First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1131: I Must Be Honest…

Abaddon had often considered what he would say if Asherah asked him where and how he had located Hastur.

The current scenario may not have been exactly as he’d envisioned, but it was close enough that he knew he had a choice to make.

He could lie to Asherah here. Or maybe even use some kind of clever misdirection.

But judging by her demeanor, Asherah seemed to already know that he was hiding something from her. That was essentially a given, since he had made himself impossible for her to find.

Which was highly suspicious on his part, but he hadn’t thought she would notice with everything that had happened lately…

But now that he was face-to-face with her, he was finding it difficult to continue the charade.

“…We were in Dola on a bit of business. The girls are still there.”

Asherah blinked in surprise. “Why? Nostalgia purposes?? I hadn’t thought any of you would care about that place after two whole lives inside.”

Abaddon rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, actually… Ayaana deduced that the named horror Hastur was hiding out there. We found him beside the world tree…”

It took Asherah some time to fully allow Abaddon’s words to settle in. Though once she understood, she seemed slightly embarrassed.

“…I see. I’ve made such a grave error on my part, and you’ve taken it upon yourselves to clean it up. My negligence has been embarrassing.”

“Come on now, don’t be silly.”

Abaddon kneeled in front of Asherah and took both of her hands in his.

“Hastur is a crafty, conniving sort. He would have easily been able to pass through even your barrier and hide there for as long as he wanted. Ayaana could only deduce where he was hiding because of her knowledge of his behavioral patterns.”

He gave Asherah’s hands a firm squeeze.

“Please, don’t let this bother you. It is the job of the family to help each other when…” Suddenly, Abaddon’s words trailed off as a peculiar scent wafted into his nose.

He leaned forward, his eyes sharpened, and sniffed her chest twice over for good measure.

“…You’ve seen Lucifer?”

Yggdrasil whistled. “Damn. I thought you were the black dragon, not the bloodhound dragon.”

“Get your face away from her chest, you deviant! Or I’m telling my daughter to put your nuts in a panini press!” Gulban snapped.

Abaddon made an ‘up’ gesture with his finger.

The irksome duo floated upward outside of their own power.

Abaddon made a flicking gesture and together the flew of them went flying out the nearest window, leaving their half-eaten bowls of cereal behind.

“…As I was saying..” Abaddon sighed.

Oddly enough, Asherah didn’t seem all that bothered by Abaddon’s decision to eject the two troublemaking loudmouths from the room. It almost seemed like something she wanted to do herself, but had abstained from.

Abaddon sat back on the floor, pulling his children into his lap.

He stared at Asherah with a patient look.

Since Abaddon had volunteered his honesty to her, she naturally felt obligated to do the same.

“He came to visit me two days ago. We spoke very briefly, and he even hugged me.”

“Did he…”

“No, we didn’t fight. Although things did become slightly tense for a moment, and I… said some things that I slightly regret.”

Asherah lifted up her veil and held her face in her hands. She let out the deepest sigh that her ancient soul could muster.

“I am the mother of all, but I can’t seem to get through to my own child when the entire universe depends on it.”

“Last I checked, Lucifer was never an easy child to raise…”

Asherah slowly put her hands down and stared at Abaddon with a look of helplessness.

“It pains me to ask one so much younger than myself for advice.”

“Erm…”

“But how do you do it? How do you maintain relationships with all of your children and make them see that no matter what, you are family should always stick together?”

Abaddon looked down at the two bundles of joy in his arms. They were more precious to him than every other good thing in his life.

He could only imagine how broken up he would be if their relationship ever deteriorated like Yesh and Lucifer’s had.

“…If I didn’t know we were talking about Lucifer, I would tell you to keep trying to meet them at whatever stage of life they were at and offer your support. But since I’m not totally in the dark, I’ll say… just keep waiting for him to come to you.”

Asherah knew that was the obvious answer. And yet, she couldn’t help but feel slightly pessimistic over it all.

She had told Lucifer everything that was in her heart the other day.

But were her words too rough? Should she have taken a softer approach to get him to listen to her?

“I’ll say one thing…”

Asherah looked up at Abaddon and found him smiling at her faintly.

“Lucifer’s love for you, and your husband has never been something to question. If nothing else, you can take pride in knowing that you have a shared attachment. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to make someone want to come home.”

Asherah blinked slowly.

For a moment, a slight smile formed on her face.

“…You’re quite considerate of my feelings and your words. Mixing things you honestly believe in with things that you don’t have much hope for. So much so that sometimes I can’t so easily tell which is which.”

Now, it was Abaddon’s turn to be embarrassed. He had tried to give Asherah some needed encouragement, but she had quite easily seen through his attempt.

He thought she was admonishing him for his efforts. On the contrary, she simply found them amusing.

The fact that his words came from a good place was quite enough.

She reached out to place a hand on top of his head.

“I assure you, I’m more than moved by your efforts to-”

“Mother, you must try these!”

Abaddon suddenly felt his senses go absolutely wild.

Michael rushed into the room ecstatically, carrying a styrofoam plate of chicken wings and celery.

Abaddon’s eyes and claws sharpened on their own.

Michael came to a dead halt. The mounting pressure in the room applied a look of discomfort on his face.

But to his and everyone’s surprise, the pressure was not coming from Abaddon.

It was coming from the floor.