Chapter 652: Who’ll Be First?
Night had fallen and Abaddon was in Courtney’s room tucking her in for bed.
After stuffing herself to her stomach’s maximum capacity, Courtney was going through a particularly devastating case of the itis.
She dozed off on her way up the stairs, began snoring within the bath, and couldn’t even retain consciousness long enough to hear a bedtime story.
But perhaps parting would be easier this way.
Abaddon gave the sleeping child a small kiss on her forehead. He then quietly exited the room without making so much as a single sound- closing the door behind him.
Once he was outside, he found Thrudd waiting for him with an unveiled pout on her face.
“…You don’t have to go, you know?”
“You sound like your mother.” Abaddon laughed. “And I’m aware that I don’t have to go, but it’s what I should do. I’ve never had friends before, you know?”
Thrudd thought back to her father’s adolescence and the isolation that he endured all by himself.
It wasn’t a fate that she wanted him to go back to by any means.
“…Will you really answer whenever I call?” She asked hopefully.
“Of course.” Abaddon responded without hesitation.
Thrudd only seemed satisfied when she by heard the words leave her father’s lips and she finally relented.
“Okay, I guess I’ll be fine until you get back then…”
“How magnanimous of you, daughter.”
“I know, right? I seem to have had good influences at some point, but I know that can’t be right.”
“Cheeky girl.” Abaddon ruffled his daughter’s hair playfully as they walked down the hallway.
In the back of his mind, he wondered if his recent honesty with Sif should also be shared with their second daughter.
It was perhaps the right thing to do, but a gnawing feeling in his stomach made him worry.
Thrudd was actually raised by Thor in the previous timeline.
Abaddon had only gotten to meet her once she was already in her later teen years.
If her memories were restored, he wasn’t sure if she would still have the same love for him now in comparison to the father who was actually there for her all her life.
“BOYS TRIP!”
“BOYS TRIP!”
“BOYS TRIP!”
Unexpected rowdiness broke Abaddon out of his deep thoughts and returned him to the present.
Right in the middle of his foyer, the men were in the middle of a hype circle and cheering audibly.
Once they saw Abaddon coming with Thrudd, their cheers became even louder and more enthusiastic.
“He’s here!”
“Let’s get this show underway before you change your mind, loverboy!”
“Not so fast, boys.”
On the opposing staircase, Ayaana and Sif stood with all of the men’s wives in tow.
“You all seem to be forgetting something very important. Are you really going to leave without saying goodbye?”
Abaddon’s eyes flickered with rampant interest that he couldn’t hide for the life of him.
“I would never.”
He appeared in front of Sif and Ayanna and embraced both of them at the same time.
The scene was replicated several times over as the women sought out their husbands for one last parting gesture.
Near the wall, Absalom, Belphegor, Satan, and Iori were now watching with dry gazes.
“It is true what the ancient idioms say. Single dogs must indeed eat dog food.” Absalom muttered.
His companions nodded to themselves in silence.
Save for Satan, who didn’t much care either way.
“Yea, yea, get it all out of your systems, you saps!” Darius waived his hand dismissively. “Cause from this point on, this whole trip is a women free-“
*Ding-Dong!*
Everyone inside the room paused and stared at the front door.
“I believe that’s for you.” Imani chuckled.
With a red face, Darius sauntered over to the front door and opened it in front of everyone.
There, forty different women were standing around with their arms folded impatiently.
“Seriously, Darius? Leaving without even bothering to say goodbye??”
Darius cleared his throat in embarrassment before he hesitantly stepped outside.
“I-I’ll just be out here for a minute, lads… Don’t mind me.”
Darius closed the door behind him shortly afterwards and pretended he was oblivious to their all-knowing gazes.
Twelve minutes later, he stepped back inside with no small amount of lipstick marks on his face and neck.
“…None of you bastards can afford to say anything to me.” He growled.
“I’m rich. I can afford whatever I want.” Asmodeus mocked.
“Alright, alright, enough already!” Darius pulled out a packet of wet wipes and cleaned off the lipstick on his face.
“Can we just go now?!”
“Actually, we’re still waiting for someone…” Abaddon muttered.
Darius’ head was on a swivel as he did a quick headcount of the room.
“You off your marbles? Everyone’s here already!”
“Not quite…”
At that moment, the sound of footsteps came from up the staircase to the children’s wing.
Nubia was sandwiched between Zheng and Adeline; the three of them linked arm in arm.
“Sorry to hold you up everyone.” Nubia smiled.
She glanced discreetly at her father and contacted him telepathically.
‘He’s feeling a little anxious if you can tell.’
