First Demonic Dragon

It was worth noting that almost every important debate among Abaddon and his wives was normally always settled pretty quickly.

But today, their debate was going on for upwards of forty minutes.

The girls insisted that having forty highly armed guards following Courtney around in her shadow was far too much.

Especially in a world where the greatest capability of offensive magic was setting a small home or a truck on fire.

Abaddon however insisted that they could never be too careful, and perhaps a threat that was non-native to that reality would pop up while looking to make Courtney a bargaining chip.

Neither argument was wholly unfounded.

But eventually, the girls were able to remind the stubborn dragon that they were doing this so that Courtney could live as normal a life as possible.

Traveling to school with a small army in her shadow was most certainly not the normalcy that they were trying to give her.

So they settled on a small compromise.

Courtney would be given one guard with the power of forty.

Within the manor, Abaddon and his wives were sitting at the dining room table and waiting patiently for the arrival of their chosen aide.

It wasn't until the door creaked open and Asmodeus walked in with his former second in command that they were ready to begin.

"Adeline." Tatiana smiled. "You're looking so nervous and you've only just stepped in here."

"I-I..."

"Don't worry, we haven't called you here to scold you or anything like that. We simply wanted to make you an offer."

For some reason, that seemed to calm the young woman down more than what she would have liked to admit.

She kneeled swiftly at their feet and lowered her head in greeting.

"I heed the call of my Emperor and Empresses."

"Ahem!"

"...And of course the young princess."

Courtney smiled in satisfaction and waived. "Hello to you too, Adele!"

Adeline suppressed a smile at the mention of a horrible nickname that she had no hope of getting rid of.

"You seem to already be familiar with each other. That's good, since it might make what we have to ask of you a bit easier on you." Tatiana noted.

"I will accept any task you might ask of me, irregardless of the difficulty placed upon my shoulders."

"So serious~" Asmodeus mocked.

A thick vein bulged in Adeline's head.

She had to stop herself from saying brash things in front of the glorious royal family.

There was no way she could afford to have a bad image in their minds!

Luckily, her great Emperor had her back and said what she could not.

"Leave her alone, you old shit. Can't you see she has a level of manners that you would never be able to attain?"

"Who're you talking to? I'll knock that third eye off your temple so goddamn fast your head will spi-"

"Boys." the girls interrupted.

""Tch."" Both men turned their heads away and dismissed their budding hostility.

"Anyway." Eris emphasized. "We were planning to assign you to be our little one's personal guard while she attends school on a parallel earth."

"Truly? I had heard that his highness had previously selected a few golds for this particular task."

"Yes, well that would sort of defeat the purpose of her having as normal a time as possible. Besides..." Bekka looked down at Courtney in her lap.

"What would you do with an army of forty dragons, pumpkin?"

Courtney's answer was instantaneous.

"I would overthrow all of the world governments, and make it so that the only food they could serve is ice cream!!"

"Do you see our dilemma?" Bekka sighed. "If we gave her those kinds of numbers she'd turn her world into a diabetic hellscape."

"Y-Yes, I see the problem." Adeline covered her mouth so that no one would see her snicker.

"We chose you because we believe that you'll be able to exert much better judgment while also ensuring that our little princess here stays safe." Erica continued.

"Don't misunderstand us though, Adeline. We aren't really expecting for there to be much trouble on your end, since that version of earth is vastly inferior to even Dola." Lailah explained.

"But our family unfortunately has no shortage of enemies, so we fear that something like this is all too necessary in spite of the perceived lack of danger." Lisa added.

"Despite that, this might be the easiest job posting you will ever undertake. Courtney already has a crest on her hand to bring her home, so all that you'll need to do is sit in her shadow for eight hours every two days." Seras smiled.

Another reason Abaddon and his wives chose Courtney's earth to go to school is that it wasn't that far out of sync with Tehom's district flow of time, or lack thereof.

But because there was still a big difference, Courtney would have approximately 48 hours between school days before she needed to return.

And on weekends, the time spent would be even longer.

There was initially concern over her forgetting too much of what she learned in school, but remembrance of Lailah's immense love for teaching and education squashed those concerns quickly.

"So, do you have any objections to accepting this assignment?" Abaddon finally asked.

Adeline deepened her bow even further. "Of course not, Emperor. I would be honored to act as the princess' sword and shield."

"Oh? Well alright then. I already feel more-"

Suddenly, Abaddon and his wives looked towards the door with small smirks on their face.

And a bit of confusion too.

"Christ... Just once, I'd like to sneak up on you lot."

Belloc suddenly materialized out of the shadows on the wall with a smirk on his handsome face.

"Bell-Bell!"

"My baby!!"

Audrina and Courtney ran towards the young dragon and nearly tackled him to the ground.

