𝒪𝐯xt.𝒸𝑶
After Abaddon released his horrible war cry, Hel flew at him like a woman driven mad by rage.
He braced himself for an imminent collision as much as he could but when it finally happened; he failed to anticipate just how hard the goddess of death would hit.
They say that one should always give as good as they get, and that appeared to be a lesson that Hel was intensely familiar with.
Just as Abaddon had done, she appeared in front of him in a flash of light and brought her blade down over her head.
Despite the size difference between the two of them, Abaddon sensed a great destructive power coming from her sword wrapped in silver flames.
He brought up both his sword and spear to defend, as well as the shadows between them.
However, Hel showed no signs of halting as she easily cut through the obstructing wall of shadow and her weapon met his in an explosive collision.
BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!
Just as Abaddon’s blow had sent Hel flying into a crater, hers had done the same to him.
However, this had little to do with the difference in strength between the two and more to do with the energy Hel had empowered her strike with.
‘Divine power… it’s as annoying as I thought it would be.’
As Abaddon was not yet a god, the signature element of the beings from above worked just as well on him as it did on everyone else.
Which meant that his sin of pride was not currently supplying him with strength as it normally would whenever he took a hard blow; stripping him of his greatest weapon and resource.
As a result, his arms were now ringing like a drug dealer’s phone the night before a college party.
However, because he showed no visible signs of injury or discomfort, Hel didn’t know that.
As a result, it made her even more on guard as she tried to stop her own arm from trembling.
‘This beast… what is he made of?!’
Striking Abaddon full force was almost akin to punching a wall of pure titanium.
It made her wonder exactly where this monster was gaining so much power from, and just how powerful he would be when he was done growing.
She had to cut him down here before things came to that.
“I do not know why you hold grudges against all of us gods but attacking my domain is a grave error on your part! Let your death today teach you that there are some existences that you should not offend!!”
Hel snapped her fingers, and the billions of skeletal soldiers that Abaddon had been avoiding started to swarm around him once again; trapping him in an inescapable funnel.
They fired a number of projectiles such as spells, arrows, and even spears.
A dome of ice rose up to protect him of it’s own volition and gave him some much needed time to think.
‘The sin of sloth will likely be my only option.’
Using the sin of sloth, Abaddon could directly interfere with his opponent’s movement speed and power if he struck them directly.
But because Hel was a very powerful goddess in possession of a substantial amount of divine power, there was a large chance for her to burn his nefarious magic out of her body if things took too long.
Which meant that he had to be fast about how he did things.
Very fast indeed.
BANG!
The icey dome encasing Abaddon exploded dramatically; revealing a huge monster in the shape of a man.
With white scales as pure as fallen snow and thirteen gems in his chest glowing as brightly as stars in the sky; he was almost as captivating as he was menacing.
The yellow gem within his chest started to glow brighter than all the rest, and vibrant red lightning coursed along the length of his body.
He flew into the air like an impossibly fast bullet, and arrived directly in front of the goddess floating in midair.
“Therein lies the problem with you gods…”
At a speed Hel could barely process, Abaddon punched her twice in the ribs as hard as he could; causing her to wince and nearly drop her black sword.
Though nothing was broken immediately, it still caused her organs on that’ side to almost liquify.
And to make matters even more absurd, she began to feel the faintest bit drowsy.
“You believe all of you are untouchable existences who none should dare to challenge. I care nothing for offending you or anyone else, as I am the consequence that you all must pay for eons upon eons of your childishness and complacency.”
Abaddon kicked Hel in the stomach countless times before her eyes could even process anything, and her power dropped with each strike.
Upon suffering the final blow, Abaddon practically kicked through her and sent her body tumbling through the air, causing it to crash into the gates outside of her home.
Abaddon descended on the ground with his golden eyes locked on the battered and bruised goddess.
Her eyes were barely open, there was a dent in her stomach, and a thin trail of blood was leaking from her red lips.
“Such a noble dragon you think you are..” she spat venomously. “You would see the extinction of an entire race just because you have been aggrieved by a few? You are evil incarnate.”
