“Please breathe, sister. You exhaust yourself further by worrying about unimportant matters.” Eris said gently.
“I-It’s not unimportant! If I don’t keep my focus up then husband will be able to sense my emotions and will become distracted!” Seras argued.
None of the girls could argue with her reasoning but alas they were not wrong for their concerns either.
Seras was very clearly struggling to keep her emotions unnoticeable as well as deal with the uncomfortable sensation caused by a living being trying to crawl out of her.
“I know that you want him to be here but it may be unavoidable, Seras.” Bekka said gently. “I do not think he can finish this battle in time…”
Seras knew that, and she understood just how important this day was, but she still wanted her husband to witness the birth of their child.
All that she could do was rub her stomach with a melancholic expression as she pleaded sincerely.
‘Please my child, be patient with your mommy. I just need you to wait comfortably for just a little while longer…’
By some miracle, Seras’ stomach showed signs of settling and she could breathe a bit easier for the first time in several minutes.
She gave her sisters and Lillian an exhausted smile that hid all of her anxiety.
“I’m fine girls, you see? It seems like this little one wants to wait for it’s father too.”
The wives weren’t fully convinced, but alas there was nothing they could do if Seras was determined to put on a brave face.
“Alright, Seras.” Lailah said with a sigh. “As long as you and the child are okay then-“
BOOOOOMMM!
The girls searched for the source of the explosion in unison, and found their husband seemingly being cornered by the power of a menacing weapon.
–
Abaddon was admittedly having a rather difficult time.
With the power of the sin of sloth, he was finally able to follow Lucifer’s movements and defend himself properly.
But even with that boost, that still did not solve the problem of not being able to harm his opponent.
So far, he had been relegated to only deflecting and avoiding attacks while he tried to come up with a way to go back on the offensive.
The sin of pride noticed this complete change in attitude and could not help but find it curious. “Where has your bravado from before gone? Your eagerness has become cowardice at a laughable speed.”
He hardly gave his opponent a chance to answer, as he continued to pressure him with attacks.
Abaddon parried the spearheads with his bare hands and felt a chill run through his body every time he did so.
Without a doubt this weapon… it was dangerous.
But there was also something strange about it that he couldn’t yet put his finger on.
BOOOOMM!!!
Every thrust of Lucifer’s spear released sharp gusts of wind that carved up the earth around them.
But even though the ability was rather fearsome, he couldn’t help but feel like something was lacking.
Each of the six endings were supposed to be weapons that held an unfathomable depth of power, and yet this spear seemingly had no other abilities outside of erasure.
Surely such a fabled weapon should be capable of more than this, no?
‘I haven’t unsealed mine yet, but even Thea’s has more tricks than this… is he not using it’s full potential, or…’
BOOOMM!
As Abaddon narrowly avoided yet another attack, another trench was created in the ground and Lucifer was now certain of one thing.
“You’ve figured out how my sin works… commendable. No wonder you have suddenly become so timid.”
Abaddon smiled wryly and danced around his opponent while he continued to wrack his brain for a solution. “Indeed I have. Does that mean that you will give it to me as a consolation prize?”
“Do you see? I knew that you had talent as a jester.”
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The two continued to dance around each other with no real end in sight to their battle.
Abaddon could not strike Lucifer or he risked empowering him. He also could not allow himself to be pierced by the spear of Longinus, as he was certain that suffering even the most minor wound would come with disastrous side effects.
He hadn’t yet reached a solution, but after several minutes of fighting Abaddon finally realized something about Lucifer’s way of fighting.
‘He is an amateur…’
The attacks of the sin of pride were clunky and lacked any sort of finesse.
It was very clear that he was the type of opponent who relied on his overwhelming physical ability to crush any opposition. 𝗈𝒱xt.𝒸𝑜
And since he got stronger every time that he was dealt an attack, it was a strategy that he never ever had to make amendments to.
‘A nigh insurmountable body and yet only the bare minimum of knowledge resides within it… I suppose that I should consider myself lucky.’
Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in the dragon’s head.
Lucifer’s body was indeed nigh insurmountable.
But… what about his soul?
After Abaddon deflected another attack, he finally went back on the offensive.
BANG!
“Urgh!”
A hard knee from Abaddon caused Lucifer to double over in pain, and he released an involuntary groan.
“What did you-“
BOOM!
Before Lucifer could get his words out, he received a kick in the jaw that sent him flying back several feet.
Abaddon stared at the back of Lucifer as he picked himself up from the dirt.
When he sensed no increase in aura within him, he knew that he had finally succeeded in harming him.
