When Helios voiced his decision, silence and shock permeated the room. The only ones who did not seem to be surprised by this turn of events were Seras, Audrina, Tiamat and Exedra himself.
His wives immediately began to protest.
“Expulsion? He has done nothing wrong!” Bekka cried.
“My king you cannot do this..” Lisa said as respectfully as possible.
“Is it because he’s a demon, you scaly bigot?!” Valerie yelled with a red face.
“This is completely unjustified!” Lailah added.
Exedra was going to say something to calm the girls down but unfortunately, Helios spoke first.
“This is quite surprising. I thought that such devoted women would have more faith in the abilities of my grandson.”
“What does our faith have to with this?” Bekka asked.
“It is really quite simple. For 900 years I have endeavored to make Antares the most powerful kingdom in the world. I have ingrained the fear of imminent death into anyone that dared to even mention the name of our family. That influence, that fear, will not be transferred to you.”
“What do you think will happen when the world learns that the fourth prince of Antares has suddenly become the seventh ruler of demons?” Helios suddenly asked.
The girls looked at each other and realized they did not know the answer.
“Nothing.” Helios answered.
“Because of my fear, my influence, the world will roll right over for him. Everything he gains be it land, resources, or weaponry, it will all have been given to him because of me. Because people will fear my retaliation. Now tell me, wives of my grandson, do you believe that is any way for a king to live?”𝚟𝒩xt.𝕔𝔬𝐌
Exedra said nothing because he already knew his grandfather’s words were true.
He’d already seen evidence of it.
Cainis was eying his legendary armor like a ravenous beast, yet he did not make any moves to take it from him.
The only rational explanation was that he was afraid to jeopardize the deal his people held with the dragons.
Exedra didn’t want to live a life like that.
If an enemy was going to fear someone it had to be him.
Audrina and the two dragon lords already understood how Antares operated.
The dragon kingdom divided other nations into two groups, those they chose not to attack and those that they already had.
They do not have allies or ‘friends’.
Helios would absolutely never allow another to casually throw his kingdom’s name around to scare others.
Exedra’s wives could not refute this reasoning. Now that Helios had pointed out to them the reasoning behind his decision, they could see how such a thing might occur in the future.
“So we can’t return to Antares in the future?” Lailah suddenly asked.
“Hm? I’m not banishing any of you. You can still drop by whenever you want but they will have to be official visits approved in advance.” Helios said.
Helios looked toward his grandson and noticed his unchanging expression.
He looked as though he wasn’t bothered by this turn of events at all.
‘No… that subtle and intense light in his eyes.. he’s seeing this as an opportunity!’
Helios had to admit, he could feel his pride overflowing as he stared at the young man in front of him. Even though he’d been nothing remarkable before, in half a year he’d turned into an existence that could not be ignored.
His power was nothing shy of frightening for his age and he was already more than capable of putting down second stage evolved.
He reminded Helios a lot of himself in his youth. Almost two thousand years ago he was the same kind of hot blooded young dragon as his grandson.
‘If it weren’t for Iori, I would have him take my place after I ascend.’ He thought fondly.
“Any complaints?” He asked, already knowing the answer.
“None at all, King Helios.” Exedra replied formally.
The golden dragon showed a wide toothy smile of approval. “What do they call you now?”
“Abbadon.”
Helios closed his eyes as he seemingly pondered something. “I can feel it. The name hold’s a great destiny.” His eyes suddenly flashed open and he began to see his grandson as a potential challenge down the line. “What does it mean?”
Exedra thought hard for a moment. He never received any information about his name, nor did he know where it came from.
But now that he’d taken the time to think about it, he knew exactly what it meant.
“Destroyer.”
Helios grinned savagely in approval.
The promise of glorious battle excited him to no end.
He suddenly stood up from his seat and prepared to leave. “Then we’ll be taking our leave, Abbadon.”
As he prepared to exit, suddenly a small feminine voice gave him pause. “My king, may I impose upon you a selfish request?”
The source of the voice was Seras and because he was curious about what his most capable warrior could possibly want, he nodded.
Seras bowed respectfully and then turned to face Abbadon on the couch.
With one look into those black and gold eyes, he already knew what she would ask for.
“I wish to feel the progress my student has made with my own body.”
Exedra lifted Audrina from her place on his lap and rose up to meet the challenge of his teacher. “Shall we go somewhere with a bit more room?”
–
Two hybrids were currently looking deeply into each other’s eyes with a distance of thirty yards between them.
After coming to the large empty field’s in front of the city, the two immediately began to inspect each other from top to bottom.
‘He hasn’t forgotten.’ Seras thought proudly.
She could feel his gaze locked onto every corner of her body. At the slightest twitch, he would move to attack. His body appeared to be fluid and relaxed, yet she could instinctively sense that he was not in any way taking this lightly.
‘Shall I tease him?’
Seras simply twitched her finger and that was enough for her opponent. He shot forward from where he stood, cracking the ground underneath him with his sudden movement.
Not letting herself be caught off guard by his impressive new speed, Seras easily matched it and their fists met in the air.
BANG!
The sound of their strikes colliding sounded like a cannonball in the ears of the onlookers nearby.
Helios noticed that although Seras was uninjured, she was briefly surprised by the strength of the blow. ‘Just how strong is he?’
Exedra on the other hand was mildly annoyed. He’d put his all into that punch just now and he couldn’t even make her step back.
‘Just like that archangel, she’s a damn monster.’ however, Exedra didn’t dislike that. This was a perfect opportunity to truly give his all and see the limits of his current abilities.
“Not bad but if that’s all you have I’ll be dissatisfied.” Seras taunted.
Exedra growled before he used his tail like a bladed whip, intending to slice her belly open.
Unfazed, Seras ducked under his tail’s massive serrated blade before launching a hard kick toward his midsection from below.
Crack!
Exedra put his arms up to defend and was surprised when Seras easily broke them.
He took a large leap backwards to put some distance between them.
“You’ve grown since I last saw you so I don’t have to hold back as much right?” Seras joked. “What will you do now? Your arms… are… ruined…”
Seras, Helios and Tiamat all watched in utter shock as Exedra’s arms immediately began to heal. Within a few seconds, it was as if they were never broken in the first place.
“That regeneration..!” Tiamat gasped in shock.
“Indeed.” Helios nodded. “It’s vampiric level.”
Their shock stemmed from the fact that while dragons do indeed possess a lot of vitality, they are in no way capable of healing wounds of that severity in the blink of an eye.
In nature there must always be balance, and because a dragon’s body is so difficult to injure in the first place, their regeneration speed is only average. Even Helios, despite his incredible and terrible power would require at least an hour or two to heal from a serious wound.
Exedra’s wives all had proud, smug faces.
They loved seeing their husband shock others and seeing it happen to someone like the dragon king was unbelievably satisfying.
‘This isn’t enough. I need to rise to her challenge.’
Exedra felt his desire for power reach a new level.
His teacher’s message was overwhelmingly clear.
‘Show me a power worthy of your title as the seventh demon king!’
He had to respond with nothing less than his absolute best.
[ Your demonic desire for power has unlocked a secondary effect of primordial demon’s will.
– Description : …
As Exedra briefly skimmed through the details of his skill, he could not suppress the urge to laugh out loud.
Everyone present watched in morbid fascination as his body began to change before their very eyes.
“Lailah?” Lisa suddenly asked.
“Yea..?” She absentmindedly replied.
“You’ve been married to him the longest, have you ever seen him do this?”
“No.. I have never seen anything like this”
Helios could not hear them and he could be seen wearing a large bestial grin.
‘Exciting! So exciting!!’