First Demonic Dragon

Everyone in the house loved Asmodeus.

He was a good man. A patient man.

The former sin of lust was a pivotal figure who was a confidant for his children and close friends, as well as a wacky, xany character who captured the attention of his grandchildren from the time they were very small.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that he held everyone's hearts in his hands.

But as he stared at Karliah, he was nearly unrecognizable.

His eyes were pools of fire. His body was encased in a dense layer of shadow and malevolent power.

He was so different that even his family had begun to put distance between them without realizing it.

"Karliah.... What do you think you are doing...?"

Even his voice was unrecognizable. Twisted and monstrous- far from his usual laid-back and sing-song tone.

"I'm trying to keep everyone here from making a dumbass mistake... If you pry these gates open, then none of you can possibly hope to contain what comes out. Even cracking it will fuck us worse than you can-"

"Karliah... my son just went inside those gates... I can't hear him. I can't feel him. I'm going to get him back no matter what."

Karliah shook her head. "That's a whole lot of selfishness I'm hearing. You think I don't miss my daughter…? That I'm not worried for her..? I'm terrified. But I have to think about what she would actually want me to do in this situation."

"Karliah... I won't ask you again. Move."

A sad, bitter smile formed on Karliah's lips.

"You're not thinking straight, handsome. You've never been this close to the depths before. It's amplifying your mental state."

"Then move out of my way so that I can calm down!"

"I'm afraid I actually give a shit about you, so I can't do that. You would be ready to kill yourself from the guilt if I let you go through with this."

"Karliah...!"

Asmodeus' form grew smaller and more compact.

He lost his serpentine appearance and became a bipedal dragon covered in rows of silver scales like polished armor.

His wings were a wicked contradiction- one side white, soft, and angelic, and the other dark, ferocious, and demonic.

Each wing was well over eighteen feet in length. Making the now nine-foot dragon creature seem small in comparison.

However, his power was hardly something diminutive.

Rather, it was growing and growing to new heights.

Five dark blue gems grew from Asmodeus' body- one in his chest, one on each elbow, and one on each kneecap.

Even his horns doubled in size and luster. Asmodeus' handsome face and chiseled jaw were no longer visible; instead, his head grew to resemble a ferociously desperate dragon.

With heavy breaths, embers of fame wafted out of his mouth as he clutched his fists.

"I won't warn you again... Move or die."

For some reason, Karliah smiled at what was a blatant threat. It seemed like she hadn't been bothered by it at all.

"We're going to laugh about this someday, handsome. Today just isn't that day..."

A beam of pure destructive power flew out of Asmodeus' maw.

Karliah threw up both of her hands to block the blow, and winced slightly when she felt the flesh on her hands sizzle and blister like porkskin.

The beam ceased, and when Karliah dropped her guard, Asmodeus was right on top of her.

His enlarged fist sailed directly into her jaw and struck her hard without reservations.

Surprised by the blow, Karliah's vision briefly went white.

Asmodeus interlocked his fingers and raised his arms like a mallet, smashing his fists on the back of Karliah's head.

For the first time in thousands of years, she dropped down to one knee.

However, she didn't stay down for long and lunged at Asmodeus' midsection for a tackle that would have split a normal man in half.

The gems in Asmodeus' body glowed blue.

Karliah blinked, and suddenly she was holding nothing.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up to alert her of danger, but she was too slow to react.

Asmodeus grabbed her head from behind like a baseball.

He slammed her onto the gate, smashing her back against the ancient wood of the gates.

He held her face down in an oppressive manner while he raised his free arm.

A sharp blade made of his scales formed from the top of his wrist.

The blade was poised to bury itself between her eyes, but Karliah was hardly out of fight.

She showed a sharp, bloody smile as she lifted her legs over her body.

Her calves were like a vice that she used to hold firmly onto Asmodeus' neck.

Before she could reach to break free, she roared dominantly and swung her legs back down with Asmodeus' head still trapped.

His face slammed hard against the wooden gate, cracking several teeth within his mouth and giving him a mild concussion.

Karliah rolled away and got to her feet just as Asmodeus picked himself back up.

He roared and lunged out at her with another bladed fist aimed directly for her heart.

'Existential Nemesis Magic...'

Suddenly, Asmodeus' arm underwent a strange phenomenon.

It lost two of the three dimensions governing his body. With no height or width, Asmodeus' arm was no more than an extremely thin line of glass.

Karliah swatted his 'arm' while he was still trying to learn what happened.

The glass shattered, and Asmodeus roared as he unconsiously stepped back.

His arm now ended in a stump, and it was gushing hot blood like a runaway fountain.

As he met Karliah's gaze, his eyes went from a burnt orange to a smoldering red.

Even with her body still rattled, Karliah smiled at Asmodeus nonetheless. Though that only made things worse in his eyes.

More whispers filled his ears.

They told him that she wasn't taking this seriously. That she didn't care.

His son may have very well been trapped inside of a hellish prison that he couldnt escape from, but she was here laughing at him like this was all one big fucking game!

She wasn't worthy of a daughter like Bekka; she wasn't even worthy of being in this family!

Asmodeus raised his other arm and shot towards Karliah at a fraction of the speed of light.

He was so out of his mind that he didn't notice the single tear that fell from Karliah's eye as she flew at him with her own fist raised.

A calamitous sound unfolded.

It was so loud that it resembled one million suns exploding simultaneously in space.

When the light died down and the dust settled, Karliah and Asmodeus were being separated by a figure significantly smaller than both of them.

Kanami held the fists of both mighty beings at bay with only one hand.

Her clenched teeth were bloody and sharpened. It was a loud statement that even though she had been able to hold the two of them back, it had not come without great effort on her part.

She was just glad that her arms hadn't buckled at the critical moment.

"Dad... We have to go." Kanami said breathlessly. "I know you're hurting, but we have to do this another way...!"

Asmodeus' mind had been so far gone, so overrun with voices that weren't his own, that even his daughter felt foreign to him.

It took him so long just to remember who she was... longer than it ever should have.

"...nami..?"

Kanami smiled wryly. Her eyes were misty.

"Yeah, Dad. It's me. Let's go back now, yeah?"

Asmodeus still wasn't budging. He was like a statue stuck in place. If he moved, he felt like he might crumble.

But there was a moment when a hand landed on his outstretched arm.

It was dainty, but silver-colored like his own. It unlocked something in him.

"Come now, father... We have done all that we could today." Malenia professed.

Slowly, Asmoeus wrapped his good arm over Malenia's shoulder. Even if the fog still hadn't left his mind yet.

Together, they ascended back to the hole they originally came through.

The farther away that Asmodeus got from the gates, the more the fog over his mind began to clear out.

In it's place, a familiar and painful emotion came rushing forth.

Shame.

Kanami and Malenia helped him get back to the underground room.

When he tried to leave their side, his knees buckled beneath him, and he hit the ground while curling up into a ball.

Yara and Imani rushed to Imani's side and tried to speak to him, but he could barely hear them.

His body was wracked with shivers and he broke out into a cold sweat.

"I-I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I..."

Neither Yara, nor Imani got to tell him to hush.

Not a moment later, Asmodeus collapsed on the floor with all of his friends and family watching. Making them feel as if this cursed day had taken even more from them without giving a single thing in return.