Chapter 680: The Dragon Virtues
Sharpening all of those weapons took Abaddon and Kanami a little bit longer than normal since they had recently doubled their number of recruits.
As such, it was around 1:00 when they finally finished.
Well, that was when Abaddon finally finished…
Judging by the fact that his sister was already asleep, he guessed that she might've been done for quite a while.
The thing about Kanami was that she could sleep just about anywhere. Hence the reason Abaddon didn't find it strange for her to be draped over a giant warhammer.
And unsurprisingly, Seras was still asleep as well. In fact she was sleeping so soundly that Abaddon didn't want to move and wake her.
As a result, he ended up sitting there longer with nothing to really do.
Instead of dozing off to sleep himself, Abaddon slipped his phone out of his pocket and pulled on his earphones.
He listened to music to drown out the quiet snoring of the two women in the room.
As an impish prank, he took pictures of his sister's odd sleeping posture and sent them to his parents and other sister.
For Seras, he took much cuter, less embarrassing photos and sent them to the rest of the girls.
In the midst of this, he realized that there actually was something he could have been doing at that moment.
Waving his hand over his chest, he extracted a flurry of glowing orbs from his soul.
The seven heavenly virtues were just as captivating as the last time he witnessed them.
Swirling bundles of white mist with enochian characters written in gold.
Charity.
Humility.
Chastity.
Diligence.
Patience.
Temperance.
And kindness.
Unlike their sinful counterparts, the seven sins are much less volatile when exposed.
To the closest possible explanation, standing near them feels like the body is almost overcome with reverence.
Interestingly enough, these were only copies of the original seven virtues. Abaddon used the endless amount of Aether within his body to make these exact replicas after observing the originals very briefly.
They were exactly the same in every way and no less powerful.
However, Abaddon didn't really want replicas of a power someone else had.
His goal was to tweak these existing powers and make them his own.
But because he was already their architect in a way, he didn't have to suppress and forcefully alter them the same way that he did with the seven sins.
He simply infused his own aura into the cores and let his power begin to mold it; almost forcing it to evolve.
Seras stirred within his lap and buried her face further into his chest. "Mmh.. bright..."
Abaddon summoned a blanket from Kanami's bed and draped it over his lover.
He immediately felt her relax within his grasp and the sound of her light snoring soon reoccurred.
'So cute…'
Abaddon didn't know how it was even possible for a woman to have so much power over him, but if Seras did one more cute thing, he would go out and conquer a solar system for her as an anniversary present.
Though their anniversary was still an entire four months away from now…
As Abaddon was thinking about this, he felt a gust of wind blow past his face and catch his attention.
It took several hours and an extreme amount of concentration for him to efficiently remake the sins.
But with the virtues? It took an entire four and a half minutes and he was thinking about licking his wife half the time.
If that wasn't enough proof of growth, he didn't know what was.
Abaddon brought the virtues close enough to himself so that he could properly inspect them.
Just like before, he was quite pleased with the results.
The older and more powerful Abaddon became, he grew less interested in possessing destructive might or enhancing his lethality.
What he was more interested in were abilities that would bring knowledge. Understanding.
The Dragon Virtues gave him that in spades.
Humility hadn't changed all that much from before.
Patience altered faint parts of his personality. It brought a peace and stability to his somewhat fiery and sometimes loud demeanor. In addition, it also altered his relationship with time.
Upon quieting his mind, he could literally see the passage of time go by.
Well… atleast not here he couldn't.
Tehom and time do not really mix with one another. The entire plane is subject to Abaddon's whims and inclinations.
However, if he was outside of his home, he would be able to truly observe time passing along through the heavens, hells, mortal planes and any other domain.
But more than that, he could also stop it or make adjustments to it much, much easier than before.
Every primordial god and even some god kings can interfere with time to a degree.
But time is immensely unruly and it desperately longs to flow as intended.
It's the reason why most can't manipulate it for very long. But Abaddon's new virtue would help him with that immensely and give him a leg up on others in that field.
Perhaps his control might even exceed Kronos'…
Diligence affected Abaddon's efforts of self improvement.
To the closest possible measurement, it multiplied the amount of progress he could make in training by almost 96%, while also cutting down the amount of time he had to spend grinding to around 1/10th of normal.
