First Demonic Dragon

Capítulo 1136: Two Gods and a Dark Lord

Shiva stared down at the largest plate of bright red chicken wings that he had ever seen in his entire life.

“…By enlarge, the intricacies of American cuisine fully escape me.”

Abaddon shrugged, already gnawing on a wing. “All you need to remember is that they plan to be here for a good time, not a long time. That’s why they eat like they have free healthcare.”

“Most curious indeed…”

Shiva’s surprise was understandable. He hadn’t expected to be staring down at chicken wings the size of his hand.

“…Tandoori chicken would have been better.”

“You literally haven’t even tried it yet.”

“Yes, well, the sauce being named ‘Atomic Toilet Bowl’ really takes away the appeal.”

Abaddon leaned back in his booth with a smile.

“This is amusing. Shiva the Destroyer held poison in his throat for millions of years but can’t stomach a little buffalo wing.”

To Shiva, Abaddon was like a brother.

As deities of destruction, they operated on a certain wavelength and had a mutual understanding.

They understood, if no one else in the world did, that they were not beings of evil just because they destroyed. And that was a belief that was scarcely shared in mythology.

But as such close friends, Shiva and Abaddon could naturally have a glaring competitive streak.

Something that was never more evident than it was at that moment.

Shiva’s brow twitched as he picked up a large drum.

He bit down on the chicken aggressively and chewed slowly.

“…Why are you holding up your cellular device?”

“No reason.” Abaddon pressed the record button on his phone.

Shiva chewed for a moment longer before he put the wind down abruptly and reached for the glass of water. “This… this is not of God..!”

“You can’t drink for the first two minutes or you get bad karma!”

“You just made that up!”

“I’m offended! I would never!” (He would. He did.)

Shiva rolled his eyes.

“I had my neck opened by a homicidal monster not long ago, so I believe I’ll take my chances on things not getting much worse than that.”

Shiva finished a full pitcher of water in under a second, refilled it, and downed that as well.

While Shiva died on the inside, Abaddon slowly put his phone down and stared at Shiva, his expression calculating.

“…I haven’t wanted to ask, but..”

Shiva gasped for air. “You should just go ahead. Dancing around a subject doesn’t really suit someone in a size thirteen shoe.”

Abaddon pushed around a bit of celery on his plate.

“Your powers… they’re-”

“No, they haven’t truly come back. I’m very bare bones now as the saying goes. My senses are about all I have left.”

Shiva suddenly picked up the unused silverware on the table.

He held up a silver knife and stared at it incredibly hard.

His hand began to tremble uncontrollably.

Slowly, the silverware disintegrated molecule by molecule.

When it was done, Shiva was sweating even more than when he ate the chicken wing.

He gasped slightly, struggling to get his breathing back to normal.

Abaddon hurt terribly to see his friend in this condition.

“Parvati frets over me constantly. I feel like a kept man, but that’s not as bad as I thought…”

Shiva wiped his hand shakily as Abaddon continued to stare at him worriedly.

“I won’t be looked at so pitifully. My powers may be gone for now, but I am not so helpless that I need you to fret over me as well.”

“You are my friend.”

“As you are mine. But there is no need to look at me as if I’m broken. Not when I still live and the ending of my story is not yet written.”

Abaddon knew one thing about Shiva, and that was that he was not cowardly. Nor was he the type of man to feel sorry for himself.

He was probably just content to have not been taken away from his family.

Abaddon understood that, and he respected it… But that didn’t mean he was not angry.

For gods, powers are not much different than limbs. They are extensions of one’s self. Divinities even more so.

For Shiva to have lost almost everything bothered Abaddon to no end.

Because he knew that his friend was a good man who deserved far better than the hand that he was given.

“…I will have vengeance in your name, friend.”

“No, you will not.” Shiva denied. “Percival is dead, from what you have told me. The culprit behind what has happened to me is no more, so why be angry when you have already won?”

“…I dunno. It’s my default, I guess. It’s always felt the easiest.”

“That is the danger of it. But in it’s ease lies deception. It convinces you of the fact that it is the natural response, and while that may be, it shouldn’t be our first one.”

