever talk back?”

Mira chuckled. “Yeah, dad, it tells me when it’s bedtime and how long I can leave Hot Pockets in the microwave before they burst.”

“Mira, I’m not joking.” Abaddon grabbed his daughter by her shoulders. “I need to know if you have ever heard ‘time’ itself speak back to you.”

It was rare for Mira to see her father this agitated by something. Her eyes immediately betrayed her concern.

“What, Dad, no. Why would you…” Mira’s eyes slowly widened. “…You think that other guy can hear me? Father Femboy??”

“…Did you just come up with that?”

“I did, do you like it?”

Abaddon sighed with a wry smile. “I need you to be sure, Mira. If you’ve ever heard even so much as a whisper, then-”

“I haven’t, Dad. Really.” Mira touched his shoulder.

Abaddon slowly released his daughter’s shoulders and brought a hand to his head.

“I’m… I’m sorry, Mira. I just… There are so many unknowns with this…” Abaddon gestured to himself. “‘Egoless’ thing… Your mothers and I are unsure of who we can trust and with how much we can trust them.”

“I get it, Dad, really. You guys aren’t sure if you can make friends yet.”

Abaddon nodded.

“That’s very smart of them. I can’t say that we’re particularly friendly.”

Suddenly, the dragons felt their entire bodies tense up.

A voice came from above their heads. It was horrifically unnatural and unsettling, yet feminine at the same time.

They followed the source of the sound upwards, where a horrifying woman greeted them with a smile.

“Look at how they treat those who don’t want to do things the same way as they do..? They broke this poor little brain of mine, and I haven’t been right since… but it’s okay. I’m still pretty, aren’t I?”

Mira, Gabbrielle, and Thea were all frozen with shock. Only Abaddon was even moderately in control of himself.

He immediately put Thea and Mira behind his back as he glared back at the woman who looked so much like Nyx that it was haunting.

She met his gaze head-on and smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you! Or should I say it’s nice to see you again?? Oh, all of this is just so confusing that I don’t know what to do with myself, do you?”

“What are you doing here, Caligo?” Abaddon asked impatiently.

A demented warmth was woven into the egoless’ smile. “Ohh…” She swooned. “He gave you that name. That’s nice, that’s so nice. Since you know it, we’re practically like family now, aren’t we? I mean, it isn’t like blood could make us any closer!”

Abaddon felt some pain in his chest.

When he looked back at Caligo, she was holding his heart in her blood-soaked hand.

“But if it could, we’d be like siblings by now, wouldn’t we? Isn’t mortality so cute? Hahahahaaha!!”

“Dad!” Thea yelled.

“I’m fine, Thea!” Abaddon bellowed without looking back. “Don’t stop what you’re doing, you know what will happen if you do!”

“But-”

“THEA-NICOLE!!”

Thea winced as she heard her father’s commanding voice directed at her. Begrudgingly. She turned her gaze back towards the timeline she was creating. She practically shoveled all of the energy she possessed into it to speed up the creation process.

Caligo shivered as she chucked Abaddon’s heart over his shoulder.

“Oh, my… so tense..! This isn’t how I wanted this meeting to go, oh no, no no..! We should be singing. Dancing! Making jolly, sex, war, and conversation! That’s what families do when they haven’t seen each other in such a long time! Oh, it’s usually so very hard to see you, so we shouldn’t waste this chance!”

Abaddon blinked, and Caligo was directly in front of his face, rubbing his face.

“Oh? Not in the best condition, are we? Eating more than you can handle, what a greedy, greedy boy. Eternity won’t take it back, will he? Oh, he’s vindictive like that, but don’t take it to heart… or do. I did both, and I’m so marvelously well adjusted!”

Abaddon opened his mouth and released a beam of energy from the depths of his soul.

There was a bright flash of light, and the blow connected.

However, when Abaddon’s vision pierced through the lightshow, he saw a loss of hope.

Caligo held a coffee mug in front of her face like a telescope. All of the energy from Abaddon’s attack went inside without spilling over even a drop.

When ABaddon’s beam ceased, Caligo turned the cup right side up.

A blanket appeared around her shoulders as she sipped from the steamy mug and released a contented sigh.

“Ah… I just love the mortal winter aesthetic. It’s so novel. Don’t you agree, Oblivion?”

Abaddon’s teeth were clenched tight enough to break.

‘Girls, get ready to run.’

‘What?! No, dad, we’re not leaving you here to-‘

‘This is not a debate!!’

When Abaddon took too long to respond, Caligo turned her lips downward in a horrific pout. “Oh… you must not think so.”

With sad eyes full of tears, Caligo stared into her cup.

But suddenly, her face brightened up as a new idea crossed her mind.

“I know! You just haven’t tried it yet! Here, have a taste!”

Before Abaddon could do anything, Caligo splashed the contents of her mug at him.

Abaddon had only moments to defend himself from his own attack with more than quadruple the power.