‘I never thought that I would actually be correct…’
Abaddon had been able to see souls ever since he received his first blessing from Maliketh.
And after saving Lillian from the afterlife, he realized that he could touch them as well.
He wasn’t sure if it would work on a living being, but by focusing on striking beyond the flesh of his opponent, he was able to deal direct damage to a soul.
“What… did… you… do!?”
Lucifer crawled up from the ground and he no longer looked quite like his usual calm and composed self.
His breathing was ragged, his hair was a bit messy and his face was slowly reaching an unhealthy shade of red.
He had never experienced anything like this.
While his body was physically fine, he felt as if his entire existence was quaking with pain.
“That’s why you blocked my flames earlier… you knew that they had the effect of burning away souls.” Abaddon was having his own realizations, uncaring of Lucifer’s words.
“Answer me, Abaddon!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?!”
“I must say that Satan was far stronger. If he hadn’t been such an idiotic brute, and you didn’t have that annoying little ability, he would no doubt have been known as the greatest of the sins.”
“ABADDONNNN!!!”
With a horrifying expression, Lucifer lunged at Abaddon in a blind rage.
Not only was he in pain, but now his pride had been trampled on as well.
And as the one who was supposed to embody that very emotion, his reaction to such a thing was much more volatile.
Just like before, he attacked Abaddon with thrusts of his spear that came at the speed of light, and Abaddon avoided them all by only a hair.
“WHO ARE YOU TO CLAIM SOMEONE SHOULD BE ABOVE PRIDE!?! YOU ARE NOTHING! AN INSECT UNWORTHY OF EVEN-“
POW!
A hard right hand from Abaddon cause Lucifer to nearly see stars, and his entire being was assailed with terrible pain once again as he stumbled backwards.
“I understand that I could die at any moment, but I am admittedly enjoying this scene. It always brightens my day to see individuals who are fat with pride meet an obstacle they cannot overcome.” Abaddon said with a smile.
“ENOUGH!”
Suddenly, Lucifer’s entire body began to glow with a blinding light.
His skin, flesh, and bones were all burned away, and soon he was no more than a mass of living light in the shape of a man with eight wings and long curled horns.
He was now so bright that it was like staring directly into the sun, and for a moment Abaddon was temporarily blinded.
And when you are fighting against a being who is capable of moving at the speed of light, a moment is more than enough time for something to go horribly wrong.
Pierce!
When Abaddon looked down, he could see that Lucifer’s spear was embedded in his stomach, just a little below his navel.
“The game is over, mongrel! I have won!”
–
Lillian and the wives were watching as Lucifer stabbed Abaddon.
The moment he was wounded, shocked gasps escaped all of their lips and they nearly lost all of the strength in their legs.
Lillian tried her best to remain optimistic, and seemed to be the only one capable of doing so. “It’s just a wound, right? H-He’ll be fine…”
“Y-Yes, that’s right…” Lailah said. “Husband has survived worse…”
The girls continued to watch this scene with baited breath, until a horrible scream followed by the sound of rushing water was heard.
Seras was in much more pain than before, and her water had finally broken. “I-It seems like the baby is done being patient! They’re coming now!!”
The girls finally tore their eyes away from the sight of their husband’s battle with great difficulty, and surrounded Seras in the blink of an eye.
“It’ll be alright, sister. You just have to breathe and push, okay?” Lisa said as she took Seras’ hand.
“B-But I-“
“It doesn’t seem like you can afford to wait any longer, dear!” Audrina denied. “You are already in a great deal of pain and the baby seems to be fully intent on being born right now!”
Tears finally fell from Seras’ eyes as she realized the gravity of this situation.
Both her husband’s battle and her pregnancy were going terribly, and she couldn’t help but turn her head to the sky as her heart filled with grief.
Reluctantly, she opened up her mind and linked her consciousness with Abaddon’s.
‘Husband…’
‘Seras..?’
Abaddon’s voice showed traces of understandable surprise.
But there was also an undeniable weakness that he was trying very hard to hide. ‘Seras..? What’re you-‘
‘I-I know that you currently have your hands full, and I don’t want to put any pressure on you, my love but… our baby is coming right now. I-I’ve been trying to hold on but… I think I’ve reached the end of my rope here…’
Even from far away, Seras could hear the sound of her husband’s heart beating faster.
‘My love… I want you to be here so badly, I-I don’t want to bring our child into this world if you aren’t here with me!’
By now, Seras was sobbing violently and her sisters were desperately trying to keep her composed but their efforts were completely ineffective.
‘I-I know that you have consistently been giving it your best but… just like you always have…do you think you can pull off one last miracle for me…?’