First Demonic Dragon

Abaddon had never actually met this man before.

And yet, he knew a great deal about him already.

The Shining Order of Sacred Mercy are a multiversal level secret society.

From the moment that they are reborn, inhabitants of Tehom are fully aware of their fated adversaries known as the Abyss Hunters.

The order is shrouded in an unnatural amount of mystery.

Even Nyx, who knows nearly everything, doesn't know much about them.

They are a collection of humans who seem to have dedicated their entire lives to combating the evil of the abyss.

But how they do this is anyone's guess.

They do not accept, nor interact with the gods of earth, and are even said to view them with contempt.

Their power comes from… actually, no one is quite sure of that.

Some say they are just regular humans who use a form of magic devised completely of their own creation.

Others believe that they are a race of humans formed from the soil where the fragments of the first blade fell.

They are also speculated to be a line of exorcists or demon hunters who somehow never lost their memories when the timelines endured previous resets.

But one thing that is known for certain, and that is that they are quite capable.

Using their own brand of sorcery and highly advanced technology developed from hundreds of centuries of research, they travel from galaxy to galaxy, world to world, searching for residents of the Abyss.

Even if the abyss kings met all of the conditions to plunder a world, the hunters are the last line of defense against them.

Of the six Uma-Sarru before Abaddon, three have fallen to the Abyss Hunters.

Abaddon already knew about them not just from Karliah's scathing review, but also because of the whole host of information that was passed down to him when he partially consumed Jaldabaoth.

He'd been wanting to meet the men of the organization for a long time.

Upon hearing such an unfamiliar voice suddenly speak into his ear, the Director suddenly whirled around and lashed out.

An orange-gold sigil flew from his palm and struck empty air harmlessly, putting him even more on guard than before.

"Interesting… I've never seen such sophisticated occult magic before. They were right about you hunters being full of surprises."

The director's gaze traveled upwards from the ground up to the head of a particularly ugly abyss walker.

There, he found an assortment of ten men far above the rest of the rabble that he had been banishing.

His eyes were focused solely on the man sitting in front of the pack with his head in his hand.

"You know me, but I don't know you at all. I find that just the tiniest bit unsettling." Director Shin responded gruffly.

"Well you don't know me, but you are interrupting my business on this planet and sending away my creations, so we'll call your discomfort an even exchange… not that it matters though."

The man with deep black skin waived his hand and sixty more abyss walkers materialized out of thin air.

Director Nagumo was surprised, but he didn't let it show on his face.

Abyss walkers were supposed to be summoned from Tehom and not naturally fabricated like this, so this demon's little display just now should have been impossible.

Soon, the director's eyes shone with recognition.

"Oh I see… So it is you."

"So it is. You don't seem surprised."

"It is well known that the ruling denizens of the Abyss become stronger with each new passing of the crown. Something like this is well within my expectations."

Abaddon already knew that the director was sharper than most, but seeing it from up close really was quite interesting.

"It took you less time than I expected for you to enact your first seige." The director continued. "I'm not sure if that is because you don't put me or my associates in your eyes, or if you're just that bloodthirsty."

"Should anything that you do concern me? I have no enemy among you. If you must know, I'm actually rather grateful to you."

Director Nagumo believed that this was a bad joke, and he was waiting for the unfunny punchline to end.

"Do you now? I can't wait to hear what for."

Zheng's hand went to his katana and it was nearly out of it's sheath in an instant.

Had Belphegor not nearly broken his wrist to stay his hand, he would have done something unnecessary.

"Your organization has helped lessen the spread of the plague brought about by the foolishness of the zealots who came before me.

Were it not for you, the havoc they wrought could have been much worse. You all have my gratitude." Abaddon said sincerely.

The joke has supposedly landed, but Director Nagumo didn't understand the punchline.

He'd heard that the current ruler painted himself as a more benefic man than his previous incarnation.

It wasn't surprising that no one really bought into the story when they looked at him.

Part of Abaddon's very existence is the epitome of sexuality and seduction.

Those things require an intrinsic knowledge of breaking down one's barriers and making them feel exactly what you want them to feel by saying just the right words and making the right gestures.

And just looking at Abaddon was enough to get half the job done.

Director Shin had seen numerous beings across the multiverse- spanning across kings, gods, mortals, beasts, and everything in between.

It was easy to find divinely handsome men practically anywhere one looked because they were as common as stones on the road.

But Abaddon was without question the single most attractive entity that he had ever encountered by far.

That attractiveness was seen as a weapon.

Even veteran hunters who knew how to maintain their guards against these special anomalies would be swept up in this man's unrivaled charm.

The Director could physically feel Abaddon's words and appearance poking around in his brain, stimulating his pleasure receptors and simultaneously trying to coax him into lowering his guard.

It solidified the idea in his mind that this new ruler was a viper simply masquerading as a benevolent man.

He didn't know that Abaddon was a much more simple and straightforward man than what others first made him out to be.

Or that despite his innate talent for seduction, he was still quite capable of saying the wrong things.

"Thanking us for our service, huh..? How funny. Are you trying to convince me that sowing chaos for the sake of it isn't your race's entire m.o?"

"Not outside of a party or festival." Abaddon shrugged.

"So then what do you call this?!" Director Shin held out his arms and gestured to the ruined world around him.

"This must be a hell of a birthday party if you're wreaking all this havoc!"

Abaddon's eyes narrowed sharply.

"Don't misunderstand me, Director. I have no fancy for wonton destruction. All that you see before you is a revenge long overdue. I have no plans to take this world once it has been freed. It will belong to my descendants alone."

Director Shin met Abaddon's serious gaze with one of his own.

"No interest in wonton destruction, eh? Then you'll explain to me why you annihilated all of those worlds in Sector J-353A!"

Abaddon's body tensed up very briefly.

For a moment, Director Shin saw a look cross his face that he didn't quite understand.

"What the hell… You were destroying worlds, nephew?" Satan asked incredulously. "Why the hell didn't you take m-"

Asmodeus punched his brother in the face so hard that his body was sent flying like a pair of characters from a very noteworthy monster catcher show.

Only Asmodeus Yara, Imani, and Hajun knew about what happened on the day Abaddon tried to assume his responsibilities for the first time.

And they knew exactly how much it haunted him.

Abaddon ran his hands through his hair in exhaustion before he finally stood up atop the head of one of his creatures.

His hands were clasped behind him gracefully as he turned his back.

"…It was a pleasure meeting you, Director. Let's not have our paths cross again anytime soon."

Director Shin couldn't understand what was happening. "What? You're leaving just like that??"

"I am." Abaddon conjured a portal big enough to swallow his entire group.

He started to walk towards it and to the continued surprise of Dr. Shin, everyone else that he'd brought with him began to leave too.

"What are you trying to pull, Dragon God?!"

"Nothing. I just simply do not have an interest in staying here any longer."

"Fight me!!" He roared.

"For what purpose?"

"It is my charge! Just as my father and his father before him have done, I will bring you to your knees and keep reality safe from your threat!"

When Abaddon next spoke, his voice somehow seemed to contain a much older depth of wisdom.

"A sense of duty then… I can understand that. It's a shame for you though, because nothing has been done that warrants any sort of conflict between us.

I have no additional interest in you. You have a misguided aggression towards me.

Sort out the inner workings of that on your own time, because I have no interest in holding your hand while you walk through it.

I've met you, expressed my thanks, and now I am leaving.

But you're free to stay behind and work off a little more of that rage if you want. It makes me no difference."