Despite what some of the humans on earth may believe, gods do not have the ability to interfere with a mortal’s free will.
But they can seduce, compel, and implant any number of their own hypnotic suggestions to make them do or act in a certain way.
Basically, they can fool the mind and body.
But ultimately, all of those methods fall under the very wide umbrella of mind control and thus they can be broken given the right methods.
However… there is a more advanced version of this power that was stripped away from reality long, long ago.
That is the ability to manipulate free will.
Not subject it to stimuli that could be wiped away by others, but to truly manipulate it; and therein lies a world of difference.
The manipulation of a being’s free will is to truly rewrite a being no matter who or what they are; to mold their heart, soul, body, and mind as if they were play dough.
It is to take away everything that they have ever been, ever were, and ever could be, in favor of whatever the one molding them wants them to be.
Effectively, putting them underneath their ‘order’.
But once again, no one has a power like that on this plane anymore.
At least they didn’t, until now.
Right in front of Ares’ eyes, Abaddon started to change.
The swirling black tattoos that moved across his body from the neck down started to shine, and became interwoven with miraculous golden designs.
A second, shorter pair of black horns popped out from the top of his head, right in between the first set.
The features of his face became softer, and kinder while his eyes maintained their air of incontestable superiority.
Golden wristguards became wrapped around his arms from out of thin air, and each of the nine rings on his fingers started to glow with an untold shine and luster.
Even though he didn’t want to, Ares had no choice but to admit it.
This man was a god.
Of righteousness, or justice, truths upheld and of course… order.
His own order.
However, that notion only served to further upset the already dangerously unstable Ares.
“Spare me this show, and just kill me and get this over with!” Ares spat through bloodied teeth. “Kill me and be done!”
Abaddon shook his head as if he were disappointed by Ares’ disbelief.
“You are.. so very short sighted for a god. Tell me now… why would I tell you about my power if all I was going to simply kill you and walk away? Wouldn’t that be shortsighted of me..?”
Not liking where this was going, Ares began to struggle painfully to remove himself from the blade he’d been impaled by, but it seemed to not be doing him any good.
However, Abaddon placed his hand on his head, and his thrashing came to a stop within an instant.
A golden light encased the two of them in it’s glory, and Abaddon stared down at the war god pitifully.
“I let you remain as you were… I let you hold all memories of your life save for this one. But I gift you with this.
From now until your soul has ceased to exist, whenever you hear my name, you will be filled with the most horrible and unshakable feelings of inferiority that will accumulate like grains of sand upon a beach.
The more your inferiority grows, the more that you will lose everything that you value about yourself the most. Your pride, your bravado, you esteem. But things are not all bleak. There is a light at the end of the tunnel…”
Abaddon got down on one knee, and grabbed Ares by the hair as he made him stare directly into his red eyes.
“Your only solace from this will be the moment where you are trying to kill the rest of the gods above, especially your father and the rest of the olympians.
For in their anguish, you will momentarily be able to fulfill the dream and desire you hold most dear; coming closer to mimicking me in terms of power.”
The feeling of horror creeping into Ares’ psyche was wipe away in an instant as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.
Smiling, Abaddon removed the blade from Ares’ back and made him drop to the ground.
He knew that Ares would never be able to kill all of the other gods, but they would certainly be inconvenienced.
This was only a little taste of the revenge that Abaddon planned against Zeus for holding his family hostage.
A moment later and Abaddon snapped his fingers; dispelling away the spacial cube around them and putting an end to this entire endeavor.
Ares’ body finally disappeared in a flash of golden light, along with Bosou’s mangled half-corpse.
Abaddon let his clawed feet land upon the swamp waters, and Papa Legba reappeared in front of him a second later as if he’d been waiting.
“Well.. that was quite the show, Mr. Tathamet. Although I do wonder why you did not allow us to see the end. Was it for this costume change?”
Abaddon shrugged and showed the loa a very small smile. “Far from it. I just wanted to leave some things up to the surprise of my enemies. Of which there are still plenty, I remind you.”
“…And are we of the voodoo your enemies?” Legba asked curiously.
A small glimmer of light shone in Abaddon’s eyes as he stared at the old man covered in facepaint.
“…Case by case, Legba. There is no entire pantheon who is safe from me. But for those who have done no harm, they have nothing to fear from me or my kin.”
“I see… I hope we continue to meet under pleasant circumstances in the future then.”
