DxD 0106: Lie of a Lifetime

As the day passed, Abaddon got a lot of information from Zekram about his trial.

By the time Abaddon was about to leave, Zekram said, “I should let you have some time to get familiar with your full strength…” He mumbled.

Before Abaddon could process Zekram’s words, the older devil was found standing in front of him. Abaddon sensed a surge of familiar Destruction energy as Zekram’s plam glowed with an almost glossy pitch black.

Just as Abaddon instinctively summoned the Boosted Gear, Zekram’s plam hit his chest, throwing him back as he slammed into the wall before slumping on the ground.

“Argh!” He screamed in agony as a familiar black energy seeped into his skin, causing him immense pain.

As for Zekram, his expression was one full of apathy, though a slight hint of disapproval could be seen in his gaze, ‘I thought he would’ve gotten used to the tampering regime…’ Still, he didn’t make a move and allowed his Black Destruction energy to wreak havoc through his body. The older devil had perfect control over his energy and was perfectly aware of what he was supposed to be destroying.

Abaddon’s agonizing screams weakened after a few minutes as he got used to feeling as if the inside of his body was on fire. Soon, the screams turned into suppressed groans as he gave a hateful look at Zekram.

He had to grit his teeth to keep himself from screaming out, otherwise, he would’ve started cursing at Zekram without consideration for him being an older devil who was much stronger than himself.

The prolonged pain lasted for almost an hour. An hour that to Abaddon felt like an entire lifetime.

By the time it died down, he was left heaving crazily as he tried to get himself back together.

“Old man you better give me a—“ Abaddon had just started when Zekram interrupted him.

“Hold up.” He raised a hand and Abaddon twitched, the memory of the pain still vivid in his mind, “There it is.” Zekram stated.

Following those words, Abaddon felt a euphoric sensation running through his entire body as an aura of Destruction energy was naturally released from his body like blood-colored steam.

“Holy fuck…” Abaddon couldn’t help but comment as he felt the effects of the enhancement running through his body, ‘This is insane…’ He could feel his demonic energy pool increasing by a huge amount. But weirdly enough, he didn’t lose control and felt as if his control over Demonic energy had grown exponentially. Even Draconic energy felt easier for him to control.

As for his Destruction energy. He could instinctively feel it getting more condensed and almost ‘docile’ in front of him.

‘This is insane…’ He thought as he clenched his fist and realized that the same enhancement was applying to his physical strength. He wasn’t losing control over his strength either, instead, it became even easier for him to control how much force he was exerting with his muscles.

After another hour of enhancement, Abaddon easily forgot about his previous pain and looked at Zekram with elated surprise, “What the hell did you even do?” He asked while clenching and unclenching his fist, feeling the difference in his power from before, ‘It’s like I boosted myself almost 9 times and transferred everything to my physical strength… With the shitty conversion rate, I got about a hundred times enhancement overall…’

“I unsealed your King piece,” Zekram told Abaddon.

“Um, what?” Abaddon felt like he needed to reboot his brain.

“You just experienced the enhancement brought about by the King piece,” Zekram repeated.

“Didn’t I already have the King piece?” Abaddon asked confusedly. He was still reeling from the euphoric feeling of the enhancement and didn’t bother thinking too much about Zekram’s words.

Zekram was patient, “You have had the King piece since your evil piece bestowment ceremony,” He said, “You just never had access to its enhancement. I had barred the enhancement from affecting you while also allowing the King piece to bond with you with almost perfect compatibility.”

“But I could use the King piece… I sensed it… And the whole sins thing that I need to do to mutate it…” He said distractedly, he was still a little disoriented and summoned the piece in his hand to examine it.

“That’s all still there.” Zekram told him, “I never said that I sealed the King piece. I merely prevented the enhancement from affecting you specifically. Your mutation progress is still there.” He said.

“That’s why it took you an hour to get rid of the blockers…” Abaddon realized while examining the piece. It felt exactly the same as it had felt for his whole life.

“Exactly. I had to inscribe the blocking spell on your body and soul.” Zekram explained.

“So I’ve been living with a handicap all my life?” Abaddon raised a brow.

Zekram scoffed, “Your complacency has always been on the higher side of the spectrum. If you knew that your strength didn’t have anything to do with the King piece and was solely a result of your effort, then you would’ve gotten arrogant enough to try to fight me.”

Abaddon gave him a sheepish smile, “You aren’t wrong. So why’d you do it now?” He asked.

“The Trial of Extinction is not some small 5-minute adventure that you can go in and out of. You will potentially be fighting thousands of ultimate class beings of the Abaddon clan from their entire history. You will need everything that you can get,” Zekram explained, ‘And you might have a potential seraph on your ass,’ He left that part unsaid.

