First Demonic Dragon

Shin Nagumo was an orphan.

Though that wasn't something he particularly liked to talk about, which was why he hardly ever mentioned it.

Even if he wanted to, it's not like he had anyone around him who he was comfortable sharing the information with.

The Director position of the Shining Order of Sacred Mercy is past down from generation to generation from all members of the Nagumo clan.

However, none of them are blood related.

The director spends their entire life abstaining from the pleasures of romantic or sexual relationships; with their only commitment being to the order.

Because of this, they adopt children from alternate realities and raise them as their own while teaching them all about what it means to serve their organization and fight against the abyss.

But that does not mean that they don't grow attached.

Shin Nagumo's father was the best man he'd ever known.

He was larger than life, and was a very capable friend and leader.

And despite the lack of a blood relation, he truly loved Shin as if he was his own son.

The teachings and wisdom that were passed down to him were less about being a good leader, and more about being a good man who could survive.

Without a doubt, the darkest day of Shin's life was the one where he lost his father.

It had distorted him into a bitter, more hateful man whom his old man wouldn't have recognized. All in the pursuit of one singular goal.

To eventually earn his revenge by slaying the prophesied great evil beast, and the black skinned demoness who had taken his father from him.

But now… it didn't seem like he was going to get to do either of those things.

And he wasn't going to get the chance to raise his daughter half as well as his father had raised him.

All because of this one man who was so unbothered that he was dusting off his clothes just to keep himself neat.

'Forgive me, Father… Kaela. I don't think I can defeat this creature..'

"How did you do it…?"

"Do what?" Abaddon checked his body to make sure the wedding presents he received from his wives were still undamaged.

"I… Everything."

"You can't seriously expect me to answer that. How much time do you think I have?"

Director Nagumo growled through bloodied teeth.

"Yeah, well you just crushed two hundred years of effort and ingenuity without breaking a sweat so I think I'm allowed to ask some damn questions!"

"Are you in any condition to be raising your voice at me?"

"You mind your damn-" *Cough, cough!*

"That's what I thought ." Abaddon shook his head pitifully. "The backlash from trying to copy me has finally caught up to you, eh? Can you even walk right now?"

"S-Shut.."

"Don't waste time with bravado, I already know you're in shit shape. I could kill you right now by just walking past you too fast."

Mimicking Abaddons physical abilities even for a moment as an enhanced human like the director was a catastrophic decision.

His muscles were pudding, his bones too brittle to support him, and his organs were all on the verge of failure.

The abyss hunters train their bodies through magic and technology so that they are able to assume the powers of Uma-Sarru and fight them off.

He should have been able to do this for atleast an hour before he started feeling backlash like this. But after a minute he was in such bad shape that it would take him two months to heal.

'Does that mean his power is just that far above the rest of them..?'

Director Nagumo didn't know what he hated more, the fact that Abaddon was able see through all of their prized abilities, or the fact that he was still in the dark about his own.

"H-How… did you do that…?" He finally asked again.

"You ask a lot of annoying questions…" Abaddon rolled his eyes.

Once again, he was only able to make something look easy because his enemy simply did not know enough about him.

He didn't actually 'escape' from that prison cube a few moments ago.

In fact he was still inside it.

But Abaddon was a metaphysical being who had power rooted in the fifth dimension.

When one body was sealed away, he just made an entirely new one. He transferred all of his existing powers and abilities back to their source so that now all that was inside was a useless empty shell.

He could do the same thing over and over again, no matter the complexities of the prison attempting to corral him.

"How were you able to retain your power..? I went to so many faraway realities to discover a method that should have worked… You should be lying at my feet right now..!" The director coughed again and nearly hocked up a lung.

Abaddon normally would have felt a little bad for the guy, but he did tell him several times that he didn't wish to do this before they began.

"…You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me!"

Abaddon held out his hand and a brilliant white sphere came floating out of his chest.

It had the very same symbol on it that Director Nagumo had seen earlier.

Now that he was taking a moment to observe it more closely, he was finally able to pinpoint exactly what it was.

"…A denizen of the darkest depths wielding a heavenly virtue. Now I have seen everything."

Abaddon smiled as he looked down at the unaltered heavenly virtue of humility.

As long as he knows himself and does not allow the words of others to cause him to think too little of himself, or allow vanity and pride to make him think too much of himself, nothing dwelling inside of him can be taken from him.

He becomes immune to magical siphoning or forcible suppression no matter the circumstance.

"I am what I am." He finally smiled. "The words, wishes, and wants of others cannot change that. Only I get to decide something like that."

'It is a lesson that has taken me forever to learn, but… this is proof that it was worth it in the end.'

Heavenly virtues are not exclusive to Abaddon's original universe, so Director Nagumo had no way to tell what this one actually did.

But his little message at the end did reveal some of the mystery.

"P-Protect the director!!"

"Open fire!!"

The other members of the order finally sensed the end may be near.

Each of them drew their weapons and placed their fingers on the trigger.

Just before they could unleash a hail of bullets, the entire consistency of the ground underneath them was changed.

Instead of being a solid rocky surface, it was now closer to a fruit smoothie.

The men sank all the way up to their necks in an instant before the ground hardened once more; encasing them in prisons of soil.

"S-Spare their lives.." Director Nagumo asked quietly. "They have nothing to do with this."

"Oh? So you do know how to talk at a normal volume and be polite."

Right now, the director was far more focused on saving the lives of his men than he was about saving face.

"I urge you, just… Be satisfied with taking only my life today."

He could tell that Abaddon was thinking about something rather seriously because of how all three of his eyes narrowed in unison.

"I don't want your life, Director. I thought I'd already made that clear. The next time you get the idea in your head to doubt my character, I want you to remember this moment where I held all of your lives in the palm of my hand and chose not to crush you within it."

Almost on cue, a star filled portal appeared right behind Abaddon.

He turned around and started to walk through the doorway when he paused as if a sudden thought had occurred to him.

Suddenly, Director Nagumo had a bad feeling.

His anxieties proved not to be unfounded when he watched Abaddon materialize a sharpie and a cell phone in his hand.

"…You wouldn't dare do something so juvenile."

Abaddon turned around with the biggest smirk in the world on his face.

"Ordinarily? No, I wouldn't. But my second wife and my ex both have a childish sense of humor. I think they'll find this quite funny, and I live for their smiles."

"Don't play with me Abaddon!"

"This is actual permenant marker so you might have to peel a little skin off to get it to disappear, but I consider that a small price to pay since I could have had your lives instead."

"ABADDONNNN!!!!"

"Hold still, or I'll make you grow one on your face instead."

This was how the second meeting between the 7th Ruler of the Abyss and the 170th Director of the Hunters ended.

With the former drawing dicks on the face of the later and all squad members who were present that day.

And just as the Uma-Sarru suspected, his lovers did indeed find it funny.