As quickly as the powerful loa appeared, he vanished.
In his place, Abaddon’s wives quickly surrounded him, their gazes all locked on his body seriously.
“I put a barrier around us once again, darling. There is no need for bravado.” Audrina said with great concern.
Abaddon chuckled as he dispelled his transformation and let out an exhausted sigh.
His knees quickly buckled underneath him, and Lillian took it upon herself to catch him and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“Easy now, my love… Why did you have to be so foolish?” She asked worriedly. “Manipulating free will was only a hypothesis that Gabbrielle had, not something she meant for you to try.”
“I know that, but …those bastards knocked my food into the bog. I couldn’t let that go unpunished, could I?”
Bekka: “W-Well no, but-”
Lailah: “Bekka, you stay out of this.”
Bekka: “That’s probably for the best, yea.”
Just as it seemed like the wives were about to start chewing out their husband, another figure appeared to do it in their place.
A woman who could always be seen wearing a blue dress and veil that kept all of her body covered; yet still gave off the feeing of staring at a great beauty.
She folded her arms across her chest, and Abaddon got the feeling he was being glared at.
“Ah, Asherah… Wonderful to see you again-”
“I asked you for one very simple thing, Tathamet. How difficult must you find it to follow simple instructions?”
“I thought I did pretty well though?”
“Pretty well? Don’t think I don’t know that mostly all of the powers you used today were untested. Any one of them could have destroyed this world!”
“I know…”
“Your spacial divinity could have cut this world apart!”
“I had more control than to allow something like that…”
“That instant motion technique could have resulted in you moving at Mach 10 and obliterating kilometers of land that you traveled across!”
‘Superman never had any kind of problem like that though..? I wonder if this means I’m faster than him..?’
“I mean, a black hole on earth?! Your control over gravity has become so strong that you could have stopped this planet on a dime! And if the earth suddenly stops moving like that then you will fling everything living on it all over the place!”
‘Don’t understand that one… Maybe I should have paid more attention to physics class in high school. ‘
“That is if you didn’t suck all of this world into it and shred all of it’s atoms into… Oh what is it called…?”
“Spaghetti?” Bekka guessed.
“Yes! Spaghetti!” Asherah yelled.
Abaddon wanted to laugh but he felt like that would only land him into hotter water with the mother goddess.
“And using your power over order on a god of all creatures for the first time..?? What were you thinking? It’s no wonder that you can barely stand right now!”
Asherah snapped her fingers and all eleven of them were immediately teleported back to their hotel room within a single second.
With a single finger, she pushed Abaddon into bed and wrapped him up in a blanket like he was a 6’8 burrito; not leaving him any way to defend himself.
‘I’m just tired, that’s the only reason she was able to push me around like this.’ he thought, attempting to nurse his wounded pride.
Sighing, she stood beside the bed as she placed her palm on his head.
“Abaddon… Your power is so that you can inspire the masses and best those who would not be beaten.
Playing with your more destructive powers so cavalierly to overwhelm those who couldn’t even have begun to go against you is not only beneath you, but it makes you a bully as well.”
“…I gave them fair warning to leave me be.” Abaddon defended.
“They know not what they were doing. They are simply prideful men who were enraged because the women that they lie beside can only think of you.”
“They should have just said so then. I’m happy to send any of my wives to kill their women.”
Asherah glanced over her shoulder at the youngest of Abaddon’s wives; a white haired dragonness who gave off a cute and delicate demeanor.
She couldn’t imagine her killing anyone honestly.
“…Yes well, be that as it may..” Asherah began. “You are and have always been a being of gentleness, and of compassion.
Though your war may be a necessary one, try not to let your grief turn you into something you are not.”
“You mean like before?” he guessed.
At this, Asherah fell silent as she walked away from his bedside.
“Indeed… I believe you have gotten the point now so I will be on my way.”
The mother goddess paused to look at each of Abaddon’s wives.
“Enjoy the rest of your vacation. And try your best to keep him out of trouble however you can, alright?”
“…Yes, ma’am.” They all said aloud.
Asherah left a moment later, and the dragon god remained bundled up to think about a great many things.
He knew that Asherah was right about his behavior already, but there was something else he couldn’t help but think about.
If Asherah was so upset about everything he was doing before, why did she not stop him earlier?
‘Oh…She couldn’t.’ he realized.