This included efforts to improve the bodies he created, enhance his powers, or even stimulate his mental capacity.
BUT, he will temporarily lose these benefits if he engages in negative behaviors like excessive greed, overeating, or getting drunk.
Charity was interesting because it did not particularly do anything for him specifically.
It helped those he gave things to.
For example, if Abaddon were to give a random beggar the power of electrokinesis, the voltage he would be capable of producing would be tripled without him doing anything at all.
This effect didn't only apply to powers he gave. It worked on items too.
If he were to hand you a regular slice of bread from the grocery store, it would be some of the best bread you'd ever had in your life.
If he gave you a sword, it's blade would never grow dull even after 10,000 battles.
Chastity didn't really help him a whole lot. It only fortified his mind against outside seductions and attempts to make him betray his spouses.
But since his wedding crest already did that, this one wouldn't really be all that helpful to him.
Last but not least, Kindness would be the only virtue that actually effected his enemies.
Whenever Abaddon spared the life of an enemy he'd bested, a sort of seal or slave crest would be imparted in their mind; preventing them from attacking him again, or even generating hostility towards him.
When all of the virtues had completed their metamorphosis, Abaddon absorbed them back into his body and sighed.
Was he satisfied with his creations? Yes.
But he couldn't help but feel as if he could be putting them to better use so to speak.
*Clack!*
Suddenly, Kanami's balcony window was pulled open.
Abaddon looked up in amusement as he locked eyes with Hakon. The middle rabisu brother was carrying a small picnic basket and a bottle of wine.
When his eyes landed on Abaddon and Seras, somehow even more color left his gray skin.
"…Please forgive me for the intrusion."
Abaddon only chuckled.
Despite being a powerful demon from hell who was technically even older than Helios, Hakon looked as embarrassed as a young man who'd just been caught with his first porno.
And Abaddon found that absolutely hilarious.
"So I guess the courtship is going well. I never would've imagined that you had such the romantic side to you, my friend."
"…Please do not tell Darius."
"I think you know I have to."
Hakon decided it was best to go ahead and mute the boys' group chat for the next day or two.
Since he could no longer put it off any further, Abaddon finally stood up with Seras in his arms and began walking towards the door.
She of course stirred awake at this, but one look at the pile of beautifully polished weapons and the large grey Rabisu in the corner of the room was sufficient enough to give her a decent picture of everything that'd happened.
"Enjoy your night, you two. Here's hoping you finally manage to make things official."Abaddon said.
Hakon's embarrassment somehow managed to multiply.
He and Kanami had been seeing each other for a good bit of time now, and he still hadn't managed to actually establish their relationship or even lie with her.
But tonight would be different!
If it took every bit of strength he had, he would definitely make his confession go smoothly!
Abaddon slammed the door a bit harder than normal when he left.
"W-Wha..?!" Kanami jolted awake with her hair strewn across her face and a small bit of drool on her chin.
Again, Hakon and Kanami had never had sex or anything of that nature.
He'd never so much as seen her with her shirt off.
In her room, Kanami only wore a sports bra and sweatpants.
Hakon was seeing a lot more than he was used to, and his mind quickly shorted out.
'May the royal family help me…'
-
Abaddon and Seras were walking down the hallway hand in hand.
Seras had been sleep for a couple of hours already, but she was still rubbing her eyes as if she was tired.
"We should probably join the others in bed… I told them we'd be back earlier since I was supposed to be helping the two of you." Seras scratched her cheek in embarrassment.
Abaddon kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, love. Your snoring was very good for morale."
"D-Don't patronize me.." She blushed.
At the sight of her, his irises were suddenly replaced with shining stars. 'So cute..!'
Just as the two were about to return to bed, Abaddon suddenly had a thought.
He paused in the middle of the hallway and glanced towards the opposite wing.
"My love… Do you think our children are up?"
"The boys and Gabbrielle? Yes. But as for the rest of our daughters, I don't believe so. You know how they feel about beauty sleep." Seras shrugged. "Why do you ask?"
Finally, the lights in Abaddon's brain connected and he gained a sudden idea.
He knew how to satisfy that gnawing afterthought he had in his mind earlier.
"Come with me for a bit… I want to give them something."