First Demonic Dragon

A couple minutes before Apophis' strange occurrence, the wives were all in the bedroom, watching their husband spiral into madness.

Abaddon was laying across the sofa and typing on his phone. His fingers were flying so fast that they could have caught fire.

He'd been at this for upwards of an hour already, and the girls would be lying if they said that they weren't tired of their phones going off at every second.

Lisa finally had enough and beckoned her husband into bed. "Honey, can you please put that down and stop bothering our friends and family this late at night?"

Abaddon shook his head without looking back.

"O-One second, my love, I have to make sure everyone understands that Colorado is more than deserving of their flowers this year, and anyone who doesn't think so is a dick-eating bastard who shouldn't even be allowed to form a single fucking thought without adult supervision!"

Darius made a hobby of spewing asinine takes in front of Jasmine and Abaddon because he knew that they would engage them.

There had yet to be an occasion where they did not take the bait and spend several hours loudly, and sometimes cruelly, telling him why he was wrong.

Valerie seemed to recognize that their husband would spend the rest of the night arguing over nonsense if they weren't more forceful in their approach.

She pulled herself out of her nightgown and lounged across the bed in a fry seductive and enticing manner.

"Is this vendetta of yours more important than getting a kiss from me?"

"Absolutely not, what would make you think that?"

Abaddon tossed his phone over his shoulder and was in bed before the girls could count to 0.000001.

He descended upon Valerie like a bird of prey after a snake.

Their lips were practically touching before Lisa suddenly grabbed him by the horn and yanked him away angrily.

Despite the cute smile on her face, the blood red aura surrounding her body had a way of alluding to her current displeasure.

"I'm sorry... Why did you come as soon as she called you but not when I did?"

"You didn't mention I was going to get a kiss for coming..." Abaddon shrugged.

"So that was all it would have taken to get you in bed!?"

"You know this already, I'm not that complicated." Abaddon responded innocently.

Lisa had realized the error of her ways by now, but she couldn't just openly admit that.

"So the reason why you came had

nothing

to do with her getting naked?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Abaddon couldn't help but notice Valerie again.

Just to stir the pot, she bit her lip seductively and slowly uncrossed her legs.

Even though her skin was as dark as his now, there was still one place on her body that was very much still pink. And it wasn't her wings.

"I… Well it certainly didn't hurt-"

"PIG!" Lisa smashed Abaddon's face with the largest pillow she could find.

Valerie wasn't spared either because Lisa flung another one at her too.

She was hit so hard that she was sent flying off the bed.

No one else in their bedroom really attempted to do anything or stop Lisa's rampage.

This kind of thing happened in here at least once or twice a week.

But then it happened.

Abaddon couldn't say what exactly tipped him off first.

Maybe it was the fact that he never heard Valerie's body hit the floor.

But it also could've been when he felt his very control over Tehom 'glitch'.

Time doesn't really flow in Tehom. Or atleast not ordinarily.

And because of that, measuring the passage of time can be tricky for those who live here. Even if they aren't venturing into the outside realms.

But time has never come to a full, complete stop here like it has now.

It was as if someone had been watching a movie and just pressed pause on their lives.

"H-Honey..?"

Abaddon lifted his head out from underneath the pillow and took a look at his wives.

With the exception of Bekka and Lillian, all of the other girls were frozen. And completely unaware of such a thing to boot.

"I-It's happening, isn't it..?"

"Lilli, remember the baby. You can't let yourself get stressed out." Bekka gently coaxed.

Lillian did a couple of deep breaths at Bekka's behest, but it would be hard to say that she actually felt better.

"Let's go… we can't do anything for the girls so we have to leave them here." Abaddon said apologetically.

The girls didn't want to do it, but they really didn't have much of a choice in the matter at the moment.

They kissed their lovers sweetly one by one before they crawled out of bed together.

Afterwards, they ran out into the hallway and ran smack into Nyx, who also looked rather frazzled and energetic.

"I knew moving in here was the right decision. Everyday there's always something interesting going on."

Abaddon's eyes narrowed in distaste.

"Can you please not act like what could happen to my son is some game for your potential amusement?"

Nyx seemed to recognize the error of her words and her face immediately betrayed her regret.

"O-Of course, I didn't mean…"

"Forget it. We have to go." Abaddon and the others didn't waste any time and immediately walked around Nyx.

"Wait!"

The goddess ran out in front of them and blocked their way with both arms.

"Nyx… You need to move." Bekka responded.

"I'm only standing here because I'm worried about the three of you. Can you honestly say that you can watch what is about to happen irregardless of the outcome?? We are not allowed to interfere in these contests."

"Says who?" Stay with us at m.v.l.e.mpyr

"Says

him

, lovely Lillian. I was there when he first created these rules, shortly after your husband's first demise.

He takes them as seriously as he does the preservation of man. Consequences for interference are heavy even for those like us.

So before you run off, I need to ask you this: can you truly sit idly by and watch such a contest without interfering at all?"

The trio of concerned parents didn't seem to know what to say at first.

But then the moment passed and each of them came to an obvious answer.

"""No."""

Nyx was powerless to stop them as they vanished right before her eyes.

The only thing that she could do for now was follow behind them.

-

Apophis sat up suddenly in a complete state of disarray.

The realization that he was not at home in bed came swiftly.

He was... actually, he didn't know where he was.

His surroundings were practically boundless, as he lie on a flat, mirror like surface with a swirling multicolored sky over his head. Stars shone down on his skin with the collective same warmth as the midday sun.

Apophis slowly stood up and called out to anyone who might answer him.

He received nothing in return.

Or at least, not at first.

'Apologies. It's been a while since I felt a call for one of these things and I took a bit longer to get here than I usually would have.'

Yesh appeared just above Apophis' head wearing his usual unblemished white robes and a radiant aura.

Apophis couldn't really explain it, but for some reason the old man felt a bit more authoritative than he was used to.

Was this still the same guy who sat on the sofa at their house and watched him and Thrudd throw cheese balls in each other's mouths??

"What.. am I doing here??"

'You invoked the ritual, Apophis Tathamet. And once the death oath has been spoken by both parties, existence cannot continue unless one of you has consumed the other.'

Apophis felt his blood run cold.

He knew quite well what was happening now. His sister Gabbrielle, as well as his parents, had warned him extensively about this day's potential.

The multiverse is endless. And because something is endless, that means every possible eventuality will come to pass somewhere.

Every universe is supposed to only possess one of each primordial beast.

But sometimes, through one extenuating circumstance or another, duplicates arise. This can occur either through manipulation, or a series of complete and total accidents.

But this can make the universe unstable, and threaten to collapse it.

As such, the ritual of Nex Sacramentum was created. There can only be one creature, and the other must fade into nonexistence.

Hommunculi are sometimes created to gain more power and sway a beasts influence, but this is generally a rare practice as creating a decent creature with a chance of winning can be strenuous.

But unbeknownst to her, Lailah had created Apophis through this very manner.

So from the moment he was born, he was always fated to arrive here, in this moment, on this stage.

He had lived his life knowing that for a long time.

And he wasn't ready to give up his life yet. Not now, and not ever.

So in the end, he only had one thing to say.

"Where is he?"

Yesh pointed down to the floor they were standing on.

On the other side of the mirror-like surface, Apophis saw the single largest creature he had ever laid eyes on aside from his father.