Shiva picked up a wad of paper towels and began dabbing his sweaty forehead. “Besides, you’re not really giving yourself much credit. Hate and anger are the tools of the enemy.

You’ve observed and fought against them so long, you’ve emulated their characteristics. You, my friend, are an engine of love and understanding. To pretend otherwise is to deny your very existence.”

“…Hm.” Abaddon stared out the window into the parking lot. Even from here, he could still see Ayaana and Zahara like he was right next to them.

They seemed to feel him staring at them. They turned in his direction and waved at him before blowing him a kiss.

“You seem quite off, if I must say so myself. And you haven’t even eaten any Atomic Toilet Bowl.” Shiva noted.

Abaddon turned his gaze back to the dining table and sighed. “What gave me away?”

“There is a football game on in this sports bar, and you have not looked at it even once.”

“Oh…”

Abaddon reached inside his pocket and pulled out the letter from Michael.

He handed it to his fellow deity of destruction, and Shiva began reading after making sure his fingers were clean of devil sauce.

“…Quite the request.” He said once he was finished.

“An insane one.”

“I don’t believe I’m familiar with the full history between you and Michael. I’ll need you to catch me up on what would warrant such a-”

“Do you… smell that..?” Abaddon stiffened.

Shiva’s senses weren’t as good as Abaddon’s, but they were sufficient.

It may have taken him longer, but eventually, he did indeed notice what was bothering Abaddon so.

Though he thought they were both mistaken and were suffering from confused sinuses due to the hot wings.

“There must be some trick or error at play… He wouldn’t dare. Not here. Not now.”

“Oh, yes, he would.”

Abaddon manifested two hundred dollars and left them on the table as a bill.

“Come on. We have to corner him before he tries to flee.”

– Los Angeles, California

On a church playground, many children were playing together cheerfully.

A few older nuns wandered about, smiling ever so contentedly as they watched, and sometimes participated in the merriment.

They played catch, performed some tricks with hula hoops, and even practiced a bit of tetherball.

It was a touching scene for sure.

At least, that was what Lucifer thought as he watched from hundreds of miles away.

The fallen angel sat on top of the famous Hollywood sign, watching the entire world go on all at once.

He spanned his vision over great distances all at once. Observing the human condition in it’s purest and it’s most vulgar.

A tight feeling surfaced within his chest. And yet, he kept looking despite knowing that he maybe should have started to keep his gaze to himself.

Suddenly and accidentally, Lucifer’s eyes glimpsed two men at a sports bar. One black and the other indian.

“…Fuck.”

Rumble!

A bolt of red lightning struck the ‘H’ on which Lucifer sat.

He didn’t even bother to avoid it and allowed the attack to strike him full force in the chest, sending him flying into the dirt.

As he lay on his back, his suit singed and smoking, he looked up into the sky with a bit of a droll look.

“….Ow.”

Abaddon and Shiva slowly descended from the air with furrowed brows.

“What are you doing here, Dark Lord? The earth is off limits to you and your kind!” Shiva glared. The deity may no longer have possessed his full powers, but he was as intimidating physically as ever.

Lucifer sat up slowly, dusting off his smoldering clothes.

“As of right now… I’m in need of a new outfit. Since someone saw fit to strike me unprovoked.”

Abaddon sneered. “Complaining about a little love tap with all of that power inside of you? Now you’re just whining, Lucifer. Just fix yourself up like normal.”

“Well, that’ll be a bit annoying, because I didn’t make these clothes; I stole them.”

Lucifer stood up, his eyes still on his shirt and jacket that were beyond repair.

“Now I have to go back to that godforsaken place again… Oh well…”

Lucifer vanished in a puff of black smoke.

However, now that Abaddon and Shiva had actually laid eyes on him, and had his scent, there was no chance they were going to lose him.

They too vanished from their places and followed in his tracks.

However, when they appeared beside Lucifer, they never expected to find him walking into an indoor mall.

He looked back at the two of them and sighed as he held up a wallet.

“Fine, you guys can come too, but don’t ask me for shit. I’m on a budget today.”