First Demonic Dragon-Chapter 1247: Old Gods

"Shh... everyone be quiet."

A voice within a dark, musky room was the sole calming force.

The air was thick with dust and apprehension. Old, rusty tools cluttered the walls and the floor as a group of stray humans hid underneath the cover of an old shack.

They huddled closely together, shivering and praying to whatever god they believed would hear them.

Only one man seemed to be above the trembling humans.

He was a younger man with hair dyed red and dark brown skin.

His clothes were fit for travel. A jacket with muted colors and heavy boots caked with mud.

He is the sole figure who stands on his feet. Silently, he keeps his ear pressed to the old wooden boards and listens to the rumbling outside.

It sounds distant. With every passing moment, it seems to stray farther and farther away.

The man feels someone tap on his calf.

Looking down, he meets the teary gaze of a young girl, no older than fifteen.

She does not speak, but her hands fly as she weaves coded symbols with her fingers.

Are they gone?

He hesitates to answer. The hairs on the back of his neck are still standing up in alarm.

Just as he begins to open his mouth to speak, there is a loud crash as the ceiling is ripped from the building and their worst fears are made reality.

The figure looking down upon the cornered humans was a nightmarish apparition.

When he speaks, his voice is like glass raking their inner ears. The language is indecipherable, but the humans have already gotten the gist.

They’d been found.

"Everybody run!!"

The young man alone charged the creature while the rest of the humans rushed away in fear.

Throwing off his backpack, the young man moved as if he were reaching for something on his back.

When his hands return to the front, a pair of mystic weapons has appeared, glowing with an ominous red light.

The creature narrows it’s eyes at the sight. For the moment, it pauses. The young man wasn’t sure why, but he would not look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Don’t seize up now, you big bastard!"

He rushes right up to the creature, unaffected by it’s daunting size.

It is big, at least seventeen feet tall. But the young man had seen bigger.

Rushing in, he swings his axe at the knee of the creature.

The unique ringing of metal striking metal is heard for miles on end.

’..Shit.’

Cursing his luck, the human rolls underneath the gap between the creature’s legs.

When he gets back to his feet again, he sprints away as fast as his legs will carry him.

Though his effort is not rewarded, a long, slender tail whips around to slam into him hard, knocking the young man clear off his feet.

The pain was instant. He had no delusions about his ribs still being intact.

He waited for the inevitable moment that he hit the ground, but it never came.

The realization that he was floating in place only came when he opened one eye.

He was carried by a force he could not see toward the face of the creature.

A pair of infernal glowing eyes stared into him, sending shivers down his spine.

Again, the creature speaks. Again, the young man feels as if his ears are going to start bleeding.

The young man is under no delusions about his situation. He knows that he has likely met his end here.

But under no circumstances would he go out without a memorable exit.

"Eat shit!" With a strained yell, the human jams his weapons into the eye of his adversary.

He releases a pained roar from the depths of his soul.

The sound is awful. Deafening. It hurts more than anything the young man has ever felt in his entire life.

His vision fades into white as his body drops out of the air.

The last thing he sees before the world turns dark is an even more fearsome beast coming to attack the one who has just murdered him. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

-

As one, the dragons race across the sky atop their mounts.

Abaddon and Gandora notice the same pressure at exactly the same moment.

Before he can even say anything to her, she darts off in the direction of the aura. Her excitement is so great that it is nearly a tangible force.

"...I guess it’s not worth it to ask you to calm down, is it, girl?"

Gandora growls in a manner that means ’fuck no’.

Sitting back, Abaddon rests his chin on his fist.

From a distance of around five miles, Abaddon spots the creature.

It is a slender, spidery thing. It’s flesh is a deep crimson color, while it’s dangerously long claws are an inky black.

Initially, Abaddon does not recognize the apparition. He has never seen a creature like this before.

But then, he takes in a deep breath, and the smell on the wind speaks to him.

’...Nephilim?’

The last time Abaddon saw one of the giants, they were still relatively ’normal’ beings.

But then again, that was before they were drowned in a furious flood, and their souls were imprisoned within the dark gates of Tartarus.

Abaddon had not considered that they would have metamorphosed to this degree.

In the back of his mind, he begins to question why Asherah would release such foul things in the first place.

It was unfortunate, but the answers to this query would have to come later. He wasn’t even sure where to find the mother goddess at this time.

"Brother. Do we engage?" Kanami asks over the wind.

Abaddon shakes his head with a slightly bored expression.

"No need..."

He looks down at Gandora and pats her head lovingly. "Have fun, but don’t make too much of a mess, yeah? Come back to me if you can’t handle it."

Gandora looks back at him, a look of immense offense across her snout.

Abaddon laughs heartily and holds up his hands in surrender. "My mistake then. Go wild."

The dragon hops off the back of his mount, and Gandora races ahead without him.

Like a cannonball, she slams her body into the wiry form of the corrupted Nephilim.

The two great beasts tumble to the ground together, but Gandora’s surprise attack brings her immediate advantage.

Unhinging her jaw, she bites into the neck of the nephilim, and a choked roar barely escapes past his lips.

She is slightly surprised by the density of his flesh. Despite her fangs being renowned for their sharpness, even she cannot easily pierce her foe.

However, rather than becoming disgruntled by this, Gandora grows even more excitable instead. The thrill of the challenge makes her blood sing like the most twisted song.

The nephilim throws her off his body, and he speaks in a dialect that Gandora can understand quite easily.

"Foul animal.. what manner of creature are you!?"

Gandora’s claws lengthen, and the spines on her back grow sharper.

She turns her head to the sky and unleashes a roar that shakes the earth.

The nephilim is surprised when he can understand her as well.

I am one who will bring you your doom!

She rushes in once again with renewed vigor, and a titanic clash unfolds.

At the same time, Abaddon lands on the ground.

His eyes immediately go to the body lying on the ground. A flash of sadness rises in his eyes as he steps towards it.

Kneeling, he lifts the body into his arms.

The boy’s name was Cameron. He knew that much.

Abaddon calls for him, but he does not answer.

His eyes are permanently open and glassy. His brain is so liquified that the fluid is pouring out of his ears and nasal passages.

Abaddon grits his teeth.

He places his hand over the boy’s face and closes his eyes.

Simultaneously, he calls on a bit of the nether inside of his body to pull the boy’s spirit free.

An ethereal, ghostly visage rises from the broken shell.

Cameron almost seems as if he is waking up from a long sleep. When he opens his eyes again, he appears somewhat refreshed.

But upon seeing the horned being kneeling before him, his eyes suddenly balloon.

"Do you know who I am?"

Cameron instinctively tries to swallow, only to realize his current vessel produces no bodily fluids.

He shifts his position so that he can kneel on one knee.

"Y-Yes, my god... I am thrilled to see you in the mortal realm."

As the Euphrates land around their lord and leader, Cameron’s eyes become even wider.

"Forgive me, Cameron. I arrived just a bit too late. But if it is your wish, I can return you to life." Abaddon says.

The human is understandably shocked.

For a while, he goes completely quiet, and Abaddon suspects that he is having trouble accepting such an offer.

But the reality was much different.

"I am sorry, my lord, but... no."