Abaddon had a much more controlled reaction as he stood up to greet his son personally.

"Welcome back. The house hasn't been the same without you."

Belloc stared at his father strangely.

He couldn't place his finger on it, but his old man felt different for some reason.

"You're a bit nicer than I remember. Maybe I should leave and come back more often." he finally said.

"You can do that if you like... but I'll have to hug you every time that you return."

Belloc's face paled. "No, I don't do hugs, I'm not Thea-"

"Come on, bring it in, son." Abaddon smiled.

"I said no!" Belloc's powers conveniently stopped working at that moment, and he could neither sink into the shadows or teleport away. m-vl|emp yr your novel source

"Fine, fine." Abaddon chuckled. "But you'll need to tell me why I smell a human girl in my house."

Courtney: "Hey!"

"A new human girl." Abaddon clarified.

"Oh, okay."

Belloc scratched his cheek in mild embarrassment. "I might've... brought someone to stay for a bit."

"A bit?" Audrina raised brow.

"For the foreseeable future." Belloc finally admitted.

"I'll start on dinner so that we can meet her!" Tatiana excitedly got up and ran to the kitchen.

"I'll help!" Bekka quickly stood behind her.

"My darling, you don't help in the kitchen. You just stick your fingers in bowls." Abaddon reminded.

"Same thing!" Bekka replied as she ran off.

Belloc finally noticed that Adeline was here kneeling on the floor and he sliced his teeth at the sight.

"Promise me you guys won't make my girlfriend kneel like that too, yea? She's already on edge and I want her to feel comfortable."

Adeline's face lost nearly all of it's color.

"What are you talking about?" Audrina asked. "Adeline here has just agreed to be your sister's new bodyguard while she goes to school."

'Oh shit...'

Realizing he'd made a mistake, Belloc smiled harmlessly as he slowly started backing away. "W-Well, I gotta get back upstairs to check on Sthen and Melanie, so-"

"Not so fast."

"Ack!"

Abaddon grabbed his son by the horn and dragged him back to his side against his will.

"Speak. What do you know, boy?"

"That I was wrong before about you being nicer!"

"I feel like it's been a while since I gave you a good hug..."

"Okay, okay, okay! I'll spill, just chill out!"

At that moment, Nubia burst into the dining room with the twins and Thrudd in tow.

The four arrive just in time to see Belloc sing like a canary.

"I thought you were doing this because Nubby was dating Adeline!"

Thrudd: "Oh shit..."

Yemaja: "He couldn't hold water with a bucket and a handle..."

Yemaya: "Not gonna lie, I thought for sure Straga was going to spill first."

Nubia: "Stool pigeon!!"

Abaddon's jaw fell open.

His mind went back to a few weeks ago when Straga tried to tell him that his daughter was dating someone.

He just didn't believe it at the time because he assumed that his cheeky brat was trying to get out of trouble.

But now, he remembered clearly that his son said Nubia was dating a woman and a man.

"...Who is the other person?" Abaddon asked the room openly, not posing his question tone particular person or another.

Nubia looked nervous. "W-What are you talking about, dad? There is no-"

Abaddon shook Belloc up and down with one hand like he was a can of coke.

"O-Ow! Okay, it's Zheng! Damn!"

"Stool pigeon!!" Nubia quoted again. "Even Mira kept her fucking mouth shut, and she'd sell her right arm for a tub of cookie dough!"

"I-I'm sorry! Blame this big brute here! I'll make it up to you later, but-"

"There'll be no way for you to make anything up to me, because you'll already be DEAD!!"

Nubia roared loud enough to cause the glass in the room to shatter.

She lunged across the room with her claws and teeth already sharpening.

In the span of one blink of an eye, Abaddon dropped Belloc on the ground and caught his daughter just before she could reach her brother's neck.

No one saw him leave with her; they were only aware that the hall was suddenly much more quiet and empty.

"...Do I... still have the job?" Adeline asked timidly.

"Yes you do, new sister!"

Courtney boldly walked in front of Adeline with her arms folded and an aura of authority.

"Your first mission is to conquer the whole playground in my name!"

Despite all earlier hysteria, Courtney's grand delusions filled the dining hall with laughter once again.

- Nexus of Creation, The Tree of Life.

Yesh and Asherah were staring at the father-daughter pair who had arrived just moments ago.

Nubia was sitting crosslegged next to her father who was busy lying face down in the grass.

"Have the two of you come here for something in particular...?" Asherah asked.

"This was the quietest place I could think of." Abaddon responded without lifting his head. "I just needed to lay down for a minute..."

Yesh and Asherah looked at each other with no real idea of what they were supposed to do.

"...Can we offer you some bread and wine?" the mother goddess offered.

""Fish too please...""