Maybe it was because Lailah was his first woman, but she was the one to feel that something was wrong.
Crash!
The tea cup she was holding in her hand shattered as she dropped it on the ground, and she immediately doubled over, hyperventilating.
“Mommy!”
“My lady!”
“Lailah!”
At that moment she was surrounded by her family, and they all came rushing to her side.
But the young witch could not speak, she could barely even breathe.
And after a few seconds, the rest of the wives were able to understand why.
“No… this can’t be…”
“I can’t feel him… I can’t feel him!”
“What is going on!? What happened to him!?”
One by one, all of the girls collapsed alongside Lailah, and began wailing from what was undoubtedly the worst heartbreak imaginable.
–
“You can’t rest here… You know that you have to go back.”
‘Five more minutes… I’m having such a good dream.’
“Oh? And what might it be about?”
‘I’m… a child again… but I still have all of my memories. I can redo everything… and I can make sure that I emerge stronger this time…’
“Still so cute and spoiled after all of this time… You have already received one heaven defying blessing, and now you’re dreaming of a second? How greedy.”
‘Should I not be greedy…? I desire everything that might make me untouchable, so that I will never know another defeat.’
“It hurts me terribly to hear you say something like that… you of all people should know just how poisonous the ambition of a greedy man can become.”
‘I’m sorry… the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you…’
“So sweet… I will accept your apology once you awaken. ”
‘But I’m so tired… all I want to do is rest…’
“And you would certainly deserve that rest. But you still have so many who need you, not to mention that beautiful family you have created. You are not meant to be separated from them.”
‘My family… they will no doubt scold me relentlessly…’
“Fufufu~ And you would deserve it! Now open your eyes, so that you might have some hope of seeing them again.”
‘…Your name… I do not remember your name…’
“Well, that’s because you haven’t woken up yet. It’s time for you to open your eyes, my darling prince.”
It was a nickname that he had long forgotten.
And yet when he heard it for the first time in years, he remembered as if he had just heard it yesterday.
Abaddon’s eyes opened, and they trembled from the sight of the vision in front of him.
His head was in the lap of a curvaceous young woman whom he knew very well.
She was every bit as beautiful as he remembered.
Possibly even more so.
Long and wild orange hair that reached all the way to her supple behind.
Creamy white skin devoid of any scars or imperfections.
Vibrant emerald green eyes that contained an unfathomable amount of depth and warmth.
On top of her head sat two cute and fluffy tiger ears, the sight of which very nearly brought tears to his eyes.
“Lillian…?”
“There, you see? You remembered me all along.” She said with a smile.
Abaddon immediately sat up, and he threw himself at the woman who had died terribly when he was still just a boy.
“Lillian… how is this possible…? No, don’t answer that. There is so much I have to tell you…”
Lillian was a bit flustered by the fact that the young boy she had practically raised was now embracing her so firmly.
In the end, she tried to wrap her arms around him as well but failed due to his muscular body.
“I already know what you wish to tell me, for I have never stopped watching you after all of this time. You have become such a wonderful man, my darling prince. And I am glad that you are finally whole.”
It seemed like Lillian really did know everything as she was already aware of his true identity.
Nonetheless, he still felt as if he had so much left to say.
“I have missed you more than you can ever know… I have always felt guilty for-“
“Hey now, don’t go saying needless things. What happened to me is not your fault nor do you need to apologize for my fate. You were deceived just as I was.”
“But still, I should’ve-“
“Hey.”
Suddenly, Lillian grabbed Abaddon by the face and began tugging on his cheeks just like when he was a child.
“Dragons really do have some thick skulls, don’t they? I said it’s not your fault, so why are you still so determined to carry the blame?”
“I am much too old for you to still tug at my face like this…”
“Says who!?”
Abaddon chuckled as he re called this aspect of Lillian’s personality that he liked the most.
She was somehow one of the most gentle women he’d ever known and also something of the abrasive big sister.
Suddenly, Lillian pressed their foreheads together and spoke to him gently once again.
“You don’t have time to sit around here feeling guilty for the death of some old nanny. You have important things to do, no? These lands are not the place for you.”
Abaddon briefly glanced at his surroundings and realized that he couldn’t make them out.
He had no concept of what he was seeing, all that he was able to grasp were the souls of others wandering about, muttering incomprehensible words.
“It would seem not… but this is not the place for you either.”
“That ship has sailed a long time ago, prince.” She said sadly. “I wish that my place was still alongside you, but fate so rarely gives us what we desire.”
Gradually, she began to put distance between the two of them, as if she was afraid of clinging to him for even a moment longer. 𝗈𝒱xt.𝒸𝑜
Abaddon looked down at his own body and realized that unlike Lillian, he was incorporeal and disappearing from this place at a rapid rate.
It seemed as though he would have to say goodbye to her yet again.
“No… not like this… not ever again.”
