Forty-Three: Spanking

“Lilith, if you bring your hand down, there’s no going back.” Abaddon’s gaze locked on the Little White Dragon’s eyes, steady as two dark wells.

“That’s not something I need you to tell me.” Lilith shot back, then pressed Abaddon’s head down onto her thigh, firm as setting a lid on a boiling pot. “Face down. Don’t squirm.”

“No! No! I don’t want a beating! Even Lord Satan never hit me!” Abaddon flailed on Lilith’s lap, limbs slapping like a fish flopping on shore.

“Quit yapping, or I’ll yank your tail off.” Abaddon’s thrashing bumped Lilith’s belly; pain sparked like a struck gong. The Little White Dragon hissed, grabbed the Demon’s slender tail, and pulled hard.

“Eek!” Abaddon shrieked. She went soft in an instant, draping over Lilith’s lap like damp silk, not daring a twitch.

“Hmph. Operation Brat Discipline, commence.” Lilith let out a cold snort, raised her right hand, and aimed at Abaddon’s upturned backside like a drummer lifting a mallet.

“Can you go easy?” Abaddon blinked wide, pleading, eyes glossy as wet glass. But she was facing away, and the Little White Dragon’s expression stayed unseen. Mercy didn’t come. Lilith swung and smacked the rounded flesh with a crisp slap.

“Ugh!” Abaddon had never swallowed a humiliation like this. She was Lord Satan’s mightiest claw, a storm of locusts that left nothing standing. How had it come to this—getting her butt smacked by some random white Demon?

She burned with defiance. How could she suffer such insult—this shredding of dignity fit for a Hellside “ultimate disgrace.”

Abaddon carved it silent into her heart. One day, she’d beat this bizarre white Demon and make her taste the same shame.

For now—fortunes turn. Don’t bully the weak. Asura—endure.

She ground her teeth. Even in defeat, she would show the mettle of General Abaddon.

Ten minutes later.

“Waaah… I’m sorry, I was wrong, I won’t do it again, waaah.” The ash-gray Demon girl lay on Lilith’s lap, sobbing like spring rain, her reddened backside lifted in apology. “Please don’t spank me again, or I’ll never be able to walk.”

“Is that so? Then tell me what you did wrong.” Lilith pulled her hand back, still unsated. She’d thought this little Demon would last longer; honestly, the feel was good. It was like hammering a festival drum—too fun to stop.

“I—I shouldn’t have used ‘play’ as an excuse to attack you,” Abaddon stammered, words sticking like half-cooked rice.

“And?” Lilith didn’t buy it. Her palm landed again on Abaddon’s rear.

“Eek! And—and I shouldn’t have kept hitting you even after you asked me to stop.” Abaddon’s whole body shivered, the Demon’s voice trembling with fear.

“Continue.” Lilith swung once more. The rhythm hooked her; the Little White Dragon was getting addicted.

“Uu… uuu… and I shouldn’t have ignored Lord Satan’s advice. I should read more.” The smacks broke the dam. The Demon girl started bawling and spilling her black history, which perked Lilith’s ears.

“What else?”

“I shouldn’t be picky. I shouldn’t refuse the meals Lord Satan made and sneak out for skewers.”

“Hm?”

“Waaah! I—I also shouldn’t sulk at Lord Satan in secret and pour water on her seat when she wasn’t looking.”

“You’re awful.”

“S-sorry! And I shouldn’t have ditched the training Lord Satan gave me, then stuffed locusts into the examiner’s clothes to cheat through the test.”

“Hah? That’s actually outrageous.”

“Ah! Too painful—be gentle—eek! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t babble here.”

“Good. Keep going.”

“Uu… uuu… I really know I was wrong. Please have mercy.” Abaddon cried a blossom of tears, voice broken into hiccups and sobs.

“Fine. Can you heal?” Lilith lifted Abaddon, careful not to brush the swollen skin.

The Demon girl shook her head. She was just a run-of-the-mill summoner passing by; healing wasn’t in her deck.

“Too bad. I can’t either. So you’ll have to grit your teeth and wait till it fades.” Lilith said it without pity, then let Abaddon stand.

Abaddon’s legs turned to noodles; they couldn’t carry her. She tottered forward and pitched. Only the locust grabbing her hood kept her from planting a fresh blow onto tender flesh.

“Uuu… it hurts so much.” Abaddon dangled from the locust’s grip, crying soft as a kettle simmering. No amount of noise could shrink the pain; Lilith had no way to ease it.

The Little White Dragon’s prayer only mended her own wounds. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t healing—it just pinned damage down so she could keep moving.

“You look like a little weather charm, pretty cute.” Lilith glanced up at the hanging Abaddon and judged. “But you’ve got wings. Why not fly?”

“I don’t know how. When Lord Satan taught me, I was outside playing games.” Abaddon drifted in the air, cheeks burning red.

“All right.” Lilith had grown used to this pampered princess. There was no way Abaddon—“strongest under Lord Satan”—wasn’t hype. If you asked her, Abaddon was probably Lord Satan’s illegitimate daughter, a Demon princess propped onto that throne.

Uh-oh. She’d just spanked a Demon princess. Would the Demons hold a grudge?

Forget it. This was free public education. The Demons should be thanking her.

Lilith nodded to herself and quietly affirmed the righteousness of her actions.

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Lilith, still blissfully unaware, didn’t know that everything she was doing now would return to her someday.

The cosmic wheel turns; Heaven spares no one.

Those who strike will be struck in turn ( ).