“Go on, fight me!”

Believe it or not, that command was intentional. To test if she could use her abilities.

And lo and behold. “You immature brat! What did you do?” As if possessed, the female ẹda speeds towards her with an outstretched hand, all too ready to stab Abeni’s body still sitting on some gravel by a wall far from the middle of Pessimum Path. Compared to the girl, she looked incredibly panicked. “Now I can’t resist it anymore! Dodge! Dodge it! I’m going to kill you!”

But just before that nail impaled her…

“Eniyan!”

…she’d stop her.

Abeni raised her hand.

“Eniyan!”

“Stop.”

Much to the female ẹda’s surprise, she felt back with a stunned expression.

Mind manipulation. That’s what she’d call this ability from now on. Judging by what happened yesterday and today, her mind manipulation ability allowed her to send commands to someone else’s brain.

So far, Abeni could get them to do what she commands as long as she channels all the energy that she started noticing moments ago in the centre of her body into her voice. That’s what she just did when she said “stop.”

“Eniyan!”

Abeni blinked only to see hand-length nails ready to stab her again. She startled and used her ability again. There was no time to say anything longer than what she did just now. With the miniscule amount of information, she had about abilities, she had no idea what was happening!

Abeni shouted, voice cracking. “St-op!”

But there might be a time limit on it because the same thing happened again. After a few quiet moments of them staring at each other, the female ẹda jolted into action again. And clearly not by her own would judging by her torn expression.

“Stop!”

No, it’s probably not a time limit. What’s going on? This didn’t happen with the previous commands she used. At least not to her knowledge.

From how Abeni saw her parents die to the non-stop attacks from that male ẹda, she knew that ẹda fought like raging wild animals. Like close-ranged fighters. Beasts. So, as long as she could stay out of the female ẹda’s range, she’d win. That’s why Abeni kept telling her to stop before she got too close.

But it wasn’t working!

Are her commands not clear this time?

Wait…

“You idiot! Pay attention!”

“O— Stop!”

And then it clicked.

“Fight me!” and “Stop!” So that’s what it is! It’s her fault for not realising this sooner! Every time the female ẹda stopped, Abeni’s other command forced her to continue. They were conflicting with each other.

In that case, she’s going to take advantage of this moment of pause to undo both commands. “I take back everything I said!”

Is what she tried.

But now there’s one more problem.

She couldn’t use her ability anymore?

She couldn’t use her ability anymore!

“Looks like you’ve run out of outer spirit energy. So, just run! I can’t hold on for much longer. Build up your energy back up and then— Argh!” Then use her ability?

Abeni jumped to her feet, found a nearby stone, aimed it as best she could and threw it right into the female ẹda’s – who was rushing her again – eyes. To protect herself from getting her head bitten off.

“Ah!”

Then she dashed away from the wall and back onto Pessimum Path. Trying to move as fast as she could. Not able to even turn back to see how the other being was doing as she looked for some shade, but there was none. Just dry gravelly walls and wall torches! And she didn’t know whether the fire would even work well against the female ẹda’s strong body!

Plus, the time it would take to dislodge the torch could mean her end.

How long would it take for her to recover her ‘energy’? If longer phrases were harder to execute when she was low on energy, then what was something short she could say to undo all the commands at once? Saying ‘don’t fight me’ would probably just conflict with “Fight me!” like “Stop!” did, so that’s out of the picture.

Think. Think!

“Eniyan, I’m right behind you!”

“I know!” Abeni heard the loud slithering start up a second ago. “I’m thinking!”

“What’re you thinking about, idiot? It’s simple! You’re dead meat all because of your dumb ability! I’ll be made to kill you!”

“No, just trust me!”

She just needed to undo her commands, right? Without any conflicts.

“But, if you don’t dodge my attack, you’ll die!”

She wasn’t wrong. Abeni was completely running on adrenaline when they first met. So, fully dodging a swing of this massive form was something she couldn’t do again.

But what she could do was use the tools at her disposal to resolve this. To buy time.

“Eniyan!” She flinched as she heard from right behind her half-bitten ear.

Because Abeni hadn’t got much to her name, she’d use whatever weapon she could find, a stone, stick, her arms or even her own voice to defend herself.

“Drop!”

That’s how she’d win. That’s the only way this fight would end in her favour.

With the word, the female crashes down onto Pessimum Path with a multitude of complaints. “What does that mean? Be clearer you idiot! I didn’t understand, so I just fell to the ground!”

“I have limited words to use right now! Wait…you fell to the ground because that’s how you understood what I said?”

“Yes! Now run away, you suicidal eniyan! Before I kill you for real!”

Wait. That meant …Abeni stood stationary, a few paces from the female ẹda and held out her fingers to count.

“If rule number 1 of mind manipulation is that the commands shouldn’t conflict with each other. Then, rule number 2 must be that the commands are left up to the receiver’s interpretation!”

“…Where did a little eniyan like you learn those big words?”

The white-haired girl cracks a half smile, remembering the times her parents praised her for that very same thing. “From when I listen to people talk. From games too. Anyway! That means if I just find a short phrase that you understand to get you to stop fighting me, then I’ll fix my mistake. Do you have any ideas?”

“But it won’t wor—!”

She puts down her fingers. “Just...trust me.”

They stare at each other for a long moment. Assessing each other.

“I— Ugh!” The female ẹda looked ready to agree, only for her to raise from the ground, body looking ready to rid Abeni off of the face of the underworld. Even then, she still yelled. “Something about peace!”

“What?” The white-haired girl exclaimed before taking off further down Pessimum Path, lucky for the appearance of a bumpy rock hill slowing the other’s slithering down by a millisecond behind her before they get way too close again. When suddenly, she couldn’t escape, she couldn’t escape, but she had to. Be at— “Be at peace!”

And that did it.

 

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]