First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 647: Meditation Effort

The first thing that Abaddon saw emerge from the bushes was a swollen split lip.

More specifically, Belloc's.

*Snicker.*

"Something funny, old man?!"

"That goddess strength is no joke, eh? That's quite the lump on your head, boy."

"It's your fault I got it in the first place!"

"How? I didn't tell you to snitch on your sister." Abaddon shrugged innocently.

Belloc looked like he was going to physically implode at any second.

"Please don't tease him, father-in-law."

Stheno passed through the bushes next wearing her usual robotic look.

The only minute difference was that now there were small traces of a smile on the corners of her lips.

"It's good to see you home, Sthen. I'm pleased to see you survived your time among the humans." Abaddon said warmly.

"…Not all of them were quite as bad as I remember."

Stheno led a young woman into the grove by her hand and positioned her so that she could stand in front of Abaddon.

"H-Hello, sir." With her blindfold still on, Melanie bowed slightly in front of Abaddon.

"A blindfold?" He asked.

"I didn't want either of your appearances to make her go mad." Belloc shrugged. "I want to get her better adjusted first."

'What an overprotective little rodent you are… I'm so proud.' Abaddon thought.

Abaddon shifted Erica into one arm as he reached out to take Melanie's hand and shook it.

It almost seemed like an adult was shaking hands with a child, since Melanie was only 5'6 and Abaddon was taller than her by exactly two feet.

"It's very nice to meet you, Melanie. I hope that you and my son will be very happy together… even though he's a dick."

Erica elbowed Abaddon in the ribs.

"Kidding, kidding." (He wasn't kidding.)

While Melanie giggled, Abaddon turned his eyes towards the other inhabitants standing around him.

Zheng was a very seasoned veteran in the field of espionage and assassination who had seen and done many horrible things.

But he was as pale as a sheet as he stood awkwardly next to Adeline and Nubia; almost like he was afraid to draw too much attention to himself.

Abaddon met his daughter's gaze and noticed her nervousness that was practically bubbling over.

"Is there something that you wanted to say?" He asked.

"That… I just wanted to know if you intended to give me your blessing too… o-or if you were upset with me."

Erica looked up at Abaddon like she too was waiting to hear an answer.

"Not at all, Nubia. Forgive me if I've given you that impression. I trust your judgment."

'More sincere.' Erica whispered.

Abaddon lowered his head. "It is my sincere hope that you three will be very happy together… and of course you have my blessing."

'Good boy.' Erica kissed him softly on the cheek.

Nubia seemed taken aback by her father's almost bipolar change in attitude.

She looked towards her mother as the culprit and found her winking back at her.

'You know your father means well, dear. He's just a little bit less clearheaded when it comes to you girls.'

Nubia stared at her mother suspiciously.

'…And what kind of tricks did you have to use to get him to see that?'

'No tricks… yet~' Erica nuzzled even closer to Abaddon than before. 'Tell me, Nubby, do you want a new brother or a sister?'

Nubia physically gagged.

Abaddon left the clearing to rejoin the party with Erica still cozying up to him like a fox.

"Well… I guess everything worked out for the best and I didn't deserve to be hit at all, did I?" Belloc grumbled.

Nubia moved faster than he could follow and snapped his neck like dry pasta.

"W-What was that noise??" Melanie asked nervously.

"Pay it no mind, kind Melanie." Stheno dismissed. "Just a family squabble we are not going to get involved in."

"Oh… okay."

-

The sound of screaming filled a boundless black void from what felt like every direction.

At it's epicenter was a body bound in black chains.

Every layer of it's skin had been peeled away like a potato- and now the individual being afflicted was unrecognizable.

But it was clear that it was a woman.

Around her, there were eleven different women digging inside of buckets and hurling a mixture of salt and lemon juice onto the exposed flesh.

With every new and painful sensation, the tortured woman let out a new bloodcurdling scream and struggled against her chains in vain.

"My hands are getting sticky… I'm glad I was invited to participate, but who decided on this method today?" Sif suddenly asked.

"Bekka's been having a craving for lemon flavored things, so I'm sure that this is just an offshoot of that." Lillian shrugged.

Bekka would neither confirm, nor deny the woman's allegations.

"I don't particularly mind this one, but we get to do my bamboo shoot idea next, right??" Eris asked with big eyes. Stay informed with NovelFire|emp|y,r.

"Aww, of course dear."

"She's so adorable even when she's thinking about torture."

"That's our sweet Eris."

The dark elf still wasn't quite sure why she received the most coddling in her family despite being among the oldest, but by now she had already given up on correcting her image.

Besides… being coddled wasn't so bad.

"So, tonight is the night isn't it?" Tatiana suddenly asked.

Sif looked down at her feet as she hurled another handful of salt.

"About that… I was actually going to back out if I am being honest… I don't think trying to coax him into saying that he loves me will have very much meaning behind it.

