After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Extra 2.2

Sitri suddenly laughed softly, “In battle, one must consider timing and terrain. He chose the rooftop as the battlefield because Big Brother would have to hold back while fighting, worried about affecting the bookstore below.”

This made sense. Aelioge wasn’t mindlessly challenging – He was calculating!

As expected of one of the family’s top strategic demons.

To this requirement, the tiger head’s response was a second “Alright.”

The demons paused. What a domineering “alright” – no matter how much one schemed and plotted, He, the simple tiger, didn’t care!

But They were really going to fight!

The demons who hadn’t woken up were now completely alert – there was a good show to watch, how could They not wake up.

The only one who hadn’t woken up was Vassago – He had been sleeping for two days! No one bothered with Him!

Within minutes, the family’s demons gathered on the rooftop. The fight needed a referee, and Samikina took on this role.

This battle was one of inner conflict, Aelioge’s years of struggle.

Although for many demons, His struggle seemed unnecessary, purely self-created trouble, but still, His courage was worthy of praise!

The rooftop was reinforced by Valefor, Samikina, and Marbas working together. While it might not ensure it wouldn’t be destroyed by Big Brother, it should at least ensure it wouldn’t be destroyed by Aelioge.

The rooftop was filled with cats.

The golden cat had even started taking bets.

“Who are you betting on?”

“Is that even a question? Big Brother, of course.”

“Come on, isn’t there a single demon who believes in Aeli? Where’s the brotherhood?”

The golden cat shook His head in disappointment.

Hearing this, the loyal pallas cat called out, “I believe in Aeli. If none of you are betting on Him winning, I will!”

He truly deserved the title of one of the three silly Highland wild cats – He dared to do what no other demon would!

The golden cat smiled and patted the pallas’s shoulder, “Good demon, so loyal. If we win, all the money is yours.”

The pallas cat coldly snorted, “Loyalty can’t be bought with just a few words.”

The golden cat nodded solemnly, barely holding back His laughter inside.

Only then, on the rooftop, the black cat appeared first. He was bare-handed, His eyes determined, with not a trace of demonic power leaking from His body, indicating He had reached the level of returning to simplicity.

This brotherly battle was really going to happen!

The demons immediately perked up.

The ragdoll cat and cow cat had already occupied the best viewing positions, even bringing out small tables to crack sunflower seeds.

Next, the golden tiger appeared.

His form was huge – though on the surface only about three meters long, They knew Big Brother’s true form was larger than the largest star in the universe.

His humanoid form was also tall and mighty, but the tiger form He was using now was just a memory version from their father’s time.

With each step He took, the atmosphere grew tenser.

Once the golden tiger appeared, even the air felt heavier.

His bearing was fierce, with the only thing not matching His aura being a silver peace knot chain hanging from His chest. After wearing it, the golden tiger seemed to gain some gentleness.

The demons fell silent, watching the movements of the cat and tiger.

“Are They really going to fight like this?”

Beleth’s eyes widened.

Then, the golden tiger walked to face the black cat, only two meters apart.

Sitri pondered. “This should be advantageous, right? The cat’s small size makes Him more agile, while Big Brother’s large size restricts His movement, and He can’t use too much power.”

Beleth suddenly realized. “Indeed.”

They had all noticed Aelioge’s real progress. In this environment that severely restricted Big Brother, He might actually create a miracle and defeat Big Brother?

They exchanged glances.

Among them, Amon was already rolling on the ground laughing.

Samikina looked left and right, and seriously said, “Are you both ready?”

The blue and white cat’s camera was definitely ready first.

The black cat nodded, His aura fierce, His eyes sharp as blades.

“I’m ready.”

As He spoke, countless images flashed through His mind: trembling when He first saw Big Brother, His heart skipping when He first heard Big Brother’s voice, His nervousness during their first conversation, His excitement when first fighting alongside Big Brother, Big Brother’s protection when He was first in danger.

Big Brother was the mountain in His heart, but today, He wanted to climb that mountain.

The black cat felt excited yet complicated emotions, but also no regret. Why did He have to challenge Big Brother? Wasn’t Big Brother good to Him? Big Brother often grabbed Him for upgrades before, but Big Brother did it for His own good, Big Brother wasn’t wrong.

Yes, He knew this, but beyond that, He still wanted to challenge. To prove He wasn’t just a little brother, but a strong demon who could fight alongside Big Brother!

Thinking of this, Aelioge’s eyes were filled with unwavering determination. All the demons present could see it.

He didn’t know that at this moment, His father was knitting sweaters with the short-legged cat and the Devon Rex cat.

In the courtyard, Xiu Si had made a small table and several small chairs.

On the table was a large basket and several small baskets. The large basket contained finished head covers, including rabbit head covers and various animal or plant head covers. Looking carefully, they had names written on them, clearly custom-made for the children.

