Ares was usually a lot smarter than this.
Most war deities are usually all about braun and destruction but not him.
He belonged to a special class of this bunch who was as smart as he was powerful. (Albeit never as smart as his sister.)
lightsnοvεl He understood the nuances and finer points of combat from every conceivable level, as well as possessed millions of untapped strategies for war and destruction that would send a developed nation into screaming panic overnight.
He was smart, but still.
He was goaded here because his anger had gotten the best of him, as his hatred of Abaddon had grown beyond what he was able to keep in check.
Like every other god and goddess within the heavens, he was familiar with the dragon god’s face on a meticulous level.
Though this was only because it infuriated him so horrendously to see it.
From the first day that he had shown up to inform the gods that their days were numbered, he had instilled unbridled fear and attraction within all of them.
To such a degree that even the loyal wives of the gods were beginning to have misgivings with their chosen partners, as the red haired dragon filled their ever loving thought whether they wanted him to or not.
Naturally, more than a few of the men would get together to gripe about this from time to time and vent their anger over their partners no longer having an interest in them, and Ares was always among them.
Inadvertently he started feeding off their collective rage. Internalizing it, cultivating it, and letting his hatred towards the dragon god grow more and more at every mention of his name.
So when every realm in the heavens started spying on his meeting with Papa Legba, his anger reached the boiling point.
The goddesses that were living as if they were in a drab movie scene for months on end were suddenly excitable, giddy, and gossipy beyond measure!
Abaddon had said that he would spare them if only they used their divinities for their intended purpose and did not casually disregard the lives of mortals!
This meant that if they were to show him sincerity, they could have a chance to win a place at his side for all of eternity and bear countless children, and drink wine, and have sex, and go to sleep together, and wake up together, and have meals together, and go on dates, celebrate holidays and-
Ares was so sick of it all he didn’t know what to do!!
His impulsiveness and anger reaching a new undeniable level, Ares descended from Olympus and challenged the black dragon to open combat; caring nothing for the vast difference in power that he already knew there to be between them.
He had even gone so far as to rudely refuse Abaddon’s offer to spare their lives if they left immediately because he felt so insulted.
His pride had been wounded, so he couldn’t back down!
And yet as Abaddon showed his power not once, but twice over, Ares had held strong in the face of destruction.
But it wasn’t until they started to fight with nothing but weaponry that he actually felt himself becoming nervous.
Abaddon was worse than all of the enemies who had ever defeated him combined.
He was craftier than Athena, bolder and stronger than Heracles, struck with more opportune blows than that bastard Diomedes.
It wasn’t until this day why he understood why Abaddon was called the father of all monsters.
Not because he was their origin and maker, but because he was the very walking talking definition of the word.
A horrible creature; something unusually wicked and cruel.
The longer their clash went on, the more Ares could see the black void marking his end that was drawing ever closer.
And all the while, his enemy did not sweat, nor did he show signs of tiring at all.
But do you know what infuriated the god of war and bloodshed the most?
It was the fact that his enemy took no joy in the task, nor was he bothered by it.
His face was blank, as if he were performing an everyday chore like making up a bed or washing a dish.
It only further spurred Ares’ rage, his feelings of inferiority, and his resilience to not be bested.
Even if he were going to die today, he would make this dragon’s suffer at least once before his body turned cold and his soul became no more.
“Am I boring you, dragon!? I will be sure to turn up the intensity!” Ares threw his shield and sword to the side and lunged into the air to select another weapon.
A heavy spiked Kanabo found it’s way into his grasp and he fell upon Abaddon like a heated meteor.
“Boring me..? I wouldn’t say that, if anything I believe that I am learning quite a lot from you. Like the fact that you are a sadder existence than I once thought.”
Letting out a deeply held sigh, Abaddon tossed the weapon he’d been wielding to the side.
With one hand, he caught the spiked club that was swung by Ares with great force, and his body did not move an inch.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Ares saw a sight he had been all too hopeful to see.
Beautiful, bright golden blood was flowing down his enemy’s palm along his tattooed arm and dripping unto the ground.
‘Finally..!’
“I can feel how excited you are… You feel as though your entire existence is justified because you have drawn a few drops of blood from me. A meaningless achievement for a meaningless warrior.”
Suddenly, Abaddon’s blood started flowing in reverse and traveled back towards his hand.
Instead of going back into his body, it formed a pair of brass knuckles with spikes.
Knocking away Ares’ kanabo, he sent him flying with a strong right hand to the jaw.
The war god’s helmet was knocked clean off his body, but he recovered quickly and disregarded it.