Abaddon’s eyes widened.
‘That’s his heartbeat? I thought he swallowed a cell phone while it was still playing music…’
‘That’s not funny, dad!’
‘I’m not joking?’
Darius and Satan took a moment to stare back and forth between Zheng, Nubia, and Abaddon.
They repeated this swiveling motion four times over as their brains worked hard to formulate an explanation for this.
‘Here it comes…’ Abaddon sighed.
“BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”
“HYSTERICAL!! ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL! OUR BOY HAS HIS FIRST SON-IN-LAW!!”
Abaddon’s brow twitched.
“You bastards, it’s not that damned fun-“
“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I bet you see the perils of having daughters now, don’t you?!”
“You’ve finally fallen to the curse of-“
Abaddon reappeared between Darius and Satan and smashed their heads together like grapes.
When the foyer was finally quiet, Abaddon wiped himself off and opened up a brand new portal.
“Alright… now we can go.”
–
The group of men reappeared in a foreign sector of space.
Together, they were staring at a planet with two suns and around thrice the size of Jupiter.
The planet itself was a deep blue color with vibrant yellow landmasses that seemed like continents.
‘My home…’ Helios thought with unveiled nostalgia.
It had been thousands of years since he had last seen this place as a child, and he felt as if the world hadn’t aged a day.
But the others quickly noted a problem.
“This world is larger than what was shown on our observations…” Absalom noted.
“Significantly so at that.” Iori confirmed. “Without our full scope of abilities, fixing this place within the projected timeframe may not be possible.”
Abaddon could feel everyone’s gazes seeping into his back.
He turned towards Helios, who was also staring at him silently.
“This crusade is yours, grandfather.” Abaddon shrugged. “How we proceed is up to you.”
Helios nodded while rubbing his chin.
“Perhaps… maybe a bit of aid will in fact be necessary.” He decided.
Abaddon’s eyes glittered knowingly.
“…They won’t be quite as strong out here you know? Their detriments will be greater than what we feel.”
“Will they be useless?”
“Certainly not. But they will be easier to stop.”
Helios thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement.
“That may work out for the better. I don’t want my revenge handed to me on a silver platter afterall. We will rely on their help in keeping in touch with our deadline.”
Abaddon couldn’t help but smile with a mouthful of pointed teeth.
“This vacation is shaping up to be an interesting one indeed…”
Abaddon’s eyes became entirely black and empty.
All around the men, nightmarish figures seemed to materialize out of thin air.
They were large, terrifying creatures that would undoubtedly send even the foulest demon running away in horror.
One abyss walker was particularly big and frightening.
And yet, he flew underneath Abaddon to support him without even being asked to.
“I thought you had to use something as a catalyst to create these ugly things…” Belphegor questioned.
“Well you are technically standing within my body right now. I suppose that counts well enough.” Abaddon leaned down to pet the mount that had kindly offered to give him a ride.
“And they aren’t ugly. Just look at how cute this little guy is.” He smiled.
The so called ‘little guy’ was still well over 70 meters tall and capable of adjusting its size.
It’s face wasn’t really a face to speak of; resembling an endless row of bladed teeth within the mouth of a black worm.
So definitely not ‘cute’ either.
“…Your taste in animals is as strange as your taste in women.” Asmodeus finally said.
Abaddon immediately paused.
“…And what is that supposed to mean?”
Helios could see where this was going and he tried to stop it.
“Men, let’s please not waste our time on-“
“I mean I don’t really understand what exactly allures you physically. You’re a real enigma in that way.”
“Eh?”
“You don’t really have a type is what I’m trying to say.”
With his head finally regrown, Darius also chimed in.
“I’ll agree with that. Lisa, Ayaana, and Lillian are on the plumper side, Eris and Tatiana are more thin, and Bekka, Sif, Seras, and Val are all more muscular. What exactly is the common denominator between them all that makes you obsessive over them??”
‘Ass’ is what Abaddon thought, but that was mostly just his deviant mind talking.
“Their personalities are warm and they are full of life. Plus the fact that they are genuinely in love with any version of me, and not just the amalgamation, is all that matters.” He replied honestly.
Darius looked unsatisfied.
“…Okay, but would you say that you prefer-“
“Can we please focus!” Helios sighed.
“Alright, alright, cool your jets, Goldie.” Darius patted him on the back. “Just trying to peer into the mind of sexuality itself for a bit.”
‘A needless endeavor…’ Helios rolled his eyes.
With their minds refocused, the men trained their gazes on the planet sitting below.
“So, who’s going to be the one to make some noise first?”
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