First Demonic Dragon

"L-Let me go, you guys! She needs my help!"

Darius: "No can do, lad."

Asmodeus: "Listen to us, grandson. You have to have some semblance of faith in her abilities."

Hakon: "It is true, young lord. My extensive reading shows that faith in your partner's own autonomy is integral to a healthy relationship."

Absalom: "Since when do you read things like that, brother?"

Hakon: "What I do in my free time is my business and my business alone."

Hajun: 'What an odd trio of siblings that you three rabisu are...'

"Monica needs help, all of you let me go!"

Despite the pleas of the youngest prince, none of the generals released him and instead held him down tighter so that he didn't run out the door to get to his 'betrothed'.

"Little help here, please...?" Asmodeus asked in irritation.

Abaddon finished wiping jelly off of Courtney's mouth... and Mira's before he finally glanced at the group lazily.

"Son... just rest for a bit, yea?"

The swirling tattoos on Abaddon's body flashed a warm green color and young Straga felt his eyes beginning to get heavy.

Without being able to resist in the slightest, his head suddenly dipped a couple of times before he finally began snoring lightly.

The men exhaled in relief as they finally released him now that he was no longer attempting to interfere in the examination.

"You couldn't have done that a few minutes ago?" Asmodeus asked.

"I was actually watching what was happening, unlike the rest of you." Abaddon nodded towards Monica's display.

There, one could see clear as day the scene of her diving into the water, but the way she did it was truly thoughtful.

So as to disturb the water as little as possible, she dove for it as a mass of flame and only turned back to her original body at the very last second.

Starting with her fingertips, more and more of her body grew back underneath the water without causing a splash or disturbing the surface.

And the reason why she'd done this was clear.

At the moment where the abyss walker finally entered the clearing, it found nothing waiting for it.

No tracks, heat source, signs of activity, there was nothing.

The water had a few ripples to it, but... that could have just as easily been from the storm.

The creature didn't know what to do.

After flying around the lake clearing for a few moments, it eventually just flew off in search of prey that maybe wouldn't be so hard to track down.

"Clever lass..." Darius muttered in an impressed tone.

"But is she alright down there? I can't imagine how low she must've had to drop her body temperature in order to not to be detected." Hajun questioned.

Everyone turned to glance at the monitor for a bit longer as they also waited to see an answer to this question.

The seconds that ticked by felt like hours, and Abaddon was glad that he finally decided to put Straga to sleep for just a bit.

If all of them were this anxious, he could only imagine how his son would feel.

Miraculously, Monica suddenly came jumping out of the water like a cat trying to escape a bath.

Soaking wet, shivering, and coughing furiously, she crawled onto all fours before collapsing onto the snow.

Fire spirits aren't necessarily weak to being submerged underwater like most people would think, but it's not exactly good for them either.

When paired with the fact that the water was cold and Monica had intentionally lowered her body temperature, she certainly wasn't doing too well at the moment.

She needed to get her temperature up quickly, but it seemed like she was having a hard time using her powers after everything she had been through in such a short timeframe.

Abaddon sighed internally as his heart clenched.

He had great relationships with every single one of his daughters-in-law, and Monica was no different even if she and Straga weren't married yet.

As such, it was somewhat difficult for him to see her suffer like this.

And he honestly wanted to pull the plug on her exam early.

Just as the decision crossed his mind, Mira touched her father on the arm like she knew what he was thinking, and pointed at the magical screen.

"Daddy... look."

Abaddon's attention was drawn to Monica's fingertips.

As they trembled with the rest of her, he could see faint sparks starting to flicker along the length of her digits.

At first, they were their usual bright orange color, but upon closer inspection, one could see that it seemed to be trying to change to something new.

Miraculously, they were turning into a pale blue color; similar, but different compared to other flames he had seen.

Soon enough, they had covered her entire body; and he could visibly see her starting to warm up, but oddly enough she wasn't melting the snow around her, or generating steam.

The dragon's curiosity was truly piqued.

"Interesting..." Abaddon suddenly looked over his shoulder at his second best general. "Jazzy, can you come here for a moment?"

