Chapter 429 Empathy

Chapter 429 Empathy

Abaddon blinked his eyes several times as he tried to understand where this surprise question had come from.

As he searched for an answer within her dull grey eyes he once again could no shake the feeling that there was something strange behind them. "Tell me... why does something like that interest you?" Abaddon asked. "When you mentioned your reasons for killing him... I could sense some deceit. Though I am not exactly sure why that is. And so I wish to understand."

"Hm... What is your name, little goddess?"

"My apologies... it is Alethia."

Abaddon immediately figured her to be a minor goddess, as he wasn't exactly familiar with that name and he guessed that her divinity must have had something to do with honesty. n--Ovelb1n

He would not exactly lose anything by telling her the truth, so he gradually took the sword from her grasp as he incinerated the dead bodies in the room. "Believe it or not, I was actually not that fond of humans for a long time. And even when I grew past the point of hating them, I was still only indifferent. And likely would not have stopped to save one if they were dying on the sidewalk in front of me.

But I also have human daughter. And like me, she has also had her own issues with humans, and it would not be unnatural for her to become like me or even worse, demand humanity's extinction. But do you know what she asked me before I came to earth?"

"?" Alethia answered, intrigued by the answer to her question that seemed to be much more complicated than she initially anticipated. "To save them. To empower them. To protect them. It's funny isn't it? Two sides of the same coin yet we have drastically different outlooks. I know that monsters often must feed on humans to survive, and I have no issue with that as it is nature's will.

But destabilizing their governments, sending them plundering into poverty, capitalizing off of their misery that he is the architect of... I can not and will not allow that. Were she here, I know that my child would have asked me to act. And so I did."

Alethia could feel that Abaddon was telling the full and complete truth. The Black Dragon really did have a human daughter, and his reasons for killing Raphael were no more than 'it is what she would've wanted.'

It was amazing. His own child had helped him see that the opposite of nonviolence was not necessarily violence itself, but indifference. She thought him empathy, even for those he had hated. She couldn't believe it. Everything that the gods above felt like they knew about this man... it was all wrong. "I... see. I... have another question."

"Inquisitive, aren't you?" Abaddon chuckled. "It is my nature." she admitted. "Then go ahead."

"Were you not concerned.. that I would use that information about your daughter in a negative way?"

Abaddon snorted as if he found something funny. He began walking around the room, plucking splinters out of the one of a kind wood paintings. "There is no way that you could, seeing as how she is currently in a place where none of you could get to her. And besides, though my Thea may be human, she is far from an easy target. Among my children, she is physically the most powerful."

"..."

This silence would last for several more minutes and was particularly awkward to listen to. Eventually, Abaddon let out a sigh as he ran his hands through his hair. "...Fine. Just... keep them on some sort of leash, yea?"

"I will do my best." she said as she bowed respectfully.

"Then our bargain is struck. When you return to the heavens find Persephone or Camazotz. We will speak more at a later date."

Alethia's eyes seemed to widen just a bit before she immediately retuned to normalcy. "Of course. Then I will-'

"Wait."

A hole opened up right in the middle of Abaddon's palm and a drop of golden blood floated out. "Open your mouth."

"...I beg your pardon?"

"Just trust me."

Alethia didn't look like she was particularly fond over having to do this, but seemed to recognize that she had no choice. She closed her eyes in concentration as she spread her lips only a few measly centimeters apart. Abaddon was briefly reminded of the face that Mira made whenever she was given medicine and tried his best not to laugh as he guided the small drop of blood onto her tongue. Contrary to what Alethia was expecting, the dragon's blood was not at all unpleasant to her. In fact it was even slightly sweet tasting, and she was not sure if she was imagining things or not but she felt slightly stronger. "See? That wasn't that difficult."

"Yes, yes..."

Alethia vanished from the space a moment later and left Abaddon alone in the foyer with two large piles of ash. But a moment later, every vampire and dhampir in the house swarmed into the room, no doubt lured by the godly smell of Abaddon's blood. Standing at the forefront of these hungry vampires was Mateo, who had been given a brand new suit from Raphael's own closet and chewing on a steak that was too rare for human comfort. "Are you all feeling a bit peckish?" he asked knowingly.

Unsurprisingly, all of the vampires nodded dangerously while wiping their chins of drool. "If you want to eat, then you need to swear fealty to Mateo as your new vampire king."

"..."

The complete and utter silence that followed in the wake of Abaddon's declaration was so loud that it was as if the whole world had suddenly been unplugged.