First Demonic Dragon-Chapter 941: Buddha!

-Heaven of The Thirty-Three...

In a great hall inside of a golden divine realm, a group of gods were seated before only one.

He was a figure to be revered. His voice held no authoritarian distinction or harshness, but everyone accepted his words as if they were holy writ.

And perhaps that wasn't far off from the truth.

The man, despite being divine, was not an overly handsome figure. Nor was he slathered in riches or fineries.

He wasn't too fat or too thin. Rather, he was perfectly situated in the middle.

He wore modest orange robes that were impeccable in their cleanliness and free of wrinkles.

His earlobes were slightly stretched and dangled past his cheekbones.

The left side of his face was covered in Sanskrit writings of great profundity. His eyes were closed, but his consciousness was never something called into question.

He was in the middle of a speech that seemed to be routine for him. But suddenly, his face showed a small wrinkle, and he turned his lips into an apologetic smile.

"One thousand pardons, my friends. It seems that we'll need to pick this up at a later time."

The deities seemed surprised by the sudden change of events, but they were very understanding.

They bowed in front of the reverent figure and slowly made their way out of the hall.

"As I thought, you found him quickly. Thank you for the help, Wukong."

The man turned around and found a six-foot-tall monkey dressed in golden armor.

Wukong scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he struggled to meet the Buddha's gaze.

"Not like I did much… I kind of just waited where you told me, and he kind of just turned up."

"No need to be so modest, comrade. You could have refused my request at any time, but you decided to see it through. For that, you have my thanks."

Abaddon got to see what a meek Wukong was like for the first time in his life, and it seemed like he was acquiring cursed information.

It felt like something that even he was never meant to know, like what his mothers looked like naked or what impact Nick Saban would have had on NIL if he kept coaching.

Some information was beyond even what he should possess…

"Amitabha, Abaddon. Thank you for coming on such short notice."

Abaddon looked down at the man in front of him.

He was at least three feet taller than Buddha, but he didn't feel like he dwarfed him.

This man was in a very small caste of deities who didn't need any hand-holding.

Which is why he, like Shiva, didn't have his movements restricted.

Though in all honesty, he didn't really go anywhere to begin with…

Abaddon took the Buddha's outstretched hand and shook it gingerly.

"It has been quite a long time, Bhagavat. Has something occurred for me of all people to pique your interest?"

Abaddon nearly fell on his face when Buddha suddenly summoned a gift basket into his hands and held it out.

"I heard you got married again. Congratulations!"

"Erm..."

"I wasn't extremely familiar with your tastes, so I asked Asherah for a bit of help. She recommended some American wrestling paraphernalia for Sif, and some exotic snakes for Lailah, and I procured this new sword for Seras-"

"B-Buddha, you-"

"Oh, but I didn't forget about you, of course, my dear friend. I was able to get my hands on a director's cut of the documentary 'The Art of Coaching' with Bill Belichick and Nick Saban."

"No freaking way!"

Abaddon snatched the basket away from Buddha like it was a mound of the most valuable material in existence.

His red eyes sparkled like rubies and even became slightly golden colored.

"I-I didn't even know there was a director's cut! I mean, of course there should have been, but I just simply didn't think to look for one because I was so focused on..."

It took a moment, but Abddon eventually remembered where he was and who he was.

Buddha was smiling so hard that you could almost see his teeth. Wukong was covering his mouth while trying not to laugh.

Abaddon had accidentally given his most bitter rival enough ammunition for the next seventy years.

*Ahem* "I mean... Thank you. We will treasure these gifts for the rest of our lives." Abaddon bowed.

"Hohoho, I'm glad to hear it!" Buddha laughed and bowed right back. The sound was as sweet as syrup, but also nourishing to the soul.

Abaddon tenderly stored the gift basket in his dimensional storage while wrapping it several times to ensure that everything inside stayed pristine and perfect.

"I appreciate the gift, Buddha, but... did you truly call me here just for this-"

"Do you like to fish, Abaddon?" Buddha suddenly asked.

Once again, Abaddon was caught almost completely off guard. "...I participate with my father and sons from time to time."

"Wonderful! It just so happens that I've discovered this marvelous new fishing spot, and I was in dire need of someone to accompany me on my voyage. Will you join me?"