“Your words will not shake me, Hel. When I was just, I was manipulated. When I was patient, I was insulted. When I was passive, my family was threatened.
When Jaldabaoth placed a bounty on me, a simple mortal being, any one of you could have challenged his aggression and paid no heed to his greed, but that is not what happened.
I have no more kindness to spare for any who are not my family or descendants.
You gods are free to curse me as much as you like when you die. Whether I am an evil dragon to the likes of you or not does not move my heart in one way or another.”
Abaddon held out his hand and a giant red and black battle axe was created out of thin air.
“All that matters to me is that you and everyone else like you meet the same miserable end; so that you may never interfere in the lives of others ever again.
Just as I told you all before, you will all be made to bow your heads before you die.”
“Fuck you…” Hel spat sleepily.
“Wonderful. You did not lose your fire until the very end.”
The next set of events happened at a dramatically fast pace.
As Abaddon raised his axe over his head to split Hel’s skull open, she finally lost the ability to hold her consciousness, and her head went limp as she fell asleep.
Because she was no longer conscious, the enormous army that she had materialized disappeared; returning to the eternal rest they had come from.
Reducing Abaddon and Hel’s confrontation to a simple one on one.
CLANG!
The sound of two metals striking each other with all their might traveled for miles.
As Abaddon swung his axe to cleave Hel apart; he lost the dramatic increase in power that he had been holding onto for most of this fight.
And conversely, she had a much easier time purging her body’s influence of his sin of sloth.
Leading to the current situation, where Abaddon’s axe swing was blocked by what appeared to be a simple kitchen knife.
However, this item was in no way so mundane.
This was famine; one of the goddess’ famed and treasured servants.
“Oh… oh I see. You have a great many tricks indeed, Abaddon.” Hel taunted with a wicked smile.
Despite this horribly awry situation, Abaddon’s monstrous face had not broken from the usual hardened look that he always showed his enemies.
The sight of which made Hel chuckle mischievously as she repeated her enemy’s own words right back to him.
“Wonderful. You have not lost your fire until the very end.”
Hel broke the stalemate between her and Abaddon and slid between his legs meticulously.
As she did so, she made thousands of quick and precise cuts on his legs and hamstrings that caused him to fall over onto his knees.
‘What… is this?!’
As the knife’s name implies, Famine is a tool that bestows terrible hunger onto those that it cuts.
Should Abaddon fall victim to this new horrible appetite, his soul would literally start to consume itself in an attempt to alleviate his terrible hunger.
‘If I can just hold out a few more seconds…’
As Abaddon tried to force his legs to heal at a quicker rate, Hel suddenly grabbed him by one of his massive horns and brought her face eye level to his own.
With a sadistic smile befitting that of a goddess of cruelty, Hel twirled her blade in her hand before she stabbed Abaddon directly in the eye.
However, he did not cry out, and he did not show any visible signs of distress.
“Ha ha~! Wonderful! I am glad that you are still so obstinate, but I want you to change back for me, alright? I think it will really get me off to see that gorgeous face contorted in agony!”
“Sorry to have to disappoint you, Hel. But our time is up.”
“Excuse me?”
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!
A column of horrible dark power burst free from Abaddon and pierced the swirling black clouds above.
Hel reflexively leapt back, as she stared up at her opponent in his truest form yet.
A massive dragon with the lower body of a serpent and a giant eye that was barely open embedded within his chest.
It’s five pairs of massive wings seemed large enough to blot out the sun, and the eyes embedded within them were akin to miniature suns.
All five heads stared down at the smirking Hel coldly; believing they had reached the crescendo of their horrible collision.
From the time he had arrived until now, Abaddon was counting down the moments until his final activation of Maliketh’s blessing would take place.
And it had finally happened: right now all of his stats were doubled.
Most gods would not have known where this drastic increase in power came from, but Hel was not most goddesses.
She was a death goddess.
Though she felt fear over Abaddon’s new appearance and drastic power, those things could all be dashed under the rug by the feeling like she’d just gotten a ‘checkmate’.
“A horrible monstrosity indeed… but do you think you are the only one who can borrow the power of death?”