First Demonic Dragon

Odin hated Karliah's gaze.

Different from being attracted to someone, Karliah looked down at Odin like he was a cheap toy for her amusement.

The same way that a cat might perceive a small rodent or a bird.

Odin was a man with immense pride in himself and his station.

Looking down upon him like this was a nearly surefire way to inspire his anger.

"Are you going to put this down?" Karliah pointed to the tip of his spear pointed at her neck. "Or are you one of those playing rough types..?"

Odin's grip on his spear tightened. His veins pushed up against his skin.

"If your head 'miraculously' comes flying right off, it will be because you didn't know how to stop running your mouth when you should have..!"

Karliah visibly shivered as bit her lip. "That's the stuff… keep talking dirty to me just like that."

Suddenly, the metal tip of Odin's spear turned into a cloud of metallic dust.

Karliah was born with an intrinsic knowledge of what she calls Existential Nemesis magic. It is the ability to violently and spontaneously overturn universal constants.

While it is just as effective as an affinity for chaos or reality manipulation, the bar for entry is much lower due to the difficulty of the school of magic.

Existential Nemesis magic is a violent attack on constants. For it to have any sort of worth, the caster has to forcefully exert their own power over their target.

Chaos affinity can be seen as an underhanded, but less forceful method, while regular reality manipulation is closer to politely asking someone to give you what you need.

Existential Nemesis magic can only be learned by demons and Abyss Dwellers. Specifically those at the rank of Ars Goetia.

Blowing up a spear was as easy for Karliah as taking off her own underwear. (Or more accurately someone else's.)

While Odin was still trying to figure out exactly how his spear had just gone kaput, an arm lashed out to grab him by the neck.

Karliah displayed clear delight in watching Odin struggle against her grip.

She raised him off of his feet with a lecherous smile.

Odin struggled against Karliah's iron grip. She wouldn't budge no matter how much he hit her.

Instead, she brought him closer to her face almost as if she were about to kiss him. Horrifying him, but also inspiring something unknown as well…

"Just one time… let me hear you call me 'Mommy'." She purred.

Odin's face turned beet red. "Y-You…!"

"KARLIAH!"

For the first time, Karliah seemed as if she had been slightly inconvenienced.

She turned around with a wry smile on her face and dropped Odin on his back.

"Nyxie-Darling, what are you doing here?"

Standing underneath the shade was a beautiful and familiar woman in a black dress and floppy hat.

She wore a pair of dark sunglasses to conceal her unamused and lightless eyes.

"Abaddon gave Thrudd and Gabbrielle permission to leave home. Not you." Nyx reminded.

Karliah scoffed. "I'm beyond an adult, dear. I can go where I want. I don't need my child sending you after me like I'm some sort of naive child. Since when are you her fetching dog anyway?"

Nyx slid her glasses off of her face and clipped them onto her cleavage. "Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. And Bekka wouldn't have called me for a favor if you were responding to her telepathy!"

Karliah shrugged innocently. "I left my brain at home, dear, you know I'm forgetful."

Nyx had no idea how someone could produce the single sweetest daughter in the world, yet still be this utterly insufferable.

'But then again, maybe I'm not one to talk, am I..?' She thought.

Nyx stepped around the large abyss dweller and attempted to help Odin to his feet.

"Sorry about her. She sometimes follows the Greek doctrine of courtship."

Odin slapped her hand away.

He scrambled to his feet awkwardly with his face still red from earlier requests.

He raised a trembling finger and pointed at Karliah with a mix of embarrassment and hate in his eyes.

"A-Abaddon… Will hear about this! Take her and leave!"

Odin exploded into a murder of crows and took off like a rocket.

Karliah waved at him flirtatiously as he departed. All of this had gone so well for her!

"Come on, we're going home." Nyx opened up a new portal. "Find someone else to harass when we're there. Maybe it can be another one of our friend's husbands?" Nyx showed a smile that was not a smile.

An awkward air passed between the two as Karliah remembered exactly why she and Nyx hadn't been on speaking terms.

"L-Look, I said I was sorry, alright..? Didn't think that you would.. actually, I don't know what I thought." Karliah couldn't meet Nyx's gaze

"How comforting." Nyx rolled her eyes. "It's a good thing I've already developed some callouses over my heart or your words might actually mean something."

Nyx started to walk back through the portal home, but Karliah suddenly grabbed her by the wrist and held her back.

"Come on now, don't be like that. Tell you what, I'll get you a drink. On me."

"Do you even understand how money works..?" Nyx raised her brow.

"Nope, but in this place if you let people take shots off you then you don't have to pay." Karliah grinned.

Nyx was absolutely positive that Karliah had probably abused that little rule for all that it was worth.

"As tempting as it might sound, right now I have no interest in-"

"Come on, don't have such a stick up your butt if I'm not the one who put it there. This place will be real good for helping us bury the hatchet." Insisted Karliah

Nyx finally got her first proper look at the establishment they were outside of.

"Excuse me… what kind of place is this exactly?"

Karliah's heart thumped with anticipation.

"Oh… you'll see."

-

"Chug!"

At only a couple of minutes in, Thudd was already on her fourth, soon-to-be fifth beer.

In front of her, Gabbrielle and Fiona were significantly less amused.

They hadn't put their mouths to their glasses the entire time they'd been here. They could see quite well that the mug wasn't clean.

If Thrudd noticed, she didn't say anything. But then again, there were already quite a lot of things that she was trying to run away from.

"I'm going to get us another! You guys want anything?" Thrudd yelled over the loud music and drunken jeers.

Fiona: 'To kill myself.'

Gabbrielle: 'To go home.'

"No? Suit yourselves then!" Thrudd shrugged off their silence and slid out of their booth.

Inside the hearty boar, she stepped over a series of blood puddles and missing teeth to get to the bar.

Slamming the group's empty jug on the table, she called out for the barkeep who had his back turned.

"Barkeep! Another round of ale for me and my group!"

The barkeeper turned around, and Thrudd felt something deep within her spirit turn against her.

"Y-You… you…" she unconsciously stepped back.

Thrudd wasn't sure what it was about the stranger that set her off.

Maybe it was the larger-than-life frame, or perhaps it was the thick rust-colored beard that all made her realize she was seeing a ghost.