First Demonic Dragon

Courtney knew that this whole trip was going to be something like a training camp for her.

Even with that in the back of her mind, she remained relatively upbeat about the whole situation.

It was a chance to readjust her blunder from yesterday after all.

And doing it in front of her boyfriend? Well, that was just extra motivation!

Or at least it would have been, if the enemy that Courtney was supposed to fight had been anything close to normal.

“H-Hey, Courtney! Don’t go towards the light! Come back home!”

Courtney had already passed out and looked to be halfway towards the upper room.

“Don’t worry, dude.” Jazmine patted him on the back. “If she were actually going to bite the dust, her brother would’ve sensed it and pushed her back to life.”

Belloc looked up from his comic book. “I dunno. Still kinda peeved about that boxers comment earlier…”

Abaddon cracked his knuckles menacingly.

“B-But anything for family.” Belloc hurriedly went back to reading Battle Beast.

*Gasp!*

Courtney suddenly sat up dramatically and at too fast a speed to stop herself.

As a result, her forehead slammed directly into Aj’s.

A loud crack reverberated through the air, and the pair of young lovers went down like a dual house of cards.

“Hm… I wonder if that counts as PDA…?” Darus thought to himself.

His thoughts were cut short when someone suddenly placed a hand on his shiny head.

…And slammed his face into the counter repeatedly.

“H-Hey! What is the meaning of this, Absalom!?”

The large, statue-like dragon remained completely stone-faced as he shook Darius like a wet towel.

“Are you absolutely mental…? Why on earth would you think it was a good idea to have the young princess fight a world-eating monster..?”

Absalom didn’t stop shaking Darius even for a second. Making understanding him somewhat difficult.

“W-W-W-W-W-W-e l-l-l-iterally j-just -l-let her f-f-fight a w-w-orld burning d-d-dragon y-y-yesterday…!!”

“And without the sword she received from her parents, she would have died. What would possibly make you think that this was a good idea??”

Absalom suddenly paused as if he’d just now realized how his words could be misconstrued.

“Ah, but I don’t mean that you are lacking any promise at all, Courtney.”

Courtney held up her thumb as she tried to stop her nose from bleeding. “It’s cool, uncle, I know I’m a work in progress.”

Absalom’s arm must’ve gotten tired from shaking Darius, because he handed him to his brother Hakon so that he could continue right where he left off.

Eventually, Darius turned into a literal pile of rocks and broke down in front of everyone’s eyes.

Only when he was free from the brothers’ oppressive grip did he turn back and start pleading his case.

“N-Now wait just a minute! I know it may seem crazy, but at least let me plead my case!”

Everyone unanimously glanced towards Abaddon, since, as Courtney’s father, he had the final say in this matter.

He took longer to respond than normal. No one here could quite read his expression.

“…Go ahead.” He finally said.

Darius grinned brightly.

“We all know what it’s like, right? The best way to grow is by throwing yourself head-on into a fire against a superior enemy! Experiences like that have made each of us the men we are today!”

Darius thought his argument would be convincing. And it was.

To Satan.

Which, unfortunately, tanked Darius’ credibility with everyone else.

“I’m disappointed in you, Darius.” Helios shook his head. “After all of our talks, you should already know just how much battles like that have taken from me.”

Asmodeus: “Every time I have had to fight against an opponent better than myself, I have almost certainly come out of it darker in mind and spirit. It’s not what I want for my grandchild.”

Mateo: “Courtney doesn’t have to get it together all at once now. She can take her time, learn the basics, and climb her way up from there.”

Iori: “The child is only 190-“

Everyone: “19!”

*Ahem* “T-That just proves my point even further. We’re trying to breed a hardened god of war. Just trying to teach a young woman how to use her gifts a bit better.”

He pointed to the large Kun Peng in the sky. “This is unnecessary to accomplish that.”

It had been years since Darius had been so soundly defeated in an argument. Usually, once he started ranting and raving, everyone here just kind of let him go on a roll without bothering to stop him.

It was easier that way. Took less time.

Darius sighed at his sound defeat and prepared to drop the matter entirely. “Alright, alright, lads. You’ve sufficiently made your point. I guess we can just-“

“What if… It’s what I want..?”

Everyone slowly turned towards Courtney as if they were surprised to hear from the one whom all of this was about in the first place.

“I mean, I…. I know I probably can’t beat it, but… shouldn’t I get to decide if I at least want to try or not?”

“This isn’t like the time you wanted to try raw garlic, kiddo. A Kun Peng could seriously hurt you.” Abaddon said softly. “And then your old man would have to kill an already endangered species.”

Courtney felt like her father said that last line with far too much simplicity in his voice.

“But whether I’ll get hurt or not… Isn’t it still my choice if I want to try something at the end of the day?”

The word no was just on the tip of Abaddon’s tongue. But it didn’t leave his lips for some reason.

And just for a moment, Courtney’s silhouette was replaced with another. And he knew why he was having so much trouble.

“Agghhh…”

Abaddon dropped his center of gravity while rubbing his head. He was tempted to grow his hair back out so that he could tear it out in fistfuls.

“….Alright. I guess we can do this.”

He snapped his fingers, and time completely stopped. Not just for this planet. But the entire solar system.

“Let’s just… spend a bit of time going over some things first, alright?”

Courtney bit her lip to contain her smile.

“Don’t smile at me, I’m mad at you right now.”

Courtney kissed her father on top of the head.

“…Sometimes I think my life would have been easier if I only had boys.”

*Buzz-Buzz!*

While Courtney began stretching, Abaddon pulled out his phone to check it.

When he saw the call was coming from Audrina, he became tempted to change his mind.

‘She’s… not about to yell at me for letting our kid do something dangerous, is she?’

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