"Coming!" Jasmine removed her hand from Thea's butt and lifted her off of her before running over to where Abaddon sat.

"Eh? Why do you look like that?"

"N-No reason, just trying to wipe my memory a bit." Abaddon muttered as he rubbed his temples.

Jasmine, understanding that she was the cause of his exhausted look, blushed as she looked away. "I-I don't wanna hear it, you grope my mom in front of me all the time!"

"In all fairness, she usually gropes me first and then it turns into something like a contest..."

"Dirty old dragons..."

"We aren't old!"

"Mama is over 800 and you are-"

"40."

"That doesn't even-"

"40."

"Father-in-law, don't be like this, there is nothing wrong with agi-"

"I said I'm 40, you little shrimp!" Abaddon grabbed Jasmine's cheeks and began pulling them hard enough to turn them red.

"Kyaa! Okay, I get it, I get it!"

Inside of the room, everyone who didn't spend a plethora of time around Abaddon was surprised by the close knit bond between himself and all of his generals.

They were all very... normal.

None would have expected these to be the leaders of creation's most fearsome army.

"N-Nevermind that for now, just let me see a little bit of your flame." he finally asked.

"Apologize to my cheeks first!"

Abaddon rubbed Jasmine's cheeks with both of his palms and the young woman made a tranquil expression as she held up a small ball of cobalt blue flame.

'Hmm...'

Sure enough, her flames were just as hot as ever, and as he thought, they were certainly different from the ones that Monica was displaying now.

"Mira, do you mind if I see yours?" he suddenly asked.

"Sure!"

Mira held out her hand and another flame appeared over her palm.

This one was a very pale blue; almost white in fact.

And unlike Jasmine's that was almost unbearably hot, Mira's were so cold that they burned.

Continuing his experiment, Abaddon fused the two flames together using his own abilities.

In that moment, he created a flame that was exactly similar to the one Monica was displaying.

He had a small theory about how something like this might have been possible, but he needed a bit more information to confirm it fully.

Turning to two very specific members of his forces, he offered them an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I know that it's a bit early, but would you two mind going to test our young fire spirit a bit once she recovers?"

The pair looked at each other momentarily before shrugging.

"Of course we don't mind, but..." one began.

"Is there any particular reason why you want her tested so soon?"

Abaddon smiled like a proud father, even though Monica wasn't his daughter.

"Because if I am right... this courageous little fire spirit may have just opened up an entirely new pathway for all of her kind."

-

"Hello~! Mommy Nyx is here!"

Nyx waited and waited, but no one came to meet her at the front door, even with her over the top entrance.

Poking her lips out a bit, she folded her arms in a huff before she took the liberty of intruding into the house.

"Well, they can hardly blame me for intruding now. What if they're hurt or something and need my help? I have to see for myself."

Floating off her feet, Nyx flew into the common area living room where she sensed multiple presences.

Sitting on the leather sofa were a total of three individuals.

The twins, Yemaya and Yemoja, and little Nubia, only she wasn't quite so little anymore.

She had grown up into a young girl resembling around fifteen years of age and in possession of a tall and slender figure courtesy of Abaddon and Eris.

The siblings looked to be at the beginning of a rainy-day movie marathon, and they hadn't even bothered to leave their pajamas.

"Well hello, girls-"

"""Our father isn't here.""" the trio replied in unison.

"...I don't just come here for him you know? I happen to be very good friends with your mothers too."

"They're sleeping. Probably won't be up for another hour or so." Yemaja said absentmindedly.

"And even when they do, they have to go to work with dad too." Yemaya finished.

"I see..."

Nyx tried to follow along with whatever the girls were watching, but it was some cartoon about a princess kissing a frog and she honestly didn't find it too exhilarating.

Not compared to what she came here for at least.

"...So where is your father working?" she finally asked.

The twins finally smirked to themselves while making a knowing expression.

Nubia started to answer, but suddenly she clutched her head hard as she began to experience a wave of unbearable discomfort. "I-I don't feel..."

""Sister!"" the twins cried worriedly.

Their panicked screams were the last things she heard as she unfortunately passed out.