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UwU!
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According to Odin, Shiva is a carefree, proud, and powerful god. That has shown over his life massively problematic violent tendencies, even clashing against Zeus himself more than once. According to Odin, their fights had set humanity back a few thousand years, more than once.
Meaning his power was at least equal to the Greek King, this made this fight all the more impossible to win. And that was only one of problems, Annabeth was still missing, and someone had used her disappearance to try and eliminate me, but who?
Kronos, he was a possibility… but thanks to the seals keeping his body and power incomplete, he lacked the Magic power to do such thing, meaning that at least for now he was minor threat, one that had no hopes of kidnapping a demigod from my world, which brought a different problem altogether.
My world was sealed from the main reality most gods resided, operating in a plane of existence that had no tether to the human world, meaning no one but the ones I had allowed had access to my world, so whoever had kidnapped Annabeth was within my ranks.
In short, I had a traitor swimming amongst my people, but who… I had several gods working under me, some with possible reasons to want me gone, like Heracles trying to get the favor of his father with my head… no, Heracles was more of a I tackle my problems guy, and Hebe was very similar to Hestia, meaning they weren't the culprit… besides, whoever was targeting me knew of my relationship with Annabeth, something that wasn't common knowledge, not because I had tried to hide it, but because nobody actually cared about my life prior my Godhood.
With those parameters, I had narrowed my search to a few… Hades, Persephone, and Athena, and considering Hades and Persephone had had their chances of betraying me multiple times, the only plausible culprit, was Athena… which made no sense, I had her realms… why would she try to kill me, risking the chance of me discovering her plot… it made no sense.
Then again, if she was actually the one behind my upcoming fight with the Hindu King… I had to admit her plan was remarkably smart, it basically meant she had bought my trust with sacrifice, like giving me access to her realms in order to stab me when I least expect it.
But even then, it made no sense… she had to know I would connect the dots to her, she was no idiot… she had to know I would figure out what she was planning, this thought alone made me doubt, if the answer was so obvious, perhaps it wasn't the answer.
"Hestia," I called, and she appeared through the hearth of my room.
"Yes?" Hestia inquired, worried… mostly because I would never summon her through the hearth unless it was absolutely necessary.
I looked at her for a moment, and hugged her, "I need you to stay on Asgard for a bit," even if I wasn't sure if Athena was the culprit, I had to play it safe, if she was… Hestia would be at her mercy, in my world… After me, Athena was the most powerful being, meaning she could easily force Hestia back to Olympus if she happened to be the traitor.
"Why?" Hestia muttered, her tone full of worry.
"Well, I'm not sure… but I have a feeling, I have a traitor amongst the gods I have recruited," I answered her, "My main suspect is Athena, but I can't be sure…" perhaps there wasn't even a traitor around at all, and this was my paranoia talking, but even if I was being a bit paranoid I had to avoid taking unnecessary risks, in Asgard if Athena or anyone tried to kidnap her, they would face the full night of Asgard, with the likes of Odin and Thor keeping her safe, something I can't do at all times. That… and… since the day Athena had suggested it was best for me to keep Hestia here… a red flag had been raised, she almost sounded demanding that day, and that was odd.
"Well, I trust your judgment," Hestia sighed, "I really hope she isn't the one you are looking for, I was somewhat happy to have my niece with me,"
"I promise I will be as lenient as I can if it happens to be her," I promised Hestia, it's not like I had to kill all my enemies, some could be imprisoned, at least the ones that were no threats to my current cause.
"I trust your judgment Adam," Hestia smiled, her hand touching my cheek ever so lightly,"I promised you a long time ago, that as long as you wanted me by your side I would stand there, and like I said that day… I will not approve of some decisions, because they are not in my nature… but no matter what you do, I will always l- stand by your side,"
"Thanks," I smiled, wondering how could such simple words make me feel so at ease, she was like a drug, an antidepressant one, that kept me from going mad, Hestialoft? Hmmm maybe I can sell that.
"Now, I better start packing," Hestia giggled, "Oh, maybe I can do a girls day with Freyja, Frigg and Honey, with spa and everything,"
"Sure, sounds grand," I laughed, "Heck, I might even join you girls," I winked.
"As much as I would love to have you there," Hestia chuckled, "I want some girl time!" She declared, her cheeks puffing up adorably, like a tiny cute squirrel.
"As you wish," I bowed dramatically.
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[Shiva POV]
Adam was a fun guy, he even made plans to fight me, what a good guy, I can already imagine the fun I will have, clashing against the newest God around, he seemed powerful, and very chill, so a ten on my books.
"You were supposed to kill him!" The one that had.., technically hired me to kill him said, appearing out of nowhere, "You left him escape!"
"I would watch my tone if I were you," I reminded my contractor, that I could just as easily blow her head off if she kept pushing me beyond my limits.
"What guarantee do you have that he will actually come to fight you?" What a bowl of ignorance, of course he would come… I could see it on his eyes, the same fire I have within me, the same desire to bring forth our might into combat, destroying and creating in our wake.
"I just know," I grinned, "Besides it seemed fair, you gave me a list of all his powers, at least the ones you know about… so I decided it was only fair to let him ask Odin about me,"
"That… was to give you! An advantage!" I glared at her, my hands curling into fists, "I apologize for my outburst,"
"Next time you forget your place, I will kill you…" I threatened… no, that wasn't a threat, that was a promise.