First Demonic Dragon

"So you say they are… anchors?" Fiona raised a brow.

"Universal ones, yes." Abaddon rubbed the bridge of his nose. "With this planet as the main point of focus, they start pulling in universes in their immediate surroundings."

Lailah nodded as she swatted away Bekka's hand that was discreetly moving towards her chest.

"For ten universes, there must be ten anchors. Sevasina spoke as if only a few have been found, so the rest must be sitting unguarded and hidden."

"And these 'anointed' that she mentioned..?"

"Likely just Assan's who got too close to the anchors for comfort, so they were made to act as wardens to keep anyone else from getting too close.

Anyone else who treads near them is probably destined for the same fate. If some of those who were abducted haven't been made into them already."

Destroying the anchors is something that only a primordial being could do, but just about anyone with strong enough magic can interfere with it to produce all kinds of unintended effects.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Fiona nodded in understanding. The only sound in the room was that of her pencil as she jotted down notes.

"So then we need to find these remaining anchors and destroy them then. How much time would you say we had to do this?"

Lailah sighed in minor agitation as she felt Bekka squeeze her butt and tail.

"…Roughly a year and a half? Possibly less? Speeding up the process would only jeopardize more lives, and something tells me that is not their goal."

Fiona took a break from writing. "And what makes you say this? Is it just because he's taking people?"

Lailah smiled as Sif pried Bekka away from her body. "Oh, just the cheap suspicion of an old woman, and nothing more. Pay it no mind."

Fiona and Shin stared at Lailah hard.

Somehow, just hearing the personification of magic refer to herself as an older woman just felt… wrong.

Old women certainly aren't built like super models with breasts that were too perfect to have been free.

Fiona was irritated just by looking at her.

Seeing a creature with skin that flawless was like an insult to someone who grew up working very hard to manage their chronic acne!

"My love is always quite the genius." Abaddon smiled as he lifted his wife up by her waist.

"H-Honey, you're embarrassing me.." Lailah smiled bash fully.

"Oh? My apologies then." Abaddon started to put her down.

"I-I didn't say that you had to stop..!" She quickly corrected.

Abaddon smirked knowingly and held her in an inescapable princess carry that she seemed to have no desire to get out of.

Shin felt disgusted. His daughter felt envious, then ashamed.

"B-Back to the matter at hand, please..?" Fiona averted her gaze and forced herself to stop blushing. "Can any of you find the anchors or not?"

Lailah didn't tear her loving gaze away from Abaddon as she answered.

"Not unless we're within a city's distance of them. Anything else would require us spreading our senses."

"And what are the chances that we could just wait for the topography to change again and emerge right next to one?" Shin asked gruffly.

Lailah openly started feeling Abaddon's peck in the same way that Bekka had reached for her breast. "Poor. This world is far too big and each anchor will only be around the size of a two story house."

The director was honestly surprised that she was still of the mind to listen to him.

"We'll get to work on getting some more detailed planetary scans and see if we can't locate them so that we aren't just sitting around on our hands." He sighed.

"I've found something else to sit on~" Lailah rubbed her husband's face affectionately.

"Disgusting."

Thrudd was glad she packed headphones for this trip, because she was probably going to need them within the next 30 minutes or so.

Sex & sexuality weren't something to really be ashamed of in their house, and her parents talked about it pretty openly. But that didn't exactly make their darling daughter any more comfortable with their rampant PDA.

However, Shin was downright terrible at hiding his disgust.

"Unbelievable…" He gathered his things in a huff and stormed out of the Tathamet's living room. "At least one of you made yourselves useful before falling into your degeneracy…"

Abaddon paused with his lips barely an inch away from Lailah's.

Shin's hand had barely touched the doorknob when he felt a rough hand grab him by his shoulder.

"Now what the hell do you-"

The front door splintered into shards of wood as a body went flying through it.

Shin bounced off the soil like a rock skimming across a pond. He landed face first in the icy cold stream; terrifying nearby marine life and giving them a memory they wouldn't forget.

He lifted his head out of the water and saw that his nose had started to turn the stream red.

"Be patient, turn the other cheek, be the bigger man, be kind…"

Abaddon stepped past the shattered doorway with a darker expression and an unnatural pressure he could just barely contain.

His skin darkened until his appearance was as black as night, & as sweet as sin. The tattoos along his body turned a bright enough gold color that it illuminated the darkening day.

His red hair split into two colors. A mystical white and a ominous black.

The sclera within his eyes darkened to match the rest of him. His red irises changed until they practically resembled midday suns. Continue your adventure at empire

His feet were beginning to resemble those of his wives, becoming more lean and creature-like and far less humanoid.

"I have given you far too much grace. You've made foul insinuations about the kind of god I am, insulted me in front of my wives and family, and you talked shit about my ribs..!"

Black and red flame sprang up underneath Abaddon's footsteps. Shin sprang to his feet when he realized that Abaddon was truly angry this time and he wasn't stopping.

Abaddon held out his hand and a 'weapon' appeared on his right arm.

A deep black shield with the roaring face of a demon.

Abaddon's choice of armament was perhaps the greatest insult of all.

He didn't hate Shin enough to pick up a spear.

He didn't respect him enough to face him with no weapon at all.

Abaddon picked up a shield because it was the best way he knew to let Shin know what a joke he thought he was.

And Shin was already fully aware of it before they traded a single blow.

"I have long lost the patience for the drivel of closeminded humans. You want me to be your enemy? Fine. I will break you apart piece by piece until you learn your manners and then stitch you back together again..."

Abaddon snapped his fingers and a wall of flame encompassed the entirety of their camp grounds.

He smiled in an unsettling manner with teeth sharper than Excalibur.

"Because that is the kind of god I am."

"Spare me your noise!" Shin quickly reached behind his waist and pulled out two pistols still dripping with water.

He immediately opened fire and released a series of quick shots aimed at his chest and eyes.

Abaddon raised his shield without so much as a change in expression.

The face on his shield ate the energy comprised bullets and it's eyes flared to life.

Two beams of energy were fired from his own eyes like homing missiles.

They blew apart both of Shin's pistols in less time than it would have taken him to find a complete thought.

Shin barely managed to get far enough away from the blast that he wasn't terribly affected.

However, he never expected to run right smack into a duplicate of Abaddon.

The rim of Abaddon's shield smashed into the side of his face and knocked out several teeth and childhood memories.

Shin dropped to his knees in the water, but a kick to the back sent careening towards the original Abaddon.

Raising the metal disk once again, he caught Shin in midair and crashed the metal against his temple.

His body turned inside out several times before he crashed into the soil facefirst.

"Dad!!"

Fiona started to run to her father's side when the largest sword she had ever seen was leveled in front of her face.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up in response to the voltage in the air.

"Let's leave the grown folk to their business, yea?" Thrudd smiled; the very spitting image of her father. "These old men seem to need a chance to work out their issues."

Thrudd's tone might've been gentle, but it was clear that she really wasn't asking.

As if that weren't bad enough, the two horrendous pets the family liked to walk around with were suddenly growing a lot larger, and they were making it clear they intended to block her way.

"I don't suppose you'll let me go if I ask you nicely..?" Fiona smiled nervously.

Thrudd smiled back at her. All of her teeth were sharpened to a point and her eyes were becoming noticeably larger.

"No~"