If someone had given Abaddon two thousand opportunities to guess what exactly Buddha had called him for, he still wouldn't have been able to guess this.

"I'm afraid my schedule may be a bit inflexible at the moment, Buddha." Abaddon admitted politely. "While it does sound like a nice endeavor, I just have too many things that-"

"Please, Abaddon. Time is what we make of it. Our immortality doesn't make that any less true, I fear. Do you want to look back on how you spent your time and fret that you spent so much of it working? A little fishing won't cause the world to burn down."

Abaddon still looked unconvinced.

"Time doesn't pass the same in here as it does for the rest of the universe, dunderhead." Wukong reminded.

Buddha looked appalled. "Wukong..! Manners!"

Again, Wukong lowered his head like a hit dog and apologized.Sorry."

Now, Abaddon also had enough ammunition for the next seventy years.

When Abaddon looked back at Buddha again, the old man was seemingly all ready to go.

He had changed out of his robes and now wore a pair of swimming trunks with an unbuttoned beach shirt.

In one arm, he held a trio of fishing rods, and in the other, he had a small cooler. Though Abaddon wasn't exactly sure what was in it since Buddha didn't drink alcohol.

"Are you going to change as well? You don't mind if Wukong joins us, right?"

Coincidentally, Wukong had also changed, though he himself didn't seem to realize it.

"I..."

Abaddon thought long and hard about the invitation in front of him.

Buddha wasn't the kind of god who would just invite him out fishing for no apparent reason.

And even though it felt slightly irresponsible of him, he couldn't help but feel like maybe he should go. If only to discover what this was really all about.

"...May I bring someone?" He finally asked.

Again, Buddha showed him one of those impossibly warm smiles that didn't even require all of his teeth to be revealed.

"Of course. Please, bring whoever you like."

-

Leave it to Buddha to find one of the most serene bodies of water that Abaddon had ever seen.

He honestly was not fully convinced that the supreme deity had stumbled onto this place by mistake. This kind of spot looked like it had been tended to with immense care.

Three men were sitting on a wooden dock over a river. Above their heads shone a bright golden colored sky dotted with pure white clouds.

The sound of a large waterfall rushed through their ears and added to the calming, serene atmosphere.

Finally, Abaddon realized why this place felt so immensely familiar to him. It was very similar to the lake in front of his home.

"Hey, Dragon-Boy. She's staring at me..."

Abaddon tipped down his sunglasses and glanced to his side.

There, he found Odessa standing up with no help while staring at Sun Wukong.

Abaddon found nothing interesting about it and just went back to fishing. "You're a giant monkey, and she's an infant. Children like monkeys, get over it."

Wukong was feeling all sorts of conflicting emotions right now.

He wanted to be admired, just.. not by children.

And the way Odessa stared at him without doing anything was very unsettling.

"...Why doesn't she speak or something?" He asked again.

"The child is obviously mute, Wukong. No need to be rude." Buddha reminded.

Coincidentally, the monkey wasn't the only one attracting attention. K'ael was affixed in Abaddon's lap, but occasionally he would point at Buddha and make oohing noises.

Only Abaddon knew that his child thought Buddha was asleep and was trying to wake him up.

"Oh, so she can't speak...?"

"Not normally." Abaddon admitted.

Wukong hadn't the foggiest idea what that meant, but he thought that maybe it was better if he just stopped asking questions with the potential to go awry.

"So, Abaddon.." Buddha said after a long silence. "How goes the hunt for this nefarious individual I've been hearing so much about?"

At the mention of Percival, Abaddon felt like a black cloud was hanging over his head.

He looked in both directions before he opened up a fist-sized portal from here to Tehom. Blurring the vision of any supreme being who might be listening.

Buddha had some idea of what Abaddon was doing, meanwhile, Wukong was near-totally oblivious.

"It... goes poorly." he finally admitted aloud. "Percival and his forces are holed up in a land we cannot reach. He holds it's only method of access."

Wukong raised a brow at this. "What kind of place is so fortified that even a musclehead like you can't burst your way in?"

Abaddon's gaze hardened.

"The Shadowrealm..." Buddha answered. "What a malevolently shrewd demon."

"Indeed." Abaddon agreed.

Wukong finally couldn't take it anymore and sat up while abandoning his interest in fishing.

"I'm sorry... what the hell are you two talking about?"