His red cape came undone on it’s own as he stood back up, staring back at Abaddon with burning red eyes.
“I am far beyond meaningless, beast! My absolution is in bloodshed, and the glorious conquest of others! The fact that I have drawn blood from you will ensure that I go smiling, even unto my death!”
“Well… can’t have that now, can we..? I will see to it your end is more miserable than anything you could have imagined.”
“Do your best! I have a very active imagination!”
Ares and Abaddon stared at each other for only a couple of moments before they started to run towards each other.
At first they moved slowly, but they grew faster and faster with every second until they finally came to a head.
Both gods threw out matching right hands that would have been enough to demolish a building.
Of course, Abaddon edged out Ares in strength so when the war god was knocked back, his opponent moved faster than the eye could see and kicked him in the chin, sending him up into the sky.
Once his enemy was airborne, Abaddon appeared above him to stomp on his chest with enough force to pulverize concrete.
Ares coughed out a mouth full of blood before scrambling back to his feet and adopting a traditional martial arts stance.
It just so happened that he had chosen the dragon god’s favorite; Wing Chun.
Smiling at his unknowing foolishnesss, Abaddon copied his demeanor as the two of them encircled each other looking for any opening.
The dragon decided to strike first, sending a flurry of high speed punches at Ares’ chest that were easily countered by him as he returned with his own; to which Abaddon also parried.
This cycle of strike, block, repeat continued with the both of them for several minutes, with the pair moving so fast that their movements were no longer perceptible to the human eye.
Frustrated from the deadlock, Ares broke tradition and performed a spinning back kick to Abaddon’s midsection that was easily avoided.
Abaddon struck his knee from the side and broke it cleanly, but the war god did not cry or complain as it healed like new within seconds.
Holding out his hand, he called a sword from the air above and swiped it horizontally across Abaddon’s chest.
The dragon caught it with his tail before the blade could graze his skin, and twisted Ares’ wrist before giving it a hard kick- sending the weapon clattering into the air above their heads.
Abaddon struck Ares across the face three times in quick succession before the blade was pulled back down by gravity.
Snatching it out of the air, he struck his opponent with the flat side of the blade as if it were a baseball bat.
Ares took another airborne journey; but this one was short lived as Abaddon quickly grabbed the god by the ankle and slammed his face onto the hard prismatic ground.
Just as the god’s body bounced up from the distribution of force, his opponent buried his sword through his midsection; stapling him to the ground and marking the end of their collision.
Ares let out a pitiful wheeze as he felt the familiarity of being impaled run through his body once again.
He heard the sound of footsteps approaching from his side, and looked up at the last moment to see Abaddon coming towards him; that same look of disinterest as before.
But it didn’t matter.
He had won!
“Go on… finish it..!” Ares said weakly.
Abaddon saw a pitiful smile on his enemy’s face and he realized that he was expecting death.
Hell, he was already about to embrace it.
There was very little that Abaddon could have done to him now that would have broken his spirit as he wished.
Which was why Ares was smiling so giddily as if he were a kid in a candy shop.
He thought he would be having the last laugh against his hated foe; and would be robbing him of the glorious victory he so craved.
But once again, Abaddon was going to have to disappoint him.
*Snicker*
Abaddon’s melodic chuckling turned into full blown laughter as he clutched his sides to stop it from hurting.
Ares’ smile gradually disappeared as he began to feel like there was something morbidly wrong going on here.
“Hahaha! Tell me this, Ares…” Abaddon said as he sat in front of the god’s impaled body.
“Do you know what an Order God does?”
“…What?”
“It’s a simple question, you’re a smart man. Do you know what an Order God does?”
“They… enact justice, uphold divine order and uphold laws and customs.”
“Wrong!”
SMACK!
The dragon gave the war god a hard smack on the forehead like he did to Apophis whenever he got the answer to his studies wrong.
“You’re comparing me to a god like Themis, and in doing so you are woefully incorrect. Here, I’ll alter the question for you…”
Leaning in closer, Abaddon’s bright gold eyes burned into Ares’ like miniature suns.
“Do you know what the difference is between me and her? Answer quickly now, little god.”
Ares eventually had to shake his head begrudgingly as he didn’t know the answer to such a thing, and Abaddon took great joy in telling him.
Although when the words finally passed through his lips, his enemy had the exact reaction to them that anyone would have had.
“…Y-You’re bluffing! None of us can do that! Especially not to each other!!” he roared.
“Am I now? Why don’t we find out for ourselves, hm?”