The small baskets contained some accessories and sewing supplies.

The short-legged cat was knitting a yellow rabbit head. His hands were short, making it difficult to knit smoothly, very slow, but it looked very cute.

The Devon Rex cat was knitting a pineapple head cover, which had a somewhat complex design.

Xiu Si was knitting a head cover larger than theirs, custom-made for the golden tiger. He thought Baal would definitely look cute wearing it, and if other children saw Big Brother wearing the head cover, they definitely wouldn’t be afraid of Him anymore.

But…

Xiu Si’s knitting movements paused, vaguely feeling something wasn’t right.

The children…what was happening?

Meanwhile.

Facing the black cat’s challenge, the golden tiger nodded, signifying the official start of the challenge.

Seeing this, Samikina said, “Prepare to begin.”

Hearing this, the demons seemed even more nervous than Aeli himself. The cow cat and the ragdoll cat stopped eating seeds, their gazes fixed on the Maine Coon cat.

The Maine Coon cat raised His paw to the sky, suddenly brought it down, and said, “Let the match begin.”

The black cat gathered His strength, choosing to start with a fierce attack.

He had learned combat for over three hundred years in Samikina’s domain, fighting daily with the universe’s most skilled combat minions, definitely maxing out His combat skill points.

The old tiger’s large size made His movements inconvenient. In comparison, what was His advantage?

Without doubt, it was speed!

In martial arts, nothing surpasses speed. As a small and agile black cat, His advantage was too obvious.

His movement appeared as just a black shadow to other demons, His speed reaching the terrifying realm where their vision could barely track it and their consciousness could barely recognize it!

It was succeed or die! Aelioge was doing well.

All the demons were sweating nervously.

However, in the next instant, the golden tiger’s counter was just one swipe.

Yes, He just reflexively swiped out quickly with one paw.

The extremely fast black shadow was caught by the equally extremely fast paw!

Zepar almost screamed: Aeli!!

But, the outcome was already decided.

The persistent black cat still couldn’t defeat His Big Brother, who had been firmly caught in the tiger paw.

His confident tail drooped, and struggling was useless. He knew that the moment He was caught, He had completely lost.

He was so confident in His speed, yet it was no match for the reflexes of one who had experienced countless battlefields and life-and-death situations.

Meow, was the gap between Him and Big Brother really this insurmountable? It was too despairing.

Seeing this, even Amon, who loved causing trouble the most, fell silent.

Aelioge had undoubtedly given it His all, but there was nothing to be done – who told Him His opponent was the invincible Big Brother?

The Maine Coon cat sighed inwardly, just about to open His mouth to ask Baal to put Aelioge down.

But He had just opened His mouth when He froze, because He saw a shocking sight.

The golden tiger released His paw, looking down at the dejected black cat in His paw.

Fortunately the black cat was black, even with red-rimmed eyes and a runny nose, it wouldn’t be too obvious to others.

They could only see that the black cat was very upset, couldn’t even lift His head.

But the next second, the golden tiger raised His other paw, and swung it, looking like He was going to hit the black cat!

The demons couldn’t help but tense up, Zepar even cried out.

The black cat made a resigned expression, since He had the courage to challenge Big Brother, of course He had to be prepared to be beaten badly by Big Brother.

However, the expected paw didn’t strike Him, but stopped about a centimeter away, the wind from the paw scattered the clouds, bringing clear skies for thousands of miles, without causing Him any harm.

The black cat raised His head in disbelief, and actually bumped into the soft tiger paw.

The tiger paw pressed down, patting His head.

He trembled all over, His pupils experiencing an earthquake.

The watching demons were also in disbelief, because to them, this was completely a head pat attack.

Big Brother actually did a ‘fierce tiger patting a cat’s head’, how gentle was that!

They widened their eyes, completely unable to believe it. The cow cat even rubbed Her eyes hard, but no matter how She looked, it was real.

The black cat opened His mouth, completely dumbfounded.

But the golden tiger kept patting His head while speaking, saying in a deep voice full of electromagnetic energy. “Aeli, you’ve grown.”

Boom!!

The black cat was struck as if by lightning, His mouth opening wider and wider.

At the same time, almost all the watching demon crowd was struck by an electric shock!

Big, Big Brother spoke, and was even comforting Aelioge.

The black cat was dumbstruck, speaking incoherently, “Big, Big Brother you…”

Hearing this, the golden tiger made a sound of acknowledgment.

The black cat’s heart felt like it was struck by another arrow, His heart pounding heavily.

He tried hard to think, and asked, “How, how far am I from Big Brother?”

Before He finished speaking, every demon admired Him. In this situation, you’re still thinking about winning and losing?

The golden tiger calmly said, “Still a bit more to go.”

The black cat opened His eyes, unable to control His shaking pupils.