“Eh?”
Suddenly, Abaddon pressed his body against Lillian and held her like he was a precious treasure.
Death magic began to overflow from his very soul, encompassing the two of them in a dome like shell.
Abaddon could feel a great existence fighting him, trying to stop what he was attempting to do and wrest Lillian away from his grasp.
But it didn’t matter.
She deserved so much more than this.
And he would be damned if he was going to leave her behind once again.
“W-What’re you-“
“Is it not obvious? I’m taking you home.”
“What?! Prince, you can’t do-“
“Lillian.”
Abaddon had a look of unwavering seriousness in his eyes as he grabbed his nanny by the face and made her look at him.
“Just once… allow me to be a bit greedy, okay?”
Lillian’s cheeks turned pink as she opened her mouth to say something, only to run out of time as Abaddon ripped her away from the clutches of death itself.
–
After Satan killed Abaddon, the euphrates rushed at him, grief stricken and blood lusted.
In the blink of an eye they had forgotten all about the opponents they were supposed to be fighting against and turned all of their focus on the wounded demigod.
“YOU BASTARD, I’LL KILL YOU!!” Kanami roared with tears in her eyes.
Her body began to break apart and stretch, until she changed into an enormous snakelike dragon with no wings.
She looked just like her god, only she was slightly smaller and significantly less frightening.
The rest of the euphrates weren’t far behind, as they all transformed and rushed at Satan with the intent to devour him whole.
Showered in such immense and potent hate, the sin of wrath felt his healing abilities surge and a knowing smoke spread on what remained of his lips.
“You are just as he was… glorious!”
Covering his hand in a dark red aura, Satan knocked all fifty of the enraged chimeras out of the sky.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The euphrates fell onto the ground like meteors descending onto the earth.
Satan relished in their hatred that was already returning him to his peak strength, so much so that he did not notice that something was clearly wrong.
But Leviathan was not quite as slow.
‘That boy held three of the seven sins… the pain and weakness i should be feeling should be immense but… I don’t feel anything?’
She kept her gaze firmly locked on Abaddon’s body.
She wasn’t exactly sure what she was looking for, but an inkling in the back of her mind was telling her that there was something she was missing about this whole scenario.
Finally, there was a change.
BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!
Out of nowhere, Abaddon’s corpse was engulfed in a massive column of unbearable white fire.
The heat coming off of him was so terrible that the temperature of the entire planet shot up ten whole degrees.
There was a purchase that Abaddon made from the system that he often forgot about.
Phoenix heart was a skill that allowed him to return from death once every two months.
Since it wasn’t a power that he ever wanted to be reliant upon, he had practically erased it’s existence from his memory.
He also did not like to lose, so he always hoped that he would never have to use it anyway.
Abaddon stepped out of the pillar of fire, carrying a nude woman in his arms.
His eyes and tattoos were glowing with a radiant white light, and even his hair now seemed to be made of the most unruly flame as it flickered all over from one place to another.
Abaddon looked down at the woman in his arms and saw that she was fully awake and responsive, but her eyes had gone wide with disbelief.
Abaddon finally looked up from Lillian’s confused face to see the destruction that his resurrection had caused.
The area he was standing on had been turned into a molten crater the likes of which resembled boiling magma.
His soldiers were strewn out all over the place, some nearby and some far.
But none of them seemed to be suffering any ill effects from the horrible heat, instead they were simply overcome with joy from seeing their god alive and well.
Satan was several meters away, with his entire body encased in a red shield to protect him from the overwhelming heat.
However, his efforts were very quickly being undone as his shield began to catch on fire as well, feeding on Satan’s magic as if it were a flammable source and spreading.
In a moment, he would have no defense.
“What… did you do..? HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!! ANSWER ME, MONGREL!”
“It is as you said I suppose…” Abaddon replied slowly.
“Power does not die.”
Satan was utterly baffled.
It was as if Abaddon was the living incarnation of the sun.
He didn’t understand how he was somehow back from the dead, or how he was wielding power comparable to a god of fire.
“Oddly enough, I feel even more indebted to you now than I did before.”
“WHAT-“
Right before Satan’s eyes, a small white flame appeared inside of his barrier.
An effect of the phoenix heart was that it empowered all fire affinity skills at a whopping 300% for fifteen minutes.
But that number didn’t just apply to his overall firepower, it applied to his control and range as well.
Right now, anything, anywhere, at anytime was his to burn.
The small white flame within Satan’s shield exploded, engulfing the demon in a mass of blinding white flames that seemed desperate to consume him entirely.
Once his barrier disappeared, Abaddon slowly placed Lillian onto the ground and moved to investigate.
“Cover your eyes. This isn’t something I want you to see.”
The ghostly woman floated upwards, seemingly unaware that she was still nude as she watched the back of the boy she’d practically raised.
‘My prince… what did you do…?’