B-Besides, I'm no good with plans, and if he's acting too oblivious then I might just punch him without thinking and-"

Lailah: "You don't need to overthink this so much, Sif. What is the advice we gave you?"

"Get him drunk and take advantage of him?"

"What? No!"

"That was Val's advice!"

This time, Valerie would neither confirm, nor deny such an accusation.

Lisa sighed in disappointment.

"No, you don't need to use any underhanded methods or anything like that. Just talk with him, and make sure you hold onto his attention and attraction."

Tatiana: "Correct, but don't seduce him."

"What the hell is the difference!?"

All: "If you seduce him he'll just jump on you."

"Oh…right."

Sif could easily see how something like that happening wouldn't be very conducive to a conversation.

Lailah gave Bekka a nod and the tiangou waived her hand over their fair ice giant.

"It seems like you need a little push, so we're going to aid you just this once."

When Sif felt herself suddenly leaving the space, she immediately panicked.

"W-Wait, wait, wait!! I'm not ready to look at himmm!!!!!"

-

At the same time that the girls were plotting, Abaddon was hundreds of miles away from the manor.

Specifically, he was in an underground cave much like the one he and the girls spent their wedding night in.

Though this time, he was here with a greater purpose than attempted procreation.

For the past couple of days now, Abaddon had been meditating in silence.

His energy was being fully utilized on calming his heart and mind through repetitive meditation and concentration.

…He couldn't say whether or not this endeavor of his was working.

He felt calmer, yes, but he also felt like he was in need of certain stimuli to see how far he had come.

So for the first time in several days, Abaddon opened his eyes.

His body was still suspended in the air above the crystal lake within the cave, and his mind was feeling somewhat refreshed.

After stretching for a bit, the first thing he did was pull out his phone and call a very particular group chat.

One person answered in under three seconds.

The other almost let the phone go to voicemail before answering.

Kanami: "Brother!"

Malenia: "What do you want? I'm working."

Abaddon stared at his younger sisters with unveiled scrutiny.

"Maybe it didn't work… looking at you two annoys me just as much as it did before."

"Yeah right, you love us." Kanami rolled her eyes.

"You have no proof of that." Abaddon dismissed.

"Oh yea? Watch this!"

A hole appeared in the air right above Abaddon's head and a familiar red-haired musclehead dropped out of it and landed on his back.

Kanami squeezed her brother so tightly from behind that she very nearly broke his neck.

"See? You wouldn't let me do that if you didn't love me."

"Curse your logic.." Despite his grumbling, Abaddon did return his sister's embrace in kind.

When they separated, the two of them stared into the phone at the second eldest.

"…What? Did you rodents not hear me tell you that I was working??"

"…"

"…I'll remind you both that it is exam season and the amount of work on my plate is more than 30% greater than what it normally is!"

"…"

"…God damn you brats!"

A brand new portal opened up in the air and Malenia finally joined the pair of siblings.

""Sister!""

"Yea, yea." Malenia rolled her eyes as she stuffed down a smile. "I hope you two didn't think that I was coming here empty handed."

Suddenly, the largest stack of papers that Abaddon and Kanami had ever seen came floating into the cave behind her.

""…Fuck.""

- 5 Minutes Later..

Now, all three siblings were sitting at their own individual desks as they cut through the ungodly stacks of paper as a team.

"This is so much work… brother, why don't you get our sister an aide to help her with this stuff??" Kanami asked.

Abaddon put his pen down and glared at Malenia.

The silver haired dragon lowered her head and tried to make herself seem as small as possible.

"…She fired them, didn't she?" Kanami guessed.

"Within four days!" Abaddon roared.

"I can't be bothered with training people, it slows me down too much! It's faster if I just do things myself!" Malenia said defensively.

"Oh, I get it… you're a psychopath." Kanami realized.

Abaddon nodded in agreement.

Malenia couldn't muster up the strength to defend herself and caved underneath the two-pronged assault of her siblings.

Since Kanami couldn't fix her sister even with two hundred hours in therapy, she turned to her brother instead.

"I was surprised when you suddenly holed up in here with no warning. I thought you were going to try yoga with our mothers first."

"I did, but their poses were a bit more.. intimate than I was comfortable with." He shuddered. "And once our father popped up like the road runner, I abandoned the practice as fast as I was able."

All three siblings gagged uncontrollably.

Having parents who love each other is nice, but the lingering downside is that one ends up seeing far too many things that scar them for life.

"So was this more fruitful? Do you feel better in control of yourself?"

"Well-"

"SHIIIITTTTTT!!!!"

Out of nowhere, a familiar black hole opened up in the ceiling and spat out a teary-eyed ice giant.

Sif crash landed into Abaddon's lap with tremendous force.

Due to her sudden jerking movement, one of her breasts accidentally popped out of her shirt.

"…Nope. I'm not in control of myself at all."