“Fuck…” All of that elation washed off from Abaddon, “Whatever. I’ll deal with it when I need to. For now, I’ll go home.” He said.

…

‘What an old bastard. Lying to me my whole life…’ Abaddon complained, ‘I’ve spent my whole life believing that I wasn’t really a monstrous talent. Hell, I needed to use the Boosted Gear to fight Kokabiel. Then again, that comes without bringing Black Destruction into the picture. After I used it, Kokabiel didn’t stand a chance, Boosted Gear or not.’

‘I might actually be able to control it now…’ Abaddon thought with anticipation, wanting to test his new enhancements out.

‘I’ll go talk to Seekvaira first…’ He decided to go home later and wanted to put his time machine to work.

He cast a spell and teleported to Seekvaira.

Abaddon looked down to his side and saw the girl in question looking at him with a face full of annoyance. She was sitting at her desk and seemed to have been writing a letter, “Why are you here now?” She asked.

“For something important.” That’s all Abaddon said. Just as Seekvaira raised a brow, he was upon her. He grabbed her by her waist and put her over her shoulder.

Just as the girl’s yelp sounded out, Abaddon cast a large magic circle and they both disappeared from their spot.

As they appeared, Abaddon whistled, “I didn’t need the staff for this anymore and my consumption was as negligible as a normal teleportation spell…”

“Let me down, dickhead!” Seekvaira ignored his words and swung her arms and legs to get him to free her.

“Calm down, honey.” He gently patted her butt and let her down in front of him.

“Why are you such a dick at times?” She complained and took the chance to look around the room.

It was made of a metal that she wasn’t familiar with and there were a lot of circuits that were running all along the walls, “Is this a training room?” She asked after realizing that the walls were enchanted and seeing the training equipment all around.

“Yes.” Abaddon said, “It’s my personal training room, and can withstand blasts of destruction energy — as long as I don’t genuinely want to destroy everything.”

“I have work to do. I’ll cast your damn time spell and leave.” She grumbled.

“No, you’re staying right here,” Abaddon shook his head, “I’ll send you back after we’re done. We’re currently in my house in Kuoh.”

“Nice try. You didn’t use the staff…” Seekvaira trailed off as she saw Abaddon’s expression full of pride, “You don’t need it anymore for your long-distance teleportation circles…” She said in realization.

“Exactly.” Abaddon nodded.

“You and Rias must’ve been at it like rabbits if you’ve gotten so much stronger…” That was the only logical conclusion that Seekvaira could’ve come up with. She knew that he had a technique that could allow Destruction energy to temper his body. And running that technique with someone like Rias whose power complements his own, would have far greater benefits than normal.

Abaddon coughed, “Yeah… The Boosted Gear also increases growth rate…” He said. In his excitement, he hadn’t thought of a valid reason for this yet and gave a half-assed excuse, “Anyway, you see that orb?” He pointed at a pedestal that housed an orb at the top, “That’s the main node of the enchantment. I just need you to fill it with your temporal energy. The rest of the work will be done by the formation.”

Seekvaira gave him a narrow-eyed look but didn’t push anything. She walked to the node and poured her energy into the node, “Even if I pour my full tank into it, the node will only last for a few days even on full power.” She told him.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Abaddon said and hugged Seekvaira from behind as she froze.

“Abaddon…” She trailed off when she felt him pouring Aether into her body.

“Fill the tank up as much as you can. I need it to last a while…” Abaddon said.

“Sure, I guess…” She said and continued pouring most of the energy that she was recovering through the Aether into the node. She leaned back and made herself comfortable in Abaddon’s hug since she knew that this would probably take a while.

However, as time passed, she was starting to get a creeping suspicion. By the time five minutes passed, she was sure of it, “How much did your energy tank increase? How do you even have so much Aether in store…” She asked with surprise.

“Actually, I’m making it as I go.” Abaddon’s words made her scoff.

“Come on, be serious. Your efficiency used to be jack shit a month ago. This kind of quantity on the go is impossible.” She said.

“I’ve gotten much stronger, Seekvaira.” Abaddon said, “Considering how much my physique has been enhanced, I can pass a much larger amount of Destruction energy through my body without receiving too much backlash. This in turn produces more Aether.”

“Heh…” She only gave him a tired laugh that reflected her disbelief and continued acting as his energy converter, “I’m tired…”

“I have ways to make you less tired…” Abaddon said in her ear, making Seekvaira’s hair stand on end as she shivered. She could feel his hands resting on her waist much more clearly with this.

“Shut it…” She trailed off and kept focusing on converting Aether into energy.