Big Brother, your “a bit” means a universe, right?

The other demons saw this and couldn’t help but laugh.

The ragdoll cat realized belatedly, turning to tell the calico cat. “Look, our good deed operation was successful.”

The calico cat was stunned for a moment, then saw the momentary joy in the black cat’s eyes.

“Yes, it seems to have worked out well.”

It just needed a face-to-face confrontation after all.

And so, at eight-thirty in the morning, a duel came to an end.

At the same time, Xiu Si, who was just about to get up to check the situation, seemed to feel that everything was fine, so He sat back down.

“Good that nothing’s wrong,” he felt relieved.

On the rooftop, the black cat landed from the tiger’s paw, safe and sound, with a group of cats gathering around Him.

“Well done, Aeli.”

“Even though you couldn’t hit Big Brother, you touched Big Brother’s ‘heart’!”

“’Heart’? You mean heart”

(TL: The former is 哈特 (hā tè) is a transliteration of the English word “heart.” It is a playful or stylized way of using the English word, often to emphasize the emotional or romantic aspect, or simply for the sake of stylistic expression.

While the latter 心是 (xīn shì) translates to “heart” or “the heart” in English.)

They all laughed, the atmosphere relaxing.

The Maine Coon cat gave the golden tiger a deep look, thinking, you’re still the same, just too quiet.

At this time, Zepar suddenly remembered about Father’s birthday gift, and asked in front of everyone, “By the way, Aeli, what gift are you giving?”

This should have been their individual secrets, something that absolutely shouldn’t be discussed openly. But Zepar didn’t think much about it and asked directly.

Aelioge didn’t think much either, blurting out, “Of course it’s letting Father see our human forms.”

The ragdoll cat heard this and cried out, “Ah, that was mine and Sixth Sister’s operation!”

The demons paused, looking at each other, and surprisingly found their thoughts were exactly the same.

Their father was a beauty enthusiast, what could be a more suitable “birthday gift” than letting a beauty enthusiast father see beautiful forms!

Since it was exposed, the ragdoll cat hummed. “That’s true, but you all need to dress up well, especially you, Busson!”

The silver shaded cat was called out and nodded guiltily.

The black cat looked around, “Looks like we all had the same idea, so tonight’s birthday party is decided.”

“Great!!”

Suddenly a series of meows rang out from the rooftop.

Xiu Si, who had just finished making the tiger head cover, paused and looked up at the rooftop.

“The children are so lively, what are they doing?”

He also wanted to go up and see what was happening, thought for a moment, and wrote Aelioge’s name on a note.

He had knitted a cat head cover for Baal, and a tiger head cover for Aelioge.

Because he thought His fifteenth cub Aelioge had always admired Baal.

When They were young, Baal often went out, and whenever he talked about Baal’s affairs, the little Aelioge beside him would always show very longing eyes.

He still remembered, little Aelioge had said — “Father, Father, I want to become a demon like Big Brother! I also want to protect Big Brother and Father!”

Xiu Si seemed to recall that scene.

At that time, the children were all cubs, each one extremely cute.

“Really nostalgic.”

Though They were still cute now. He recalled to himself, occasionally showing a silly smile.

Little did he know, the cat-headed demon group was already frantically arranging the schedule!

“Quickly, wake up Vassago.”

“Right, who’s going?”

“Zepar, go.”

“Alright.”

A few minutes later, Zepar’s screams almost rang throughout the rooftop.

The lynx got up with a black face, very angry.

“Third Brother, Father’s birthday party is coming!”

The lynx finally returned to normal, “What? Birthday party? I’ve slept for this long?”

Zepar whimpered and nodded.

Six hours at noon, there was chaos.

At six in the evening, Xiu Si received an invitation, from Wang Chang’er, saying it was a birthday party.

Birthday, whose birthday? He was a bit confused, couldn’t remember for a moment, vaguely recalled it wasn’t one of the six of them.

But for a birthday party invitation, he couldn’t really refuse.

“Father, come here!”

Suddenly a voice interrupted his thoughts.

He looked down, it was his eighth cub, the calico cat.

Next to the calico cat was an opened space portal.

She pointed and smiled saying, “A portal directly to the birthday party venue meow!”

Xiu Si nodded, squatted down, patted Her head and said, “Alright, I’ll go right now.”

Just as he finished speaking, the other cubs rushed in in a flash.

He looked around and couldn’t help but ask, “Where are Baal and Agares?”

The calico cat looked up and said, “Big Brother and Second Brother have already gone in meow.”

“Okay.”

Xiu Si thought for a moment, then walked in as well.

The portal was dark at first, but after a few seconds suddenly became colorful, leading to an incredibly gorgeous venue.

Just as he arrived, countless “people’s” gazes turned toward him.

…who were they?

A flash of confusion crossed his mind, followed immediately by shock.